“I don’t believe it!” Carolyn yelled.

The Group was in Aaron’s room, as usual for Adult Swim after a hard day of school.

“Carolyn, would you calm down?” Aaron said, “It’s only a track meet.”

“That’s beside the point, I’m the fastest person alive and I’m not going!” Carolyn shouted with no regard to the floor’s quiet hours.

“You might want to keep your voice down, if you’re to going to continue,” Eric added, “The guys on this floor might not be sober, but they’re not stupid.”

“I don’t know about that,” Justin said, “but, just for the record, that the hell is she talking about?”

“The Hillsdale track meet, it’s a huge overnight meet with a lot of good competition from D1 schools, but they’re only taking the really good girls to save money, and I’m not going.” Carolyn said, quieter but no less pissed off. “I can out run a bullet but I’m not good enough to face Top 10 girls?”

“You know you can’t use your powers at a track meet, people are dumb but they’re not that dumb,” Eric said.

“Besides, you wouldn’t want to accidentally blow up one of your teammates.” Justin said.

“Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing, I mean if something comes up, it makes it easier without having to go through a lot of cloak and dagger stuff to get back here,” Eric said with a smile, trying to make Carolyn feel better.

“What’s going to come up? Since we’ve gotten these powers, we’ve saved Eric’s car and Justin had a run in with Cortinello, but that was weeks ago. Since then it’s all been pick pockets and burglaries. It’s nothing you guys can’t handle without me.” Carolyn responded.

“Who knows maybe we’ll get lucky and there’ll be a raving lunatic with a doomsday device roaming around downtown Racine,” Aaron joked.

“Doubtful,” Carolyn said, with a half smile, “but lets go out patrolling anyway. I’m in the mood for a little ass kicking. I’ll be back in a second.”

“It’s PMS right?” Justin said as soon as Carolyn was out of the room.

“I heard that,” Carolyn said from the hall.

“I thought you were gone.” Justin said, a puzzled look on his face.

“I was, and now I’m back…Super Speed remember,” Carolyn said closing the door, “I owe you for that comment.”

“Let’s get going, before Carolyn fries Justin,” Aaron said as a dark aura began to engulf him, as the shadow began to thin, he reappeared in costume.

“Alright, alright, but some of us don’t have super speed or…what ever it is that Aaron has. Let me go get my suit.” Eric said.

“I have mine with me,” Justin said lifting his backpack, “I’ll join you though so we can change.”

The two started heading toward the door, “Umm, maybe doors aren’t the best option in this case,” Aaron said, “I’ve got a better idea.” Aaron pointed at the wall and a portal appeared, opening into Eric’s room next door.

Eric and Justin headed through the portal, “And where are you going to change?” Aaron said turning back to Carolyn.

“Already did,” she said with a smile, at Aaron’s dumbfounded look.

“How did you…?” He began, “ Oh, right the whole super speed thing.”

“That’ll teach you to blink,” Carolyn joked.

************************************************************************

As usual, the night was pretty much a waste. The usual mugging was the best the group could hope for.

“I don’t get it,” Bolt said, “how could such a big city have no crime at this time of night?’

“It’s funny that you can complain about something like that,” Spidon poked.

“Fine, make fun, but what good are super powers when you have no reason to use them,” Bolt said.

“You might want to hold that thought,” Navajas interrupted.

The rest of the Group followed his gaze down the building. There was a large animal over seven feet tall with huge goat horns ripping the metal gate off the door of one of the Magnificent Mile’s many upscale jewelry stores. It tossed the metal grating aside and proceeded to break down the door and enter the store.

“Ok, tell me you all saw that, too,” Spidon said in an obviously confused tone.

“Unless all of us are hallucinating simultaneously, then I’m going to go with, yeah, a 'roided-up werewolf with goat horns just broke into that store,” Flammenherr said equally as shocked at what he had just seen.

“Oooookay…I guess this beats a purse snatcher,” Bolt breathed.

“So we should probably get down there and do something right?” Navajas said, but no one was moving.

“Come on, we wanted to be super heroes,” Spidon said making a portal underneath the group. They reappeared across the street from the store.

