by

Eric Metcalf

Mike and Terry sat back in the leather sofa outside Carpenter's office. Mike's hard was pounding as hard as it ever had in years of risking his life, now that he was risking his heart. Terry's grip on his hand helped give him resolve, but he was still unsure how his mentor and adoptive father would react to the news. On one hand, he imagined that Carpenter would be proud. On the other, he knew Carpenter's insistence of "professionalism", and marrying one of your subordinates was as unprofessional as it came.

"Mister Carpenter will see you now," the secretary said. As they passed, she whispered, "Congratulations."

Mike glanced over at Terry. Neither of them had said anything to her about why they were here. Terry smiled and lifted up her hand, displaying the ring. Mike smiled in comprehension. Some things women just notice.

Carpenter was out of his chair and walking towards the door when they came in. "Mike, Terry, great to see," he stopped, blinking rapidly then stumbled backwards. Mike started forward to help him, but Terry held him back. Mike looked over to see that Terry was still displaying her ring.

"Is that, what I think it is?" Carpenter stuttered, reaching under the desk.

Terry smiled and Mike nodded. "Yes," they said in unison.

Carpenter shook his head. "I need a drink." He pulled up a bottle of expensive champagne, popped the cork, and brought out three glasses. "One to steady my nerves and two for congratulations." He poured the liquid evenly, his hand steady.

"To you," Carpenter said, raising his glass.

"To us," Mike said, taking a glass and handing Terry the third.

"Together forever," Terry said, and the three glasses clinked together. Each took a drink of the champagne, but none downed their glass. The champagne was too good for that.

"How long have you had that?" Mike asked.

"Since I got the office, waiting for a time like this," Carpenter replied. "I'm surprised it took you this long. What, all of my lectures about professionalism and responsibility actually had an effect?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, I guess they did. I was always afraid you'd be pissed off that I married a team member."

Carpenter shook his head. "I would have been, especially after you split after her during the coup. But Alyina helped me realize that you two needed each other, so I got over it. So, when's the big day?"

Terry shrugged. "We haven't had time to work out the details. We discussed something small and fairly private, but we haven't arranged anything."

"Small and private?" Carpenter snorted. "Not a chance. This will be the biggest thing on the DC social scene this year. I mean, what politician wouldn't want to see and be seen at an event like that? Hang on." He picked up the phone and punched an extension. "Marcia? Pull a calendar of events for the National Cathedral and send it to me. Thanks." Carpenter smiled at Mike and Terry's surprised expressions. "Don't give me that look. Yes, the National Cathedral. Pomp and circumstance to the hilt. Since the rebuilding campaign ended, things have gotten a little slow on the PR front, and we need to get you back on the front page again. This'll do it, but in a different way. It'll remind a lot of people that you're people too, not just show ponies or robots that show up when we need you and disappear when we don't. I'll have my people work up a press release about the whole thing and I'll send it over to the mansion to have you two OK it."

Mike shook his head. "What was that about show ponies?"

"Oh hush," Terry said, smiling. "It'll be fun."

"I'll remind you that you said that," Mike said.

"You'll do great," Carpenter said. "Okay, the schedule's here. Okay, we'll need a couple of days in a row open. Hmm, there's a slot in a couple of weeks, but that's too short. We need to draw this out some, but not too much. Okay, there. October 15. That's six weeks away; plenty of time to hype it, but not long enough that people start forgetting or it gets to be old news. Besides, people love whirlwind romances."

"This is hardly a whirlwind," Terry said.

"True enough," Carpenter replied, "but for most people, the fun starts with the engagement. Now go on, scat. I've got work to do. I'll send all of the arrangements up to the mansion later today."

Mike and Terry tossed off their champagne and left. "Talk about your busybody in-laws," Terry muttered.

Mike nodded. "He may not be my real dad, but he sure is involved like one. Worse, he's a politician running a political event. We'll have our work cut out for us keeping up with the schedule for this, much less anything else."

"Six weeks?" Melissa gasped as the team sat around the conference table. "That's not enough time to do anything."

