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"writing": "[center]Rainy Day Women[/center]\n\n[center]a story set in the universe of Champions Online[/center]\n\n\t\"Holy cow, I'm bored!\" Supersonic Squirrel declared to nobody as he sat slumped in a chair facing the large monitor in Millennium Guard headquarters, upon which information on the status of Millennium City as well as other locations in the world continuously flashed. Right now there was nothing major going on, nothing the Millennium City police couldn't handle. It was selfish and wrong to wish for something bad to happen, he reflected. After all, innocent people could be hurt. All the same, the inactivity grated on him. What was the point in being a hero if there was nothing heroic to do?\n\tThe gray-furred squirrel sighed, glanced out the rain-streaked window at the dark gray sky, picked up a cup of coffee from the console, and sipped it while pulling his knees up against his chest, his huge fluffy question mark of a tail pressed against the back of the chair behind him. He was a rather comical-looking creature, three feet tall and stockily built, with enormous round eyes and buck teeth. His sole articles of clothing were an old-style leather flying helmet and aviator goggles, the latter of which were pushed up onto his forehead. He had never felt the need to wear anything more than this, and in the few weeks since an errant wish had brought him to life, nobody had pressed the issue of his lack of apparel.\n\t\"Monitor duty is a chore we all must attend to,\" came a youthful but strangely echoing voice from behind him. \"I find doing sums helps pass the time.\"\n\tThe squirrel rotated his chair toward the source. The speaker appeared to be a black-haired human youth in his mid-teens and was wearing a skintight bodysuit, trunks, belt, and boots that were all red and purple, separated by white lines. However, two things suggested that the lad was more than he seemed. One was his eyes, which were solid gold without pupils or irises and glowed with an inner light. The other was that voice. His name was Castor, but most people knew him as Celestial Boy. \"Is that what they do for fun in Elysium?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It is one thing. We also play games.\"\n\t\"You mean like checkers?\"\n\tThe youth chuckled. \"I am afraid checkers is a bit simplistic for our tastes.\"\n\t\"I'll bet,\" said the squirrel, frowning. Though Celestial Boy never acted haughty, there was something in his demeanor that always made Supersonic feel the Elysian youth was looking down on him. Being a simple squirrel of humble origins, he disliked people who thought they were better than everyone else.\n\t\"If you enjoy checkers, you could always play it with the computer to occupy yourself,\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Yeah, I know,\" said Supersonic, \"but I wouldn't want to shirk my duty.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled and nodded. \"Admirable. Can I get you anything?\"\n\tSupersonic sighed again. \"No, I'm fine.\"\n\tThe dark-haired youth cocked his head. \"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"No. I guess I'm just feeling a little homesick, is all.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Understandable. You are in a different time, deprived of the friends and family you had in your cartoon world, having to adjust to being a living creature, with all that that entails. It must be very difficult for you.\"\n\t\"I guess we're kind of in the same boat,\" said Supersonic, \"you coming down to Earth from Elysium and all. Only you can always go home, and I can't. My home doesn't really exist.\"\n\t\"On Earth, they say home is where the heart is,\" said Celestial Boy. \"There is wisdom in these words.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Do you like it here?\"\n\tCelestial Boy paused a moment before answering. \"It is very different from Elysium, but also very interesting. I find myself constantly being surprised and learning new things.\"\n\t\"So it's like one long field trip to you,\" said Supersonic, smirking.\n\t\"That is one way of looking at it, I suppose. But I take my responsibilities as a member of the Millennium Guard very seriously. My kind live to serve and protect. That is what I was sent here for.\"\n\tSupersonic looked at him curiously. \"Sent by who?\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"A higher power.\"\n\tSupersonic was about to press further but was distracted by a pop-up message on the monitor. He turned his chair toward it while Celestial Boy came over to join him. The text on the screen read: \"Nightmunk: A young Lemurian named Dorgok escaped from my apartment in Westside earlier today. He has no powers and is missing his right hand. I'd track him down myself but I'm a little busy right now. If you could look for him, I'd really appreciate it. His father is a friend of mine and is worried about him.\"\n\t\"Nightmunk,\" said Supersonic. \"He's that chipmunk manimal who works with Nighthawk, isn't he?\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And the Lemurians are a race of reptilian humanoids who invaded Millennium City last year. The populace is understandably less than fond of them.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I suppose we better find him, then, before he hurts someone, or someone hurts him.\"\n\t\"That is what we do.\"\n\t\"Should we bring in the rest of the team?\"\n\t\"No powers and missing a hand? I think we can handle this ourselves.\"\n\tTogether, the squirrel and the Elysian went out onto the rain-slick balcony and flew off toward Westside.\n\n\tKatrina Werner slipped into a garbage-strewn alley between two abandoned buildings, pulling her raincoat more tightly around her slim body as the rain continued to soak her white-haired head and her brown face. Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, she crouched down and squeezed through a basement window without glass. She moved along a dark, musty corridor with bare concrete walls, rats scampering out of her way, and stopped suddenly. The makeshift wooden door that normally covered the entrance to her hideout was open. She hadn't left it that way.\n\tShe concentrated, forehead pulsing as she extended her mental awareness outward. Yes, there was definitely someone in the room beyond. Most likely it was one of the Black Aces, the street gang that controlled this part of Westside. She frowned and drew a switchblade from a pocket of her raincoat, flicking it open. She probably wouldn't need it, but it was always good to be prepared. Slowly, she began moving toward the open doorway.\n\tAs she drew nearer, she could hear someone shuffling around inside. Taking a deep breath, she charged into the room, the knife held out before her. Then she gasped, and her ice-blue eyes widened when she saw what was inside.\n\tThe intruder was shaped like a human being, but its head was that of a lizard and its body was covered with blue scales. Webbed fins protruded from its wrists, its calves, and the top of its head. Its size and build were equivalent to that of a human youth perhaps ten years of age. It wore only a loincloth, made of some shimmering white fabric, and an ornate silver necklace whose pendant, which seemed to be a large ruby, rested on its chest, which was white and resembled belly of a snake. It whirled about as she entered, and stared at her with golden, catlike eyes.\n\t\"Who the hell are you?\" Katrina demanded, the point of her blade aimed directly at the creature's heart, or at least where the heart would be if it were human.\n\t\"I am Dorgok,\" the creature replied in a high, raspy voice, like a child with a sore throat. She now noticed that his right hand was missing, the stump wrapped in blood-soaked rags. In his remaining hand he held a wad of cheese puffs from an open bag on the rickety wooden table beside him.\n\t\"You're a Lemurian, aren't you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I am,\" Dorgok replied.\n\t\"What are you doing here?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I needed somewhere to hide, and this seemed as good a place as any.\"\n\t\"Well, this is my home, and I don't like to share.\"\n\t\"This?\" Dorgok asked, sounding surprised. \"This hovel is your home?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"It's not the Ritz, but it'll do. Now beat it.\"\n\tThe Lemurian looked puzzled. \"Beat what?\"\n\t\"Scram. Get lost. I don't want you here.\"\n\tDorgok stuffed the cheese puffs into his mouth and swallowed them. \"Perhaps I could give you something in exchange for you letting me stay.\" His clawed finger tapped the ruby in his necklace. \"This has value here, does it not?\"\n\tKatrina gazed at the blood-red gem. Damn, it was big! Her eyes returned to the Lemurian's. \"How do I know I can trust you?\"\n\t\"I give you my word I will not harm you,\" Dorgok said. \"In any case, I would be at a disadvantage in a fight.\" He held up his stump to emphasize.\n\tKatrina thought for a moment. \"All right,\" she said, finally. \"Take the necklace off and put it on the table.\" He did so, and she darted forward and snatched it up, stuffing it in her coat pocket. \"How did you lose your hand?\" she asked.\n\t\"I bit it off.\"\n\tHer eyes went wide. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"It was necessary in order to escape from captivity. It is merely an inconvenience.\"\n\t\"Inconvenience? You lost your hand!\"\n\tDorgok shrugged. \"It will grow back in a month or so.\"\n\t\"You can do that?\" Katrina asked, amazed.\n\tHe tilted his head. \"You mean you humans cannot regrow lost limbs?\"\n\t\"No, we can't.\"\n\tDorgok gave a hissing laugh. \"Truly, you are an inferior species!\"\n\tKatrina folded her arms. \"Yeah, well, we still sent you lizards packing when you invaded our city!\"\n\tThe Lemurian flicked his black forked tongue. Then he went over to the mattress Katrina used for a bed and sat down on it, his unblinking eyes staring at the blank concrete wall. Katrina watched him for a moment, then folded her switchblade and put it back in the pocket of her raincoat. \"Are you hungry?\" she asked.\n\t\"Yes,\" said Dorgok. \"Those orange things are all air. How can you humans subsist on such food?\"\n\t\"They're only meant to be snacks,\" said Katrina. She went to a cardboard box on the floor and removed a can of tuna, setting it on the table and opening it with a manual can opener. Dorgok rose, flicking his tongue, and came over to her.\n\t\"That is fish!\" he said excitedly.\n\tShe nodded. \"[i]Bon appetit[/i].\"\n\tHe looked at her, puzzled, then picked up the can and held it over his open mouth, shaking it until the contents fell in. He swallowed them in one gulp and put the empty can back on the table.\n\t\"So much for Lemurian table manners,\" Katrina remarked. \"So, how did you come to be in Millennium City anyway, and who was holding you captive?\"\n\t\"My traitorous father Samtiss kidnapped me and brought me to the dwelling of the manimal called Nightmunk, where I was chained up but managed to escape.\"\n\t\"Are they gonna come looking for you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"Probably, if they succeed in their mission to save the multiverse. If not, then it will not matter, since everything will be destroyed.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" said Katrina. \"I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea of Nightmunk showing up on my doorstep.\"\n\t\"I thought everyone in this city loved heroes,\" said Dorgok.\n\t\"Not everyone,\" said Katrina. \"Some of us prefer to avoid run-ins with the law.\"\n\t\"You are a criminal, then?\"\n\t\"I like to think of myself as living outside the system.\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"That would explain why you dwell in such squalor.\"\n\tKatrina was about to reply when a metal fist erupted through the ceiling with a crash, sending splinters and paint chips showering down onto them, and a harsh, electronically distorted voice said, \"Target identified. Commencing retrieval of stolen property.\"\n\t\"Crap!\" said Katrina. \"Party's over! Let's boogie!\"\n\t\"What does 'boogie' mean?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tThe ceiling caved in and a hulking figure fell into the room in a cloud of dust. It was seven feet tall and clearly mostly robotic, but there was a bald human head on top, the eyes covered by glowing green goggles. The left forearm was absurdly massive, while the right was a huge cannon of some type. Its metal body was painted white and green.\n\t\"Run!\" shouted Katrina, fleeing the small chamber as the creature raised its cannon arm and fired. A bolt of searing hot plasma blew a hole in the wall as she ducked out the door. Dorgok ran after her.\n\tThey dashed up a flight of stairs, down a hall, across an empty room, out the front door of the abandoned building, and into the rain. Then they paused as Katrina looked up and down the empty street. Picking a direction, she sprinted off, Dorgok following. They ran through several alleys, feet splashing in puddles, and then hid in the doorway of another abandoned building.\n\t\"What was that thing?\" asked Dorgok, his scaly chest heaving.\n\t\"ARGENT cyborg,\" said Katrina, peering around the edge of the alcove. \"Very bad news.\"\n\t\"You stole something from it?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Let's say I creatively acquired something,\" Katrina replied.\n\t\"Maybe if you gave back what you stole, it would leave you alone,\" Dorgok suggested.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"Not likely. ARGENT likes to make an example of people who steal from them. They're funny that way.\"\n\t\"That makes sense,\" said Dorgok. \"What is ARGENT?\"\n\t\"Multinational megacorp, specializing in weaponry.\" She glanced back at Dorgok. \"They probably wouldn't mind getting their hands on you, too.\"\n\t\"Me?\" asked Dorgok. \"What would they want me for?\"\n\t\"To examine you, see if there's anything they can use. You can regrow limbs. They'd probably like to figure out how.\" She peered around the edge of the alcove again. The cyborg was trudging down the street toward them, its green goggles glowing through the sheets of rain. \"God damn it!\"\n\t\"It is coming?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tShe nodded. \"Okay, here's the plan. I'll try to stun it, then we both run like hell in opposite directions. It can only follow one of us.\"\n\t\"How are you going to do that?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Overload its mind with psychic energy. It's a little talent I have.\"\n\t\"Oh, you are a telepath, like the Elder Worms. You must have some of the DNA they implanted into primitive humans ages ago.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"What the hell are you talking about? Never mind. Ready?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"Ready to boogie.\"\n\tAs the cyborg drew near, Katrina jumped out of the doorway in front of it, and a stream of magenta-colored energy burst from her forehead and struck the forehead of the cyborg. It reeled, stumbling backward, its arms flailing. Katrina tried to duck past it, but it swung its cannon like a club and struck the side of her head, knocking her down. Dorgok bolted from the doorway and began to run in the opposite direction from the cyborg. Then he stopped. There was another one in the street ahead of him. He swallowed as it raised its arm cannon, aiming it at him.\n\t\"Hold it right there!\" a voice declared from above. Dorgok and Katrina looked up to see a small, gray-furred creature hovering in the air overhead. Its fur was soaked through, plastered against its body, its tail hanging behind it like a wet flag. A sheet of furred skin stretched from each arm to each leg, giving the creature a kitelike appearance and making the wearing of conventional clothing impossible.\n\t\"Subject identified as Supersonic Squirrel,\" the cyborg droned. \"Do not interfere. This is official ARGENT business.\"\n\tThe squirrel landed in front of Dorgok, interposing himself between the Lemurian and the cyborg. \"What kind of business?\" he demanded.\n\tThe cyborg lowered its cannon and raised its robotic left hand, pointing at Katrina. \"That woman is in possession of stolen ARGENT property.\"\n\t\"Even if she is, that doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands. If you want to charge her with theft, then as a registered hero I have the authority to place her under arrest. I'll hand her over to the police and your property will be returned to you after her trial. Okay?\"\n\tThe cyborg seemed to consider the squirrel's proposition for a moment. Then it raised its cannon again. \"Executing primary directive: Retrieve stolen property at all costs.\"\n\tSupersonic erected a wind barrier in front of himself as the cyborg fired, and the plasma bolt was deflected harmlessly off it. The squirrel then rose off the ground, his arms spread wide, as he drew the air around him into an incredibly compressed bubble. Throwing his arms and legs forward, he hurled the bubble at the cyborg, knocking it off its feet and sending it sailing backward. Then he whirled toward the other one, clenching his teeth as he built up another sphere of wind between his small gray hands. \n\tThe other cyborg already had its cannon leveled at him. \"Terminating hero to facilitate completion of objective,\" the cyborg droned passionlessly. Before it could fire, however, a bolt of silvery light struck it from behind, and it screeched and collapsed face down in the street.\n\t\"It looked as if you could use some help,\" said Celestial Boy, floating toward the group with unearthly energy crackling around him.\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Thanks for the save.\" He glanced at Dorgok, who was starting to edge away. \"Don't even think about it!\" Then he turned toward Katrina. \"Is what they said true? Did you steal something from them?\"\n\t\"Maaaaaybeeeeee,\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tThe squirrel growled at her. \"You'd better be straight with us!\"\n\tKatrina leaned over and tickled him under his chin. \"I'm never straight, sweetie. I'm as crooked as a three-dollar bill. And I know my rights. I don't have to tell you anything.\"\n\t\"Perhaps not,\" said Celestial Boy, landing on the street before her, \"but you have been accused of theft by representatives of ARGENT. That is sufficient cause for us to place you under arrest.\"\n\t\"You mean the creeps who just tried to kill your friend?\"\n\t\"Their actions were illegal and they will be held accountable for them, but that does not negate the accusation of theft against you. It is our duty to hand you all over to the proper authorities.\"\n\tKatrina frowned, then reached into the pocket of her raincoat and fished out a small irregularly shaped object that looked like several things glued together, one of which appeared to be an ordinary cell phone. \"Fine. This is what they were after.\"\n\t\"Looks like a piece of junk,\" Supersonic commented.\n\tCelestial Boy eyed the object skeptically, then looked at Katrina. \"Are you sure you are not . . . pulling my leg?\"\n\tKatrina saluted. \"Scout's honor!\"\n\t\"What is it?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"A cosmic eggbeater,\" Katrina replied.\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Really?\"\n\tShe rolled her eyes. \"No! Jeez, you are so gullible! I don't know what it is. It sure is ugly, though, innit?\"\n\t\"How did you obtain it?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"And please, make your response purely factual.\"\n\tShe sighed. \"So straight, like a young Joe Friday. I was hanging out in Sherrera's and I picked up a stray thought from a guy who worked at ARGENT.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"He said to be serious!\"\n\t\"I'm being completely serious! I can read minds. That isn't a crime, is it?\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but it is rather impolite.\"\n\tShe smirked. \"I can't help it if people think too loud. Anyway, he was part of their advanced projects division, and he was thinking they had something really big cooking and that he could make a bundle if he lifted a certain part they were working on and sold it to someone. The problem was that he was one of the few people with access to it, which would place him on a very short list of possible suspects.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"So you decided to steal it yourself.\"\n\t\"Well, it was easy enough to lift his security card and to get the passcode from his mind. I could just walk in, grab it, and walk right out. Like taking candy from a fish in a barrel.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"And I imagine the closed-circuit television cameras recorded your image as you came and went, enabling ARGENT to identify you as the thief and track you here.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I didn't say it was a perfect plan.\"\n\t\"Couldn't you read in his mind what the thing was for?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"He didn't know. Apparently, his superiors were treating him like a mushroom.\"\n\tSupersonic stared at her. \"A mushroom?\"\n\t\"Yeah, you know, kept in the dark and fed nothing but bullshit.\"\n\tThe squirrel scowled and folded his arms. \"Yeah, well, it'll be plenty dark where you're going.\"\n\t\"One moment,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have had run-ins with ARGENT before. They have a, shall we say, unsavory reputation. And while stealing from criminals is still a crime, I see no harm in finding out what this object is before returning it to them.\"\n\t\"Well,\" said Supersonic doubtfully, \"I guess that's all right.\"\n\t\"Good,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I know just the person to talk to.\"\n\t\"In the meantime, let's get these . . . hey!\" The squirrel spun around as the two ARGENT cyborgs suddenly faded out of existence.\n\t\"Interesting,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Cancel the cleanup in aisle six,\" commented Katrina.\n\t\"What happened to them?\" asked Supersonic, baffled. \"Where did they go?\"\n\t\"Wherever ARGENT recalled them to, I imagine,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I did not know that they possessed teleportation technology.\"\n\tSupersonic growled and then looked up at Katrina and Dorgok. \"Well, at least these two aren't getting away.\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I think it would be best if we kept them in our custody for the moment, until we have a clearer idea of what is going on. Oh, and by the way.\" He pointed a finger at Dorgok, and a beam of silvery light flowed from his finger into the Lemurian boy's stump. Dorgok unwrapped the bloody rag covering it. The end had healed over.\n\t\"Nifty!\" said Katrina. \"Do you think we could stop along the way and get some piercings done?\"\n\t\"Perhaps another time,\" said Celestial Boy, smiling.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Supersonic, smirking, \"the last thing you need is another hole in your head.\"\n\tKatrina put her hand over her heart melodramatically. \"Oh, save me from such a rapier wit!\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Let us get out of this rain.\"\n\tCelestial Boy picked up Dorgok and Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they flew off into the angry gray sky as Katrina began an off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\n\tHarmon Industries was one of the world's most powerful corporations, specializing in advanced technology. In a laboratory at its headquarters in downtown Millennium City, one of their top men examined the device Katrina had stolen from ARGENT while Celestial Boy looked on and Katrina, Dorgok, and Supersonic Squirrel warmed their wet, chilled bodies with hot coffee. In this case, though, the term \"top man\" was something of a misnomer, since he wasn't a man. He was a chimpanzee named Adam.\n\t\"Another manimal,\" growled Dorgok, glaring at the lab-coated chimp, who was standing on a stool and peering at the device through a stereoscope.\n\t\"You have something against manimals?\" asked Supersonic sharply.\n\t\"A manimal is responsible for this,\" said the Lemurian, holding up his stump.\n\t\"I thought you said you bit it off,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Only because he shackled me.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"He says it'll grow back,\" said Katrina. \"Anyway, don't be too offended. I think you're cute.\" She smiled at Supersonic and blew him a kiss.\n\tSupersonic blushed beneath his fur. \"Thanks, but why would I be offended? I'm not a manimal.\"\n\t\"You're not?\" asked Katrina, looking surprised.\n\t\"No, I'm a cartoon character who got wished to life.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" Katrina said, dubiously.\n\t\"You don't recognize me?\"\n\tShe shook her head.\n\tHe sighed. \"I guess it was a bit before your time.\"\n\tShe took out her cell phone, did a quick Internet search, and her eyes widened with surprise at the image on the screen. \"Holy shit, you [i]do[/i] look like him!\" She grinned. \"So are you like Roger Rabbit? If I drop an anvil on your head, will you go flat and then bounce back?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled. \"My friends showed me that movie. No, I'm flesh and blood, just like you. Dropping an anvil on my head would cave my skull in.\"\n\tShe bent over and poked his furry chest. \"Hmm. You sure feel real enough.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"A two-dimensional character can't exist in a three-dimensional world, so the wish translated me into something that could.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Gotcha. So is Supersonic Squirrel, like, your code name, or nickname?\"\n\t\"No, it's my real name. I was born October 14th, 1947, the day Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X-1, so my parents named me Supersonic.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"Shouldn't you be, like, really old, then?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"The wish brought me to life at the age I was when my show was cancelled, in 1964.\"\n\t\"Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense. You ever get laid?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Come on, a big TV star like you must have fooled around with some cute squirrel girls back in the '60s. You know, dropped some acid, smoked some weed. Or what did they call it back then . . . reefer, right?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and folded his arms. \"It was a family show! We didn't do things like that!\"\n\t\"Ever been kissed?\"\n\t\"Will you stop asking me personal questions? You're under arrest, you know!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I'm just curious. I've never met a TV star before. Now I'm imagining you in a hot tub with squirrel girls crawling all over you.\"\n\t\"SHUT UP!\" Supersonic shouted. Then he realized Adam and Celestial Boy were staring at him and looked away, embarrassed.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Adam, turning to Celestial Boy, \"one thing I can say for sure: ARGENT didn't make this.\"\n\t\"Are you certain of that?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tAdam nodded. \"I'm familiar with their designs—they are one of our chief competitors, after all—and this is nothing like them.\"\n\t\"Perhaps they hired someone new?\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Possibly, but ARGENT tends to be pretty conservative. This is just too weird for them. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do.\"\n\tSupersonic came over to them. \"So you can't tell us what it is or where it came from?\" He looked up at Celestial Boy, annoyed. \"This was a big waste of time!\"\n\t\"Not necessarily,\" said Adam. \"It definitely looks like part of some larger device. And I have seen something like it before, something made by an engineer . . . well, engineer might be too strong a word. He's more like an idiot savant. He slaps things together and somehow they work, even though they shouldn't.\"\n\t\"Who is this person?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"His name is Damon Armstrong, a.k.a., Juryrig.\"\n\t\"Ah, yes, I've heard of him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"He lives in Vibora Bay, Florida.\"\n\tAdam nodded. \"If you want to find out what this is, I'd suggest you talk to him.\"\n\t\"Do you have his number?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"We could take a picture of it and send it to him.\"\n\t\"No, I don't have his number. I'm not even sure he has one. He's rather eccentric, and when he's working on a project—which is always—he's in his own little world and doesn't pay attention to anything else. Your best bet might be to actually go down there yourselves.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to the others. \"Well, it looks as if a trip to Vibora Bay is in order.\"\n\t\"After we drop these two off with the police,\" said Supersonic, looking at Katrina and Dorgok with satisfaction.\n\t\"What?\" asked Katrina. \"I put you on the trail of some tech thieves, and this is the thanks I get?\"\n\tSupersonic rolled his eyes. \"Oh, give me a break!\" he said, folding his arms across his chest. \"Stealing is still a crime, no matter who you steal from.\"\n\t\"Tell that to Robin Hood,\" said Katrina haughtily.\n\t\"That's different! Anyway, you don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. You're just a common thief!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"With mental powers. But maybe I could be a hero, with the right role model.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"Like who?\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"How about you?\"\n\tHe blinked. \"Me?\"\n\t\"Sure! You're a real straight arrow! I'm sure you could cure me of my wicked ways.\"\n\tSupersonic looked doubtful. \"Well, I don't know . . .\"\n\tShe crouched down to be face to face with him. \"Come on, Supersonic, show me how to be a real American hero.\"\n\tAdam stared at Supersonic and Celestial Boy. \"You're not actually buying this, are you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"It is possible her desire to reform is genuine.\"\n\t\"And it's also possible monkeys might fly out of my butt! She's just trying to avoid going to prison!\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we shall find out soon enough. It also occurs to me that ARGENT is still after her, so she might be safer with us than with the police.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Aw, you guys are so sweet!\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, still looking uncertain, \"but he's definitely going to jail!\" He pointed a furry finger at Dorgok.\n\t\"On what charge?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Supersonic. \"He's a Lemurian!\"\n\t\"That's not a crime,\" Katrina replied. \"They may have invaded the city once, but he wasn't here for that. He hasn't broken any laws. You've got nothing on him.\"\n\t\"As much as it pains me to admit it,\" said Celestial Boy, \"she is correct. Dorgok has committed no offense. However, he is a minor and he is in this country illegally. It is our duty to hand him over to the proper authorities.\"\n\t\"Oh, come on!\" said Katrina. \"What are Child Services and the INS gonna do with a Lemurian?\"\n\t\"That is for them to decide,\" Celestial Boy replied.\n\t\"He was kidnapped by his father, wrongfully imprisoned in Nightmunk's apartment, and forced to mutilate himself to escape,\" said Katrina. \"I'd say you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do.\"\n\tCelestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel looked at each other, then back at Katrina. \"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall bring him along, too.\"\n\t\"You sure that's a good idea?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"No, but it is an expedient one, and I wish to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. In any case, what harm can he do?\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, doubtfully.\n\tDorgok looked at Katrina, puzzled. \"Why are you helping me?\" he asked.\n\tShe grinned at the reptilian youth. \"Hey, we had a deal, right? You gave me a ruby so I'd help you out.\"\n\tDorgok nodded slowly, and decided to refrain from mentioning that he had intended to tear out her throat with his teeth at the first opportunity.\n\n\tBeing registered heroes, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel both had a good working relationship with UNTIL—the United Nations Tribunal on International Law, an organization that policed supercrime around the world. This gave them access to its various facilities and resources, including its jump jets—supersonic VTOLs that could swiftly transport heroes almost anywhere on the globe they were needed. Thus, less than an hour later, the heroes and their two companions were exiting a jump jet into the muggy, late-afternoon air of Vibora Bay, a sprawling, colorful city on the gulf coast of Florida.\n\tDorgok froze the moment his claw-toed feet touched the wooden planks of the waterfront pier upon which the jump jet had landed, and his black tongue flicked excitedly. \"There is much magic here!\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as they walked along the pier. \"This city has a rich magical tradition and has for centuries drawn practitioners of magic to it, both for good and for ill. The sorcerer Dr. Ka lives here, as does Robert Caliburn, Earth's archmage.\"\n\tDorgok growled. \"I know both of them. It was Dr. Ka who stripped me of my powers!\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him in surprise. \"Why did he do that?\"\n\t\"Because I am a Lemurian, and he did not want me using them for evil.\"\n\t\"Given what I know of your people,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that would seem to be a prudent measure.\"\n\tKatrina sneered. \"That's what I love about you heroes. You're all so freaking self-righteous!\"\n\t\"I thought you wanted to be one of us,\" said Supersonic, sounding disappointed.\n\t\"That doesn't mean I want to police the lives of everyone around me!\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"The public has to be protected!\"\n\t\"So that makes it okay to pre-emptively take away someone's abilities when they haven't done anything wrong?\"\n\t\"Perhaps,\" Celestial Boy replied, \"if they have demonstrated themselves to be a menace.\" He glanced at Dorgok. \"Had you done so?\"\n\tDorgok snarled. \"Robert Caliburn, Nightmunk and my father invaded my mother's fortress in the Qliphoth and attacked her servants! We had every right to defend ourselves!\"\n\t\"The Qliphoth is a dimension of evil and chaos,\" said Celestial Boy. \"What was she doing there?\"\n\t\"What does it matter? They murdered her!\"\n\tSupersonic Squirrel gasped. \"They killed your mother?\"\n\t\"Well, that sure sounds heroic!\" said Katrina, smirking.\n\t\"Bear in mind,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we are only hearing his side of the story. I suspect there is more to it than he is telling.\"\n\t\"But even if there is,\" protested Supersonic, \"heroes don't kill people! They save people!\"\n\t\"It would be best not to pass judgment until we have more facts,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"You guys always defend each other, don't you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned at her. \"I am not defending their actions. I am simply avoiding jumping to conclusions. Anyway, you are a telepath. The facts of the matter are yours for the taking if you want them.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I'm trying to cut down.\"\n\tSupersonic smiled up at her. \"Good! You shouldn't read people's minds without permission.\"\n\t\"See?\" said Katrina, smiling back at him. \"I can do the right thing sometimes.\"\n\t\"One good deed does not a hero make,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall have to wait and see how long this newfound morality endures.\"\n\t\"You're such a prig,\" said Katrina, and stuck her tongue out at him.\n\tThe quartet made their way past the shops on the waterfront, eliciting numerous stares and whispered comments from the many tourists buying souvenirs there. They walked past the majestic bulk of the [i]S.S. Bayou Queen[/i], the riverboat and floating casino that was moored to the pier, and onto the brick streets of Vibora Bay. Once there, they boarded a trolley car headed for the Weston Tangle district, getting more stares from their fellow passengers. The trolley clattered along its rails, past bars and jazz clubs, beneath ancient cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, and eventually to the quartet's destination: an enormous warehouse surrounded by a brick wall with an iron gate in the front. Celestial Boy pressed the buzzer, and they waited. There was no response.\n\t\"Well, now what?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"I suppose we go over the wall.\"\n\t\"That's trespassing,\" Katrina pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And if Mr. Armstrong wishes to charge us with such, we shall accept the penalty.\" With that, he picked up Dorgok and rose into the air, crackling with energy. Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they all floated over the wall.\n\tThe area inside the wall was heaped with junk of every sort imaginable—household appliances, industrial equipment, the shells of wrecked cars, even the remains of an airplane or two. Rats scampered about the refuse, eyeing the newcomers warily. \"Gee,\" said Supersonic, \"there sure is a lot of stuff here!\"\n\tKatrina nodded. \"The man likes his junk. Then again, what man doesn't?\" She giggled, and the other three looked at her strangely. \"What?\" she asked. \"You don't get the joke?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I fear not.\"\n\t\"What joke?\" asked Supersonic, confused.\n\tShe sighed. \"Never mind. I forgot I was with a bunch of humorless dweebs.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled and put his hands on his hips. \"I do so have a sense of humor!\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"Yeah, but it's G-rated.\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy, leading them toward a corrugated aluminum door in the front of the warehouse. Immediately, it became apparent that something was amiss. There was a large tear in the door, big enough for a man to walk through. \"Someone has gotten here before us,\" he observed.\n\t\"Five'll get you ten it's ARGENT,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I wouldn't take that bet on a dare,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"There is no time to lose,\" said Celestial Boy. \"A man's life may be in danger!\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and suddenly his body was encased in red and purple armor, with a squarish helmet and intricate geometric designs on the chest and belt. Twin metallic wings protruded from the back, with sharp points sticking upward well above his head. These wings did not move but were fixed in place, giving the suit a somewhat Art Deco look. He rose into the air and flew through the rent in the door, Supersonic flying in after him.\n\tThey entered a corridor that ran along the front of the building and then turned left. Rounding the corner brought them face to face with a group of men in white and green armor, carrying weapons of various types. \"Intruders! Get them!\" one shouted, leveling his rifle at Celestial Boy. \n\tSupersonic Squirrel flew straight into the middle of them, a vortex of wind swirling around him, scattering them like dry leaves. One who was standing slightly apart from the others raised his hand and fired a taser at him, which struck, momentarily paralyzing the squirrel and causing his fur to stand up straight all over his body. Celestial Boy blasted the man with a bolt of silvery light, dropping him, then turned to Supersonic. \"Are you all right?\" he asked.\n\tSupersonic nodded as he got up off the floor, rubbing his head, his tail still all bristly. \"Yeah, I'm okay. That thing sure packed a wallop, though. My teeth are still tingling!\"\n\t\"There may be even worse ahead,\" said Celestial Boy, and they both turned as they heard metal feet pounding toward them.\n\tOutside, Katrina and Dorgok were considering their options.\n\t\"Our captors have abandoned us,\" said Dorgok. \"Is there any reason we should not simply flee?\"\n\tKatrina grinned at the reptilian youth. \"I like the way you think. Come on!\"\n\tAs they turned to head back toward the gate, a familiar electronic voice said, \"Halt, or be terminated.\" One of ARGENT's cyborgs emerged from behind a heap of rusted metal between them and the gate. It might have been one of the pair they had encountered in Millennium City; it was hard to tell.\n\tKatrina cursed, and a bolt of magenta energy arced from her forehead to the cyborg's, staggering it. However, she could see that there were two more approaching.\n\t\"Quick, inside!\" she ordered Dorgok, and dashed into the building, the Lemurian boy following.\n\tIn the corridor, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel had been set upon by a quartet of ARGENT mechenforcers—silver humanoid robots with skeletal bodies and skull-like heads containing round, glowing, green photoelectric cells. The robots' arms each melded into complex, roughly diamond-shaped shields with twinned protrusions at the long ends, which could be employed for both defense and offense, firing bolts of searing hot plasma. This left them without usable hands, but they also had no real need for any, their sole purpose being to act as strike teams and sentries.\n\tSupersonic fired a wind blast at one, slamming it back into a brick wall and reducing it to junk, while Celestial Boy struck another down with a beam of cosmic energy. The remaining two fired plasma bolts at the two heroes, one striking Supersonic in the shoulder and causing him to howl in pain. Then each robot raised one of its shields, sheltering behind it as the heroes returned fire. The shields proved quite resilient, both the heroes' attacks glancing harmlessly off.\n\tSupersonic drew their fire, zig-zagging wildly around the two robots, which fired at him but missed. This gave Celestial Boy an opening to attack, and he did so, blasting one of the robots to pieces. As the last mechenforcer turned to fire at Celestial Boy, Supersonic flew up behind it and summoned a small tornado, which lifted the robot into the air and then slammed it down onto the concrete floor, destroying it.\n\tAt that moment, Katrina and Dorgok came running around the corner to join them. \"Incoming!\" shouted Katrina.\n\t\"How many?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Three cyborgs!\" Even as she spoke, one of them smashed through the flimsy aluminum door and pounded toward the heroes.\n\t\"Get behind us!\" ordered Supersonic, building up a sphere of compressed air in his hands. Katrina and Dorgok did so just as the cyborg rounded the corner and raised its beam weapon.\n\t\"Heroes identified,\" it droned. \"Terminating to facilitate completion of objective.\"\n\t\"Yeah, yeah,\" muttered Supersonic, and hurled his sphere at the cyborg. It struck the creature squarely in its chest, knocking it off its feet. Celestial Boy finished it off with a cosmic energy blast as two more rounded the corner.\n\t\"I got this!\" said Katrina, grinning, and hit one with a mind blast, overloading its neural processors and shutting it down. The last one fired at Celestial Boy and scored a hit, knocking him back ten feet, but his armor absorbed most of the impact. Katrina and Supersonic then attacked it in unison, and it quickly fell.\n\t\"I don't think I like those guys very much,\" said Supersonic, his furry chest heaving.\n\t\"But they have such great personalities,\" said Katrina. Then she looked at him. \"Hey, you're hurt!\"\n\tSupersonic glanced at the burned patch on his shoulder. \"Eh, it's nothing.\"\n\t\"Looks painful,\" said Katrina.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I'm starting to get used to pain.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"I bet you never had to deal with that when you were a cartoon.\"\n\t\"No, I didn't feel anything back then, good or bad.\"\n\t\"Sounds boring.\" She turned to Celestial Boy, who had gotten up and was coming over to them. \"Hey, CB, wanna patch up your friend here? By the way, nice armor. You look like a hood ornament.\"\n\t\"Thank you,\" replied Celestial Boy dryly, as a beam of silvery light from his hand healed Supersonic's wound, leaving a pink bald spot where the fur would have to grow back in.\n\t\"Good thing you didn't get shot in the butt!\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tSupersonic chuckled. \"I can do you better than that. One time on the show, I flew so fast all my fur burned off, so I was pink and hairless all over!\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You were naked on national TV? They could do that back then?\"\n\t\"Well, it was just a cartoon show. And I'm a squirrel, so it didn't really matter.\"\n\t\"Shall we continue?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Let's shall,\" said Katrina, brightly.\n\tThe four moved cautiously down a steeply inclined corridor to the entrance to the main floor of the warehouse, a room the size of an aircraft hangar. Against one wall lay an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions.\n\tBefore this object stood two men. One was dressed in sleek, dark gray armor that covered his entire body, a silver visor concealing his face. On his left arm was strapped a shield similar to those employed by the mechenforcers. In his right he held a huge twin-barreled rifle of some sort, which was aimed at the other man.\n\tThe second man was shorter and stood hunched over. He had red hair and a beard and wore green coveralls. More remarkably, his right arm and left leg were clearly artificial, but the limbs appeared to be made out of junk—rusty, clunky, and ungainly, like something out of a steampunk fantasy. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eyesocket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as haphazardly assembled as the rest of his equipment, and which included, oddly, a household blender sticking up from the top, with blue liquid sloshing around inside it.\n\t\"I take it the guy with the blender on his back is Juryrig,\" whispered Supersonic. \"Who's the other one?\"\n\t\"His name is Mechassassin,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have encountered him before. He is a mercenary who often works for ARGENT.\"\n\t\"Dangerous?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Extremely. And ruthless. As his name suggests, he will not hesitate to kill.\"\n\t\"Think there's any chance he'll surrender peacefully if we ask?\"\n\t\"I would place that at a very low order of probability.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed into the room, Celestial Boy right behind.\n\tMechassassin's head snapped around as the two heroes barreled toward him, and he switched aim. The underside of his rifle fired steel cables that wrapped around both their bodies, pinning their arms. \"I was told you two might show up,\" he said, his voice distorted electronically from inside his helmet. \"You're not going to stop me from completing my mission!\"\n\t\"Aw, they didn't mention me?\" asked Katrina, stepping out from the doorway. \"I'm hurt!\" She fired a mind blast at him, which made him cry out in pain and stumble backward. This gave Celestial Boy and Supersonic a chance to break free of their restraints and hurl bolts of wind and cosmic energy at Mechassassin. The mercenary raised his shield to block, blunting their attacks. Then he leveled his rifle at Celestial Boy and fired a barrage of plasma bolts at him, which peppered his armor and knocked him out of the air. Supersonic flew around Mechassassin and blasted him with wind from behind, and Katrina hit him with another mind blast.\n\t\"Damn it, I hate mentalists!\" muttered Mechassassin, taking aim at Katrina with his rifle. \"Time to die, girl!\" She swallowed, eyes going wide as she stared down the twin barrels. Before he could fire, however, Supersonic swooped down and raised his wind barrier in front of her, deflecting Mechassassin's plasma bolts harmlessly away. \n\tIn the meantime, Juryrig had produced from a pocket of his coveralls an object that resembled a electric drill with a fork sticking out of the front. It produced a piercing wave of sound that washed over Mechassassin, causing him to double over and press his hands to the sides of his helmet.\n\tMechassassin looked around the room at Supersonic, Katrina, Juryrig, and the now recovered Celestial Boy. \"This is not over, heroes!\" he snarled. \"I will be back!\" With that, he rocketed upward, burst through the roof, and was gone.\n\tKatrina smirked. \"So will a bad check.\" Then she turned to Supersonic. \"Thanks for the save, fuzzy.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"It was nothing.\" He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"Are you okay?\"\n\t\"I am unharmed,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Mr. Armstrong?\" he asked Juryrig.\n\t\"Ah'm fine, thanks,\" said Juryrig, in a wheezing, somewhat grating voice. \"Ah'm sure glad someone came and chased these ARGENT bozos off. Ah hate to think what they would have done with this.\" He gestured at the huge machine.\n\t\"And what exactly is [i]this[/i]?\" asked Celestial Boy, eyeing the heap of spare parts curiously.\n\t\"Well, ah call it a quantum temporal displacement engine,\" said Juryig, \"but ah guess you could call it a time machine.\"\n\tThere was a moment of silence while everyone stared at Juryrig, which was broken when Katrina burst out laughing. \"A time machine? Seriously?\"\n\t\"Well, yeah,\" said Juryrig, looking somewhat embarrassed.\n\t\"You don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, looking at Katrina.\n\t\"Are you kidding? That piece of crap? It's like a little kid calling a cardboard box a spaceship!\"\n\t\"Clearly, ARGENT thinks there is something to it,\" Celestial Boy pointed out, \"or they would not have sent their people here.\"\n\t\"Speaking of which,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed out of the room and back up the ramp. He returned a moment later. \"Yeah, they're gone. Must have been teleported out, like the ones we fought in Millennium City.\"\n\tJuryrig stared at Supersonic, apparently having just realized there was a three-foot talking squirrel in the room. \"Hey, ah know you! You're Supersonic Squirrel! Ah used to watch your show when ah was a kid! Only, that was a cartoon. How can you be here?\"\n\t\"That is a rather long story,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Suffice it to say, he is as real as you or I. I believe introductions are in order. I am Celestial Boy. Supersonic Squirrel and I are members of the Millennium Guard.\" He turned to Katrina and Dorgok. \"These are Katrina Werner and Dorgok of Lemuria.\"\n\tKatrina waved and gave an exaggerated smile. \"Hi there!\" Dorgok simply nodded.\n\t\"Pleased to meet you both,\" said Juryrig. His eyes went to Dorgok's stump. \"Ah could make a replacement for that.\"\n\t\"There is no need,\" said Dorgok. \"It will grow back.\"\n\t\"Just as ARGENT will undoubtably be back with reinforcements,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to Juryrig. \"You need some security on this machine, now that they know about it.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"What ah can't figure is how they found out. Ah haven't told anyone but Defender what ah was workin' on, an' ah know he wouldn't blab.\"\n\t\"This may have something to do with it,\" said Celestial Boy, holding out the object that had brought them here.\n\tJuryrig's face lit up. \"Ah've been lookin' for that!\" He took the object from Celestial Boy and examined it. \"Where'd you find it?\"\n\t\"Katrina liberated it from an ARGENT laboratory in Millennium City. I don't suppose you know how they might have gotten hold of it?\"\n\tJuryig scratched his head with his metal hand. \"Well, the last time ah remember havin' it was in Sal's Diner. Ah brought it there to tinker with while ah was eatin'. Ah must've accidentally left it there.\" He grinned sheepishly.\n\tCelestial Boy gave a paternalistic, disapproving frown, which looked rather incongruous on his youthful face. \"Perhaps in the future you should refrain from taking such sensitive technology to public places.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Ah'll try to remember that.\" He walked over to the machine, his metal leg clanking loudly with each step, and inserted the object into its workings. Immediately, the machine began to hum, and the circular opening in the front began to pulsate. \"There we go! That's just what she needed! Thanks!\"\n\t\"So, this can really send people through time?\" asked Supersonic, looking up at the huge machine in wonder.\n\t\"Well, only into the past,\" replied Juryrig. \"You can't go into the future, 'cause it ain't happened yet.\"\n\t\"How does it work?\" asked Supersonic, fascinated.\n\t\"The control panel's right here,\" said Juryig. He clanked over to a bank of computer keyboards that had been rather haphazardly wired together, and everyone came over to look. \"You just tap in the time an' coordinates you want to visit, an' off you go!\"\n\t\"So it can be used to travel in space as well as time?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, it kind of has to,\" said Juryrig, \"since the planet is movin' an' all.\"\n\t\"Point taken,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Have you tested it?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Yeah, ah've made a few short trips into the past. Just a few hours. Met my earlier self. That was weird.\"\n\t\"I imagine so,\" Celestial Boy commented.\n\tKatrina looked at Supersonic and made a whirling motion with her finger beside her ear.\n\t\"You still don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, whispering.\n\t\"Come on!\" Katrina whispered back. \"A time machine?\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"On my show there was a super-smart dog and his pet boy who had a time machine that took them on all kinds of adventures throughout history.\"\n\tKatrina sighed. \"Dat vas a cartoon, dahlink.\"\n\t\"You're talking to a cartoon, dahlink. You could always read his mind to find out if he's telling the truth.\"\n\t\"I thought you didn't want me snooping around in people's minds without permission. Anyway, all that would tell me is that [i]he[/i] believes it, and if he's as nuts as he seems, that wouldn't surprise me a bit.\"\n\t\"Hey,\" said Juryrig, \"ah just realized ah'm hungry! Wanna order out for pizza or somethin'? There's a real good pizzeria just down the street.\"\n\t\"That sounds great!\" said Supersonic, grinning and rubbing his belly. He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Castor? I know you don't need to eat . . .\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I still enjoy the taste of food.\"\n\t\"Count me in,\" said Katrina. She turned to Dorgok. \"How about you? Have you ever had pizza?\" \n\tThe Lemurian boy shook his head. \"What is it?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Only the best food on Earth!\"\n\tAs Juryrig began dialing the number of the pizzeria on an old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall, they all froze at the sound of something being knocked over upstairs.\n\t\"ARGENT?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Possibly,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I only sense one mind,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Could be Mechassassin,\" Supersonic suggested.\n\t Celestial Boy shook his head. \"He is not a fool. It would not make sense for him to return alone.\"\n\t\"Well, let's go see who it is,\" said Supersonic, and flew up the ramp, Celestial Boy close on his heels.\n\tThey rounded the corner to find that the front corridor contained a single occupant. It was a Lemurian, taller than Dorgok, his slim body covered with brown and yellow scales, his chest and belly white. There was a webbed crest atop his lizardlike head, fins on his arms, legs and back, and a long, sinuous tail that swished behind him. His fingers and toes sported wicked-looking claws. Unlike Dorgok, he wore no clothing. He floated a foot above the floor, electricity crackling all around him.\n\t\"Who are you?\" Supersonic demanded.\n\t\"I am Samtiss,\" replied the Lemurian, in a hissing voice. \"I have come for Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Well, you'll have to go through me first!\" said Supersonic, and fired a wind blast that knocked the Lemurian back ten feet. Samtiss retaliated with a lighting bolt from his clawed hand, which electrified the squirrel, making his fur stand on end. Supersonic dropped to the floor on all fours, shivering. \"Holy cow, twice in one day!\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed as Katrina and Juryig came up to join them. \"It never fails. Gentlemen, might we suspend the hostilities for one moment to straighten this out?\"\n\t\"I did not come here to fight,\" Samtiss replied. \"I came to get my son.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked as he got to his feet. \"You're Dorgok's father?\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I am.\"\n\t\"You gotta admit,\" said Katrina, \"there is a certain family resemblance.\"\n\t\"How did you know where to find him?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Adam informed Nightmunk that you had brought Dorgok to Vibora Bay,\" replied Samtiss, \"and Nightmunk told me.\"\n\t\"And you flew down here on your own?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"That is not a problem for me,\" said Samtiss. \"Now, where is my son?\"\t\n\t\"He's downstairs,\" said Juryrig. \"Come on, ah'll—\" He stopped as the lights in the warehouse suddenly dimmed. \"Oh no!\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tJuryrig did not reply. Instead, he ran down the ramp to the room containing the quantum temporal displacement engine, the others close behind. There was no sign of Dorgok. \"Ah was afraid of this,\" he said.\n\t\"WHAT?\" Supersonic demanded impatiently.\n\tJuryrig turned to face him and shrugged helplessly. \"He's gone back in time!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"Are you certain of this?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"The machine pulls a lot of juice every time it's activated. Plus, there's no other way out of this room!\"\n\t\"Just a moment,\" said Samtiss. \"Am I to understand that this . . . apparatus . . . is some sort of time machine?\"\n\t\"So he says,\" replied Katrina.\n\t\"Let's find out where he went!\" said Supersonic, running to the control console. The others quickly came over to join him.\n\t\"It's set for Millennium City,\" Juryrig observed, \"just a little over a year ago.\"\n\t\"That is the date of the Lemurian invasion,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Why would he want to go there?\" asked Supersonic. \"To help out?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I doubt one more Lemurian would have made any difference, particularly a child with no powers who is missing a hand.\"\n\t\"Then what's he trying to do?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss's tongue flickered in agitation. \"He is trying to save his mother.\"\n\tThey all turned and stared at him. \n\t\"His mother?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen the Defiler. She was there that day. If he can find her, he can warn her of her fate and perhaps enable her to avoid it.\"\n\t\"Would that be a bad thing?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It could potentially be catastrophic,\" replied Samtiss. \"She was involved in a plot to free the Kings of Edom so they could once again ravage the multiverse.\"\n\t\"The Kings of Edom?\" asked Katrina. \"Who the hell are they?\"\n\t\"Cosmic entities of unimaginable power and evil,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"The Lemurians called them the Rastrinfhar—the Bleak Ones—and worshipped them as gods. They were imprisoned eons ago, but their followers strive constantly to free them.\"\n\tSamtiss eyed Celestial Boy. \"You know much for one so young, human.\"\n\t\"I am not human,\" replied Celestial Boy, \"and I am older than I look. I am well versed in the lore of the Kings. It is the reason I was sent here. However, I am curious as to why you would want to stop a plot to free them, Lemurian.\"\n\t\"Dorgok said his father was a traitor,\" said Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I realized the terrible mistake we made in returning to worshipping the Bleak Ones, and have been fighting against it.\"\n\t\"He also said you killed his mother,\" said Supersonic, narrowing his eyes at the Lemurian.\n\t\"Strictly speaking, that is not correct,\" said Samtiss. \"She was killed by Emorada, a paladin from another dimension. But I gladly would have, given the chance. Though I once loved Yareen, her worship of the Bleak Ones had thoroughly corrupted her. I have never encountered a more evil being.\"\n\t\"Okay,\" said Katrina, \"let's say Dorgok really has gone back in time to save his mother. Is there any reason we can't set the machine for a few seconds before he arrives, nab him, and be home in time for supper?\"\n\tJuryrig shook his head. \"It don't work that way. When Dorgok went back there, that time an' this one became entangled at the quantum level. Time is passin' at the same rate in both!\"\n\t\"I'll pretend I understood that,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I think what he means,\" said Celestial Boy, \"is that for every second that passes here, a second passes there. Therefore, the longer we delay going after him, the more time he has to find his mother.\"\n\t\"That must not happen,\" said Samtiss. \"If Yareen manages to avoid her fate, there could be dire consquences for the entire multiverse.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Then we must go now.\" He took a step toward the machine.\n\t\"Hold on a second,\" said Juryig. \"If you're goin' back in time, you'll be wantin' these.\" He held out a handful of objects that looked like ordinary digital wristwatches.\n\t\"To keep track of the time?\" asked Supersonic, puzzled.\n\t\"These are recall devices,\" Juryrig replied. \"Press the alarm button an' you'll pop back to the present. Alternatively, ah can bring you back usin' the recall button on the console.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as he, Supersonic, and Samtiss each strapped one of the recall devices onto a wrist. \"Ready?\" he asked the squirrel and the Lemurian.\n\t\"As I'll ever be,\" said Supersonic. He turned to Katrina. \"You're free to go, Katrina.\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You're turning me loose?\"\n\t\"It wouldn't be right to force you to come with us. I sure wish you would, because we could use all the help we can get, but I'll understand if you don't want to. It could be very dangerous.\"\n\tKatrina chewed her lip for a moment, then shrugged. \"Ah, what the hell. How many chances am I gonna have to travel through time?\" She took one of the recall devices from Juryrig and strapped it on.\n\t\"All right,\" said Celestial Boy, \"let's go.\" And the four of them walked up the ramp of the noisy, quivering, whirling machine and entered the glowing portal to the past.