Legion of Lawndale Heroes
Written by Brother Grimace
Legion of Lawndale Heroes created by
James Bowman
LLH
11.2 – 'Look Through My Eyes'
The
difference between being a hormonal teenager, and being a hormonal teenager
with super-powers? Absolutely none.
I have spent most of my time discussing the differences between
Legion training, and the training I had at the United States Academy of
Extranormal Studies. Now I would like to focus on the perks to be had at Legion
Tower. Namely, Trent Lane.
-excerpts
from Inside The Tower, by K. M. Sherrie
"Why
don't you tell me why you really wanted me to come over here, Trent?"
Trent
sighed, lifting his legs off the couch as he reached for his beer; Monique
Martin watched him with her large, grey eyes that made her look exotic and
slightly eerie all in one. "You don't want to just watch TV – besides, there's
nothing good on tonight anyway – and you don't want to get busy... what's up?"
"I
don't know," he said, draining the last of his beer in three gulps. "What else
are you up to...?"
Monique
blew a slightly exasperated spurt of air upwards, making several errant strands
of hair dance momentarily. "I told you that already – I'm finishing up the last
of my classes at Four-See, and I get my bachelor's in business administration
next month. Once I get my degree, I'm getting out of the Harpies and taking
that promotion as manager of Stepford
Music out at Lawndale Mall – they promised it to me last year, when I finished
the..."
The
lanky brunette reached over and slid her hand into Trent's. "Hey. Did you
forget that you can actually talk to me, too?"
Trent
looked up and gave her a loose smile. "Don't want to be buzzkill. Congrats on
getting the degree."
"You
know, you could start taking classes over at Lawndale Community College, get
your associate's and then finish up at Four-See; there's a lot on
non-traditionals there, and with a bachelor's degree, you could get something
like normal work – not a nine-to-five, but you could teach music somewhere –
really teach, like at a school or a music store, or..."
Her
voice trailed away, and she sat back; her eyes hardened as she watched him for
several seconds. "Okay. What the hell DO you want to do – besides sit around
during the day with your... guitar in your hand, and bouncing around the bar
circuit at night, making tiny stacks and screwing bimbos who let you in their
pants because you were up on the stage, not because you were any good up
there?"
Trent
looked up at Monique with wide eyes. "Whoa."
"What
– you thought I was going to pour the drinks for this little pity party of
yours? Figure out what you want to do, Trent – you're getting too damned old to
be just a bum with a litle bit of talent and no aspirations!"
"Big
words."
"Adults
are expected to use them every now and then. What the hell's wrong with you,
just lounging around with nothing in your eyes? You used to at least be
interesting with that 'eyes on the Prize' line-"
"It wasn't
a line-"
"What
have you done with it lately? When's the last time you actually sat down and
wrote out a song – even a halfway-decent one?"
She
leaned towards Trent and kissed him on the ear. "Trent... you're not even trying
anymore. I mean, you knew that music never was going to be the thing that got
you up on your feet and paid the bills; yeah, it fed you spiritually, but look
at your place... look at you. It's not that the place is dirty... it's like no one
really cares. That's what I see when I look around in here... and when I look
right at you."
Trent
pulled away from Monique, and she sighed as she ran her hand across his back.
"I'm not saying this to put you down, Trent, you know that. I know you. I know
that you want more, but when I look at you now, all I see is what you let me...
and all that is, is that you don't care anymore."
There
was silence in the front room; Taylor, the slender blue-point Siamese cat,
hopped up onto the back of the couch, meowing for attention, and began to purr
happily, arching himself as Monique started to rub a long, slender finger along
his back. Zachary, the slightly plump yellow tabbycat, appeared in the doorway
and went over with heavy pawsteps, wanting her share of attention as well.
"Explain
to me again why your mother named a girl cat Zachary."
"That's
Mom for you," he said, his hand going on autopilot as the cat with sun-yellow
stripes climbed upon him, rolled over and displayed her tummy for immediate
stroking. "She just named them that. Hey, Monique..."
