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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:35:09 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:38:19 GMT -5
Powers, Inc.
Issue 1: "The Official Title"
Written by Ramon Villalobos
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by No One That Will Take Credit For This! |
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:38:46 GMT -5
In the heart of Josiah Powers’ office...
Josiah Powers leaned back in his large Italian leather office chair. He
looked around his enormous office and down at his giant marble desktop. On
it were files of “superheroes” that he had scheduled meetings with throughout the day. The wall directly across from him displayed the time with its giant ornate hands. Josiah’s head began to bead with sweat and as he took giant puffs from his thick Cuban cigar and the ashes burned the tasty tightly rolled tobacco he slid a folder with a glossy 8x10 photograph
clipped to it with his rough calloused finger to his new second in
command of the operation, Oberon. Oberon, who looked like a deer in the
headlights, fidgeted in the oversized chair and tried to get
his tiny arms comfortable on the massive chair’s armrests.
“Josie boy,” he began raising an eyebrow and giving up his struggle with the chair to
point his stubby pink index finger up into the puffs of smoke being blown
out by Josiah, “You won’t regret this, I promise. Now what do we got here?”
“I don’t know who is up first.”
“Ummm…” Oberon nearly climbed onto the gargantuan desk and shuffled through
his boss’ planner and the files. As he scattered the folders he
began rubbing on his bald rubbery head. It made a distinct squeaking that
would begin and pause sporadically.
Josiah sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his ashtray.
Oberon began to fidget in his leather chair causing the exterior to rub
against his polyester suit and create an odd swishing sound. Josiah sat
quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his
ashtray. Oberon began whistling the Suzanne Vega song Tom’s Diner. Josiah
sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his
ashtray. As Oberon reached and whistled his way past the intro he began rapping
his knuckles against the desk to add his own crude percussion section.
Josiah sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes
into his ashtray. Now far into the first chorus Oberon was nodding his head
up and caught up in his melody began to sing along, “Do do doo do do- do do
doo do do dooo do- do do doo do do doo do- I opened up the paper…”
Josiah sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his
ashtray, lowered his head and slid his eyeglasses down to the bridge of his
Roman profile nose and gave Oberon a look that spoke a thousand words.
Oberon continued, “I am feeling someone watching me and so I raise my-”
before he could finish he glanced up and was startled by his employer’s
powerful gaze. “Is there a possibility we could get a radio in here?”
Josiah sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his
ashtray.
“Do you have to give me that look? I can feel your look!”
“No, and Yes. Agenda. First. Tell me.”
“Hey,” Oberon started puffing up his chubby little cheeks and shrugging his
shoulders, “Fehgettaboutit. Oh um, right the agenda, wasn’t it… that is, the
kid right? Because of her school?” Oberon reached out for an answer,
scrunched his face in, and pointed up into the air, “The Green Kid, ummm
Spears, Audrey right? What was her hero name?” he said frantically whipping
his head back and forth. “Prysm!” Oberon leaned back satisfied that he was able to accommodate his boss’ question.
“When”
“Oh… um… now.”
Josiah nodded and sat quietly puffing his cigar and occasionally knocking the ashes into his ashtray
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:41:57 GMT -5
In the Lobby of Powers Towers (yes that is the name of the building)…
“Correct, and why do you want to be a super hero?” Mrs. Spears coaches her
fifteen-year-old daughter for what she believes will be the most important
interview of her young adolescent life.
“Because I could not find the perfect shade of green to match my skin and
lost that beauty pagent!” Audrey lashed out messing up her perfectly styled
hair and tugging on her new super hero costume her mother had spent the last
three nights sewing. “Why do I have to wear this thing anyways, why can’t I
just dress like a NORMAL kid, not some kinda… FREAK?”
“BECAUSE AUDREY JOANNE! THAT’S WHAT FREAKS WEA-” Mrs. Spears said looking
around at another group of men standing around giving the two of them a
stink eye and a half. “It was not my idea to do this young lady, you asked
to go to this audition remember?”