"Oh, it'll get done," Mike said. "By Carpenter if not by us. Still, some things are easy. The wedding party is all right here, if worse comes to worse we can do the whole thing in costume."

"Your wedding?" Melissa shrieked. "Not hardly."

"I was kind of hoping you had some ideas," Terry said. "I know you've been looking at wedding catalogs and things."

"Don't remind me," Ray groaned.

Melissa sniffed at him, but Mike caught a sense of hurt coming from her. "Okay, that's enough," Mike said. "Just so no one forgets that we're a fighting team, not a social club, I want everyone to get into costume and back down here in ten minutes."

Mindstar looked around the team, now assembled in the training room. "Okay, here's the plan. I want to try some new team arrangements, to give each of us a feel for how the others fight and to have some more tactical flexibility. Mind Mistress, you're with me. Team Two is Crimson Knight and Aria. Team Three is Wraith and Firemane. Team Four is Powergirl and Techno. Team Five is Strongarm and Wind Shear. Form up." The team split up into the pairs he called. Aria gave him a withering glare, but she strode over to stand beside Crimson Knight. Wraith bowed to Firemane, who replied with a giggle.

Mindstar glanced up and down the line. "Activate drones." Five robots rose up from the floor in front of them. Mindstar glanced again. Each team had broken into the one up, one back formation they were trained to use. "Guardians, engage."

At the command, the robots broke into a run, each picking a target among the Guardians. The Guardians likewise picked targets, each team taking a single robot. Mindstar picked out a target but hung back, watching how his new teams fought.

Crimson Knight and Aria nearly collided in mid-air as each took off and headed for the robot. The robot fired at them, but they had veered away from each other, so the blast passed harmlessly between them. Wraith and Firemane charged at their target, Firemane in the air and Wraith on the ground. Their target tried to fire, but they were already past it before it could acquire them. Powergirl took one shot from her target, but she grabbed it easily, allowing Techno to finish it off. Wind Shear's wind burst slowed her target, allowing Strongarm to finish it off. Mindstar nailed his target with a mental bolt. Crimson Knight and Aria both hit their target with ranged attacks, smashing it.

"What were you thinking?" Crimson Knight yelled. "It could have nailed us both thanks to your bonehead flying."

"My flying?" Aria retaliated. "You're the one who fired at long range when you're supposed to close and buy me time for a shot. You should know I always take off." She huffed. "I work best with Wraith."

"That doesn't hold in reverse," Mindstar said. Aria turned around just in time to see Wraith giving Firemane a hug. Her eyes widened in shock. Mindstar turned around and winced at the sight. Bad timing, big guy, he thought.

Aria spun away quickly and headed for the door. "I, I'll be upstairs," she said, her voice close to cracking.

"Wait a second," Crimson Knight yelled, "we're still training here."

"You can obviously do just as well without me," Aria tossed back, her voice weaker this time.

Mindstar looked over at Wraith. "Going after her?"

Wraith scowled. "Why bother?" he said. Mindstar glared, and Wraith broke into a run, vanishing out the door.

Mind Mistress looked up at Mindstar and held up five fingers. "Four, three, two, one," she counted down, and then the crack of a slap resounded through the basement. Mindstar winced at the sound, as did Firemane.

Mindstar shook his head. "We've got to get this dealt with. Mind Mistress, you're with me. CK, you're in charge. Stay busy until we come back." Motioning Mind Mistress to follow him, he walked out towards the elevator.

"What's the plan?" she asked as Mindstar hit the button for the elevator to return.

"Double team," Mindstar replied. "You take Aria. She trusts you. Figure out the root of this problem, get her to talk about it, get past it. Right now, all I want you to do is convince her to give him one more chance and herself one more chance on the team. I'll grab him and sit him down. Even if she does have a jealous streak, he isn't helping things. Stay on a mind link with me; we'll compare stories on the fly and see if that helps us." The elevator came to rest in front of them.

"Melissa," Ray yelled, pounding on her door.

"Go away," she shouted from inside, her voice weak and cracking.

