"NO! STOP!!"
Natalie heard nothing but silence. When she opened her eyes, she saw the fabric ceiling of the ball pit... and Carrie, sitting on the outside edge, a thin white stick between her lips.
Staring and a bit startled, the cat removed the stick and blew out wisps of smoke-like water vapor. "Hm? What's up?"
Nat looked around for a moment, disoriented. "Oh." She shook her head. "No... nothing, I just had a bad dream." Just thinking of it made her shiver.
"Aw. What was it about?" Carrie inquired, taking another puff from the stick.
"I... it was this weird goop, but it looked like me. And it... nearly killed me..." Her voice got quiet near the end.
"Hey, hey, you're alright now," she cooed in a soothing voice that released a puff of vapor, then stroked Natalie's head with her free hand.
This relaxed the canine greatly. "Mmmm... rrrmmmn~" Through her open eye, Natalie noted that her girlfriend had changed out of the swimsuit. She now wore loose fitting jeans, fingerless gloves, a tank top and two dirty sneakers - the 'Punk Buster setup,' so called because it was the outfit she wore to fights with Cedric- given that he didn't just up and start one on the spot. "Where'd you get the clothes? And the med-sticks?"
"There's no medicine left in 'em, I'm just making sure all this debris doesn't make me wheeze," she supplied. "My mom brought the clothes from home when they ran. Dad's been riding my ass about how worried he was, so I came back here for a while."
"I'm glad you did." Natalie smiled warmly from under the affectionate head-petting.
"Awww."
The admiration originated from a familiar red vixen who had emerged from the other end of the ball pit. As if on cue, her raccoon cohort surfaced as well, yawning.
"What are you two doing in here??" Carrie demanded.
"Truce, truce!" Alliston laughed nervously. "Coul 'n me were OCin' in here last night."
"Looks like we weren't the only ones," the masked boy chuckled.
"How come we didn't see you?" Nat tilted her head.
Both of them responded with uneasy silence, and traded looks of anxiety.
"... I don't like that answer," Carrie goaded. "Talk."
They glanced back toward the main dining area of the Burger Dictator.
Natalie lowered her voice. "Is Cedric forcing you to keep quiet? We can protect you from him." She whispered urgently.
The two of them stared at the girls for a long moment. "... No," Alliston breathed, looking down and crawling out of the ball pit. "He isn't." She left the playroom.
"Allie..." Coul looked at the vixen, then Nat and Carrie... and sighed, following her. He stopped halfway, hesitated, then turned around. "Watch out."
Natalie blinked. "Watch out for what??"
He looked at his feet, then the sky outside in frustration. "Just... watch out, okay??" With that, he left.
"Coul, wait! Dammit!" The wolf girl struck a bunch of balls, sending them clattering into others. "What did he mean...?"
"Cedric's up to something. What else?" Carrie rolled her eyes. "Oh." She handed Natalie her favorite hoodie. "Here y'go. Sorry if I got it all sweaty, but that's only half my fault."
She pulled it on, savoring the feeling of her girlfriend-scented signature hoodie. "If that's the worst thing that happens today, I'll be ecstatic."
-
- -
-
"How could they let this happen?" inquired one Mr. Oakenfield. "They had to have known, how couldn't they?"
"I'm just as confused as you are." Officer Tisdale seemed only tenuously awake, drinking a hot beverage from a small cup. "I would think the Dome Council would've known something. There's no reason for 'em to leave us hanging. Not with something this big..."
"Maybe they were trying to contain it," Lorna supposed. "Not cause a panic."
"No way," Tisdale shook his head. "After that big thing about transparency? They can't keep secrets we don't want to know, they're way too disorganized."
"... I guess you're right," she acceded. "They couldn't have known, then..." There was a silence.
"... Thanks for getting the power back up, Ms. Grayswift," piped up Erwin.
"Huh? Oh." She smiled softly. "It wasn't a problem."
"Take some credit, Mom!" Natalie walked through the door, Carrie in tow. "That took brains and guts! You did awesome."
Natalie's friends voiced their agreements, bringing the woman to a bit of a blush. "I'm just happy that you're all right." She pulled her daughter into a hug... then paused a moment, sniffing the air. "You smell like cat."
Nat rolled her eyes and smirked, muttering "Well, yeah."
"Oh." She deadpanned. "Right. Ahem."
Samantha fanned herself with her winged forearm. "Does nobody else notice how warm it is today?"