“Yeah… that’s because I thought YOU would stay home.” Says Audrey pouting
and violently folding her arms and plopping on the couch. “Why couldn’t I
have a COOL costume mom”
Her mother looks at her pink costume with sequences and a giant velvet “P”
embroidered in the center of the long-sleeve satin top and a matching skirt
cut two inches above the knee with purple yarn lacing the uneven hem.
“I like it.” She responds with a polite smile and a nod of the head.
Audrey’s green skin seems to turn red in embarrassment as she tries desperately to
get comfortable in the pink nightmare her mother has fitted her in. “Oh
don’t,” Mrs. Spears chastises swatting her impatient daughters leg, “You’re
knocking of the pretty sparklies! I still think we should have used that
cape…”
“Mother will you quit with the cape?” she rang out in protest, “That rainbow
cape was so… uncool!”
“Will you stop Audrey? That was a beautiful cape!”
“That thing looks like it was rejected from Queer Eye For the Superhero
Guy!”
“What is that?”
“Its… don’t worry about it mom.”
A dead silence fills the lobby and the two men in hero costumes look at each other and begin talking. A woman casually strolls in, in a green skintight jumpsuit and black jacket followed by a man also in costume holding the door for her and awkwardly following suit. Mrs.
Spears bites her lip and lets out an exasperated groan.
“I didn’t know the freak show was in town.” Mrs. Spears whispers under her
breath prompting the gathered community of superheroes to glance at her
again in aversion. “Audrey its better you dress in that costume then some of
the other women superheroes. Like… have you seen the newspaper with those
Teen Titans? Nothing but shiny undergarments! I mean, they are in New York,
but please! No child of mine is going to-”
“Mom! Gawsh can’t you ever keep quiet?”
The mom lets out a final mumble and
the room falls into a silence again. The two men continue their conversation
and the man and woman whom arrived late begin in a conversation of their
own. Audrey sits in the waiting chair flipping through a magazine with a
sixteen year old girl on the cover with a byline that reads, “Scarfs: In,
Out, or Never In To Begin With?” Meanwhile Mrs. Spears looks around the
waiting lobby never leaving the ten-foot radius around her daughter. Then a
plant catches her eye. She walks toward it. She begins to look at the small
office plant and then picks at a leaf, takes out her reading glasses and
examines it a little bit more closely. She rubs it and holds her fingers to her
eyes examining the tacky residue left over. “Do you think this is a fake
plant?”
“MA-AWM!”
Suddenly a short plump man bursts through the elevator door with a smile
stretched wide across his round face pushing his little red cheeks out.
“Hello everyone, I hope you have not been waiting too long! My name is
Oberon, Mr. Powers’ personal assistant. Um… Right, the interviews will
commence now, I know Mrs. Spears has requested Audrey… err Prysm go first
being that she has schooling to attend to, correct?” Oberon looks up and
around the room smiling like Stevie Wonder at a basketball game. Mrs. Spears
tugs and Audrey, forces a polite smile and nods. “Very well, Miss, follow
me.” With that the short man makes his way heads first into the elevator
followed by the woman and lime skinned teenager.
Inside the elevator Oberon stands on the tips of his toes trying to press
the button at the very top labeled with a metal rectangle that reads “Mr.
Powers’ Private office”. The other buttons are labeled with nothing. Mrs
Spears eventually helped the little man by pressing the button and ending
his squirming.
“Thank you maa’m”
The three
stood in a row on the spacey elevator playing delightful music as Oberon
began whistling a different song. Neither Mrs. Spears nor Audrey quite knew
what the short man was doing. They looked up at each other then down at him
as he went on. He looked up at his audience and smiled abruptly ending his
merry melody.
“Tom’s Diner”
“Pardon?” Replied the ever-polite Mrs. Spears.
“The song” he said whistling another part of it. She stared back, confused
and bewildered. The music in the background played through what would
undoubtedly be another awkward silence.
“Might I say, that, that is an
exquisite costume Prysm?”
“NO.”
“AUDREY” blasted back Mrs. Spears chastising Audrey again with her. “Thank
you Mr. Oberon, I made it myself.”