"Wraith," Mindstar said as he and Mind Mistress turned the corner. Mindstar crooked a finger back towards himself. "Come on."

"But," Wraith protested.

Mindstar shook his head. "Let Lindsey worry about her. Come here." Lindsey slipped off her mask and slipped past Mindstar.

Wraith shook his head, glared at the door as if willing it to open, but then her turned and followed Mindstar. Mindstar led Wraith into his office and closed the door behind Ray.

Mindstar debated leaving his mask on, to maintain his authority, but decided that Ray needed a friend more than a leader right now and took it off. He dropped heavily into the chair by the desk, directing Ray into the other chair. "Now, let's talk."

"I don't know what's wrong," Ray insisted. "She just gets so jealous sometimes. I mean, I gave Firemane a little hug for working together well, and she throws a fit. I don't know why you've got me in here."

Mike smiled thinly. "Well, two reasons. First, the last thing a pissed woman wants to see is a man, even if he's not the man who pissed her off. So that's why Lindsey's talking to her. Second, I'm not sure she's so jealous without any reason."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ray said.

"I think you do, but you may not know it right now. That's why we're having this little chat. This situation will be resolved today."

"What do you want from me?"

"How about some background?"

Lindsey let Mike and Ray leave before she knocked quietly on Melissa's door. "Melissa, its Lindsey."

"Lindsey?"

"Yes. I just want to talk."

The door slid back slightly. Lindsey took this as an invitation and pushed it open gently and went in. Inside, she saw a suitcase on Aria's bed, half-filled with clothes hastily thrown in.

"What are you doing?" she asked, putting some steel in her tone.

"I, I'm leaving," Melissa said. Her voice held much less conviction than her words. "I mean, Jake's the number two man, so if he's mad, I'm gone, right? Besides, Ray's the one they want anyway."

"Not hardly," Lindsey said. "Mike knows about Jake's temper, so he'll take what was said with a grain of salt. As for the other, that's bullshit. You're as valuable to this team as Ray is." She sat down next to Melissa's bed. Melissa dropped down on the bed. "Now," Lindsey said, "let's talk about you and Ray. From the beginning."

"We met in junior high. We were friends, but we got each other's nerves a lot," Ray said. "We'd go out for a few weeks then something would happen and we'd break up for a few months. Neither of us hurt for friends, so it wasn't that bad, but we kept coming back to each other. I wasn't sure why.

"Then I started developing my powers. I could run really fast and was really agile, which was great for playing basketball. Then the hunger started. I'd eat and eat, but I never really got full, and I never got fat. I couldn't figure out what was happening to me."

"I'd started developing my powers earlier," Melissa said. "My vocal range went way up, as did my volume. One day, I was practicing in my room, and I cut loose with a blast. I shattered my mirror into a thousand pieces and almost dusted everything on my dresser. I told my parents that the mirror had fallen out.

"That was when I noticed the hunger. Normal food didn't do anything for me, but I felt really nice listening to music. I didn't figure it out until I was in a choir performance about a week later. During the performance, I felt really good; better than ever. But I noticed that the rest of the choir sounded really weak, like they were barely singing. I could see the girls around me, they were really pushing, but there wasn't much sound coming out. Then I realized that I was absorbing the sound. It scared me to death, but I stayed on stage for that performance. I quit choir the next day, and almost dropped out of school. I stayed away from everybody for a few weeks, so that nobody would find out what had happened to me. I thought about killing myself. I mean, I was some kind of freak. I finally decided to call up Ray. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I just needed to talk to someone so badly."

"She'd about dropped out of sight a few weeks before, and I asked what had happened. She started blubbering about how she was some kind of freak, that she ate sound or something like that. I started to try and hold her, to comfort her, but my arms went right through her. When they did, I felt a rush of energy, like I was plugged into an electric socket. She just sat there, gaping, as I pulled my arms out of her. She was real pale, so I must have drained her pretty good, but she looked so happy."

"I was just so happy to have someone like me, someone who could understand me. I knew that he needed me, since I understood how he had to feed. I thought that he'd marry me right out of high school, since we needed each other so much. Well, he wanted to go to college first, get his degree. So we both enrolled at Trinity."