\n\tThe first thing they experienced was the cold shock of rain hitting their faces. When they recovered, they could see that they were standing in a street in downtown Millennium City in the middle of a torrential downpour, the ground around them strewn with debris from a nearby building that had collapsed when a Lemurian drilling machine—a giant cylinder with a conical drill on top—had come straight up out of the ground beneath it. The colossal machine sat silently amidst the mountain of rubble, pointed at the sky, looking like a predator perched atop its kill, a huge door in its side yawning open like a mouth. It was abandoned now, having disgorged its cargo of Lemurian soldiers to terrorize the city. The echoing sound of gunfire in the distance attested that the battle was in progress. Then came a screeching sound as a trio of strange objects shot by overhead, racing along the narrow, skyscraper-lined canyon. They consisted of hemispherical capsules with the rounded end facing forward, surrounded by three triangular fins equally spaced that rotated continuously as they flew.\n\t\"Lemurian Exocet fighters,\" said Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I remember. I destroyed several of them during the invasion.\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him. \"You were there? I mean, here?\"\n\t\"Of course. Where else would I be?\"\n\tHe turned to Katrina, who was still staring up at the sky in disbelief. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"Huh? Oh, I'm hiding in a shelter, with the rest of the civilians. Holy shit, that pile of junk actually works!\"\n\t\"So it would seem,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Can you locate Dorgok?\"\n\tShe closed her eyes and concentrated. \"I'm trying. There's so much chaos. It's like trying to hear one voice among thousands.\" She opened her eyes and shook her head. \"I can't do it. There's too much interference.\"\n\tSupersonic squeezed her hand. \"At least you tried. That's all anyone could ask.\"\n\tCelestial Boy turned to Samtiss. \"Have you any idea where Yareen might be?\"\n\t\"She was with the group of mystics who summoned the Bleak Harbinger,\" the Lemurian replied.\n\t\"That was the giant monster they intended to use to destroy Millennium City!\" exclaimed Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I was there, too, trying to stop them. I failed.\"\n\t\"We must head in that direction, then,\" said Celestial Boy, taking to the air. Samtiss crackled with electricity and followed him, and Supersonic picked up Katrina and flew after them on a gust of wind.\n\t\"If you're there, does that mean we might run into your earlier self?\" Katrina asked Samtiss as they flew.\n\t\"Possibly,\" the Lemurian replied. \"I would caution you that even though I had turned against my own people by this time, I still did not like or trust humans, nor was I aware that I had a son.\"\n\t\"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\" Celestial Boy asked, noting the pensive look on the squirrel's face.\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I don't like that we came back through time to make sure someone dies. It's not very heroic.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I can understand why you would feel that way. In your cartoon world, morality was very black and white. But in the real world, one must sometimes do unpleasant things for the greater good.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"I don't see how anything good can come from doing wrong.\"\n\t\"Was your president Truman wrong to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to deter an invasion of Japan that would have cost many more lives?\"\n\t\"President Truman was a good man!\" Supersonic protested. \"Besides, there was a war on!\"\n\tCelestial Boy gestured at the havoc going on around them. \"And what would you call this?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and flew on in silence.\n\tAs the four time travelers flew along beneath the iron-gray sky, their bodies pelted by heavy rain, they gave a start as a tremendous roar reverberated through the streets of Millennium City. It was a sound that two of them remembered well and had hoped never to hear again.\n\t\"The Harbinger is here,\" said Celestial Boy, grimly.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen will be close by. Come.\"\n\tThey flew a bit further, and as they rounded a skyscraper, their eyes were greeted by a spectacle such as only Millennium City could provide. There at the edge of the Detroit River stood a creature out of a nightmare. It towered more than a hundred feet above the frothing water, its lumpy greenish-gray body topped by a grotesque wedge-shaped head, each side lined with three glowing eyes. Stony protrusions stuck out from either side of its head, giving the head a loose resemblance to that of a hammerhead shark. From the waist down it was nothing but a mass of writhing tentacles. It had four arms, each ending in a huge lobsterlike claw, with which it swatted angrily at the heroes buzzing around it like bothersome flies while another deafening roar issued forth from a mouth that could have swallowed a truck.\n\tFighting this monstrosity were several of the Champions, the world's most famous superhero team. There was Defender, in his gleaming blue-and-white battle armor, blasting it with plasma beams from his hands; Sapphire, who was also a successful singing star, hovering above its head in her blue vest, trunks, and thigh-high boots and generating concussive bursts of force; Witchcraft, her green cloak and red hair billowing in the wind as she hurled mystical hex bolts at it; and Ironclad, an alien gladiator whose body was covered in living metal, slashing at its tentacles with his sword. Other heroes were fighting the creature as well, including Adam, the chimpanzee scientist now wearing a red-and-white jumpsuit and flying with a jetpack while shooting at it with some sort of ray gun, and Nighthawk, the caped and hooded vigilante mounted on his grav bike and peppering its hide with laser bolts. Even Foxbat, who was technically a villain but more of a nuisance than a threat, had joined the fray, firing at the Bleak Harbinger with his ping-pong ball gun as he glided past it in his brown-and-yellow costume. However, nothing anyone was doing seemed to be having any effect on the hideous colossus.\n\t\"We have to help them!\" cried Supersonic as he watched the heroes attacking the Harbinger futilely.\n\t\"No, that is precisely what we must not do,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We are not supposed to be here. Any actions we take that alter the past could have dire consequences in our present. They defeated the Bleak Harbinger before without our assistance. They can do so again. Look—help is arriving even now.\" There, high above the Harbinger, a sleek steel vessel had emerged out of the murk.\n\t\"If I am not mistaken,\" said Samtiss, \"that is the UNTIL sky carrier [i]Barcelona[/i].\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"It played a pivotal role in this battle. Its radiation cannon weakened the Harbinger enough to enable the heroes to damage it.\"\n\t\"Then all is in good hands,\" said Samtiss. \"We need not concern ourselves with these events.\"\n\t\"You might want to tell [i]them[/i] that!\" said Katrina, pointing. A trio of Exocet fighters were streaking toward the four time travelers.\n\t\"Evade them, but do not attack!\" warned Celestial Boy. \"We must keep our interference in the past to an absolute minimum!\"\n\t\"I do not think that they will accord us the same courtesy,\" said Samtiss, as he blasted a missile fired at him by one of the fighters with a lightning bolt, causing it to explode in midair.\n\t\"Find cover!\" shouted Celestial Boy, and dove down into a gap between two buildings. One of the fighters peeled off to chase him, while Samtiss flew in the opposite direction, leading another away. Supersonic, still holding on to Katrina, shot back the way they had come, the last fighter in hot pursuit.\n\t\"Incoming!\" yelled Katrina. Supersonic glanced back at the fighter. It had fired a missile at them, which was closing rapidly. On his own, he might have been able to dodge it, but burdened as he was with Katrina, his maneuverability was greatly impaired. Gritting his teeth, he banked around the corner of a building, hoping the missile would strike it and not him.\n\tIt almost worked. The missile did hit the side of the building, but so close to them that Supersonic was struck on the head with a chunk of debris, stunning him and causing him to lose his grip on Katrina. With a scream, she plummeted toward the street far below, while Supersonic reeled, momentarily dazed. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and dove after the falling girl, accelerating toward her as fast as he could. She was already so close to the ground that he wasn't sure he'd be able to reach her before she hit, let alone pull out of his dive in time to save either of them, but he didn't slow down. Either they would both live, or they would both die.\n\tAs the street drew terrifyingly close, Supersonic's outstretched hands grasped Katrina's wrist, and he instantly pulled up, nearly wrenching his arms out of their sockets as he desperately tried to level out before they both ended up as red smears. Katrina's boots skittered against the asphalt as they rocketed along not five feet off the ground. The squirrel decelerated as fast as he could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. An abandoned city bus loomed before them, and there was no way he could stop or turn in time to avoid it. Gathering Katrina against him, Supersonic turned so he would bear the brunt of the impact and slammed into the side of the bus with tooth-jarring force, his body cushioning the blow for his charge.\n\tKatrina got groggily to her feet, scarcely able to believe that she was still alive. She glanced down at Supersonic. The squirrel was lying sprawled beside the bus, out cold. Then she looked up as the Exocet fighter that had fired the missile swooped down out of the sky toward them, and her eyes narrowed. \"You're dead,\" she growled.\n\tShe lashed out at the craft with a searing mental blast, augmented by her own anger and pain. The stunned Lemurian pilot lost control of his ship, and it plowed into the street, exploding and showering Katrina and Supersonic with flaming debris. \n\tKatrina knelt over the squirrel's unconscious form, shielding it from harm. \"Hey, squirrelly boy!\" she said, smacking his gray-furred face lightly. \"Come on, wake up!\" When he didn't, she cupped her hands and plunged them into a nearby puddle, dumping the cold water over his face. The squirrel sputtered, and his huge eyes snapped open. Then he groaned in pain. \"You okay?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSupersonic sat up, rubbing his back. \"I don't think any bones are broken. My whole body feels like one big bruise, though.\" He looked up at Katrina. \"How about you?\"\n\tKatrina grinned, the rain running down her brown face, her short white hair a spiky mess. \"Remember when I asked you if you'd ever been kissed?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Yeah, but what—?\" He was cut off as she savagely kissed him on his muzzle. The squirrel's eyes went wide, and his body went rigid. Then, after a moment, his eyes closed and he relaxed, putting his arms around Katrina and holding her, chrring softly. As she broke the kiss, he released her and looked at her, confused. \"What was that for?\"\n\t\"You risked your life back there to save mine,\" she replied, smiling. \"I figure that's worth a kiss, don't you?\"\n\tSupersonic rubbed behind his head. \"I suppose so. It's just a little unexpected, is all. I didn't think you liked me very much.\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"Eh, you're starting to grow on me. You know, like ringworm.\"\n\t\"Thanks, I guess,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet. He gazed at the wreckage of the Exocet. \"Did you do that?\"\n\t\"What else could I do? He hurt my squirrel.\" She grinned again.\n\t\"You shouldn't have,\" said Supersonic, frowning. \"Castor said we shouldn't do anything that could change the past.\"\n\t\"Screw Castor, and screw him,\" said Katrina, gesturing at the crashed fighter. \"He tried to kill us. If someone tries to kill me, it's his shit luck if he dies. Anyway, he'd already changed the past by attacking us.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I wish you wouldn't curse so much. It's not ladylike.\"\n\tKatrina put her hands on her hips. \"I'm sorry if my vulgar language offends your delicate 1960s television sensibilities.\"\n\t\"I can't help it if I was brought up with old-fashioned values!\" Supersonic retorted.\n\t\"In a small town in Minnesota. I know, I read your bio on Wikipedia during the flight to Vibora. Ultimate white-bread Middle America.\" She smirked. \"How does it feel to know you were just kissed by a colored girl?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"What?\"\n\t\"That's what they used to call us black folks back then, right?\"\n\t\"You're not black. You have white hair and blue eyes.\"\n\t\"Because my dad was German. My mom was black. That's where I got my skin from.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"I'd think that would matter less than the fact that we're different species.\" He looked up at the cloudy sky. \"We need to regroup with the others and find Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Yeah, well, after nearly ending up street pizza, I hope you don't mind if I choose to keep both my feet on the ground from now on.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"That's understandable.\" Another roar from the Bleak Harbinger echoed through the streets. \"Come on, let's go.\" He began walking in the direction of the waterfront, Katrina beside him.\n\n\tDorgok made his way carefully through the battleground that Millennium City had become, keeping to the shadows and avoiding both the city's defenders and the Lemurian invaders as he searched for his mother. Initially, he hadn't had a clear idea of where to go, not being familiar with the layout of the city, but the roars of the Bleak Harbinger provided him with a direction. And so he trekked along through the chaos on his clawed feet in the pouring rain, cursing Dr. Ka for stripping him of his ability to fly.\n\tAs he paused in the shadow of a building to let a truck full of human soldiers go by, Dorgok heard a rumbling sound from above and looked up. His eyes widened in horror as he saw that the structure he was standing beside was beginning to topple, its walls weakened by repeated strafings from the Exocet fighters constantly screaming by overhead. He stood transfixed with fear, watching the heavy wall falling toward him. Then something struck him hard in the side, knocking him clear of the collapsing wall as tons of bricks crashed down onto the spot where he had just been standing.\n\tDorgok sat up in the street, dazed but unhurt, and looked to see what had hit him. Crouching beside him was a human boy in his early teen years, with brown skin and long black hair, both of which were wet from the rain. His slim body was naked save for a beige loincloth, and his dark eyes gazed curiously at the Lemurian boy. \"You know,\" the human said, \"when you see a wall falling toward you, the sensible thing is to run away from it.\"\n\tDorgok just stared at his rescuer in confusion. \"Why did you save me?\" he asked.\n\tThe human grinned. \"Call it force of habit. For a second I forgot you were one of the bad guys. All I saw was someone in danger.\"\n\t\"So now you will kill me?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"After I just went to the trouble of saving you? That would be pretty stupid. Besides, you don't look like much of a threat.\"\n\tIf he only knew, Dorgok thought, but simply flicked his tongue.\n\t\"What are you doing here, anyway?\" the human asked. \"You're clearly not a soldier. You look like a kid, you have no weapons, and you're missing a hand. What gives?\"\n\t\"I . . . stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied.\n\tThe human blinked. \"You stowed away to an invasion?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"I wanted to see the surface world. I wanted to see if humans are really as evil as my people say.\"\n\t\"Well, I hope I've helped dispel that myth,\" the human said, offering him a hand up. \"I'm Mowgli. What's your name?\"\n\t\"Dorgok,\" Dorgok replied, accepting the hand and getting to his feet.\n\t\"Nice to meet you, Dorgok,\" said Mowgli.\n\tDorgok stared at him, utterly baffled, not having expected a human to treat him so kindly, let alone save his life.\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli, there you are!\" came a voice from above. Dorgok and Mowgli both looked up. Swooping down from the sky came another boy. While he looked superficially human, he clearly was not. His skin was bright red, his ears were pointed, a three-foot tail with an arrowhead tip protruded from his backside, and he bore a pair of small pink horns atop his hairless head. Like Mowgli, he wore very little—in his case, only a white loincloth, plus flames wreathing his body. The flames vanished as he landed beside them, but raindrops continued to sizzle and turn to steam as they struck his scarlet skin.\n\tDorgok gasped. \"A demon?\"\n\t\"I'm not a demon,\" the horned boy said, scowling at him. \"I'm a devil. Important difference.\"\n\t\"Hi, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"I'd been wondering where you'd gotten to,\" Hot Stuff said. \"And look what you've caught!\" He grinned, displaying small fangs, and raised his hands, which began smoldering with flames. \"One lizard fricasee, coming right up!\"\n\t\"Stow that, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli. \"We're not killers.\"\n\t\"Oh yeah?\" Hot Stuff shot back. \"Well, [i]they[/i] are! You know how many bodies I flew past while I was looking for you?\"\n\t\"Look at him. He's just a kid, like us.\"\n\t\"The Lemurians kill kids, too. They don't care, so why should we?\"\n\t\"Because we're better than them,\" said Mowgli, calmly.\n\tHot Stuff snarled. \"Wake up, jungle boy! This is war!\"\n\t\"Even wars have rules,\" said Mowgli. \"You don't kill prisoners and noncombatants. Now. Back. Off.\"\n\tHot Stuff glared at him, but he lowered his hands, and the flames around them vanished. \"Fine,\" he said. \"So what are we gonna do with him?\"\n\tMowgli shrugged. \"I guess we let him go.\"\n\tHot Stuff practically exploded. \"Let him go? Are you crazy?\"\n\t\"There are people all over this city who need saving!\" Mowgli shouted back. \"We've got more important things to do than babysit a crippled Lemurian kid! Come on!\" He turned and ran off down the street with a swift, loping gait. \n\tHot Stuff shot Dorgok a look of pure hatred, and the Lemurian could see that the devil boy was trembling with barely suppressed rage. \"This is your lucky day, lizard,\" he growled. \"If it had been up to me, you'd be ashes right now.\" Then he burst into flames, rose off the ground, and flew off after Mowgli.\n\tDorgok watched him go, puzzled. That creature was not human, he thought. These were not its people. Why did it care so much about them? He shook his head and resumed his quest.\n\n\tCelestial Boy flew along close to street level, his glowing eyes methodically scanning the streets for any sign of his fellow time travelers. He'd managed to elude the Exocet fighter that had been chasing him, but in the process had become separated from the rest of his team. This troubled him, as every minute they were here increased the chances that they would do something to alter the past, and while he was fairly certain Samtiss could be trusted, as the Lemurian seemed to have a logical mind, he was less so about Supersonic and Katrina, who were more governed by emotion.\n\tHe froze as a Lemurian emerged from around the corner of a building, then relaxed when he saw that it was Samtiss. The Lemurian flew over to him, arcs of electricity sparking across his scaly body. \"I see you managed to evade your pursuer,\" said Samtiss. \"I have done so, as well.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I have been unable to find Supersonic and Katrina, however.\"\n\t\"Obviously,\" said Samtiss. \"If you had, they would be with you. Searching for them would seem to be impractical. We should head back to the Harbinger. If they are still alive, they will also be headed that way.\"\n\t \"A sound plan,\" Celestial Boy replied. \n\tAs they flew along the street together, Celestial Boy said, \"There is something I have been meaning to ask you, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"What is it?\"\n\t\"If it becomes necessary, are you prepared to kill your son?\"\n\t\"I have known Dorgok for less than a day,\" Samtiss replied, \"and during that brief acquaintance he tortured me while I was Yareen's prisoner in the Qliphoth. Therefore, my emotional bond with him is understandably somewhat limited. And yet, I do feel something for him. I would prefer that he not die. But if it becomes necessary, I will do what must be done.\" He turned his golden reptilian eyes to Celestial Boy. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"The taking of life is abhorrent to me,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but there are times when the abhorrent becomes unavoidable. Therefore, I, too, will do what must be done.\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I appreciate that you sought to learn my feelings on this matter.\"\n\t\"I do not know you,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"Therefore, I wanted to anticipate your reaction. Having insufficient facts always invites danger.\"\n\t\"Nonetheless, I do appreciate it.\"\n\t\"Noted.\"\n\t\"Someone is approaching,\" Samtiss observed. Ahead of them, two figures were racing down the street toward them, one leaving a flaming contrail behind it.\n\t\"I know them,\" said Celestial Boy, frowning. \"This is unfortunate.\"\n\t\"Do we wish to speak to them?\" asked Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"It appears to be unavoidable.\"\n\tMowgli and Hot Stuff stopped before the pair. \"Hey, Castor!\" Hot Stuff said, waving and smiling. \"I see you caught yourself a lizard too! And this one's an adult!\"\n\tCelestial Boy blinked. \"You have seen a Lemurian child?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"We ran into one a few blocks east of here. We let him go, though. He seemed harmless enough.\"\n\tSamtiss flicked his tongue. \"You could not be more mistaken.\"\n\t\"What do you mean?\" Hot Stuff demanded. \"Castor, what are you doing with this thing?\"\n\t\"Mowgli, Hot Stuff,\" said Celestial Boy, \"I must ask you to trust me. I am not the Celestial Boy you know. Samtiss and I are from the future, as is the Lemurian child you encountered. We have come to stop him from changing the past.\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Mowgli and Hot Stuff in unison, staring at the pair in disbelief.\n\t\"More than that I dare not say,\" said Celestial Boy, \"lest I make matters even worse than they are.\"\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli,\" said Hot Stuff, looking at Celestial Boy suspiciously, \"aren't some Lemurians shapeshifters?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"One was just caught trying to impersonate the mayor.\"\n\t\"So how do we know that's really Castor?\"\n\t\"There's one way to find out,\" said Mowgli. He moved up close to Celestial Boy and sniffed him.\n\t\"Well?\" asked Hot Stuff impatiently.\n\t\"He smells like the real thing,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"That is because I am,\" growled Celestial Boy.\n\t\"You are what?\" came a hollow voice from above. They all looked up. There, hovering above them, was Celestial Boy.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future groaned. \"Oh, for Elysium's sake!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present landed and gazed at his counterpart. \"Well, this is interesting!\"\n\t\"That is not the word I would have chosen,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, clearly annoyed.\n\t\"But you did,\" Samtiss pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy of the present turned to Mowgli and Hot Stuff. \"What is going on here?\"\n\tMowgli grinned. \"Are you ready for this? They claim to be from the future!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present raised an eyebrow. \"Indeed?\"\n\t\"Yes,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, \"and we must not be detained. Every passing second brings us closer to disaster!\"\n\t\"What makes a one-handed Lemurian kid so dangerous?\" asked Hot Stuff.\n\t\"I may not tell you that!\"\n\t\"Then let us help you,\" said Mowgli.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future shook his head. \"You must not!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present nodded. \"I quite agree. If they truly are from the future, then the best thing we can do is forget we ever saw them.\"\n\tCelestial Boy from the future smiled at his counterpart. \"It is good to see that someone understands.\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present shrugged. \"Well, we are the same person. Good luck with your mission, Castor.\"\n\t\"Thank you, Castor.\" With that, Samtiss and Celestial Boy from the future flew off down the street to the east.\n\tMowgli turned to Celestial Boy of the present. \"Are we ever gonna find out what that was all about?\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present smiled. \"Eventually.\"\n\t\n\tDorgok rounded a corner, and his pulse quickened as he saw the Bleak Harbinger towering majestically over the city, for it meant that his mother must be close by. He snarled as the UNTIL sky carrier hovering above blasted it with some kind of ray and heroes swarmed the Harbinger—shooting it, punching it, slashing it. They might win this day, but perhaps, if Dorgok succeeded in what he had come here to do, ultimate victory would belong to the Bleak Ones.\n\tSo entranced was he by the battle before him that he almost failed to hear a groan of pain from behind a pile of refuse nearby. He turned toward it, and his eyes went wide at what he saw. The groan had come from Samtiss, lying slumped against a wall, bleeding from several deep gashes across his scaled chest. His golden eyes looked up at his son in puzzlement. \"What are you doing here, child?\" he asked.\n\t\"I stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied. \"Who injured you so?\"\n\t\"Yareen the Defiler, a high priestess of Lemuria.\"\n\t\"But you are Lemurian. Why do you fight against your own people?\"\n\t\"Because they have made a terrible mistake. Following the Bleak Ones leads only to death.\"\n\t\"But the Bleak Ones created us to do their bidding. What purpose do we have if not to serve them?\"\n\t\"Parents create their children. That does not mean they own them. Each being must find its own purpose in life.\"\n\tDorgok flicked his tongue. \"What you speak is heresy. Blasphemy.\"\n\t\"Perhaps. But it is the truth.\"\n\t\"It is not our truth.\"\n\tSamtiss sighed. \"I would argue this further, but I fear I lack the strength. Might I impose upon you as a fellow Lemurian to help me back to the sewers? I do not wish to be found this way, either by our kind or by the humans.\"\n\tDorgok nodded and crouched down next to Samtiss, putting his left arm behind his father's finned back to support him. Samtiss groaned as he sat up. \"Thank you. What is your name, child?\"\n\t\"I am Dorgok, son of Yareen the Defiler and Samtiss the Traitor. And I am your executioner.\" And with that he lunged and sank his teeth into his father's throat.\n\tSamtiss gurgled as blood filled his mouth, and he slashed at Dorgok with his claws, tearing red streaks across his scaly blue skin, but the Lemurian boy did not let go until his father's body stopped thrashing and went limp. Dorgok stood up, feeling elated as he gazed down at the corpse before him and licked the blood from his lips. \"The sewers are where you belong, traitor,\" he hissed, \"but I have a task to complete. Perhaps later, Mother and I can defile your corpse together.\" Then he turned and began running in the direction of the Harbinger.\n\n\tSupersonic Squirrel hugged himself and shivered as he walked along the deserted street beside Katrina. The rain had soaked through his fur to his skin, and his tail hung behind him, drooping and sopping wet. He glanced up in annoyance at Katrina as she began to once again perform her off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\t\"Will you stop that?\" he snapped.\n\tShe looked down at him, surprised. \"I'd have thought you'd like that song. It's from your time, after all.\"\n\t\"The song isn't the problem. It's your attitude.\"\n\t\"What's wrong with my attitude?\"\n\tSupersonic spread his arms. \"We're in the middle of an invasion! I wish you'd be a little more serious!\"\n\t\"I wish you'd be a little[i] less[/i] serious!\" Katrina shot back. \"For Pete's sake, you look like a cartoon and you walk around without any clothes on! It's a wonder you haven't been arrested for public indecency!\"\n\t\"I'm a squirrel! Squirrels don't wear clothes!\"\n\t\"Then how are you gonna hide your nuts?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at her. \"Because I look the way I do, I have to be serious if I want to be taken seriously!\"\n\tKatrina regarded him for a moment. \"That's important to you, isn't it? To be taken seriously.\"\n\t\"Well, what I do is a serious business. People's lives are at stake!\"\n\tShe nodded, remembering how he'd saved her from falling to her death at the risk of his own life. \"Okay, point taken. I'll try to adjust my attitude.\" Then she looked down at his feet. \"Um, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"What?\"\n\t\"You're standing in blood.\"\n\tSupersonic looked down. A stream of crimson was flowing past his gray-furred feet. It appeared to be coming from an alley nearby. \"Come on!\" he said, running toward it. \"Someone might need help!\" Katrina ran after him. \n\tThey both froze in their tracks when they saw where the blood was coming from. \"It's Samtiss!\" cried Supersonic, running to the Lemurian's supine form and kneeling beside it.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"It's no use, Supersonic. He's had it.\"\n\tSupersonic pressed an ear to the Lemurian's chest, then lifted his head. \"You're right. There's no heartbeat.\" He stood up, looking down sadly at the corpse. \"Who could have done this? It wasn't the fighters. His throat's been ripped out.\"\n\t\"A better question would be, is this the Samtiss from this time or our time?\"\n\t\"That's right!\" exclaimed Supersonic. \"He said he was here during the invasion.\" He looked down at the body. \"He's not wearing a recall device.\"\n\t\"That doesn't prove anything,\" said Katrina. \"Whoever killed him could have taken it. But if this is the Samtiss from this time, then he must have been killed by Dorgok.\"\n\t\"How do you figure that?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Because the Samtiss of this time survived the invasion,\" Katrina replied, \"so the only thing that could have killed him is something that wasn't here that day.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Something like Dorgok. But what would that mean for the Samtiss from our time?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"Damned if I know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that we're in the past at all!\"\n\t\"Well, the body's still warm,\" said Supersonic. \"If Dorgok did this, then he must be close by.\"\n\t\"I'll scan the immediate area,\" said Katrina. She closed her eyes and concentrated, spreading her mental awareness across just a few city blocks. Her eyes snapped open. \"Got him!\"\n\tSupersonic grinned, baring his big buck teeth. \"Great! Let's go get him!\" He held out his arms to her.\n\t\"Okay,\" Katrina said, lowering herself reluctantly into his embrace. \"But stay close to the ground this time.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"I promise!\" \n\tTogether, they flew off after Dorgok.\n\t\n\tYareen the Defiler's green, snakelike eyes watched with dismay as the Bleak Harbinger began to falter in its battle against the heroes of Millennium City. She was a tall, slim Lemurian woman with bluish-purple scales, wearing a mauve-and-silver chest plate, pauldrons, loincloth, and crested headdress, with cloth wraps around her lower arms and legs. She was standing in a parking lot beside the Detroit River with two other Lemurian adepts, guarded by a pair of stone golems—giant statues shaped like humanoid reptiles. That blasted sky carrier had turned the tide against them. Even the addition of flights of Exocet fighters diverted from other areas was not proving enough to protect the Harbinger. The heroes kept knocking the fighters out of the air, enabling the sky carrier to blast the Harbinger with its radiation cannon. If the Harbinger fell, the invasion was finished.\n\t\"Perhaps we should attack the sky carrier, mistress?\" suggested the frost adept floating beside her, brushing a coating of ice crystals from his chest, where they kept building up as raindrops hit him and froze.\n\tYareen shook her head. \"Its guns would mow us down before we even got near it.\"\n\t\"There must be something we can do!\" cried the other adept, an ionic with electricity arcing across his body.\n\t\"I fear our part in this battle is ended,\" said Yareen. Her tongue flicked as the Harbinger roared one last time and collapsed into the river, its body crumbling into a pile of rubble. It had never really been alive—just a mass of rock and seaweed animated by Lemurian sorcery, much like the stone golems. She turned to the other Lemurians, who were watching helplessly as their dream died before them. \"We must retreat. Head for the nearest tunnel. Do not despair, brothers. The humans may have won this day, but there will be other battles. The Bleak Ones shall yet triumph!\" Her tongue flicked again as she rose from the ground. This day had been a terrible setback, an enormous waste of their limited resources. The only bright spot for her had been defeating her former lover Samtiss and watching him flee like the coward he was. The memory brought a smile to her reptilian face.\n\t\"Mother!\" came a high, rasping voice, causing her to pause and turn toward it. Her eyes widened with surprise at the sight of a blue Lemurian boy in a loincloth running toward her, his clawed feet splashing in the water covering the parking lot.\n\t\"Who are you, child?\" Yareen asked, puzzled. \"What are you doing here? And why do you call me mother?\"\n\tThe boy stopped before her, his scaly chest heaving as he panted from his exertions. \"I am Dorgok, your son!\"\n\t\"Son?\" Yareen hissed. \"What nonsense is this? I have no child . . . yet.\" There was an egg in an incubator back in her fortress in the Qliphoth, the product of her last union with Samtiss before he had turned traitor, but it had yet to hatch.\n\t\"I am from the future!\" said Dorgok. \"I have come to warn you! To save you!\"\n\tYareen's mouth fell open. \"From the future?\" She inspected the boy more closely. Yes, there was a resemblance, both to herself and to Samtiss. \"But how is this possible?\"\n\t\"That is not important,\" said Dorgok. \"A year from now—\" \n\tThen he stopped, his eyes going wide, and clutched at his throat with his left hand. Yareen looked up to see a small, grey-furred creature flying across the parking lot toward them, carrying a white-haired human female in its arms. \"Uh uh uh, Dorgok,\" the girl said. \"No giving away the ending!\"\n\tYareen snarled. She did not know who these interlopers were, nor did she care. Clearly, they were somehow stopping Dorgok from telling her about the future, and that must not be permitted. She pointed a clawed finger at the pair and addressed the other Lemurians. \"Kill them both, now!\"\n\tSupersonic set Katrina down and built up a sphere of super-compressed air between his hands as the two stone golems lumbered toward them, the ground shaking beneath their feet. He released the sphere in a blast at one of the golems, but it barely slowed the thing down. Then he flew toward them, a vortex of wind swirling around his small form, pushing them back, away from Katrina. The golems flailed with their thick arms, trying to reach him and failing. He chittered triumphantly, then screeched as a bolt of lightning from the ionic adept hit him, making his fur stand on end and dropping him to the ground.\n\t\"You know,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet and rubbing his head, \"I'm really getting tired of that.\" Then he looked up and saw the two golems looming over him, massive stony fists poised to strike. \"Uh oh.\"\n\tKatrina watched in horror as the golems prepared to make the squirrel one with the asphalt. She was using her mental powers to paralyze Dorgok's vocal cords, preventing him from speaking. Switching targets would release him. Besides, the golems were simply animated statues with no minds to affect. Stopping Dorgok from telling Yareen about the future was paramount. She was sure Supersonic would have agreed with that, even been willing to die to accomplish it. Still, her mind searched for some way to help him.\n\tSupersonic erected a dome of solidified air over himself as the golems struck, their mighty fists pounding on its surface. He winced at the force of the impacts. It wouldn't withstand another combined blow like that. He glanced over at Dorgok, who was still struggling to speak, and then rocketed out from beneath the two golems, plowing into Dorgok and wrapping an arm around the Lemurian boy's waist, bearing him up and away from Yareen.\n\tKatrina grinned. With Dorgok out of earshot, she was free to act. She concentrated on Yareen, blasting the Lemurian woman with psychic energy, trying to overload her brain. Yareen reeled, then glared and hissed at Katrina. \"Foolish girl, you seek to pit your puny powers against my dark sorcery? Very well!\" She raised a clawed hand, and tendrils of darkness snaked from it and wrapped around Katrina, paralyzing her and sucking the life from her body. \"Your soul will be my gift to the Bleak Ones!\"\n\t\"I think not, Yareen,\" came a voice she knew far too well. She whirled to see Samtiss and a human-looking boy in winged red-and-purple armor flying down from the sky toward her.\n\tYareen snarled. \"Samtiss, you have returned for still more punishment? Have you not yet learned you are no match for me?\"\n\t\"I know that, Yareen,\" Samtiss replied. \"That is why I brought friends.\"\n\t\"You have no friends, traitor!\" shrieked Yareen. \"Now die!\" And she fired a shaft of darkness at him. Samtiss erected an electrical shield, blunting her attack, and hurled a lightning bolt back, stunning her. Then he turned to face the frost adept, who was flying toward him, his body shrouded in freezing mist.\n\tMeanwhile, Celestial Boy landed next to Katrina, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position, and bathed her in silvery light from his hands. She groaned and sat up, hugging herself. \"Wow, that was really unpleasant!\" she said.\n\t\"This seems likely to be, as well,\" said Celestial Boy, looking past her.\n\tKatrina turned her head to see the two stone golems charging toward them, and sighed. \"Oh, shit . . .\"\n\tHigh above the parking lot, Supersonic was struggling with Dorgok as the Lemurian boy clawed ferociously at the squirrel with his one hand. He howled in pain as Dorgok sank his needle-like teeth into the squirrel's shoulder. \"Ow! You little punk!\" snarled Supersonic, and slugged the Lemurian boy across his snout. Dorgok went limp and slipped out of his grasp. Appalled at what he'd just done, Supersonic dove after the boy, grasping his left arm and stopping his fall. He glanced down at the pavement far below. There was one sure, certain way to prevent Dorgok from telling his mother about the future, he thought to himself. Then he shook his head. \"No, I can't do it,\" he said. \"I'm not a killer, and you're just a kid. A Lemurian kid, but still a kid.\"\n\tA bolt of lightning struck him, and for the fourth time in one day, Supersonic was electrified. As he and Dorgok both began to fall, the ionic adept who had fired the bolt flew up and snatched Dorgok out of the air, turning and flying back toward Yareen, leaving the unconscious squirrel to pinwheel toward the ground.\n\tThe frost adept raised his arms, and Samtiss was suddenly encased in a block of ice. Had Samtiss been human, the sudden chill might have induced immediate hypothermia, but fortunately he was a Lemurian, a creature native to the frigid ocean depths, and hence naturally resistant to cold. Electricity surged around his scaly body, causing the block to burst apart, spraying shards of ice in every direction. Then it arced from his clawed fingers to the frost adept's chest, causing the other Lemurian to go rigid as his muscles locked up. Samtiss growled as he continued to pour on the volts until the frost adept lay sprawled on the asphalt, shocked senseless.\n\t\"Go assist Samtiss,\" Celestial Boy told Katrina. \"I will deal with the golems.\" She nodded, as there was nothing she could do against the mindless stone constructs anyway, and ran to join the Lemurian. \n\tYareen had recovered and now glared hatefully at both Samtiss and Katrina, an aura of dark magic crackling around her. \"You turn to this human cow for help?\" she hissed. \"You are pathetic, Samtiss!\"\n\t\"Who are you calling a cow, skank?\" Katrina shot back, and let loose a powerful mind blast at the same time Samtiss fired a massive surge of electricity from his hands. Both attacks struck Yareen, staggering her, though her aura absorbed most of the damage. She growled and made a motion with her hands, and a swirling vortex of darkness appeared before Samtiss and Katrina, drawing them both inexorably toward it.\n\tAs the two golems bore down on Celestial Boy, the youthful Elysian built up a knot of cosmic energy in his body and released it at the one closest to him, blasting it to pieces. The remaining golem swung a huge stone fist at him, catching him across the chest and knocking him into a nearby brick wall. While he was still regaining his feet, the golem charged at him, its fingers outstretched, and he barely managed to elude its grasp by flying straight up, out of its reach. The golem responded by tearing a thick chunk of asphalt out of the ground and hurling it at the flying boy. The chunk narrowly missed, and Celestial Boy fired a bolt of cosmic energy back at the golem, blowing off its left arm, which seemed to bother it not at all. The golem stooped, picked up its severed left arm with its right hand, and tossed it at the Elysian, scoring a hit and sending him tumbling head over heels through the air.\n\tSupersonic Squirrel felt the wind blowing across his face, and his eyes blinked open to see the street rushing up to greet him. He reacted automatically, following the age-old instinct of his species, spreading his arms and legs wide so the loose flaps of skin between them would catch the air and slow his fall. That ancient reflex saved his life, giving him time to summon a gust of wind to lift himself upward before he hit the pavement. Taking a moment to orient himself, he spotted the ionic adept carrying Dorgok back toward Yareen, and barrelled after them.\n\t\"It's pulling me in!\" Katrina cried, her feet skidding along the wet surface of the parking lot as the dark vortex drew her closer. Samtiss seized her wrist with one clawed hand and tried to fly in the opposite direction, but had no better luck resisting the tug of the vortex than Katrina had.\n\t\"Look upon the face of primal chaos, you fools!\" crowed Yareen, her snouted face split in a serpentine grin. \"Welcome to oblivion!\" Samtiss and Katrina both felt cold terror grip their hearts as the swirling darkness grew larger before them.\n\tAt that moment, Celestial Boy flew past them, headed directly toward the vortex. Before their minds could process what the Elysian was doing, the remaining golem pounded past them as well, pursuing him. At the last moment, Celestial Boy veered aside, skirting the vortex, while the golem, its inertia too great for it to stop, plowed straight in. Its massive stone body dissolved into nothingness as the chaos ate it, the forces that held its molecules together no longer having any meaning. Choked by the golem's bulk, the vortex winked out, and the backlash sent Yareen flying.\n\tYareen got to her feet, shaking her head to clear it, and growled at the trio standing defiantly before her—a human, a Lemurian, and an Elysian. \"You have not won yet, heroes. Not while I—\" \n\tShe never finished her sentence, as a gray streak slammed into her from behind, knocking her down. She looked up blearily to see the small furry form of Supersonic Squirrel standing over her, hands on hips, his buck teeth gleaming as he smiled down at her, his rain-streaked goggles covering his eyes.\n\t\"Now we have!\" said Katrina, grinning triumphantly.\n\t\"Stupid . . . mammals,\" muttered Yareen the Defiler, as she slumped face-first into a puddle and lapsed into unconsciousness.\n\tSupersonic turned to the ionic adept, who was floating a short distance away, holding the limp form of Dorgok in his arms. \"Put the boy down and go,\" the squirrel ordered him. The Lemurian needed no further urging. He laid Dorgok on the ground and flew off as fast as he could.\n\tKatrina ran to Supersonic and threw her arms around the squirrel, hugging him and kissing his muzzle, and Supersonic responded in kind, smiling up at her. \"I'm glad you're okay,\" he said.\n\t\"You and me both!\" said Katrina, grinning. \"I was wor—wondering what had happened to you!\"\n\t\"Well, that appears to be that,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We should depart as quickly as possible, before we do any damage to the time stream.\"\n\t\"Um, yeah,\" said Katrina, \"about that . . .\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Celestial Boy, looking puzzled.\n\tShe turned her gaze to Samtiss, noting the recall device on his wrist. \"I don't know how to tell you this, Sam, but you're dead.\"\n\tSamtiss blinked his golden eyes. \"Dead?\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"We found the body of your past self a couple blocks from here. We think Dorgok killed him.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Samtiss, his tongue flickering. For a moment, no one spoke.\n\t\"So, what happens now?\" asked Katrina. \"I mean, he's dead in the past. Shouldn't his future self, like, fade away or something?\"\n\t\"Apparently,\" said Celestial Boy, \"it does not work like that. And yet, we must assume that changing the past changes the future. That is, after all, why we came here.\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Samtiss, \"then my absence in the past could have a significant effect on the future.\"\n\t\"How do you mean?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"I teamed up with Nightmunk when he was investigating the events that led to the discovery of the plot to free the Kings of Edom from their prisons. If I had not been there, I doubt he would have survived to tell anyone what he had learned, and the plot might well have succeeded.\"\n\t\"So your presence in the past is essential to thwarting the plot,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"But we know the plot fails!\" said Katrina. \"We're all from a time after that!\"\n\t\"True,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but since the death of Samtiss's past self has not eradicated his future self, there is no reason to assume that changing the future would affect us while we are in the past. If it did, the result would be a logically impossible paradox.\"\n\t\"I don't follow you,\" said Supersonic, looking confused.\n\t\"It's the Grandfather Paradox,\" Katrina explained. \"I saw this in a movie once. A man goes back in time and kills his own grandfather. That means he was never born. But if he was never born, he can't go back in time to kill him, so his grandfather must still be alive. But if his grandfather is alive, then he can go back in time and kill him, so his grandfather must be dead. And so on.\"\n\t\"In fact,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that principle would apply to any aspect of time travel, since going back in time to either change the past or prevent it from being changed negates your reason for going there, so you would not have gone back in the first place.\"\n\t\"Ugh!\" said Supersonic. \"You could go nuts thinking about this stuff!\"\n\t\"It just means that from where we are now, the future is in a state of flux,\" said Katrina. \"But if we go back, what kind of future would we be returning to?\"\n\t\"Possibly one in which the plot succeeds,\" said Celestial Boy, \"if Samtiss is not there to help stop it.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Samtiss, \"I must stay here.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Unquestionably.\"\n\t\"And live through the events of the next year all over again, as if you were your past self?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"There would seem to be no alternative,\" Samtiss replied.\n\t\"But what happens when you get to the point when you go into the past with us?\" asked Katrina. \"Wouldn't you be trapped in an infinite loop, reliving the same year over and over forever? That would be like being in hell!\"\n\tSamtiss shrugged. \"If that is what must be done.\"\n\tKatrina just stared at the Lemurian, unable to believe he'd be willing to make such a sacrifice.\n\t\"That's what being a hero is about, Katrina,\" said Supersonic, squeezing her hand. \"It's not about having superpowers. It's about being willing to make the tough choices—even lay down your life, if necessary.\"\n\tCelestial Boy walked over to the still unconscious Dorgok, picked him up, and brought him back to the others as rivulets of water trickled down the boy's blue-scaled body. \"The rain is getting heavier,\" he observed. \"We should be going. Goodbye, Samtiss. You are a credit to all Lemurians.\"\n\t\"Goodbye, Celestial Boy,\" Samtiss replied. \"Please look after my son.\"\n\t\"That is very magnanimous of you,\" said Celestial Boy, \"considering he is the cause of all this.\"\n\t\"It is not his fault,\" said Samtiss. \"He was only trying to save his mother. The child has yet to be born who would not move heaven and earth to do that.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded and touched his recall device, and he and Dorgok winked out of existence.\n\t\"Come on, Katrina,\" said Supersonic. \"Let's go.\"\n\tShe whirled on him and shook him by his shoulders. \"We can't do this! We can't condemn him to this existence!\"\n\t\"It's his choice,\" said Supersonic, swallowing. \"And there's no other way to make sure things work out like they're supposed to.\" He turned to the Lemurian. \"Goodbye, Samtiss. It was an honor to meet you.\" And he, too, winked out.\n\tKatrina stood facing Samtiss in the pouring rain, gazing at the lizard man as water flowed down his scaly brown body. She bit her lip, blinking water from her eyes. \"I'm sorry,\" she said.\n\tAnd then he was alone.\n\n\tKatrina stepped out of the glowing portal at the center of the time machine and descended the ramp to the floor. Supersonic Squirrel was standing at the base of the ramp, looking up at her, his big eyes filled with sorrow. Nearby, Celestial Boy was talking to Juryrig, and Dorgok was lying unconscious at their feet. Katrina knelt down before Supersonic and put her arms around him, resting her head on his damp, furry shoulder. Supersonic stroked her white hair gently and patted her on the back.\n\tAnd then, Samtiss stepped out of the machine.\n\t\"Well, that was interesting,\" the Lemurian said, his tongue flicking.\n\t\"Samtiss?\" gasped Supersonic, as he and Katrina stared up at him. \"What are you doing back here? Did you change your mind?\"\n\tThe Lemurian shook his head. \"No, I simply found a very literal loophole.\"\n\t\"What kind of loophole?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tSamtiss descended the ramp to join them. \"After we went through the machine for the second time—\"\n\t\"The second time?\" Supersonic interrupted. \"But we only went back once!\"\n\t\"Not from my perspective,\" said Samtiss. \"From my perspective, we went back twice. To continue, after we went back the second time, I realized that all I had to do to break the loop was to prevent Dorgok from killing my past self. When we all became separated, I went to my past self and got him to safety, then rejoined Celestial Boy. After that, events played out more or less as they had before, save that it was no longer necessary for me to remain in the past, so I returned to the present with you.\"\n\t\"So you lived through the past year all over again?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"As I said, it was very interesting, knowing everything that was going to happen before it did. Rather like being in a play. I can understand now why actors grow weary of doing the same thing night after night, though. Doing it once was fun, but I would not want to go through it all again.\"\n\t\"Most plays don't last a whole year,\" said Katrina, smiling. \"It's good to have you back, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"It is good to be back,\" said Samtiss, \"and to once again not know what the future holds.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"As it should be. And now, since time has resumed its normal shape . . .\" He raised his arm, aiming it at the time machine, and his hand began to glow with silvery light that grew steadily brighter.\n\t\"Wait!\" protested Juryrig. \"What are you doing?\"\n\t\"None of this would have been necessary if you had not built that cursed thing in the first place,\" said Celestial Boy, his hand blindingly bright now. \"I will never understand why you humans insist on meddling with forces beyond your control.\"\n\tSupersonic interposed himself between Celestial Boy and the machine. \"You have no right to do this!\"\n\t\"I have every right,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was sent here to protect humanity from cosmic threats. I think this machine qualifies.\"\t\n\t\"Would you have stopped Chuck Yeager from breaking the sound barrier?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"Breaking the sound barrier and breaking the time barrier are two very different things,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Now, please stand aside, Supersonic.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"That's not gonna happen!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned, then appeared to become distracted by something. The glow around his hand faded and he lowered it. \"As you wish,\" he said, sighing.\n\t\"Glad you changed your mind,\" said Supersonic, grinning. \"I don't like having to fight my friends.\"\n\t\"I did not change my mind,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was given countermanding orders.\"\n\tSupersonic raised an eyebrow. \"By who?\"\n\t\"I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal that,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"And please do not try to read my mind, Katrina. It will avail you nothing.\"\n\t\"I wasn't gonna, honest,\" said Katrina, innocently.\n\t\"Well,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we appear to be done here.\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and his armor was gone, replaced by his usual purple-and-red skintight costume. He turned to Juryrig. \"I believe you mentioned something about pizza?\"\n\t\n\tJuryrig's workshop was the scene of a modest celebration. Three large pizzas lay atop a rickety card table—one with pepperoni and sausage, one with anchovies, and one with ham and pineapple. Each had several slices missing. Juryrig, Celestial Boy, and Samtiss were standing by the table, each consuming a slice, and Supersonic and Katrina were sitting together by the control console doing the same. Dorgok sat by himself off to one side, glaring at the others. The time machine was silent, having been shut down so its noise would not drown out the music coming from an old Wurlitzer juke box, which was presently playing Jerry Lee Lewis's \"Great Balls of Fire.\"\n\t\"What do you think?\" Celestial Boy asked Samtiss, watching the Lemurian sample a slice of anchovy pizza.\n\t\"I like the fish,\" Samtiss said. \"It is a shame they combine it with fermented cow's milk and crushed vegetable matter.\"\n\t\"Next time, ah'll order sushi,\" said Juryrig.\n\t\"What are you going to do with him?\" asked Celestial Boy, nodding toward Dorgok.\n\t\"I do not know,\" said Samtiss, gazing at his son. \"He clearly despises me, yet I am all he has. I thought I could rehabilitate him. Now, I am not so sure. Perhaps there is too much of his mother in him.\"\n\t\"He also has you in him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I think it is too early to give up on him just yet.\"\n\t\"But I have no idea what to do,\" said Samtiss, shrugging helplessly. \"I have no experience at being a father.\"\n\t\"Nobody is ever prepared to be a father,\" said Juryrig. \"It's strictly learn-as-you-go.\"\n\t\"He may need more than you alone can give, though,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Samtiss.\n\t\"Perhaps he would benefit from being around others his own age, at least emotionally, if not chronologically. The Millennium Guard is a group of young heroes. We are used to dealing with unusual things. We could keep an eye on him for you, and try to set an example for him to follow.\"\n\t\"You would take him into your group?\" asked Samtiss, astonished.\n\t\"As a probationary member,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"He would not be of much use to you in his current de-powered state,\" observed Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"We could ask Dr. Ka to restore his powers, with the understanding that he will lose them if he misuses them.\"\n\t\"That sounds awful risky,\" said Juryrig doubtfully.\n\t\"I agree that there is danger,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but the alternative is to simply lock him away, which would only feed his hatred. That would be a waste.\"\n\t\"The idea has merit,\" said Samtiss. \"I believe it is worth a try.\"\n\tBy the console, Supersonic grimaced as he watched Katrina eat her slice of pizza. \"Pineapple on pizza?\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Pineapple pizza is the best pizza.\"\n\t\"I don't know about that,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"You put pineapple slices on baked ham, right? That's traditional.\"\n\t\"Yeah, I guess so . . .\"\n\t\"How is this any different?\"\n\tSupersonic decided to change the subject. \"You handled yourself really well back there.\"\n\tKatrina laughed. \"I was scared to death the whole time!\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"So? You think I don't get scared sometimes? It's normal to be afraid.\"\n\t\"You hide it well,\" she said. \"I think you're the bravest person I've ever met.\"\n\tSupersonic squirmed. Praise always made him feel uncomfortable. \"Thanks,\" he said. \"That's very nice of you to say.\"\n\tShe smiled. \"See? I can be nice sometimes.\"\n\t\"You know, the Millennium Guard could really use someone with powers like yours.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"You want to me to join your group?\"\n\t\"Well, you said you wanted to turn over a new leaf. Here's your chance!\"\n\tShe chuckled and shook her head. \"Nah, I'm not much of a joiner. But if you'd like to hang out together when we get back to Millennium City, that'd be okay.\"\n\tHe smiled and nodded. \"I'd like that.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Wanna make out?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\t\"You know, kiss. Smooch. Snog. Suck face.\"\n\tSupersonic bit his lip. \"Do you think it would be right? I mean, you're human and I'm a squirrel!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I don't care about that if you don't.\"\n\tSupersonic gazed at her, remembering that she was a girl of another time, where the social conventions he'd grown up with no longer applied. Then he leaned forward and pressed his muzzle to her lips, kissing them gently. She wrapped her arms around him, and he around her, and they squeezed each other as their mouths moved together.\n\t\"Supersonic?\" came Celestial Boy's voice from behind him. \n\tThe squirrel's eyes snapped open, and he broke the kiss and turned his head to look at the Elysian youth. \"Yes?\"\n\t\"A word, please?\"\n\tSupersonic let go of Katrina and hopped down off his chair, walking over to Celestial Boy. \"What do you want?\" he asked, sounding a trifle annoyed.\n\t\"What do you think you are doing?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I think I was kissing Katrina,\" Supersonic replied, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.\n\t\"You know she is a criminal.\"\n\t\"Weren't we trying to help her go straight?\"\n\t\"And you think this is the best way to accomplish that?\"\n\t\"Maybe. What business is it of yours, anyway?\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"Supersonic, you have a good heart, but you are rather naive in the ways of the world.\"\n\tThe squirrel threw up his hands. \"You think I don't know that? Look, if I'm gonna live in the real world, I have to learn more about it. She can take me places I've never been before!\"\n\t\"Let us hope they have penicillin there.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at him. \"You know what you are, Castor?\"\n\t\"Pray, tell.\"\n\t\"You're a snob!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"I assure you, I have taken pains not to be, despite considerable temptation to the contrary.\"\n\tSupersonic threw up his hands. \"There, you see? You just as much as said you think you're better than the rest of us!\"\n\t\"Admittedly, there are times when the denizens of this world try even my patience,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, we won't try it any further, then.\" Supersonic walked back over to Katrina. \"Come on, let's go.\"\n\t\"Go where?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"This town is full of jazz clubs. Let's hit some.\"\n\tKatrina chuckled. \"Just like that, huh?\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Just like that.\"\n\t\"Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.\" She stood up and addressed the others. \"If we're not back by tomorrow, call the La Cucharacha Hotel in Tijuana, room 306.\" And with that, she and Supersonic left the room.\n\tCelestial Boy watched them go, then turned and walked over to Dorgok. The Lemurian boy looked up at him sullenly. \"What do you want?\" he growled.\n\t\"I thought perhaps you might like to join us for some pizza,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I do not want any of your human food!\" snarled Dorgok.\n\t\"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"But we shall save you some in any case.\"\n\tDorgok looked at him, puzzled, as Celestial Boy went back to the table and helped himself to another slice.\n\t"
},
".description.json": {
"description": "Occurring immediately after the events of The Manimal Chronicles #8: The Exile, Supersonic Squirrel is charged with the seemingly simple task of capturing the escaped Lemurian boy, Dorgok. But in Millennium City, things are rarely simple. The heroic flying squirrel's search leads him to an encounter with a larcenous girl telepath pursued by the nefarious corporation ARGENT, and from there, on an adventure across time and space itself!"