“Oh, it’s dashing. If I ever get into the costumed avenger field, could you
possibly whip one up for me?” The two giggle and Audrey rolls her eyes and
tugs at the horrid mess stretched across her.
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:42:56 GMT -5
In a small apartment Harold Jordan Sleeps…
The alarm buzzes and a dog licks the face of Harold Jordan (though he
prefers people to call him Harry) and he gives the alarm a quick whack on
the sleep button and the dog a shove out of his bed. He dreams of flying
through the clouds and picking up damsels in distress and he imagines
himself shaking hands with Superman himself. Superman is a really swell guy
in the dream too; they sit back in neon lawn chairs on an ionic column made
from puffy white clouds, being served lemonade by Wonder Woman and
discussing the Huston Astros’ last game. As it turns out, although, Superman
lives in Metropolis, he often likes to fly over the Astros’ stadium and catch
the score every home game. Since he was a boy, Harry always imagined himself
donning the tights and cape like every little boy did. Sitting in his
underoos with a towel tied around his neck he used to watch the old Captain
Marvel show and run around acting like he was flying. In his dream he wore a
far cooler costume though. Now in his mid twenties he actually IS a
superhero. Imagine that. Then all of a sudden in his dream Superman leans
over shoving Robin who had been fanning them and punches a now confused
Harry right off his chair and off the cloud. No matter how great his super
hero dreams are, Harry always subconsciously ends them the same, he falls.
He looks up at Superman laughing and pointing saying, “You should have never
given Allen the right of way!” Whatever it means he screams and watches as
Wonder Woman, Superman, and Robin the Boy Wonder put their arms over each
other and walk away sharing an inside joke he will never get. He sees them
walk and his father’s face appears in the now Doric cloud column like Mufasa
in the Lion King and begins to shout, “You’ll Never Be As Good As I Was!”
His mask is ripped off and antennae are crushed and molded into metallic
laughing faces that look the Metal Men and he realizes he’s no hero he is
just a man in a suit. He had changed his fathers costume, he had thrown away
his life on a pipe dream and there was no one there to catch him. He falls.
Then the buzzing resumes and he finally wakes up stepping over his faithful
dog and heads over to the kitchen to pour himself some Crispy Rice. True,
it’s not the same, as Rice Crispies but he likes to add two spoonfuls full of
sugar and its like Snap, Crackle and Pop, wish they worked for the generic
brand. Plus it comes in a bigger box that is forty-three cents cheaper. He
pours the cereal and sweeps the extra that falls on the counter into his big
ceramic mug and enjoyed a breakfast on the couch. He had bought the mug at
KFC during a promotion they had run where if you buy a 3 piece meal you can
get an exclusive superhero mug for only four dollars, some called Harry
obsessed but Harry called it a hell of a good bargain, a very similar mug
had been shown on TV with a retail price of over ten dollars, all the
craftsmanship in the world wouldn’t get him to swing around that kind of
cabbage. It stood his favorite mug though; it had really cool design of
Superman’s face and he always imagined that if he ever did get the
opportunity to meet Superman, he would tell him, “I eat cereal out of your
face every day!” As he sits on the worn couch in his studio apartment
overlooking San Francisco he realized that the city he thought he could make
his own didn’t need him as much as he thought, the weather was great but
there were no real threats like he had always seen the other heroes handling.
No super powered villains flamboyantly dressed in bright colors with themed
crimes ran the streets of San Francisco and he wondered if the move from
Texas three years ago was really necessary.
The woman on the Wake Up San Francisco show was a mighty fine looking host
though.
Then like a bolt from the Wizard Shazam himself, it hits him. The guys who
offered to pay him for a superhero job wanted to meet him… TODAY. His head
whipped around to the old alarm clock he had knocked off of his bed and he
sees nothing so it whips over to his well used microwave to find he still
had never reset the time since the last time he had unplugged it, then to
the VCR blinking 12:00, and to his Superman Wall Clock that had never been
set because it never left the box, and then to channel 3 which had been
changed so it was now NBC so to channel 2 which was now Fox and channel 1
which doesn’t exist for some reason he never knew, and finally to channel 4
which to his dismay no longer had the scrolling TV guide either. Then he
looks down at his wrist and saw it was 8:12 and he realized that he had less
than fifty minutes to make it to the meeting.