“So do we have a plan?” Bolt said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Umm…how about I shadow the room, Bolt, you zap him and grab what ever it is he’s taking. Flammenherr, it’s an animal right, so you can freak it out with some fire so I can cage it, and Navajas, block the exit so he doesn’t get away.” Spidon said, throwing out a spur of the moment plan.

“Works for me,” Bolt said, “Let’s go.”

As the Group entered the store, they saw the creature had destroyed a number of display cases.

“Alright, Cujo, it’s back to the pound for you,” Navajas said in a forced smug demeanor.

“Who the fuck are you?” the creature said in the gruffest bass voice any of them had ever heard.

“Holy crap! Did that thing just speak?” Spidon said voicing what was obviously the question on the rest of the group’s minds as well.

“Stick to the plan,” Flammenherr shouted, but it was too late.

The creature took a swing at Spidon, but luckily he was able to phase out right before the razor sharp claws hit.

“I got it,” Bolt shouted, as she began to charge up.

“I’ve got the other side,” Flammenherr shouted.

Though obviously taken aback by the powers of the group, the creature showed no signs of fear.

“Heads up,” Navajas shouted from the door, as he let a knife fly with deadly accuracy toward the creature, but the creature was faster than he looked. Before any of them realized it, the creature dove out of the way, knocking Flammenherr’s arm out of the way. This redirection of the flame set off the sprinkler system. The water poured down, soaking everyone in the store. Unfortunately, water and electricity don’t mix, and Bolt who was still fully charged was blown against the wall, collapsing in a smoking heap.

“Is she alright?” Flammenherr shouted.

Spidon faded into shadow form and slid across the room to where Bolt was lying.

“I’m fine,” Bolt said with a cough, “just shorted out.”

In the confusion, the creature had grabbed something off the ground, and was now trying to make a break for the exit. Flammenherr took another shot at it, but the creature was too fast. The fire only managed to singe a patch of fur across its back. The creature knocked Navajas out of the doorway sending him flying in the street. In an amazing throw however, before Navajas hit the ground, he managed to let fly one of his many knives. The blade buried itself deep into the creature’s arm, forcing it to drop what it had stolen. It turned back to retrieve the item, but Flammenherr was there with another burst of flames. This time it was more accurate. The creature ran off into the night, clutching its damaged arm and attempting to put out the fire consuming its chest.

“Oh yeah, this was much better than a track meet,” Bolt said, coming out of the demolished store.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted excitement,” Spidon said, as he and Bolt helped Navajas up.

“So did we get him?” Navajas said, rubbing where his back had hit the pavement.

“Yeah,” Flammenherr shouted, picking up what the creature had dropped, “We got him, what good that did.”

“We got whatever it was taking back didn’t we?” Navajas said.

“What is it anyway?” Spidon asked staring at Flammenherr’s open hand. In it was a pendant on a gold chain. The pendant was in the shape of a moon, surrounded by diamond stars. The moon, however, was made of a stone that none of them had ever seen before.

“We’d better take this with us,” Flammenherr said.

“Isn’t that stealing?” Bolt said.

“We’ll bring it back,” Flammenherr said quickly, “Besides, we should figure out why that thing was after it in the first place. If we leave it here, the creature is just going to go after it again.”

“Well, if we’re going to go up against that thing again, at least we’ll be prepared.” Spidon said.

“Yeah, and we’ll stick to the plan,” Bolt said with an angry look at Navajas.

“Does anybody else smell barbeque?” Navajas said, returning Bolt’s stare.

“Shut up!”

************************************************************************

Far from the Magnificent Mile, on the other end of Chicago, the monstrous creature makes its way into a dark and dreary apartment. Alone in the kitchen, a woman works diligently over the stove. The creature enters, unbeknownst to the woman. It reaches for her, but as it does so, the loss of blood streaming from its wounded arm, is too much. It falls to the floor, and the resulting impact alerts the woman that she is not alone.

“AHHHH!” the woman screams, “My love, what happened to you?”

“There was a problem,” the creature said in the same raspy bass voice, though this time there was a slight strain in his voice as he breathed.