Zachary
meowed in protest as Trent's fingers slowed, and as he renewed stroking her
tummy, a pronounced, peaceful purring poured from the pacified pussycat perched
perfectly in his lap. "Monique."
She
looked at Trent, who looked down at Zacary's half-closed eyes before looking up
to her.
"I
don't know what to do."
"Then
do anything."
"I
don't follow you."
"Just...
just go find something to do, and do it. Maybe you'll hate it. You probably
will – but figure out why you hate it. That'll give you an idea of what
you'd like to do instead of that... and that's the beginning of where you want to
go."
"That...
that's pretty smart."
"No.
It's just learning something about who and what you want to be. You know what,
though? I did learn something kind of smart from business classes..."
"What's
that?"
"Ever
heard of 'networking?"
"That
movie with the guy shouting out the window in the rain?"
Monique
covered the comment she almost made by picking Taylor up, ignoring his yowl of
protest (Taylor wasn't a fan of just anyone picking him up, but he'd let Satan
himself stroke his fur) and noticing how it disapeared immediately as she
resumed stroking his back... "Trent. In business school, that's what it's called
when people use the connections with the people they know in order to get
things. You're networked with some of the biggest names in the country!"
Trent's
expression immediately soured. "I'm not asking Janey for any money."
"Did
I say that? No. What I am saying is that one of the biggest things that's hit
this state this century just happens to have slept down the hall from you all
of her life."
Monique
shifted slightly. "You're not looking for charity – but I'm sure that the
Legion haas something around that brand-new Legion Tower that needs doing, and
that could be done by you. Everybody you can think of has gotten help getting a
job at one time or another – and the people know you, so if it bothers you to
ask Jane if they have jobs open there, ask somebody else! You've been out there
a lot of times, so they know who you are, right?"
Trent
nodded slowly. "Yeah. They know me out there..."
*****
Okay.
Time to bite the bullet.
Tom
picked up his cell phone, and dialed a number. "Hello?"
"Jane...?"
"Well,
guess who it is – Invisible Boy!"
Tom
winced at the playfulness in her tone that meant she'd tease him about his
sudden retreat from her room for weeks to come. "So... did we finish whatever
business we had to take care of... probably in the bathroom... and now, you're
calling me back?"
"Jane-"
"I
could have helped you with that, you know," she bubbled happily over the line. "I even
have latex gloves and other – can we say, 'handy' things to assist you in your
time of need!"
"Jane!"
The
girlish laughter trickled away. "Okay – you've got the serious voice on.
What's up?"
"I
have something I need to tell you. Something that I need to tell all of you..."
The
sound of a second person in the background made Tom wince; Jane had him on the
cell phone's speaker. "Jane, will you stop throwing ice at Daria and listen to
me!"
Abject
silence sprinkled from the phone; Tom turned his face away from the direction
of Jane's apartment, where – before he turned away – Daria and Jane had turned
towards his apartment... and Daria seemed to be looking directly into his face.
"Tom."
A
moment passed before he spoke. "Jane?"
A
flow of ice replaced the shower of silence from the phone. "We'll be right
over."
*****
Stacy
had opened the stairwell door and was about to step through when her nose
perked up – and she quickly closed the door. A scant few moments later, the
elevator door opened, and Daria and Jane appeared from within to march over
to Tom's room.
Oh,
do they look mad! I wonder if they somehow saw me – I wonder if Daria's mental
powers let her seem me taking some dinner over to Tom – I wasn't trying
anything with him, really! – and if she told Jane, and she's mad at him, too...
A
look of serenity slowly went across the young woman's face, a look that, if
Sandi had seen it, would have sent even her newfound self running for the
hills. So what if I had tried something?
The
look passed quickly, and the trademarked 'deer-in-the-headlights' look that
Stacy had worn for years reasserted itself solidly upon her face. But what
if we had gotten caught? What if Jane or Daria had come in and caught us... doing
it? EWWWW! I can't believe I actually saw – his robe had come open – I saw it,
and it – when he looked at me, it was like he saw me naked, and then it –
EWWWW!