Quickly he hopped into the
shower throwing his mug into the sink on his way to the bathroom. Before he
could even properly rinse and repeat he threw the shampoo down and hopped
out of the shower putting on his superhero costume. Then he realized the
damn thing wasn’t charged and it wasn’t like he had some power battery he
could charge it up with in the time he would say the pledge of allegiance,
the stuff took over an hour to charge, and with that in mind he took the
elevator and ran to the bus stop.
At the bus stop he waited with four other people anxiously awaiting the
arrival of bus ten. Bus twenty-three had come and gone so this was the next
best thing he could get on. The man on his left smoked on a Black and Mild
cigarette which he always found repugnant so he sat with his back to the
left and faced the young girl on her cell phone who would occasionally give
him dirty looks and make fun of him with her friend on her cell phone.
“Omigod, Jenni,” she giggled, “There is like, this total freak o’er here at
the bus stop waiting… yeah… yeah I know… what a perv huh?… No his package
doesn’t look that big… yeah… uh huh… OMIGOD JENNI, you’re such a skank… I
know… what?… yeah I heard… well he deserved it… I know huh? Yeah she is such
a who-”
So Harry shook his head and looked to forward ignoring the girl and the man
with the cigarette, as passersby looked out there window laughing as they
passed by. And he moved from Huston for this city… He bet Superman never put
up with this! Doing his best to ignore his fellow bus riders he folded his
arms and hunched over in his seat on the bench. Then the man with the Black
and Mild walks in front of him blowing the scented smoke in his face so he
scoots over, and the man with the Black and Mild meanders over to the right,
right with him. Finally the bus comes and he gets in back of the line like
always and a stroke of genius hits him.
What if he was able to commandeer the bus? What if he told the driver he
needed it for some kind of official super hero business? What if he could
drive straight to the meeting without waiting for all the stops? As the man
with the Black and Mild finally tosses the cigarette’s plastic bud over his
soldier and pays his fair, he builds up the courage to ask the driver.
“Umm… er… excuse me sir but… I uhh…”
“Lemme guess, you wanna a day pass? 2 bucks 10 cents Green Hornet.”
He looks down at his green tights and looks back up at the driver, “Er, no…
I uh… well I am going to ask to commandeer this vehicle.” He hears a snicker
from a preteen girl tell her friend Jenni about the ‘perv’ trying to steal
the bus. “You see… umm… a villain is loose and I need to catch him.”
“Ha right, and I am driving this bus to pay my way through moron school...
nothing doing!”
“No really sir, I NEED this bus!”
”Then you NEED to pay either two bucks and ten cents for a pass or a buck
twennie for a fair.” The old bloated man with his combed back white hair and
bus uniform said with such confidence and began to drive.
”Please sir..”
”Pay and sit or I swear I am calling the cops on my radio.”
“I… well… okay…” Finally he reached into his gloves and pulled out a
crumpled dollar, dime, nickel, and five loose pennies and fed it into the
machine. As he made his way to the back of the bus he received dirty looks a
plenty from the riders. Finally he sat next to a woman about his age in the
back that wore a green jump suit and a black jacket made from sort of weird
fabric. He asked her what her jacket was made from but she didn’t answer.
The bus ride was long and he couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful woman
next to him. Her short but still quite long, brown hair and big brown eyes
were refreshing in California where it seemed like every girl had their hair
dyed in layers and different color eye contacts and fake breasts and
“enhanced” bodies. No this one was different. He exchanged a smile with her
but she gave him back an eye roll. He fell for her then and there. He
couldn’t help be reminded of his mother. Sure she was in the looney bin NOW,
but back than he could see why his father, the superhero, chose her. This
girl on the bus reminded him of young Maureen McKay who played Captain
Marvel’s love interest in the show.
He twiddled his thumbs until the bus went to where he was going.
When he finally saw his stop he reached up to press the yellow tape that
had replaced the wires on the bus and met the woman’s hand that sat next to
him. Once again he gave a blushing smile and she gave another eye roll.