Natalie nodded. "Now that you mention it, compared to last night, it's hot."
"Mr. Sun!" Max cried out from his perch on top of a booth table. "He is angry at our insolence!"
"... That's actually what I wanted to talk to everybody about." Lorna gave them all a serious look as she stood in the center of the group's loose formation. "We're in trouble."
"Duh," Cedric drolly remarked, earning a glare from Carrie.
"I've been cross-referencing the weather patterns that we've experienced with the ones that were supposed to have occurred." Her PET, a big bulky silver rectangle, projected holographic displays showing forecasts and charts. "The data shows that the only reasonable conclusion is that the Weather Unit in the Climate Control Center has been damaged."
"Couldn't it just be unmanned?" Sam asked.
The bespectacled scientist shook her head. "The unit is designed with fail-safes so that if someone isn't confirming the weather every day, it defaults to a gradual cycle of sun, clouds and rain, so as to generally support life in case of a catastrophe." She wore a grave face. "Icy fog, tempest thunderstorms and heatwaves aren't gradual."
"It's just weather, though," Carrie noted. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Lorna nodded and considered it. "Floods. Fires. Massive erosion. Topsoil destruction. Plant necrosis-"
"Yeesh, okay! I'm sorry I asked."
"We'll be even sorrier if it continues on its current course." She frowned. Everyone traded looks of concern as she continued. "I've been calling all morning, and nobody there or in any nearby stations is responding."
Natalie took a deep breath. "If we could get there, do you think you could fix it?"
Lorna sighed, looking a bit disappointed in herself. "Unfortunately not. The solar reactor I built to keep this place up and running requires constant maintenance, or it risks a meltdown. And unfortunately, I don't have the tools to stop the reaction."
Coul blinked. "You built a bomb??"
"She built a generator, which if mishandled, then becomes a bomb," Natalie corrected pointedly before turning back to her mother. "So you can't leave."
She sat. "No. I'm sorry."
"Ooh!" Exclaimed Max, grinning as he crouched on the top of a chair's backing. "What if you had a legion of robots that could do your bidding, then they could go fix it while you do science-fu here??"
All of them stared at Max with everything from confusion to contempt.
... Except for Natalie. "Max! That's a great idea!"
Carrie blinked. "Are you okay, babe?"
"Nono, hear me out! Carrie and I could go to the Climate Center and feed video back to my Mom," She brandished her PET, "-who could then tell us what to fix!"
"Oh! Nonono!" Lorna looked distraught. "Sweetie, that's dangerous!"
"More dangerous than fires, floods and necromancy?" Erwin asked rather innocently, but it made the point.
"Well, no, but-"
"But it's STUPID," Cedric interjected.
Natalie bristled, folding her arms and glaring. "And I guess you've got a better plan, Cedric?"
"As a matter of fact, I do, Natalie," he mocked. "We need to get the Army back together!"
Everyone stood, stunned.
"The Army?? But they were disbanded-"
"-weapons were dismantled-"
"-who in the world knows how to use them besides old fogeys??"
Cedric laughed with all the bile he could muster. "You're all so stupid. You really think they destroyed those weapons? Of course not. They just buried them somewhere. And I'm gonna find them." He clenched a fist. "Then we can crush these ugly mobs and you can fix all the stupid weather stations you want with ease."
Carrie folded her arms. "Let's say they do exist, and you find some. What then? Nobody I know can use them."
Rolling his eyes, the badger gestured. "Duh, we've got a scientist right here, brainiac. She made a reactor out of an industrial bun warmer, I'm pretty sure she can figure out where the triggers are, dumbass."
The cat grit her teeth and clenched her fists, shaking. Sam held her back. "Don't give him the satisfaction, pussy..."
"Oh yeah, Cedric," Natalie shot back, "Let's give a bunch of citizens who can't even fistfight, a buttload of high-powered military weapons. Great plan! What could go wrong?"
"Why don't you want the people armed??" He shook his head and pointed the stick at her. "Are you one of them??"
Nat blinked. The accusation shook her. "Wh-... what?! That's ridiculous, you're a bastard!"
"You know what, Natalie? I've had enough of you for one lifetime." He stared at his right fist as it clenched. "Everybody can either follow me, or suffer the consequences. Period!"
"And I've had enough of your grandstanding, kid." Officer Tisdale reached in his holster, pulled out his neurod-
-And had it smacked out of his hand by Cedric, who caught it on the way down in a reverse grip. "YOU, fat old slug, will never use this on me-" he jammed it into Tisdale's chest. "-Again!"