“You must change back, Darling,” the woman pleads to the creature, as she cradles its head in her lap, “Trust me.”

A look of agony washes over the creature’s face as it looks deeply into the eyes of the woman. Slowly, the form of the creature begins to melt away, and the last howls of pain change into the screams of a man. No longer does the woman caress the face of a horrifying monster, in its place is that of a handsome young man, not more than twenty-five years old.

“Oh, Salome,” the man breathed, as he reached up and hugged the woman.

“I know, Adrian, the transformation is a painful process, but with more Lycaonium, it will become easier,” Salome whispers to the man. “You did get the stone didn’t you, my love.”

“Like I said there was a problem,” Adrian says embarrassedly as he pulled away from Salome, “I found the stone, but there was interference.”

“Interference?” Salome said with a dark laugh, “Please, you could take care of any officers that you run across.”

“It wasn’t the police that came,” Adrian put in quickly, “it was three guys and a girl all dressed in these weird outfits.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you couldn’t handle four people in Halloween costumes, even in the form of Razh?” Salome asked coldly.

“But, Darling, they had powers that I’ve never seen before, not even from you. They were like a team of super heroes,” Adrian said remembering the evening’s battle.

“Super heroes are only in stories, Adrian, they aren’t real,” Salome retorted.

“Some might say the same thing about witches, Darling,” Adrian said as he leaned in close to Salome and delivered a passionate kiss.

************************************************************************

“What are you talking about?” Carolyn shouted.

The next night the Group was once again assembled in Aaron’s room, hoping to catch some kind of word about the robbery on the news. This time Amber had joined them, as she was forced to listen to the same account of the previous nights events over and over.

“I’m just saying, I don’t know if we can count this one as a win, there were too many mistakes,” Aaron said, “and besides the bad guy got away.”

“We got back the necklace didn’t we, and we all came out alright,” Carolyn argued.

“Speak for yourself,” Justin said from the floor. He was sprawled out face down on a bunch of pillows, with a bag of ice on his back, “Some of us don’t recover at super speed.”

“Wahh, baby wants a Zima,” Eric shot from Aaron’s desk. In response, a pillow was sent flying across the room, smacking Eric upside the head.

“Aaron has a point, you guys have to be more careful next time,” Amber said, interrupting before it could escalate into an all out pillow war, “But I’d say overall, it wasn’t bad for your first super villain.”

“So what was that thing anyway?” Aaron said.

“You mean other than big and ugly?” Justin joked, this time the pillow found Justin’s head.

“It was a demon,” Eric said, quite seriously still staring at Aaron’s computer.

“A demon?” Aaron laughed, “You can’t be serious.”

“This from the living shadow,” Carolyn poked.

“The necklace that the creature was trying to steal, I pulled up the insurance form off the internet,” Eric began.

“You can do that?” Carolyn interrupted.

“You have your talents, I have mine” Eric said with a little smile. “Anyway, seemingly it’s nothing special. Gold, diamonds, the usual, but the moon on the pendant is the key. It’s made of a rare stone called Lycaonium. Being rare automatically makes it expensive, but if the creature was after money, why did it only take this piece?”

“Brilliant deduction, Holmes,” Aaron quipped.

“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” Eric laughed.

“That still doesn’t explain where you got demon from,” Amber interrupted.

“Oh, right,” Eric said getting back on track, “so I ran a search on the internet with a description of our gruesome friend and look what I turned up.”

Eric moved out of the way so the rest of the people could see the computer screen. There was a relatively accurate drawing of the creature that the group had just faced.

“It’s some occult site. This page is about summoning 'the demon within,'" Eric explained.

“Shit, you mean there could be more of these out there?” Justin shouted from the floor.

“Doubtful, these ingredients, like our stone here, are hard to come by. Besides you’d need a real witch to actually perform the spell,” Eric responded.

“Wait a second, you mean there’s a witch out there too? A real witch?” Aaron said, a little freaked out at the prospect.

“I changed my mind, boring is good. Can we go back to boring?” Carolyn said.

“Hey, you guys wanted to be super heroes, and now’s your chance,” Amber said, providing a much needed pep talk.

