I had a massive hangover the next day when I finally woke up. The commissioner had paid the bounty for all of the Sugar Gliders, along with a bonus for Dale’s “sculpture.” You may think I’m joking, but the museum sealed the body in preserving enzymes, and it became a part of the regular display the same day.

Yeah, that’s how weird City is.

The museum even asked Dale to make another statue…using City’s illustrious mayor. Of course, that may have to do with his cutting their funding that year.

Needless to say, we turned down their generous offer.

Anyway, we went to this one little cantina that’s a known dive for the city’s villains, and let me tell you, that place was empty the second we walked in. We had to hunt down the bartender and band to drag them back in, but the night went pretty smoothly after that.

(more…)

Simon waved to everyone before leading me by the hand out of the bank. No one waved back. They were still too stunned by Simon’s performance to do anything but stand and stare.

How strange we must have looked as we made our exit. Me, a rather bland looking girl who appeared twelve, walking hand in hand with a boy who seemed nine or ten at best, and even then he would have to be called a runt. We were both dressed in plain clothes, and neither of us looked the least bit threatening.

I got over my shock only a few steps out of the bank. What Simon had done was strange, sure. But I was so used to strange events that this didn’t have the power to render me speechless.

Thus we were only a half a block away when I started laughing. “You didn’t need my help at all. You just wanted an audience.”

Simon’s eyes twinkled with merry glee as he nodded. “It seemed like a fair trade for the line dancing seminar you held at Petey Pest’s Pizza.” Chuckling with a wickedness that seemed wrong for his voice and his body, he added, “I haven’t seen anything that funny since Lil’ Joe’s record release party.”

(more…)

I went to Wally’s shop as soon as I woke up and changed clothes. I didn’t bother with showering since the hole in my side would make it into a task too complex for my liking.

I was hoping I could get some news on my nanites while I picked up extra cans of healing spray. My open wounds ached, and I had trouble just walking because I was still only breathing with one lung.

Despite my poor condition, Wally took me to breakfast first. I ate four eggs and half a dozen sausage patties like I was starving, and we talked about the fight the night before, and about the odd appearance of a boulder in the rock pile. We could think of no logical answers for how it got there, so we pushed the matter aside for another time and went to the lab.

I knew Morgan wouldn’t have any answers for me just yet, but I still felt nervous as Wally and I rode the elevator down to the lab.

The chomps greeted us at the door, and Fluffy nuzzled me affectionately, putting some of his body weight on me and straining my wounds.

I noticed that Fluffy seemed smaller than he had been on my last visit. But more than that, his body was much lighter than I would have expected. He certainly hadn’t felt so light last time. It was like he was now just a furry balloon.

(more…)

It took us forever to get to the pizza parlor because we let Dale pick the place he wanted to go. We also let him take the lead, so of course we got to there about a half an hour after we left Wally’s shop.

Still fuming over being teased, I was silent for most of the trip. Wally and Dale spent that time discussing the better vegetable to go on pizza: pepperoni or chocolate chips.

To be honest, Dale did most of the talking while Wally stared with an expression of morbid fascination.

My mood improved once I’d had a few slices of pizza, and I was even smiling when Dale pleaded for permission to go play games.

He took off and Wally chuckled, shaking his head at me. “Okay, you like him for what reason?”

(more…)

When I woke up, all of my skin had returned, though I was covered in thick white scars that burned. Dale stood over me, and I had again found myself on the same table. The blood had disappeared from the room, so I was fairly certain that all my parts were back in order.

I grabbed a canister of healing spay from Wally and practically showered in it, sighing with relief as my pain was reduced to a minor itch.

My second “nap” had lasted three hours, and in that time Dale had adapted to his collar quickly. Dale stood beside me, waving his arms excitedly as he described his first trial flight with a collar.

He finished and stood panting the middle of the room, his eyes glowing. “Flying is neat,” he decided at last. “I think I could look everywhere at once.”

(more…)

Three thirty rolled around, and I went to my front door, smiling as I heard someone walking up the steps to my apartment. I opened the door and waved to Dale, who appeared awed by my act of “precognition” as he climbed the last few steps.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“You’re easy to predict.” I held up my hand to stop him from asking anything. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Let me lock up and we’ll go see a friend of mine. After that we can go on a patrol together.”