The panther fell to the ground in a mess of limbs, grunting as he lost all ability to stand. "Anh!"
The crowd had backed away from him. "And as for you..." He glared at Natalie, dropping the neurod. "I meant what I said."
Erwin blanched. "Natalie, watch out!!"
The badger raised his hands up as if to grasp something, rage-fueled grimace deepening as they glowed a volcanic yellow. Suddenly, liquid-hot magma erupted from his palms in a pressured blast.
Before Natalie could think, she was facing not Cedric, but Carrie, who zipped in front of him and stood perfectly stone still as her back was pelted with the molten rock, face set and determined. "Nobody hurts my girlfriend! For her I'll be invincible!" She screamed at Cedric, the anger clouding her head. "INVINCIBLE!"
Natalie wasn't sure if it was a warning to him or a prayer for it to be true, but she saw that Carrie was taking Cedric's inexplicable assault. She darted out from behind the cat, ducked under a blast of magma, and rolled out to stand up and face, surprisingly, Alliston. The vixen frowned and blew at her, as if trying to remove sawdust from a counter. The effect was far more staggering- a freezing chill came over Nat, and she looked down to see her feet frozen to the floor. "Nngh!"
"Say g'night, red-eyes!" The fox girl threw one, then two punches at her opponent, both of which Natalie dodged. Alliston sneered and began throwing punches center-mass. Unable to snake out of them or move, Nat took them one after another, tensing as hard as she could to mitigate the damage. Despite her unfavorable position, she was surprisingly effective in this, feeling Alliston's every punch thud against her ineffectively. This enraged the vixen, who began throwing higher, chest, neck, face. Natalie shut her eyes and leaned back, bracing as stiffly as she could against Alliston's tireless assault. After the tenth or so hit to the face, a loud ~CRACK!~ sounded below, disconnecting the ice from the floor, if not her feet.
Natalie landed on her duff, which hurt- apparently her new-found toughness had expired as quickly as it came. She swept her leg underneath the would-be pirate's own, and pushed up with her arms into a standing position to get a glimpse of the chaos occurring around her. Cedric blasted hot chunks of liquid rock at Hugh and Lorna's feet, terrorizing them into keeping away. Sam and Erwin tried to help Carrie, who in turn told them not to move her while the rock coating her was still hot. Max struggled against an unseen force.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. She turned around to face Alliston again, who had only just stood up. The wolf girl reached back and slapped her across the face, then hopped away from the retaliatory swing. "Hah!" She laughed boisterously. Her blue eyes flaring with anger, Alliston took a deep breath and blew at Natalie furiously.
Nat had predicted this- counted on it, in fact- and rolled out of the way. Instead, the blast of arctic air washed over Carrie and Cedric, the latter of whom found pillars of solidified rock stuck to his palms. "Nngh!" Their immense weight pulled his hands down to his sides as the igneous shafts slammed into the tile floor.
Carrie noted that she no longer felt any heat, and seized the opportunity. Lifting her arms- coated with wedges of cooled rock themselves- she spun around, dipped her swing down, then slammed her fist up into Cedric's chin, the rock bits on her arm slicing into his chest.
"NNNRRRGGHH!!" The badger screamed through his teeth, the columns on his hands snapping off as the blow sent him into a booth table. He curled and trembled with pain, clutching his wound.
Carrie raised an arm to do unspeakably violent things to Cedric's groin, but she found herself forced to stay still as a torrent of icy blades shattered against her back.
The magma-spouting badger rolled into the booth seat and leapt, running along the tables until he reached the door. "Run, you idiots!"
Natalie was standing in wait for Alliston to escape, but she felt some sort of invisible pressure knock her down. Pain shot up her thigh as a stray pool of liquid rock singed it, and the vixen sprinted past her. She saw Coul materialize in front of her to hold the door open, and soon the three of them were long gone.
-
- -
-
"... What just happened??" Erwin asked incredulously.
"Cedric and his goons were planning it all along," Carrie grunted, knocking shards of ice and rock from her back- strangely enough, her clothes were fine.
"Okay fine, so he had a plan," the ferret boy adjusted his glasses. "Where did he get magma hands?!"
"H-Hey... I hate to sound needy, b-but this really hurts..." Natalie's strained voice hissed as her hands grasped around her thigh, a chunk of red-hot rock having left glowing embers on her flesh.