“Looks like we’re going witch hunting. Who knows, maybe she’ll be cute like Rose McGowen,” Eric said with a little laugh.

“Or Alicia Millano, she was hot,” Justin added, and with that Carolyn and Amber let the pillows fly.

************************************************************************

“Explain to me again why we’re out here freezing our asses off out here again?” Navajas said nimbly twirling a knife between his fingers.

“You’ve asked that question every night this week,” Spidon replied.

“And who am I to break tradition?” Navajas joked.

“Look,” Flammenherr said pointing across the street, “that store down there is the only one in three states with Lycaonium. I had Spidon portal it back into the store with a note telling the store not to publicize the earlier robbery, but anything for a sale they went straight to the press with the stone’s miraculous reappearance. Sooner or later, the demon’s going to show up to try and steal it, and when he does we’ll be ready for him.”

There was a sudden breeze, as Bolt joined them on the rooftop.

“So any sign of him, Buffy?” Navajas asked Bolt.

“I swear to God, if you call me that one more time, you’re going to get a Nike enema.” Bolt responded. Turning to the other two, she said, “I covered a mile radius around the store, and there was no sign of him.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Spidon replied, “You saw that thing move, besides if a witch is helping him there’s no guarantee we could even find him if we wanted to.”

“Spidon’s right, cause Lurtz just showed up, and he’s not alone,” Flammenherr said. He was right. The demon was back, but this time a young woman was with him.

“Where the hell did they come from?” Bolt said, “I swear I checked everywhere.”

“You did,” Flammenherr said, “ They just kinda materialized next to the store.” With this said the group turned and stared at Spidon.

“Whoa! Don’t look at me,” He said, “I told you my powers were magic, so maybe the witch knows how to portal, too.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Flammenherr said.

“Shouldn’t we have a plan?” Spidon said.

“Yeah, cause that worked so well last time.” Bolt said.

“New plan: Stop bad guys and don’t die. That work for everyone?" Navajas said.

************************************************************************

A few seconds later, the group was on the ground outside the store once again. They entered the store to see the demon destroying the display case holding the necklace. He ripped the stone from the chain, and in his bare hand crushed the stone to a powder. The woman took some of it from the demon’s hand and added it to a vile containing a strange colored liquid.

“Finally, with this stone we have the rest of the potion needed to complete your transformation and give you the powers of Razh permanently, my love,” The woman said to the demon.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Flammenherr said, as the group entered the store, “You mean JoJo the dog faced boy here can get a date, but I’m still single? That’s it!”

Flammenherr shot a blast of fire at the two. With a gesture of her hands the woman disappeared before the flames could touch her. The demon, too, jumped out of the way to avoid the fire, but the reaction caused him to drop the vile.

“ I got it,” Bolt said, and before anyone could react, she was back standing with the rest of the group holding the vile.

“Very clever,” the woman said, her voice dripping with a loathing for the group, “But your little powers aren’t enough to match that of Salome and Razh.”

The demon Razh leapt forward at the group, and took a swipe with his massive claws at Spidon but he was able to become intangible avoiding what would have been a serious blow. Having missed his original target, Razh turned to attack Bolt and reclaim the potion.

“Oh please, like you could catch me.” Bolt said as the demon turned to face her.

“We’ll see about that,” Salome said and she started muttering an incantation and making some magical hand signals in Bolt’s direction.

Razh dove for Bolt, but as she turned to avoid him, she found that she could not move from where she stood. The demon hit her straight on and sent her flying through the air. As she crashed into one of the display cases, the potion fell from her hand and rolled across the floor. Navajas dove for the potion, but the demon caught him out of the air and sent him into a wall. In the confusion, Salome was able to grab the potion. Flammenherr saw this and tried to go after her, but she started to escape through another portal.

“Spidon, she’s getting away!” he yelled.

“I see her,” Spidon said, as he ran across and disappeared into the portal Salome had created. Bolt and Navajas had recovered by this time and had been trying to fight the demon, but when Salome and Spidon disappeared from the room, everything stopped. Both the remaining heroes and the demon froze and stood staring at where the two had disappeared. After what seemed like forever, Spidon and Salome fell from a portal that had appeared in midair.

