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Post By Hatman Thu May 13, 2004 at 10:24:55 pm EDT |
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Prodigy #1: Trial By Credit Card | |
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Jay Boaz turned up the radio. This was not the first time he had done so. In fact, he had increased the volume three or four times, yet no matter how much he tried, he could not block out the incessant teenage girl chatter. He felt like he was beginning to go deaf yet his daughter and her best friend continued yammering as if they were the only two in the car.
He pulled into the parking lot of the Austernal Oasis shopping mall and shut off the car. “We’re here, girls. Everybody out.” Jay set the car alarm and locked the doors. Zebulon had assured him that this time he would have a car to come back to, and he hoped the President of Bautista Enterprises was right. It had taken him an hour last time to pick up the pieces.
As the girls walked arm in arm into the mall, Jay groaned. A day of shopping was not his idea of a great time. But it did get him out of the office for the day. Sometimes he wished Troia would come back so he wouldn’t have to look at all of the paperwork; she tossed out whatever she didn’t feel like filing.
His thoughts were interrupted by an unknown voice. “Will that be cash, debit, or credit card sir?”
They had been in the mall for three minutes and already the girls were buying something.
It was going to be a long day.
Slingshot opened the door and poked his head in. “Hey D. I’m hitting the Combat Platform, you wanna come with?” Even thought he was just going for a work-out he was in full costume, domino mask and all.
“No thanks, Nate. I’m good with my book.” She held up her closed novel for reference.
“Okay then, suit yourself. Later!” Slingshot took off, leaving the door open.
“Close the-oh, never mind.” Slingshot always forgot to close the door. She debated teleporting a shoe at it to close it, but then decided to get up off of her bed and shut it manually. If she didn’t have to use her powers, she didn’t. Deanna resettled herself in and found her place. She briefly wondered how Stacey and Nancy’s shopping spree was going. Even though they had invited her along, she still felt like it would be interfering. They were so close, those two.
She set the book back down, plagued by her own thoughts. Stacey and Nancy were so close, both as teammates and as friends. Even though he was the only boy on the team (excluding their grown-up leader, CrazySugarFreakBoy!), Slingshot still got along well with the other girls, largely in part due to their enthusiasm to be superheroes like their relatives. This left Deanna on the outside, as she had no desire to be a superhero. She just wanted to be a normal teenager.
Another knock at her door disturbed her thoughts. “I said I wasn’t interested, Slingshot!” she hollered.
Her door opened gently and her father, Bry Katz, stuck his head through. “Do I need to put a fatherly scare in that boy?” he grinned.
“Oh, no Dad, you don’t. ‘Shot was here a few minutes ago, asking if I wanted to go and train with him.”
“So I can leave my shotgun in the closet?” She suspected that if her father wasn’t wearing a pair of golden sunglasses, and if his eyes didn’t always glow, she’d see a twinkle in his eye.
“Yes Dad, you can. So what’s up?” She set her book aside again.
“Jay was telling me that you declined going out shopping with the other girls today. Any particular reason why?"” Bry made his way into her room, sitting on the edge of her bed. He was in his Goldeneyed costume, his mask tucked into his belt.
“Didn’t feel like it,” she replied, not looking him in the eye.
“That’s it? You’re quick enough to take my credit card for a spin on your own,” joshed Bry. “Are you sure there’s not more to it?”
“No, that’s it.” They both sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments.
“Well, alright then. But honey…you shouldn’t stay cooped up in here all the time. You can always come and hang out with us old people, or with your friends in Prodigy. We’re all family here, okay?”
She looked at him for a few moments before responding. “Right, sure.”
“That’s my girl. See you at dinner?”
“You bet.”
As Goldeneyed teleported out of her room, Deanna picked up her book.
Silently the machine began to rotate. CrazySugarFreakBoy! had designed the machine with Al B. Harper based on a training device used by Hawkeye in Avengers West Coast. The machine twirled around, jerking whoever was strapped in to it up, down, and around while targets popped out of the wall. It was a true challenge for a marksman as the machine never paused, meaning speed was essential.
Slingshot loved to train. One day he hoped to be as good a marksman as his uncle, Trickshot. While his uncle originally began ‘Shot’s training with a bow, he found the slingshot less bulky and easier to use. His uncle had modified, with the help of Al B., his trick arrowheads into pellet he could fire from his sling. For this exercise though, he was merely using paint pellets.
While most people would have enough trouble keeping from tossing their cookies in the whirling machine, Slingshot found he did some of his best thinking while strapped in. Unlike his uncle, however, he didn’t do his best shooting while doing his best thinking.
“You awake in there?” hollered Trickshot as he entered the room. “Computer, pause program.”
“Oh, hey Uncle Carl,” called Slingshot as he hung upside down from the machine. He reached up to release his ankle and fell to the ground, clumsily landing on his feet.
“Not bad kid. Aim’s a bit off today though, huh?” Trickshot motioned towards the targets. The paint pellets had come very close to their intended bull’s-eye, but very close wasn’t good enough for Trickshot. “If you’re gonna be using the machine, make sure you’re tryin’. I know you can do better than that.”
“Okay, sure. Was just a bit distracted I guess,” mumbled Slingshot.
“Well, I guess that’s what training is for. Guys like us can’t afford to be distracted in the field.”
“Guys like us?” questioned the younger marksman.
“Guys like us, with no real superpowers to rely on. We don’t have it as easy as the other guys. We have to train our butts off to get as good as we are. I may be hard on you kid but that’s because I don’t want to see you hurt. We’re not invulnerable or superhumanly fast, all we have to rely on is our skill. But don’t get me wrong,” Trickshot loosed an arrow that bounced off of three walls, flew between his legs, and hit the target that had only half-emerged from the wall, “that skill makes us contenders.”
“Whoa,” commented Slingshot.
“Now c’mon, I’m starved. What say you and me go get us a burger?”
While looking at home theatre systems, his Lair Legion Signal Ring went off. Over the years Al B. had miniaturized the Communicard to fit into a ring which projected a 3-d holographic image of the person on the other end. He moved into an empty corner of the store and activated it.
“We’ve got a situation here people! NTU and Nats have been possessed by some unknown entity! They’re wreaking havoc in downtown Parodiopolis! I need all available personnel to scramble and intercept them” cried Al B.
Jay smiled.
“No problem, they can’t mean us. The rest of the LL will respond and that’ll be that!” Nancy said.
Suddenly the image of Goldeneyed appeared on the screen. “Negative on the rest of the LL, Al! Those two have taken out an entire city block and we’ve got our hands full with civilian casualties! Call in whatever reserves you can!” Goldeneyed’s face blinked out and was again replaced with Al’s.
“Hat Trick, SugarHighTeenSupreme!, you two and Jay are all we’ve got left! NTU has injected a virus into the comm system, and I’m about to lose all comm signals! Just try and contain those two until the rest of the Legion shows up!” Al’s face also blinked out.
“Okay, let’s just find your Dad and then we’ll…yeah,” Nancy trailed off. Taking on two of the Legion’s most powerful members was a daunting task. Well, one of the most powerful members and Nats, anyway.
Before the girls could leave the store another face came up on the Signal Ring. “Girls, I’ve got a situation at the electronics store. There’s a robbery in progress and a security guard has already been shot. You two go ahead and I’ll catch up as soon as I can. Be careful!” And before either girl could protest, the Signal Ring went dead.
“Oh crap,” repeated Stacey.
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