He
followed her off the bus allowing her to get off first, he always was polite
no matter what the situation. Once he got caught J walking in Huston with a
friend and instead of the cop punishing them, which he had every right to
do, the cop made them walk back to where they had come from using the cross
walk and then back again and he said thank you. Like a good guy he said
‘thank you’ and he could never live it down in the eyes of his friend.
The
woman got off and he followed walking fast to the building a block away.
Once in a while he looked back to steal another glimpse of the woman with
brown hair and to his surprise she walked the same way. Slyly he slows down
and meets up with her hoping to make a pleasant discussion.
“Hello.” He said bowing his head blushing wildly. He raised his eyebrows
looking up hoping desperately for a response.
“Hi… Nice costume.”
Wide eyed he smiled at the girl with an open mouth. Her
sarcasm was definitely there but… but who the hell cared, she talked to him.
“Oh. It’s uh… you see my father, he was a super hero and well-” Rubbing his
head his green mask hid his now completely flushed red cheeks.
“Wait a sec, are you going to Powers Towers?”
Gee Whiz, she knew. He knew
the group was gonna be a publicity circus but he didn’t know people already
knew!
“Umm yea…” he said now sounding utterly confused, which was completely
appropriate because he was.
“Oh, so am I! Hello, I’m Carrie. Nice to meet you!”
“You too!”
“You got a name?”
“Airwave!”
“I meant a ‘real’ name. My uh… ‘superhero’ name is Vapor, nice to meet you.”
“Oh right sorry… Harold, but I prefer Harry, I got a cousin name Hal but he
lives on Edwards Air Force Base… he’s a pilot, then again you probably don’t
care seeing is how, you don’t know him and he doesn’t know you and well, I,
I do know you. So is that your costume? It’s really nice, mine is green and
yellow after my dad…”
Harry rambles when he gets nervous. Like an angel she
giggles at his excited disposition and they walk to Powers Towers.
They walk into the lobby together and find out neither was late… in fact, it
would be over an hour before either had a meeting.
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:43:41 GMT -5
Once again in the Lobby of Powers Towers…
“BECAUSE AUDREY THAT’S WHAT FREAKS WEA-” A woman bursts out causing the two
men in the middle of a conversation to shoot her a glance, and then back to
each other, and the conversation resumes. Both men are clad in superhero
costumes, one is the real life bionic man Steel and the other calls himself
Booster Gold. Booster takes another sip of his green sports drink and picks
up the conversation.
“So ANYHOW, do you think this whole thing will be
done soon? I kinda got a date later on.” He looks left and right takes a sip
and goes on, “Yeah, some supermodel, you know? It’s like I got to have chick
repellant when I wear this thing, how ‘bout you?”
“I do fine.”
“FINE? Is that all? I do a damn lot better than fine. But that is just me. I
mean, we can’t all have this much style and… oh I dunno…panache? I think
that fits.”
“Perhaps. It’s a bit redundant. Booster, what did you say your real name
was?”
“Oh uh… call me… Michael… no Jon… Carter?”
“Michael Jon Carter?”
“Sure, why not?”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Why would I fret about the name that you were given?”
“Oh, I, uh… don’t worry about it Hank. So are you sure I can’t convince you
to change your insignia? I mean the whole “star” thing IS kinda…mine. I mean
don’t get me wrong big guy, you look GREAT in it, WONDERFUL, AMAZING,
FABULOUS, dumb, STUPENDOUS, BREATHTAKING! But… well…” Booster says gesturing
to his own chest, “It’s kind of, sorta, taken.”
“It was my father’s Michael.”
“And I bet he would want you to wear it, but I think it’s a bit of overkill,
no?” Steel looks around in and down at his chest with the white star
embedded in a navy blue circle, a symbol that represents his country and his
father, a symbol that represented hope and perseverance, a symbol worn by
his dead father who died in the line of duty to protect his family.
Raising
an eyebrow he looked back up at the flashy star that Booster wore on his
shiny blue and gold costume and stupid grin.
“No.”