“A little help here,” Spidon yelled, as the rest of the group still stood in shock at what he had just done.

The shock gave Razh just enough time to make another swipe at the three forcing them to dodge out of the way. Another blow was directed towards Spidon as he was still struggling with Salome. This time the blow connected and he was sent flying towards the wall. Before he hit, however, he transformed into a 2D shape and seemed to blend into the wall. Having momentarily disposed of all of the members of the makeshift super heroes, Salome was able to get the potion to Razh.

“Here, my love, drink this and show them the full power of the demon Razh.” Salome told him.

“Doesn’t she ever shut up?” Bolt said getting back to her feet.

“I didn’t think anyone actually spoke like that,” Flammenherr added.

“Yeah, when you’re a homicidal psychopath who do you think is going to question her?” Navajas joked.

“Watch it!” Spidon shouted from across the room, “He’s drinking the potion.” He had reformed into a 3D form but he was still working on stopping the room from spinning. Bolt started to run for the demon, but with another gesture from the witch, flames shot out from her hands forming a wall of fire between them.

“I got this one,” Flammenherr said. He extended his hand and absorbed the fire, but it was too late, the demon had downed the contents to the vile.

“Does anyone else hear that?” Navajas said, quite suddenly.

“Oh crap,” Flammenherr said, “Looks like the calvary has arrived, late as usual.” Everyone could now hear sirens, and Police cars started to surround the store.

“This is the Police,” an officer said over a megaphone, “Come out with your hands up.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Navajas said.

“Those guys are going to get themselves killed if they try to stop these two,” Flammenherr said.

“Come, my darling,” Salome said to Razh, “We shall let the world know of our power.” The two turned and exited the store.

“Put your hands up, or we will be forced to open fire,” the officer on the megaphone announced again, but now he saw what he was up against, and his voice began to tremble as the monstrous form of the demon emerged from the store. In fact, all of the police standing with their guns poised on the door were taken aback at the sight of Razh. The demon took a few massive steps forward, and leapt towards the closest squad car. The officers that were taking cover behind the car, turned to run, but before the demon landed, a massive baseball bat materialized in front of him and sent him sailing back into the wall of the jewelry store.

“You can put it on the booooard…YES!” came a female voice from across the street. The police stood even more dumbfounded at the sight of the costumed friends.”

“You again,” Salome said, “Well you are no match for the might of Razh.”

“Oh really?” Navajas said, “Well your little…umm…boyfriend doesn’t look so good.”

He was right. As the heroes, the police, and Salome turned, they saw the form of Razh start to melt away, revealing that of a man.

“No, I don’t understand,” Salome shouted, “He just had the last of the potion; the transformation should have been complete.”

“Yeah, about that, we bought that necklace out of vending machine, so we want our fifty cents back.” Bolt said trying to suppress a laugh.

“I believe this is what you were looking for,” Spidon said pulling the real necklace out of a portal he had formed in front of himself.

“You’re going to pay for this,” Salome said through angry tears. She raised her arms to cast another spell, but before she could two knives were sent sailing through the air. They found their marks, and expertly pinned Salome’s sleeves to the wall of the store, preventing her from completing the spell.

“You’re good, baby, I’ll give you that, but me, I’m magic.” Navajas said doing a Colin Farrell impersonation.

“You think your little tricks can stop me?” Salome said and began to utter another incantation. As the police watched this amazing scene play out in front of them, they were amazed once again as Bolt moved from one side of the street to the other in the blink of an eye. With one swift motion, Bolt delivered an electrified right hook to the side of Salome’s face knocking her out cold.

“I thought she’d never shut up,” Bolt said with a smile turning back to the rest of the group. Unfortunately, as she did so, twenty or so guns were now locked on to the different members of the team.

“Was it something we said?” Navajas tried to joke.

“Officers, let us explain,” Spidon began, taking a few steps toward the police. This was only met by the sound of guns being cocked. “A little help here, Bolt,” and before the police could realize what had happened, Bolt reappeared next to the rest of the Group holding all of the cops’ weapons.