"What??" Lorna rushed to her daughter's side. "Hang on, sweetie, just stay still- Max, get me the kitchen tongs, Erwin, get me some ice! Margaret-"
"I'm getting the disinfectant!" The other woman hollered as she ran toward the restroom.
Natalie sat, on the verge of tears, trembling from the pain. "Aw, mom..." She swallowed, giving her best wry smile. "You're not a real doctor."
Lorna choked on a laugh as she examined the wound. Nat's friends gathered around, Carrie shrugging off the concerns of her father to see how her girlfriend was doing, Samantha sitting on her knees next to her. "Oh gosh... I wish I was already a doctor, Natalie," the bat lamented.
"Heh... that's alright, Sam..." Nat squeezed one eye shut. "I'm sure you'd have done a great job."
"I just wish I could... make you feel better..." The fluffy-haired bat's eyes shut as she closed in, a hand guiding the wolf girl's face toward her own. They kissed, much to everyone's shock- not least of which, Natalie's. "... Mmnfh!"
The ebony girl's muffled sound of confusion snapped Sam out of her strange trance. She gasped in horror. "Wh-... Oh my goodness, I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!" She shrunk back, an apologetic look on her face first toward Natalie, then Carrie. "I feel dreadful! I had no idea what I was doing, I really do respect your relationship! I'm so confused..."
"Sam..." Natalie blinked in wonder, and then looked back at her bat friend, a smile creeping up her face. "... Could you do that again?"
Carrie's brows knit. "Natalie!"
"No, look!" The girl pointed at her thigh. The burning embers had been... pushed out, and now lay scattered on the floor. A few remained, and her fur was burned off, but her flesh had simply... healed over. "I felt a weird rush in my body when she kissed me, and my leg started feeling better!"
Lorna blinked. "How... How is that...?"
"Wait, wait." Carrie shook her head. "You've gotta be kidding me, Sam! You can heal wounds? You can literally kiss it all better?"
"I... maybe?" The bat was blushing now.
"Okay. Prove it." The cat nodded toward Natalie. "Heal the rest of it."
Samantha took a deep breath. "Are you sure?"
"Look, I'm not saying to make out with her," she quirked a brow and brushed some rock flakes off of her shoulder. "But if it makes her better, I don't have to be proud."
"M-Maybe you should kiss Carrie, it's only fair," Erwin added, grinning boyishly.
"Shut it, you." The cat kicked him gently in the thigh. "I don't need help- Natalie does."
"O-... Okay." Sam pulled closer to Nat's face. "Don't, uh, blame me if it doesn't work, you're all the ones saying I can do this."
Carrie smiled sternly. "Oh, if this was all a ploy to french my girlfriend, I'm gonna punch ya."
"See, now things like that make me think you're not kidding!" She shrunk back.
"She's just kidding, Sam, it's fine." Natalie smiled, reassuring her friend enough to close in again. "Frankly I was wondering when you'd let me bring another girl in, Carrie!"
Sam pulled away again and pouted, "It's not like that!"
"Sorry, sorry!" She grinned. "I couldn't help it. Go on."
Even if just to get it over with, the bat locked lips with her, and all eyes were on Natalie's leg. Scabbed flesh blew away like dust, revealing good-as-new skin underneath it, and further, the wolf's rich, dark fur grew in on top of it. Good as new.
"Anh..." Nat pulled away to catch a breath, and admired her newly-mended thigh. "Wow... That's amazing, Sam! Thanks!" She put her arms around her friend, pushed up cheek to cheek and squeezed her.
Samantha blushed at the affection, but smiled nonetheless. "Oomph... you're welcome."
"Hey, c'mon, I'm getting really jealous, here!" Carrie complained.
"Aw, quit!" Giggling and standing up, the wolf girl put an arm around her. "You know I love you best." She planted a kiss on the side of her face, which Carrie leaned into sweetly, her dimpled smile causing the bandage to fall off of her pristine cheek.
"Well, Natalie..." Lorna smirked, a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You had a flesh wound from something that should've burned down to the bone, and a little philandering made it all better. You're a lucky girl."
"And you were so brave, Carrie!" marveled Margaret, leaning over to give the two girls a hug. "You both were. And thank you, Samantha, for... whatever it was that you did!"
"I'm glad you're safe, pumpkin," Hugh put a hand on Carrie's back. "But I'm so confused. What in the world's going on? When did all of you get these strange abilities? Why did that boy want to murder you?" he implored gently.