Three
minutes later, any onlookers in the pool area would have been impressed with
the way that Stacy rushed through the doors and – after stopping for a moment,
leaped across the full length of the pool and into the thirty-foot diving
section with the grace of an Olympic diving champion. She came to the surface
immediately, the deep blush in her face fading, and calm returning to her face.
*****
Tom
was uncertain which was worse – the way Daria stared at him silently, or the
way that Jane couldn't even look at him... because she was laughing so hard that
she could barely stay seated on the Queen Anne chair she was in.
"Would...
Jane, would you please stop doing that...?
"Okay..."
Jane sniffled, somehow managing to surpress her laughter for a moment. "Well,
between you looking down at my crotch with your 'shape-vision' – I love that
name for it! – and you scaring the lovely Miss Rowe off with your grandly
unveiled endowment, I think the scales of justice have been more than balanced.
So, you can't really control it yet, hmn?"
"When
it kicks in and I don't want it to, I just switch to another power and it
switches right off," he told the two girls. "There were a few times when I was
using another power and it switched itself on..."
"Is
THAT why I nearly knocked your head off that one – Ohhhh..." Jane nodded
over at Daria sagely. "I thought that it was just my punch that knocked
him for a loop."
"I
don't think this is funny."
"Oh
come on, Daria! Now, the mystery's undone – and he's privy to our most tender
of secrets...!"
"No,
that's not true!" Tom lied outright, actually surprised at the level of
sincerity he threw into the lie. "It only happened like that twice – the night
of the fire, when I saw through the wall and flames to see-"
"THAT'S
why you insisted on flying Sandi back under your own power, rather than having
carry all of us!" Jane exclaimed, making Tom jump. "And the second time-"
"I
got punished for it on the spot," he said, defiantly not looking anywhere in
Daria's general direction. "I know that I should have said something right
away, but I would have had to say what I saw with-"
"And
the embarrassment train would have pulled in," Jane said, stumbling over and
giving him a kiss on the cheek that was half-giggle. ""Now, you know that
you're going to have to tell everyone about this..."
Tom
winced; he could see the look on Armalin's face. "...But in the interest of
making you suffer a little longer, I guess it can wait until tomorrow morning,
after breakfast but before PT. Nightey-night."
Knowing
that Jane's rolling sounds of mirth were because of him, at any other time,
would have made Tom happy beyond words... but as she walked through the door, he
was just glad that he had made it through telling her his secret intact-
Then,
Daria stepped into his view – and Tom was reasonably certain that the next time
he saw that particular expression on someone's face directed towards him, it
would probably involve angels, swords of fire and the overwhelming stench of
brimstone.
"Tom."
"Daria."
A
snatch of something he had seen at Fielding Prep suddenly flashed through his
mind as he looked directly into Daria's large brown eyes: All I can
say is that NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY KURTZ IN "HEART OF DARKNESS" BEHAVED AS HE
DID!
The horror... the horror...
"You said that your power only kicked in accidentally twice when you were looking at someone – with Jane, and when you rescued Sandi."
"Yes, but-"
Daria held up a finger, and it was as if Tom was struck mute. "For the rest of your life – and the next two or three you get - stick to that story. If I ever find out that you were looking through my clothes..."
She leaned in close. "Why don't you talk to Upchuck? I had a similar conversation with him when he joined up... and what I promised to do to him will seem like a trip to Disneyland with the girl of your dreams... compared to what I'll do to you."
She turned and left the room... but as she left, Tom couldn't help it as a single thought slipped into his mind...
She is so...damned... hot... when she's
madder than hell...
*****
Colonel
Kyle Armalin sighed as he sat down on a small boulder, and then looked up at
the line of Legionnaires.
"Well.
Never let it be said that this isn't the way to be awakened in the morning.
Morgendorffer, Sloane – so, we have new abilities, I see. Okay."