“Come on… ! Anyway, do you think I over gelled up here?” Pointing to his
slicked back hair hardened by ounces of thick sticky styling gel. “I mean I
know it looks good, but maybe it looks too good. I don’t want people getting
all jealous, you know?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Thanks buddy! You know, you could stand to use a little product too, that
whole
‘I-don’t-need-to-run-a-comb-through-my-ridiculous-red-hair-because-I-am-a-million-dollar-miracle-of-science-just-like-my-superhero-daddy’ thing really is kinda’ nineteen ninties.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about Michael.”
“Stick with me Hanky boy, I’ll show you the ropes, teach you things those
tutors or memory chip things or whatever the hell else they used to make you
so smart.”
“And what, dare I ask is that?”
“How to be cool man. But I warn you it won’t be easy.”
“Why is that?”
“WHY IS THAT?!? WHY IS THAT?!? I’ll tell you why is that-”
“Why that is.”
“Whatever, I’ll tell you why is that, this whole rock star thing I have got
goin’, it doesn’t come naturally baby.”
“No?”
“Hell no! It’s a lot of work to be this cool.”
“I had no idea, Michael.”
“Huh? Michael? Oh, call me Booster, Hank. Anyways, like I was saying, you
gotta do a lot of prep work to have this much style, add to that all the
time I spend keepin’ the babes away! It’s a nine to five man!”
Booster looks
around the room over to a local celebrity and host of Wake Up San Francisco
host Emily Briggs and gives her his signature wink and head nod combination;
she responds with an amused chuckle and shakes her head in a gesture of
overwhelming rejection.
“She’s crazy about me.”
“Actually Booster I think she is repulsed by you.”
“Well, it’s somewhere in between.”
“Perhaps we should greet her. It appears she is also here in prospects of
being a member of this superhero team.”
“Oh uh… sure, yeah that would explain the cape and spandex.”
The two walk
over to the attractive woman in her mid twenties. Booster swaggers and Hank’s
stiff and chest forward walk ends in front of her and and Booster as usual,
has the first word.
“Hey there, I’m Booster Gold, superhero and soon-to-be
the most notorious and handsome playboy around, so… wanna’ play?” Booster
says as he leans up close to her taking her hand as he takes a ridiculously
informal bow.
Smacking his had away and rolling her eyes she grabs a small compact out of
her purse and powders her face lightly looking into the small round mirror.
“No,” she begins casually and uninterested, “who’s your friend, Booster?”
Before Booster can speak Hank rings out, “Hank Haywood, ma’am; however to
the media and superhero community I go by the name of Steel. Nice to make
your acquaintance.”
“Well… back atcha’ big guy,” She says with a slight smile snapping her
compact shut and sliding it back into her purse. “I am-”
Before she can answer Hank interrupts politely, “Emily Briggs, host of the
popular television morning show Wake Up San Francisco. Age: 23. Birthplace:
Chicago, Illinois. Height: 5’9. Weight: -”
Before he can finish Emily interrupts not-so-politely “None of his damn
business.” She says pointing at Booster Gold who rolls his eyes. “And that
Chicago accent was a pain in the neck to ditch.”
Booster who has stood silent for far too long bursts out, “Well, I sure
ain’t complaining babe.” Booster cocks his head to his side and glances down
Emily’s body and continues, “The Chicago accent thing I always found kinda
hot.”
“Then I am glad I got rid of it.” She says abruptly pushing hair behind her
ear.
“You know I have a theory Lia, you don’t mind if I call you Lia do you?” She
rolls her eyes and he goes on, “When women play hard to get, they tend to
find me more attractive then when they are straight forward.”
“Well then,” She says monotonously, “Please take me to bed right now.”
Puzzled, Hank thinks about the remark and finally cracks a smile and is met
with a furrowed brow from Booster who abruptly changes the subject.
“Better
not, now that I am gonna be a famous superhero, I need to save my stamina
for the hoards of women that are gonna come running.”
“I bet.”
“So you have a ‘name’ yet.”
“He told you remember.”
“No I mean a superhero name Lia.”
“Oh, then no, I don’t why?”