},
".writing.json": {
"writing": "[center]Rainy Day Women[/center]\n\n[center]a story set in the universe of Champions Online[/center]\n\n\t\"Holy cow, I'm bored!\" Supersonic Squirrel declared to nobody as he sat slumped in a chair facing the large monitor in Millennium Guard headquarters, upon which information on the status of Millennium City as well as other locations in the world continuously flashed. Right now there was nothing major going on, nothing the Millennium City police couldn't handle. It was selfish and wrong to wish for something bad to happen, he reflected. After all, innocent people could be hurt. All the same, the inactivity grated on him. What was the point in being a hero if there was nothing heroic to do?\n\tThe gray-furred squirrel sighed, glanced out the rain-streaked window at the dark gray sky, picked up a cup of coffee from the console, and sipped it while pulling his knees up against his chest, his huge fluffy question mark of a tail pressed against the back of the chair behind him. He was a rather comical-looking creature, three feet tall and stockily built, with enormous round eyes and buck teeth. His sole articles of clothing were an old-style leather flying helmet and aviator goggles, the latter of which were pushed up onto his forehead. He had never felt the need to wear anything more than this, and in the few weeks since an errant wish had brought him to life, nobody had pressed the issue of his lack of apparel.\n\t\"Monitor duty is a chore we all must attend to,\" came a youthful but strangely echoing voice from behind him. \"I find doing sums helps pass the time.\"\n\tThe squirrel rotated his chair toward the source. The speaker appeared to be a black-haired human youth in his mid-teens and was wearing a skintight bodysuit, trunks, belt, and boots that were all red and purple, separated by white lines. However, two things suggested that the lad was more than he seemed. One was his eyes, which were solid gold without pupils or irises and glowed with an inner light. The other was that voice. His name was Castor, but most people knew him as Celestial Boy. \"Is that what they do for fun in Elysium?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It is one thing. We also play games.\"\n\t\"You mean like checkers?\"\n\tThe youth chuckled. \"I am afraid checkers is a bit simplistic for our tastes.\"\n\t\"I'll bet,\" said the squirrel, frowning. Though Celestial Boy never acted haughty, there was something in his demeanor that always made Supersonic feel the Elysian youth was looking down on him. Being a simple squirrel of humble origins, he disliked people who thought they were better than everyone else.\n\t\"If you enjoy checkers, you could always play it with the computer to occupy yourself,\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Yeah, I know,\" said Supersonic, \"but I wouldn't want to shirk my duty.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled and nodded. \"Admirable. Can I get you anything?\"\n\tSupersonic sighed again. \"No, I'm fine.\"\n\tThe dark-haired youth cocked his head. \"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"No. I guess I'm just feeling a little homesick, is all.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Understandable. You are in a different time, deprived of the friends and family you had in your cartoon world, having to adjust to being a living creature, with all that that entails. It must be very difficult for you.\"\n\t\"I guess we're kind of in the same boat,\" said Supersonic, \"you coming down to Earth from Elysium and all. Only you can always go home, and I can't. My home doesn't really exist.\"\n\t\"On Earth, they say home is where the heart is,\" said Celestial Boy. \"There is wisdom in these words.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Do you like it here?\"\n\tCelestial Boy paused a moment before answering. \"It is very different from Elysium, but also very interesting. I find myself constantly being surprised and learning new things.\"\n\t\"So it's like one long field trip to you,\" said Supersonic, smirking.\n\t\"That is one way of looking at it, I suppose. But I take my responsibilities as a member of the Millennium Guard very seriously. My kind live to serve and protect. That is what I was sent here for.\"\n\tSupersonic looked at him curiously. \"Sent by who?\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"A higher power.\"\n\tSupersonic was about to press further but was distracted by a pop-up message on the monitor. He turned his chair toward it while Celestial Boy came over to join him. The text on the screen read: \"Nightmunk: A young Lemurian named Dorgok escaped from my apartment in Westside earlier today. He has no powers and is missing his right hand. I'd track him down myself but I'm a little busy right now. If you could look for him, I'd really appreciate it. His father is a friend of mine and is worried about him.\"\n\t\"Nightmunk,\" said Supersonic. \"He's that chipmunk manimal who works with Nighthawk, isn't he?\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And the Lemurians are a race of reptilian humanoids who invaded Millennium City last year. The populace is understandably less than fond of them.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I suppose we better find him, then, before he hurts someone, or someone hurts him.\"\n\t\"That is what we do.\"\n\t\"Should we bring in the rest of the team?\"\n\t\"No powers and missing a hand? I think we can handle this ourselves.\"\n\tTogether, the squirrel and the Elysian went out onto the rain-slick balcony and flew off toward Westside.\n\n\tKatrina Werner slipped into a garbage-strewn alley between two abandoned buildings, pulling her raincoat more tightly around her slim body as the rain continued to soak her white-haired head and her brown face. Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, she crouched down and squeezed through a basement window without glass. She moved along a dark, musty corridor with bare concrete walls, rats scampering out of her way, and stopped suddenly. The makeshift wooden door that normally covered the entrance to her hideout was open. She hadn't left it that way.\n\tShe concentrated, forehead pulsing as she extended her mental awareness outward. Yes, there was definitely someone in the room beyond. Most likely it was one of the Black Aces, the street gang that controlled this part of Westside. She frowned and drew a switchblade from a pocket of her raincoat, flicking it open. She probably wouldn't need it, but it was always good to be prepared. Slowly, she began moving toward the open doorway.\n\tAs she drew nearer, she could hear someone shuffling around inside. Taking a deep breath, she charged into the room, the knife held out before her. Then she gasped, and her ice-blue eyes widened when she saw what was inside.\n\tThe intruder was shaped like a human being, but its head was that of a lizard and its body was covered with blue scales. Webbed fins protruded from its wrists, its calves, and the top of its head. Its size and build were equivalent to that of a human youth perhaps ten years of age. It wore only a loincloth, made of some shimmering white fabric, and an ornate silver necklace whose pendant, which seemed to be a large ruby, rested on its chest, which was white and resembled belly of a snake. It whirled about as she entered, and stared at her with golden, catlike eyes.\n\t\"Who the hell are you?\" Katrina demanded, the point of her blade aimed directly at the creature's heart, or at least where the heart would be if it were human.\n\t\"I am Dorgok,\" the creature replied in a high, raspy voice, like a child with a sore throat. She now noticed that his right hand was missing, the stump wrapped in blood-soaked rags. In his remaining hand he held a wad of cheese puffs from an open bag on the rickety wooden table beside him.\n\t\"You're a Lemurian, aren't you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I am,\" Dorgok replied.\n\t\"What are you doing here?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I needed somewhere to hide, and this seemed as good a place as any.\"\n\t\"Well, this is my home, and I don't like to share.\"\n\t\"This?\" Dorgok asked, sounding surprised. \"This hovel is your home?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"It's not the Ritz, but it'll do. Now beat it.\"\n\tThe Lemurian looked puzzled. \"Beat what?\"\n\t\"Scram. Get lost. I don't want you here.\"\n\tDorgok stuffed the cheese puffs into his mouth and swallowed them. \"Perhaps I could give you something in exchange for you letting me stay.\" His clawed finger tapped the ruby in his necklace. \"This has value here, does it not?\"\n\tKatrina gazed at the blood-red gem. Damn, it was big! Her eyes returned to the Lemurian's. \"How do I know I can trust you?\"\n\t\"I give you my word I will not harm you,\" Dorgok said. \"In any case, I would be at a disadvantage in a fight.\" He held up his stump to emphasize.\n\tKatrina thought for a moment. \"All right,\" she said, finally. \"Take the necklace off and put it on the table.\" He did so, and she darted forward and snatched it up, stuffing it in her coat pocket. \"How did you lose your hand?\" she asked.\n\t\"I bit it off.\"\n\tHer eyes went wide. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"It was necessary in order to escape from captivity. It is merely an inconvenience.\"\n\t\"Inconvenience? You lost your hand!\"\n\tDorgok shrugged. \"It will grow back in a month or so.\"\n\t\"You can do that?\" Katrina asked, amazed.\n\tHe tilted his head. \"You mean you humans cannot regrow lost limbs?\"\n\t\"No, we can't.\"\n\tDorgok gave a hissing laugh. \"Truly, you are an inferior species!\"\n\tKatrina folded her arms. \"Yeah, well, we still sent you lizards packing when you invaded our city!\"\n\tThe Lemurian flicked his black forked tongue. Then he went over to the mattress Katrina used for a bed and sat down on it, his unblinking eyes staring at the blank concrete wall. Katrina watched him for a moment, then folded her switchblade and put it back in the pocket of her raincoat. \"Are you hungry?\" she asked.\n\t\"Yes,\" said Dorgok. \"Those orange things are all air. How can you humans subsist on such food?\"\n\t\"They're only meant to be snacks,\" said Katrina. She went to a cardboard box on the floor and removed a can of tuna, setting it on the table and opening it with a manual can opener. Dorgok rose, flicking his tongue, and came over to her.\n\t\"That is fish!\" he said excitedly.\n\tShe nodded. \"[i]Bon appetit[/i].\"\n\tHe looked at her, puzzled, then picked up the can and held it over his open mouth, shaking it until the contents fell in. He swallowed them in one gulp and put the empty can back on the table.\n\t\"So much for Lemurian table manners,\" Katrina remarked. \"So, how did you come to be in Millennium City anyway, and who was holding you captive?\"\n\t\"My traitorous father Samtiss kidnapped me and brought me to the dwelling of the manimal called Nightmunk, where I was chained up but managed to escape.\"\n\t\"Are they gonna come looking for you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"Probably, if they succeed in their mission to save the multiverse. If not, then it will not matter, since everything will be destroyed.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" said Katrina. \"I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea of Nightmunk showing up on my doorstep.\"\n\t\"I thought everyone in this city loved heroes,\" said Dorgok.\n\t\"Not everyone,\" said Katrina. \"Some of us prefer to avoid run-ins with the law.\"\n\t\"You are a criminal, then?\"\n\t\"I like to think of myself as living outside the system.\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"That would explain why you dwell in such squalor.\"\n\tKatrina was about to reply when a metal fist erupted through the ceiling with a crash, sending splinters and paint chips showering down onto them, and a harsh, electronically distorted voice said, \"Target identified. Commencing retrieval of stolen property.\"\n\t\"Crap!\" said Katrina. \"Party's over! Let's boogie!\"\n\t\"What does 'boogie' mean?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tThe ceiling caved in and a hulking figure fell into the room in a cloud of dust. It was seven feet tall and clearly mostly robotic, but there was a bald human head on top, the eyes covered by glowing green goggles. The left forearm was absurdly massive, while the right was a huge cannon of some type. Its metal body was painted white and green.\n\t\"Run!\" shouted Katrina, fleeing the small chamber as the creature raised its cannon arm and fired. A bolt of searing hot plasma blew a hole in the wall as she ducked out the door. Dorgok ran after her.\n\tThey dashed up a flight of stairs, down a hall, across an empty room, out the front door of the abandoned building, and into the rain. Then they paused as Katrina looked up and down the empty street. Picking a direction, she sprinted off, Dorgok following. They ran through several alleys, feet splashing in puddles, and then hid in the doorway of another abandoned building.\n\t\"What was that thing?\" asked Dorgok, his scaly chest heaving.\n\t\"ARGENT cyborg,\" said Katrina, peering around the edge of the alcove. \"Very bad news.\"\n\t\"You stole something from it?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Let's say I creatively acquired something,\" Katrina replied.\n\t\"Maybe if you gave back what you stole, it would leave you alone,\" Dorgok suggested.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"Not likely. ARGENT likes to make an example of people who steal from them. They're funny that way.\"\n\t\"That makes sense,\" said Dorgok. \"What is ARGENT?\"\n\t\"Multinational megacorp, specializing in weaponry.\" She glanced back at Dorgok. \"They probably wouldn't mind getting their hands on you, too.\"\n\t\"Me?\" asked Dorgok. \"What would they want me for?\"\n\t\"To examine you, see if there's anything they can use. You can regrow limbs. They'd probably like to figure out how.\" She peered around the edge of the alcove again. The cyborg was trudging down the street toward them, its green goggles glowing through the sheets of rain. \"God damn it!\"\n\t\"It is coming?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tShe nodded. \"Okay, here's the plan. I'll try to stun it, then we both run like hell in opposite directions. It can only follow one of us.\"\n\t\"How are you going to do that?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Overload its mind with psychic energy. It's a little talent I have.\"\n\t\"Oh, you are a telepath, like the Elder Worms. You must have some of the DNA they implanted into primitive humans ages ago.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"What the hell are you talking about? Never mind. Ready?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"Ready to boogie.\"\n\tAs the cyborg drew near, Katrina jumped out of the doorway in front of it, and a stream of magenta-colored energy burst from her forehead and struck the forehead of the cyborg. It reeled, stumbling backward, its arms flailing. Katrina tried to duck past it, but it swung its cannon like a club and struck the side of her head, knocking her down. Dorgok bolted from the doorway and began to run in the opposite direction from the cyborg. Then he stopped. There was another one in the street ahead of him. He swallowed as it raised its arm cannon, aiming it at him.\n\t\"Hold it right there!\" a voice declared from above. Dorgok and Katrina looked up to see a small, gray-furred creature hovering in the air overhead. Its fur was soaked through, plastered against its body, its tail hanging behind it like a wet flag. A sheet of furred skin stretched from each arm to each leg, giving the creature a kitelike appearance and making the wearing of conventional clothing impossible.\n\t\"Subject identified as Supersonic Squirrel,\" the cyborg droned. \"Do not interfere. This is official ARGENT business.\"\n\tThe squirrel landed in front of Dorgok, interposing himself between the Lemurian and the cyborg. \"What kind of business?\" he demanded.\n\tThe cyborg lowered its cannon and raised its robotic left hand, pointing at Katrina. \"That woman is in possession of stolen ARGENT property.\"\n\t\"Even if she is, that doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands. If you want to charge her with theft, then as a registered hero I have the authority to place her under arrest. I'll hand her over to the police and your property will be returned to you after her trial. Okay?\"\n\tThe cyborg seemed to consider the squirrel's proposition for a moment. Then it raised its cannon again. \"Executing primary directive: Retrieve stolen property at all costs.\"\n\tSupersonic erected a wind barrier in front of himself as the cyborg fired, and the plasma bolt was deflected harmlessly off it. The squirrel then rose off the ground, his arms spread wide, as he drew the air around him into an incredibly compressed bubble. Throwing his arms and legs forward, he hurled the bubble at the cyborg, knocking it off its feet and sending it sailing backward. Then he whirled toward the other one, clenching his teeth as he built up another sphere of wind between his small gray hands. \n\tThe other cyborg already had its cannon leveled at him. \"Terminating hero to facilitate completion of objective,\" the cyborg droned passionlessly. Before it could fire, however, a bolt of silvery light struck it from behind, and it screeched and collapsed face down in the street.\n\t\"It looked as if you could use some help,\" said Celestial Boy, floating toward the group with unearthly energy crackling around him.\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Thanks for the save.\" He glanced at Dorgok, who was starting to edge away. \"Don't even think about it!\" Then he turned toward Katrina. \"Is what they said true? Did you steal something from them?\"\n\t\"Maaaaaybeeeeee,\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tThe squirrel growled at her. \"You'd better be straight with us!\"\n\tKatrina leaned over and tickled him under his chin. \"I'm never straight, sweetie. I'm as crooked as a three-dollar bill. And I know my rights. I don't have to tell you anything.\"\n\t\"Perhaps not,\" said Celestial Boy, landing on the street before her, \"but you have been accused of theft by representatives of ARGENT. That is sufficient cause for us to place you under arrest.\"\n\t\"You mean the creeps who just tried to kill your friend?\"\n\t\"Their actions were illegal and they will be held accountable for them, but that does not negate the accusation of theft against you. It is our duty to hand you all over to the proper authorities.\"\n\tKatrina frowned, then reached into the pocket of her raincoat and fished out a small irregularly shaped object that looked like several things glued together, one of which appeared to be an ordinary cell phone. \"Fine. This is what they were after.\"\n\t\"Looks like a piece of junk,\" Supersonic commented.\n\tCelestial Boy eyed the object skeptically, then looked at Katrina. \"Are you sure you are not . . . pulling my leg?\"\n\tKatrina saluted. \"Scout's honor!\"\n\t\"What is it?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"A cosmic eggbeater,\" Katrina replied.\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Really?\"\n\tShe rolled her eyes. \"No! Jeez, you are so gullible! I don't know what it is. It sure is ugly, though, innit?\"\n\t\"How did you obtain it?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"And please, make your response purely factual.\"\n\tShe sighed. \"So straight, like a young Joe Friday. I was hanging out in Sherrera's and I picked up a stray thought from a guy who worked at ARGENT.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"He said to be serious!\"\n\t\"I'm being completely serious! I can read minds. That isn't a crime, is it?\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but it is rather impolite.\"\n\tShe smirked. \"I can't help it if people think too loud. Anyway, he was part of their advanced projects division, and he was thinking they had something really big cooking and that he could make a bundle if he lifted a certain part they were working on and sold it to someone. The problem was that he was one of the few people with access to it, which would place him on a very short list of possible suspects.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"So you decided to steal it yourself.\"\n\t\"Well, it was easy enough to lift his security card and to get the passcode from his mind. I could just walk in, grab it, and walk right out. Like taking candy from a fish in a barrel.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"And I imagine the closed-circuit television cameras recorded your image as you came and went, enabling ARGENT to identify you as the thief and track you here.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I didn't say it was a perfect plan.\"\n\t\"Couldn't you read in his mind what the thing was for?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"He didn't know. Apparently, his superiors were treating him like a mushroom.\"\n\tSupersonic stared at her. \"A mushroom?\"\n\t\"Yeah, you know, kept in the dark and fed nothing but bullshit.\"\n\tThe squirrel scowled and folded his arms. \"Yeah, well, it'll be plenty dark where you're going.\"\n\t\"One moment,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have had run-ins with ARGENT before. They have a, shall we say, unsavory reputation. And while stealing from criminals is still a crime, I see no harm in finding out what this object is before returning it to them.\"\n\t\"Well,\" said Supersonic doubtfully, \"I guess that's all right.\"\n\t\"Good,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I know just the person to talk to.\"\n\t\"In the meantime, let's get these . . . hey!\" The squirrel spun around as the two ARGENT cyborgs suddenly faded out of existence.\n\t\"Interesting,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Cancel the cleanup in aisle six,\" commented Katrina.\n\t\"What happened to them?\" asked Supersonic, baffled. \"Where did they go?\"\n\t\"Wherever ARGENT recalled them to, I imagine,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I did not know that they possessed teleportation technology.\"\n\tSupersonic growled and then looked up at Katrina and Dorgok. \"Well, at least these two aren't getting away.\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I think it would be best if we kept them in our custody for the moment, until we have a clearer idea of what is going on. Oh, and by the way.\" He pointed a finger at Dorgok, and a beam of silvery light flowed from his finger into the Lemurian boy's stump. Dorgok unwrapped the bloody rag covering it. The end had healed over.\n\t\"Nifty!\" said Katrina. \"Do you think we could stop along the way and get some piercings done?\"\n\t\"Perhaps another time,\" said Celestial Boy, smiling.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Supersonic, smirking, \"the last thing you need is another hole in your head.\"\n\tKatrina put her hand over her heart melodramatically. \"Oh, save me from such a rapier wit!\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Let us get out of this rain.\"\n\tCelestial Boy picked up Dorgok and Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they flew off into the angry gray sky as Katrina began an off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\n\tHarmon Industries was one of the world's most powerful corporations, specializing in advanced technology. In a laboratory at its headquarters in downtown Millennium City, one of their top men examined the device Katrina had stolen from ARGENT while Celestial Boy looked on and Katrina, Dorgok, and Supersonic Squirrel warmed their wet, chilled bodies with hot coffee. In this case, though, the term \"top man\" was something of a misnomer, since he wasn't a man. He was a chimpanzee named Adam.\n\t\"Another manimal,\" growled Dorgok, glaring at the lab-coated chimp, who was standing on a stool and peering at the device through a stereoscope.\n\t\"You have something against manimals?\" asked Supersonic sharply.\n\t\"A manimal is responsible for this,\" said the Lemurian, holding up his stump.\n\t\"I thought you said you bit it off,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Only because he shackled me.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"He says it'll grow back,\" said Katrina. \"Anyway, don't be too offended. I think you're cute.\" She smiled at Supersonic and blew him a kiss.\n\tSupersonic blushed beneath his fur. \"Thanks, but why would I be offended? I'm not a manimal.\"\n\t\"You're not?\" asked Katrina, looking surprised.\n\t\"No, I'm a cartoon character who got wished to life.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" Katrina said, dubiously.\n\t\"You don't recognize me?\"\n\tShe shook her head.\n\tHe sighed. \"I guess it was a bit before your time.\"\n\tShe took out her cell phone, did a quick Internet search, and her eyes widened with surprise at the image on the screen. \"Holy shit, you [i]do[/i] look like him!\" She grinned. \"So are you like Roger Rabbit? If I drop an anvil on your head, will you go flat and then bounce back?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled. \"My friends showed me that movie. No, I'm flesh and blood, just like you. Dropping an anvil on my head would cave my skull in.\"\n\tShe bent over and poked his furry chest. \"Hmm. You sure feel real enough.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"A two-dimensional character can't exist in a three-dimensional world, so the wish translated me into something that could.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Gotcha. So is Supersonic Squirrel, like, your code name, or nickname?\"\n\t\"No, it's my real name. I was born October 14th, 1947, the day Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X-1, so my parents named me Supersonic.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"Shouldn't you be, like, really old, then?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"The wish brought me to life at the age I was when my show was cancelled, in 1964.\"\n\t\"Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense. You ever get laid?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Come on, a big TV star like you must have fooled around with some cute squirrel girls back in the '60s. You know, dropped some acid, smoked some weed. Or what did they call it back then . . . reefer, right?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and folded his arms. \"It was a family show! We didn't do things like that!\"\n\t\"Ever been kissed?\"\n\t\"Will you stop asking me personal questions? You're under arrest, you know!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I'm just curious. I've never met a TV star before. Now I'm imagining you in a hot tub with squirrel girls crawling all over you.\"\n\t\"SHUT UP!\" Supersonic shouted. Then he realized Adam and Celestial Boy were staring at him and looked away, embarrassed.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Adam, turning to Celestial Boy, \"one thing I can say for sure: ARGENT didn't make this.\"\n\t\"Are you certain of that?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tAdam nodded. \"I'm familiar with their designs—they are one of our chief competitors, after all—and this is nothing like them.\"\n\t\"Perhaps they hired someone new?\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Possibly, but ARGENT tends to be pretty conservative. This is just too weird for them. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do.\"\n\tSupersonic came over to them. \"So you can't tell us what it is or where it came from?\" He looked up at Celestial Boy, annoyed. \"This was a big waste of time!\"\n\t\"Not necessarily,\" said Adam. \"It definitely looks like part of some larger device. And I have seen something like it before, something made by an engineer . . . well, engineer might be too strong a word. He's more like an idiot savant. He slaps things together and somehow they work, even though they shouldn't.\"\n\t\"Who is this person?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"His name is Damon Armstrong, a.k.a., Juryrig.\"\n\t\"Ah, yes, I've heard of him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"He lives in Vibora Bay, Florida.\"\n\tAdam nodded. \"If you want to find out what this is, I'd suggest you talk to him.\"\n\t\"Do you have his number?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"We could take a picture of it and send it to him.\"\n\t\"No, I don't have his number. I'm not even sure he has one. He's rather eccentric, and when he's working on a project—which is always—he's in his own little world and doesn't pay attention to anything else. Your best bet might be to actually go down there yourselves.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to the others. \"Well, it looks as if a trip to Vibora Bay is in order.\"\n\t\"After we drop these two off with the police,\" said Supersonic, looking at Katrina and Dorgok with satisfaction.\n\t\"What?\" asked Katrina. \"I put you on the trail of some tech thieves, and this is the thanks I get?\"\n\tSupersonic rolled his eyes. \"Oh, give me a break!\" he said, folding his arms across his chest. \"Stealing is still a crime, no matter who you steal from.\"\n\t\"Tell that to Robin Hood,\" said Katrina haughtily.\n\t\"That's different! Anyway, you don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. You're just a common thief!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"With mental powers. But maybe I could be a hero, with the right role model.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"Like who?\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"How about you?\"\n\tHe blinked. \"Me?\"\n\t\"Sure! You're a real straight arrow! I'm sure you could cure me of my wicked ways.\"\n\tSupersonic looked doubtful. \"Well, I don't know . . .\"\n\tShe crouched down to be face to face with him. \"Come on, Supersonic, show me how to be a real American hero.\"\n\tAdam stared at Supersonic and Celestial Boy. \"You're not actually buying this, are you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"It is possible her desire to reform is genuine.\"\n\t\"And it's also possible monkeys might fly out of my butt! She's just trying to avoid going to prison!\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we shall find out soon enough. It also occurs to me that ARGENT is still after her, so she might be safer with us than with the police.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Aw, you guys are so sweet!\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, still looking uncertain, \"but he's definitely going to jail!\" He pointed a furry finger at Dorgok.\n\t\"On what charge?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Supersonic. \"He's a Lemurian!\"\n\t\"That's not a crime,\" Katrina replied. \"They may have invaded the city once, but he wasn't here for that. He hasn't broken any laws. You've got nothing on him.\"\n\t\"As much as it pains me to admit it,\" said Celestial Boy, \"she is correct. Dorgok has committed no offense. However, he is a minor and he is in this country illegally. It is our duty to hand him over to the proper authorities.\"\n\t\"Oh, come on!\" said Katrina. \"What are Child Services and the INS gonna do with a Lemurian?\"\n\t\"That is for them to decide,\" Celestial Boy replied.\n\t\"He was kidnapped by his father, wrongfully imprisoned in Nightmunk's apartment, and forced to mutilate himself to escape,\" said Katrina. \"I'd say you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do.\"\n\tCelestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel looked at each other, then back at Katrina. \"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall bring him along, too.\"\n\t\"You sure that's a good idea?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"No, but it is an expedient one, and I wish to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. In any case, what harm can he do?\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, doubtfully.\n\tDorgok looked at Katrina, puzzled. \"Why are you helping me?\" he asked.\n\tShe grinned at the reptilian youth. \"Hey, we had a deal, right? You gave me a ruby so I'd help you out.\"\n\tDorgok nodded slowly, and decided to refrain from mentioning that he had intended to tear out her throat with his teeth at the first opportunity.\n\n\tBeing registered heroes, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel both had a good working relationship with UNTIL—the United Nations Tribunal on International Law, an organization that policed supercrime around the world. This gave them access to its various facilities and resources, including its jump jets—supersonic VTOLs that could swiftly transport heroes almost anywhere on the globe they were needed. Thus, less than an hour later, the heroes and their two companions were exiting a jump jet into the muggy, late-afternoon air of Vibora Bay, a sprawling, colorful city on the gulf coast of Florida.\n\tDorgok froze the moment his claw-toed feet touched the wooden planks of the waterfront pier upon which the jump jet had landed, and his black tongue flicked excitedly. \"There is much magic here!\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as they walked along the pier. \"This city has a rich magical tradition and has for centuries drawn practitioners of magic to it, both for good and for ill. The sorcerer Dr. Ka lives here, as does Robert Caliburn, Earth's archmage.\"\n\tDorgok growled. \"I know both of them. It was Dr. Ka who stripped me of my powers!\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him in surprise. \"Why did he do that?\"\n\t\"Because I am a Lemurian, and he did not want me using them for evil.\"\n\t\"Given what I know of your people,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that would seem to be a prudent measure.\"\n\tKatrina sneered. \"That's what I love about you heroes. You're all so freaking self-righteous!\"\n\t\"I thought you wanted to be one of us,\" said Supersonic, sounding disappointed.\n\t\"That doesn't mean I want to police the lives of everyone around me!\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"The public has to be protected!\"\n\t\"So that makes it okay to pre-emptively take away someone's abilities when they haven't done anything wrong?\"\n\t\"Perhaps,\" Celestial Boy replied, \"if they have demonstrated themselves to be a menace.\" He glanced at Dorgok. \"Had you done so?\"\n\tDorgok snarled. \"Robert Caliburn, Nightmunk and my father invaded my mother's fortress in the Qliphoth and attacked her servants! We had every right to defend ourselves!\"\n\t\"The Qliphoth is a dimension of evil and chaos,\" said Celestial Boy. \"What was she doing there?\"\n\t\"What does it matter? They murdered her!\"\n\tSupersonic Squirrel gasped. \"They killed your mother?\"\n\t\"Well, that sure sounds heroic!\" said Katrina, smirking.\n\t\"Bear in mind,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we are only hearing his side of the story. I suspect there is more to it than he is telling.\"\n\t\"But even if there is,\" protested Supersonic, \"heroes don't kill people! They save people!\"\n\t\"It would be best not to pass judgment until we have more facts,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"You guys always defend each other, don't you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned at her. \"I am not defending their actions. I am simply avoiding jumping to conclusions. Anyway, you are a telepath. The facts of the matter are yours for the taking if you want them.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I'm trying to cut down.\"\n\tSupersonic smiled up at her. \"Good! You shouldn't read people's minds without permission.\"\n\t\"See?\" said Katrina, smiling back at him. \"I can do the right thing sometimes.\"\n\t\"One good deed does not a hero make,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall have to wait and see how long this newfound morality endures.\"\n\t\"You're such a prig,\" said Katrina, and stuck her tongue out at him.\n\tThe quartet made their way past the shops on the waterfront, eliciting numerous stares and whispered comments from the many tourists buying souvenirs there. They walked past the majestic bulk of the [i]S.S. Bayou Queen[/i], the riverboat and floating casino that was moored to the pier, and onto the brick streets of Vibora Bay. Once there, they boarded a trolley car headed for the Weston Tangle district, getting more stares from their fellow passengers. The trolley clattered along its rails, past bars and jazz clubs, beneath ancient cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, and eventually to the quartet's destination: an enormous warehouse surrounded by a brick wall with an iron gate in the front. Celestial Boy pressed the buzzer, and they waited. There was no response.\n\t\"Well, now what?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"I suppose we go over the wall.\"\n\t\"That's trespassing,\" Katrina pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And if Mr. Armstrong wishes to charge us with such, we shall accept the penalty.\" With that, he picked up Dorgok and rose into the air, crackling with energy. Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they all floated over the wall.\n\tThe area inside the wall was heaped with junk of every sort imaginable—household appliances, industrial equipment, the shells of wrecked cars, even the remains of an airplane or two. Rats scampered about the refuse, eyeing the newcomers warily. \"Gee,\" said Supersonic, \"there sure is a lot of stuff here!\"\n\tKatrina nodded. \"The man likes his junk. Then again, what man doesn't?\" She giggled, and the other three looked at her strangely. \"What?\" she asked. \"You don't get the joke?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I fear not.\"\n\t\"What joke?\" asked Supersonic, confused.\n\tShe sighed. \"Never mind. I forgot I was with a bunch of humorless dweebs.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled and put his hands on his hips. \"I do so have a sense of humor!\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"Yeah, but it's G-rated.\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy, leading them toward a corrugated aluminum door in the front of the warehouse. Immediately, it became apparent that something was amiss. There was a large tear in the door, big enough for a man to walk through. \"Someone has gotten here before us,\" he observed.\n\t\"Five'll get you ten it's ARGENT,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I wouldn't take that bet on a dare,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"There is no time to lose,\" said Celestial Boy. \"A man's life may be in danger!\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and suddenly his body was encased in red and purple armor, with a squarish helmet and intricate geometric designs on the chest and belt. Twin metallic wings protruded from the back, with sharp points sticking upward well above his head. These wings did not move but were fixed in place, giving the suit a somewhat Art Deco look. He rose into the air and flew through the rent in the door, Supersonic flying in after him.\n\tThey entered a corridor that ran along the front of the building and then turned left. Rounding the corner brought them face to face with a group of men in white and green armor, carrying weapons of various types. \"Intruders! Get them!\" one shouted, leveling his rifle at Celestial Boy. \n\tSupersonic Squirrel flew straight into the middle of them, a vortex of wind swirling around him, scattering them like dry leaves. One who was standing slightly apart from the others raised his hand and fired a taser at him, which struck, momentarily paralyzing the squirrel and causing his fur to stand up straight all over his body. Celestial Boy blasted the man with a bolt of silvery light, dropping him, then turned to Supersonic. \"Are you all right?\" he asked.\n\tSupersonic nodded as he got up off the floor, rubbing his head, his tail still all bristly. \"Yeah, I'm okay. That thing sure packed a wallop, though. My teeth are still tingling!\"\n\t\"There may be even worse ahead,\" said Celestial Boy, and they both turned as they heard metal feet pounding toward them.\n\tOutside, Katrina and Dorgok were considering their options.\n\t\"Our captors have abandoned us,\" said Dorgok. \"Is there any reason we should not simply flee?\"\n\tKatrina grinned at the reptilian youth. \"I like the way you think. Come on!\"\n\tAs they turned to head back toward the gate, a familiar electronic voice said, \"Halt, or be terminated.\" One of ARGENT's cyborgs emerged from behind a heap of rusted metal between them and the gate. It might have been one of the pair they had encountered in Millennium City; it was hard to tell.\n\tKatrina cursed, and a bolt of magenta energy arced from her forehead to the cyborg's, staggering it. However, she could see that there were two more approaching.\n\t\"Quick, inside!\" she ordered Dorgok, and dashed into the building, the Lemurian boy following.\n\tIn the corridor, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel had been set upon by a quartet of ARGENT mechenforcers—silver humanoid robots with skeletal bodies and skull-like heads containing round, glowing, green photoelectric cells. The robots' arms each melded into complex, roughly diamond-shaped shields with twinned protrusions at the long ends, which could be employed for both defense and offense, firing bolts of searing hot plasma. This left them without usable hands, but they also had no real need for any, their sole purpose being to act as strike teams and sentries.\n\tSupersonic fired a wind blast at one, slamming it back into a brick wall and reducing it to junk, while Celestial Boy struck another down with a beam of cosmic energy. The remaining two fired plasma bolts at the two heroes, one striking Supersonic in the shoulder and causing him to howl in pain. Then each robot raised one of its shields, sheltering behind it as the heroes returned fire. The shields proved quite resilient, both the heroes' attacks glancing harmlessly off.\n\tSupersonic drew their fire, zig-zagging wildly around the two robots, which fired at him but missed. This gave Celestial Boy an opening to attack, and he did so, blasting one of the robots to pieces. As the last mechenforcer turned to fire at Celestial Boy, Supersonic flew up behind it and summoned a small tornado, which lifted the robot into the air and then slammed it down onto the concrete floor, destroying it.\n\tAt that moment, Katrina and Dorgok came running around the corner to join them. \"Incoming!\" shouted Katrina.\n\t\"How many?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Three cyborgs!\" Even as she spoke, one of them smashed through the flimsy aluminum door and pounded toward the heroes.\n\t\"Get behind us!\" ordered Supersonic, building up a sphere of compressed air in his hands. Katrina and Dorgok did so just as the cyborg rounded the corner and raised its beam weapon.\n\t\"Heroes identified,\" it droned. \"Terminating to facilitate completion of objective.\"\n\t\"Yeah, yeah,\" muttered Supersonic, and hurled his sphere at the cyborg. It struck the creature squarely in its chest, knocking it off its feet. Celestial Boy finished it off with a cosmic energy blast as two more rounded the corner.\n\t\"I got this!\" said Katrina, grinning, and hit one with a mind blast, overloading its neural processors and shutting it down. The last one fired at Celestial Boy and scored a hit, knocking him back ten feet, but his armor absorbed most of the impact. Katrina and Supersonic then attacked it in unison, and it quickly fell.\n\t\"I don't think I like those guys very much,\" said Supersonic, his furry chest heaving.\n\t\"But they have such great personalities,\" said Katrina. Then she looked at him. \"Hey, you're hurt!\"\n\tSupersonic glanced at the burned patch on his shoulder. \"Eh, it's nothing.\"\n\t\"Looks painful,\" said Katrina.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I'm starting to get used to pain.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"I bet you never had to deal with that when you were a cartoon.\"\n\t\"No, I didn't feel anything back then, good or bad.\"\n\t\"Sounds boring.\" She turned to Celestial Boy, who had gotten up and was coming over to them. \"Hey, CB, wanna patch up your friend here? By the way, nice armor. You look like a hood ornament.\"\n\t\"Thank you,\" replied Celestial Boy dryly, as a beam of silvery light from his hand healed Supersonic's wound, leaving a pink bald spot where the fur would have to grow back in.\n\t\"Good thing you didn't get shot in the butt!\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tSupersonic chuckled. \"I can do you better than that. One time on the show, I flew so fast all my fur burned off, so I was pink and hairless all over!\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You were naked on national TV? They could do that back then?\"\n\t\"Well, it was just a cartoon show. And I'm a squirrel, so it didn't really matter.\"\n\t\"Shall we continue?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Let's shall,\" said Katrina, brightly.\n\tThe four moved cautiously down a steeply inclined corridor to the entrance to the main floor of the warehouse, a room the size of an aircraft hangar. Against one wall lay an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions.\n\tBefore this object stood two men. One was dressed in sleek, dark gray armor that covered his entire body, a silver visor concealing his face. On his left arm was strapped a shield similar to those employed by the mechenforcers. In his right he held a huge twin-barreled rifle of some sort, which was aimed at the other man.\n\tThe second man was shorter and stood hunched over. He had red hair and a beard and wore green coveralls. More remarkably, his right arm and left leg were clearly artificial, but the limbs appeared to be made out of junk—rusty, clunky, and ungainly, like something out of a steampunk fantasy. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eyesocket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as haphazardly assembled as the rest of his equipment, and which included, oddly, a household blender sticking up from the top, with blue liquid sloshing around inside it.\n\t\"I take it the guy with the blender on his back is Juryrig,\" whispered Supersonic. \"Who's the other one?\"\n\t\"His name is Mechassassin,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have encountered him before. He is a mercenary who often works for ARGENT.\"\n\t\"Dangerous?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Extremely. And ruthless. As his name suggests, he will not hesitate to kill.\"\n\t\"Think there's any chance he'll surrender peacefully if we ask?\"\n\t\"I would place that at a very low order of probability.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed into the room, Celestial Boy right behind.\n\tMechassassin's head snapped around as the two heroes barreled toward him, and he switched aim. The underside of his rifle fired steel cables that wrapped around both their bodies, pinning their arms. \"I was told you two might show up,\" he said, his voice distorted electronically from inside his helmet. \"You're not going to stop me from completing my mission!\"\n\t\"Aw, they didn't mention me?\" asked Katrina, stepping out from the doorway. \"I'm hurt!\" She fired a mind blast at him, which made him cry out in pain and stumble backward. This gave Celestial Boy and Supersonic a chance to break free of their restraints and hurl bolts of wind and cosmic energy at Mechassassin. The mercenary raised his shield to block, blunting their attacks. Then he leveled his rifle at Celestial Boy and fired a barrage of plasma bolts at him, which peppered his armor and knocked him out of the air. Supersonic flew around Mechassassin and blasted him with wind from behind, and Katrina hit him with another mind blast.\n\t\"Damn it, I hate mentalists!\" muttered Mechassassin, taking aim at Katrina with his rifle. \"Time to die, girl!\" She swallowed, eyes going wide as she stared down the twin barrels. Before he could fire, however, Supersonic swooped down and raised his wind barrier in front of her, deflecting Mechassassin's plasma bolts harmlessly away. \n\tIn the meantime, Juryrig had produced from a pocket of his coveralls an object that resembled a electric drill with a fork sticking out of the front. It produced a piercing wave of sound that washed over Mechassassin, causing him to double over and press his hands to the sides of his helmet.\n\tMechassassin looked around the room at Supersonic, Katrina, Juryrig, and the now recovered Celestial Boy. \"This is not over, heroes!\" he snarled. \"I will be back!\" With that, he rocketed upward, burst through the roof, and was gone.\n\tKatrina smirked. \"So will a bad check.\" Then she turned to Supersonic. \"Thanks for the save, fuzzy.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"It was nothing.\" He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"Are you okay?\"\n\t\"I am unharmed,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Mr. Armstrong?\" he asked Juryrig.\n\t\"Ah'm fine, thanks,\" said Juryrig, in a wheezing, somewhat grating voice. \"Ah'm sure glad someone came and chased these ARGENT bozos off. Ah hate to think what they would have done with this.\" He gestured at the huge machine.\n\t\"And what exactly is [i]this[/i]?\" asked Celestial Boy, eyeing the heap of spare parts curiously.\n\t\"Well, ah call it a quantum temporal displacement engine,\" said Juryig, \"but ah guess you could call it a time machine.\"\n\tThere was a moment of silence while everyone stared at Juryrig, which was broken when Katrina burst out laughing. \"A time machine? Seriously?\"\n\t\"Well, yeah,\" said Juryrig, looking somewhat embarrassed.\n\t\"You don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, looking at Katrina.\n\t\"Are you kidding? That piece of crap? It's like a little kid calling a cardboard box a spaceship!\"\n\t\"Clearly, ARGENT thinks there is something to it,\" Celestial Boy pointed out, \"or they would not have sent their people here.\"\n\t\"Speaking of which,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed out of the room and back up the ramp. He returned a moment later. \"Yeah, they're gone. Must have been teleported out, like the ones we fought in Millennium City.\"\n\tJuryrig stared at Supersonic, apparently having just realized there was a three-foot talking squirrel in the room. \"Hey, ah know you! You're Supersonic Squirrel! Ah used to watch your show when ah was a kid! Only, that was a cartoon. How can you be here?\"\n\t\"That is a rather long story,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Suffice it to say, he is as real as you or I. I believe introductions are in order. I am Celestial Boy. Supersonic Squirrel and I are members of the Millennium Guard.\" He turned to Katrina and Dorgok. \"These are Katrina Werner and Dorgok of Lemuria.\"\n\tKatrina waved and gave an exaggerated smile. \"Hi there!\" Dorgok simply nodded.\n\t\"Pleased to meet you both,\" said Juryrig. His eyes went to Dorgok's stump. \"Ah could make a replacement for that.\"\n\t\"There is no need,\" said Dorgok. \"It will grow back.\"\n\t\"Just as ARGENT will undoubtably be back with reinforcements,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to Juryrig. \"You need some security on this machine, now that they know about it.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"What ah can't figure is how they found out. Ah haven't told anyone but Defender what ah was workin' on, an' ah know he wouldn't blab.\"\n\t\"This may have something to do with it,\" said Celestial Boy, holding out the object that had brought them here.\n\tJuryrig's face lit up. \"Ah've been lookin' for that!\" He took the object from Celestial Boy and examined it. \"Where'd you find it?\"\n\t\"Katrina liberated it from an ARGENT laboratory in Millennium City. I don't suppose you know how they might have gotten hold of it?\"\n\tJuryig scratched his head with his metal hand. \"Well, the last time ah remember havin' it was in Sal's Diner. Ah brought it there to tinker with while ah was eatin'. Ah must've accidentally left it there.\" He grinned sheepishly.\n\tCelestial Boy gave a paternalistic, disapproving frown, which looked rather incongruous on his youthful face. \"Perhaps in the future you should refrain from taking such sensitive technology to public places.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Ah'll try to remember that.\" He walked over to the machine, his metal leg clanking loudly with each step, and inserted the object into its workings. Immediately, the machine began to hum, and the circular opening in the front began to pulsate. \"There we go! That's just what she needed! Thanks!\"\n\t\"So, this can really send people through time?\" asked Supersonic, looking up at the huge machine in wonder.\n\t\"Well, only into the past,\" replied Juryrig. \"You can't go into the future, 'cause it ain't happened yet.\"\n\t\"How does it work?\" asked Supersonic, fascinated.\n\t\"The control panel's right here,\" said Juryig. He clanked over to a bank of computer keyboards that had been rather haphazardly wired together, and everyone came over to look. \"You just tap in the time an' coordinates you want to visit, an' off you go!\"\n\t\"So it can be used to travel in space as well as time?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, it kind of has to,\" said Juryrig, \"since the planet is movin' an' all.\"\n\t\"Point taken,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Have you tested it?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Yeah, ah've made a few short trips into the past. Just a few hours. Met my earlier self. That was weird.\"\n\t\"I imagine so,\" Celestial Boy commented.\n\tKatrina looked at Supersonic and made a whirling motion with her finger beside her ear.\n\t\"You still don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, whispering.\n\t\"Come on!\" Katrina whispered back. \"A time machine?\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"On my show there was a super-smart dog and his pet boy who had a time machine that took them on all kinds of adventures throughout history.\"\n\tKatrina sighed. \"Dat vas a cartoon, dahlink.\"\n\t\"You're talking to a cartoon, dahlink. You could always read his mind to find out if he's telling the truth.\"\n\t\"I thought you didn't want me snooping around in people's minds without permission. Anyway, all that would tell me is that [i]he[/i] believes it, and if he's as nuts as he seems, that wouldn't surprise me a bit.\"\n\t\"Hey,\" said Juryrig, \"ah just realized ah'm hungry! Wanna order out for pizza or somethin'? There's a real good pizzeria just down the street.\"\n\t\"That sounds great!\" said Supersonic, grinning and rubbing his belly. He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Castor? I know you don't need to eat . . .\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I still enjoy the taste of food.\"\n\t\"Count me in,\" said Katrina. She turned to Dorgok. \"How about you? Have you ever had pizza?\" \n\tThe Lemurian boy shook his head. \"What is it?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Only the best food on Earth!\"\n\tAs Juryrig began dialing the number of the pizzeria on an old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall, they all froze at the sound of something being knocked over upstairs.\n\t\"ARGENT?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Possibly,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I only sense one mind,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Could be Mechassassin,\" Supersonic suggested.\n\t Celestial Boy shook his head. \"He is not a fool. It would not make sense for him to return alone.\"\n\t\"Well, let's go see who it is,\" said Supersonic, and flew up the ramp, Celestial Boy close on his heels.\n\tThey rounded the corner to find that the front corridor contained a single occupant. It was a Lemurian, taller than Dorgok, his slim body covered with brown and yellow scales, his chest and belly white. There was a webbed crest atop his lizardlike head, fins on his arms, legs and back, and a long, sinuous tail that swished behind him. His fingers and toes sported wicked-looking claws. Unlike Dorgok, he wore no clothing. He floated a foot above the floor, electricity crackling all around him.\n\t\"Who are you?\" Supersonic demanded.\n\t\"I am Samtiss,\" replied the Lemurian, in a hissing voice. \"I have come for Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Well, you'll have to go through me first!\" said Supersonic, and fired a wind blast that knocked the Lemurian back ten feet. Samtiss retaliated with a lighting bolt from his clawed hand, which electrified the squirrel, making his fur stand on end. Supersonic dropped to the floor on all fours, shivering. \"Holy cow, twice in one day!\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed as Katrina and Juryig came up to join them. \"It never fails. Gentlemen, might we suspend the hostilities for one moment to straighten this out?\"\n\t\"I did not come here to fight,\" Samtiss replied. \"I came to get my son.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked as he got to his feet. \"You're Dorgok's father?\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I am.\"\n\t\"You gotta admit,\" said Katrina, \"there is a certain family resemblance.\"\n\t\"How did you know where to find him?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Adam informed Nightmunk that you had brought Dorgok to Vibora Bay,\" replied Samtiss, \"and Nightmunk told me.\"\n\t\"And you flew down here on your own?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"That is not a problem for me,\" said Samtiss. \"Now, where is my son?\"\t\n\t\"He's downstairs,\" said Juryrig. \"Come on, ah'll—\" He stopped as the lights in the warehouse suddenly dimmed. \"Oh no!\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tJuryrig did not reply. Instead, he ran down the ramp to the room containing the quantum temporal displacement engine, the others close behind. There was no sign of Dorgok. \"Ah was afraid of this,\" he said.\n\t\"WHAT?\" Supersonic demanded impatiently.\n\tJuryrig turned to face him and shrugged helplessly. \"He's gone back in time!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"Are you certain of this?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"The machine pulls a lot of juice every time it's activated. Plus, there's no other way out of this room!\"\n\t\"Just a moment,\" said Samtiss. \"Am I to understand that this . . . apparatus . . . is some sort of time machine?\"\n\t\"So he says,\" replied Katrina.\n\t\"Let's find out where he went!\" said Supersonic, running to the control console. The others quickly came over to join him.\n\t\"It's set for Millennium City,\" Juryrig observed, \"just a little over a year ago.\"\n\t\"That is the date of the Lemurian invasion,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Why would he want to go there?\" asked Supersonic. \"To help out?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I doubt one more Lemurian would have made any difference, particularly a child with no powers who is missing a hand.\"\n\t\"Then what's he trying to do?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss's tongue flickered in agitation. \"He is trying to save his mother.\"\n\tThey all turned and stared at him. \n\t\"His mother?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen the Defiler. She was there that day. If he can find her, he can warn her of her fate and perhaps enable her to avoid it.\"\n\t\"Would that be a bad thing?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It could potentially be catastrophic,\" replied Samtiss. \"She was involved in a plot to free the Kings of Edom so they could once again ravage the multiverse.\"\n\t\"The Kings of Edom?\" asked Katrina. \"Who the hell are they?\"\n\t\"Cosmic entities of unimaginable power and evil,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"The Lemurians called them the Rastrinfhar—the Bleak Ones—and worshipped them as gods. They were imprisoned eons ago, but their followers strive constantly to free them.\"\n\tSamtiss eyed Celestial Boy. \"You know much for one so young, human.\"\n\t\"I am not human,\" replied Celestial Boy, \"and I am older than I look. I am well versed in the lore of the Kings. It is the reason I was sent here. However, I am curious as to why you would want to stop a plot to free them, Lemurian.\"\n\t\"Dorgok said his father was a traitor,\" said Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I realized the terrible mistake we made in returning to worshipping the Bleak Ones, and have been fighting against it.\"\n\t\"He also said you killed his mother,\" said Supersonic, narrowing his eyes at the Lemurian.\n\t\"Strictly speaking, that is not correct,\" said Samtiss. \"She was killed by Emorada, a paladin from another dimension. But I gladly would have, given the chance. Though I once loved Yareen, her worship of the Bleak Ones had thoroughly corrupted her. I have never encountered a more evil being.\"\n\t\"Okay,\" said Katrina, \"let's say Dorgok really has gone back in time to save his mother. Is there any reason we can't set the machine for a few seconds before he arrives, nab him, and be home in time for supper?\"\n\tJuryrig shook his head. \"It don't work that way. When Dorgok went back there, that time an' this one became entangled at the quantum level. Time is passin' at the same rate in both!\"\n\t\"I'll pretend I understood that,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I think what he means,\" said Celestial Boy, \"is that for every second that passes here, a second passes there. Therefore, the longer we delay going after him, the more time he has to find his mother.\"\n\t\"That must not happen,\" said Samtiss. \"If Yareen manages to avoid her fate, there could be dire consquences for the entire multiverse.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Then we must go now.\" He took a step toward the machine.\n\t\"Hold on a second,\" said Juryig. \"If you're goin' back in time, you'll be wantin' these.\" He held out a handful of objects that looked like ordinary digital wristwatches.\n\t\"To keep track of the time?\" asked Supersonic, puzzled.\n\t\"These are recall devices,\" Juryrig replied. \"Press the alarm button an' you'll pop back to the present. Alternatively, ah can bring you back usin' the recall button on the console.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as he, Supersonic, and Samtiss each strapped one of the recall devices onto a wrist. \"Ready?\" he asked the squirrel and the Lemurian.\n\t\"As I'll ever be,\" said Supersonic. He turned to Katrina. \"You're free to go, Katrina.\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You're turning me loose?\"\n\t\"It wouldn't be right to force you to come with us. I sure wish you would, because we could use all the help we can get, but I'll understand if you don't want to. It could be very dangerous.\"\n\tKatrina chewed her lip for a moment, then shrugged. \"Ah, what the hell. How many chances am I gonna have to travel through time?\" She took one of the recall devices from Juryrig and strapped it on.\n\t\"All right,\" said Celestial Boy, \"let's go.\" And the four of them walked up the ramp of the noisy, quivering, whirling machine and entered the glowing portal to the past.