"Once we were in Trinity, I figured I'd have a little time to myself, to do my own things. Wrong. Even though we were in different programs, she insisted on knowing where I was at all times. I could barely even get in a round of golf without her wanting to know why or whining about me going. It was rough, but I didn't have any other options. I needed her. I mean, you don't just go up and suck a girl's life force on the first date. So, I stuck it out."

"He barely spent any time with me at Trinity. It was like he was trying to get away from me all the time. I had to badger him to get him to spend any time with me. All I wanted was something normal, some romance, that sort of thing. Instead, he's always trying to run away from me, get out. I was afraid he'd over-exert himself, run out of power and I wouldn't know where he was to help. But he wouldn't listen. I'd begged him for a week to show up at the performance that night when hera showed up."

"Wow," Lindsey thought to Mike. "This is a mess."

"Yep," Mike replied. "They're in a symbiotic relationship, but neither of them is willing to see the other's side. Remember, just one more chance. I'll handle the rest." Mike turned his attention back to Ray. "Ray, you need to look at this from her end. She's deathly afraid of anyone finding out about her powers; that's why she latches on to you. All she wants is something normal. Trust me on this one, even when a woman doesn't have a choice in the matter, she still wants you to romance her from time to time. Do something she likes, not because she asks you to, but because you suggest it. Remember, you need her more than she needs you. Don't take her for granted."

"Listen," Lindsey said. "Don't be too hard on Ray. He's just like a boy with an overprotective mother; he tries to get away. If you give him a little room on his own, some space to breathe, he'll be easier to get along with the rest of the time."

"But, how can I be sure he really cares for me?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, he does," Lindsey replied. "He's just being a guy; he can't talk about what he feels very easily, especially since he considers things like going to college with you enough to let you know. Now, you and I know that's not enough, and so does Mike. Terry's got Mike trained pretty well; if we work hard at it, we can train Ray too." She winked at Melissa. "Now, one more try?"

Melissa nodded. "One more try. If you and Mike help me with him."

Lindsey grinned. "Deal. Mike's been giving him the same routine the whole time. I'll bet they're just about done. Let's go see." They got up and walked out into the corridor.

Ray and Mike were waiting for them as they left the room. "Take the rest of the day off," Mike said. "This is the last time I want to have to deal with this," he said more sternly and left, Lindsey trailing behind him.

"Melissa, I'm sorry," Ray started. "I know I've been acting pretty immature, but,"

"No excuses," she interrupted. "What are you going to do about it?"

"How about a really nice dinner and then we catch the Baltimore Symphony?"

Melissa smiled, pretending to think about it. "Hmm, that should make up for a lot. Are you sure the Symphony's performing?"

Ray frowned. "No, but I think I saw something about it. Hang on a minute and let me check." He went into his room. Melissa stood there in the hall, tapping her foot impatiently. In a few minutes, Ray came back out again. "Yes, they're in town, and I got reservations at a great restaurant Mike told me about, Hausner's. Dinner at 8, then the show's at 10:00. All set up?"

"Except for one thing," Melissa said. "How are we getting there? Taking the Protector Two?"

"No sweat, I'm sure Mike'll let us use one of the cars."

Melissa sniffed. "So we're back to asking somebody to use a car. I can't understand why Mike just doesn't lets us all bring our cars here."

"Why," Ray asked, "just so we can split the one night in a month or more that we get free? We don't have the spare space. Besides, I've been dying to drive Mike's Beemer."

"That little BMW?" Melissa replied. "That's too small, especially in a dress."

"You'll be fine," Ray insisted. "Let's get started; it's getting late."

"Would you look at this?" Terry groaned, holding up the press release Carpenter had faxed over. She and Mike were sitting in the den, relaxing in sweats after Mike had called off training for the day. Juan was still downstairs, working on something, while the rest of the team was upstairs, resting or cleaning up. "He wants to put this out on the AP wire. Not just local, but the whole world's gonna know."

