Robin and I aren’t having any problems. We haven’t argued in months—mostly because we don’t see each other. Those few times when we can get away, we spend most of our time in bed. I really don’t want to talk to Mom about any of that.
The intercom comes on. “General, we’re getting word from the police. There’s trouble in Atomic City.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Garlak is on a rampage.”
***
I never wanted to be Nick Fury. I was content being a part-time sidekick and full-time student. Then the impostor Midnight Spectre used the alien weapon to turn everyone into women while those like Mom who were already women got younger. A side effect of the weapon is that it turned most everyone into docile sheeple, except for the supervillains. Once they realized this, the villains began taking over the world.
The impostor Robin had already gotten rid of Robin and Starla and she soon made the Velocity Gals disappear as well. Suddenly the sidekick was the only one left to fight evil. So what could I do? I enlisted some supervillains and made them into a team—the Super Squad Auxiliary—to retake the world.
Once you’ve shown up on TV as the head of a superhero group, it’s hard to go back to being a sidekick. Especially not after you’ve become an advisor to most of the world’s leaders. There was a time around when Omega showed up that I was pretty much ruler of the world. I could have made the president of the United States or the prime minister of Great Britain do my bidding.
After Omega was destroyed, the world was in an even bigger shambles than before. The intelligence community was in complete disarray along with everything else. And here I was with a highly-trained team and all these new relationships with world leaders.
So GAIA was born. The Global Autonomous Intelligence Agency. A tortured acronym, but it was the best I could think of, something to symbolize world unity. Since we couldn’t be seen as being sponsored by the United States or any other single nation, we were brought in under the auspices of the United Nations.
Thanks to that instead of complaining about me wearing a slinky black catsuit, now Mom can complain about me wearing a powder blue-and-white suit with a cape and a saucy blue beret. I hate the color scheme and the cape, but like the agency’s name it symbolizes world unity.
I would have picked a better name than “General Gaia” but I suppose it was only natural for the press—notably Starla’s friend Kate King—to shorten “General Melanie Amis of GAIA” down to General Gaia. It’s one of the many compromises I’ve had to make along the way, like allowing Mom to be my secretary. That compromise was as much to save money in our meager budget as it was to give Mom something to do.
Despite that I had all these relationships with world leaders, most didn’t want to give me much in the way of funding. We’ve had to run the whole thing on a shoestring budget, starting with hiring Diane and Garlak as my field agents and Mom as my secretary and housing us in a rundown basement office.
In six months we’ve had a few successes to show the world we’re no joke. It’s not usually as big as the Super Squad’s operations. We’re taking care of the more normal threats: terrorists, drug dealers, and the like. We leave the supervillains to the Squad for the most part.
Diane and I take on most of the operations ourselves. When we think more muscle will be needed, then we call in Garlak. A nearly seven-foot Neanderthal at full rage can put the fear of God into just about anyone.
Except now Garlak is putting the fear of God into the good people of Atomic City. The news copters are following her swath of destruction through downtown. If Starla were around it would be easy enough to put a stop to it, but she’s off-planet right now, so it’s up to the rest of us. Before the Squad or Diane can get involved, I want to take a crack at solving this peacefully. Putting Garlak on this unit was my decision, so it’s my responsibility to fix it.
Mom puts a hand on my shoulder. “Be careful, sweetheart. That thing isn’t very nice on a good day.”
“Garlak isn’t a thing. She’s a human—or close enough to one.”
“It’s still going to be very dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I know, Mom.”
Then I jump out of the helicopter. I wish the cape could help me glide like Batman does in the movies, but it’s ornamental. Instead I have to rely on a mini-glider, something Tonya cooked up. It’s like a hang-glider, except it folds up to the size of a normal parachute.
The winds in Atomic City are favorable enough that I can swoop through downtown to follow Garlak’s path of destruction. Cars are overturned, newspaper and mailboxes are scattered like dice, and smashed hydrants are spraying water like geysers. Even from a hundred feet overhead I can hear Garlak’s bellowing.
There’s a ring of police cars up ahead, their sirens flashing. I press a button to activate the rockets on the glider. They’re only good for a burst of twenty seconds or so; anything more would have been too heavy for the glider.
The rockets are enough to let me get ahead of Garlak. I come down roughly among the ring of police cars. Even before I’ve slipped out of the glider, I hear the click of safeties being taken off. “Hands up!” someone shouts.
I put my hands up as I get to my feet. “Who the hell are you supposed to be, kid?”
“I’m General Gaia,” I say.
“Oh, right, that hippie spy agency,” one of the cops say. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s my agent out there. I want you to stand down so I can try to bring her in.”
“Stand down? That crazy bitch is tearing the city apart! All I’m going to do is put a bullet through her brain.”
“Please, if you’ll just let me talk to her—”
“No dice, kid.”
“Fine,” I say. I don’t have any more time to negotiate with them. So I grab the nearest cop’s hand and twist it behind him. Despite a little lag from the cape, I’m as quick as when I was the Outcast. Using Robin’s training—with a little added instruction from Diane—I take down a half-dozen cops in thirty seconds. I leave them to writhe on the ground while I go to confront Garlak.
The cavewoman’s roar gets louder the closer she gets. I do about the dumbest thing possible: I plant myself in the center of the sidewalk, directly in her path. There’s a good chance she’ll run over me like a bull in Pamplona, but it’s all I can think to do without trying to hurt her. I don’t know what has happened to her, whether someone’s using mind control or if she’s had a psychotic break, but I have to believe there’s still a way to end this peacefully.