“You have gotta have a super pseudonym!”
“Ummm… no I don’t.”
“It is what makes the whole super heroic image work. Like my buddy here has
Steel and I have Booster Gold.”
Emily finally gives in. “Did you have anything in mind sparky? I mean you
are the genius that came up with 'Booster Gold'”
Suddenly the red and yellow vinyl chair Emily has been sitting in grows huge
and she falls into Steels massive arms. The trio and two others in the back
of the room spring to action and the now giant figure speaks.
“Sorry to say it, but the kid’s right toots. How about Looker it sure is
fitting… about as fitting as that cute number you got on!” He raises his
eyebrows up and down and flashes a toothy smile on his gigantic glassy head.
He shrinks to the size of a skinny and awkwardly lanky looking man and
lowers his blue-lensed glasses.
“I should probably introduce myself, Eel
O’Brien. But you all can call me Plastic Man.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:44:32 GMT -5
Back up in the office of Josiah Powers...
A phone rings. The two men Josiah Powers and Oberon sit in their chairs
looking at it in complete silence. Finally Josiah lowers his glasses and
looks down to Oberon who is lost in a daydream and staring at weird patterns
in the slightly textured ceiling. Josiah raises his glasses and rubs the
bridge of his nose and utters, “Well?”
“Yeah?”
“The phone is ringing.”
Oberon smiles and nods his head in agreement, “I know!” he says oblivious to
his obligation.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Josiah interrogates slightly irritated.
“It’s for you though.”
“I understand that.”
“Well what is the purpose of me answering it if I am just going to pass it
along?”
“Are you saying the primary task that you accomplish in exchange for a
paycheck is meaningless?”
Oberon looks at him confused and then down at the still ringing telephone on
his employer’s desk. He scratches his head and points at the phone which is
surprisingly still ringing and then points his chubby finger back at his own
person. Finally he smiles and picks up the phone dutifully with a stern face
and stiff lowered brow.
“The office of Josiah Powers. Yes this is he.”
Smiling and covering the earpiece of the phone he says over to Josiah in a
muffled (yet still loud by anyone else’s standards) voice, “It’s for me.”
Oberon points happily at the phone and gives a thumb up to Josiah and
continues his conversation with the unknown phone call. “Okay I’m back… uh
huh… really? Hurm, no I know nothing about that, well… yeah… yeah… how much
is bail? No I don’t think I’ll post it… I know the charges are serious… uh
huh… well why didn’t he call me? Oh really… solitary confinement, for what…
ah… well did he say he was sorry… I know it doesn’t but… okay… yeah… well I
wouldn’t worry about it… yeah… no, I am not on any medication… my tone?!? My
tone is fine. Yeah you have a nice day too… fine. Okay… bye.”
Oberon gently
places the phone on the base and loosens his collar but soon after raises
his legs onto the desk of Josiah. Josiah scoops his legs off the desk with
one swipe.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Who was it?”
“Who was who?”
“The person on the phone.”
“Oh that? Oh, haha. No, no, that was, that was just some clerk at the state
prison.”
“What did he want?”
“He didn’t want anything.”
“Well than what did he say?”
“Oh, well… I guess that Ol’ Tad turned himself in for the murder of Rusty
Shackleford.”
“And by ‘Ol’ Tad’ you of course mean Thaddeus Brown, the infamous Mister
Miracle, that you expect me to give a job to?”
“That would be him, yeah.”
“And he committed murder?”
“Tch, NO, of course not. He turned himself in for murder.”
“What?”
“To get into solitary confinement, Rusty Shackleford doesn’t even exist
Josie, its just a fake name he and I use to order pizzas and register for
mailing lists and stuff.”
Frustrated Josiah looks down again and rubs the bridge of his nose. He
doesn’t want to ask the question but feels an obligation to.
“Why?”
“So that we don’t become victims of identity fraud of course.”
“To order pizza? Never mind that, I meant why did he turn himself in for
murder so he could get thrown into confinement?”
“To get out.”
“Right… what WAS I thinking?”
“I dunno… crazy Josie.” Oberon says laughing while doodling on an opened
envelope.