Natalie frowned. "I don't know. I mean, Cedric's always been a d- a, uh, jerk. But even at his most evil, I never once thought he was planning to..." She swallowed a knot in her throat, staring at the floor. "He was really gonna kill me..." This was becoming a theme all too quickly.
"He seemed different," Erwin observed. "Even beside the lava hands."
"It is true, my friends!" Goggles over his eyes, Max looked down from atop the counter, legs folded as he stroked his neck frill like an ancient zen master. "Cedric has been mumbling and ranting to himself the past few weeks when he thought he was alone, and whatever he was talking about has made him paranoid. This is why I received the swirly." He nodded, one eye squinted as he considered it.
"That's weird even for Cedric," Officer Tisdale had regained limb strength and dusted himself off. "The little bastard."
"It's too extreme for him..." Natalie shook her head. "Maybe all the deaths made him snap."
Everyone stared at Natalie. "Deaths, really? People have died??" Margaret asked.
"Well, I... assumed. So many people are gone-"
"Not gone, grasshopper. Kidnapped," Max interjected. "They were dragged away by the monsters that invade our dojo."
"Dragged where?"
Lorna shook her head sadly. "No one knows."
A deep silence settled over the group, as suffocating as it was unsettling. Nobody had a clue what to do, and everyone knew this. Despair covered them like a dark cloth, each looking to the other, then downward.
Natalie turned away from the group, staring outside at the destruction of the city. In the glint of the mirror, she saw a glimpse of herself. No, not her... her pink doppelganger, smiling. She blinked, and it vanished, leaving behind her frightened visage. "... That control unit's not going to fix itself. Carrie, are you ready to go?"
Carrie blinked a moment, having lit a medstick. She returned a simple nod. "Yes."
"What?? No! No you're not!" Hugh frantically objected.
"I need her," Natalie stated simply, staring Mr. Oakenfield directly in the face, her red eyes set and resolute.
Lorna made a distressed sound. "Natalie, I can't let you go out there, it's too dangerous..."
"Mom." She turned her gaze to Dr. Grayswift. "You're always telling me that science is based on facts."
"Well, yes..."
"Then let's look at the facts," she insisted with a slightly tired expression. "We've been invaded. Buildings are falling apart, we can't get in touch with other domes, people are being dragged away by monsters, according to you our own weather control system is going to wipe us out, and we're all so scared out of our minds that we think we're safe inside a fast food restaurant because it has tinted windows."
Lorna's brows knit with worry. "I... I can't..."
"I love you for trying, Mom, but we don't have any other choices."
Carrie nodded in agreement. "Dad can't walk far on his bad knees, Mom's claustrophobic, you have to mind your machines, and Tisdale has to keep this place guarded in case others are still alive and free."
Taking her glasses off, the thirty-something scientist buried her face in her hands, looked up and sighed deeply. "There really isn't any choice, is there. This horrible nightmare isn't over... and I'm going to have to consent to my daughter running directly into danger."
Officer Tisdale patted Lorna on the shoulder. "Ma'am, Natalie has a good head on her shoulders. You won't pick fights you don't have to, will you?" He looked over to the girl.
"Of course not. This isn't a lunch room brawl over who stole the pudding." Nat shook her head. "We barely escaped the school. If we can get there and back without anyone knowing we're there, I'll be the first to be relieved."
"And not the last," Margaret added helpfully.
While the rest were talking, Lorna had busied herself with her PET, typing away. "I don't like this at all... but... we have no other options, and you two really are the best choice for the job; we can't ignore the facts." She paused a moment and frowned. "I just wish I could go with you..."
"I'm going, too, then," Samantha asserted, nodding at Carrie. "If it really is this dangerous, then what if someone gets hurt? It's only right I be there."
Lorna looked up at her. "I'm ashamed to say that that makes me feel a little better... I hope your parents can forgive me."
"I'm going, too!" Erwin added.
Nat blinked in surprise. "You, Erwin?"
"Y-... Yeah... I mean, you're gonna need someone who can actually fix this thing with the proper instructions. No offense, but you both got Cs in Machine Shop."
"I got a solid B minus." The wolf girl folded her arms.
Max hopped off the counter, still stroking his frill. "I like your spirit." He pivoted his head around and spoke with unmatching mouth movements. "I could add your moves to my invincible style! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He paused, resuming his normal voice. "... And keep a look out."