\n\tThe first thing they experienced was the cold shock of rain hitting their faces. When they recovered, they could see that they were standing in a street in downtown Millennium City in the middle of a torrential downpour, the ground around them strewn with debris from a nearby building that had collapsed when a Lemurian drilling machine—a giant cylinder with a conical drill on top—had come straight up out of the ground beneath it. The colossal machine sat silently amidst the mountain of rubble, pointed at the sky, looking like a predator perched atop its kill, a huge door in its side yawning open like a mouth. It was abandoned now, having disgorged its cargo of Lemurian soldiers to terrorize the city. The echoing sound of gunfire in the distance attested that the battle was in progress. Then came a screeching sound as a trio of strange objects shot by overhead, racing along the narrow, skyscraper-lined canyon. They consisted of hemispherical capsules with the rounded end facing forward, surrounded by three triangular fins equally spaced that rotated continuously as they flew.\n\t\"Lemurian Exocet fighters,\" said Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I remember. I destroyed several of them during the invasion.\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him. \"You were there? I mean, here?\"\n\t\"Of course. Where else would I be?\"\n\tHe turned to Katrina, who was still staring up at the sky in disbelief. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"Huh? Oh, I'm hiding in a shelter, with the rest of the civilians. Holy shit, that pile of junk actually works!\"\n\t\"So it would seem,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Can you locate Dorgok?\"\n\tShe closed her eyes and concentrated. \"I'm trying. There's so much chaos. It's like trying to hear one voice among thousands.\" She opened her eyes and shook her head. \"I can't do it. There's too much interference.\"\n\tSupersonic squeezed her hand. \"At least you tried. That's all anyone could ask.\"\n\tCelestial Boy turned to Samtiss. \"Have you any idea where Yareen might be?\"\n\t\"She was with the group of mystics who summoned the Bleak Harbinger,\" the Lemurian replied.\n\t\"That was the giant monster they intended to use to destroy Millennium City!\" exclaimed Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I was there, too, trying to stop them. I failed.\"\n\t\"We must head in that direction, then,\" said Celestial Boy, taking to the air. Samtiss crackled with electricity and followed him, and Supersonic picked up Katrina and flew after them on a gust of wind.\n\t\"If you're there, does that mean we might run into your earlier self?\" Katrina asked Samtiss as they flew.\n\t\"Possibly,\" the Lemurian replied. \"I would caution you that even though I had turned against my own people by this time, I still did not like or trust humans, nor was I aware that I had a son.\"\n\t\"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\" Celestial Boy asked, noting the pensive look on the squirrel's face.\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I don't like that we came back through time to make sure someone dies. It's not very heroic.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I can understand why you would feel that way. In your cartoon world, morality was very black and white. But in the real world, one must sometimes do unpleasant things for the greater good.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"I don't see how anything good can come from doing wrong.\"\n\t\"Was your president Truman wrong to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to deter an invasion of Japan that would have cost many more lives?\"\n\t\"President Truman was a good man!\" Supersonic protested. \"Besides, there was a war on!\"\n\tCelestial Boy gestured at the havoc going on around them. \"And what would you call this?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and flew on in silence.\n\tAs the four time travelers flew along beneath the iron-gray sky, their bodies pelted by heavy rain, they gave a start as a tremendous roar reverberated through the streets of Millennium City. It was a sound that two of them remembered well and had hoped never to hear again.\n\t\"The Harbinger is here,\" said Celestial Boy, grimly.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen will be close by. Come.\"\n\tThey flew a bit further, and as they rounded a skyscraper, their eyes were greeted by a spectacle such as only Millennium City could provide. There at the edge of the Detroit River stood a creature out of a nightmare. It towered more than a hundred feet above the frothing water, its lumpy greenish-gray body topped by a grotesque wedge-shaped head, each side lined with three glowing eyes. Stony protrusions stuck out from either side of its head, giving the head a loose resemblance to that of a hammerhead shark. From the waist down it was nothing but a mass of writhing tentacles. It had four arms, each ending in a huge lobsterlike claw, with which it swatted angrily at the heroes buzzing around it like bothersome flies while another deafening roar issued forth from a mouth that could have swallowed a truck.\n\tFighting this monstrosity were several of the Champions, the world's most famous superhero team. There was Defender, in his gleaming blue-and-white battle armor, blasting it with plasma beams from his hands; Sapphire, who was also a successful singing star, hovering above its head in her blue vest, trunks, and thigh-high boots and generating concussive bursts of force; Witchcraft, her green cloak and red hair billowing in the wind as she hurled mystical hex bolts at it; and Ironclad, an alien gladiator whose body was covered in living metal, slashing at its tentacles with his sword. Other heroes were fighting the creature as well, including Adam, the chimpanzee scientist now wearing a red-and-white jumpsuit and flying with a jetpack while shooting at it with some sort of ray gun, and Nighthawk, the caped and hooded vigilante mounted on his grav bike and peppering its hide with laser bolts. Even Foxbat, who was technically a villain but more of a nuisance than a threat, had joined the fray, firing at the Bleak Harbinger with his ping-pong ball gun as he glided past it in his brown-and-yellow costume. However, nothing anyone was doing seemed to be having any effect on the hideous colossus.\n\t\"We have to help them!\" cried Supersonic as he watched the heroes attacking the Harbinger futilely.\n\t\"No, that is precisely what we must not do,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We are not supposed to be here. Any actions we take that alter the past could have dire consequences in our present. They defeated the Bleak Harbinger before without our assistance. They can do so again. Look—help is arriving even now.\" There, high above the Harbinger, a sleek steel vessel had emerged out of the murk.\n\t\"If I am not mistaken,\" said Samtiss, \"that is the UNTIL sky carrier [i]Barcelona[/i].\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"It played a pivotal role in this battle. Its radiation cannon weakened the Harbinger enough to enable the heroes to damage it.\"\n\t\"Then all is in good hands,\" said Samtiss. \"We need not concern ourselves with these events.\"\n\t\"You might want to tell [i]them[/i] that!\" said Katrina, pointing. A trio of Exocet fighters were streaking toward the four time travelers.\n\t\"Evade them, but do not attack!\" warned Celestial Boy. \"We must keep our interference in the past to an absolute minimum!\"\n\t\"I do not think that they will accord us the same courtesy,\" said Samtiss, as he blasted a missile fired at him by one of the fighters with a lightning bolt, causing it to explode in midair.\n\t\"Find cover!\" shouted Celestial Boy, and dove down into a gap between two buildings. One of the fighters peeled off to chase him, while Samtiss flew in the opposite direction, leading another away. Supersonic, still holding on to Katrina, shot back the way they had come, the last fighter in hot pursuit.\n\t\"Incoming!\" yelled Katrina. Supersonic glanced back at the fighter. It had fired a missile at them, which was closing rapidly. On his own, he might have been able to dodge it, but burdened as he was with Katrina, his maneuverability was greatly impaired. Gritting his teeth, he banked around the corner of a building, hoping the missile would strike it and not him.\n\tIt almost worked. The missile did hit the side of the building, but so close to them that Supersonic was struck on the head with a chunk of debris, stunning him and causing him to lose his grip on Katrina. With a scream, she plummeted toward the street far below, while Supersonic reeled, momentarily dazed. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and dove after the falling girl, accelerating toward her as fast as he could. She was already so close to the ground that he wasn't sure he'd be able to reach her before she hit, let alone pull out of his dive in time to save either of them, but he didn't slow down. Either they would both live, or they would both die.\n\tAs the street drew terrifyingly close, Supersonic's outstretched hands grasped Katrina's wrist, and he instantly pulled up, nearly wrenching his arms out of their sockets as he desperately tried to level out before they both ended up as red smears. Katrina's boots skittered against the asphalt as they rocketed along not five feet off the ground. The squirrel decelerated as fast as he could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. An abandoned city bus loomed before them, and there was no way he could stop or turn in time to avoid it. Gathering Katrina against him, Supersonic turned so he would bear the brunt of the impact and slammed into the side of the bus with tooth-jarring force, his body cushioning the blow for his charge.\n\tKatrina got groggily to her feet, scarcely able to believe that she was still alive. She glanced down at Supersonic. The squirrel was lying sprawled beside the bus, out cold. Then she looked up as the Exocet fighter that had fired the missile swooped down out of the sky toward them, and her eyes narrowed. \"You're dead,\" she growled.\n\tShe lashed out at the craft with a searing mental blast, augmented by her own anger and pain. The stunned Lemurian pilot lost control of his ship, and it plowed into the street, exploding and showering Katrina and Supersonic with flaming debris. \n\tKatrina knelt over the squirrel's unconscious form, shielding it from harm. \"Hey, squirrelly boy!\" she said, smacking his gray-furred face lightly. \"Come on, wake up!\" When he didn't, she cupped her hands and plunged them into a nearby puddle, dumping the cold water over his face. The squirrel sputtered, and his huge eyes snapped open. Then he groaned in pain. \"You okay?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSupersonic sat up, rubbing his back. \"I don't think any bones are broken. My whole body feels like one big bruise, though.\" He looked up at Katrina. \"How about you?\"\n\tKatrina grinned, the rain running down her brown face, her short white hair a spiky mess. \"Remember when I asked you if you'd ever been kissed?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Yeah, but what—?\" He was cut off as she savagely kissed him on his muzzle. The squirrel's eyes went wide, and his body went rigid. Then, after a moment, his eyes closed and he relaxed, putting his arms around Katrina and holding her, chrring softly. As she broke the kiss, he released her and looked at her, confused. \"What was that for?\"\n\t\"You risked your life back there to save mine,\" she replied, smiling. \"I figure that's worth a kiss, don't you?\"\n\tSupersonic rubbed behind his head. \"I suppose so. It's just a little unexpected, is all. I didn't think you liked me very much.\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"Eh, you're starting to grow on me. You know, like ringworm.\"\n\t\"Thanks, I guess,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet. He gazed at the wreckage of the Exocet. \"Did you do that?\"\n\t\"What else could I do? He hurt my squirrel.\" She grinned again.\n\t\"You shouldn't have,\" said Supersonic, frowning. \"Castor said we shouldn't do anything that could change the past.\"\n\t\"Screw Castor, and screw him,\" said Katrina, gesturing at the crashed fighter. \"He tried to kill us. If someone tries to kill me, it's his shit luck if he dies. Anyway, he'd already changed the past by attacking us.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I wish you wouldn't curse so much. It's not ladylike.\"\n\tKatrina put her hands on her hips. \"I'm sorry if my vulgar language offends your delicate 1960s television sensibilities.\"\n\t\"I can't help it if I was brought up with old-fashioned values!\" Supersonic retorted.\n\t\"In a small town in Minnesota. I know, I read your bio on Wikipedia during the flight to Vibora. Ultimate white-bread Middle America.\" She smirked. \"How does it feel to know you were just kissed by a colored girl?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"What?\"\n\t\"That's what they used to call us black folks back then, right?\"\n\t\"You're not black. You have white hair and blue eyes.\"\n\t\"Because my dad was German. My mom was black. That's where I got my skin from.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"I'd think that would matter less than the fact that we're different species.\" He looked up at the cloudy sky. \"We need to regroup with the others and find Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Yeah, well, after nearly ending up street pizza, I hope you don't mind if I choose to keep both my feet on the ground from now on.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"That's understandable.\" Another roar from the Bleak Harbinger echoed through the streets. \"Come on, let's go.\" He began walking in the direction of the waterfront, Katrina beside him.\n\n\tDorgok made his way carefully through the battleground that Millennium City had become, keeping to the shadows and avoiding both the city's defenders and the Lemurian invaders as he searched for his mother. Initially, he hadn't had a clear idea of where to go, not being familiar with the layout of the city, but the roars of the Bleak Harbinger provided him with a direction. And so he trekked along through the chaos on his clawed feet in the pouring rain, cursing Dr. Ka for stripping him of his ability to fly.\n\tAs he paused in the shadow of a building to let a truck full of human soldiers go by, Dorgok heard a rumbling sound from above and looked up. His eyes widened in horror as he saw that the structure he was standing beside was beginning to topple, its walls weakened by repeated strafings from the Exocet fighters constantly screaming by overhead. He stood transfixed with fear, watching the heavy wall falling toward him. Then something struck him hard in the side, knocking him clear of the collapsing wall as tons of bricks crashed down onto the spot where he had just been standing.\n\tDorgok sat up in the street, dazed but unhurt, and looked to see what had hit him. Crouching beside him was a human boy in his early teen years, with brown skin and long black hair, both of which were wet from the rain. His slim body was naked save for a beige loincloth, and his dark eyes gazed curiously at the Lemurian boy. \"You know,\" the human said, \"when you see a wall falling toward you, the sensible thing is to run away from it.\"\n\tDorgok just stared at his rescuer in confusion. \"Why did you save me?\" he asked.\n\tThe human grinned. \"Call it force of habit. For a second I forgot you were one of the bad guys. All I saw was someone in danger.\"\n\t\"So now you will kill me?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"After I just went to the trouble of saving you? That would be pretty stupid. Besides, you don't look like much of a threat.\"\n\tIf he only knew, Dorgok thought, but simply flicked his tongue.\n\t\"What are you doing here, anyway?\" the human asked. \"You're clearly not a soldier. You look like a kid, you have no weapons, and you're missing a hand. What gives?\"\n\t\"I . . . stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied.\n\tThe human blinked. \"You stowed away to an invasion?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"I wanted to see the surface world. I wanted to see if humans are really as evil as my people say.\"\n\t\"Well, I hope I've helped dispel that myth,\" the human said, offering him a hand up. \"I'm Mowgli. What's your name?\"\n\t\"Dorgok,\" Dorgok replied, accepting the hand and getting to his feet.\n\t\"Nice to meet you, Dorgok,\" said Mowgli.\n\tDorgok stared at him, utterly baffled, not having expected a human to treat him so kindly, let alone save his life.\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli, there you are!\" came a voice from above. Dorgok and Mowgli both looked up. Swooping down from the sky came another boy. While he looked superficially human, he clearly was not. His skin was bright red, his ears were pointed, a three-foot tail with an arrowhead tip protruded from his backside, and he bore a pair of small pink horns atop his hairless head. Like Mowgli, he wore very little—in his case, only a white loincloth, plus flames wreathing his body. The flames vanished as he landed beside them, but raindrops continued to sizzle and turn to steam as they struck his scarlet skin.\n\tDorgok gasped. \"A demon?\"\n\t\"I'm not a demon,\" the horned boy said, scowling at him. \"I'm a devil. Important difference.\"\n\t\"Hi, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"I'd been wondering where you'd gotten to,\" Hot Stuff said. \"And look what you've caught!\" He grinned, displaying small fangs, and raised his hands, which began smoldering with flames. \"One lizard fricasee, coming right up!\"\n\t\"Stow that, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli. \"We're not killers.\"\n\t\"Oh yeah?\" Hot Stuff shot back. \"Well, [i]they[/i] are! You know how many bodies I flew past while I was looking for you?\"\n\t\"Look at him. He's just a kid, like us.\"\n\t\"The Lemurians kill kids, too. They don't care, so why should we?\"\n\t\"Because we're better than them,\" said Mowgli, calmly.\n\tHot Stuff snarled. \"Wake up, jungle boy! This is war!\"\n\t\"Even wars have rules,\" said Mowgli. \"You don't kill prisoners and noncombatants. Now. Back. Off.\"\n\tHot Stuff glared at him, but he lowered his hands, and the flames around them vanished. \"Fine,\" he said. \"So what are we gonna do with him?\"\n\tMowgli shrugged. \"I guess we let him go.\"\n\tHot Stuff practically exploded. \"Let him go? Are you crazy?\"\n\t\"There are people all over this city who need saving!\" Mowgli shouted back. \"We've got more important things to do than babysit a crippled Lemurian kid! Come on!\" He turned and ran off down the street with a swift, loping gait. \n\tHot Stuff shot Dorgok a look of pure hatred, and the Lemurian could see that the devil boy was trembling with barely suppressed rage. \"This is your lucky day, lizard,\" he growled. \"If it had been up to me, you'd be ashes right now.\" Then he burst into flames, rose off the ground, and flew off after Mowgli.\n\tDorgok watched him go, puzzled. That creature was not human, he thought. These were not its people. Why did it care so much about them? He shook his head and resumed his quest.\n\n\tCelestial Boy flew along close to street level, his glowing eyes methodically scanning the streets for any sign of his fellow time travelers. He'd managed to elude the Exocet fighter that had been chasing him, but in the process had become separated from the rest of his team. This troubled him, as every minute they were here increased the chances that they would do something to alter the past, and while he was fairly certain Samtiss could be trusted, as the Lemurian seemed to have a logical mind, he was less so about Supersonic and Katrina, who were more governed by emotion.\n\tHe froze as a Lemurian emerged from around the corner of a building, then relaxed when he saw that it was Samtiss. The Lemurian flew over to him, arcs of electricity sparking across his scaly body. \"I see you managed to evade your pursuer,\" said Samtiss. \"I have done so, as well.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I have been unable to find Supersonic and Katrina, however.\"\n\t\"Obviously,\" said Samtiss. \"If you had, they would be with you. Searching for them would seem to be impractical. We should head back to the Harbinger. If they are still alive, they will also be headed that way.\"\n\t \"A sound plan,\" Celestial Boy replied. \n\tAs they flew along the street together, Celestial Boy said, \"There is something I have been meaning to ask you, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"What is it?\"\n\t\"If it becomes necessary, are you prepared to kill your son?\"\n\t\"I have known Dorgok for less than a day,\" Samtiss replied, \"and during that brief acquaintance he tortured me while I was Yareen's prisoner in the Qliphoth. Therefore, my emotional bond with him is understandably somewhat limited. And yet, I do feel something for him. I would prefer that he not die. But if it becomes necessary, I will do what must be done.\" He turned his golden reptilian eyes to Celestial Boy. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"The taking of life is abhorrent to me,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but there are times when the abhorrent becomes unavoidable. Therefore, I, too, will do what must be done.\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I appreciate that you sought to learn my feelings on this matter.\"\n\t\"I do not know you,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"Therefore, I wanted to anticipate your reaction. Having insufficient facts always invites danger.\"\n\t\"Nonetheless, I do appreciate it.\"\n\t\"Noted.\"\n\t\"Someone is approaching,\" Samtiss observed. Ahead of them, two figures were racing down the street toward them, one leaving a flaming contrail behind it.\n\t\"I know them,\" said Celestial Boy, frowning. \"This is unfortunate.\"\n\t\"Do we wish to speak to them?\" asked Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"It appears to be unavoidable.\"\n\tMowgli and Hot Stuff stopped before the pair. \"Hey, Castor!\" Hot Stuff said, waving and smiling. \"I see you caught yourself a lizard too! And this one's an adult!\"\n\tCelestial Boy blinked. \"You have seen a Lemurian child?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"We ran into one a few blocks east of here. We let him go, though. He seemed harmless enough.\"\n\tSamtiss flicked his tongue. \"You could not be more mistaken.\"\n\t\"What do you mean?\" Hot Stuff demanded. \"Castor, what are you doing with this thing?\"\n\t\"Mowgli, Hot Stuff,\" said Celestial Boy, \"I must ask you to trust me. I am not the Celestial Boy you know. Samtiss and I are from the future, as is the Lemurian child you encountered. We have come to stop him from changing the past.\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Mowgli and Hot Stuff in unison, staring at the pair in disbelief.\n\t\"More than that I dare not say,\" said Celestial Boy, \"lest I make matters even worse than they are.\"\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli,\" said Hot Stuff, looking at Celestial Boy suspiciously, \"aren't some Lemurians shapeshifters?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"One was just caught trying to impersonate the mayor.\"\n\t\"So how do we know that's really Castor?\"\n\t\"There's one way to find out,\" said Mowgli. He moved up close to Celestial Boy and sniffed him.\n\t\"Well?\" asked Hot Stuff impatiently.\n\t\"He smells like the real thing,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"That is because I am,\" growled Celestial Boy.\n\t\"You are what?\" came a hollow voice from above. They all looked up. There, hovering above them, was Celestial Boy.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future groaned. \"Oh, for Elysium's sake!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present landed and gazed at his counterpart. \"Well, this is interesting!\"\n\t\"That is not the word I would have chosen,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, clearly annoyed.\n\t\"But you did,\" Samtiss pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy of the present turned to Mowgli and Hot Stuff. \"What is going on here?\"\n\tMowgli grinned. \"Are you ready for this? They claim to be from the future!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present raised an eyebrow. \"Indeed?\"\n\t\"Yes,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, \"and we must not be detained. Every passing second brings us closer to disaster!\"\n\t\"What makes a one-handed Lemurian kid so dangerous?\" asked Hot Stuff.\n\t\"I may not tell you that!\"\n\t\"Then let us help you,\" said Mowgli.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future shook his head. \"You must not!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present nodded. \"I quite agree. If they truly are from the future, then the best thing we can do is forget we ever saw them.\"\n\tCelestial Boy from the future smiled at his counterpart. \"It is good to see that someone understands.\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present shrugged. \"Well, we are the same person. Good luck with your mission, Castor.\"\n\t\"Thank you, Castor.\" With that, Samtiss and Celestial Boy from the future flew off down the street to the east.\n\tMowgli turned to Celestial Boy of the present. \"Are we ever gonna find out what that was all about?\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present smiled. \"Eventually.\"\n\t\n\tDorgok rounded a corner, and his pulse quickened as he saw the Bleak Harbinger towering majestically over the city, for it meant that his mother must be close by. He snarled as the UNTIL sky carrier hovering above blasted it with some kind of ray and heroes swarmed the Harbinger—shooting it, punching it, slashing it. They might win this day, but perhaps, if Dorgok succeeded in what he had come here to do, ultimate victory would belong to the Bleak Ones.\n\tSo entranced was he by the battle before him that he almost failed to hear a groan of pain from behind a pile of refuse nearby. He turned toward it, and his eyes went wide at what he saw. The groan had come from Samtiss, lying slumped against a wall, bleeding from several deep gashes across his scaled chest. His golden eyes looked up at his son in puzzlement. \"What are you doing here, child?\" he asked.\n\t\"I stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied. \"Who injured you so?\"\n\t\"Yareen the Defiler, a high priestess of Lemuria.\"\n\t\"But you are Lemurian. Why do you fight against your own people?\"\n\t\"Because they have made a terrible mistake. Following the Bleak Ones leads only to death.\"\n\t\"But the Bleak Ones created us to do their bidding. What purpose do we have if not to serve them?\"\n\t\"Parents create their children. That does not mean they own them. Each being must find its own purpose in life.\"\n\tDorgok flicked his tongue. \"What you speak is heresy. Blasphemy.\"\n\t\"Perhaps. But it is the truth.\"\n\t\"It is not our truth.\"\n\tSamtiss sighed. \"I would argue this further, but I fear I lack the strength. Might I impose upon you as a fellow Lemurian to help me back to the sewers? I do not wish to be found this way, either by our kind or by the humans.\"\n\tDorgok nodded and crouched down next to Samtiss, putting his left arm behind his father's finned back to support him. Samtiss groaned as he sat up. \"Thank you. What is your name, child?\"\n\t\"I am Dorgok, son of Yareen the Defiler and Samtiss the Traitor. And I am your executioner.\" And with that he lunged and sank his teeth into his father's throat.\n\tSamtiss gurgled as blood filled his mouth, and he slashed at Dorgok with his claws, tearing red streaks across his scaly blue skin, but the Lemurian boy did not let go until his father's body stopped thrashing and went limp. Dorgok stood up, feeling elated as he gazed down at the corpse before him and licked the blood from his lips. \"The sewers are where you belong, traitor,\" he hissed, \"but I have a task to complete. Perhaps later, Mother and I can defile your corpse together.\" Then he turned and began running in the direction of the Harbinger.\n\n\tSupersonic Squirrel hugged himself and shivered as he walked along the deserted street beside Katrina. The rain had soaked through his fur to his skin, and his tail hung behind him, drooping and sopping wet. He glanced up in annoyance at Katrina as she began to once again perform her off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\t\"Will you stop that?\" he snapped.\n\tShe looked down at him, surprised. \"I'd have thought you'd like that song. It's from your time, after all.\"\n\t\"The song isn't the problem. It's your attitude.\"\n\t\"What's wrong with my attitude?\"\n\tSupersonic spread his arms. \"We're in the middle of an invasion! I wish you'd be a little more serious!\"\n\t\"I wish you'd be a little[i] less[/i] serious!\" Katrina shot back. \"For Pete's sake, you look like a cartoon and you walk around without any clothes on! It's a wonder you haven't been arrested for public indecency!\"\n\t\"I'm a squirrel! Squirrels don't wear clothes!\"\n\t\"Then how are you gonna hide your nuts?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at her. \"Because I look the way I do, I have to be serious if I want to be taken seriously!\"\n\tKatrina regarded him for a moment. \"That's important to you, isn't it? To be taken seriously.\"\n\t\"Well, what I do is a serious business. People's lives are at stake!\"\n\tShe nodded, remembering how he'd saved her from falling to her death at the risk of his own life. \"Okay, point taken. I'll try to adjust my attitude.\" Then she looked down at his feet. \"Um, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"What?\"\n\t\"You're standing in blood.\"\n\tSupersonic looked down. A stream of crimson was flowing past his gray-furred feet. It appeared to be coming from an alley nearby. \"Come on!\" he said, running toward it. \"Someone might need help!\" Katrina ran after him. \n\tThey both froze in their tracks when they saw where the blood was coming from. \"It's Samtiss!\" cried Supersonic, running to the Lemurian's supine form and kneeling beside it.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"It's no use, Supersonic. He's had it.\"\n\tSupersonic pressed an ear to the Lemurian's chest, then lifted his head. \"You're right. There's no heartbeat.\" He stood up, looking down sadly at the corpse. \"Who could have done this? It wasn't the fighters. His throat's been ripped out.\"\n\t\"A better question would be, is this the Samtiss from this time or our time?\"\n\t\"That's right!\" exclaimed Supersonic. \"He said he was here during the invasion.\" He looked down at the body. \"He's not wearing a recall device.\"\n\t\"That doesn't prove anything,\" said Katrina. \"Whoever killed him could have taken it. But if this is the Samtiss from this time, then he must have been killed by Dorgok.\"\n\t\"How do you figure that?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Because the Samtiss of this time survived the invasion,\" Katrina replied, \"so the only thing that could have killed him is something that wasn't here that day.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Something like Dorgok. But what would that mean for the Samtiss from our time?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"Damned if I know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that we're in the past at all!\"\n\t\"Well, the body's still warm,\" said Supersonic. \"If Dorgok did this, then he must be close by.\"\n\t\"I'll scan the immediate area,\" said Katrina. She closed her eyes and concentrated, spreading her mental awareness across just a few city blocks. Her eyes snapped open. \"Got him!\"\n\tSupersonic grinned, baring his big buck teeth. \"Great! Let's go get him!\" He held out his arms to her.\n\t\"Okay,\" Katrina said, lowering herself reluctantly into his embrace. \"But stay close to the ground this time.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"I promise!\" \n\tTogether, they flew off after Dorgok.\n\t\n\tYareen the Defiler's green, snakelike eyes watched with dismay as the Bleak Harbinger began to falter in its battle against the heroes of Millennium City. She was a tall, slim Lemurian woman with bluish-purple scales, wearing a mauve-and-silver chest plate, pauldrons, loincloth, and crested headdress, with cloth wraps around her lower arms and legs. She was standing in a parking lot beside the Detroit River with two other Lemurian adepts, guarded by a pair of stone golems—giant statues shaped like humanoid reptiles. That blasted sky carrier had turned the tide against them. Even the addition of flights of Exocet fighters diverted from other areas was not proving enough to protect the Harbinger. The heroes kept knocking the fighters out of the air, enabling the sky carrier to blast the Harbinger with its radiation cannon. If the Harbinger fell, the invasion was finished.\n\t\"Perhaps we should attack the sky carrier, mistress?\" suggested the frost adept floating beside her, brushing a coating of ice crystals from his chest, where they kept building up as raindrops hit him and froze.\n\tYareen shook her head. \"Its guns would mow us down before we even got near it.\"\n\t\"There must be something we can do!\" cried the other adept, an ionic with electricity arcing across his body.\n\t\"I fear our part in this battle is ended,\" said Yareen. Her tongue flicked as the Harbinger roared one last time and collapsed into the river, its body crumbling into a pile of rubble. It had never really been alive—just a mass of rock and seaweed animated by Lemurian sorcery, much like the stone golems. She turned to the other Lemurians, who were watching helplessly as their dream died before them. \"We must retreat. Head for the nearest tunnel. Do not despair, brothers. The humans may have won this day, but there will be other battles. The Bleak Ones shall yet triumph!\" Her tongue flicked again as she rose from the ground. This day had been a terrible setback, an enormous waste of their limited resources. The only bright spot for her had been defeating her former lover Samtiss and watching him flee like the coward he was. The memory brought a smile to her reptilian face.\n\t\"Mother!\" came a high, rasping voice, causing her to pause and turn toward it. Her eyes widened with surprise at the sight of a blue Lemurian boy in a loincloth running toward her, his clawed feet splashing in the water covering the parking lot.\n\t\"Who are you, child?\" Yareen asked, puzzled. \"What are you doing here? And why do you call me mother?\"\n\tThe boy stopped before her, his scaly chest heaving as he panted from his exertions. \"I am Dorgok, your son!\"\n\t\"Son?\" Yareen hissed. \"What nonsense is this? I have no child . . . yet.\" There was an egg in an incubator back in her fortress in the Qliphoth, the product of her last union with Samtiss before he had turned traitor, but it had yet to hatch.\n\t\"I am from the future!\" said Dorgok. \"I have come to warn you! To save you!\"\n\tYareen's mouth fell open. \"From the future?\" She inspected the boy more closely. Yes, there was a resemblance, both to herself and to Samtiss. \"But how is this possible?\"\n\t\"That is not important,\" said Dorgok. \"A year from now—\" \n\tThen he stopped, his eyes going wide, and clutched at his throat with his left hand. Yareen looked up to see a small, grey-furred creature flying across the parking lot toward them, carrying a white-haired human female in its arms. \"Uh uh uh, Dorgok,\" the girl said. \"No giving away the ending!\"\n\tYareen snarled. She did not know who these interlopers were, nor did she care. Clearly, they were somehow stopping Dorgok from telling her about the future, and that must not be permitted. She pointed a clawed finger at the pair and addressed the other Lemurians. \"Kill them both, now!\"\n\tSupersonic set Katrina down and built up a sphere of super-compressed air between his hands as the two stone golems lumbered toward them, the ground shaking beneath their feet. He released the sphere in a blast at one of the golems, but it barely slowed the thing down. Then he flew toward them, a vortex of wind swirling around his small form, pushing them back, away from Katrina. The golems flailed with their thick arms, trying to reach him and failing. He chittered triumphantly, then screeched as a bolt of lightning from the ionic adept hit him, making his fur stand on end and dropping him to the ground.\n\t\"You know,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet and rubbing his head, \"I'm really getting tired of that.\" Then he looked up and saw the two golems looming over him, massive stony fists poised to strike. \"Uh oh.\"\n\tKatrina watched in horror as the golems prepared to make the squirrel one with the asphalt. She was using her mental powers to paralyze Dorgok's vocal cords, preventing him from speaking. Switching targets would release him. Besides, the golems were simply animated statues with no minds to affect. Stopping Dorgok from telling Yareen about the future was paramount. She was sure Supersonic would have agreed with that, even been willing to die to accomplish it. Still, her mind searched for some way to help him.\n\tSupersonic erected a dome of solidified air over himself as the golems struck, their mighty fists pounding on its surface. He winced at the force of the impacts. It wouldn't withstand another combined blow like that. He glanced over at Dorgok, who was still struggling to speak, and then rocketed out from beneath the two golems, plowing into Dorgok and wrapping an arm around the Lemurian boy's waist, bearing him up and away from Yareen.\n\tKatrina grinned. With Dorgok out of earshot, she was free to act. She concentrated on Yareen, blasting the Lemurian woman with psychic energy, trying to overload her brain. Yareen reeled, then glared and hissed at Katrina. \"Foolish girl, you seek to pit your puny powers against my dark sorcery? Very well!\" She raised a clawed hand, and tendrils of darkness snaked from it and wrapped around Katrina, paralyzing her and sucking the life from her body. \"Your soul will be my gift to the Bleak Ones!\"\n\t\"I think not, Yareen,\" came a voice she knew far too well. She whirled to see Samtiss and a human-looking boy in winged red-and-purple armor flying down from the sky toward her.\n\tYareen snarled. \"Samtiss, you have returned for still more punishment? Have you not yet learned you are no match for me?\"\n\t\"I know that, Yareen,\" Samtiss replied. \"That is why I brought friends.\"\n\t\"You have no friends, traitor!\" shrieked Yareen. \"Now die!\" And she fired a shaft of darkness at him. Samtiss erected an electrical shield, blunting her attack, and hurled a lightning bolt back, stunning her. Then he turned to face the frost adept, who was flying toward him, his body shrouded in freezing mist.\n\tMeanwhile, Celestial Boy landed next to Katrina, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position, and bathed her in silvery light from his hands. She groaned and sat up, hugging herself. \"Wow, that was really unpleasant!\" she said.\n\t\"This seems likely to be, as well,\" said Celestial Boy, looking past her.\n\tKatrina turned her head to see the two stone golems charging toward them, and sighed. \"Oh, shit . . .\"\n\tHigh above the parking lot, Supersonic was struggling with Dorgok as the Lemurian boy clawed ferociously at the squirrel with his one hand. He howled in pain as Dorgok sank his needle-like teeth into the squirrel's shoulder. \"Ow! You little punk!\" snarled Supersonic, and slugged the Lemurian boy across his snout. Dorgok went limp and slipped out of his grasp. Appalled at what he'd just done, Supersonic dove after the boy, grasping his left arm and stopping his fall. He glanced down at the pavement far below. There was one sure, certain way to prevent Dorgok from telling his mother about the future, he thought to himself. Then he shook his head. \"No, I can't do it,\" he said. \"I'm not a killer, and you're just a kid. A Lemurian kid, but still a kid.\"\n\tA bolt of lightning struck him, and for the fourth time in one day, Supersonic was electrified. As he and Dorgok both began to fall, the ionic adept who had fired the bolt flew up and snatched Dorgok out of the air, turning and flying back toward Yareen, leaving the unconscious squirrel to pinwheel toward the ground.\n\tThe frost adept raised his arms, and Samtiss was suddenly encased in a block of ice. Had Samtiss been human, the sudden chill might have induced immediate hypothermia, but fortunately he was a Lemurian, a creature native to the frigid ocean depths, and hence naturally resistant to cold. Electricity surged around his scaly body, causing the block to burst apart, spraying shards of ice in every direction. Then it arced from his clawed fingers to the frost adept's chest, causing the other Lemurian to go rigid as his muscles locked up. Samtiss growled as he continued to pour on the volts until the frost adept lay sprawled on the asphalt, shocked senseless.\n\t\"Go assist Samtiss,\" Celestial Boy told Katrina. \"I will deal with the golems.\" She nodded, as there was nothing she could do against the mindless stone constructs anyway, and ran to join the Lemurian. \n\tYareen had recovered and now glared hatefully at both Samtiss and Katrina, an aura of dark magic crackling around her. \"You turn to this human cow for help?\" she hissed. \"You are pathetic, Samtiss!\"\n\t\"Who are you calling a cow, skank?\" Katrina shot back, and let loose a powerful mind blast at the same time Samtiss fired a massive surge of electricity from his hands. Both attacks struck Yareen, staggering her, though her aura absorbed most of the damage. She growled and made a motion with her hands, and a swirling vortex of darkness appeared before Samtiss and Katrina, drawing them both inexorably toward it.\n\tAs the two golems bore down on Celestial Boy, the youthful Elysian built up a knot of cosmic energy in his body and released it at the one closest to him, blasting it to pieces. The remaining golem swung a huge stone fist at him, catching him across the chest and knocking him into a nearby brick wall. While he was still regaining his feet, the golem charged at him, its fingers outstretched, and he barely managed to elude its grasp by flying straight up, out of its reach. The golem responded by tearing a thick chunk of asphalt out of the ground and hurling it at the flying boy. The chunk narrowly missed, and Celestial Boy fired a bolt of cosmic energy back at the golem, blowing off its left arm, which seemed to bother it not at all. The golem stooped, picked up its severed left arm with its right hand, and tossed it at the Elysian, scoring a hit and sending him tumbling head over heels through the air.\n\tSupersonic Squirrel felt the wind blowing across his face, and his eyes blinked open to see the street rushing up to greet him. He reacted automatically, following the age-old instinct of his species, spreading his arms and legs wide so the loose flaps of skin between them would catch the air and slow his fall. That ancient reflex saved his life, giving him time to summon a gust of wind to lift himself upward before he hit the pavement. Taking a moment to orient himself, he spotted the ionic adept carrying Dorgok back toward Yareen, and barrelled after them.\n\t\"It's pulling me in!\" Katrina cried, her feet skidding along the wet surface of the parking lot as the dark vortex drew her closer. Samtiss seized her wrist with one clawed hand and tried to fly in the opposite direction, but had no better luck resisting the tug of the vortex than Katrina had.\n\t\"Look upon the face of primal chaos, you fools!\" crowed Yareen, her snouted face split in a serpentine grin. \"Welcome to oblivion!\" Samtiss and Katrina both felt cold terror grip their hearts as the swirling darkness grew larger before them.\n\tAt that moment, Celestial Boy flew past them, headed directly toward the vortex. Before their minds could process what the Elysian was doing, the remaining golem pounded past them as well, pursuing him. At the last moment, Celestial Boy veered aside, skirting the vortex, while the golem, its inertia too great for it to stop, plowed straight in. Its massive stone body dissolved into nothingness as the chaos ate it, the forces that held its molecules together no longer having any meaning. Choked by the golem's bulk, the vortex winked out, and the backlash sent Yareen flying.\n\tYareen got to her feet, shaking her head to clear it, and growled at the trio standing defiantly before her—a human, a Lemurian, and an Elysian. \"You have not won yet, heroes. Not while I—\" \n\tShe never finished her sentence, as a gray streak slammed into her from behind, knocking her down. She looked up blearily to see the small furry form of Supersonic Squirrel standing over her, hands on hips, his buck teeth gleaming as he smiled down at her, his rain-streaked goggles covering his eyes.\n\t\"Now we have!\" said Katrina, grinning triumphantly.\n\t\"Stupid . . . mammals,\" muttered Yareen the Defiler, as she slumped face-first into a puddle and lapsed into unconsciousness.\n\tSupersonic turned to the ionic adept, who was floating a short distance away, holding the limp form of Dorgok in his arms. \"Put the boy down and go,\" the squirrel ordered him. The Lemurian needed no further urging. He laid Dorgok on the ground and flew off as fast as he could.\n\tKatrina ran to Supersonic and threw her arms around the squirrel, hugging him and kissing his muzzle, and Supersonic responded in kind, smiling up at her. \"I'm glad you're okay,\" he said.\n\t\"You and me both!\" said Katrina, grinning. \"I was wor—wondering what had happened to you!\"\n\t\"Well, that appears to be that,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We should depart as quickly as possible, before we do any damage to the time stream.\"\n\t\"Um, yeah,\" said Katrina, \"about that . . .\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Celestial Boy, looking puzzled.\n\tShe turned her gaze to Samtiss, noting the recall device on his wrist. \"I don't know how to tell you this, Sam, but you're dead.\"\n\tSamtiss blinked his golden eyes. \"Dead?\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"We found the body of your past self a couple blocks from here. We think Dorgok killed him.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Samtiss, his tongue flickering. For a moment, no one spoke.\n\t\"So, what happens now?\" asked Katrina. \"I mean, he's dead in the past. Shouldn't his future self, like, fade away or something?\"\n\t\"Apparently,\" said Celestial Boy, \"it does not work like that. And yet, we must assume that changing the past changes the future. That is, after all, why we came here.\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Samtiss, \"then my absence in the past could have a significant effect on the future.\"\n\t\"How do you mean?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"I teamed up with Nightmunk when he was investigating the events that led to the discovery of the plot to free the Kings of Edom from their prisons. If I had not been there, I doubt he would have survived to tell anyone what he had learned, and the plot might well have succeeded.\"\n\t\"So your presence in the past is essential to thwarting the plot,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"But we know the plot fails!\" said Katrina. \"We're all from a time after that!\"\n\t\"True,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but since the death of Samtiss's past self has not eradicated his future self, there is no reason to assume that changing the future would affect us while we are in the past. If it did, the result would be a logically impossible paradox.\"\n\t\"I don't follow you,\" said Supersonic, looking confused.\n\t\"It's the Grandfather Paradox,\" Katrina explained. \"I saw this in a movie once. A man goes back in time and kills his own grandfather. That means he was never born. But if he was never born, he can't go back in time to kill him, so his grandfather must still be alive. But if his grandfather is alive, then he can go back in time and kill him, so his grandfather must be dead. And so on.\"\n\t\"In fact,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that principle would apply to any aspect of time travel, since going back in time to either change the past or prevent it from being changed negates your reason for going there, so you would not have gone back in the first place.\"\n\t\"Ugh!\" said Supersonic. \"You could go nuts thinking about this stuff!\"\n\t\"It just means that from where we are now, the future is in a state of flux,\" said Katrina. \"But if we go back, what kind of future would we be returning to?\"\n\t\"Possibly one in which the plot succeeds,\" said Celestial Boy, \"if Samtiss is not there to help stop it.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Samtiss, \"I must stay here.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Unquestionably.\"\n\t\"And live through the events of the next year all over again, as if you were your past self?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"There would seem to be no alternative,\" Samtiss replied.\n\t\"But what happens when you get to the point when you go into the past with us?\" asked Katrina. \"Wouldn't you be trapped in an infinite loop, reliving the same year over and over forever? That would be like being in hell!\"\n\tSamtiss shrugged. \"If that is what must be done.\"\n\tKatrina just stared at the Lemurian, unable to believe he'd be willing to make such a sacrifice.\n\t\"That's what being a hero is about, Katrina,\" said Supersonic, squeezing her hand. \"It's not about having superpowers. It's about being willing to make the tough choices—even lay down your life, if necessary.\"\n\tCelestial Boy walked over to the still unconscious Dorgok, picked him up, and brought him back to the others as rivulets of water trickled down the boy's blue-scaled body. \"The rain is getting heavier,\" he observed. \"We should be going. Goodbye, Samtiss. You are a credit to all Lemurians.\"\n\t\"Goodbye, Celestial Boy,\" Samtiss replied. \"Please look after my son.\"\n\t\"That is very magnanimous of you,\" said Celestial Boy, \"considering he is the cause of all this.\"\n\t\"It is not his fault,\" said Samtiss. \"He was only trying to save his mother. The child has yet to be born who would not move heaven and earth to do that.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded and touched his recall device, and he and Dorgok winked out of existence.\n\t\"Come on, Katrina,\" said Supersonic. \"Let's go.\"\n\tShe whirled on him and shook him by his shoulders. \"We can't do this! We can't condemn him to this existence!\"\n\t\"It's his choice,\" said Supersonic, swallowing. \"And there's no other way to make sure things work out like they're supposed to.\" He turned to the Lemurian. \"Goodbye, Samtiss. It was an honor to meet you.\" And he, too, winked out.\n\tKatrina stood facing Samtiss in the pouring rain, gazing at the lizard man as water flowed down his scaly brown body. She bit her lip, blinking water from her eyes. \"I'm sorry,\" she said.\n\tAnd then he was alone.\n\n\tKatrina stepped out of the glowing portal at the center of the time machine and descended the ramp to the floor. Supersonic Squirrel was standing at the base of the ramp, looking up at her, his big eyes filled with sorrow. Nearby, Celestial Boy was talking to Juryrig, and Dorgok was lying unconscious at their feet. Katrina knelt down before Supersonic and put her arms around him, resting her head on his damp, furry shoulder. Supersonic stroked her white hair gently and patted her on the back.\n\tAnd then, Samtiss stepped out of the machine.\n\t\"Well, that was interesting,\" the Lemurian said, his tongue flicking.\n\t\"Samtiss?\" gasped Supersonic, as he and Katrina stared up at him. \"What are you doing back here? Did you change your mind?\"\n\tThe Lemurian shook his head. \"No, I simply found a very literal loophole.\"\n\t\"What kind of loophole?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tSamtiss descended the ramp to join them. \"After we went through the machine for the second time—\"\n\t\"The second time?\" Supersonic interrupted. \"But we only went back once!\"\n\t\"Not from my perspective,\" said Samtiss. \"From my perspective, we went back twice. To continue, after we went back the second time, I realized that all I had to do to break the loop was to prevent Dorgok from killing my past self. When we all became separated, I went to my past self and got him to safety, then rejoined Celestial Boy. After that, events played out more or less as they had before, save that it was no longer necessary for me to remain in the past, so I returned to the present with you.\"\n\t\"So you lived through the past year all over again?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"As I said, it was very interesting, knowing everything that was going to happen before it did. Rather like being in a play. I can understand now why actors grow weary of doing the same thing night after night, though. Doing it once was fun, but I would not want to go through it all again.\"\n\t\"Most plays don't last a whole year,\" said Katrina, smiling. \"It's good to have you back, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"It is good to be back,\" said Samtiss, \"and to once again not know what the future holds.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"As it should be. And now, since time has resumed its normal shape . . .\" He raised his arm, aiming it at the time machine, and his hand began to glow with silvery light that grew steadily brighter.\n\t\"Wait!\" protested Juryrig. \"What are you doing?\"\n\t\"None of this would have been necessary if you had not built that cursed thing in the first place,\" said Celestial Boy, his hand blindingly bright now. \"I will never understand why you humans insist on meddling with forces beyond your control.\"\n\tSupersonic interposed himself between Celestial Boy and the machine. \"You have no right to do this!\"\n\t\"I have every right,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was sent here to protect humanity from cosmic threats. I think this machine qualifies.\"\t\n\t\"Would you have stopped Chuck Yeager from breaking the sound barrier?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"Breaking the sound barrier and breaking the time barrier are two very different things,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Now, please stand aside, Supersonic.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"That's not gonna happen!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned, then appeared to become distracted by something. The glow around his hand faded and he lowered it. \"As you wish,\" he said, sighing.\n\t\"Glad you changed your mind,\" said Supersonic, grinning. \"I don't like having to fight my friends.\"\n\t\"I did not change my mind,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was given countermanding orders.\"\n\tSupersonic raised an eyebrow. \"By who?\"\n\t\"I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal that,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"And please do not try to read my mind, Katrina. It will avail you nothing.\"\n\t\"I wasn't gonna, honest,\" said Katrina, innocently.\n\t\"Well,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we appear to be done here.\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and his armor was gone, replaced by his usual purple-and-red skintight costume. He turned to Juryrig. \"I believe you mentioned something about pizza?\"\n\t\n\tJuryrig's workshop was the scene of a modest celebration. Three large pizzas lay atop a rickety card table—one with pepperoni and sausage, one with anchovies, and one with ham and pineapple. Each had several slices missing. Juryrig, Celestial Boy, and Samtiss were standing by the table, each consuming a slice, and Supersonic and Katrina were sitting together by the control console doing the same. Dorgok sat by himself off to one side, glaring at the others. The time machine was silent, having been shut down so its noise would not drown out the music coming from an old Wurlitzer juke box, which was presently playing Jerry Lee Lewis's \"Great Balls of Fire.\"\n\t\"What do you think?\" Celestial Boy asked Samtiss, watching the Lemurian sample a slice of anchovy pizza.\n\t\"I like the fish,\" Samtiss said. \"It is a shame they combine it with fermented cow's milk and crushed vegetable matter.\"\n\t\"Next time, ah'll order sushi,\" said Juryrig.\n\t\"What are you going to do with him?\" asked Celestial Boy, nodding toward Dorgok.\n\t\"I do not know,\" said Samtiss, gazing at his son. \"He clearly despises me, yet I am all he has. I thought I could rehabilitate him. Now, I am not so sure. Perhaps there is too much of his mother in him.\"\n\t\"He also has you in him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I think it is too early to give up on him just yet.\"\n\t\"But I have no idea what to do,\" said Samtiss, shrugging helplessly. \"I have no experience at being a father.\"\n\t\"Nobody is ever prepared to be a father,\" said Juryrig. \"It's strictly learn-as-you-go.\"\n\t\"He may need more than you alone can give, though,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Samtiss.\n\t\"Perhaps he would benefit from being around others his own age, at least emotionally, if not chronologically. The Millennium Guard is a group of young heroes. We are used to dealing with unusual things. We could keep an eye on him for you, and try to set an example for him to follow.\"\n\t\"You would take him into your group?\" asked Samtiss, astonished.\n\t\"As a probationary member,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"He would not be of much use to you in his current de-powered state,\" observed Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"We could ask Dr. Ka to restore his powers, with the understanding that he will lose them if he misuses them.\"\n\t\"That sounds awful risky,\" said Juryrig doubtfully.\n\t\"I agree that there is danger,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but the alternative is to simply lock him away, which would only feed his hatred. That would be a waste.\"\n\t\"The idea has merit,\" said Samtiss. \"I believe it is worth a try.\"\n\tBy the console, Supersonic grimaced as he watched Katrina eat her slice of pizza. \"Pineapple on pizza?\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Pineapple pizza is the best pizza.\"\n\t\"I don't know about that,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"You put pineapple slices on baked ham, right? That's traditional.\"\n\t\"Yeah, I guess so . . .\"\n\t\"How is this any different?\"\n\tSupersonic decided to change the subject. \"You handled yourself really well back there.\"\n\tKatrina laughed. \"I was scared to death the whole time!\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"So? You think I don't get scared sometimes? It's normal to be afraid.\"\n\t\"You hide it well,\" she said. \"I think you're the bravest person I've ever met.\"\n\tSupersonic squirmed. Praise always made him feel uncomfortable. \"Thanks,\" he said. \"That's very nice of you to say.\"\n\tShe smiled. \"See? I can be nice sometimes.\"\n\t\"You know, the Millennium Guard could really use someone with powers like yours.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"You want to me to join your group?\"\n\t\"Well, you said you wanted to turn over a new leaf. Here's your chance!\"\n\tShe chuckled and shook her head. \"Nah, I'm not much of a joiner. But if you'd like to hang out together when we get back to Millennium City, that'd be okay.\"\n\tHe smiled and nodded. \"I'd like that.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Wanna make out?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\t\"You know, kiss. Smooch. Snog. Suck face.\"\n\tSupersonic bit his lip. \"Do you think it would be right? I mean, you're human and I'm a squirrel!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I don't care about that if you don't.\"\n\tSupersonic gazed at her, remembering that she was a girl of another time, where the social conventions he'd grown up with no longer applied. Then he leaned forward and pressed his muzzle to her lips, kissing them gently. She wrapped her arms around him, and he around her, and they squeezed each other as their mouths moved together.\n\t\"Supersonic?\" came Celestial Boy's voice from behind him. \n\tThe squirrel's eyes snapped open, and he broke the kiss and turned his head to look at the Elysian youth. \"Yes?\"\n\t\"A word, please?\"\n\tSupersonic let go of Katrina and hopped down off his chair, walking over to Celestial Boy. \"What do you want?\" he asked, sounding a trifle annoyed.\n\t\"What do you think you are doing?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I think I was kissing Katrina,\" Supersonic replied, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.\n\t\"You know she is a criminal.\"\n\t\"Weren't we trying to help her go straight?\"\n\t\"And you think this is the best way to accomplish that?\"\n\t\"Maybe. What business is it of yours, anyway?\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"Supersonic, you have a good heart, but you are rather naive in the ways of the world.\"\n\tThe squirrel threw up his hands. \"You think I don't know that? Look, if I'm gonna live in the real world, I have to learn more about it. She can take me places I've never been before!\"\n\t\"Let us hope they have penicillin there.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at him. \"You know what you are, Castor?\"\n\t\"Pray, tell.\"\n\t\"You're a snob!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"I assure you, I have taken pains not to be, despite considerable temptation to the contrary.\"\n\tSupersonic threw up his hands. \"There, you see? You just as much as said you think you're better than the rest of us!\"\n\t\"Admittedly, there are times when the denizens of this world try even my patience,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, we won't try it any further, then.\" Supersonic walked back over to Katrina. \"Come on, let's go.\"\n\t\"Go where?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"This town is full of jazz clubs. Let's hit some.\"\n\tKatrina chuckled. \"Just like that, huh?\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Just like that.\"\n\t\"Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.\" She stood up and addressed the others. \"If we're not back by tomorrow, call the La Cucharacha Hotel in Tijuana, room 306.\" And with that, she and Supersonic left the room.\n\tCelestial Boy watched them go, then turned and walked over to Dorgok. The Lemurian boy looked up at him sullenly. \"What do you want?\" he growled.\n\t\"I thought perhaps you might like to join us for some pizza,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I do not want any of your human food!\" snarled Dorgok.\n\t\"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"But we shall save you some in any case.\"\n\tDorgok looked at him, puzzled, as Celestial Boy went back to the table and helped himself to another slice.\n\t"