"Leave it to Carpenter," Mike said. "He knows he can play this for major political mojo, and he's playing it to the hilt. Besides, even if the news was initially released locally, it'd get out. I mean, we are pretty much national heroes, and this is the kind of news that makes our backers look good. So, we run with it."

Mike turned towards the stairs a second before Terry heard the footsteps. Ray and Melissa came down the stairs, Ray in a dark suit and Melissa in a long, dark green dress.

"Keys to the Beemer are on the hook by the door," Mike said.

Melissa looked back at Ray who shook his head. "What," Mike said, "did you think I'd let you take the Protector out?"

"You two look great," Terry said. "Have fun."

"Enjoy yourselves," Mike said, "but be ready to get back to work tomorrow."

"Spoilsport," Melissa snarled playfully as she and Ray left.

"That was great," Melissa murmured to Ray as they walked up to the box office for the symphony. There wasn't much of a line as they walked up. "I'm surprised Mike had that kind of taste. I mean, it was like eating in an art gallery."

"Mike said two of his old friends recommended it as a really nice place to eat, and he mentioned the art," Ray replied. They reached the ticket window, and Ray looked up. "Reservation for Walker."

"Of course," the ticket agent replied then produced two tickets. "Enjoy the performance."

Ray and Melissa walked inside, moving among the light crowd, blending in easily despite being younger than most of the other patrons. They were able to find good seats without any trouble; there just wasn't much competition.

Ray settled into his chair. "Well, at least the seats are comfortable enough to take a nap."

"Ray," Melissa squawked. She punched him in the ribs with most of her strength. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Ouch," Ray whined, "why do I put up with this?"

Melissa smiled. "Great head."

Ray glanced around, to see if anyone heard Melissa's off hand comment then he replied, "Not enough of it."

The lights dimmed at that point. "Shh," Melissa whispered, "they're about to start." Ray gaped at her, as if he was to blame for the noise, but he finally just settled back into his seat.

The conductor walked to the front of the orchestra and bowed to the crowd. He turned around easily, raising his wand up with a practiced flourish, readying the orchestra. He brought the wand down, and the first notes sounded.

"Hooooo," a deep voice sang from the back of the auditorium. The sound had such force that chairs were torn from their moorings and flung away. The wall of the stage in front of the right aisle buckled, as if hit by a giant fist. All eyes turned from the stage to the rear of the auditorium.

A man, dressed in a tuxedo that spread tightly over an abundant belly, stood there, his arms opened expansively. "My audience," he announced, "the audience I was meant to have. You will be witness to my first master performance. Aaaah," he sang again, facing the conductor. The target thought enough to get down, so the blast only smashed his stand to kindling.

"Come on," Ray said, pulling Melissa down to the floor. He started crawling to the left, away from the singer.

Melissa balked at crawling on her hands and knees. "My dress," she whined.

"Blowhard there'll do worse if we don't stop him," Ray breathed. "Come on." Melissa swallowed at the thought of the damage to the dress, but she reluctantly crawled after Ray. Some of the other patrons had the same idea, and were also slipping out as fast as they could as the singer continued to blast at the stage.

Ray and Melissa crawled to the doors out of the auditorium then jumped to their feet and ran to the restroom alcove. The other escapees were running straight for the exit doors, not looking around at all. Ray pulled out a small cell phone as he began pulling off his suit.

"C'mon, Mike, pick up," Ray snarled as the phone rang twice.

"Hello?" It was Mike's voice.

"Mike, this is Ray. We've got a Code One emergency in progress at the Baltimore Symphony Hall. Could turn into a hostage situation, although it's just a blasting party right now." Ray's jacket and shirt fell to the floor as he spoke, revealing the gray body armor of his Wraith costume.

"Damn, we're scrambling now," Mike said. "Can you contain the situation?"

"Probably, but you'd better hustle all the same," Ray replied.

"Gotcha. Touchdown in ten minutes." The phone clicked as Mike hang up.

"Ten minutes," Ray said, turning around. Melissa was already out of her dress and pulling her mask on.