He
stood up, and walked back and forth in from of them. "You know, when I was
growing up. One thing my mother would do when one of my brothers got caught
doing something was to line all of us up, and punish all of us. Her rationale
was that she was getting the one who did something wrong – and to get the
others for whatever it was that we did, but got away with."
Tom
looked down at the ground in front of him as Armalin stopped next to him. "I
wasn't crazy about the punishments, but the theory's sound. In the spirit of my
mother's practice – I'm going to entertain the possibility that several more of
you have manifested addiotonal abilities or found new uses for the ones you
have... but you haven't shared with the other children.Yet. "
Kyle
looked down the line, and then focused back on Tom. "Time for 'show and tell',
kids."
He
turned from Tom to Jane, who had a big smile on her face. "I assume you've got
something good to show us, Miss Lane?"
She
turned to Tom, and extended her hand to him. "About last night – no hard
feelings?"
"Miss
Lane...?"
Jane
tossed a quick wink at him as Tom took her hand – and yelped loudly as a loud,
electric CRACK! reverberated through the quarry. "Found out that I can generate
a bit of a static charge a couple of nights ago," she said, smirking as Tom
turned invulnerable to get rid of the pain. "I wasn't hiding it – I thought
that it was just the cold weather, but I was going to tell you."
"Okay.
What about you, Legion Leader?"
Quinn
held her right hand up and let a flickering arc of golden electricity dance in
the air between her thumb and pinky... and then, the arc began to circle around
her hand into a perfect little circle. She let it spin for a moment, then the
circle became a perfect cube of electricity the size of a basketball, then a
triangle that spun slowly, and then, a small globe... "How long have you been
practicing that?"
"A
couple of weeks," she said, a slightly sheepish grin on her face.
"Miss
Morgendorffer..."
"Ever
since you went down to New Orleans."
"You
mean, 'Just before I went down', don't you?" Armalin actually smiled. "Okay.
Let's see it..."
The
angelic look of innocence on Quinn's face actually fooled most of the others.
"Quinn – we're waiting..."
A
very cute hand lifted upward, and Kyle found himself in a cage made of pure
electricity. "Not bad. Have you been working on manipulating your electrical
output the way Mr. Randall suggested?"
"I'm
still trying – I was able to run my hair dryer for about ten minutes..."
"AC
output - good deal. Miss Taylor?"
The
shapely young woman held her hand out to Armalin – and the others gasped as
they both disappeared! "Not bad, Miss Taylor."
They
both reappeared, and Armalin released her hand. "As long as I'm holding onto
someone or something, they stay invisible, too!" she gushed, bouncing with
excitement. "I was in my car and I was holding onto the steering wheel – and
the car went invisible, too!"
"Why
didn't you tell anyone, Miss Taylor?"
"Um...
I just didn't think about it?"
"Right."
I can actually believe that... coming from her. "Miss Griffin?"
"I
haven't noticed anything new," she said crisply. "I've been working on target
practice. I have noticed that, like, I can triplicate the pistol magazines, so
that I never run out of ammunition-"
"Wait
a minute. You can triplicate an item – without triplicating yourself
to do it?"
Sandi
visibly caught herself as that thought sank in... and a beautiful smile spread
across her face as she realized what she had done.
"Outstanding,
Miss Griffin. Mister Ruttheimer – do you have anything new to show the group?"
"Well,
sir – yes and no."
In
an instant, Charles was gone – his place taken by the most handsome man any of
them had ever seen, dressed in a suit that looked like it didn't even know what
the word 'rack'meant. "I figured that it might be a good idea to create a
specific alter ego – someone who can go and do things that we might need done,"
the man said, speaking in a firm, strong tone leavened with enough bass to make
all of the former Fashion Club girls nearly sigh – and then, wince in unison as
they remembered who the man really was. "I also figured that he might need to
make a REALLY good impression somewhere-"
The
man took off his jacket, and then began to unbutton his shirt-
"Mr.
Ruttheimer-"
"Trust
me, sir."