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"writing": "[center]Rainy Day Women[/center]\n\n[center]a story set in the universe of Champions Online[/center]\n\n\t\"Holy cow, I'm bored!\" Supersonic Squirrel declared to nobody as he sat slumped in a chair facing the large monitor in Millennium Guard headquarters, upon which information on the status of Millennium City as well as other locations in the world continuously flashed. Right now there was nothing major going on, nothing the Millennium City police couldn't handle. It was selfish and wrong to wish for something bad to happen, he reflected. After all, innocent people could be hurt. All the same, the inactivity grated on him. What was the point in being a hero if there was nothing heroic to do?\n\tThe gray-furred squirrel sighed, glanced out the rain-streaked window at the dark gray sky, picked up a cup of coffee from the console, and sipped it while pulling his knees up against his chest, his huge fluffy question mark of a tail pressed against the back of the chair behind him. He was a rather comical-looking creature, three feet tall and stockily built, with enormous round eyes and buck teeth. His sole articles of clothing were an old-style leather flying helmet and aviator goggles, the latter of which were pushed up onto his forehead. He had never felt the need to wear anything more than this, and in the few weeks since an errant wish had brought him to life, nobody had pressed the issue of his lack of apparel.\n\t\"Monitor duty is a chore we all must attend to,\" came a youthful but strangely echoing voice from behind him. \"I find doing sums helps pass the time.\"\n\tThe squirrel rotated his chair toward the source. The speaker appeared to be a black-haired human youth in his mid-teens and was wearing a skintight bodysuit, trunks, belt, and boots that were all red and purple, separated by white lines. However, two things suggested that the lad was more than he seemed. One was his eyes, which were solid gold without pupils or irises and glowed with an inner light. The other was that voice. His name was Castor, but most people knew him as Celestial Boy. \"Is that what they do for fun in Elysium?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It is one thing. We also play games.\"\n\t\"You mean like checkers?\"\n\tThe youth chuckled. \"I am afraid checkers is a bit simplistic for our tastes.\"\n\t\"I'll bet,\" said the squirrel, frowning. Though Celestial Boy never acted haughty, there was something in his demeanor that always made Supersonic feel the Elysian youth was looking down on him. Being a simple squirrel of humble origins, he disliked people who thought they were better than everyone else.\n\t\"If you enjoy checkers, you could always play it with the computer to occupy yourself,\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Yeah, I know,\" said Supersonic, \"but I wouldn't want to shirk my duty.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled and nodded. \"Admirable. Can I get you anything?\"\n\tSupersonic sighed again. \"No, I'm fine.\"\n\tThe dark-haired youth cocked his head. \"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"No. I guess I'm just feeling a little homesick, is all.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Understandable. You are in a different time, deprived of the friends and family you had in your cartoon world, having to adjust to being a living creature, with all that that entails. It must be very difficult for you.\"\n\t\"I guess we're kind of in the same boat,\" said Supersonic, \"you coming down to Earth from Elysium and all. Only you can always go home, and I can't. My home doesn't really exist.\"\n\t\"On Earth, they say home is where the heart is,\" said Celestial Boy. \"There is wisdom in these words.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Do you like it here?\"\n\tCelestial Boy paused a moment before answering. \"It is very different from Elysium, but also very interesting. I find myself constantly being surprised and learning new things.\"\n\t\"So it's like one long field trip to you,\" said Supersonic, smirking.\n\t\"That is one way of looking at it, I suppose. But I take my responsibilities as a member of the Millennium Guard very seriously. My kind live to serve and protect. That is what I was sent here for.\"\n\tSupersonic looked at him curiously. \"Sent by who?\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"A higher power.\"\n\tSupersonic was about to press further but was distracted by a pop-up message on the monitor. He turned his chair toward it while Celestial Boy came over to join him. The text on the screen read: \"Nightmunk: A young Lemurian named Dorgok escaped from my apartment in Westside earlier today. He has no powers and is missing his right hand. I'd track him down myself but I'm a little busy right now. If you could look for him, I'd really appreciate it. His father is a friend of mine and is worried about him.\"\n\t\"Nightmunk,\" said Supersonic. \"He's that chipmunk manimal who works with Nighthawk, isn't he?\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And the Lemurians are a race of reptilian humanoids who invaded Millennium City last year. The populace is understandably less than fond of them.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I suppose we better find him, then, before he hurts someone, or someone hurts him.\"\n\t\"That is what we do.\"\n\t\"Should we bring in the rest of the team?\"\n\t\"No powers and missing a hand? I think we can handle this ourselves.\"\n\tTogether, the squirrel and the Elysian went out onto the rain-slick balcony and flew off toward Westside.\n\n\tKatrina Werner slipped into a garbage-strewn alley between two abandoned buildings, pulling her raincoat more tightly around her slim body as the rain continued to soak her white-haired head and her brown face. Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, she crouched down and squeezed through a basement window without glass. She moved along a dark, musty corridor with bare concrete walls, rats scampering out of her way, and stopped suddenly. The makeshift wooden door that normally covered the entrance to her hideout was open. She hadn't left it that way.\n\tShe concentrated, forehead pulsing as she extended her mental awareness outward. Yes, there was definitely someone in the room beyond. Most likely it was one of the Black Aces, the street gang that controlled this part of Westside. She frowned and drew a switchblade from a pocket of her raincoat, flicking it open. She probably wouldn't need it, but it was always good to be prepared. Slowly, she began moving toward the open doorway.\n\tAs she drew nearer, she could hear someone shuffling around inside. Taking a deep breath, she charged into the room, the knife held out before her. Then she gasped, and her ice-blue eyes widened when she saw what was inside.\n\tThe intruder was shaped like a human being, but its head was that of a lizard and its body was covered with blue scales. Webbed fins protruded from its wrists, its calves, and the top of its head. Its size and build were equivalent to that of a human youth perhaps ten years of age. It wore only a loincloth, made of some shimmering white fabric, and an ornate silver necklace whose pendant, which seemed to be a large ruby, rested on its chest, which was white and resembled belly of a snake. It whirled about as she entered, and stared at her with golden, catlike eyes.\n\t\"Who the hell are you?\" Katrina demanded, the point of her blade aimed directly at the creature's heart, or at least where the heart would be if it were human.\n\t\"I am Dorgok,\" the creature replied in a high, raspy voice, like a child with a sore throat. She now noticed that his right hand was missing, the stump wrapped in blood-soaked rags. In his remaining hand he held a wad of cheese puffs from an open bag on the rickety wooden table beside him.\n\t\"You're a Lemurian, aren't you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I am,\" Dorgok replied.\n\t\"What are you doing here?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I needed somewhere to hide, and this seemed as good a place as any.\"\n\t\"Well, this is my home, and I don't like to share.\"\n\t\"This?\" Dorgok asked, sounding surprised. \"This hovel is your home?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"It's not the Ritz, but it'll do. Now beat it.\"\n\tThe Lemurian looked puzzled. \"Beat what?\"\n\t\"Scram. Get lost. I don't want you here.\"\n\tDorgok stuffed the cheese puffs into his mouth and swallowed them. \"Perhaps I could give you something in exchange for you letting me stay.\" His clawed finger tapped the ruby in his necklace. \"This has value here, does it not?\"\n\tKatrina gazed at the blood-red gem. Damn, it was big! Her eyes returned to the Lemurian's. \"How do I know I can trust you?\"\n\t\"I give you my word I will not harm you,\" Dorgok said. \"In any case, I would be at a disadvantage in a fight.\" He held up his stump to emphasize.\n\tKatrina thought for a moment. \"All right,\" she said, finally. \"Take the necklace off and put it on the table.\" He did so, and she darted forward and snatched it up, stuffing it in her coat pocket. \"How did you lose your hand?\" she asked.\n\t\"I bit it off.\"\n\tHer eyes went wide. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"It was necessary in order to escape from captivity. It is merely an inconvenience.\"\n\t\"Inconvenience? You lost your hand!\"\n\tDorgok shrugged. \"It will grow back in a month or so.\"\n\t\"You can do that?\" Katrina asked, amazed.\n\tHe tilted his head. \"You mean you humans cannot regrow lost limbs?\"\n\t\"No, we can't.\"\n\tDorgok gave a hissing laugh. \"Truly, you are an inferior species!\"\n\tKatrina folded her arms. \"Yeah, well, we still sent you lizards packing when you invaded our city!\"\n\tThe Lemurian flicked his black forked tongue. Then he went over to the mattress Katrina used for a bed and sat down on it, his unblinking eyes staring at the blank concrete wall. Katrina watched him for a moment, then folded her switchblade and put it back in the pocket of her raincoat. \"Are you hungry?\" she asked.\n\t\"Yes,\" said Dorgok. \"Those orange things are all air. How can you humans subsist on such food?\"\n\t\"They're only meant to be snacks,\" said Katrina. She went to a cardboard box on the floor and removed a can of tuna, setting it on the table and opening it with a manual can opener. Dorgok rose, flicking his tongue, and came over to her.\n\t\"That is fish!\" he said excitedly.\n\tShe nodded. \"[i]Bon appetit[/i].\"\n\tHe looked at her, puzzled, then picked up the can and held it over his open mouth, shaking it until the contents fell in. He swallowed them in one gulp and put the empty can back on the table.\n\t\"So much for Lemurian table manners,\" Katrina remarked. \"So, how did you come to be in Millennium City anyway, and who was holding you captive?\"\n\t\"My traitorous father Samtiss kidnapped me and brought me to the dwelling of the manimal called Nightmunk, where I was chained up but managed to escape.\"\n\t\"Are they gonna come looking for you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"Probably, if they succeed in their mission to save the multiverse. If not, then it will not matter, since everything will be destroyed.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" said Katrina. \"I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea of Nightmunk showing up on my doorstep.\"\n\t\"I thought everyone in this city loved heroes,\" said Dorgok.\n\t\"Not everyone,\" said Katrina. \"Some of us prefer to avoid run-ins with the law.\"\n\t\"You are a criminal, then?\"\n\t\"I like to think of myself as living outside the system.\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"That would explain why you dwell in such squalor.\"\n\tKatrina was about to reply when a metal fist erupted through the ceiling with a crash, sending splinters and paint chips showering down onto them, and a harsh, electronically distorted voice said, \"Target identified. Commencing retrieval of stolen property.\"\n\t\"Crap!\" said Katrina. \"Party's over! Let's boogie!\"\n\t\"What does 'boogie' mean?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tThe ceiling caved in and a hulking figure fell into the room in a cloud of dust. It was seven feet tall and clearly mostly robotic, but there was a bald human head on top, the eyes covered by glowing green goggles. The left forearm was absurdly massive, while the right was a huge cannon of some type. Its metal body was painted white and green.\n\t\"Run!\" shouted Katrina, fleeing the small chamber as the creature raised its cannon arm and fired. A bolt of searing hot plasma blew a hole in the wall as she ducked out the door. Dorgok ran after her.\n\tThey dashed up a flight of stairs, down a hall, across an empty room, out the front door of the abandoned building, and into the rain. Then they paused as Katrina looked up and down the empty street. Picking a direction, she sprinted off, Dorgok following. They ran through several alleys, feet splashing in puddles, and then hid in the doorway of another abandoned building.\n\t\"What was that thing?\" asked Dorgok, his scaly chest heaving.\n\t\"ARGENT cyborg,\" said Katrina, peering around the edge of the alcove. \"Very bad news.\"\n\t\"You stole something from it?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Let's say I creatively acquired something,\" Katrina replied.\n\t\"Maybe if you gave back what you stole, it would leave you alone,\" Dorgok suggested.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"Not likely. ARGENT likes to make an example of people who steal from them. They're funny that way.\"\n\t\"That makes sense,\" said Dorgok. \"What is ARGENT?\"\n\t\"Multinational megacorp, specializing in weaponry.\" She glanced back at Dorgok. \"They probably wouldn't mind getting their hands on you, too.\"\n\t\"Me?\" asked Dorgok. \"What would they want me for?\"\n\t\"To examine you, see if there's anything they can use. You can regrow limbs. They'd probably like to figure out how.\" She peered around the edge of the alcove again. The cyborg was trudging down the street toward them, its green goggles glowing through the sheets of rain. \"God damn it!\"\n\t\"It is coming?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tShe nodded. \"Okay, here's the plan. I'll try to stun it, then we both run like hell in opposite directions. It can only follow one of us.\"\n\t\"How are you going to do that?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Overload its mind with psychic energy. It's a little talent I have.\"\n\t\"Oh, you are a telepath, like the Elder Worms. You must have some of the DNA they implanted into primitive humans ages ago.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"What the hell are you talking about? Never mind. Ready?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"Ready to boogie.\"\n\tAs the cyborg drew near, Katrina jumped out of the doorway in front of it, and a stream of magenta-colored energy burst from her forehead and struck the forehead of the cyborg. It reeled, stumbling backward, its arms flailing. Katrina tried to duck past it, but it swung its cannon like a club and struck the side of her head, knocking her down. Dorgok bolted from the doorway and began to run in the opposite direction from the cyborg. Then he stopped. There was another one in the street ahead of him. He swallowed as it raised its arm cannon, aiming it at him.\n\t\"Hold it right there!\" a voice declared from above. Dorgok and Katrina looked up to see a small, gray-furred creature hovering in the air overhead. Its fur was soaked through, plastered against its body, its tail hanging behind it like a wet flag. A sheet of furred skin stretched from each arm to each leg, giving the creature a kitelike appearance and making the wearing of conventional clothing impossible.\n\t\"Subject identified as Supersonic Squirrel,\" the cyborg droned. \"Do not interfere. This is official ARGENT business.\"\n\tThe squirrel landed in front of Dorgok, interposing himself between the Lemurian and the cyborg. \"What kind of business?\" he demanded.\n\tThe cyborg lowered its cannon and raised its robotic left hand, pointing at Katrina. \"That woman is in possession of stolen ARGENT property.\"\n\t\"Even if she is, that doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands. If you want to charge her with theft, then as a registered hero I have the authority to place her under arrest. I'll hand her over to the police and your property will be returned to you after her trial. Okay?\"\n\tThe cyborg seemed to consider the squirrel's proposition for a moment. Then it raised its cannon again. \"Executing primary directive: Retrieve stolen property at all costs.\"\n\tSupersonic erected a wind barrier in front of himself as the cyborg fired, and the plasma bolt was deflected harmlessly off it. The squirrel then rose off the ground, his arms spread wide, as he drew the air around him into an incredibly compressed bubble. Throwing his arms and legs forward, he hurled the bubble at the cyborg, knocking it off its feet and sending it sailing backward. Then he whirled toward the other one, clenching his teeth as he built up another sphere of wind between his small gray hands. \n\tThe other cyborg already had its cannon leveled at him. \"Terminating hero to facilitate completion of objective,\" the cyborg droned passionlessly. Before it could fire, however, a bolt of silvery light struck it from behind, and it screeched and collapsed face down in the street.\n\t\"It looked as if you could use some help,\" said Celestial Boy, floating toward the group with unearthly energy crackling around him.\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Thanks for the save.\" He glanced at Dorgok, who was starting to edge away. \"Don't even think about it!\" Then he turned toward Katrina. \"Is what they said true? Did you steal something from them?\"\n\t\"Maaaaaybeeeeee,\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tThe squirrel growled at her. \"You'd better be straight with us!\"\n\tKatrina leaned over and tickled him under his chin. \"I'm never straight, sweetie. I'm as crooked as a three-dollar bill. And I know my rights. I don't have to tell you anything.\"\n\t\"Perhaps not,\" said Celestial Boy, landing on the street before her, \"but you have been accused of theft by representatives of ARGENT. That is sufficient cause for us to place you under arrest.\"\n\t\"You mean the creeps who just tried to kill your friend?\"\n\t\"Their actions were illegal and they will be held accountable for them, but that does not negate the accusation of theft against you. It is our duty to hand you all over to the proper authorities.\"\n\tKatrina frowned, then reached into the pocket of her raincoat and fished out a small irregularly shaped object that looked like several things glued together, one of which appeared to be an ordinary cell phone. \"Fine. This is what they were after.\"\n\t\"Looks like a piece of junk,\" Supersonic commented.\n\tCelestial Boy eyed the object skeptically, then looked at Katrina. \"Are you sure you are not . . . pulling my leg?\"\n\tKatrina saluted. \"Scout's honor!\"\n\t\"What is it?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"A cosmic eggbeater,\" Katrina replied.\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Really?\"\n\tShe rolled her eyes. \"No! Jeez, you are so gullible! I don't know what it is. It sure is ugly, though, innit?\"\n\t\"How did you obtain it?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"And please, make your response purely factual.\"\n\tShe sighed. \"So straight, like a young Joe Friday. I was hanging out in Sherrera's and I picked up a stray thought from a guy who worked at ARGENT.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"He said to be serious!\"\n\t\"I'm being completely serious! I can read minds. That isn't a crime, is it?\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but it is rather impolite.\"\n\tShe smirked. \"I can't help it if people think too loud. Anyway, he was part of their advanced projects division, and he was thinking they had something really big cooking and that he could make a bundle if he lifted a certain part they were working on and sold it to someone. The problem was that he was one of the few people with access to it, which would place him on a very short list of possible suspects.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"So you decided to steal it yourself.\"\n\t\"Well, it was easy enough to lift his security card and to get the passcode from his mind. I could just walk in, grab it, and walk right out. Like taking candy from a fish in a barrel.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"And I imagine the closed-circuit television cameras recorded your image as you came and went, enabling ARGENT to identify you as the thief and track you here.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I didn't say it was a perfect plan.\"\n\t\"Couldn't you read in his mind what the thing was for?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"He didn't know. Apparently, his superiors were treating him like a mushroom.\"\n\tSupersonic stared at her. \"A mushroom?\"\n\t\"Yeah, you know, kept in the dark and fed nothing but bullshit.\"\n\tThe squirrel scowled and folded his arms. \"Yeah, well, it'll be plenty dark where you're going.\"\n\t\"One moment,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have had run-ins with ARGENT before. They have a, shall we say, unsavory reputation. And while stealing from criminals is still a crime, I see no harm in finding out what this object is before returning it to them.\"\n\t\"Well,\" said Supersonic doubtfully, \"I guess that's all right.\"\n\t\"Good,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I know just the person to talk to.\"\n\t\"In the meantime, let's get these . . . hey!\" The squirrel spun around as the two ARGENT cyborgs suddenly faded out of existence.\n\t\"Interesting,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Cancel the cleanup in aisle six,\" commented Katrina.\n\t\"What happened to them?\" asked Supersonic, baffled. \"Where did they go?\"\n\t\"Wherever ARGENT recalled them to, I imagine,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I did not know that they possessed teleportation technology.\"\n\tSupersonic growled and then looked up at Katrina and Dorgok. \"Well, at least these two aren't getting away.\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I think it would be best if we kept them in our custody for the moment, until we have a clearer idea of what is going on. Oh, and by the way.\" He pointed a finger at Dorgok, and a beam of silvery light flowed from his finger into the Lemurian boy's stump. Dorgok unwrapped the bloody rag covering it. The end had healed over.\n\t\"Nifty!\" said Katrina. \"Do you think we could stop along the way and get some piercings done?\"\n\t\"Perhaps another time,\" said Celestial Boy, smiling.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Supersonic, smirking, \"the last thing you need is another hole in your head.\"\n\tKatrina put her hand over her heart melodramatically. \"Oh, save me from such a rapier wit!\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Let us get out of this rain.\"\n\tCelestial Boy picked up Dorgok and Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they flew off into the angry gray sky as Katrina began an off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\n\tHarmon Industries was one of the world's most powerful corporations, specializing in advanced technology. In a laboratory at its headquarters in downtown Millennium City, one of their top men examined the device Katrina had stolen from ARGENT while Celestial Boy looked on and Katrina, Dorgok, and Supersonic Squirrel warmed their wet, chilled bodies with hot coffee. In this case, though, the term \"top man\" was something of a misnomer, since he wasn't a man. He was a chimpanzee named Adam.\n\t\"Another manimal,\" growled Dorgok, glaring at the lab-coated chimp, who was standing on a stool and peering at the device through a stereoscope.\n\t\"You have something against manimals?\" asked Supersonic sharply.\n\t\"A manimal is responsible for this,\" said the Lemurian, holding up his stump.\n\t\"I thought you said you bit it off,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Only because he shackled me.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"He says it'll grow back,\" said Katrina. \"Anyway, don't be too offended. I think you're cute.\" She smiled at Supersonic and blew him a kiss.\n\tSupersonic blushed beneath his fur. \"Thanks, but why would I be offended? I'm not a manimal.\"\n\t\"You're not?\" asked Katrina, looking surprised.\n\t\"No, I'm a cartoon character who got wished to life.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" Katrina said, dubiously.\n\t\"You don't recognize me?\"\n\tShe shook her head.\n\tHe sighed. \"I guess it was a bit before your time.\"\n\tShe took out her cell phone, did a quick Internet search, and her eyes widened with surprise at the image on the screen. \"Holy shit, you [i]do[/i] look like him!\" She grinned. \"So are you like Roger Rabbit? If I drop an anvil on your head, will you go flat and then bounce back?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled. \"My friends showed me that movie. No, I'm flesh and blood, just like you. Dropping an anvil on my head would cave my skull in.\"\n\tShe bent over and poked his furry chest. \"Hmm. You sure feel real enough.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"A two-dimensional character can't exist in a three-dimensional world, so the wish translated me into something that could.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Gotcha. So is Supersonic Squirrel, like, your code name, or nickname?\"\n\t\"No, it's my real name. I was born October 14th, 1947, the day Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X-1, so my parents named me Supersonic.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"Shouldn't you be, like, really old, then?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"The wish brought me to life at the age I was when my show was cancelled, in 1964.\"\n\t\"Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense. You ever get laid?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Come on, a big TV star like you must have fooled around with some cute squirrel girls back in the '60s. You know, dropped some acid, smoked some weed. Or what did they call it back then . . . reefer, right?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and folded his arms. \"It was a family show! We didn't do things like that!\"\n\t\"Ever been kissed?\"\n\t\"Will you stop asking me personal questions? You're under arrest, you know!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I'm just curious. I've never met a TV star before. Now I'm imagining you in a hot tub with squirrel girls crawling all over you.\"\n\t\"SHUT UP!\" Supersonic shouted. Then he realized Adam and Celestial Boy were staring at him and looked away, embarrassed.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Adam, turning to Celestial Boy, \"one thing I can say for sure: ARGENT didn't make this.\"\n\t\"Are you certain of that?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tAdam nodded. \"I'm familiar with their designs—they are one of our chief competitors, after all—and this is nothing like them.\"\n\t\"Perhaps they hired someone new?\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Possibly, but ARGENT tends to be pretty conservative. This is just too weird for them. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do.\"\n\tSupersonic came over to them. \"So you can't tell us what it is or where it came from?\" He looked up at Celestial Boy, annoyed. \"This was a big waste of time!\"\n\t\"Not necessarily,\" said Adam. \"It definitely looks like part of some larger device. And I have seen something like it before, something made by an engineer . . . well, engineer might be too strong a word. He's more like an idiot savant. He slaps things together and somehow they work, even though they shouldn't.\"\n\t\"Who is this person?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"His name is Damon Armstrong, a.k.a., Juryrig.\"\n\t\"Ah, yes, I've heard of him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"He lives in Vibora Bay, Florida.\"\n\tAdam nodded. \"If you want to find out what this is, I'd suggest you talk to him.\"\n\t\"Do you have his number?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"We could take a picture of it and send it to him.\"\n\t\"No, I don't have his number. I'm not even sure he has one. He's rather eccentric, and when he's working on a project—which is always—he's in his own little world and doesn't pay attention to anything else. Your best bet might be to actually go down there yourselves.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to the others. \"Well, it looks as if a trip to Vibora Bay is in order.\"\n\t\"After we drop these two off with the police,\" said Supersonic, looking at Katrina and Dorgok with satisfaction.\n\t\"What?\" asked Katrina. \"I put you on the trail of some tech thieves, and this is the thanks I get?\"\n\tSupersonic rolled his eyes. \"Oh, give me a break!\" he said, folding his arms across his chest. \"Stealing is still a crime, no matter who you steal from.\"\n\t\"Tell that to Robin Hood,\" said Katrina haughtily.\n\t\"That's different! Anyway, you don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. You're just a common thief!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"With mental powers. But maybe I could be a hero, with the right role model.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"Like who?\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"How about you?\"\n\tHe blinked. \"Me?\"\n\t\"Sure! You're a real straight arrow! I'm sure you could cure me of my wicked ways.\"\n\tSupersonic looked doubtful. \"Well, I don't know . . .\"\n\tShe crouched down to be face to face with him. \"Come on, Supersonic, show me how to be a real American hero.\"\n\tAdam stared at Supersonic and Celestial Boy. \"You're not actually buying this, are you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"It is possible her desire to reform is genuine.\"\n\t\"And it's also possible monkeys might fly out of my butt! She's just trying to avoid going to prison!\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we shall find out soon enough. It also occurs to me that ARGENT is still after her, so she might be safer with us than with the police.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Aw, you guys are so sweet!\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, still looking uncertain, \"but he's definitely going to jail!\" He pointed a furry finger at Dorgok.\n\t\"On what charge?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Supersonic. \"He's a Lemurian!\"\n\t\"That's not a crime,\" Katrina replied. \"They may have invaded the city once, but he wasn't here for that. He hasn't broken any laws. You've got nothing on him.\"\n\t\"As much as it pains me to admit it,\" said Celestial Boy, \"she is correct. Dorgok has committed no offense. However, he is a minor and he is in this country illegally. It is our duty to hand him over to the proper authorities.\"\n\t\"Oh, come on!\" said Katrina. \"What are Child Services and the INS gonna do with a Lemurian?\"\n\t\"That is for them to decide,\" Celestial Boy replied.\n\t\"He was kidnapped by his father, wrongfully imprisoned in Nightmunk's apartment, and forced to mutilate himself to escape,\" said Katrina. \"I'd say you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do.\"\n\tCelestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel looked at each other, then back at Katrina. \"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall bring him along, too.\"\n\t\"You sure that's a good idea?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"No, but it is an expedient one, and I wish to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. In any case, what harm can he do?\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, doubtfully.\n\tDorgok looked at Katrina, puzzled. \"Why are you helping me?\" he asked.\n\tShe grinned at the reptilian youth. \"Hey, we had a deal, right? You gave me a ruby so I'd help you out.\"\n\tDorgok nodded slowly, and decided to refrain from mentioning that he had intended to tear out her throat with his teeth at the first opportunity.\n\n\tBeing registered heroes, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel both had a good working relationship with UNTIL—the United Nations Tribunal on International Law, an organization that policed supercrime around the world. This gave them access to its various facilities and resources, including its jump jets—supersonic VTOLs that could swiftly transport heroes almost anywhere on the globe they were needed. Thus, less than an hour later, the heroes and their two companions were exiting a jump jet into the muggy, late-afternoon air of Vibora Bay, a sprawling, colorful city on the gulf coast of Florida.\n\tDorgok froze the moment his claw-toed feet touched the wooden planks of the waterfront pier upon which the jump jet had landed, and his black tongue flicked excitedly. \"There is much magic here!\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as they walked along the pier. \"This city has a rich magical tradition and has for centuries drawn practitioners of magic to it, both for good and for ill. The sorcerer Dr. Ka lives here, as does Robert Caliburn, Earth's archmage.\"\n\tDorgok growled. \"I know both of them. It was Dr. Ka who stripped me of my powers!\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him in surprise. \"Why did he do that?\"\n\t\"Because I am a Lemurian, and he did not want me using them for evil.\"\n\t\"Given what I know of your people,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that would seem to be a prudent measure.\"\n\tKatrina sneered. \"That's what I love about you heroes. You're all so freaking self-righteous!\"\n\t\"I thought you wanted to be one of us,\" said Supersonic, sounding disappointed.\n\t\"That doesn't mean I want to police the lives of everyone around me!\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"The public has to be protected!\"\n\t\"So that makes it okay to pre-emptively take away someone's abilities when they haven't done anything wrong?\"\n\t\"Perhaps,\" Celestial Boy replied, \"if they have demonstrated themselves to be a menace.\" He glanced at Dorgok. \"Had you done so?\"\n\tDorgok snarled. \"Robert Caliburn, Nightmunk and my father invaded my mother's fortress in the Qliphoth and attacked her servants! We had every right to defend ourselves!\"\n\t\"The Qliphoth is a dimension of evil and chaos,\" said Celestial Boy. \"What was she doing there?\"\n\t\"What does it matter? They murdered her!\"\n\tSupersonic Squirrel gasped. \"They killed your mother?\"\n\t\"Well, that sure sounds heroic!\" said Katrina, smirking.\n\t\"Bear in mind,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we are only hearing his side of the story. I suspect there is more to it than he is telling.\"\n\t\"But even if there is,\" protested Supersonic, \"heroes don't kill people! They save people!\"\n\t\"It would be best not to pass judgment until we have more facts,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"You guys always defend each other, don't you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned at her. \"I am not defending their actions. I am simply avoiding jumping to conclusions. Anyway, you are a telepath. The facts of the matter are yours for the taking if you want them.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I'm trying to cut down.\"\n\tSupersonic smiled up at her. \"Good! You shouldn't read people's minds without permission.\"\n\t\"See?\" said Katrina, smiling back at him. \"I can do the right thing sometimes.\"\n\t\"One good deed does not a hero make,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall have to wait and see how long this newfound morality endures.\"\n\t\"You're such a prig,\" said Katrina, and stuck her tongue out at him.\n\tThe quartet made their way past the shops on the waterfront, eliciting numerous stares and whispered comments from the many tourists buying souvenirs there. They walked past the majestic bulk of the [i]S.S. Bayou Queen[/i], the riverboat and floating casino that was moored to the pier, and onto the brick streets of Vibora Bay. Once there, they boarded a trolley car headed for the Weston Tangle district, getting more stares from their fellow passengers. The trolley clattered along its rails, past bars and jazz clubs, beneath ancient cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, and eventually to the quartet's destination: an enormous warehouse surrounded by a brick wall with an iron gate in the front. Celestial Boy pressed the buzzer, and they waited. There was no response.\n\t\"Well, now what?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"I suppose we go over the wall.\"\n\t\"That's trespassing,\" Katrina pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And if Mr. Armstrong wishes to charge us with such, we shall accept the penalty.\" With that, he picked up Dorgok and rose into the air, crackling with energy. Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they all floated over the wall.\n\tThe area inside the wall was heaped with junk of every sort imaginable—household appliances, industrial equipment, the shells of wrecked cars, even the remains of an airplane or two. Rats scampered about the refuse, eyeing the newcomers warily. \"Gee,\" said Supersonic, \"there sure is a lot of stuff here!\"\n\tKatrina nodded. \"The man likes his junk. Then again, what man doesn't?\" She giggled, and the other three looked at her strangely. \"What?\" she asked. \"You don't get the joke?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I fear not.\"\n\t\"What joke?\" asked Supersonic, confused.\n\tShe sighed. \"Never mind. I forgot I was with a bunch of humorless dweebs.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled and put his hands on his hips. \"I do so have a sense of humor!\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"Yeah, but it's G-rated.\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy, leading them toward a corrugated aluminum door in the front of the warehouse. Immediately, it became apparent that something was amiss. There was a large tear in the door, big enough for a man to walk through. \"Someone has gotten here before us,\" he observed.\n\t\"Five'll get you ten it's ARGENT,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I wouldn't take that bet on a dare,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"There is no time to lose,\" said Celestial Boy. \"A man's life may be in danger!\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and suddenly his body was encased in red and purple armor, with a squarish helmet and intricate geometric designs on the chest and belt. Twin metallic wings protruded from the back, with sharp points sticking upward well above his head. These wings did not move but were fixed in place, giving the suit a somewhat Art Deco look. He rose into the air and flew through the rent in the door, Supersonic flying in after him.\n\tThey entered a corridor that ran along the front of the building and then turned left. Rounding the corner brought them face to face with a group of men in white and green armor, carrying weapons of various types. \"Intruders! Get them!\" one shouted, leveling his rifle at Celestial Boy. \n\tSupersonic Squirrel flew straight into the middle of them, a vortex of wind swirling around him, scattering them like dry leaves. One who was standing slightly apart from the others raised his hand and fired a taser at him, which struck, momentarily paralyzing the squirrel and causing his fur to stand up straight all over his body. Celestial Boy blasted the man with a bolt of silvery light, dropping him, then turned to Supersonic. \"Are you all right?\" he asked.\n\tSupersonic nodded as he got up off the floor, rubbing his head, his tail still all bristly. \"Yeah, I'm okay. That thing sure packed a wallop, though. My teeth are still tingling!\"\n\t\"There may be even worse ahead,\" said Celestial Boy, and they both turned as they heard metal feet pounding toward them.\n\tOutside, Katrina and Dorgok were considering their options.\n\t\"Our captors have abandoned us,\" said Dorgok. \"Is there any reason we should not simply flee?\"\n\tKatrina grinned at the reptilian youth. \"I like the way you think. Come on!\"\n\tAs they turned to head back toward the gate, a familiar electronic voice said, \"Halt, or be terminated.\" One of ARGENT's cyborgs emerged from behind a heap of rusted metal between them and the gate. It might have been one of the pair they had encountered in Millennium City; it was hard to tell.\n\tKatrina cursed, and a bolt of magenta energy arced from her forehead to the cyborg's, staggering it. However, she could see that there were two more approaching.\n\t\"Quick, inside!\" she ordered Dorgok, and dashed into the building, the Lemurian boy following.\n\tIn the corridor, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel had been set upon by a quartet of ARGENT mechenforcers—silver humanoid robots with skeletal bodies and skull-like heads containing round, glowing, green photoelectric cells. The robots' arms each melded into complex, roughly diamond-shaped shields with twinned protrusions at the long ends, which could be employed for both defense and offense, firing bolts of searing hot plasma. This left them without usable hands, but they also had no real need for any, their sole purpose being to act as strike teams and sentries.\n\tSupersonic fired a wind blast at one, slamming it back into a brick wall and reducing it to junk, while Celestial Boy struck another down with a beam of cosmic energy. The remaining two fired plasma bolts at the two heroes, one striking Supersonic in the shoulder and causing him to howl in pain. Then each robot raised one of its shields, sheltering behind it as the heroes returned fire. The shields proved quite resilient, both the heroes' attacks glancing harmlessly off.\n\tSupersonic drew their fire, zig-zagging wildly around the two robots, which fired at him but missed. This gave Celestial Boy an opening to attack, and he did so, blasting one of the robots to pieces. As the last mechenforcer turned to fire at Celestial Boy, Supersonic flew up behind it and summoned a small tornado, which lifted the robot into the air and then slammed it down onto the concrete floor, destroying it.\n\tAt that moment, Katrina and Dorgok came running around the corner to join them. \"Incoming!\" shouted Katrina.\n\t\"How many?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Three cyborgs!\" Even as she spoke, one of them smashed through the flimsy aluminum door and pounded toward the heroes.\n\t\"Get behind us!\" ordered Supersonic, building up a sphere of compressed air in his hands. Katrina and Dorgok did so just as the cyborg rounded the corner and raised its beam weapon.\n\t\"Heroes identified,\" it droned. \"Terminating to facilitate completion of objective.\"\n\t\"Yeah, yeah,\" muttered Supersonic, and hurled his sphere at the cyborg. It struck the creature squarely in its chest, knocking it off its feet. Celestial Boy finished it off with a cosmic energy blast as two more rounded the corner.\n\t\"I got this!\" said Katrina, grinning, and hit one with a mind blast, overloading its neural processors and shutting it down. The last one fired at Celestial Boy and scored a hit, knocking him back ten feet, but his armor absorbed most of the impact. Katrina and Supersonic then attacked it in unison, and it quickly fell.\n\t\"I don't think I like those guys very much,\" said Supersonic, his furry chest heaving.\n\t\"But they have such great personalities,\" said Katrina. Then she looked at him. \"Hey, you're hurt!\"\n\tSupersonic glanced at the burned patch on his shoulder. \"Eh, it's nothing.\"\n\t\"Looks painful,\" said Katrina.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I'm starting to get used to pain.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"I bet you never had to deal with that when you were a cartoon.\"\n\t\"No, I didn't feel anything back then, good or bad.\"\n\t\"Sounds boring.\" She turned to Celestial Boy, who had gotten up and was coming over to them. \"Hey, CB, wanna patch up your friend here? By the way, nice armor. You look like a hood ornament.\"\n\t\"Thank you,\" replied Celestial Boy dryly, as a beam of silvery light from his hand healed Supersonic's wound, leaving a pink bald spot where the fur would have to grow back in.\n\t\"Good thing you didn't get shot in the butt!\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tSupersonic chuckled. \"I can do you better than that. One time on the show, I flew so fast all my fur burned off, so I was pink and hairless all over!\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You were naked on national TV? They could do that back then?\"\n\t\"Well, it was just a cartoon show. And I'm a squirrel, so it didn't really matter.\"\n\t\"Shall we continue?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Let's shall,\" said Katrina, brightly.\n\tThe four moved cautiously down a steeply inclined corridor to the entrance to the main floor of the warehouse, a room the size of an aircraft hangar. Against one wall lay an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions.\n\tBefore this object stood two men. One was dressed in sleek, dark gray armor that covered his entire body, a silver visor concealing his face. On his left arm was strapped a shield similar to those employed by the mechenforcers. In his right he held a huge twin-barreled rifle of some sort, which was aimed at the other man.\n\tThe second man was shorter and stood hunched over. He had red hair and a beard and wore green coveralls. More remarkably, his right arm and left leg were clearly artificial, but the limbs appeared to be made out of junk—rusty, clunky, and ungainly, like something out of a steampunk fantasy. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eyesocket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as haphazardly assembled as the rest of his equipment, and which included, oddly, a household blender sticking up from the top, with blue liquid sloshing around inside it.\n\t\"I take it the guy with the blender on his back is Juryrig,\" whispered Supersonic. \"Who's the other one?\"\n\t\"His name is Mechassassin,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have encountered him before. He is a mercenary who often works for ARGENT.\"\n\t\"Dangerous?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Extremely. And ruthless. As his name suggests, he will not hesitate to kill.\"\n\t\"Think there's any chance he'll surrender peacefully if we ask?\"\n\t\"I would place that at a very low order of probability.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed into the room, Celestial Boy right behind.\n\tMechassassin's head snapped around as the two heroes barreled toward him, and he switched aim. The underside of his rifle fired steel cables that wrapped around both their bodies, pinning their arms. \"I was told you two might show up,\" he said, his voice distorted electronically from inside his helmet. \"You're not going to stop me from completing my mission!\"\n\t\"Aw, they didn't mention me?\" asked Katrina, stepping out from the doorway. \"I'm hurt!\" She fired a mind blast at him, which made him cry out in pain and stumble backward. This gave Celestial Boy and Supersonic a chance to break free of their restraints and hurl bolts of wind and cosmic energy at Mechassassin. The mercenary raised his shield to block, blunting their attacks. Then he leveled his rifle at Celestial Boy and fired a barrage of plasma bolts at him, which peppered his armor and knocked him out of the air. Supersonic flew around Mechassassin and blasted him with wind from behind, and Katrina hit him with another mind blast.\n\t\"Damn it, I hate mentalists!\" muttered Mechassassin, taking aim at Katrina with his rifle. \"Time to die, girl!\" She swallowed, eyes going wide as she stared down the twin barrels. Before he could fire, however, Supersonic swooped down and raised his wind barrier in front of her, deflecting Mechassassin's plasma bolts harmlessly away. \n\tIn the meantime, Juryrig had produced from a pocket of his coveralls an object that resembled a electric drill with a fork sticking out of the front. It produced a piercing wave of sound that washed over Mechassassin, causing him to double over and press his hands to the sides of his helmet.\n\tMechassassin looked around the room at Supersonic, Katrina, Juryrig, and the now recovered Celestial Boy. \"This is not over, heroes!\" he snarled. \"I will be back!\" With that, he rocketed upward, burst through the roof, and was gone.\n\tKatrina smirked. \"So will a bad check.\" Then she turned to Supersonic. \"Thanks for the save, fuzzy.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"It was nothing.\" He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"Are you okay?\"\n\t\"I am unharmed,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Mr. Armstrong?\" he asked Juryrig.\n\t\"Ah'm fine, thanks,\" said Juryrig, in a wheezing, somewhat grating voice. \"Ah'm sure glad someone came and chased these ARGENT bozos off. Ah hate to think what they would have done with this.\" He gestured at the huge machine.\n\t\"And what exactly is [i]this[/i]?\" asked Celestial Boy, eyeing the heap of spare parts curiously.\n\t\"Well, ah call it a quantum temporal displacement engine,\" said Juryig, \"but ah guess you could call it a time machine.\"\n\tThere was a moment of silence while everyone stared at Juryrig, which was broken when Katrina burst out laughing. \"A time machine? Seriously?\"\n\t\"Well, yeah,\" said Juryrig, looking somewhat embarrassed.\n\t\"You don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, looking at Katrina.\n\t\"Are you kidding? That piece of crap? It's like a little kid calling a cardboard box a spaceship!\"\n\t\"Clearly, ARGENT thinks there is something to it,\" Celestial Boy pointed out, \"or they would not have sent their people here.\"\n\t\"Speaking of which,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed out of the room and back up the ramp. He returned a moment later. \"Yeah, they're gone. Must have been teleported out, like the ones we fought in Millennium City.\"\n\tJuryrig stared at Supersonic, apparently having just realized there was a three-foot talking squirrel in the room. \"Hey, ah know you! You're Supersonic Squirrel! Ah used to watch your show when ah was a kid! Only, that was a cartoon. How can you be here?\"\n\t\"That is a rather long story,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Suffice it to say, he is as real as you or I. I believe introductions are in order. I am Celestial Boy. Supersonic Squirrel and I are members of the Millennium Guard.\" He turned to Katrina and Dorgok. \"These are Katrina Werner and Dorgok of Lemuria.\"\n\tKatrina waved and gave an exaggerated smile. \"Hi there!\" Dorgok simply nodded.\n\t\"Pleased to meet you both,\" said Juryrig. His eyes went to Dorgok's stump. \"Ah could make a replacement for that.\"\n\t\"There is no need,\" said Dorgok. \"It will grow back.\"\n\t\"Just as ARGENT will undoubtably be back with reinforcements,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to Juryrig. \"You need some security on this machine, now that they know about it.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"What ah can't figure is how they found out. Ah haven't told anyone but Defender what ah was workin' on, an' ah know he wouldn't blab.\"\n\t\"This may have something to do with it,\" said Celestial Boy, holding out the object that had brought them here.\n\tJuryrig's face lit up. \"Ah've been lookin' for that!\" He took the object from Celestial Boy and examined it. \"Where'd you find it?\"\n\t\"Katrina liberated it from an ARGENT laboratory in Millennium City. I don't suppose you know how they might have gotten hold of it?\"\n\tJuryig scratched his head with his metal hand. \"Well, the last time ah remember havin' it was in Sal's Diner. Ah brought it there to tinker with while ah was eatin'. Ah must've accidentally left it there.\" He grinned sheepishly.\n\tCelestial Boy gave a paternalistic, disapproving frown, which looked rather incongruous on his youthful face. \"Perhaps in the future you should refrain from taking such sensitive technology to public places.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Ah'll try to remember that.\" He walked over to the machine, his metal leg clanking loudly with each step, and inserted the object into its workings. Immediately, the machine began to hum, and the circular opening in the front began to pulsate. \"There we go! That's just what she needed! Thanks!\"\n\t\"So, this can really send people through time?\" asked Supersonic, looking up at the huge machine in wonder.\n\t\"Well, only into the past,\" replied Juryrig. \"You can't go into the future, 'cause it ain't happened yet.\"\n\t\"How does it work?\" asked Supersonic, fascinated.\n\t\"The control panel's right here,\" said Juryig. He clanked over to a bank of computer keyboards that had been rather haphazardly wired together, and everyone came over to look. \"You just tap in the time an' coordinates you want to visit, an' off you go!\"\n\t\"So it can be used to travel in space as well as time?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, it kind of has to,\" said Juryrig, \"since the planet is movin' an' all.\"\n\t\"Point taken,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Have you tested it?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Yeah, ah've made a few short trips into the past. Just a few hours. Met my earlier self. That was weird.\"\n\t\"I imagine so,\" Celestial Boy commented.\n\tKatrina looked at Supersonic and made a whirling motion with her finger beside her ear.\n\t\"You still don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, whispering.\n\t\"Come on!\" Katrina whispered back. \"A time machine?\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"On my show there was a super-smart dog and his pet boy who had a time machine that took them on all kinds of adventures throughout history.\"\n\tKatrina sighed. \"Dat vas a cartoon, dahlink.\"\n\t\"You're talking to a cartoon, dahlink. You could always read his mind to find out if he's telling the truth.\"\n\t\"I thought you didn't want me snooping around in people's minds without permission. Anyway, all that would tell me is that [i]he[/i] believes it, and if he's as nuts as he seems, that wouldn't surprise me a bit.\"\n\t\"Hey,\" said Juryrig, \"ah just realized ah'm hungry! Wanna order out for pizza or somethin'? There's a real good pizzeria just down the street.\"\n\t\"That sounds great!\" said Supersonic, grinning and rubbing his belly. He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Castor? I know you don't need to eat . . .\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I still enjoy the taste of food.\"\n\t\"Count me in,\" said Katrina. She turned to Dorgok. \"How about you? Have you ever had pizza?\" \n\tThe Lemurian boy shook his head. \"What is it?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Only the best food on Earth!\"\n\tAs Juryrig began dialing the number of the pizzeria on an old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall, they all froze at the sound of something being knocked over upstairs.\n\t\"ARGENT?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Possibly,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I only sense one mind,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Could be Mechassassin,\" Supersonic suggested.\n\t Celestial Boy shook his head. \"He is not a fool. It would not make sense for him to return alone.\"\n\t\"Well, let's go see who it is,\" said Supersonic, and flew up the ramp, Celestial Boy close on his heels.\n\tThey rounded the corner to find that the front corridor contained a single occupant. It was a Lemurian, taller than Dorgok, his slim body covered with brown and yellow scales, his chest and belly white. There was a webbed crest atop his lizardlike head, fins on his arms, legs and back, and a long, sinuous tail that swished behind him. His fingers and toes sported wicked-looking claws. Unlike Dorgok, he wore no clothing. He floated a foot above the floor, electricity crackling all around him.\n\t\"Who are you?\" Supersonic demanded.\n\t\"I am Samtiss,\" replied the Lemurian, in a hissing voice. \"I have come for Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Well, you'll have to go through me first!\" said Supersonic, and fired a wind blast that knocked the Lemurian back ten feet. Samtiss retaliated with a lighting bolt from his clawed hand, which electrified the squirrel, making his fur stand on end. Supersonic dropped to the floor on all fours, shivering. \"Holy cow, twice in one day!\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed as Katrina and Juryig came up to join them. \"It never fails. Gentlemen, might we suspend the hostilities for one moment to straighten this out?\"\n\t\"I did not come here to fight,\" Samtiss replied. \"I came to get my son.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked as he got to his feet. \"You're Dorgok's father?\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I am.\"\n\t\"You gotta admit,\" said Katrina, \"there is a certain family resemblance.\"\n\t\"How did you know where to find him?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Adam informed Nightmunk that you had brought Dorgok to Vibora Bay,\" replied Samtiss, \"and Nightmunk told me.\"\n\t\"And you flew down here on your own?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"That is not a problem for me,\" said Samtiss. \"Now, where is my son?\"\t\n\t\"He's downstairs,\" said Juryrig. \"Come on, ah'll—\" He stopped as the lights in the warehouse suddenly dimmed. \"Oh no!\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tJuryrig did not reply. Instead, he ran down the ramp to the room containing the quantum temporal displacement engine, the others close behind. There was no sign of Dorgok. \"Ah was afraid of this,\" he said.\n\t\"WHAT?\" Supersonic demanded impatiently.\n\tJuryrig turned to face him and shrugged helplessly. \"He's gone back in time!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"Are you certain of this?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"The machine pulls a lot of juice every time it's activated. Plus, there's no other way out of this room!\"\n\t\"Just a moment,\" said Samtiss. \"Am I to understand that this . . . apparatus . . . is some sort of time machine?\"\n\t\"So he says,\" replied Katrina.\n\t\"Let's find out where he went!\" said Supersonic, running to the control console. The others quickly came over to join him.\n\t\"It's set for Millennium City,\" Juryrig observed, \"just a little over a year ago.\"\n\t\"That is the date of the Lemurian invasion,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Why would he want to go there?\" asked Supersonic. \"To help out?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I doubt one more Lemurian would have made any difference, particularly a child with no powers who is missing a hand.\"\n\t\"Then what's he trying to do?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss's tongue flickered in agitation. \"He is trying to save his mother.\"\n\tThey all turned and stared at him. \n\t\"His mother?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen the Defiler. She was there that day. If he can find her, he can warn her of her fate and perhaps enable her to avoid it.\"\n\t\"Would that be a bad thing?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It could potentially be catastrophic,\" replied Samtiss. \"She was involved in a plot to free the Kings of Edom so they could once again ravage the multiverse.\"\n\t\"The Kings of Edom?\" asked Katrina. \"Who the hell are they?\"\n\t\"Cosmic entities of unimaginable power and evil,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"The Lemurians called them the Rastrinfhar—the Bleak Ones—and worshipped them as gods. They were imprisoned eons ago, but their followers strive constantly to free them.\"\n\tSamtiss eyed Celestial Boy. \"You know much for one so young, human.\"\n\t\"I am not human,\" replied Celestial Boy, \"and I am older than I look. I am well versed in the lore of the Kings. It is the reason I was sent here. However, I am curious as to why you would want to stop a plot to free them, Lemurian.\"\n\t\"Dorgok said his father was a traitor,\" said Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I realized the terrible mistake we made in returning to worshipping the Bleak Ones, and have been fighting against it.\"\n\t\"He also said you killed his mother,\" said Supersonic, narrowing his eyes at the Lemurian.\n\t\"Strictly speaking, that is not correct,\" said Samtiss. \"She was killed by Emorada, a paladin from another dimension. But I gladly would have, given the chance. Though I once loved Yareen, her worship of the Bleak Ones had thoroughly corrupted her. I have never encountered a more evil being.\"\n\t\"Okay,\" said Katrina, \"let's say Dorgok really has gone back in time to save his mother. Is there any reason we can't set the machine for a few seconds before he arrives, nab him, and be home in time for supper?\"\n\tJuryrig shook his head. \"It don't work that way. When Dorgok went back there, that time an' this one became entangled at the quantum level. Time is passin' at the same rate in both!\"\n\t\"I'll pretend I understood that,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I think what he means,\" said Celestial Boy, \"is that for every second that passes here, a second passes there. Therefore, the longer we delay going after him, the more time he has to find his mother.\"\n\t\"That must not happen,\" said Samtiss. \"If Yareen manages to avoid her fate, there could be dire consquences for the entire multiverse.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Then we must go now.\" He took a step toward the machine.\n\t\"Hold on a second,\" said Juryig. \"If you're goin' back in time, you'll be wantin' these.\" He held out a handful of objects that looked like ordinary digital wristwatches.\n\t\"To keep track of the time?\" asked Supersonic, puzzled.\n\t\"These are recall devices,\" Juryrig replied. \"Press the alarm button an' you'll pop back to the present. Alternatively, ah can bring you back usin' the recall button on the console.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as he, Supersonic, and Samtiss each strapped one of the recall devices onto a wrist. \"Ready?\" he asked the squirrel and the Lemurian.\n\t\"As I'll ever be,\" said Supersonic. He turned to Katrina. \"You're free to go, Katrina.\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You're turning me loose?\"\n\t\"It wouldn't be right to force you to come with us. I sure wish you would, because we could use all the help we can get, but I'll understand if you don't want to. It could be very dangerous.\"\n\tKatrina chewed her lip for a moment, then shrugged. \"Ah, what the hell. How many chances am I gonna have to travel through time?\" She took one of the recall devices from Juryrig and strapped it on.\n\t\"All right,\" said Celestial Boy, \"let's go.\" And the four of them walked up the ramp of the noisy, quivering, whirling machine and entered the glowing portal to the past.