“You can’t do anything to me! I own the police of Gothametropolis, I’ll have you brought up on so many charges it’ll make your hats spin!” Flask is slowly backing away from me, scrambling on the ground, trying to gain some distance. I slowly stalk after him.

    “You can try Flask, but I happen to be the Emergency Services Liaison for the Lair Legion. There isn’t a level of law enforcement on this continent not in my rolodex. So why don’t we just avoid the unpleasantness of me getting unprofessional and you tell me who you gave my belt to.”

    “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. But first I want your guarantee that once I tell you you’ll leave my building immediately.”

    “Agreed. Now talk.”

    “Well.” Flask rose to his feet and straightened his coat, trying to regain his dignity. “I never did actually get her name, but if you will accompany me to my office I would be more than willing to show her to you.”

    “No tricks, Flask. I mean it. I’m not in the mood.” He nods quickly and makes his way down the staircase. I follow behind him, still in my armored form. I’m not taking any chances returning to his stronghold.

    We enter the office, and Flask stops suddenly, whereas I just smile. CrazySugarFreakBoy! is calmly sitting in Flask’s chair, the trussed up Gamona his footrest. “Took you long enough.” The CrazySugarFreakHero! grins at me. I briefly return the smile before returning to my poker face; I want to keep Flask intimidated.

    The Lynchpin steps around the rubble to open a filing cabinet against the south wall. He rummages through it for a few moments before pulling out a file folder. He passes it to me and then steps back, trying to keep minimum safe distance from me.

    My armored fingers aren’t the best suited to shuffling through photographs, so I remove it and affix it to my belt. With CrazySugarFreakBoy! in the room, I’m not worried about the Lynchpin trying something while I’m powered down. I scan the photos carefully, but I don’t recognize the woman depicted.

    “See what you can make of these Dream.” I toss the folder to him. He opens it and looks at the first picture.

    “Sharra and Ky’thri, Pelopia!” I’ve heard Dream talk about her before, and considering his photographic memory I’m not surprised he recognized her despite the grainy imagery.

    “Isn’t she some sort of Priestess or something? What would she want with my Belt?”

    “Her full title is the Priestess Pelopia, Disciple of Logos. She works for a guy named the Word, the Emissary of Order. Their goal is to bring about a world with a stick up everyone’s ass. As to why she wants the Belt, well, I’m not sure. When we track her down I guess we’ll just have to ask, won’t we?”

    “Where is she, Flask? How do I find her?” I round on the Lynchpin, who was slowly trying to make his way to the door. He freezes in mid slink.

    “I don’t know. She came to me, and paid a considerable fee to license my services. I never approached her, she always came to me, and she left no way to contact her. Honestly.”

    “He’s telling the truth. With his bodyguard down, he’s just a big sissy.” CrazySugarFreakBoy! jumped up from the chair. “Well, let’s get these back to base and see what we can work out.”

    I pull out my Winnipeg Jets cap and affix it to my head. Before leaving, I turn back to Flask one last time. “Remember Flask, I said that if you gave me the information I needed, I’d leave. I never said when I’d be coming back.”

    I jump out the window Gamona had previously thrown me through and CSFB! leaps onto my back, and we head for the Lair Mansion.

    “Way to put the scare in him at the end there. Very Punisher.” CrazySugarFreakBoy! has to yell to be heard, even though he’s speaking very closely to my ear.

    “You think so? Thanks.” I was hoping I didn’t sound too cliched or just plain stupid adding the threat at the end like that. “So any ideas on how to track down Pelopia?”

    “If she doesn’t want to be found she won’t be. I suppose we could try a flaming message in the sky, just like the Human Torch always does. Or maybe a false newspaper ad in Jerkson’s rag? That’d really piss him off, which would be fun and productive at the same time.”

    “I don’t think we’ll go with that, but the message idea is a good one.”

    “Speaking of messages, I’ve got one from my Mom for you.”

    I groan inwardly and increase my speed. Soon, after arguing again about the fact I refuse to date his mother, we reach the Lair Mansion. Once inside I head straight for Al B. Harper’s lab. I explain my idea to him.

    “I think it should work. Give me a few minutes to translate the data into something that can be comprehended visually by the human mind and we’ll be all set. Why don’t you call in Goldeneyed while you wait?”

    “I would, but my Communicard is kind of busted.” I hold out the damaged piece of equipment. Al takes it and tosses it on a counter.

    “I’ll fix it after we take care of this. Use my communications console over in the corner there.”

    I call Goldeneyed on his card and within a few moments a golden flash heralds his arrival. Right after he arrives CrazySugarFreakBoy! arrives with a tub of popcorn.

    “What’s the popcorn for?”

    “Didn’t want to miss the show. Science experiments utilizing untapped potentials of superpowers is always entertaining. Want some?”

    We all pass as Al explains in very technical terms what we need G-Eyed to do. While the exposition is going on, I write out a note on a piece of paper and affix it to an alarm clock.

    “So what you’re saying is, I put these goggles on, and the energy signature of the dimensional pocket that the Hatility Belt utilizes will be represented visually for me, allowing me to teleport this challenge from Hatty into the Hatility Belt’s storage area? If we can lock on to the Belt, why not just teleport the whole Legion in there?”

    “Because the whole Legion would then be in the subspace dimension, and could only be let out by the wielder. Basically, we’d be stuck. So instead, we’re sending this challenge. The alarm clock will go off a few minutes after you teleport it inside, signalling whoever is around that there is something amiss inside the Belt. Hopefully, they’ll investigate and get the note.” I hand the paper and clock to Goldeneyed. “Sound good?”

    “Works for me. Let’s do it.” Bry slips the goggles on, and a few moments later the note is gone. “Done and done. So what’s the plan now?”

    “We wait.”

    “That was so cool!”

To be continued…