"... Doctor, are we really going to let these kids go to do this while we sit here?" Hugh asked desperately.
She took a deep breath, staring at her PET screen. "... If we don't, we're just condemning them to die with us." She looked up at him. "You tell me what's more selfish, Mr. Oakenfield."
"... Damn it..." He sagged in his wife's embrace. "... Carrie? Pumpkin?"
She put out her medstick and stowed it in her pocket, walking closer. "Yeah, Dad?"
Worry lined the older cat's eyes as he took her hand in his. "... Promise me you'll be careful, okay?"
She paused a moment, smiling ever so slightly as she kissed his forehead. "... Yes, Daddy. I promise."
-
- -
-
The next twenty minutes were all hustle and bustle. Dr. Grayswift sent directions, floor plans and other valuable information about the Climate Control Center to everybody's PETs while Erwin interrogated her for everything she knew about the Weather Unit. Max and Samantha informed their parents where they were going and began packing supplies they'd need- food, small hydrating chewable tablets called Thirstbursts, and a spare neurod from Tisdale's belt- into a small backpack which Max seemed intent on carrying. Carrie continued puffing medsticks, probably more to relax than to clear out the ash from the volcanic attack.
Natalie took this time to duck into a corner booth away from everybody and make another journal entry. Upon entering the program for it, however, it showed her the last one she entered. It had been the day before, regarding their plan to keep her friends safe by escorting them to class.
Yes. Keep them safe from the boy she now knew tried to murder her, to classes that no longer existed in any form, with her amazing powers of being a normal person, which were barely enough to keep herself alive with all of the things that threatened her now. She couldn't help but laugh at the childish naivete in which she described Cedric's dastardly plans as if they were the worst thing in the world. The laugh turned into a choke, and the choke made her sob unexpectedly- hot, salty tears ran down Natalie's face as she realized that the world she knew was long gone. What faced her now was a dark, unforgiving, unknowable something with no guarantee of success.
[08|07|2541
10:07
Hello, journal. Things have changed a lot since I last wrote to you. Yesterday I was sure my plans were foolproof, and today I don't even know where I stand. Monsters invaded, people were kidnapped, the school's been destroyed, and people I've known all my life are suddenly popping up with superpowers. Cedric and his goons almost killed- yes, killed- me with theirs, but Carrie and Sam saved me with their own. I don't know what's going on anymore, but I'm glad my friends are with me.
Mom says that if we don't do something about the fluctuations in the Weather Control Unit, we aren't going to make it much longer. I convinced everybody to go. I just hope we can fix it. Heck... I hope we can even make it there. No backing out now. ]
Natalie saved her journal and hesitated to put it back in her pocket.
"..."
She slid a panel off the back of her PET and pulled two flat, paper-thin pink circles the size of quarters from it. Pressing them against the insides of her ears, she opened an application named 'ComicVox.'
Leaning forward, Natalie whispered, "Open issue number six-fifty-five. Page thirty-two. Panel three. Effects: reverb, hall. Voice profile... Jacent."
An image projected of a strong young man with a mane of wild red hair standing in front of a large tube surrounded by scientists. A gigantic crowd had gathered in the park, where this machine had been constructed. Cold puffs of mist escaped from the device in various places.
"I want to thank everyone who came," the voice filled the imaginary stadium the comic detailed. "Everybody who supported me, fed me, gave me a place to stay even though it was dangerous. You call me a superhero, but what does that mean? I'm brave? Heroic? If any person had my abilities, wouldn't we expect the same of them?"
Her eyes fixed on the images. "Next page," she whispered.
The fictional crime fighter now faced the crowd. "No, I only did what I had to. Dr. Nhilus couldn't be allowed to destroy the world with his orbital laser. Nobody else could stop him, so I stepped up." The panel changed, and he gave a serious head-on stare to the reader. "When someone isn't strong enough to stand up for themselves, it's our responsibility to find the strength within ourselves to win the day."
Natalie smiled. "Next page."
"I don't know what the future holds. Maybe when they find a cure for this disease, there won't be a need for Cap'n Comet." He wore a weary, hopeful smile in the second panel. "But until then... keep that spirit for survival in your hearts. Keep that human compassion that makes us special! And if there's a threat to everybody that shakes the very ground you stand on, even if I'm not there... fight like I'm right beside you, and you can never lose."
Natalie pocketed her PET and smirked. "Okay, Cap." She cracked her knuckles. "No excuses. Let's do this."
-
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