The
man took off his shirt, and the Fashion Club girls – as well as several of the
other instructors – gasped as the man unfurled a pair of spectacular,
cream-white wings. He flexed them once, then again, and then began to rise into
the air as his wings lifted him slowly aloft... "People like angels, or people
who look like angels – and if we ever need to use our powers somewhere... maybe I
can make people believe that-"
"Points
for creativity, Mr. Ruttheimer. I'm not so sure on the wings angle, but if you
can impersonate anyone, that could be very useful in a number of..." Realization
went across his face, and he looked off in the direction of the front gate
before turning back to Charles, who had shifted back into his normal form. "I'm
going to put that clipboard where the monkey put the onion?' I knew
there was something I had forgotten to take care of..."
He
stepped up to Charles, who went pale, and actually seemed to shrink a good foot
or so in height as Armalin glared at him. "We're going to talk later about why
it's not a good idea to impersonate some people, Charles. One reason for it is
that you may take a bullet meant for them." He paused, and looked down at
Charles. "Ruttheimer. Can you do that anytime you want?"
"D-do
what, sir?"
"Charles...
right now, you're shorter than Daria. How far down can you shrink?"
"I...
I don't know..."
"Work
on it-" Armalin fell backwards as Charles suddenly grew to a height of forty
feet! "I didn't mean 'NOW', Ruttheimer – and you got your signals crossed,
anyway! Get back down here, now!"
The
other Legionnaires looked an Charles with wide eyes – except for Daria, who
yawned, and Tom; surprised by the way Charles suddenly became a giant, stumbled
back – and as he looked up at Charles, his shape-vision kicked in-
"Ah,
f***-!"
"What's
wrong with you?" Jane asked, turning towards Tom as he grabbed at his eyes and
fell as he tripped over a rock. "What happened – what did you s- OH."
Jane
dropped her knees laughing as Tom lifted himself to his feet. "Would you mind
sharing with everyone, Miss Lane...?
"Sure!"
she almost-giggled. "When Charles did his Goliath impression, it caught Mr.
I-See-Through-Everything-When-I'm-Surprised here off-guard, and he looked right
up at-"
Tom
went tomato red as the sounds of laughter rocked the quarry, and Armalin simply
smiled. "I'd say that you're punishing yourself just fine, Mr. Sloane. I'll
consider that matter handled. Miss Blum-Deckler – do you have anything
that you'd like to share?"
"Nooooo..."
Armalin
sighed, and stepped over to the last of the Legionnaires. "And last but
certainly not least – Miss Rowe."
"Hi!"
"Good
morning, Miss Rowe. Do you have anything new that you'd like to show us?"
"Well..."
she said, idly making a small circle with he tip of her boot as she swayed back
and forth, "there's one think that I learned I could do, down when I was in
Florida..." Stacy winced slightly as Armalin shot a sharp look in her
direction."B-but I didn't say anything, because it didn't seem like it was so
special... well, with the things that everyone else can do..."
"Well,
I'm sure that what you can do is just as impressive," Armalin said. Even with
her powers and that occasional burst of confidence that she exhibited – and
which, he suspected, would become more pronounced as time went on – it was
still standard policy to give Stacy encouragement whenever possible. "Anytime
you're ready..."
Stacy
looked about to see the eyes of everyone there upon her. She looked back at
Armalin, looked skyward, leaped up – and disappeared with a CRACK! as she flew
away at the speed of sound.
"Oh,
wow," Sandi said, echoing the sentiments of everyone there as Stacy shot off
across the sky. "Who's going to go get her – does she know the way back?"
"I'll
get her-"
"You
stay right here, 'Peeping Tom," Armalin said, ignoring the sudden wave of
laughter that rose up at his words. "I'll go and get her..."
Before
anyone could speak, Armalin leaped into the sky in the same manner as Stacy,
and a second CRACK! echoed through the air as he sped off after her. "Well –
what do we do now?"
"Two
mile run, everyone," Quinn piped up. "After that, breakfast, and-"
"You'll
meet in the Conference Room at 0900," Nemec broke in. "The Colonel has an
announcement to make."
*****