\n\tThe first thing they experienced was the cold shock of rain hitting their faces. When they recovered, they could see that they were standing in a street in downtown Millennium City in the middle of a torrential downpour, the ground around them strewn with debris from a nearby building that had collapsed when a Lemurian drilling machine—a giant cylinder with a conical drill on top—had come straight up out of the ground beneath it. The colossal machine sat silently amidst the mountain of rubble, pointed at the sky, looking like a predator perched atop its kill, a huge door in its side yawning open like a mouth. It was abandoned now, having disgorged its cargo of Lemurian soldiers to terrorize the city. The echoing sound of gunfire in the distance attested that the battle was in progress. Then came a screeching sound as a trio of strange objects shot by overhead, racing along the narrow, skyscraper-lined canyon. They consisted of hemispherical capsules with the rounded end facing forward, surrounded by three triangular fins equally spaced that rotated continuously as they flew.\n\t\"Lemurian Exocet fighters,\" said Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I remember. I destroyed several of them during the invasion.\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him. \"You were there? I mean, here?\"\n\t\"Of course. Where else would I be?\"\n\tHe turned to Katrina, who was still staring up at the sky in disbelief. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"Huh? Oh, I'm hiding in a shelter, with the rest of the civilians. Holy shit, that pile of junk actually works!\"\n\t\"So it would seem,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Can you locate Dorgok?\"\n\tShe closed her eyes and concentrated. \"I'm trying. There's so much chaos. It's like trying to hear one voice among thousands.\" She opened her eyes and shook her head. \"I can't do it. There's too much interference.\"\n\tSupersonic squeezed her hand. \"At least you tried. That's all anyone could ask.\"\n\tCelestial Boy turned to Samtiss. \"Have you any idea where Yareen might be?\"\n\t\"She was with the group of mystics who summoned the Bleak Harbinger,\" the Lemurian replied.\n\t\"That was the giant monster they intended to use to destroy Millennium City!\" exclaimed Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I was there, too, trying to stop them. I failed.\"\n\t\"We must head in that direction, then,\" said Celestial Boy, taking to the air. Samtiss crackled with electricity and followed him, and Supersonic picked up Katrina and flew after them on a gust of wind.\n\t\"If you're there, does that mean we might run into your earlier self?\" Katrina asked Samtiss as they flew.\n\t\"Possibly,\" the Lemurian replied. \"I would caution you that even though I had turned against my own people by this time, I still did not like or trust humans, nor was I aware that I had a son.\"\n\t\"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\" Celestial Boy asked, noting the pensive look on the squirrel's face.\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I don't like that we came back through time to make sure someone dies. It's not very heroic.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I can understand why you would feel that way. In your cartoon world, morality was very black and white. But in the real world, one must sometimes do unpleasant things for the greater good.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"I don't see how anything good can come from doing wrong.\"\n\t\"Was your president Truman wrong to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to deter an invasion of Japan that would have cost many more lives?\"\n\t\"President Truman was a good man!\" Supersonic protested. \"Besides, there was a war on!\"\n\tCelestial Boy gestured at the havoc going on around them. \"And what would you call this?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and flew on in silence.\n\tAs the four time travelers flew along beneath the iron-gray sky, their bodies pelted by heavy rain, they gave a start as a tremendous roar reverberated through the streets of Millennium City. It was a sound that two of them remembered well and had hoped never to hear again.\n\t\"The Harbinger is here,\" said Celestial Boy, grimly.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen will be close by. Come.\"\n\tThey flew a bit further, and as they rounded a skyscraper, their eyes were greeted by a spectacle such as only Millennium City could provide. There at the edge of the Detroit River stood a creature out of a nightmare. It towered more than a hundred feet above the frothing water, its lumpy greenish-gray body topped by a grotesque wedge-shaped head, each side lined with three glowing eyes. Stony protrusions stuck out from either side of its head, giving the head a loose resemblance to that of a hammerhead shark. From the waist down it was nothing but a mass of writhing tentacles. It had four arms, each ending in a huge lobsterlike claw, with which it swatted angrily at the heroes buzzing around it like bothersome flies while another deafening roar issued forth from a mouth that could have swallowed a truck.\n\tFighting this monstrosity were several of the Champions, the world's most famous superhero team. There was Defender, in his gleaming blue-and-white battle armor, blasting it with plasma beams from his hands; Sapphire, who was also a successful singing star, hovering above its head in her blue vest, trunks, and thigh-high boots and generating concussive bursts of force; Witchcraft, her green cloak and red hair billowing in the wind as she hurled mystical hex bolts at it; and Ironclad, an alien gladiator whose body was covered in living metal, slashing at its tentacles with his sword. Other heroes were fighting the creature as well, including Adam, the chimpanzee scientist now wearing a red-and-white jumpsuit and flying with a jetpack while shooting at it with some sort of ray gun, and Nighthawk, the caped and hooded vigilante mounted on his grav bike and peppering its hide with laser bolts. Even Foxbat, who was technically a villain but more of a nuisance than a threat, had joined the fray, firing at the Bleak Harbinger with his ping-pong ball gun as he glided past it in his brown-and-yellow costume. However, nothing anyone was doing seemed to be having any effect on the hideous colossus.\n\t\"We have to help them!\" cried Supersonic as he watched the heroes attacking the Harbinger futilely.\n\t\"No, that is precisely what we must not do,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We are not supposed to be here. Any actions we take that alter the past could have dire consequences in our present. They defeated the Bleak Harbinger before without our assistance. They can do so again. Look—help is arriving even now.\" There, high above the Harbinger, a sleek steel vessel had emerged out of the murk.\n\t\"If I am not mistaken,\" said Samtiss, \"that is the UNTIL sky carrier [i]Barcelona[/i].\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"It played a pivotal role in this battle. Its radiation cannon weakened the Harbinger enough to enable the heroes to damage it.\"\n\t\"Then all is in good hands,\" said Samtiss. \"We need not concern ourselves with these events.\"\n\t\"You might want to tell [i]them[/i] that!\" said Katrina, pointing. A trio of Exocet fighters were streaking toward the four time travelers.\n\t\"Evade them, but do not attack!\" warned Celestial Boy. \"We must keep our interference in the past to an absolute minimum!\"\n\t\"I do not think that they will accord us the same courtesy,\" said Samtiss, as he blasted a missile fired at him by one of the fighters with a lightning bolt, causing it to explode in midair.\n\t\"Find cover!\" shouted Celestial Boy, and dove down into a gap between two buildings. One of the fighters peeled off to chase him, while Samtiss flew in the opposite direction, leading another away. Supersonic, still holding on to Katrina, shot back the way they had come, the last fighter in hot pursuit.\n\t\"Incoming!\" yelled Katrina. Supersonic glanced back at the fighter. It had fired a missile at them, which was closing rapidly. On his own, he might have been able to dodge it, but burdened as he was with Katrina, his maneuverability was greatly impaired. Gritting his teeth, he banked around the corner of a building, hoping the missile would strike it and not him.\n\tIt almost worked. The missile did hit the side of the building, but so close to them that Supersonic was struck on the head with a chunk of debris, stunning him and causing him to lose his grip on Katrina. With a scream, she plummeted toward the street far below, while Supersonic reeled, momentarily dazed. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and dove after the falling girl, accelerating toward her as fast as he could. She was already so close to the ground that he wasn't sure he'd be able to reach her before she hit, let alone pull out of his dive in time to save either of them, but he didn't slow down. Either they would both live, or they would both die.\n\tAs the street drew terrifyingly close, Supersonic's outstretched hands grasped Katrina's wrist, and he instantly pulled up, nearly wrenching his arms out of their sockets as he desperately tried to level out before they both ended up as red smears. Katrina's boots skittered against the asphalt as they rocketed along not five feet off the ground. The squirrel decelerated as fast as he could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. An abandoned city bus loomed before them, and there was no way he could stop or turn in time to avoid it. Gathering Katrina against him, Supersonic turned so he would bear the brunt of the impact and slammed into the side of the bus with tooth-jarring force, his body cushioning the blow for his charge.\n\tKatrina got groggily to her feet, scarcely able to believe that she was still alive. She glanced down at Supersonic. The squirrel was lying sprawled beside the bus, out cold. Then she looked up as the Exocet fighter that had fired the missile swooped down out of the sky toward them, and her eyes narrowed. \"You're dead,\" she growled.\n\tShe lashed out at the craft with a searing mental blast, augmented by her own anger and pain. The stunned Lemurian pilot lost control of his ship, and it plowed into the street, exploding and showering Katrina and Supersonic with flaming debris. \n\tKatrina knelt over the squirrel's unconscious form, shielding it from harm. \"Hey, squirrelly boy!\" she said, smacking his gray-furred face lightly. \"Come on, wake up!\" When he didn't, she cupped her hands and plunged them into a nearby puddle, dumping the cold water over his face. The squirrel sputtered, and his huge eyes snapped open. Then he groaned in pain. \"You okay?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSupersonic sat up, rubbing his back. \"I don't think any bones are broken. My whole body feels like one big bruise, though.\" He looked up at Katrina. \"How about you?\"\n\tKatrina grinned, the rain running down her brown face, her short white hair a spiky mess. \"Remember when I asked you if you'd ever been kissed?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Yeah, but what—?\" He was cut off as she savagely kissed him on his muzzle. The squirrel's eyes went wide, and his body went rigid. Then, after a moment, his eyes closed and he relaxed, putting his arms around Katrina and holding her, chrring softly. As she broke the kiss, he released her and looked at her, confused. \"What was that for?\"\n\t\"You risked your life back there to save mine,\" she replied, smiling. \"I figure that's worth a kiss, don't you?\"\n\tSupersonic rubbed behind his head. \"I suppose so. It's just a little unexpected, is all. I didn't think you liked me very much.\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"Eh, you're starting to grow on me. You know, like ringworm.\"\n\t\"Thanks, I guess,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet. He gazed at the wreckage of the Exocet. \"Did you do that?\"\n\t\"What else could I do? He hurt my squirrel.\" She grinned again.\n\t\"You shouldn't have,\" said Supersonic, frowning. \"Castor said we shouldn't do anything that could change the past.\"\n\t\"Screw Castor, and screw him,\" said Katrina, gesturing at the crashed fighter. \"He tried to kill us. If someone tries to kill me, it's his shit luck if he dies. Anyway, he'd already changed the past by attacking us.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I wish you wouldn't curse so much. It's not ladylike.\"\n\tKatrina put her hands on her hips. \"I'm sorry if my vulgar language offends your delicate 1960s television sensibilities.\"\n\t\"I can't help it if I was brought up with old-fashioned values!\" Supersonic retorted.\n\t\"In a small town in Minnesota. I know, I read your bio on Wikipedia during the flight to Vibora. Ultimate white-bread Middle America.\" She smirked. \"How does it feel to know you were just kissed by a colored girl?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"What?\"\n\t\"That's what they used to call us black folks back then, right?\"\n\t\"You're not black. You have white hair and blue eyes.\"\n\t\"Because my dad was German. My mom was black. That's where I got my skin from.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"I'd think that would matter less than the fact that we're different species.\" He looked up at the cloudy sky. \"We need to regroup with the others and find Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Yeah, well, after nearly ending up street pizza, I hope you don't mind if I choose to keep both my feet on the ground from now on.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"That's understandable.\" Another roar from the Bleak Harbinger echoed through the streets. \"Come on, let's go.\" He began walking in the direction of the waterfront, Katrina beside him.\n\n\tDorgok made his way carefully through the battleground that Millennium City had become, keeping to the shadows and avoiding both the city's defenders and the Lemurian invaders as he searched for his mother. Initially, he hadn't had a clear idea of where to go, not being familiar with the layout of the city, but the roars of the Bleak Harbinger provided him with a direction. And so he trekked along through the chaos on his clawed feet in the pouring rain, cursing Dr. Ka for stripping him of his ability to fly.\n\tAs he paused in the shadow of a building to let a truck full of human soldiers go by, Dorgok heard a rumbling sound from above and looked up. His eyes widened in horror as he saw that the structure he was standing beside was beginning to topple, its walls weakened by repeated strafings from the Exocet fighters constantly screaming by overhead. He stood transfixed with fear, watching the heavy wall falling toward him. Then something struck him hard in the side, knocking him clear of the collapsing wall as tons of bricks crashed down onto the spot where he had just been standing.\n\tDorgok sat up in the street, dazed but unhurt, and looked to see what had hit him. Crouching beside him was a human boy in his early teen years, with brown skin and long black hair, both of which were wet from the rain. His slim body was naked save for a beige loincloth, and his dark eyes gazed curiously at the Lemurian boy. \"You know,\" the human said, \"when you see a wall falling toward you, the sensible thing is to run away from it.\"\n\tDorgok just stared at his rescuer in confusion. \"Why did you save me?\" he asked.\n\tThe human grinned. \"Call it force of habit. For a second I forgot you were one of the bad guys. All I saw was someone in danger.\"\n\t\"So now you will kill me?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"After I just went to the trouble of saving you? That would be pretty stupid. Besides, you don't look like much of a threat.\"\n\tIf he only knew, Dorgok thought, but simply flicked his tongue.\n\t\"What are you doing here, anyway?\" the human asked. \"You're clearly not a soldier. You look like a kid, you have no weapons, and you're missing a hand. What gives?\"\n\t\"I . . . stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied.\n\tThe human blinked. \"You stowed away to an invasion?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"I wanted to see the surface world. I wanted to see if humans are really as evil as my people say.\"\n\t\"Well, I hope I've helped dispel that myth,\" the human said, offering him a hand up. \"I'm Mowgli. What's your name?\"\n\t\"Dorgok,\" Dorgok replied, accepting the hand and getting to his feet.\n\t\"Nice to meet you, Dorgok,\" said Mowgli.\n\tDorgok stared at him, utterly baffled, not having expected a human to treat him so kindly, let alone save his life.\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli, there you are!\" came a voice from above. Dorgok and Mowgli both looked up. Swooping down from the sky came another boy. While he looked superficially human, he clearly was not. His skin was bright red, his ears were pointed, a three-foot tail with an arrowhead tip protruded from his backside, and he bore a pair of small pink horns atop his hairless head. Like Mowgli, he wore very little—in his case, only a white loincloth, plus flames wreathing his body. The flames vanished as he landed beside them, but raindrops continued to sizzle and turn to steam as they struck his scarlet skin.\n\tDorgok gasped. \"A demon?\"\n\t\"I'm not a demon,\" the horned boy said, scowling at him. \"I'm a devil. Important difference.\"\n\t\"Hi, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"I'd been wondering where you'd gotten to,\" Hot Stuff said. \"And look what you've caught!\" He grinned, displaying small fangs, and raised his hands, which began smoldering with flames. \"One lizard fricasee, coming right up!\"\n\t\"Stow that, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli. \"We're not killers.\"\n\t\"Oh yeah?\" Hot Stuff shot back. \"Well, [i]they[/i] are! You know how many bodies I flew past while I was looking for you?\"\n\t\"Look at him. He's just a kid, like us.\"\n\t\"The Lemurians kill kids, too. They don't care, so why should we?\"\n\t\"Because we're better than them,\" said Mowgli, calmly.\n\tHot Stuff snarled. \"Wake up, jungle boy! This is war!\"\n\t\"Even wars have rules,\" said Mowgli. \"You don't kill prisoners and noncombatants. Now. Back. Off.\"\n\tHot Stuff glared at him, but he lowered his hands, and the flames around them vanished. \"Fine,\" he said. \"So what are we gonna do with him?\"\n\tMowgli shrugged. \"I guess we let him go.\"\n\tHot Stuff practically exploded. \"Let him go? Are you crazy?\"\n\t\"There are people all over this city who need saving!\" Mowgli shouted back. \"We've got more important things to do than babysit a crippled Lemurian kid! Come on!\" He turned and ran off down the street with a swift, loping gait. \n\tHot Stuff shot Dorgok a look of pure hatred, and the Lemurian could see that the devil boy was trembling with barely suppressed rage. \"This is your lucky day, lizard,\" he growled. \"If it had been up to me, you'd be ashes right now.\" Then he burst into flames, rose off the ground, and flew off after Mowgli.\n\tDorgok watched him go, puzzled. That creature was not human, he thought. These were not its people. Why did it care so much about them? He shook his head and resumed his quest.\n\n\tCelestial Boy flew along close to street level, his glowing eyes methodically scanning the streets for any sign of his fellow time travelers. He'd managed to elude the Exocet fighter that had been chasing him, but in the process had become separated from the rest of his team. This troubled him, as every minute they were here increased the chances that they would do something to alter the past, and while he was fairly certain Samtiss could be trusted, as the Lemurian seemed to have a logical mind, he was less so about Supersonic and Katrina, who were more governed by emotion.\n\tHe froze as a Lemurian emerged from around the corner of a building, then relaxed when he saw that it was Samtiss. The Lemurian flew over to him, arcs of electricity sparking across his scaly body. \"I see you managed to evade your pursuer,\" said Samtiss. \"I have done so, as well.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I have been unable to find Supersonic and Katrina, however.\"\n\t\"Obviously,\" said Samtiss. \"If you had, they would be with you. Searching for them would seem to be impractical. We should head back to the Harbinger. If they are still alive, they will also be headed that way.\"\n\t \"A sound plan,\" Celestial Boy replied. \n\tAs they flew along the street together, Celestial Boy said, \"There is something I have been meaning to ask you, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"What is it?\"\n\t\"If it becomes necessary, are you prepared to kill your son?\"\n\t\"I have known Dorgok for less than a day,\" Samtiss replied, \"and during that brief acquaintance he tortured me while I was Yareen's prisoner in the Qliphoth. Therefore, my emotional bond with him is understandably somewhat limited. And yet, I do feel something for him. I would prefer that he not die. But if it becomes necessary, I will do what must be done.\" He turned his golden reptilian eyes to Celestial Boy. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"The taking of life is abhorrent to me,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but there are times when the abhorrent becomes unavoidable. Therefore, I, too, will do what must be done.\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I appreciate that you sought to learn my feelings on this matter.\"\n\t\"I do not know you,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"Therefore, I wanted to anticipate your reaction. Having insufficient facts always invites danger.\"\n\t\"Nonetheless, I do appreciate it.\"\n\t\"Noted.\"\n\t\"Someone is approaching,\" Samtiss observed. Ahead of them, two figures were racing down the street toward them, one leaving a flaming contrail behind it.\n\t\"I know them,\" said Celestial Boy, frowning. \"This is unfortunate.\"\n\t\"Do we wish to speak to them?\" asked Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"It appears to be unavoidable.\"\n\tMowgli and Hot Stuff stopped before the pair. \"Hey, Castor!\" Hot Stuff said, waving and smiling. \"I see you caught yourself a lizard too! And this one's an adult!\"\n\tCelestial Boy blinked. \"You have seen a Lemurian child?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"We ran into one a few blocks east of here. We let him go, though. He seemed harmless enough.\"\n\tSamtiss flicked his tongue. \"You could not be more mistaken.\"\n\t\"What do you mean?\" Hot Stuff demanded. \"Castor, what are you doing with this thing?\"\n\t\"Mowgli, Hot Stuff,\" said Celestial Boy, \"I must ask you to trust me. I am not the Celestial Boy you know. Samtiss and I are from the future, as is the Lemurian child you encountered. We have come to stop him from changing the past.\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Mowgli and Hot Stuff in unison, staring at the pair in disbelief.\n\t\"More than that I dare not say,\" said Celestial Boy, \"lest I make matters even worse than they are.\"\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli,\" said Hot Stuff, looking at Celestial Boy suspiciously, \"aren't some Lemurians shapeshifters?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"One was just caught trying to impersonate the mayor.\"\n\t\"So how do we know that's really Castor?\"\n\t\"There's one way to find out,\" said Mowgli. He moved up close to Celestial Boy and sniffed him.\n\t\"Well?\" asked Hot Stuff impatiently.\n\t\"He smells like the real thing,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"That is because I am,\" growled Celestial Boy.\n\t\"You are what?\" came a hollow voice from above. They all looked up. There, hovering above them, was Celestial Boy.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future groaned. \"Oh, for Elysium's sake!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present landed and gazed at his counterpart. \"Well, this is interesting!\"\n\t\"That is not the word I would have chosen,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, clearly annoyed.\n\t\"But you did,\" Samtiss pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy of the present turned to Mowgli and Hot Stuff. \"What is going on here?\"\n\tMowgli grinned. \"Are you ready for this? They claim to be from the future!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present raised an eyebrow. \"Indeed?\"\n\t\"Yes,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, \"and we must not be detained. Every passing second brings us closer to disaster!\"\n\t\"What makes a one-handed Lemurian kid so dangerous?\" asked Hot Stuff.\n\t\"I may not tell you that!\"\n\t\"Then let us help you,\" said Mowgli.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future shook his head. \"You must not!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present nodded. \"I quite agree. If they truly are from the future, then the best thing we can do is forget we ever saw them.\"\n\tCelestial Boy from the future smiled at his counterpart. \"It is good to see that someone understands.\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present shrugged. \"Well, we are the same person. Good luck with your mission, Castor.\"\n\t\"Thank you, Castor.\" With that, Samtiss and Celestial Boy from the future flew off down the street to the east.\n\tMowgli turned to Celestial Boy of the present. \"Are we ever gonna find out what that was all about?\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present smiled. \"Eventually.\"\n\t\n\tDorgok rounded a corner, and his pulse quickened as he saw the Bleak Harbinger towering majestically over the city, for it meant that his mother must be close by. He snarled as the UNTIL sky carrier hovering above blasted it with some kind of ray and heroes swarmed the Harbinger—shooting it, punching it, slashing it. They might win this day, but perhaps, if Dorgok succeeded in what he had come here to do, ultimate victory would belong to the Bleak Ones.\n\tSo entranced was he by the battle before him that he almost failed to hear a groan of pain from behind a pile of refuse nearby. He turned toward it, and his eyes went wide at what he saw. The groan had come from Samtiss, lying slumped against a wall, bleeding from several deep gashes across his scaled chest. His golden eyes looked up at his son in puzzlement. \"What are you doing here, child?\" he asked.\n\t\"I stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied. \"Who injured you so?\"\n\t\"Yareen the Defiler, a high priestess of Lemuria.\"\n\t\"But you are Lemurian. Why do you fight against your own people?\"\n\t\"Because they have made a terrible mistake. Following the Bleak Ones leads only to death.\"\n\t\"But the Bleak Ones created us to do their bidding. What purpose do we have if not to serve them?\"\n\t\"Parents create their children. That does not mean they own them. Each being must find its own purpose in life.\"\n\tDorgok flicked his tongue. \"What you speak is heresy. Blasphemy.\"\n\t\"Perhaps. But it is the truth.\"\n\t\"It is not our truth.\"\n\tSamtiss sighed. \"I would argue this further, but I fear I lack the strength. Might I impose upon you as a fellow Lemurian to help me back to the sewers? I do not wish to be found this way, either by our kind or by the humans.\"\n\tDorgok nodded and crouched down next to Samtiss, putting his left arm behind his father's finned back to support him. Samtiss groaned as he sat up. \"Thank you. What is your name, child?\"\n\t\"I am Dorgok, son of Yareen the Defiler and Samtiss the Traitor. And I am your executioner.\" And with that he lunged and sank his teeth into his father's throat.\n\tSamtiss gurgled as blood filled his mouth, and he slashed at Dorgok with his claws, tearing red streaks across his scaly blue skin, but the Lemurian boy did not let go until his father's body stopped thrashing and went limp. Dorgok stood up, feeling elated as he gazed down at the corpse before him and licked the blood from his lips. \"The sewers are where you belong, traitor,\" he hissed, \"but I have a task to complete. Perhaps later, Mother and I can defile your corpse together.\" Then he turned and began running in the direction of the Harbinger.\n\n\tSupersonic Squirrel hugged himself and shivered as he walked along the deserted street beside Katrina. The rain had soaked through his fur to his skin, and his tail hung behind him, drooping and sopping wet. He glanced up in annoyance at Katrina as she began to once again perform her off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\t\"Will you stop that?\" he snapped.\n\tShe looked down at him, surprised. \"I'd have thought you'd like that song. It's from your time, after all.\"\n\t\"The song isn't the problem. It's your attitude.\"\n\t\"What's wrong with my attitude?\"\n\tSupersonic spread his arms. \"We're in the middle of an invasion! I wish you'd be a little more serious!\"\n\t\"I wish you'd be a little[i] less[/i] serious!\" Katrina shot back. \"For Pete's sake, you look like a cartoon and you walk around without any clothes on! It's a wonder you haven't been arrested for public indecency!\"\n\t\"I'm a squirrel! Squirrels don't wear clothes!\"\n\t\"Then how are you gonna hide your nuts?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at her. \"Because I look the way I do, I have to be serious if I want to be taken seriously!\"\n\tKatrina regarded him for a moment. \"That's important to you, isn't it? To be taken seriously.\"\n\t\"Well, what I do is a serious business. People's lives are at stake!\"\n\tShe nodded, remembering how he'd saved her from falling to her death at the risk of his own life. \"Okay, point taken. I'll try to adjust my attitude.\" Then she looked down at his feet. \"Um, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"What?\"\n\t\"You're standing in blood.\"\n\tSupersonic looked down. A stream of crimson was flowing past his gray-furred feet. It appeared to be coming from an alley nearby. \"Come on!\" he said, running toward it. \"Someone might need help!\" Katrina ran after him. \n\tThey both froze in their tracks when they saw where the blood was coming from. \"It's Samtiss!\" cried Supersonic, running to the Lemurian's supine form and kneeling beside it.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"It's no use, Supersonic. He's had it.\"\n\tSupersonic pressed an ear to the Lemurian's chest, then lifted his head. \"You're right. There's no heartbeat.\" He stood up, looking down sadly at the corpse. \"Who could have done this? It wasn't the fighters. His throat's been ripped out.\"\n\t\"A better question would be, is this the Samtiss from this time or our time?\"\n\t\"That's right!\" exclaimed Supersonic. \"He said he was here during the invasion.\" He looked down at the body. \"He's not wearing a recall device.\"\n\t\"That doesn't prove anything,\" said Katrina. \"Whoever killed him could have taken it. But if this is the Samtiss from this time, then he must have been killed by Dorgok.\"\n\t\"How do you figure that?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Because the Samtiss of this time survived the invasion,\" Katrina replied, \"so the only thing that could have killed him is something that wasn't here that day.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Something like Dorgok. But what would that mean for the Samtiss from our time?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"Damned if I know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that we're in the past at all!\"\n\t\"Well, the body's still warm,\" said Supersonic. \"If Dorgok did this, then he must be close by.\"\n\t\"I'll scan the immediate area,\" said Katrina. She closed her eyes and concentrated, spreading her mental awareness across just a few city blocks. Her eyes snapped open. \"Got him!\"\n\tSupersonic grinned, baring his big buck teeth. \"Great! Let's go get him!\" He held out his arms to her.\n\t\"Okay,\" Katrina said, lowering herself reluctantly into his embrace. \"But stay close to the ground this time.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"I promise!\" \n\tTogether, they flew off after Dorgok.\n\t\n\tYareen the Defiler's green, snakelike eyes watched with dismay as the Bleak Harbinger began to falter in its battle against the heroes of Millennium City. She was a tall, slim Lemurian woman with bluish-purple scales, wearing a mauve-and-silver chest plate, pauldrons, loincloth, and crested headdress, with cloth wraps around her lower arms and legs. She was standing in a parking lot beside the Detroit River with two other Lemurian adepts, guarded by a pair of stone golems—giant statues shaped like humanoid reptiles. That blasted sky carrier had turned the tide against them. Even the addition of flights of Exocet fighters diverted from other areas was not proving enough to protect the Harbinger. The heroes kept knocking the fighters out of the air, enabling the sky carrier to blast the Harbinger with its radiation cannon. If the Harbinger fell, the invasion was finished.\n\t\"Perhaps we should attack the sky carrier, mistress?\" suggested the frost adept floating beside her, brushing a coating of ice crystals from his chest, where they kept building up as raindrops hit him and froze.\n\tYareen shook her head. \"Its guns would mow us down before we even got near it.\"\n\t\"There must be something we can do!\" cried the other adept, an ionic with electricity arcing across his body.\n\t\"I fear our part in this battle is ended,\" said Yareen. Her tongue flicked as the Harbinger roared one last time and collapsed into the river, its body crumbling into a pile of rubble. It had never really been alive—just a mass of rock and seaweed animated by Lemurian sorcery, much like the stone golems. She turned to the other Lemurians, who were watching helplessly as their dream died before them. \"We must retreat. Head for the nearest tunnel. Do not despair, brothers. The humans may have won this day, but there will be other battles. The Bleak Ones shall yet triumph!\" Her tongue flicked again as she rose from the ground. This day had been a terrible setback, an enormous waste of their limited resources. The only bright spot for her had been defeating her former lover Samtiss and watching him flee like the coward he was. The memory brought a smile to her reptilian face.\n\t\"Mother!\" came a high, rasping voice, causing her to pause and turn toward it. Her eyes widened with surprise at the sight of a blue Lemurian boy in a loincloth running toward her, his clawed feet splashing in the water covering the parking lot.\n\t\"Who are you, child?\" Yareen asked, puzzled. \"What are you doing here? And why do you call me mother?\"\n\tThe boy stopped before her, his scaly chest heaving as he panted from his exertions. \"I am Dorgok, your son!\"\n\t\"Son?\" Yareen hissed. \"What nonsense is this? I have no child . . . yet.\" There was an egg in an incubator back in her fortress in the Qliphoth, the product of her last union with Samtiss before he had turned traitor, but it had yet to hatch.\n\t\"I am from the future!\" said Dorgok. \"I have come to warn you! To save you!\"\n\tYareen's mouth fell open. \"From the future?\" She inspected the boy more closely. Yes, there was a resemblance, both to herself and to Samtiss. \"But how is this possible?\"\n\t\"That is not important,\" said Dorgok. \"A year from now—\" \n\tThen he stopped, his eyes going wide, and clutched at his throat with his left hand. Yareen looked up to see a small, grey-furred creature flying across the parking lot toward them, carrying a white-haired human female in its arms. \"Uh uh uh, Dorgok,\" the girl said. \"No giving away the ending!\"\n\tYareen snarled. She did not know who these interlopers were, nor did she care. Clearly, they were somehow stopping Dorgok from telling her about the future, and that must not be permitted. She pointed a clawed finger at the pair and addressed the other Lemurians. \"Kill them both, now!\"\n\tSupersonic set Katrina down and built up a sphere of super-compressed air between his hands as the two stone golems lumbered toward them, the ground shaking beneath their feet. He released the sphere in a blast at one of the golems, but it barely slowed the thing down. Then he flew toward them, a vortex of wind swirling around his small form, pushing them back, away from Katrina. The golems flailed with their thick arms, trying to reach him and failing. He chittered triumphantly, then screeched as a bolt of lightning from the ionic adept hit him, making his fur stand on end and dropping him to the ground.\n\t\"You know,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet and rubbing his head, \"I'm really getting tired of that.\" Then he looked up and saw the two golems looming over him, massive stony fists poised to strike. \"Uh oh.\"\n\tKatrina watched in horror as the golems prepared to make the squirrel one with the asphalt. She was using her mental powers to paralyze Dorgok's vocal cords, preventing him from speaking. Switching targets would release him. Besides, the golems were simply animated statues with no minds to affect. Stopping Dorgok from telling Yareen about the future was paramount. She was sure Supersonic would have agreed with that, even been willing to die to accomplish it. Still, her mind searched for some way to help him.\n\tSupersonic erected a dome of solidified air over himself as the golems struck, their mighty fists pounding on its surface. He winced at the force of the impacts. It wouldn't withstand another combined blow like that. He glanced over at Dorgok, who was still struggling to speak, and then rocketed out from beneath the two golems, plowing into Dorgok and wrapping an arm around the Lemurian boy's waist, bearing him up and away from Yareen.\n\tKatrina grinned. With Dorgok out of earshot, she was free to act. She concentrated on Yareen, blasting the Lemurian woman with psychic energy, trying to overload her brain. Yareen reeled, then glared and hissed at Katrina. \"Foolish girl, you seek to pit your puny powers against my dark sorcery? Very well!\" She raised a clawed hand, and tendrils of darkness snaked from it and wrapped around Katrina, paralyzing her and sucking the life from her body. \"Your soul will be my gift to the Bleak Ones!\"\n\t\"I think not, Yareen,\" came a voice she knew far too well. She whirled to see Samtiss and a human-looking boy in winged red-and-purple armor flying down from the sky toward her.\n\tYareen snarled. \"Samtiss, you have returned for still more punishment? Have you not yet learned you are no match for me?\"\n\t\"I know that, Yareen,\" Samtiss replied. \"That is why I brought friends.\"\n\t\"You have no friends, traitor!\" shrieked Yareen. \"Now die!\" And she fired a shaft of darkness at him. Samtiss erected an electrical shield, blunting her attack, and hurled a lightning bolt back, stunning her. Then he turned to face the frost adept, who was flying toward him, his body shrouded in freezing mist.\n\tMeanwhile, Celestial Boy landed next to Katrina, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position, and bathed her in silvery light from his hands. She groaned and sat up, hugging herself. \"Wow, that was really unpleasant!\" she said.\n\t\"This seems likely to be, as well,\" said Celestial Boy, looking past her.\n\tKatrina turned her head to see the two stone golems charging toward them, and sighed. \"Oh, shit . . .\"\n\tHigh above the parking lot, Supersonic was struggling with Dorgok as the Lemurian boy clawed ferociously at the squirrel with his one hand. He howled in pain as Dorgok sank his needle-like teeth into the squirrel's shoulder. \"Ow! You little punk!\" snarled Supersonic, and slugged the Lemurian boy across his snout. Dorgok went limp and slipped out of his grasp. Appalled at what he'd just done, Supersonic dove after the boy, grasping his left arm and stopping his fall. He glanced down at the pavement far below. There was one sure, certain way to prevent Dorgok from telling his mother about the future, he thought to himself. Then he shook his head. \"No, I can't do it,\" he said. \"I'm not a killer, and you're just a kid. A Lemurian kid, but still a kid.\"\n\tA bolt of lightning struck him, and for the fourth time in one day, Supersonic was electrified. As he and Dorgok both began to fall, the ionic adept who had fired the bolt flew up and snatched Dorgok out of the air, turning and flying back toward Yareen, leaving the unconscious squirrel to pinwheel toward the ground.\n\tThe frost adept raised his arms, and Samtiss was suddenly encased in a block of ice. Had Samtiss been human, the sudden chill might have induced immediate hypothermia, but fortunately he was a Lemurian, a creature native to the frigid ocean depths, and hence naturally resistant to cold. Electricity surged around his scaly body, causing the block to burst apart, spraying shards of ice in every direction. Then it arced from his clawed fingers to the frost adept's chest, causing the other Lemurian to go rigid as his muscles locked up. Samtiss growled as he continued to pour on the volts until the frost adept lay sprawled on the asphalt, shocked senseless.\n\t\"Go assist Samtiss,\" Celestial Boy told Katrina. \"I will deal with the golems.\" She nodded, as there was nothing she could do against the mindless stone constructs anyway, and ran to join the Lemurian. \n\tYareen had recovered and now glared hatefully at both Samtiss and Katrina, an aura of dark magic crackling around her. \"You turn to this human cow for help?\" she hissed. \"You are pathetic, Samtiss!\"\n\t\"Who are you calling a cow, skank?\" Katrina shot back, and let loose a powerful mind blast at the same time Samtiss fired a massive surge of electricity from his hands. Both attacks struck Yareen, staggering her, though her aura absorbed most of the damage. She growled and made a motion with her hands, and a swirling vortex of darkness appeared before Samtiss and Katrina, drawing them both inexorably toward it.\n\tAs the two golems bore down on Celestial Boy, the youthful Elysian built up a knot of cosmic energy in his body and released it at the one closest to him, blasting it to pieces. The remaining golem swung a huge stone fist at him, catching him across the chest and knocking him into a nearby brick wall. While he was still regaining his feet, the golem charged at him, its fingers outstretched, and he barely managed to elude its grasp by flying straight up, out of its reach. The golem responded by tearing a thick chunk of asphalt out of the ground and hurling it at the flying boy. The chunk narrowly missed, and Celestial Boy fired a bolt of cosmic energy back at the golem, blowing off its left arm, which seemed to bother it not at all. The golem stooped, picked up its severed left arm with its right hand, and tossed it at the Elysian, scoring a hit and sending him tumbling head over heels through the air.\n\tSupersonic Squirrel felt the wind blowing across his face, and his eyes blinked open to see the street rushing up to greet him. He reacted automatically, following the age-old instinct of his species, spreading his arms and legs wide so the loose flaps of skin between them would catch the air and slow his fall. That ancient reflex saved his life, giving him time to summon a gust of wind to lift himself upward before he hit the pavement. Taking a moment to orient himself, he spotted the ionic adept carrying Dorgok back toward Yareen, and barrelled after them.\n\t\"It's pulling me in!\" Katrina cried, her feet skidding along the wet surface of the parking lot as the dark vortex drew her closer. Samtiss seized her wrist with one clawed hand and tried to fly in the opposite direction, but had no better luck resisting the tug of the vortex than Katrina had.\n\t\"Look upon the face of primal chaos, you fools!\" crowed Yareen, her snouted face split in a serpentine grin. \"Welcome to oblivion!\" Samtiss and Katrina both felt cold terror grip their hearts as the swirling darkness grew larger before them.\n\tAt that moment, Celestial Boy flew past them, headed directly toward the vortex. Before their minds could process what the Elysian was doing, the remaining golem pounded past them as well, pursuing him. At the last moment, Celestial Boy veered aside, skirting the vortex, while the golem, its inertia too great for it to stop, plowed straight in. Its massive stone body dissolved into nothingness as the chaos ate it, the forces that held its molecules together no longer having any meaning. Choked by the golem's bulk, the vortex winked out, and the backlash sent Yareen flying.\n\tYareen got to her feet, shaking her head to clear it, and growled at the trio standing defiantly before her—a human, a Lemurian, and an Elysian. \"You have not won yet, heroes. Not while I—\" \n\tShe never finished her sentence, as a gray streak slammed into her from behind, knocking her down. She looked up blearily to see the small furry form of Supersonic Squirrel standing over her, hands on hips, his buck teeth gleaming as he smiled down at her, his rain-streaked goggles covering his eyes.\n\t\"Now we have!\" said Katrina, grinning triumphantly.\n\t\"Stupid . . . mammals,\" muttered Yareen the Defiler, as she slumped face-first into a puddle and lapsed into unconsciousness.\n\tSupersonic turned to the ionic adept, who was floating a short distance away, holding the limp form of Dorgok in his arms. \"Put the boy down and go,\" the squirrel ordered him. The Lemurian needed no further urging. He laid Dorgok on the ground and flew off as fast as he could.\n\tKatrina ran to Supersonic and threw her arms around the squirrel, hugging him and kissing his muzzle, and Supersonic responded in kind, smiling up at her. \"I'm glad you're okay,\" he said.\n\t\"You and me both!\" said Katrina, grinning. \"I was wor—wondering what had happened to you!\"\n\t\"Well, that appears to be that,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We should depart as quickly as possible, before we do any damage to the time stream.\"\n\t\"Um, yeah,\" said Katrina, \"about that . . .\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Celestial Boy, looking puzzled.\n\tShe turned her gaze to Samtiss, noting the recall device on his wrist. \"I don't know how to tell you this, Sam, but you're dead.\"\n\tSamtiss blinked his golden eyes. \"Dead?\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"We found the body of your past self a couple blocks from here. We think Dorgok killed him.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Samtiss, his tongue flickering. For a moment, no one spoke.\n\t\"So, what happens now?\" asked Katrina. \"I mean, he's dead in the past. Shouldn't his future self, like, fade away or something?\"\n\t\"Apparently,\" said Celestial Boy, \"it does not work like that. And yet, we must assume that changing the past changes the future. That is, after all, why we came here.\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Samtiss, \"then my absence in the past could have a significant effect on the future.\"\n\t\"How do you mean?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"I teamed up with Nightmunk when he was investigating the events that led to the discovery of the plot to free the Kings of Edom from their prisons. If I had not been there, I doubt he would have survived to tell anyone what he had learned, and the plot might well have succeeded.\"\n\t\"So your presence in the past is essential to thwarting the plot,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"But we know the plot fails!\" said Katrina. \"We're all from a time after that!\"\n\t\"True,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but since the death of Samtiss's past self has not eradicated his future self, there is no reason to assume that changing the future would affect us while we are in the past. If it did, the result would be a logically impossible paradox.\"\n\t\"I don't follow you,\" said Supersonic, looking confused.\n\t\"It's the Grandfather Paradox,\" Katrina explained. \"I saw this in a movie once. A man goes back in time and kills his own grandfather. That means he was never born. But if he was never born, he can't go back in time to kill him, so his grandfather must still be alive. But if his grandfather is alive, then he can go back in time and kill him, so his grandfather must be dead. And so on.\"\n\t\"In fact,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that principle would apply to any aspect of time travel, since going back in time to either change the past or prevent it from being changed negates your reason for going there, so you would not have gone back in the first place.\"\n\t\"Ugh!\" said Supersonic. \"You could go nuts thinking about this stuff!\"\n\t\"It just means that from where we are now, the future is in a state of flux,\" said Katrina. \"But if we go back, what kind of future would we be returning to?\"\n\t\"Possibly one in which the plot succeeds,\" said Celestial Boy, \"if Samtiss is not there to help stop it.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Samtiss, \"I must stay here.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Unquestionably.\"\n\t\"And live through the events of the next year all over again, as if you were your past self?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"There would seem to be no alternative,\" Samtiss replied.\n\t\"But what happens when you get to the point when you go into the past with us?\" asked Katrina. \"Wouldn't you be trapped in an infinite loop, reliving the same year over and over forever? That would be like being in hell!\"\n\tSamtiss shrugged. \"If that is what must be done.\"\n\tKatrina just stared at the Lemurian, unable to believe he'd be willing to make such a sacrifice.\n\t\"That's what being a hero is about, Katrina,\" said Supersonic, squeezing her hand. \"It's not about having superpowers. It's about being willing to make the tough choices—even lay down your life, if necessary.\"\n\tCelestial Boy walked over to the still unconscious Dorgok, picked him up, and brought him back to the others as rivulets of water trickled down the boy's blue-scaled body. \"The rain is getting heavier,\" he observed. \"We should be going. Goodbye, Samtiss. You are a credit to all Lemurians.\"\n\t\"Goodbye, Celestial Boy,\" Samtiss replied. \"Please look after my son.\"\n\t\"That is very magnanimous of you,\" said Celestial Boy, \"considering he is the cause of all this.\"\n\t\"It is not his fault,\" said Samtiss. \"He was only trying to save his mother. The child has yet to be born who would not move heaven and earth to do that.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded and touched his recall device, and he and Dorgok winked out of existence.\n\t\"Come on, Katrina,\" said Supersonic. \"Let's go.\"\n\tShe whirled on him and shook him by his shoulders. \"We can't do this! We can't condemn him to this existence!\"\n\t\"It's his choice,\" said Supersonic, swallowing. \"And there's no other way to make sure things work out like they're supposed to.\" He turned to the Lemurian. \"Goodbye, Samtiss. It was an honor to meet you.\" And he, too, winked out.\n\tKatrina stood facing Samtiss in the pouring rain, gazing at the lizard man as water flowed down his scaly brown body. She bit her lip, blinking water from her eyes. \"I'm sorry,\" she said.\n\tAnd then he was alone.\n\n\tKatrina stepped out of the glowing portal at the center of the time machine and descended the ramp to the floor. Supersonic Squirrel was standing at the base of the ramp, looking up at her, his big eyes filled with sorrow. Nearby, Celestial Boy was talking to Juryrig, and Dorgok was lying unconscious at their feet. Katrina knelt down before Supersonic and put her arms around him, resting her head on his damp, furry shoulder. Supersonic stroked her white hair gently and patted her on the back.\n\tAnd then, Samtiss stepped out of the machine.\n\t\"Well, that was interesting,\" the Lemurian said, his tongue flicking.\n\t\"Samtiss?\" gasped Supersonic, as he and Katrina stared up at him. \"What are you doing back here? Did you change your mind?\"\n\tThe Lemurian shook his head. \"No, I simply found a very literal loophole.\"\n\t\"What kind of loophole?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tSamtiss descended the ramp to join them. \"After we went through the machine for the second time—\"\n\t\"The second time?\" Supersonic interrupted. \"But we only went back once!\"\n\t\"Not from my perspective,\" said Samtiss. \"From my perspective, we went back twice. To continue, after we went back the second time, I realized that all I had to do to break the loop was to prevent Dorgok from killing my past self. When we all became separated, I went to my past self and got him to safety, then rejoined Celestial Boy. After that, events played out more or less as they had before, save that it was no longer necessary for me to remain in the past, so I returned to the present with you.\"\n\t\"So you lived through the past year all over again?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"As I said, it was very interesting, knowing everything that was going to happen before it did. Rather like being in a play. I can understand now why actors grow weary of doing the same thing night after night, though. Doing it once was fun, but I would not want to go through it all again.\"\n\t\"Most plays don't last a whole year,\" said Katrina, smiling. \"It's good to have you back, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"It is good to be back,\" said Samtiss, \"and to once again not know what the future holds.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"As it should be. And now, since time has resumed its normal shape . . .\" He raised his arm, aiming it at the time machine, and his hand began to glow with silvery light that grew steadily brighter.\n\t\"Wait!\" protested Juryrig. \"What are you doing?\"\n\t\"None of this would have been necessary if you had not built that cursed thing in the first place,\" said Celestial Boy, his hand blindingly bright now. \"I will never understand why you humans insist on meddling with forces beyond your control.\"\n\tSupersonic interposed himself between Celestial Boy and the machine. \"You have no right to do this!\"\n\t\"I have every right,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was sent here to protect humanity from cosmic threats. I think this machine qualifies.\"\t\n\t\"Would you have stopped Chuck Yeager from breaking the sound barrier?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"Breaking the sound barrier and breaking the time barrier are two very different things,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Now, please stand aside, Supersonic.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"That's not gonna happen!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned, then appeared to become distracted by something. The glow around his hand faded and he lowered it. \"As you wish,\" he said, sighing.\n\t\"Glad you changed your mind,\" said Supersonic, grinning. \"I don't like having to fight my friends.\"\n\t\"I did not change my mind,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was given countermanding orders.\"\n\tSupersonic raised an eyebrow. \"By who?\"\n\t\"I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal that,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"And please do not try to read my mind, Katrina. It will avail you nothing.\"\n\t\"I wasn't gonna, honest,\" said Katrina, innocently.\n\t\"Well,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we appear to be done here.\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and his armor was gone, replaced by his usual purple-and-red skintight costume. He turned to Juryrig. \"I believe you mentioned something about pizza?\"\n\t\n\tJuryrig's workshop was the scene of a modest celebration. Three large pizzas lay atop a rickety card table—one with pepperoni and sausage, one with anchovies, and one with ham and pineapple. Each had several slices missing. Juryrig, Celestial Boy, and Samtiss were standing by the table, each consuming a slice, and Supersonic and Katrina were sitting together by the control console doing the same. Dorgok sat by himself off to one side, glaring at the others. The time machine was silent, having been shut down so its noise would not drown out the music coming from an old Wurlitzer juke box, which was presently playing Jerry Lee Lewis's \"Great Balls of Fire.\"\n\t\"What do you think?\" Celestial Boy asked Samtiss, watching the Lemurian sample a slice of anchovy pizza.\n\t\"I like the fish,\" Samtiss said. \"It is a shame they combine it with fermented cow's milk and crushed vegetable matter.\"\n\t\"Next time, ah'll order sushi,\" said Juryrig.\n\t\"What are you going to do with him?\" asked Celestial Boy, nodding toward Dorgok.\n\t\"I do not know,\" said Samtiss, gazing at his son. \"He clearly despises me, yet I am all he has. I thought I could rehabilitate him. Now, I am not so sure. Perhaps there is too much of his mother in him.\"\n\t\"He also has you in him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I think it is too early to give up on him just yet.\"\n\t\"But I have no idea what to do,\" said Samtiss, shrugging helplessly. \"I have no experience at being a father.\"\n\t\"Nobody is ever prepared to be a father,\" said Juryrig. \"It's strictly learn-as-you-go.\"\n\t\"He may need more than you alone can give, though,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Samtiss.\n\t\"Perhaps he would benefit from being around others his own age, at least emotionally, if not chronologically. The Millennium Guard is a group of young heroes. We are used to dealing with unusual things. We could keep an eye on him for you, and try to set an example for him to follow.\"\n\t\"You would take him into your group?\" asked Samtiss, astonished.\n\t\"As a probationary member,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"He would not be of much use to you in his current de-powered state,\" observed Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"We could ask Dr. Ka to restore his powers, with the understanding that he will lose them if he misuses them.\"\n\t\"That sounds awful risky,\" said Juryrig doubtfully.\n\t\"I agree that there is danger,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but the alternative is to simply lock him away, which would only feed his hatred. That would be a waste.\"\n\t\"The idea has merit,\" said Samtiss. \"I believe it is worth a try.\"\n\tBy the console, Supersonic grimaced as he watched Katrina eat her slice of pizza. \"Pineapple on pizza?\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Pineapple pizza is the best pizza.\"\n\t\"I don't know about that,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"You put pineapple slices on baked ham, right? That's traditional.\"\n\t\"Yeah, I guess so . . .\"\n\t\"How is this any different?\"\n\tSupersonic decided to change the subject. \"You handled yourself really well back there.\"\n\tKatrina laughed. \"I was scared to death the whole time!\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"So? You think I don't get scared sometimes? It's normal to be afraid.\"\n\t\"You hide it well,\" she said. \"I think you're the bravest person I've ever met.\"\n\tSupersonic squirmed. Praise always made him feel uncomfortable. \"Thanks,\" he said. \"That's very nice of you to say.\"\n\tShe smiled. \"See? I can be nice sometimes.\"\n\t\"You know, the Millennium Guard could really use someone with powers like yours.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"You want to me to join your group?\"\n\t\"Well, you said you wanted to turn over a new leaf. Here's your chance!\"\n\tShe chuckled and shook her head. \"Nah, I'm not much of a joiner. But if you'd like to hang out together when we get back to Millennium City, that'd be okay.\"\n\tHe smiled and nodded. \"I'd like that.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Wanna make out?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\t\"You know, kiss. Smooch. Snog. Suck face.\"\n\tSupersonic bit his lip. \"Do you think it would be right? I mean, you're human and I'm a squirrel!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I don't care about that if you don't.\"\n\tSupersonic gazed at her, remembering that she was a girl of another time, where the social conventions he'd grown up with no longer applied. Then he leaned forward and pressed his muzzle to her lips, kissing them gently. She wrapped her arms around him, and he around her, and they squeezed each other as their mouths moved together.\n\t\"Supersonic?\" came Celestial Boy's voice from behind him. \n\tThe squirrel's eyes snapped open, and he broke the kiss and turned his head to look at the Elysian youth. \"Yes?\"\n\t\"A word, please?\"\n\tSupersonic let go of Katrina and hopped down off his chair, walking over to Celestial Boy. \"What do you want?\" he asked, sounding a trifle annoyed.\n\t\"What do you think you are doing?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I think I was kissing Katrina,\" Supersonic replied, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.\n\t\"You know she is a criminal.\"\n\t\"Weren't we trying to help her go straight?\"\n\t\"And you think this is the best way to accomplish that?\"\n\t\"Maybe. What business is it of yours, anyway?\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"Supersonic, you have a good heart, but you are rather naive in the ways of the world.\"\n\tThe squirrel threw up his hands. \"You think I don't know that? Look, if I'm gonna live in the real world, I have to learn more about it. She can take me places I've never been before!\"\n\t\"Let us hope they have penicillin there.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at him. \"You know what you are, Castor?\"\n\t\"Pray, tell.\"\n\t\"You're a snob!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"I assure you, I have taken pains not to be, despite considerable temptation to the contrary.\"\n\tSupersonic threw up his hands. \"There, you see? You just as much as said you think you're better than the rest of us!\"\n\t\"Admittedly, there are times when the denizens of this world try even my patience,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, we won't try it any further, then.\" Supersonic walked back over to Katrina. \"Come on, let's go.\"\n\t\"Go where?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"This town is full of jazz clubs. Let's hit some.\"\n\tKatrina chuckled. \"Just like that, huh?\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Just like that.\"\n\t\"Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.\" She stood up and addressed the others. \"If we're not back by tomorrow, call the La Cucharacha Hotel in Tijuana, room 306.\" And with that, she and Supersonic left the room.\n\tCelestial Boy watched them go, then turned and walked over to Dorgok. The Lemurian boy looked up at him sullenly. \"What do you want?\" he growled.\n\t\"I thought perhaps you might like to join us for some pizza,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I do not want any of your human food!\" snarled Dorgok.\n\t\"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"But we shall save you some in any case.\"\n\tDorgok looked at him, puzzled, as Celestial Boy went back to the table and helped himself to another slice.\n\t"
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.description.json · embedded sidecar fallback Download
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"description": "Occurring immediately after the events of The Manimal Chronicles #8: The Exile, Supersonic Squirrel is charged with the seemingly simple task of capturing the escaped Lemurian boy, Dorgok. But in Millennium City, things are rarely simple. The heroic flying squirrel's search leads him to an encounter with a larcenous girl telepath pursued by the nefarious corporation ARGENT, and from there, on an adventure across time and space itself!"