"That's the fastest I've ever seen you get out of a dress," Ray marveled as he kicked off his shoes and pulled down his suit pants.

"It's ruined anyway," Aria replied, "besides, I've never had this kind of motivation. Hurry up."

Ray shed the last part of his outfit in a blur, pulling up the mask that was rolled up at the uniform's neck. "Let's close this guy down." They ran out of the alcove, Wraith leading the way around to the right entrance, behind the villain.

The auditorium was nearly empty, and the man was loosing more sonic blasts on the stage and seating, destroying things but not attacking people.

"Hey, fatso," Aria called. "You call that singing? My man here could do better, and he's tone deaf."

The man swung around, his eyes blazing with fury. "You little harpy, I'll show you singing." He loosed a blast at Aria. The blast hit her full on, tumbling her back and knocking her off her feet back into a potted plant in the lobby.

"Let's dance," Wraith said, darting in to attack the big man. His fists connected solidly, but they did little damage. Wraith could tell that the suit was over something tougher than flesh.

"Ha," the man laughed, "did you think me a complete fool? I found someone that supplied Kevlar body armor for government leaders, and paid him a handsome sum to have a suit specially made. Your puny punches can't hurt me."

"Neither can your puny notes," Aria said, now back on her feet. "Let's see if you take this as well. Aieeee."

"Arrgh," the man shrieked, staggering back under the impact of her blast. "Whore! Your dissonant notes hurt my ears."

"What did you call me?" Aria seethed. "I'll have to hurt something else." She loosed another blast, sending the man tumbling back into the overturned chairs. "Get up, you tub of lard."

"No, no more," the man coughed as he struggled to stand up. "Help me, I can't get up."

"Back in a sec," Wraith said. He turned and dashed outside, returning a few seconds later with a pair of handcuff that he applied to the fallen man. Only then did he lever the mass to his feet.

"Hey," a policeman said as he and several others charged into the auditorium, "those are my cuffs."

"Sorry," Wraith said. "I left mine with my other suit."

Mindstar swooped in to land in front of the Symphony Hall, Powergirl in his arms. As soon as he landed, he could see that the crisis was over. Aria and Wraith were talking with a gray-haired man in a suit, obviously a big shot. A few police cruisers were parked in front of the building, but far less than Mindstar expected.

"You two took care of things?" he asked as he walked up.

"Oh, yes," the man said. "They were magnificent. Preston Charles, director of the Symphony. Your people were just tremendous. Our culprit was a failed singer. He had a very high opinion of his own talent, but he was almost tone deaf, and certainly didn't have the range or vocal control of a real singer. Quite unlike the lady here. She was quite magnificent. I've tried to talk her into working with us regularly, but she's been reluctant."

"I have other responsibilities," Aria said, but Mindstar could read her desire to accept the director's offer easily.

"I'm afraid she can't accept a long-term post, but some guest appearances might be in order, depending on our schedule," Mindstar said. Aria's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas.

The director's expression was almost the same. "Oh, excellent, quite good. Yes, that would be very good." Mindstar wasn't sure if the man was happier that he was getting Aria or if the proceeds from special shows were ringing dollar signs in his head.

"If there's nothing else?"

"No," the director said, "the damage was mostly superficial. It can be repaired in a few days, and many of our patrons have already offered to donate extra funds to help repair the damage. The scheduling for any appearances will need to be worked out later, I'm afraid."

"Then we're off," Mindstar said. "You'd better not get my car towed," he thought at Wraith. Wraith smiled and shook his head.

The next morning, the team was having breakfast, but Ray and Melissa hadn't come down yet. While they were notorious sleepyheads, Mike shook off Jake when he suggested that they needed a wake up call.

"They had a busy night last night," Mike said in explanation.

"Well, I guess they kissed and made up," Terry said.

Mike blushed slightly, and Lindsey more fully. "Well, they kissed all right," Lindsey said, "but that was just the, ah, overture."

Terry looked at Mike, who shrugged in reply. She started laughing at the thought of things Mike couldn't keep out. Mike started laughing in reply, and a few whispered hints had the whole table laughing.