Dale’s eyes grew wide, and then he smiled like a kid spotting a huge present under the Christmas tree. “A real patrol? To look for bad guys for real?”

“Yes, a real patrol.” I locked my door and went down the stairs, making a bee line for the bus stop.

“Terry, my car—”

“No!” I yelled, coughing to cover for myself. “What I mean is, we have to travel incognito for this trip.” I grimaced when Dale nodded absently. “I lost you, didn’t I?”

Dale grinned. “Yep!”

Smacking my forehead, I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder, trying to think of the right thing to say. “We can’t use your car because the bad guys know to look for your gremlin. You’ve lost your stealth mode.”

I resisted the urge to kick him when he pouted.

(more…)

What I found when I got home was a long streak of blood running up my leg and the side of my shirt. As I looked closer in the full-length closet mirror, I could even find a few speckles on my cheek, hiding out among my freckles.

I glared at Chet and then returned to examining my stained clothing.

I mean, he could have said something sensible before we left the store. Something like “Oh my God! Terry, you’re covered in blood!”

At the very least, “so is that your new costume?” Which would have let me know that I needed to clean up or cover myself.

Instead he waited until we got my apartment. I’d been staring at this red line for nearly two minutes before he chuckled. “I thought it matched your hair perfectly.”

(more…)

Damn. You’d think a smart girl like me could avoid a lonely retard, but my day wouldn’t be complete without a visit from my new best buddy.

I opened the door to a soft knock just seconds after the furniture delivery crew left. I thought it was one of the movers knocking after opening the envelope containing his bonus—which would be kept off the company records, of course.

That was why I didn’t check the peephole.

That and taking a chair across the room seemed like too much work. In retrospect, I really should have made the effort, because I could have hidden inside my house all day.

Instead I opened the door, and then sighed at the of the worst use of oxygen the planet had ever seen standing on my doorstep.

It was the hopeful look in his eyes that annoyed me, like I was a sucker for any old sob story.

“Dale, what do you want?” I held up my hand before he could speak. “No, better yet, how did you find my apartment?”

(more…)

When I left Joe’s apartment the next day to go shopping for furniture, I ran into Dale again. I was tempted to ask what I’d done do deserve this in my past life, but I knew that would lead to my feeble conscience reading me a list of every crime I’d committed as Icee.

I scowled as I leaned over to look through the passenger window. “Are you stalking me?”

Dale leaned toward the driver’s side door like he was trying to avoid my hate vibes. “No,” he whined. “It’s just, I haven’t made up for your bad day yet.”

“You know what? You can help,” I said, and then opened the door. “If you can take me to a furniture store that’s near here, I’ll forgive you, and then you can move on, okay?”

He nodded and beamed a smile of childlike brightness. “Okay!”

Long story short, I spent three hours listening to Ride of the Valkyries while Dale made up new lyrics every time the song played. Granted, he had a nice voice, but I spent three hours listening to nonsense like: “I’ve got a pony! I’m just so happy! I call him Slappy, and together we ride!”

(more…)

I wandered around my new neighborhood late in the afternoon. Wally had let me crash on his couch before he took me out to find an apartment not too far from Morgan’s lab. I could reach it by walking, or if I was feeling lazy, I could take one bus and be at the hospital in three minutes.

We had a bed delivered from a local store, and with my most pressing tasks accomplished, I began exploring to memorize the businesses around my apartment complex.

I was  just starting to think about a late lunch when I heard a familiar engine idling behind me. Groaning, I turned around, and the green Gremlin was indeed coasting near the curb.

The man behind the wheel didn’t have on a costume, and when our eyes met, he ran a hand over his wavy blond hair.

Pulling up to the curb, he parked the car and said, “Hi.”

I strolled to his car, curious to see what he was up to.

He drummed his fingers on his steering wheel. “Uh, my name is Dale, but uh…you met me as someone else.”

“Yes, Dale, I remember your car.” I waved toward the hood. “It’s obvious who you are with this huge TM logo on the hood, you know?”

(more…)