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.writing.json · embedded sidecar fallback Download
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"writing": "[center]Rainy Day Women[/center]\n\n[center]a story set in the universe of Champions Online[/center]\n\n\t\"Holy cow, I'm bored!\" Supersonic Squirrel declared to nobody as he sat slumped in a chair facing the large monitor in Millennium Guard headquarters, upon which information on the status of Millennium City as well as other locations in the world continuously flashed. Right now there was nothing major going on, nothing the Millennium City police couldn't handle. It was selfish and wrong to wish for something bad to happen, he reflected. After all, innocent people could be hurt. All the same, the inactivity grated on him. What was the point in being a hero if there was nothing heroic to do?\n\tThe gray-furred squirrel sighed, glanced out the rain-streaked window at the dark gray sky, picked up a cup of coffee from the console, and sipped it while pulling his knees up against his chest, his huge fluffy question mark of a tail pressed against the back of the chair behind him. He was a rather comical-looking creature, three feet tall and stockily built, with enormous round eyes and buck teeth. His sole articles of clothing were an old-style leather flying helmet and aviator goggles, the latter of which were pushed up onto his forehead. He had never felt the need to wear anything more than this, and in the few weeks since an errant wish had brought him to life, nobody had pressed the issue of his lack of apparel.\n\t\"Monitor duty is a chore we all must attend to,\" came a youthful but strangely echoing voice from behind him. \"I find doing sums helps pass the time.\"\n\tThe squirrel rotated his chair toward the source. The speaker appeared to be a black-haired human youth in his mid-teens and was wearing a skintight bodysuit, trunks, belt, and boots that were all red and purple, separated by white lines. However, two things suggested that the lad was more than he seemed. One was his eyes, which were solid gold without pupils or irises and glowed with an inner light. The other was that voice. His name was Castor, but most people knew him as Celestial Boy. \"Is that what they do for fun in Elysium?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It is one thing. We also play games.\"\n\t\"You mean like checkers?\"\n\tThe youth chuckled. \"I am afraid checkers is a bit simplistic for our tastes.\"\n\t\"I'll bet,\" said the squirrel, frowning. Though Celestial Boy never acted haughty, there was something in his demeanor that always made Supersonic feel the Elysian youth was looking down on him. Being a simple squirrel of humble origins, he disliked people who thought they were better than everyone else.\n\t\"If you enjoy checkers, you could always play it with the computer to occupy yourself,\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Yeah, I know,\" said Supersonic, \"but I wouldn't want to shirk my duty.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled and nodded. \"Admirable. Can I get you anything?\"\n\tSupersonic sighed again. \"No, I'm fine.\"\n\tThe dark-haired youth cocked his head. \"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"No. I guess I'm just feeling a little homesick, is all.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Understandable. You are in a different time, deprived of the friends and family you had in your cartoon world, having to adjust to being a living creature, with all that that entails. It must be very difficult for you.\"\n\t\"I guess we're kind of in the same boat,\" said Supersonic, \"you coming down to Earth from Elysium and all. Only you can always go home, and I can't. My home doesn't really exist.\"\n\t\"On Earth, they say home is where the heart is,\" said Celestial Boy. \"There is wisdom in these words.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Do you like it here?\"\n\tCelestial Boy paused a moment before answering. \"It is very different from Elysium, but also very interesting. I find myself constantly being surprised and learning new things.\"\n\t\"So it's like one long field trip to you,\" said Supersonic, smirking.\n\t\"That is one way of looking at it, I suppose. But I take my responsibilities as a member of the Millennium Guard very seriously. My kind live to serve and protect. That is what I was sent here for.\"\n\tSupersonic looked at him curiously. \"Sent by who?\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"A higher power.\"\n\tSupersonic was about to press further but was distracted by a pop-up message on the monitor. He turned his chair toward it while Celestial Boy came over to join him. The text on the screen read: \"Nightmunk: A young Lemurian named Dorgok escaped from my apartment in Westside earlier today. He has no powers and is missing his right hand. I'd track him down myself but I'm a little busy right now. If you could look for him, I'd really appreciate it. His father is a friend of mine and is worried about him.\"\n\t\"Nightmunk,\" said Supersonic. \"He's that chipmunk manimal who works with Nighthawk, isn't he?\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And the Lemurians are a race of reptilian humanoids who invaded Millennium City last year. The populace is understandably less than fond of them.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I suppose we better find him, then, before he hurts someone, or someone hurts him.\"\n\t\"That is what we do.\"\n\t\"Should we bring in the rest of the team?\"\n\t\"No powers and missing a hand? I think we can handle this ourselves.\"\n\tTogether, the squirrel and the Elysian went out onto the rain-slick balcony and flew off toward Westside.\n\n\tKatrina Werner slipped into a garbage-strewn alley between two abandoned buildings, pulling her raincoat more tightly around her slim body as the rain continued to soak her white-haired head and her brown face. Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed, she crouched down and squeezed through a basement window without glass. She moved along a dark, musty corridor with bare concrete walls, rats scampering out of her way, and stopped suddenly. The makeshift wooden door that normally covered the entrance to her hideout was open. She hadn't left it that way.\n\tShe concentrated, forehead pulsing as she extended her mental awareness outward. Yes, there was definitely someone in the room beyond. Most likely it was one of the Black Aces, the street gang that controlled this part of Westside. She frowned and drew a switchblade from a pocket of her raincoat, flicking it open. She probably wouldn't need it, but it was always good to be prepared. Slowly, she began moving toward the open doorway.\n\tAs she drew nearer, she could hear someone shuffling around inside. Taking a deep breath, she charged into the room, the knife held out before her. Then she gasped, and her ice-blue eyes widened when she saw what was inside.\n\tThe intruder was shaped like a human being, but its head was that of a lizard and its body was covered with blue scales. Webbed fins protruded from its wrists, its calves, and the top of its head. Its size and build were equivalent to that of a human youth perhaps ten years of age. It wore only a loincloth, made of some shimmering white fabric, and an ornate silver necklace whose pendant, which seemed to be a large ruby, rested on its chest, which was white and resembled belly of a snake. It whirled about as she entered, and stared at her with golden, catlike eyes.\n\t\"Who the hell are you?\" Katrina demanded, the point of her blade aimed directly at the creature's heart, or at least where the heart would be if it were human.\n\t\"I am Dorgok,\" the creature replied in a high, raspy voice, like a child with a sore throat. She now noticed that his right hand was missing, the stump wrapped in blood-soaked rags. In his remaining hand he held a wad of cheese puffs from an open bag on the rickety wooden table beside him.\n\t\"You're a Lemurian, aren't you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I am,\" Dorgok replied.\n\t\"What are you doing here?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"I needed somewhere to hide, and this seemed as good a place as any.\"\n\t\"Well, this is my home, and I don't like to share.\"\n\t\"This?\" Dorgok asked, sounding surprised. \"This hovel is your home?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"It's not the Ritz, but it'll do. Now beat it.\"\n\tThe Lemurian looked puzzled. \"Beat what?\"\n\t\"Scram. Get lost. I don't want you here.\"\n\tDorgok stuffed the cheese puffs into his mouth and swallowed them. \"Perhaps I could give you something in exchange for you letting me stay.\" His clawed finger tapped the ruby in his necklace. \"This has value here, does it not?\"\n\tKatrina gazed at the blood-red gem. Damn, it was big! Her eyes returned to the Lemurian's. \"How do I know I can trust you?\"\n\t\"I give you my word I will not harm you,\" Dorgok said. \"In any case, I would be at a disadvantage in a fight.\" He held up his stump to emphasize.\n\tKatrina thought for a moment. \"All right,\" she said, finally. \"Take the necklace off and put it on the table.\" He did so, and she darted forward and snatched it up, stuffing it in her coat pocket. \"How did you lose your hand?\" she asked.\n\t\"I bit it off.\"\n\tHer eyes went wide. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"It was necessary in order to escape from captivity. It is merely an inconvenience.\"\n\t\"Inconvenience? You lost your hand!\"\n\tDorgok shrugged. \"It will grow back in a month or so.\"\n\t\"You can do that?\" Katrina asked, amazed.\n\tHe tilted his head. \"You mean you humans cannot regrow lost limbs?\"\n\t\"No, we can't.\"\n\tDorgok gave a hissing laugh. \"Truly, you are an inferior species!\"\n\tKatrina folded her arms. \"Yeah, well, we still sent you lizards packing when you invaded our city!\"\n\tThe Lemurian flicked his black forked tongue. Then he went over to the mattress Katrina used for a bed and sat down on it, his unblinking eyes staring at the blank concrete wall. Katrina watched him for a moment, then folded her switchblade and put it back in the pocket of her raincoat. \"Are you hungry?\" she asked.\n\t\"Yes,\" said Dorgok. \"Those orange things are all air. How can you humans subsist on such food?\"\n\t\"They're only meant to be snacks,\" said Katrina. She went to a cardboard box on the floor and removed a can of tuna, setting it on the table and opening it with a manual can opener. Dorgok rose, flicking his tongue, and came over to her.\n\t\"That is fish!\" he said excitedly.\n\tShe nodded. \"[i]Bon appetit[/i].\"\n\tHe looked at her, puzzled, then picked up the can and held it over his open mouth, shaking it until the contents fell in. He swallowed them in one gulp and put the empty can back on the table.\n\t\"So much for Lemurian table manners,\" Katrina remarked. \"So, how did you come to be in Millennium City anyway, and who was holding you captive?\"\n\t\"My traitorous father Samtiss kidnapped me and brought me to the dwelling of the manimal called Nightmunk, where I was chained up but managed to escape.\"\n\t\"Are they gonna come looking for you?\" Katrina asked.\n\t\"Probably, if they succeed in their mission to save the multiverse. If not, then it will not matter, since everything will be destroyed.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" said Katrina. \"I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea of Nightmunk showing up on my doorstep.\"\n\t\"I thought everyone in this city loved heroes,\" said Dorgok.\n\t\"Not everyone,\" said Katrina. \"Some of us prefer to avoid run-ins with the law.\"\n\t\"You are a criminal, then?\"\n\t\"I like to think of myself as living outside the system.\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"That would explain why you dwell in such squalor.\"\n\tKatrina was about to reply when a metal fist erupted through the ceiling with a crash, sending splinters and paint chips showering down onto them, and a harsh, electronically distorted voice said, \"Target identified. Commencing retrieval of stolen property.\"\n\t\"Crap!\" said Katrina. \"Party's over! Let's boogie!\"\n\t\"What does 'boogie' mean?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tThe ceiling caved in and a hulking figure fell into the room in a cloud of dust. It was seven feet tall and clearly mostly robotic, but there was a bald human head on top, the eyes covered by glowing green goggles. The left forearm was absurdly massive, while the right was a huge cannon of some type. Its metal body was painted white and green.\n\t\"Run!\" shouted Katrina, fleeing the small chamber as the creature raised its cannon arm and fired. A bolt of searing hot plasma blew a hole in the wall as she ducked out the door. Dorgok ran after her.\n\tThey dashed up a flight of stairs, down a hall, across an empty room, out the front door of the abandoned building, and into the rain. Then they paused as Katrina looked up and down the empty street. Picking a direction, she sprinted off, Dorgok following. They ran through several alleys, feet splashing in puddles, and then hid in the doorway of another abandoned building.\n\t\"What was that thing?\" asked Dorgok, his scaly chest heaving.\n\t\"ARGENT cyborg,\" said Katrina, peering around the edge of the alcove. \"Very bad news.\"\n\t\"You stole something from it?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Let's say I creatively acquired something,\" Katrina replied.\n\t\"Maybe if you gave back what you stole, it would leave you alone,\" Dorgok suggested.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"Not likely. ARGENT likes to make an example of people who steal from them. They're funny that way.\"\n\t\"That makes sense,\" said Dorgok. \"What is ARGENT?\"\n\t\"Multinational megacorp, specializing in weaponry.\" She glanced back at Dorgok. \"They probably wouldn't mind getting their hands on you, too.\"\n\t\"Me?\" asked Dorgok. \"What would they want me for?\"\n\t\"To examine you, see if there's anything they can use. You can regrow limbs. They'd probably like to figure out how.\" She peered around the edge of the alcove again. The cyborg was trudging down the street toward them, its green goggles glowing through the sheets of rain. \"God damn it!\"\n\t\"It is coming?\" asked Dorgok.\n\tShe nodded. \"Okay, here's the plan. I'll try to stun it, then we both run like hell in opposite directions. It can only follow one of us.\"\n\t\"How are you going to do that?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"Overload its mind with psychic energy. It's a little talent I have.\"\n\t\"Oh, you are a telepath, like the Elder Worms. You must have some of the DNA they implanted into primitive humans ages ago.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"What the hell are you talking about? Never mind. Ready?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"Ready to boogie.\"\n\tAs the cyborg drew near, Katrina jumped out of the doorway in front of it, and a stream of magenta-colored energy burst from her forehead and struck the forehead of the cyborg. It reeled, stumbling backward, its arms flailing. Katrina tried to duck past it, but it swung its cannon like a club and struck the side of her head, knocking her down. Dorgok bolted from the doorway and began to run in the opposite direction from the cyborg. Then he stopped. There was another one in the street ahead of him. He swallowed as it raised its arm cannon, aiming it at him.\n\t\"Hold it right there!\" a voice declared from above. Dorgok and Katrina looked up to see a small, gray-furred creature hovering in the air overhead. Its fur was soaked through, plastered against its body, its tail hanging behind it like a wet flag. A sheet of furred skin stretched from each arm to each leg, giving the creature a kitelike appearance and making the wearing of conventional clothing impossible.\n\t\"Subject identified as Supersonic Squirrel,\" the cyborg droned. \"Do not interfere. This is official ARGENT business.\"\n\tThe squirrel landed in front of Dorgok, interposing himself between the Lemurian and the cyborg. \"What kind of business?\" he demanded.\n\tThe cyborg lowered its cannon and raised its robotic left hand, pointing at Katrina. \"That woman is in possession of stolen ARGENT property.\"\n\t\"Even if she is, that doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands. If you want to charge her with theft, then as a registered hero I have the authority to place her under arrest. I'll hand her over to the police and your property will be returned to you after her trial. Okay?\"\n\tThe cyborg seemed to consider the squirrel's proposition for a moment. Then it raised its cannon again. \"Executing primary directive: Retrieve stolen property at all costs.\"\n\tSupersonic erected a wind barrier in front of himself as the cyborg fired, and the plasma bolt was deflected harmlessly off it. The squirrel then rose off the ground, his arms spread wide, as he drew the air around him into an incredibly compressed bubble. Throwing his arms and legs forward, he hurled the bubble at the cyborg, knocking it off its feet and sending it sailing backward. Then he whirled toward the other one, clenching his teeth as he built up another sphere of wind between his small gray hands. \n\tThe other cyborg already had its cannon leveled at him. \"Terminating hero to facilitate completion of objective,\" the cyborg droned passionlessly. Before it could fire, however, a bolt of silvery light struck it from behind, and it screeched and collapsed face down in the street.\n\t\"It looked as if you could use some help,\" said Celestial Boy, floating toward the group with unearthly energy crackling around him.\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Thanks for the save.\" He glanced at Dorgok, who was starting to edge away. \"Don't even think about it!\" Then he turned toward Katrina. \"Is what they said true? Did you steal something from them?\"\n\t\"Maaaaaybeeeeee,\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tThe squirrel growled at her. \"You'd better be straight with us!\"\n\tKatrina leaned over and tickled him under his chin. \"I'm never straight, sweetie. I'm as crooked as a three-dollar bill. And I know my rights. I don't have to tell you anything.\"\n\t\"Perhaps not,\" said Celestial Boy, landing on the street before her, \"but you have been accused of theft by representatives of ARGENT. That is sufficient cause for us to place you under arrest.\"\n\t\"You mean the creeps who just tried to kill your friend?\"\n\t\"Their actions were illegal and they will be held accountable for them, but that does not negate the accusation of theft against you. It is our duty to hand you all over to the proper authorities.\"\n\tKatrina frowned, then reached into the pocket of her raincoat and fished out a small irregularly shaped object that looked like several things glued together, one of which appeared to be an ordinary cell phone. \"Fine. This is what they were after.\"\n\t\"Looks like a piece of junk,\" Supersonic commented.\n\tCelestial Boy eyed the object skeptically, then looked at Katrina. \"Are you sure you are not . . . pulling my leg?\"\n\tKatrina saluted. \"Scout's honor!\"\n\t\"What is it?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"A cosmic eggbeater,\" Katrina replied.\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Really?\"\n\tShe rolled her eyes. \"No! Jeez, you are so gullible! I don't know what it is. It sure is ugly, though, innit?\"\n\t\"How did you obtain it?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"And please, make your response purely factual.\"\n\tShe sighed. \"So straight, like a young Joe Friday. I was hanging out in Sherrera's and I picked up a stray thought from a guy who worked at ARGENT.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"He said to be serious!\"\n\t\"I'm being completely serious! I can read minds. That isn't a crime, is it?\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but it is rather impolite.\"\n\tShe smirked. \"I can't help it if people think too loud. Anyway, he was part of their advanced projects division, and he was thinking they had something really big cooking and that he could make a bundle if he lifted a certain part they were working on and sold it to someone. The problem was that he was one of the few people with access to it, which would place him on a very short list of possible suspects.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"So you decided to steal it yourself.\"\n\t\"Well, it was easy enough to lift his security card and to get the passcode from his mind. I could just walk in, grab it, and walk right out. Like taking candy from a fish in a barrel.\"\n\tCelestial Boy smiled. \"And I imagine the closed-circuit television cameras recorded your image as you came and went, enabling ARGENT to identify you as the thief and track you here.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I didn't say it was a perfect plan.\"\n\t\"Couldn't you read in his mind what the thing was for?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"He didn't know. Apparently, his superiors were treating him like a mushroom.\"\n\tSupersonic stared at her. \"A mushroom?\"\n\t\"Yeah, you know, kept in the dark and fed nothing but bullshit.\"\n\tThe squirrel scowled and folded his arms. \"Yeah, well, it'll be plenty dark where you're going.\"\n\t\"One moment,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have had run-ins with ARGENT before. They have a, shall we say, unsavory reputation. And while stealing from criminals is still a crime, I see no harm in finding out what this object is before returning it to them.\"\n\t\"Well,\" said Supersonic doubtfully, \"I guess that's all right.\"\n\t\"Good,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I know just the person to talk to.\"\n\t\"In the meantime, let's get these . . . hey!\" The squirrel spun around as the two ARGENT cyborgs suddenly faded out of existence.\n\t\"Interesting,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Cancel the cleanup in aisle six,\" commented Katrina.\n\t\"What happened to them?\" asked Supersonic, baffled. \"Where did they go?\"\n\t\"Wherever ARGENT recalled them to, I imagine,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I did not know that they possessed teleportation technology.\"\n\tSupersonic growled and then looked up at Katrina and Dorgok. \"Well, at least these two aren't getting away.\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I think it would be best if we kept them in our custody for the moment, until we have a clearer idea of what is going on. Oh, and by the way.\" He pointed a finger at Dorgok, and a beam of silvery light flowed from his finger into the Lemurian boy's stump. Dorgok unwrapped the bloody rag covering it. The end had healed over.\n\t\"Nifty!\" said Katrina. \"Do you think we could stop along the way and get some piercings done?\"\n\t\"Perhaps another time,\" said Celestial Boy, smiling.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Supersonic, smirking, \"the last thing you need is another hole in your head.\"\n\tKatrina put her hand over her heart melodramatically. \"Oh, save me from such a rapier wit!\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Let us get out of this rain.\"\n\tCelestial Boy picked up Dorgok and Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they flew off into the angry gray sky as Katrina began an off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\n\tHarmon Industries was one of the world's most powerful corporations, specializing in advanced technology. In a laboratory at its headquarters in downtown Millennium City, one of their top men examined the device Katrina had stolen from ARGENT while Celestial Boy looked on and Katrina, Dorgok, and Supersonic Squirrel warmed their wet, chilled bodies with hot coffee. In this case, though, the term \"top man\" was something of a misnomer, since he wasn't a man. He was a chimpanzee named Adam.\n\t\"Another manimal,\" growled Dorgok, glaring at the lab-coated chimp, who was standing on a stool and peering at the device through a stereoscope.\n\t\"You have something against manimals?\" asked Supersonic sharply.\n\t\"A manimal is responsible for this,\" said the Lemurian, holding up his stump.\n\t\"I thought you said you bit it off,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Only because he shackled me.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"You bit off your own hand?\"\n\t\"He says it'll grow back,\" said Katrina. \"Anyway, don't be too offended. I think you're cute.\" She smiled at Supersonic and blew him a kiss.\n\tSupersonic blushed beneath his fur. \"Thanks, but why would I be offended? I'm not a manimal.\"\n\t\"You're not?\" asked Katrina, looking surprised.\n\t\"No, I'm a cartoon character who got wished to life.\"\n\t\"Uh huh,\" Katrina said, dubiously.\n\t\"You don't recognize me?\"\n\tShe shook her head.\n\tHe sighed. \"I guess it was a bit before your time.\"\n\tShe took out her cell phone, did a quick Internet search, and her eyes widened with surprise at the image on the screen. \"Holy shit, you [i]do[/i] look like him!\" She grinned. \"So are you like Roger Rabbit? If I drop an anvil on your head, will you go flat and then bounce back?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled. \"My friends showed me that movie. No, I'm flesh and blood, just like you. Dropping an anvil on my head would cave my skull in.\"\n\tShe bent over and poked his furry chest. \"Hmm. You sure feel real enough.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"A two-dimensional character can't exist in a three-dimensional world, so the wish translated me into something that could.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Gotcha. So is Supersonic Squirrel, like, your code name, or nickname?\"\n\t\"No, it's my real name. I was born October 14th, 1947, the day Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X-1, so my parents named me Supersonic.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"Shouldn't you be, like, really old, then?\"\n\tHe shook his head. \"The wish brought me to life at the age I was when my show was cancelled, in 1964.\"\n\t\"Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense. You ever get laid?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Come on, a big TV star like you must have fooled around with some cute squirrel girls back in the '60s. You know, dropped some acid, smoked some weed. Or what did they call it back then . . . reefer, right?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and folded his arms. \"It was a family show! We didn't do things like that!\"\n\t\"Ever been kissed?\"\n\t\"Will you stop asking me personal questions? You're under arrest, you know!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I'm just curious. I've never met a TV star before. Now I'm imagining you in a hot tub with squirrel girls crawling all over you.\"\n\t\"SHUT UP!\" Supersonic shouted. Then he realized Adam and Celestial Boy were staring at him and looked away, embarrassed.\n\t\"Anyway,\" said Adam, turning to Celestial Boy, \"one thing I can say for sure: ARGENT didn't make this.\"\n\t\"Are you certain of that?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tAdam nodded. \"I'm familiar with their designs—they are one of our chief competitors, after all—and this is nothing like them.\"\n\t\"Perhaps they hired someone new?\" Celestial Boy suggested.\n\t\"Possibly, but ARGENT tends to be pretty conservative. This is just too weird for them. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do.\"\n\tSupersonic came over to them. \"So you can't tell us what it is or where it came from?\" He looked up at Celestial Boy, annoyed. \"This was a big waste of time!\"\n\t\"Not necessarily,\" said Adam. \"It definitely looks like part of some larger device. And I have seen something like it before, something made by an engineer . . . well, engineer might be too strong a word. He's more like an idiot savant. He slaps things together and somehow they work, even though they shouldn't.\"\n\t\"Who is this person?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"His name is Damon Armstrong, a.k.a., Juryrig.\"\n\t\"Ah, yes, I've heard of him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"He lives in Vibora Bay, Florida.\"\n\tAdam nodded. \"If you want to find out what this is, I'd suggest you talk to him.\"\n\t\"Do you have his number?\" asked Celestial Boy. \"We could take a picture of it and send it to him.\"\n\t\"No, I don't have his number. I'm not even sure he has one. He's rather eccentric, and when he's working on a project—which is always—he's in his own little world and doesn't pay attention to anything else. Your best bet might be to actually go down there yourselves.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to the others. \"Well, it looks as if a trip to Vibora Bay is in order.\"\n\t\"After we drop these two off with the police,\" said Supersonic, looking at Katrina and Dorgok with satisfaction.\n\t\"What?\" asked Katrina. \"I put you on the trail of some tech thieves, and this is the thanks I get?\"\n\tSupersonic rolled his eyes. \"Oh, give me a break!\" he said, folding his arms across his chest. \"Stealing is still a crime, no matter who you steal from.\"\n\t\"Tell that to Robin Hood,\" said Katrina haughtily.\n\t\"That's different! Anyway, you don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. You're just a common thief!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"With mental powers. But maybe I could be a hero, with the right role model.\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"Like who?\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"How about you?\"\n\tHe blinked. \"Me?\"\n\t\"Sure! You're a real straight arrow! I'm sure you could cure me of my wicked ways.\"\n\tSupersonic looked doubtful. \"Well, I don't know . . .\"\n\tShe crouched down to be face to face with him. \"Come on, Supersonic, show me how to be a real American hero.\"\n\tAdam stared at Supersonic and Celestial Boy. \"You're not actually buying this, are you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"It is possible her desire to reform is genuine.\"\n\t\"And it's also possible monkeys might fly out of my butt! She's just trying to avoid going to prison!\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we shall find out soon enough. It also occurs to me that ARGENT is still after her, so she might be safer with us than with the police.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Aw, you guys are so sweet!\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, still looking uncertain, \"but he's definitely going to jail!\" He pointed a furry finger at Dorgok.\n\t\"On what charge?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Supersonic. \"He's a Lemurian!\"\n\t\"That's not a crime,\" Katrina replied. \"They may have invaded the city once, but he wasn't here for that. He hasn't broken any laws. You've got nothing on him.\"\n\t\"As much as it pains me to admit it,\" said Celestial Boy, \"she is correct. Dorgok has committed no offense. However, he is a minor and he is in this country illegally. It is our duty to hand him over to the proper authorities.\"\n\t\"Oh, come on!\" said Katrina. \"What are Child Services and the INS gonna do with a Lemurian?\"\n\t\"That is for them to decide,\" Celestial Boy replied.\n\t\"He was kidnapped by his father, wrongfully imprisoned in Nightmunk's apartment, and forced to mutilate himself to escape,\" said Katrina. \"I'd say you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do.\"\n\tCelestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel looked at each other, then back at Katrina. \"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall bring him along, too.\"\n\t\"You sure that's a good idea?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"No, but it is an expedient one, and I wish to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. In any case, what harm can he do?\"\n\t\"Well, okay,\" said Supersonic, doubtfully.\n\tDorgok looked at Katrina, puzzled. \"Why are you helping me?\" he asked.\n\tShe grinned at the reptilian youth. \"Hey, we had a deal, right? You gave me a ruby so I'd help you out.\"\n\tDorgok nodded slowly, and decided to refrain from mentioning that he had intended to tear out her throat with his teeth at the first opportunity.\n\n\tBeing registered heroes, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel both had a good working relationship with UNTIL—the United Nations Tribunal on International Law, an organization that policed supercrime around the world. This gave them access to its various facilities and resources, including its jump jets—supersonic VTOLs that could swiftly transport heroes almost anywhere on the globe they were needed. Thus, less than an hour later, the heroes and their two companions were exiting a jump jet into the muggy, late-afternoon air of Vibora Bay, a sprawling, colorful city on the gulf coast of Florida.\n\tDorgok froze the moment his claw-toed feet touched the wooden planks of the waterfront pier upon which the jump jet had landed, and his black tongue flicked excitedly. \"There is much magic here!\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as they walked along the pier. \"This city has a rich magical tradition and has for centuries drawn practitioners of magic to it, both for good and for ill. The sorcerer Dr. Ka lives here, as does Robert Caliburn, Earth's archmage.\"\n\tDorgok growled. \"I know both of them. It was Dr. Ka who stripped me of my powers!\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him in surprise. \"Why did he do that?\"\n\t\"Because I am a Lemurian, and he did not want me using them for evil.\"\n\t\"Given what I know of your people,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that would seem to be a prudent measure.\"\n\tKatrina sneered. \"That's what I love about you heroes. You're all so freaking self-righteous!\"\n\t\"I thought you wanted to be one of us,\" said Supersonic, sounding disappointed.\n\t\"That doesn't mean I want to police the lives of everyone around me!\"\n\tSupersonic frowned. \"The public has to be protected!\"\n\t\"So that makes it okay to pre-emptively take away someone's abilities when they haven't done anything wrong?\"\n\t\"Perhaps,\" Celestial Boy replied, \"if they have demonstrated themselves to be a menace.\" He glanced at Dorgok. \"Had you done so?\"\n\tDorgok snarled. \"Robert Caliburn, Nightmunk and my father invaded my mother's fortress in the Qliphoth and attacked her servants! We had every right to defend ourselves!\"\n\t\"The Qliphoth is a dimension of evil and chaos,\" said Celestial Boy. \"What was she doing there?\"\n\t\"What does it matter? They murdered her!\"\n\tSupersonic Squirrel gasped. \"They killed your mother?\"\n\t\"Well, that sure sounds heroic!\" said Katrina, smirking.\n\t\"Bear in mind,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we are only hearing his side of the story. I suspect there is more to it than he is telling.\"\n\t\"But even if there is,\" protested Supersonic, \"heroes don't kill people! They save people!\"\n\t\"It would be best not to pass judgment until we have more facts,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"You guys always defend each other, don't you?\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned at her. \"I am not defending their actions. I am simply avoiding jumping to conclusions. Anyway, you are a telepath. The facts of the matter are yours for the taking if you want them.\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"I'm trying to cut down.\"\n\tSupersonic smiled up at her. \"Good! You shouldn't read people's minds without permission.\"\n\t\"See?\" said Katrina, smiling back at him. \"I can do the right thing sometimes.\"\n\t\"One good deed does not a hero make,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We shall have to wait and see how long this newfound morality endures.\"\n\t\"You're such a prig,\" said Katrina, and stuck her tongue out at him.\n\tThe quartet made their way past the shops on the waterfront, eliciting numerous stares and whispered comments from the many tourists buying souvenirs there. They walked past the majestic bulk of the [i]S.S. Bayou Queen[/i], the riverboat and floating casino that was moored to the pier, and onto the brick streets of Vibora Bay. Once there, they boarded a trolley car headed for the Weston Tangle district, getting more stares from their fellow passengers. The trolley clattered along its rails, past bars and jazz clubs, beneath ancient cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, and eventually to the quartet's destination: an enormous warehouse surrounded by a brick wall with an iron gate in the front. Celestial Boy pressed the buzzer, and they waited. There was no response.\n\t\"Well, now what?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy shrugged. \"I suppose we go over the wall.\"\n\t\"That's trespassing,\" Katrina pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"And if Mr. Armstrong wishes to charge us with such, we shall accept the penalty.\" With that, he picked up Dorgok and rose into the air, crackling with energy. Supersonic picked up Katrina, and they all floated over the wall.\n\tThe area inside the wall was heaped with junk of every sort imaginable—household appliances, industrial equipment, the shells of wrecked cars, even the remains of an airplane or two. Rats scampered about the refuse, eyeing the newcomers warily. \"Gee,\" said Supersonic, \"there sure is a lot of stuff here!\"\n\tKatrina nodded. \"The man likes his junk. Then again, what man doesn't?\" She giggled, and the other three looked at her strangely. \"What?\" she asked. \"You don't get the joke?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I fear not.\"\n\t\"What joke?\" asked Supersonic, confused.\n\tShe sighed. \"Never mind. I forgot I was with a bunch of humorless dweebs.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled and put his hands on his hips. \"I do so have a sense of humor!\"\n\tShe smiled at him. \"Yeah, but it's G-rated.\"\n\t\"Come on,\" said Celestial Boy, leading them toward a corrugated aluminum door in the front of the warehouse. Immediately, it became apparent that something was amiss. There was a large tear in the door, big enough for a man to walk through. \"Someone has gotten here before us,\" he observed.\n\t\"Five'll get you ten it's ARGENT,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I wouldn't take that bet on a dare,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"There is no time to lose,\" said Celestial Boy. \"A man's life may be in danger!\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and suddenly his body was encased in red and purple armor, with a squarish helmet and intricate geometric designs on the chest and belt. Twin metallic wings protruded from the back, with sharp points sticking upward well above his head. These wings did not move but were fixed in place, giving the suit a somewhat Art Deco look. He rose into the air and flew through the rent in the door, Supersonic flying in after him.\n\tThey entered a corridor that ran along the front of the building and then turned left. Rounding the corner brought them face to face with a group of men in white and green armor, carrying weapons of various types. \"Intruders! Get them!\" one shouted, leveling his rifle at Celestial Boy. \n\tSupersonic Squirrel flew straight into the middle of them, a vortex of wind swirling around him, scattering them like dry leaves. One who was standing slightly apart from the others raised his hand and fired a taser at him, which struck, momentarily paralyzing the squirrel and causing his fur to stand up straight all over his body. Celestial Boy blasted the man with a bolt of silvery light, dropping him, then turned to Supersonic. \"Are you all right?\" he asked.\n\tSupersonic nodded as he got up off the floor, rubbing his head, his tail still all bristly. \"Yeah, I'm okay. That thing sure packed a wallop, though. My teeth are still tingling!\"\n\t\"There may be even worse ahead,\" said Celestial Boy, and they both turned as they heard metal feet pounding toward them.\n\tOutside, Katrina and Dorgok were considering their options.\n\t\"Our captors have abandoned us,\" said Dorgok. \"Is there any reason we should not simply flee?\"\n\tKatrina grinned at the reptilian youth. \"I like the way you think. Come on!\"\n\tAs they turned to head back toward the gate, a familiar electronic voice said, \"Halt, or be terminated.\" One of ARGENT's cyborgs emerged from behind a heap of rusted metal between them and the gate. It might have been one of the pair they had encountered in Millennium City; it was hard to tell.\n\tKatrina cursed, and a bolt of magenta energy arced from her forehead to the cyborg's, staggering it. However, she could see that there were two more approaching.\n\t\"Quick, inside!\" she ordered Dorgok, and dashed into the building, the Lemurian boy following.\n\tIn the corridor, Celestial Boy and Supersonic Squirrel had been set upon by a quartet of ARGENT mechenforcers—silver humanoid robots with skeletal bodies and skull-like heads containing round, glowing, green photoelectric cells. The robots' arms each melded into complex, roughly diamond-shaped shields with twinned protrusions at the long ends, which could be employed for both defense and offense, firing bolts of searing hot plasma. This left them without usable hands, but they also had no real need for any, their sole purpose being to act as strike teams and sentries.\n\tSupersonic fired a wind blast at one, slamming it back into a brick wall and reducing it to junk, while Celestial Boy struck another down with a beam of cosmic energy. The remaining two fired plasma bolts at the two heroes, one striking Supersonic in the shoulder and causing him to howl in pain. Then each robot raised one of its shields, sheltering behind it as the heroes returned fire. The shields proved quite resilient, both the heroes' attacks glancing harmlessly off.\n\tSupersonic drew their fire, zig-zagging wildly around the two robots, which fired at him but missed. This gave Celestial Boy an opening to attack, and he did so, blasting one of the robots to pieces. As the last mechenforcer turned to fire at Celestial Boy, Supersonic flew up behind it and summoned a small tornado, which lifted the robot into the air and then slammed it down onto the concrete floor, destroying it.\n\tAt that moment, Katrina and Dorgok came running around the corner to join them. \"Incoming!\" shouted Katrina.\n\t\"How many?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Three cyborgs!\" Even as she spoke, one of them smashed through the flimsy aluminum door and pounded toward the heroes.\n\t\"Get behind us!\" ordered Supersonic, building up a sphere of compressed air in his hands. Katrina and Dorgok did so just as the cyborg rounded the corner and raised its beam weapon.\n\t\"Heroes identified,\" it droned. \"Terminating to facilitate completion of objective.\"\n\t\"Yeah, yeah,\" muttered Supersonic, and hurled his sphere at the cyborg. It struck the creature squarely in its chest, knocking it off its feet. Celestial Boy finished it off with a cosmic energy blast as two more rounded the corner.\n\t\"I got this!\" said Katrina, grinning, and hit one with a mind blast, overloading its neural processors and shutting it down. The last one fired at Celestial Boy and scored a hit, knocking him back ten feet, but his armor absorbed most of the impact. Katrina and Supersonic then attacked it in unison, and it quickly fell.\n\t\"I don't think I like those guys very much,\" said Supersonic, his furry chest heaving.\n\t\"But they have such great personalities,\" said Katrina. Then she looked at him. \"Hey, you're hurt!\"\n\tSupersonic glanced at the burned patch on his shoulder. \"Eh, it's nothing.\"\n\t\"Looks painful,\" said Katrina.\n\tHe shrugged. \"I'm starting to get used to pain.\"\n\tShe nodded. \"I bet you never had to deal with that when you were a cartoon.\"\n\t\"No, I didn't feel anything back then, good or bad.\"\n\t\"Sounds boring.\" She turned to Celestial Boy, who had gotten up and was coming over to them. \"Hey, CB, wanna patch up your friend here? By the way, nice armor. You look like a hood ornament.\"\n\t\"Thank you,\" replied Celestial Boy dryly, as a beam of silvery light from his hand healed Supersonic's wound, leaving a pink bald spot where the fur would have to grow back in.\n\t\"Good thing you didn't get shot in the butt!\" said Katrina, grinning.\n\tSupersonic chuckled. \"I can do you better than that. One time on the show, I flew so fast all my fur burned off, so I was pink and hairless all over!\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You were naked on national TV? They could do that back then?\"\n\t\"Well, it was just a cartoon show. And I'm a squirrel, so it didn't really matter.\"\n\t\"Shall we continue?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Let's shall,\" said Katrina, brightly.\n\tThe four moved cautiously down a steeply inclined corridor to the entrance to the main floor of the warehouse, a room the size of an aircraft hangar. Against one wall lay an immense apparatus that appeared to have been cobbled together out of household appliances and odds and ends. Two huge Tesla coils erupted from the top of it, sparking continuously. In the middle, a ramp led upward to a circular opening that glowed brightly. Above the opening was a clock whose hands whirled swiftly in opposite directions.\n\tBefore this object stood two men. One was dressed in sleek, dark gray armor that covered his entire body, a silver visor concealing his face. On his left arm was strapped a shield similar to those employed by the mechenforcers. In his right he held a huge twin-barreled rifle of some sort, which was aimed at the other man.\n\tThe second man was shorter and stood hunched over. He had red hair and a beard and wore green coveralls. More remarkably, his right arm and left leg were clearly artificial, but the limbs appeared to be made out of junk—rusty, clunky, and ungainly, like something out of a steampunk fantasy. His left eye was also artificial, a glowing red sphere that telescoped forward from his eyesocket. On his back he wore a device that looked just as haphazardly assembled as the rest of his equipment, and which included, oddly, a household blender sticking up from the top, with blue liquid sloshing around inside it.\n\t\"I take it the guy with the blender on his back is Juryrig,\" whispered Supersonic. \"Who's the other one?\"\n\t\"His name is Mechassassin,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I have encountered him before. He is a mercenary who often works for ARGENT.\"\n\t\"Dangerous?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Extremely. And ruthless. As his name suggests, he will not hesitate to kill.\"\n\t\"Think there's any chance he'll surrender peacefully if we ask?\"\n\t\"I would place that at a very low order of probability.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed into the room, Celestial Boy right behind.\n\tMechassassin's head snapped around as the two heroes barreled toward him, and he switched aim. The underside of his rifle fired steel cables that wrapped around both their bodies, pinning their arms. \"I was told you two might show up,\" he said, his voice distorted electronically from inside his helmet. \"You're not going to stop me from completing my mission!\"\n\t\"Aw, they didn't mention me?\" asked Katrina, stepping out from the doorway. \"I'm hurt!\" She fired a mind blast at him, which made him cry out in pain and stumble backward. This gave Celestial Boy and Supersonic a chance to break free of their restraints and hurl bolts of wind and cosmic energy at Mechassassin. The mercenary raised his shield to block, blunting their attacks. Then he leveled his rifle at Celestial Boy and fired a barrage of plasma bolts at him, which peppered his armor and knocked him out of the air. Supersonic flew around Mechassassin and blasted him with wind from behind, and Katrina hit him with another mind blast.\n\t\"Damn it, I hate mentalists!\" muttered Mechassassin, taking aim at Katrina with his rifle. \"Time to die, girl!\" She swallowed, eyes going wide as she stared down the twin barrels. Before he could fire, however, Supersonic swooped down and raised his wind barrier in front of her, deflecting Mechassassin's plasma bolts harmlessly away. \n\tIn the meantime, Juryrig had produced from a pocket of his coveralls an object that resembled a electric drill with a fork sticking out of the front. It produced a piercing wave of sound that washed over Mechassassin, causing him to double over and press his hands to the sides of his helmet.\n\tMechassassin looked around the room at Supersonic, Katrina, Juryrig, and the now recovered Celestial Boy. \"This is not over, heroes!\" he snarled. \"I will be back!\" With that, he rocketed upward, burst through the roof, and was gone.\n\tKatrina smirked. \"So will a bad check.\" Then she turned to Supersonic. \"Thanks for the save, fuzzy.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"It was nothing.\" He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"Are you okay?\"\n\t\"I am unharmed,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Mr. Armstrong?\" he asked Juryrig.\n\t\"Ah'm fine, thanks,\" said Juryrig, in a wheezing, somewhat grating voice. \"Ah'm sure glad someone came and chased these ARGENT bozos off. Ah hate to think what they would have done with this.\" He gestured at the huge machine.\n\t\"And what exactly is [i]this[/i]?\" asked Celestial Boy, eyeing the heap of spare parts curiously.\n\t\"Well, ah call it a quantum temporal displacement engine,\" said Juryig, \"but ah guess you could call it a time machine.\"\n\tThere was a moment of silence while everyone stared at Juryrig, which was broken when Katrina burst out laughing. \"A time machine? Seriously?\"\n\t\"Well, yeah,\" said Juryrig, looking somewhat embarrassed.\n\t\"You don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, looking at Katrina.\n\t\"Are you kidding? That piece of crap? It's like a little kid calling a cardboard box a spaceship!\"\n\t\"Clearly, ARGENT thinks there is something to it,\" Celestial Boy pointed out, \"or they would not have sent their people here.\"\n\t\"Speaking of which,\" said Supersonic, and rocketed out of the room and back up the ramp. He returned a moment later. \"Yeah, they're gone. Must have been teleported out, like the ones we fought in Millennium City.\"\n\tJuryrig stared at Supersonic, apparently having just realized there was a three-foot talking squirrel in the room. \"Hey, ah know you! You're Supersonic Squirrel! Ah used to watch your show when ah was a kid! Only, that was a cartoon. How can you be here?\"\n\t\"That is a rather long story,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Suffice it to say, he is as real as you or I. I believe introductions are in order. I am Celestial Boy. Supersonic Squirrel and I are members of the Millennium Guard.\" He turned to Katrina and Dorgok. \"These are Katrina Werner and Dorgok of Lemuria.\"\n\tKatrina waved and gave an exaggerated smile. \"Hi there!\" Dorgok simply nodded.\n\t\"Pleased to meet you both,\" said Juryrig. His eyes went to Dorgok's stump. \"Ah could make a replacement for that.\"\n\t\"There is no need,\" said Dorgok. \"It will grow back.\"\n\t\"Just as ARGENT will undoubtably be back with reinforcements,\" said Celestial Boy. He turned to Juryrig. \"You need some security on this machine, now that they know about it.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"What ah can't figure is how they found out. Ah haven't told anyone but Defender what ah was workin' on, an' ah know he wouldn't blab.\"\n\t\"This may have something to do with it,\" said Celestial Boy, holding out the object that had brought them here.\n\tJuryrig's face lit up. \"Ah've been lookin' for that!\" He took the object from Celestial Boy and examined it. \"Where'd you find it?\"\n\t\"Katrina liberated it from an ARGENT laboratory in Millennium City. I don't suppose you know how they might have gotten hold of it?\"\n\tJuryig scratched his head with his metal hand. \"Well, the last time ah remember havin' it was in Sal's Diner. Ah brought it there to tinker with while ah was eatin'. Ah must've accidentally left it there.\" He grinned sheepishly.\n\tCelestial Boy gave a paternalistic, disapproving frown, which looked rather incongruous on his youthful face. \"Perhaps in the future you should refrain from taking such sensitive technology to public places.\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Ah'll try to remember that.\" He walked over to the machine, his metal leg clanking loudly with each step, and inserted the object into its workings. Immediately, the machine began to hum, and the circular opening in the front began to pulsate. \"There we go! That's just what she needed! Thanks!\"\n\t\"So, this can really send people through time?\" asked Supersonic, looking up at the huge machine in wonder.\n\t\"Well, only into the past,\" replied Juryrig. \"You can't go into the future, 'cause it ain't happened yet.\"\n\t\"How does it work?\" asked Supersonic, fascinated.\n\t\"The control panel's right here,\" said Juryig. He clanked over to a bank of computer keyboards that had been rather haphazardly wired together, and everyone came over to look. \"You just tap in the time an' coordinates you want to visit, an' off you go!\"\n\t\"So it can be used to travel in space as well as time?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, it kind of has to,\" said Juryrig, \"since the planet is movin' an' all.\"\n\t\"Point taken,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Have you tested it?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"Yeah, ah've made a few short trips into the past. Just a few hours. Met my earlier self. That was weird.\"\n\t\"I imagine so,\" Celestial Boy commented.\n\tKatrina looked at Supersonic and made a whirling motion with her finger beside her ear.\n\t\"You still don't believe him?\" asked Supersonic, whispering.\n\t\"Come on!\" Katrina whispered back. \"A time machine?\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"On my show there was a super-smart dog and his pet boy who had a time machine that took them on all kinds of adventures throughout history.\"\n\tKatrina sighed. \"Dat vas a cartoon, dahlink.\"\n\t\"You're talking to a cartoon, dahlink. You could always read his mind to find out if he's telling the truth.\"\n\t\"I thought you didn't want me snooping around in people's minds without permission. Anyway, all that would tell me is that [i]he[/i] believes it, and if he's as nuts as he seems, that wouldn't surprise me a bit.\"\n\t\"Hey,\" said Juryrig, \"ah just realized ah'm hungry! Wanna order out for pizza or somethin'? There's a real good pizzeria just down the street.\"\n\t\"That sounds great!\" said Supersonic, grinning and rubbing his belly. He looked over at Celestial Boy. \"How about you, Castor? I know you don't need to eat . . .\"\n\t\"No,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but I still enjoy the taste of food.\"\n\t\"Count me in,\" said Katrina. She turned to Dorgok. \"How about you? Have you ever had pizza?\" \n\tThe Lemurian boy shook his head. \"What is it?\"\n\tShe grinned. \"Only the best food on Earth!\"\n\tAs Juryrig began dialing the number of the pizzeria on an old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall, they all froze at the sound of something being knocked over upstairs.\n\t\"ARGENT?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Possibly,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I only sense one mind,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"Could be Mechassassin,\" Supersonic suggested.\n\t Celestial Boy shook his head. \"He is not a fool. It would not make sense for him to return alone.\"\n\t\"Well, let's go see who it is,\" said Supersonic, and flew up the ramp, Celestial Boy close on his heels.\n\tThey rounded the corner to find that the front corridor contained a single occupant. It was a Lemurian, taller than Dorgok, his slim body covered with brown and yellow scales, his chest and belly white. There was a webbed crest atop his lizardlike head, fins on his arms, legs and back, and a long, sinuous tail that swished behind him. His fingers and toes sported wicked-looking claws. Unlike Dorgok, he wore no clothing. He floated a foot above the floor, electricity crackling all around him.\n\t\"Who are you?\" Supersonic demanded.\n\t\"I am Samtiss,\" replied the Lemurian, in a hissing voice. \"I have come for Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Well, you'll have to go through me first!\" said Supersonic, and fired a wind blast that knocked the Lemurian back ten feet. Samtiss retaliated with a lighting bolt from his clawed hand, which electrified the squirrel, making his fur stand on end. Supersonic dropped to the floor on all fours, shivering. \"Holy cow, twice in one day!\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed as Katrina and Juryig came up to join them. \"It never fails. Gentlemen, might we suspend the hostilities for one moment to straighten this out?\"\n\t\"I did not come here to fight,\" Samtiss replied. \"I came to get my son.\"\n\tSupersonic blinked as he got to his feet. \"You're Dorgok's father?\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I am.\"\n\t\"You gotta admit,\" said Katrina, \"there is a certain family resemblance.\"\n\t\"How did you know where to find him?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Adam informed Nightmunk that you had brought Dorgok to Vibora Bay,\" replied Samtiss, \"and Nightmunk told me.\"\n\t\"And you flew down here on your own?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"That is not a problem for me,\" said Samtiss. \"Now, where is my son?\"\t\n\t\"He's downstairs,\" said Juryrig. \"Come on, ah'll—\" He stopped as the lights in the warehouse suddenly dimmed. \"Oh no!\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tJuryrig did not reply. Instead, he ran down the ramp to the room containing the quantum temporal displacement engine, the others close behind. There was no sign of Dorgok. \"Ah was afraid of this,\" he said.\n\t\"WHAT?\" Supersonic demanded impatiently.\n\tJuryrig turned to face him and shrugged helplessly. \"He's gone back in time!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"Are you certain of this?\"\n\tJuryrig nodded. \"The machine pulls a lot of juice every time it's activated. Plus, there's no other way out of this room!\"\n\t\"Just a moment,\" said Samtiss. \"Am I to understand that this . . . apparatus . . . is some sort of time machine?\"\n\t\"So he says,\" replied Katrina.\n\t\"Let's find out where he went!\" said Supersonic, running to the control console. The others quickly came over to join him.\n\t\"It's set for Millennium City,\" Juryrig observed, \"just a little over a year ago.\"\n\t\"That is the date of the Lemurian invasion,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Why would he want to go there?\" asked Supersonic. \"To help out?\"\n\tCelestial Boy shook his head. \"I doubt one more Lemurian would have made any difference, particularly a child with no powers who is missing a hand.\"\n\t\"Then what's he trying to do?\" asked Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss's tongue flickered in agitation. \"He is trying to save his mother.\"\n\tThey all turned and stared at him. \n\t\"His mother?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen the Defiler. She was there that day. If he can find her, he can warn her of her fate and perhaps enable her to avoid it.\"\n\t\"Would that be a bad thing?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"It could potentially be catastrophic,\" replied Samtiss. \"She was involved in a plot to free the Kings of Edom so they could once again ravage the multiverse.\"\n\t\"The Kings of Edom?\" asked Katrina. \"Who the hell are they?\"\n\t\"Cosmic entities of unimaginable power and evil,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"The Lemurians called them the Rastrinfhar—the Bleak Ones—and worshipped them as gods. They were imprisoned eons ago, but their followers strive constantly to free them.\"\n\tSamtiss eyed Celestial Boy. \"You know much for one so young, human.\"\n\t\"I am not human,\" replied Celestial Boy, \"and I am older than I look. I am well versed in the lore of the Kings. It is the reason I was sent here. However, I am curious as to why you would want to stop a plot to free them, Lemurian.\"\n\t\"Dorgok said his father was a traitor,\" said Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I realized the terrible mistake we made in returning to worshipping the Bleak Ones, and have been fighting against it.\"\n\t\"He also said you killed his mother,\" said Supersonic, narrowing his eyes at the Lemurian.\n\t\"Strictly speaking, that is not correct,\" said Samtiss. \"She was killed by Emorada, a paladin from another dimension. But I gladly would have, given the chance. Though I once loved Yareen, her worship of the Bleak Ones had thoroughly corrupted her. I have never encountered a more evil being.\"\n\t\"Okay,\" said Katrina, \"let's say Dorgok really has gone back in time to save his mother. Is there any reason we can't set the machine for a few seconds before he arrives, nab him, and be home in time for supper?\"\n\tJuryrig shook his head. \"It don't work that way. When Dorgok went back there, that time an' this one became entangled at the quantum level. Time is passin' at the same rate in both!\"\n\t\"I'll pretend I understood that,\" said Katrina.\n\t\"I think what he means,\" said Celestial Boy, \"is that for every second that passes here, a second passes there. Therefore, the longer we delay going after him, the more time he has to find his mother.\"\n\t\"That must not happen,\" said Samtiss. \"If Yareen manages to avoid her fate, there could be dire consquences for the entire multiverse.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Then we must go now.\" He took a step toward the machine.\n\t\"Hold on a second,\" said Juryig. \"If you're goin' back in time, you'll be wantin' these.\" He held out a handful of objects that looked like ordinary digital wristwatches.\n\t\"To keep track of the time?\" asked Supersonic, puzzled.\n\t\"These are recall devices,\" Juryrig replied. \"Press the alarm button an' you'll pop back to the present. Alternatively, ah can bring you back usin' the recall button on the console.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded as he, Supersonic, and Samtiss each strapped one of the recall devices onto a wrist. \"Ready?