“Now then,” Spidon said beginning again, “We’re not the bad guys here, those two are, and know that I’m sure we have your attention we’ll try to fill you in.”

“The woman is a witch,” Flammenherr began, trying to explain the nonsensical truth of the situation.

“Hold on a second,” the officer who appeared to be in charge said, “You expect us to believe she’s a witch? How do you know that?”

“She looks like one,” Navajas said, unable to resist, but it only resulted in a sharp blow to his side from Bolt.

“Look, she was after the Lycaonium necklace that was on display at this store. We stopped the demon a few nights ago from taking it. We replaced it in the mean time with a fake, because we knew they’d have to come back for it. The stone is the key ingredient in a potion that turns that man into the demon that you saw earlier.”

“Without the potion, the demon reassumed his human form, so you should have no problems with him. As for the other one, you’re going to want to keep an eye on her. She can cast spells or perform incantations with a wave of her hands or just with words,” Spidon added.

Navajas walked over to where Salome was slouched forward, standing only by means of the knives pinning her up. He reclaimed his knives and she slumped to the ground. This sudden movement alarmed the police, causing them to jump a little at the sight of the witch moving once again.

“Oh please, trust me she’s not going to be doing any more hocus-pocus for a while,” Bolt said.

“So where do you want her?” Navajas asked, lifting the body.

Navajas loaded the limp body of the witch into the back of one of the squad cars, and Spidon and Flammenherr dragged the lifeless body of the former demon into another.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going,” Spidon said to the police, who were still in complete shock at the sight of the group of heroes and all they had seen that night. “But first, here’s the real necklace, good as new. Make sure when you return it to the storeowners, you tell them to keep it safe this time,” he said as he handed the necklace to the lead officer.

“But, who…who are you?” the cop said as the heroes turned and started off.

“Spidon,”

“Flammenherr,”

“Bolt,”

“Navajas,” Each of the four said in turn.

The police stared at the strange spectacle, and when they turned back to where the four masked people had been standing, they realized they had disappeared.

************************************************************************

“Thanks, Michelle. It was earlier tonight that this up-scale jewelry store was ripped apart by what eyewitnesses describe as a monstrous demon towering over seven feet tall. The police took into custody two suspects at the scene: Samantha Montgomery and Adrian Grant. The two were already wanted for questioning in connection with a fire at a fraternity house earlier this year. Police officials released information that the two were allegedly trying to steal the rare Lycaonium necklace that had been on display in the store. Now, there have been reports that a group of costume clad vigilantes were already on the scene when the police arrived, and were the ones to stop the two suspects, but police officials refuse to release any statements on these “super heroes.” Anne Reynolds, Channel 3 News, reporting live from the Magnificent Mile.”

************************************************************************

“Come on, say it,” Carolyn said poking Aaron repeatedly in the ribs. After a hard night of crime fighting, the friends were back at school, raiding Amber’s fridge.

“Alright, alright, we won,” Aaron said trying to suppress a laugh as Carolyn continued to poke him.

“Yeah, we won but the cops stole our press,” Justin said a little bitterly, as he flicked one of the potato chips he was eating at the TV. The chip flew across the room, hitting the power button to the TV nearly missing Eric’s head.

“The cops just don’t know what to think of us,” Eric said, “they don’t want a bunch of lunatics in costumes running around getting themselves killed, and they can’t accept that super heroes could be real.”

“They’ll come around once they see we’re for real,” Aaron added.

“Yeah, and if that doesn’t work you can always win them over with your charming personality,” Carolyn joked.

“You guys realize what you did tonight don’t you,” Amber interrupted. She had heard their account of the battle several times, but now was the first time she had gotten a chance to get a word in with all the celebrating the group was doing. “You prevented the theft of a precious and possibly dangerous stone, outsmarted two super villains, and pretty much saved the day.”

“Yeah, not bad for only our second month on the job,” Aaron laughed.

“Of course you realize, this victory is just going to cause more psychos to come out of the wood work, trying to defeat the 'super heroes' and make a name for themselves,” Eric said.

“Well, they can wait,” Justin said, “Tonight we’re celebrating.”