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:45:19 GMT -5
Meanwhile in a slightly more exciting climate...
The hills of San Francisco are packed with mid day traffic. Rush hour, they
call the thing the automobiles are currently jammed into, but is nothing to what
Power Girl is experiencing high above the streets, buildings and masses of
awed pedestrians. For some reason some one has decided that committing
suicide by driving off the edge of a 10 story-parking garage is a good idea. The wind
rushes through Power Girls short golden hair as she rushes to the man
plummeting to his death.
The whole time she rushes however, the man in about a ton of steel straight
above a group of five year olds on a field trip is the absolute last thing
on her mind. She looks forward at the impending doom with her “superhero”
face ready to save the day but the only thing going through her head is this
damn Powers and his dwarf assistant sending flowers, relentless amounts of
phone calls, long winded flattering letters, those ridiculous telegrams, e
mails, even a damn carrier pigeon. As she races towards the falling 1988
Chevy Sprint Turbo she begins to drop down and prepares to withstand the
impact. The children below the automobile look up in amazement as the woman
in the white suit and red cape lifts the car back up onto the roof with
ease. As she pulls the apprehender out of the car a little girl points up to
the sky and mutters, “Look teecha, is thupagurl.”
Power Girl hears it
thousands of feet high in the air and can’t help but smile. Also though, she
is reminded of that damn Josiah Powers and his little assistant. They had
offered her a spot on a new superhero team and the whole deal didn’t seem
quite right. They wanted to pay her to do something she would be doing
anyhow? Anytime something is too good to be true, it usually is. Most of the
reason they wanted her anyhow was because she had made public appearances
with Superman. Kal, as he told her to call him, was a nice guy, really loved
to what he did; and he always did it well. The whole mess felt sleazy in her
mind. She held up the guy who nearly squashed the group of five year olds by
his yellowed shirt collar and she casually dropped him on solid ground
outside of a methadone clinic.
Something just didn’t seem right about Powers
and his group. She flew over to a fire truck that had broke down and asked
where it was going while they told her where, she memorized the address and
was off before they could say thanks. The amount of money they offered her
also was really quite a lot too. More than she would ever need with her life
style. With a few good puffs she blew out the fire and rescued a pregnant
lady from the fire escape. She could give it to charity, but she always
thought a good deed didn’t get a monetary reward. But the firemen she had
just helped, they got paid.
The people ask for pictures so she complies and
poses for a local newspaper. Charity, she could give it all to charity. A
young man comments on her cleavage, she can’t help but smile.
Kal told her
that he always wished he could group a bunch of super powered heroes
together to battle injustice. She continues and sees a policeman
apprehending a drunk driver. This was no different than what even SUPERMAN
wanted to achieve. She grabs the drunk and holds him still while the officer
cuffs him. The Powers INC. thing would also be HER group, she would be the
leader, not really an egotistical benefit, but she could work along side
heroes and be a leader! The policeman gives her a wave of gratitude and she
flies up to the sky to find where she is needed next.
The policemen, he gets
paid. She could really make a difference if people contracted her for the
most important matters. She sees an ambulance caught in traffic and lifts it
up to carry it above the street traffic of San Francisco. What if something
huge happened and she was not aware, she needed to be in this group to know
where she was needed most. She gently places the ambulance in front of the
hospital and the paramedics rush to action. The paramedics, they also get
paid. The idea appealed now to her. She flew straight into Josiah’s Office
while he did not appear busy.
“Josiah.” She said slowly and proudly.
“Yes?” He said looking up from his paperwork smiling.
“I’m in.”
She flies out the window and does not look back. Behind her she
hears the cheers of two grown men. Well one grown man and a slightly less
grown man. She can’t help but smile.
Perhaps she could make a home in this place after all…
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2006 20:47:25 GMT -5
Don't Miss The "EXCITING" Next Issue When We Find Our Heroes Chasing The
Mysterious Mr. MacGuffin In: POWERS, INC. #2: THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS
MACGUFFIN!
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Post by mockingbird on Aug 9, 2011 14:56:55 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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