\" he asked the squirrel and the Lemurian.\n\t\"As I'll ever be,\" said Supersonic. He turned to Katrina. \"You're free to go, Katrina.\"\n\tShe blinked. \"You're turning me loose?\"\n\t\"It wouldn't be right to force you to come with us. I sure wish you would, because we could use all the help we can get, but I'll understand if you don't want to. It could be very dangerous.\"\n\tKatrina chewed her lip for a moment, then shrugged. \"Ah, what the hell. How many chances am I gonna have to travel through time?\" She took one of the recall devices from Juryrig and strapped it on.\n\t\"All right,\" said Celestial Boy, \"let's go.\" And the four of them walked up the ramp of the noisy, quivering, whirling machine and entered the glowing portal to the past.\n\tThe first thing they experienced was the cold shock of rain hitting their faces. When they recovered, they could see that they were standing in a street in downtown Millennium City in the middle of a torrential downpour, the ground around them strewn with debris from a nearby building that had collapsed when a Lemurian drilling machine—a giant cylinder with a conical drill on top—had come straight up out of the ground beneath it. The colossal machine sat silently amidst the mountain of rubble, pointed at the sky, looking like a predator perched atop its kill, a huge door in its side yawning open like a mouth. It was abandoned now, having disgorged its cargo of Lemurian soldiers to terrorize the city. The echoing sound of gunfire in the distance attested that the battle was in progress. Then came a screeching sound as a trio of strange objects shot by overhead, racing along the narrow, skyscraper-lined canyon. They consisted of hemispherical capsules with the rounded end facing forward, surrounded by three triangular fins equally spaced that rotated continuously as they flew.\n\t\"Lemurian Exocet fighters,\" said Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I remember. I destroyed several of them during the invasion.\"\n\tSupersonic looked up at him. \"You were there? I mean, here?\"\n\t\"Of course. Where else would I be?\"\n\tHe turned to Katrina, who was still staring up at the sky in disbelief. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"Huh? Oh, I'm hiding in a shelter, with the rest of the civilians. Holy shit, that pile of junk actually works!\"\n\t\"So it would seem,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Can you locate Dorgok?\"\n\tShe closed her eyes and concentrated. \"I'm trying. There's so much chaos. It's like trying to hear one voice among thousands.\" She opened her eyes and shook her head. \"I can't do it. There's too much interference.\"\n\tSupersonic squeezed her hand. \"At least you tried. That's all anyone could ask.\"\n\tCelestial Boy turned to Samtiss. \"Have you any idea where Yareen might be?\"\n\t\"She was with the group of mystics who summoned the Bleak Harbinger,\" the Lemurian replied.\n\t\"That was the giant monster they intended to use to destroy Millennium City!\" exclaimed Supersonic.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I was there, too, trying to stop them. I failed.\"\n\t\"We must head in that direction, then,\" said Celestial Boy, taking to the air. Samtiss crackled with electricity and followed him, and Supersonic picked up Katrina and flew after them on a gust of wind.\n\t\"If you're there, does that mean we might run into your earlier self?\" Katrina asked Samtiss as they flew.\n\t\"Possibly,\" the Lemurian replied. \"I would caution you that even though I had turned against my own people by this time, I still did not like or trust humans, nor was I aware that I had a son.\"\n\t\"Is something bothering you, Supersonic?\" Celestial Boy asked, noting the pensive look on the squirrel's face.\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I don't like that we came back through time to make sure someone dies. It's not very heroic.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I can understand why you would feel that way. In your cartoon world, morality was very black and white. But in the real world, one must sometimes do unpleasant things for the greater good.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"I don't see how anything good can come from doing wrong.\"\n\t\"Was your president Truman wrong to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to deter an invasion of Japan that would have cost many more lives?\"\n\t\"President Truman was a good man!\" Supersonic protested. \"Besides, there was a war on!\"\n\tCelestial Boy gestured at the havoc going on around them. \"And what would you call this?\"\n\tSupersonic frowned and flew on in silence.\n\tAs the four time travelers flew along beneath the iron-gray sky, their bodies pelted by heavy rain, they gave a start as a tremendous roar reverberated through the streets of Millennium City. It was a sound that two of them remembered well and had hoped never to hear again.\n\t\"The Harbinger is here,\" said Celestial Boy, grimly.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"Yareen will be close by. Come.\"\n\tThey flew a bit further, and as they rounded a skyscraper, their eyes were greeted by a spectacle such as only Millennium City could provide. There at the edge of the Detroit River stood a creature out of a nightmare. It towered more than a hundred feet above the frothing water, its lumpy greenish-gray body topped by a grotesque wedge-shaped head, each side lined with three glowing eyes. Stony protrusions stuck out from either side of its head, giving the head a loose resemblance to that of a hammerhead shark. From the waist down it was nothing but a mass of writhing tentacles. It had four arms, each ending in a huge lobsterlike claw, with which it swatted angrily at the heroes buzzing around it like bothersome flies while another deafening roar issued forth from a mouth that could have swallowed a truck.\n\tFighting this monstrosity were several of the Champions, the world's most famous superhero team. There was Defender, in his gleaming blue-and-white battle armor, blasting it with plasma beams from his hands; Sapphire, who was also a successful singing star, hovering above its head in her blue vest, trunks, and thigh-high boots and generating concussive bursts of force; Witchcraft, her green cloak and red hair billowing in the wind as she hurled mystical hex bolts at it; and Ironclad, an alien gladiator whose body was covered in living metal, slashing at its tentacles with his sword. Other heroes were fighting the creature as well, including Adam, the chimpanzee scientist now wearing a red-and-white jumpsuit and flying with a jetpack while shooting at it with some sort of ray gun, and Nighthawk, the caped and hooded vigilante mounted on his grav bike and peppering its hide with laser bolts. Even Foxbat, who was technically a villain but more of a nuisance than a threat, had joined the fray, firing at the Bleak Harbinger with his ping-pong ball gun as he glided past it in his brown-and-yellow costume. However, nothing anyone was doing seemed to be having any effect on the hideous colossus.\n\t\"We have to help them!\" cried Supersonic as he watched the heroes attacking the Harbinger futilely.\n\t\"No, that is precisely what we must not do,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We are not supposed to be here. Any actions we take that alter the past could have dire consequences in our present. They defeated the Bleak Harbinger before without our assistance. They can do so again. Look—help is arriving even now.\" There, high above the Harbinger, a sleek steel vessel had emerged out of the murk.\n\t\"If I am not mistaken,\" said Samtiss, \"that is the UNTIL sky carrier [i]Barcelona[/i].\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"It played a pivotal role in this battle. Its radiation cannon weakened the Harbinger enough to enable the heroes to damage it.\"\n\t\"Then all is in good hands,\" said Samtiss. \"We need not concern ourselves with these events.\"\n\t\"You might want to tell [i]them[/i] that!\" said Katrina, pointing. A trio of Exocet fighters were streaking toward the four time travelers.\n\t\"Evade them, but do not attack!\" warned Celestial Boy. \"We must keep our interference in the past to an absolute minimum!\"\n\t\"I do not think that they will accord us the same courtesy,\" said Samtiss, as he blasted a missile fired at him by one of the fighters with a lightning bolt, causing it to explode in midair.\n\t\"Find cover!\" shouted Celestial Boy, and dove down into a gap between two buildings. One of the fighters peeled off to chase him, while Samtiss flew in the opposite direction, leading another away. Supersonic, still holding on to Katrina, shot back the way they had come, the last fighter in hot pursuit.\n\t\"Incoming!\" yelled Katrina. Supersonic glanced back at the fighter. It had fired a missile at them, which was closing rapidly. On his own, he might have been able to dodge it, but burdened as he was with Katrina, his maneuverability was greatly impaired. Gritting his teeth, he banked around the corner of a building, hoping the missile would strike it and not him.\n\tIt almost worked. The missile did hit the side of the building, but so close to them that Supersonic was struck on the head with a chunk of debris, stunning him and causing him to lose his grip on Katrina. With a scream, she plummeted toward the street far below, while Supersonic reeled, momentarily dazed. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and dove after the falling girl, accelerating toward her as fast as he could. She was already so close to the ground that he wasn't sure he'd be able to reach her before she hit, let alone pull out of his dive in time to save either of them, but he didn't slow down. Either they would both live, or they would both die.\n\tAs the street drew terrifyingly close, Supersonic's outstretched hands grasped Katrina's wrist, and he instantly pulled up, nearly wrenching his arms out of their sockets as he desperately tried to level out before they both ended up as red smears. Katrina's boots skittered against the asphalt as they rocketed along not five feet off the ground. The squirrel decelerated as fast as he could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. An abandoned city bus loomed before them, and there was no way he could stop or turn in time to avoid it. Gathering Katrina against him, Supersonic turned so he would bear the brunt of the impact and slammed into the side of the bus with tooth-jarring force, his body cushioning the blow for his charge.\n\tKatrina got groggily to her feet, scarcely able to believe that she was still alive. She glanced down at Supersonic. The squirrel was lying sprawled beside the bus, out cold. Then she looked up as the Exocet fighter that had fired the missile swooped down out of the sky toward them, and her eyes narrowed. \"You're dead,\" she growled.\n\tShe lashed out at the craft with a searing mental blast, augmented by her own anger and pain. The stunned Lemurian pilot lost control of his ship, and it plowed into the street, exploding and showering Katrina and Supersonic with flaming debris. \n\tKatrina knelt over the squirrel's unconscious form, shielding it from harm. \"Hey, squirrelly boy!\" she said, smacking his gray-furred face lightly. \"Come on, wake up!\" When he didn't, she cupped her hands and plunged them into a nearby puddle, dumping the cold water over his face. The squirrel sputtered, and his huge eyes snapped open. Then he groaned in pain. \"You okay?\" Katrina asked.\n\tSupersonic sat up, rubbing his back. \"I don't think any bones are broken. My whole body feels like one big bruise, though.\" He looked up at Katrina. \"How about you?\"\n\tKatrina grinned, the rain running down her brown face, her short white hair a spiky mess. \"Remember when I asked you if you'd ever been kissed?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"Yeah, but what—?\" He was cut off as she savagely kissed him on his muzzle. The squirrel's eyes went wide, and his body went rigid. Then, after a moment, his eyes closed and he relaxed, putting his arms around Katrina and holding her, chrring softly. As she broke the kiss, he released her and looked at her, confused. \"What was that for?\"\n\t\"You risked your life back there to save mine,\" she replied, smiling. \"I figure that's worth a kiss, don't you?\"\n\tSupersonic rubbed behind his head. \"I suppose so. It's just a little unexpected, is all. I didn't think you liked me very much.\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"Eh, you're starting to grow on me. You know, like ringworm.\"\n\t\"Thanks, I guess,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet. He gazed at the wreckage of the Exocet. \"Did you do that?\"\n\t\"What else could I do? He hurt my squirrel.\" She grinned again.\n\t\"You shouldn't have,\" said Supersonic, frowning. \"Castor said we shouldn't do anything that could change the past.\"\n\t\"Screw Castor, and screw him,\" said Katrina, gesturing at the crashed fighter. \"He tried to kill us. If someone tries to kill me, it's his shit luck if he dies. Anyway, he'd already changed the past by attacking us.\"\n\tSupersonic sighed. \"I wish you wouldn't curse so much. It's not ladylike.\"\n\tKatrina put her hands on her hips. \"I'm sorry if my vulgar language offends your delicate 1960s television sensibilities.\"\n\t\"I can't help it if I was brought up with old-fashioned values!\" Supersonic retorted.\n\t\"In a small town in Minnesota. I know, I read your bio on Wikipedia during the flight to Vibora. Ultimate white-bread Middle America.\" She smirked. \"How does it feel to know you were just kissed by a colored girl?\"\n\tSupersonic blinked. \"What?\"\n\t\"That's what they used to call us black folks back then, right?\"\n\t\"You're not black. You have white hair and blue eyes.\"\n\t\"Because my dad was German. My mom was black. That's where I got my skin from.\"\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"I'd think that would matter less than the fact that we're different species.\" He looked up at the cloudy sky. \"We need to regroup with the others and find Dorgok.\"\n\t\"Yeah, well, after nearly ending up street pizza, I hope you don't mind if I choose to keep both my feet on the ground from now on.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"That's understandable.\" Another roar from the Bleak Harbinger echoed through the streets. \"Come on, let's go.\" He began walking in the direction of the waterfront, Katrina beside him.\n\n\tDorgok made his way carefully through the battleground that Millennium City had become, keeping to the shadows and avoiding both the city's defenders and the Lemurian invaders as he searched for his mother. Initially, he hadn't had a clear idea of where to go, not being familiar with the layout of the city, but the roars of the Bleak Harbinger provided him with a direction. And so he trekked along through the chaos on his clawed feet in the pouring rain, cursing Dr. Ka for stripping him of his ability to fly.\n\tAs he paused in the shadow of a building to let a truck full of human soldiers go by, Dorgok heard a rumbling sound from above and looked up. His eyes widened in horror as he saw that the structure he was standing beside was beginning to topple, its walls weakened by repeated strafings from the Exocet fighters constantly screaming by overhead. He stood transfixed with fear, watching the heavy wall falling toward him. Then something struck him hard in the side, knocking him clear of the collapsing wall as tons of bricks crashed down onto the spot where he had just been standing.\n\tDorgok sat up in the street, dazed but unhurt, and looked to see what had hit him. Crouching beside him was a human boy in his early teen years, with brown skin and long black hair, both of which were wet from the rain. His slim body was naked save for a beige loincloth, and his dark eyes gazed curiously at the Lemurian boy. \"You know,\" the human said, \"when you see a wall falling toward you, the sensible thing is to run away from it.\"\n\tDorgok just stared at his rescuer in confusion. \"Why did you save me?\" he asked.\n\tThe human grinned. \"Call it force of habit. For a second I forgot you were one of the bad guys. All I saw was someone in danger.\"\n\t\"So now you will kill me?\" asked Dorgok.\n\t\"After I just went to the trouble of saving you? That would be pretty stupid. Besides, you don't look like much of a threat.\"\n\tIf he only knew, Dorgok thought, but simply flicked his tongue.\n\t\"What are you doing here, anyway?\" the human asked. \"You're clearly not a soldier. You look like a kid, you have no weapons, and you're missing a hand. What gives?\"\n\t\"I . . . stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied.\n\tThe human blinked. \"You stowed away to an invasion?\"\n\tDorgok nodded. \"I wanted to see the surface world. I wanted to see if humans are really as evil as my people say.\"\n\t\"Well, I hope I've helped dispel that myth,\" the human said, offering him a hand up. \"I'm Mowgli. What's your name?\"\n\t\"Dorgok,\" Dorgok replied, accepting the hand and getting to his feet.\n\t\"Nice to meet you, Dorgok,\" said Mowgli.\n\tDorgok stared at him, utterly baffled, not having expected a human to treat him so kindly, let alone save his life.\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli, there you are!\" came a voice from above. Dorgok and Mowgli both looked up. Swooping down from the sky came another boy. While he looked superficially human, he clearly was not. His skin was bright red, his ears were pointed, a three-foot tail with an arrowhead tip protruded from his backside, and he bore a pair of small pink horns atop his hairless head. Like Mowgli, he wore very little—in his case, only a white loincloth, plus flames wreathing his body. The flames vanished as he landed beside them, but raindrops continued to sizzle and turn to steam as they struck his scarlet skin.\n\tDorgok gasped. \"A demon?\"\n\t\"I'm not a demon,\" the horned boy said, scowling at him. \"I'm a devil. Important difference.\"\n\t\"Hi, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"I'd been wondering where you'd gotten to,\" Hot Stuff said. \"And look what you've caught!\" He grinned, displaying small fangs, and raised his hands, which began smoldering with flames. \"One lizard fricasee, coming right up!\"\n\t\"Stow that, Hot Stuff,\" said Mowgli. \"We're not killers.\"\n\t\"Oh yeah?\" Hot Stuff shot back. \"Well, [i]they[/i] are! You know how many bodies I flew past while I was looking for you?\"\n\t\"Look at him. He's just a kid, like us.\"\n\t\"The Lemurians kill kids, too. They don't care, so why should we?\"\n\t\"Because we're better than them,\" said Mowgli, calmly.\n\tHot Stuff snarled. \"Wake up, jungle boy! This is war!\"\n\t\"Even wars have rules,\" said Mowgli. \"You don't kill prisoners and noncombatants. Now. Back. Off.\"\n\tHot Stuff glared at him, but he lowered his hands, and the flames around them vanished. \"Fine,\" he said. \"So what are we gonna do with him?\"\n\tMowgli shrugged. \"I guess we let him go.\"\n\tHot Stuff practically exploded. \"Let him go? Are you crazy?\"\n\t\"There are people all over this city who need saving!\" Mowgli shouted back. \"We've got more important things to do than babysit a crippled Lemurian kid! Come on!\" He turned and ran off down the street with a swift, loping gait. \n\tHot Stuff shot Dorgok a look of pure hatred, and the Lemurian could see that the devil boy was trembling with barely suppressed rage. \"This is your lucky day, lizard,\" he growled. \"If it had been up to me, you'd be ashes right now.\" Then he burst into flames, rose off the ground, and flew off after Mowgli.\n\tDorgok watched him go, puzzled. That creature was not human, he thought. These were not its people. Why did it care so much about them? He shook his head and resumed his quest.\n\n\tCelestial Boy flew along close to street level, his glowing eyes methodically scanning the streets for any sign of his fellow time travelers. He'd managed to elude the Exocet fighter that had been chasing him, but in the process had become separated from the rest of his team. This troubled him, as every minute they were here increased the chances that they would do something to alter the past, and while he was fairly certain Samtiss could be trusted, as the Lemurian seemed to have a logical mind, he was less so about Supersonic and Katrina, who were more governed by emotion.\n\tHe froze as a Lemurian emerged from around the corner of a building, then relaxed when he saw that it was Samtiss. The Lemurian flew over to him, arcs of electricity sparking across his scaly body. \"I see you managed to evade your pursuer,\" said Samtiss. \"I have done so, as well.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"I have been unable to find Supersonic and Katrina, however.\"\n\t\"Obviously,\" said Samtiss. \"If you had, they would be with you. Searching for them would seem to be impractical. We should head back to the Harbinger. If they are still alive, they will also be headed that way.\"\n\t \"A sound plan,\" Celestial Boy replied. \n\tAs they flew along the street together, Celestial Boy said, \"There is something I have been meaning to ask you, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"What is it?\"\n\t\"If it becomes necessary, are you prepared to kill your son?\"\n\t\"I have known Dorgok for less than a day,\" Samtiss replied, \"and during that brief acquaintance he tortured me while I was Yareen's prisoner in the Qliphoth. Therefore, my emotional bond with him is understandably somewhat limited. And yet, I do feel something for him. I would prefer that he not die. But if it becomes necessary, I will do what must be done.\" He turned his golden reptilian eyes to Celestial Boy. \"What about you?\"\n\t\"The taking of life is abhorrent to me,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but there are times when the abhorrent becomes unavoidable. Therefore, I, too, will do what must be done.\"\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"I appreciate that you sought to learn my feelings on this matter.\"\n\t\"I do not know you,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"Therefore, I wanted to anticipate your reaction. Having insufficient facts always invites danger.\"\n\t\"Nonetheless, I do appreciate it.\"\n\t\"Noted.\"\n\t\"Someone is approaching,\" Samtiss observed. Ahead of them, two figures were racing down the street toward them, one leaving a flaming contrail behind it.\n\t\"I know them,\" said Celestial Boy, frowning. \"This is unfortunate.\"\n\t\"Do we wish to speak to them?\" asked Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"It appears to be unavoidable.\"\n\tMowgli and Hot Stuff stopped before the pair. \"Hey, Castor!\" Hot Stuff said, waving and smiling. \"I see you caught yourself a lizard too! And this one's an adult!\"\n\tCelestial Boy blinked. \"You have seen a Lemurian child?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"We ran into one a few blocks east of here. We let him go, though. He seemed harmless enough.\"\n\tSamtiss flicked his tongue. \"You could not be more mistaken.\"\n\t\"What do you mean?\" Hot Stuff demanded. \"Castor, what are you doing with this thing?\"\n\t\"Mowgli, Hot Stuff,\" said Celestial Boy, \"I must ask you to trust me. I am not the Celestial Boy you know. Samtiss and I are from the future, as is the Lemurian child you encountered. We have come to stop him from changing the past.\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Mowgli and Hot Stuff in unison, staring at the pair in disbelief.\n\t\"More than that I dare not say,\" said Celestial Boy, \"lest I make matters even worse than they are.\"\n\t\"Hey, Mowgli,\" said Hot Stuff, looking at Celestial Boy suspiciously, \"aren't some Lemurians shapeshifters?\"\n\tMowgli nodded. \"One was just caught trying to impersonate the mayor.\"\n\t\"So how do we know that's really Castor?\"\n\t\"There's one way to find out,\" said Mowgli. He moved up close to Celestial Boy and sniffed him.\n\t\"Well?\" asked Hot Stuff impatiently.\n\t\"He smells like the real thing,\" said Mowgli.\n\t\"That is because I am,\" growled Celestial Boy.\n\t\"You are what?\" came a hollow voice from above. They all looked up. There, hovering above them, was Celestial Boy.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future groaned. \"Oh, for Elysium's sake!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present landed and gazed at his counterpart. \"Well, this is interesting!\"\n\t\"That is not the word I would have chosen,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, clearly annoyed.\n\t\"But you did,\" Samtiss pointed out.\n\tCelestial Boy of the present turned to Mowgli and Hot Stuff. \"What is going on here?\"\n\tMowgli grinned. \"Are you ready for this? They claim to be from the future!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present raised an eyebrow. \"Indeed?\"\n\t\"Yes,\" said Celestial Boy from the future, \"and we must not be detained. Every passing second brings us closer to disaster!\"\n\t\"What makes a one-handed Lemurian kid so dangerous?\" asked Hot Stuff.\n\t\"I may not tell you that!\"\n\t\"Then let us help you,\" said Mowgli.\n\tCelestial Boy from the future shook his head. \"You must not!\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present nodded. \"I quite agree. If they truly are from the future, then the best thing we can do is forget we ever saw them.\"\n\tCelestial Boy from the future smiled at his counterpart. \"It is good to see that someone understands.\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present shrugged. \"Well, we are the same person. Good luck with your mission, Castor.\"\n\t\"Thank you, Castor.\" With that, Samtiss and Celestial Boy from the future flew off down the street to the east.\n\tMowgli turned to Celestial Boy of the present. \"Are we ever gonna find out what that was all about?\"\n\tCelestial Boy of the present smiled. \"Eventually.\"\n\t\n\tDorgok rounded a corner, and his pulse quickened as he saw the Bleak Harbinger towering majestically over the city, for it meant that his mother must be close by. He snarled as the UNTIL sky carrier hovering above blasted it with some kind of ray and heroes swarmed the Harbinger—shooting it, punching it, slashing it. They might win this day, but perhaps, if Dorgok succeeded in what he had come here to do, ultimate victory would belong to the Bleak Ones.\n\tSo entranced was he by the battle before him that he almost failed to hear a groan of pain from behind a pile of refuse nearby. He turned toward it, and his eyes went wide at what he saw. The groan had come from Samtiss, lying slumped against a wall, bleeding from several deep gashes across his scaled chest. His golden eyes looked up at his son in puzzlement. \"What are you doing here, child?\" he asked.\n\t\"I stowed away on a drilling machine,\" Dorgok replied. \"Who injured you so?\"\n\t\"Yareen the Defiler, a high priestess of Lemuria.\"\n\t\"But you are Lemurian. Why do you fight against your own people?\"\n\t\"Because they have made a terrible mistake. Following the Bleak Ones leads only to death.\"\n\t\"But the Bleak Ones created us to do their bidding. What purpose do we have if not to serve them?\"\n\t\"Parents create their children. That does not mean they own them. Each being must find its own purpose in life.\"\n\tDorgok flicked his tongue. \"What you speak is heresy. Blasphemy.\"\n\t\"Perhaps. But it is the truth.\"\n\t\"It is not our truth.\"\n\tSamtiss sighed. \"I would argue this further, but I fear I lack the strength. Might I impose upon you as a fellow Lemurian to help me back to the sewers? I do not wish to be found this way, either by our kind or by the humans.\"\n\tDorgok nodded and crouched down next to Samtiss, putting his left arm behind his father's finned back to support him. Samtiss groaned as he sat up. \"Thank you. What is your name, child?\"\n\t\"I am Dorgok, son of Yareen the Defiler and Samtiss the Traitor. And I am your executioner.\" And with that he lunged and sank his teeth into his father's throat.\n\tSamtiss gurgled as blood filled his mouth, and he slashed at Dorgok with his claws, tearing red streaks across his scaly blue skin, but the Lemurian boy did not let go until his father's body stopped thrashing and went limp. Dorgok stood up, feeling elated as he gazed down at the corpse before him and licked the blood from his lips. \"The sewers are where you belong, traitor,\" he hissed, \"but I have a task to complete. Perhaps later, Mother and I can defile your corpse together.\" Then he turned and began running in the direction of the Harbinger.\n\n\tSupersonic Squirrel hugged himself and shivered as he walked along the deserted street beside Katrina. The rain had soaked through his fur to his skin, and his tail hung behind him, drooping and sopping wet. He glanced up in annoyance at Katrina as she began to once again perform her off-key rendition of \"Singin' in the Rain.\"\n\t\"Will you stop that?\" he snapped.\n\tShe looked down at him, surprised. \"I'd have thought you'd like that song. It's from your time, after all.\"\n\t\"The song isn't the problem. It's your attitude.\"\n\t\"What's wrong with my attitude?\"\n\tSupersonic spread his arms. \"We're in the middle of an invasion! I wish you'd be a little more serious!\"\n\t\"I wish you'd be a little[i] less[/i] serious!\" Katrina shot back. \"For Pete's sake, you look like a cartoon and you walk around without any clothes on! It's a wonder you haven't been arrested for public indecency!\"\n\t\"I'm a squirrel! Squirrels don't wear clothes!\"\n\t\"Then how are you gonna hide your nuts?\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at her. \"Because I look the way I do, I have to be serious if I want to be taken seriously!\"\n\tKatrina regarded him for a moment. \"That's important to you, isn't it? To be taken seriously.\"\n\t\"Well, what I do is a serious business. People's lives are at stake!\"\n\tShe nodded, remembering how he'd saved her from falling to her death at the risk of his own life. \"Okay, point taken. I'll try to adjust my attitude.\" Then she looked down at his feet. \"Um, Supersonic?\"\n\t\"What?\"\n\t\"You're standing in blood.\"\n\tSupersonic looked down. A stream of crimson was flowing past his gray-furred feet. It appeared to be coming from an alley nearby. \"Come on!\" he said, running toward it. \"Someone might need help!\" Katrina ran after him. \n\tThey both froze in their tracks when they saw where the blood was coming from. \"It's Samtiss!\" cried Supersonic, running to the Lemurian's supine form and kneeling beside it.\n\tKatrina shook her head. \"It's no use, Supersonic. He's had it.\"\n\tSupersonic pressed an ear to the Lemurian's chest, then lifted his head. \"You're right. There's no heartbeat.\" He stood up, looking down sadly at the corpse. \"Who could have done this? It wasn't the fighters. His throat's been ripped out.\"\n\t\"A better question would be, is this the Samtiss from this time or our time?\"\n\t\"That's right!\" exclaimed Supersonic. \"He said he was here during the invasion.\" He looked down at the body. \"He's not wearing a recall device.\"\n\t\"That doesn't prove anything,\" said Katrina. \"Whoever killed him could have taken it. But if this is the Samtiss from this time, then he must have been killed by Dorgok.\"\n\t\"How do you figure that?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"Because the Samtiss of this time survived the invasion,\" Katrina replied, \"so the only thing that could have killed him is something that wasn't here that day.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"Something like Dorgok. But what would that mean for the Samtiss from our time?\"\n\tKatrina shrugged. \"Damned if I know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that we're in the past at all!\"\n\t\"Well, the body's still warm,\" said Supersonic. \"If Dorgok did this, then he must be close by.\"\n\t\"I'll scan the immediate area,\" said Katrina. She closed her eyes and concentrated, spreading her mental awareness across just a few city blocks. Her eyes snapped open. \"Got him!\"\n\tSupersonic grinned, baring his big buck teeth. \"Great! Let's go get him!\" He held out his arms to her.\n\t\"Okay,\" Katrina said, lowering herself reluctantly into his embrace. \"But stay close to the ground this time.\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"I promise!\" \n\tTogether, they flew off after Dorgok.\n\t\n\tYareen the Defiler's green, snakelike eyes watched with dismay as the Bleak Harbinger began to falter in its battle against the heroes of Millennium City. She was a tall, slim Lemurian woman with bluish-purple scales, wearing a mauve-and-silver chest plate, pauldrons, loincloth, and crested headdress, with cloth wraps around her lower arms and legs. She was standing in a parking lot beside the Detroit River with two other Lemurian adepts, guarded by a pair of stone golems—giant statues shaped like humanoid reptiles. That blasted sky carrier had turned the tide against them. Even the addition of flights of Exocet fighters diverted from other areas was not proving enough to protect the Harbinger. The heroes kept knocking the fighters out of the air, enabling the sky carrier to blast the Harbinger with its radiation cannon. If the Harbinger fell, the invasion was finished.\n\t\"Perhaps we should attack the sky carrier, mistress?\" suggested the frost adept floating beside her, brushing a coating of ice crystals from his chest, where they kept building up as raindrops hit him and froze.\n\tYareen shook her head. \"Its guns would mow us down before we even got near it.\"\n\t\"There must be something we can do!\" cried the other adept, an ionic with electricity arcing across his body.\n\t\"I fear our part in this battle is ended,\" said Yareen. Her tongue flicked as the Harbinger roared one last time and collapsed into the river, its body crumbling into a pile of rubble. It had never really been alive—just a mass of rock and seaweed animated by Lemurian sorcery, much like the stone golems. She turned to the other Lemurians, who were watching helplessly as their dream died before them. \"We must retreat. Head for the nearest tunnel. Do not despair, brothers. The humans may have won this day, but there will be other battles. The Bleak Ones shall yet triumph!\" Her tongue flicked again as she rose from the ground. This day had been a terrible setback, an enormous waste of their limited resources. The only bright spot for her had been defeating her former lover Samtiss and watching him flee like the coward he was. The memory brought a smile to her reptilian face.\n\t\"Mother!\" came a high, rasping voice, causing her to pause and turn toward it. Her eyes widened with surprise at the sight of a blue Lemurian boy in a loincloth running toward her, his clawed feet splashing in the water covering the parking lot.\n\t\"Who are you, child?\" Yareen asked, puzzled. \"What are you doing here? And why do you call me mother?\"\n\tThe boy stopped before her, his scaly chest heaving as he panted from his exertions. \"I am Dorgok, your son!\"\n\t\"Son?\" Yareen hissed. \"What nonsense is this? I have no child . . . yet.\" There was an egg in an incubator back in her fortress in the Qliphoth, the product of her last union with Samtiss before he had turned traitor, but it had yet to hatch.\n\t\"I am from the future!\" said Dorgok. \"I have come to warn you! To save you!\"\n\tYareen's mouth fell open. \"From the future?\" She inspected the boy more closely. Yes, there was a resemblance, both to herself and to Samtiss. \"But how is this possible?\"\n\t\"That is not important,\" said Dorgok. \"A year from now—\" \n\tThen he stopped, his eyes going wide, and clutched at his throat with his left hand. Yareen looked up to see a small, grey-furred creature flying across the parking lot toward them, carrying a white-haired human female in its arms. \"Uh uh uh, Dorgok,\" the girl said. \"No giving away the ending!\"\n\tYareen snarled. She did not know who these interlopers were, nor did she care. Clearly, they were somehow stopping Dorgok from telling her about the future, and that must not be permitted. She pointed a clawed finger at the pair and addressed the other Lemurians. \"Kill them both, now!\"\n\tSupersonic set Katrina down and built up a sphere of super-compressed air between his hands as the two stone golems lumbered toward them, the ground shaking beneath their feet. He released the sphere in a blast at one of the golems, but it barely slowed the thing down. Then he flew toward them, a vortex of wind swirling around his small form, pushing them back, away from Katrina. The golems flailed with their thick arms, trying to reach him and failing. He chittered triumphantly, then screeched as a bolt of lightning from the ionic adept hit him, making his fur stand on end and dropping him to the ground.\n\t\"You know,\" said Supersonic, getting to his feet and rubbing his head, \"I'm really getting tired of that.\" Then he looked up and saw the two golems looming over him, massive stony fists poised to strike. \"Uh oh.\"\n\tKatrina watched in horror as the golems prepared to make the squirrel one with the asphalt. She was using her mental powers to paralyze Dorgok's vocal cords, preventing him from speaking. Switching targets would release him. Besides, the golems were simply animated statues with no minds to affect. Stopping Dorgok from telling Yareen about the future was paramount. She was sure Supersonic would have agreed with that, even been willing to die to accomplish it. Still, her mind searched for some way to help him.\n\tSupersonic erected a dome of solidified air over himself as the golems struck, their mighty fists pounding on its surface. He winced at the force of the impacts. It wouldn't withstand another combined blow like that. He glanced over at Dorgok, who was still struggling to speak, and then rocketed out from beneath the two golems, plowing into Dorgok and wrapping an arm around the Lemurian boy's waist, bearing him up and away from Yareen.\n\tKatrina grinned. With Dorgok out of earshot, she was free to act. She concentrated on Yareen, blasting the Lemurian woman with psychic energy, trying to overload her brain. Yareen reeled, then glared and hissed at Katrina. \"Foolish girl, you seek to pit your puny powers against my dark sorcery? Very well!\" She raised a clawed hand, and tendrils of darkness snaked from it and wrapped around Katrina, paralyzing her and sucking the life from her body. \"Your soul will be my gift to the Bleak Ones!\"\n\t\"I think not, Yareen,\" came a voice she knew far too well. She whirled to see Samtiss and a human-looking boy in winged red-and-purple armor flying down from the sky toward her.\n\tYareen snarled. \"Samtiss, you have returned for still more punishment? Have you not yet learned you are no match for me?\"\n\t\"I know that, Yareen,\" Samtiss replied. \"That is why I brought friends.\"\n\t\"You have no friends, traitor!\" shrieked Yareen. \"Now die!\" And she fired a shaft of darkness at him. Samtiss erected an electrical shield, blunting her attack, and hurled a lightning bolt back, stunning her. Then he turned to face the frost adept, who was flying toward him, his body shrouded in freezing mist.\n\tMeanwhile, Celestial Boy landed next to Katrina, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position, and bathed her in silvery light from his hands. She groaned and sat up, hugging herself. \"Wow, that was really unpleasant!\" she said.\n\t\"This seems likely to be, as well,\" said Celestial Boy, looking past her.\n\tKatrina turned her head to see the two stone golems charging toward them, and sighed. \"Oh, shit . . .\"\n\tHigh above the parking lot, Supersonic was struggling with Dorgok as the Lemurian boy clawed ferociously at the squirrel with his one hand. He howled in pain as Dorgok sank his needle-like teeth into the squirrel's shoulder. \"Ow! You little punk!\" snarled Supersonic, and slugged the Lemurian boy across his snout. Dorgok went limp and slipped out of his grasp. Appalled at what he'd just done, Supersonic dove after the boy, grasping his left arm and stopping his fall. He glanced down at the pavement far below. There was one sure, certain way to prevent Dorgok from telling his mother about the future, he thought to himself. Then he shook his head. \"No, I can't do it,\" he said. \"I'm not a killer, and you're just a kid. A Lemurian kid, but still a kid.\"\n\tA bolt of lightning struck him, and for the fourth time in one day, Supersonic was electrified. As he and Dorgok both began to fall, the ionic adept who had fired the bolt flew up and snatched Dorgok out of the air, turning and flying back toward Yareen, leaving the unconscious squirrel to pinwheel toward the ground.\n\tThe frost adept raised his arms, and Samtiss was suddenly encased in a block of ice. Had Samtiss been human, the sudden chill might have induced immediate hypothermia, but fortunately he was a Lemurian, a creature native to the frigid ocean depths, and hence naturally resistant to cold. Electricity surged around his scaly body, causing the block to burst apart, spraying shards of ice in every direction. Then it arced from his clawed fingers to the frost adept's chest, causing the other Lemurian to go rigid as his muscles locked up. Samtiss growled as he continued to pour on the volts until the frost adept lay sprawled on the asphalt, shocked senseless.\n\t\"Go assist Samtiss,\" Celestial Boy told Katrina. \"I will deal with the golems.\" She nodded, as there was nothing she could do against the mindless stone constructs anyway, and ran to join the Lemurian. \n\tYareen had recovered and now glared hatefully at both Samtiss and Katrina, an aura of dark magic crackling around her. \"You turn to this human cow for help?\" she hissed. \"You are pathetic, Samtiss!\"\n\t\"Who are you calling a cow, skank?\" Katrina shot back, and let loose a powerful mind blast at the same time Samtiss fired a massive surge of electricity from his hands. Both attacks struck Yareen, staggering her, though her aura absorbed most of the damage. She growled and made a motion with her hands, and a swirling vortex of darkness appeared before Samtiss and Katrina, drawing them both inexorably toward it.\n\tAs the two golems bore down on Celestial Boy, the youthful Elysian built up a knot of cosmic energy in his body and released it at the one closest to him, blasting it to pieces. The remaining golem swung a huge stone fist at him, catching him across the chest and knocking him into a nearby brick wall. While he was still regaining his feet, the golem charged at him, its fingers outstretched, and he barely managed to elude its grasp by flying straight up, out of its reach. The golem responded by tearing a thick chunk of asphalt out of the ground and hurling it at the flying boy. The chunk narrowly missed, and Celestial Boy fired a bolt of cosmic energy back at the golem, blowing off its left arm, which seemed to bother it not at all. The golem stooped, picked up its severed left arm with its right hand, and tossed it at the Elysian, scoring a hit and sending him tumbling head over heels through the air.\n\tSupersonic Squirrel felt the wind blowing across his face, and his eyes blinked open to see the street rushing up to greet him. He reacted automatically, following the age-old instinct of his species, spreading his arms and legs wide so the loose flaps of skin between them would catch the air and slow his fall. That ancient reflex saved his life, giving him time to summon a gust of wind to lift himself upward before he hit the pavement. Taking a moment to orient himself, he spotted the ionic adept carrying Dorgok back toward Yareen, and barrelled after them.\n\t\"It's pulling me in!\" Katrina cried, her feet skidding along the wet surface of the parking lot as the dark vortex drew her closer. Samtiss seized her wrist with one clawed hand and tried to fly in the opposite direction, but had no better luck resisting the tug of the vortex than Katrina had.\n\t\"Look upon the face of primal chaos, you fools!\" crowed Yareen, her snouted face split in a serpentine grin. \"Welcome to oblivion!\" Samtiss and Katrina both felt cold terror grip their hearts as the swirling darkness grew larger before them.\n\tAt that moment, Celestial Boy flew past them, headed directly toward the vortex. Before their minds could process what the Elysian was doing, the remaining golem pounded past them as well, pursuing him. At the last moment, Celestial Boy veered aside, skirting the vortex, while the golem, its inertia too great for it to stop, plowed straight in. Its massive stone body dissolved into nothingness as the chaos ate it, the forces that held its molecules together no longer having any meaning. Choked by the golem's bulk, the vortex winked out, and the backlash sent Yareen flying.\n\tYareen got to her feet, shaking her head to clear it, and growled at the trio standing defiantly before her—a human, a Lemurian, and an Elysian. \"You have not won yet, heroes. Not while I—\" \n\tShe never finished her sentence, as a gray streak slammed into her from behind, knocking her down. She looked up blearily to see the small furry form of Supersonic Squirrel standing over her, hands on hips, his buck teeth gleaming as he smiled down at her, his rain-streaked goggles covering his eyes.\n\t\"Now we have!\" said Katrina, grinning triumphantly.\n\t\"Stupid . . . mammals,\" muttered Yareen the Defiler, as she slumped face-first into a puddle and lapsed into unconsciousness.\n\tSupersonic turned to the ionic adept, who was floating a short distance away, holding the limp form of Dorgok in his arms. \"Put the boy down and go,\" the squirrel ordered him. The Lemurian needed no further urging. He laid Dorgok on the ground and flew off as fast as he could.\n\tKatrina ran to Supersonic and threw her arms around the squirrel, hugging him and kissing his muzzle, and Supersonic responded in kind, smiling up at her. \"I'm glad you're okay,\" he said.\n\t\"You and me both!\" said Katrina, grinning. \"I was wor—wondering what had happened to you!\"\n\t\"Well, that appears to be that,\" said Celestial Boy. \"We should depart as quickly as possible, before we do any damage to the time stream.\"\n\t\"Um, yeah,\" said Katrina, \"about that . . .\"\n\t\"What?\" asked Celestial Boy, looking puzzled.\n\tShe turned her gaze to Samtiss, noting the recall device on his wrist. \"I don't know how to tell you this, Sam, but you're dead.\"\n\tSamtiss blinked his golden eyes. \"Dead?\"\n\tSupersonic nodded. \"We found the body of your past self a couple blocks from here. We think Dorgok killed him.\"\n\t\"I see,\" said Samtiss, his tongue flickering. For a moment, no one spoke.\n\t\"So, what happens now?\" asked Katrina. \"I mean, he's dead in the past. Shouldn't his future self, like, fade away or something?\"\n\t\"Apparently,\" said Celestial Boy, \"it does not work like that. And yet, we must assume that changing the past changes the future. That is, after all, why we came here.\"\n\t\"If that is the case,\" said Samtiss, \"then my absence in the past could have a significant effect on the future.\"\n\t\"How do you mean?\" asked Supersonic.\n\t\"I teamed up with Nightmunk when he was investigating the events that led to the discovery of the plot to free the Kings of Edom from their prisons. If I had not been there, I doubt he would have survived to tell anyone what he had learned, and the plot might well have succeeded.\"\n\t\"So your presence in the past is essential to thwarting the plot,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"But we know the plot fails!\" said Katrina. \"We're all from a time after that!\"\n\t\"True,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but since the death of Samtiss's past self has not eradicated his future self, there is no reason to assume that changing the future would affect us while we are in the past. If it did, the result would be a logically impossible paradox.\"\n\t\"I don't follow you,\" said Supersonic, looking confused.\n\t\"It's the Grandfather Paradox,\" Katrina explained. \"I saw this in a movie once. A man goes back in time and kills his own grandfather. That means he was never born. But if he was never born, he can't go back in time to kill him, so his grandfather must still be alive. But if his grandfather is alive, then he can go back in time and kill him, so his grandfather must be dead. And so on.\"\n\t\"In fact,\" said Celestial Boy, \"that principle would apply to any aspect of time travel, since going back in time to either change the past or prevent it from being changed negates your reason for going there, so you would not have gone back in the first place.\"\n\t\"Ugh!\" said Supersonic. \"You could go nuts thinking about this stuff!\"\n\t\"It just means that from where we are now, the future is in a state of flux,\" said Katrina. \"But if we go back, what kind of future would we be returning to?\"\n\t\"Possibly one in which the plot succeeds,\" said Celestial Boy, \"if Samtiss is not there to help stop it.\"\n\t\"In that case,\" said Samtiss, \"I must stay here.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"Unquestionably.\"\n\t\"And live through the events of the next year all over again, as if you were your past self?\" asked Katrina.\n\t\"There would seem to be no alternative,\" Samtiss replied.\n\t\"But what happens when you get to the point when you go into the past with us?\" asked Katrina. \"Wouldn't you be trapped in an infinite loop, reliving the same year over and over forever? That would be like being in hell!\"\n\tSamtiss shrugged. \"If that is what must be done.\"\n\tKatrina just stared at the Lemurian, unable to believe he'd be willing to make such a sacrifice.\n\t\"That's what being a hero is about, Katrina,\" said Supersonic, squeezing her hand. \"It's not about having superpowers. It's about being willing to make the tough choices—even lay down your life, if necessary.\"\n\tCelestial Boy walked over to the still unconscious Dorgok, picked him up, and brought him back to the others as rivulets of water trickled down the boy's blue-scaled body. \"The rain is getting heavier,\" he observed. \"We should be going. Goodbye, Samtiss. You are a credit to all Lemurians.\"\n\t\"Goodbye, Celestial Boy,\" Samtiss replied. \"Please look after my son.\"\n\t\"That is very magnanimous of you,\" said Celestial Boy, \"considering he is the cause of all this.\"\n\t\"It is not his fault,\" said Samtiss. \"He was only trying to save his mother. The child has yet to be born who would not move heaven and earth to do that.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded and touched his recall device, and he and Dorgok winked out of existence.\n\t\"Come on, Katrina,\" said Supersonic. \"Let's go.\"\n\tShe whirled on him and shook him by his shoulders. \"We can't do this! We can't condemn him to this existence!\"\n\t\"It's his choice,\" said Supersonic, swallowing. \"And there's no other way to make sure things work out like they're supposed to.\" He turned to the Lemurian. \"Goodbye, Samtiss. It was an honor to meet you.\" And he, too, winked out.\n\tKatrina stood facing Samtiss in the pouring rain, gazing at the lizard man as water flowed down his scaly brown body. She bit her lip, blinking water from her eyes. \"I'm sorry,\" she said.\n\tAnd then he was alone.\n\n\tKatrina stepped out of the glowing portal at the center of the time machine and descended the ramp to the floor. Supersonic Squirrel was standing at the base of the ramp, looking up at her, his big eyes filled with sorrow. Nearby, Celestial Boy was talking to Juryrig, and Dorgok was lying unconscious at their feet. Katrina knelt down before Supersonic and put her arms around him, resting her head on his damp, furry shoulder. Supersonic stroked her white hair gently and patted her on the back.\n\tAnd then, Samtiss stepped out of the machine.\n\t\"Well, that was interesting,\" the Lemurian said, his tongue flicking.\n\t\"Samtiss?\" gasped Supersonic, as he and Katrina stared up at him. \"What are you doing back here? Did you change your mind?\"\n\tThe Lemurian shook his head. \"No, I simply found a very literal loophole.\"\n\t\"What kind of loophole?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\tSamtiss descended the ramp to join them. \"After we went through the machine for the second time—\"\n\t\"The second time?\" Supersonic interrupted. \"But we only went back once!\"\n\t\"Not from my perspective,\" said Samtiss. \"From my perspective, we went back twice. To continue, after we went back the second time, I realized that all I had to do to break the loop was to prevent Dorgok from killing my past self. When we all became separated, I went to my past self and got him to safety, then rejoined Celestial Boy. After that, events played out more or less as they had before, save that it was no longer necessary for me to remain in the past, so I returned to the present with you.\"\n\t\"So you lived through the past year all over again?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSamtiss nodded. \"As I said, it was very interesting, knowing everything that was going to happen before it did. Rather like being in a play. I can understand now why actors grow weary of doing the same thing night after night, though. Doing it once was fun, but I would not want to go through it all again.\"\n\t\"Most plays don't last a whole year,\" said Katrina, smiling. \"It's good to have you back, Samtiss.\"\n\t\"It is good to be back,\" said Samtiss, \"and to once again not know what the future holds.\"\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"As it should be. And now, since time has resumed its normal shape . . .\" He raised his arm, aiming it at the time machine, and his hand began to glow with silvery light that grew steadily brighter.\n\t\"Wait!\" protested Juryrig. \"What are you doing?\"\n\t\"None of this would have been necessary if you had not built that cursed thing in the first place,\" said Celestial Boy, his hand blindingly bright now. \"I will never understand why you humans insist on meddling with forces beyond your control.\"\n\tSupersonic interposed himself between Celestial Boy and the machine. \"You have no right to do this!\"\n\t\"I have every right,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was sent here to protect humanity from cosmic threats. I think this machine qualifies.\"\t\n\t\"Would you have stopped Chuck Yeager from breaking the sound barrier?\" Supersonic asked.\n\t\"Breaking the sound barrier and breaking the time barrier are two very different things,\" said Celestial Boy. \"Now, please stand aside, Supersonic.\"\n\tThe squirrel shook his head. \"That's not gonna happen!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned, then appeared to become distracted by something. The glow around his hand faded and he lowered it. \"As you wish,\" he said, sighing.\n\t\"Glad you changed your mind,\" said Supersonic, grinning. \"I don't like having to fight my friends.\"\n\t\"I did not change my mind,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I was given countermanding orders.\"\n\tSupersonic raised an eyebrow. \"By who?\"\n\t\"I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal that,\" replied Celestial Boy. \"And please do not try to read my mind, Katrina. It will avail you nothing.\"\n\t\"I wasn't gonna, honest,\" said Katrina, innocently.\n\t\"Well,\" said Celestial Boy, \"we appear to be done here.\" He raised his arm, there was a flash, and his armor was gone, replaced by his usual purple-and-red skintight costume. He turned to Juryrig. \"I believe you mentioned something about pizza?\"\n\t\n\tJuryrig's workshop was the scene of a modest celebration. Three large pizzas lay atop a rickety card table—one with pepperoni and sausage, one with anchovies, and one with ham and pineapple. Each had several slices missing. Juryrig, Celestial Boy, and Samtiss were standing by the table, each consuming a slice, and Supersonic and Katrina were sitting together by the control console doing the same. Dorgok sat by himself off to one side, glaring at the others. The time machine was silent, having been shut down so its noise would not drown out the music coming from an old Wurlitzer juke box, which was presently playing Jerry Lee Lewis's \"Great Balls of Fire.\"\n\t\"What do you think?\" Celestial Boy asked Samtiss, watching the Lemurian sample a slice of anchovy pizza.\n\t\"I like the fish,\" Samtiss said. \"It is a shame they combine it with fermented cow's milk and crushed vegetable matter.\"\n\t\"Next time, ah'll order sushi,\" said Juryrig.\n\t\"What are you going to do with him?\" asked Celestial Boy, nodding toward Dorgok.\n\t\"I do not know,\" said Samtiss, gazing at his son. \"He clearly despises me, yet I am all he has. I thought I could rehabilitate him. Now, I am not so sure. Perhaps there is too much of his mother in him.\"\n\t\"He also has you in him,\" said Celestial Boy. \"I think it is too early to give up on him just yet.\"\n\t\"But I have no idea what to do,\" said Samtiss, shrugging helplessly. \"I have no experience at being a father.\"\n\t\"Nobody is ever prepared to be a father,\" said Juryrig. \"It's strictly learn-as-you-go.\"\n\t\"He may need more than you alone can give, though,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"What do you mean?\" asked Samtiss.\n\t\"Perhaps he would benefit from being around others his own age, at least emotionally, if not chronologically. The Millennium Guard is a group of young heroes. We are used to dealing with unusual things. We could keep an eye on him for you, and try to set an example for him to follow.\"\n\t\"You would take him into your group?\" asked Samtiss, astonished.\n\t\"As a probationary member,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"He would not be of much use to you in his current de-powered state,\" observed Samtiss.\n\tCelestial Boy nodded. \"We could ask Dr. Ka to restore his powers, with the understanding that he will lose them if he misuses them.\"\n\t\"That sounds awful risky,\" said Juryrig doubtfully.\n\t\"I agree that there is danger,\" said Celestial Boy, \"but the alternative is to simply lock him away, which would only feed his hatred. That would be a waste.\"\n\t\"The idea has merit,\" said Samtiss. \"I believe it is worth a try.\"\n\tBy the console, Supersonic grimaced as he watched Katrina eat her slice of pizza. \"Pineapple on pizza?\"\n\tShe nodded. \"Pineapple pizza is the best pizza.\"\n\t\"I don't know about that,\" said Supersonic.\n\t\"You put pineapple slices on baked ham, right? That's traditional.\"\n\t\"Yeah, I guess so . . .\"\n\t\"How is this any different?\"\n\tSupersonic decided to change the subject. \"You handled yourself really well back there.\"\n\tKatrina laughed. \"I was scared to death the whole time!\"\n\tHe shrugged. \"So? You think I don't get scared sometimes? It's normal to be afraid.\"\n\t\"You hide it well,\" she said. \"I think you're the bravest person I've ever met.\"\n\tSupersonic squirmed. Praise always made him feel uncomfortable. \"Thanks,\" he said. \"That's very nice of you to say.\"\n\tShe smiled. \"See? I can be nice sometimes.\"\n\t\"You know, the Millennium Guard could really use someone with powers like yours.\"\n\tShe stared at him. \"You want to me to join your group?\"\n\t\"Well, you said you wanted to turn over a new leaf. Here's your chance!\"\n\tShe chuckled and shook her head. \"Nah, I'm not much of a joiner. But if you'd like to hang out together when we get back to Millennium City, that'd be okay.\"\n\tHe smiled and nodded. \"I'd like that.\"\n\tKatrina grinned. \"Wanna make out?\"\n\tSupersonic's eyes went wide. \"What?\"\n\t\"You know, kiss. Smooch. Snog. Suck face.\"\n\tSupersonic bit his lip. \"Do you think it would be right? I mean, you're human and I'm a squirrel!\"\n\tShe shrugged. \"I don't care about that if you don't.\"\n\tSupersonic gazed at her, remembering that she was a girl of another time, where the social conventions he'd grown up with no longer applied. Then he leaned forward and pressed his muzzle to her lips, kissing them gently. She wrapped her arms around him, and he around her, and they squeezed each other as their mouths moved together.\n\t\"Supersonic?\" came Celestial Boy's voice from behind him. \n\tThe squirrel's eyes snapped open, and he broke the kiss and turned his head to look at the Elysian youth. \"Yes?\"\n\t\"A word, please?\"\n\tSupersonic let go of Katrina and hopped down off his chair, walking over to Celestial Boy. \"What do you want?\" he asked, sounding a trifle annoyed.\n\t\"What do you think you are doing?\" asked Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I think I was kissing Katrina,\" Supersonic replied, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.\n\t\"You know she is a criminal.\"\n\t\"Weren't we trying to help her go straight?\"\n\t\"And you think this is the best way to accomplish that?\"\n\t\"Maybe. What business is it of yours, anyway?\"\n\tCelestial Boy sighed. \"Supersonic, you have a good heart, but you are rather naive in the ways of the world.\"\n\tThe squirrel threw up his hands. \"You think I don't know that? Look, if I'm gonna live in the real world, I have to learn more about it. She can take me places I've never been before!\"\n\t\"Let us hope they have penicillin there.\"\n\tSupersonic scowled at him. \"You know what you are, Castor?\"\n\t\"Pray, tell.\"\n\t\"You're a snob!\"\n\tCelestial Boy frowned. \"I assure you, I have taken pains not to be, despite considerable temptation to the contrary.\"\n\tSupersonic threw up his hands. \"There, you see? You just as much as said you think you're better than the rest of us!\"\n\t\"Admittedly, there are times when the denizens of this world try even my patience,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"Well, we won't try it any further, then.\" Supersonic walked back over to Katrina. \"Come on, let's go.\"\n\t\"Go where?\" asked Katrina.\n\tSupersonic shrugged. \"This town is full of jazz clubs. Let's hit some.\"\n\tKatrina chuckled. \"Just like that, huh?\"\n\tHe nodded. \"Just like that.\"\n\t\"Sure, why not? Sounds like fun.\" She stood up and addressed the others. \"If we're not back by tomorrow, call the La Cucharacha Hotel in Tijuana, room 306.\" And with that, she and Supersonic left the room.\n\tCelestial Boy watched them go, then turned and walked over to Dorgok. The Lemurian boy looked up at him sullenly. \"What do you want?\" he growled.\n\t\"I thought perhaps you might like to join us for some pizza,\" said Celestial Boy.\n\t\"I do not want any of your human food!\" snarled Dorgok.\n\t\"Very well,\" said Celestial Boy. \"But we shall save you some in any case.\"\n\tDorgok looked at him, puzzled, as Celestial Boy went back to the table and helped himself to another slice.\n\t"
}