It’s harder to remain still the closer she gets to me. Unlike in Jurassic Park, remaining still isn’t going to hide me from her. If anything this will only make her angrier, like I’m issuing a challenge to her.
Garlak stops about six inches from me. She glares at me and then roars like a wild animal. When I still don’t move, she shouts, “Go away!”
“Garlak, please, whatever is going on, let me help.”
“Go away!” She brings her hand back to slap me, but then she doubles over and cries out with pain.
It’s probably a bad idea, but I hurry over to her side and take her hand. “What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?”
She shakes her head. She pushes me away to land ungracefully in the gutter. I get to my feet as she struggles to do the same. Garlak breathes hard, her nostrils flaring like a bull’s before it charges. She lets out another roar as she gets to her feet.
From my perspective in the gutter I notice what I should have months ago. Garlak has never been all that trim, but now she’s positively fat with a belly hanging over her cheetah-print shorts. When she grabs her stomach again, I finally understand. She’s not fat: she’s pregnant.
“Garlak, listen to me. I’m your friend. You remember all we’ve been through together? I need you to trust me again. I can help you make the pain go away.”
“You lie!”
“No. Please, listen to me. We have to get you to a hospital. T
hose pains you’re feeling, they aren’t because anyone hurt you. You’re going to have a baby.”
“Baby?”
“Yes. There’s a little Garlak in your tummy. She’s trying to get out.”
“Baby hurt me?”
“Not on purpose. It’s perfectly normal.”
“Me not like baby!” She raises her hand to punch herself in the stomach. I’m not sure if that will have any impact on her baby or not.
“Garlak, no! You’re only going to hurt yourself with that. Let me get you to a hospital. The doctors can take the baby out. They can make the pain go away.”
“Not like hospital.”
“I don’t either, but I promise everything will be fine. I’ll be there the whole time. I’ll call Diane and Tonya. We’ll all be there with you. Please?”
Garlak is still mulling it over when she screams with pain again. “Hate baby!” she roars and is ready to punch herself again.
“You shouldn’t hate her. This is what you wanted!”
“Me not want hurt.”
“I know, but you wanted to rebuild your tribe. This is how it has to happen. I wish it could be easier, but it can’t. So, please, come with me. I’ll get you to the hospital and your tribe will have a new member.”
Garlak thinks it over. If she refuses, then things aren’t going to turn out well for her or the baby. Then she probably won’t have a tribe at all. Finally she says, “Me go. If you lie, me kill you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
***
No one at the hospital is quite sure how to care for a Neanderthal in labor. The first table they try to put her on is too small, so they have to find a larger one. During this Garlak threatens to run amok with every contraction. From the timing of these, she’s very close to giving birth.
The first Neanderthal born in decades. It’ll make a good story; Kate King is already in the waiting room. She has promised not to barge in until after the birth, as much for her safety as for etiquette. Diane is in the waiting room to keep an eye on her just in case and Tonya should be here shortly from Detroit.
I have the unlucky job of holding Garlak’s hand throughout all this. With every contraction she squeezes my hand almost hard enough to shatter it into tiny pieces. The doctors have no idea what dosage of painkillers she would need, so we have to do this the natural way. All the nurses can think to do is mop Garlak’s forehead periodically.
“It’s going to be all right,” I tell her over and over again. “In a few minutes you’re going to be a mother.”
“Mother?”
“That’s right. You’ll get to take care of her and watch her grow up. Maybe she’ll become a superhero like you.”
Garlak only snuffles at this. Then another contraction comes along. This time the doctor says, “I can see a head. Tell your friend to push as hard as she can.”
“Me push,” Garlak says. She lets out a mighty roar to accompany her push. Not long after this there’s the plaintive cry of a baby.
The doctor holds up a baby big enough to split most ordinary women in half. “It’s a girl,” he announces.
“You hear that? You have a daughter.”
The doctor passes the baby to me. It’s easy to see Garlak in the wide nose and protruding forehead. This girl is definitely a Neanderthal. I pass her to her mother, who takes her as if the baby is a live grenade. The baby stops crying.
“Baby dead?” Garlak asks.
“No, of course not,” I say. “She’s glad to be with her mom.”
Garlak doesn’t believe me; she pokes the baby’s stomach to make sure. The baby cries out again, until Garlak presses her close. “Me mother,” she says.
“That’s right. You’re a mother now.”
Garlak roars and puts a hand to her stomach. Her baby begins to cry again. “Doctor!” a nurse calls out. She gestures at Garlak’s spread legs.
“Uh-oh, looks like we have a straggler,” he says.
“What you mean?”
“He means you’re going to have two babies. Twins.”
“Twins?”
“That’s right. We’re going to need you to push real hard again. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” There’s another roar as she bears down. The second baby slides out of her; I turn away until I hear it cry out.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor announces.
“Boy?”
“You have a son. A son and a daughter.” When the doctor passes the swaddled baby to me, I almost expect the boy will already have a beard. But he looks pretty much like his sister, at least in the face.
Once the placenta comes out, we can be sure there’s only going to be twins. Still, two babies means Garlak’s tribe has tripled in size. I run a hand through her sweaty hair and smile. “You did good.”
“Me good.” Garlak nods sleepily to her two charges. “Babies good.”
“They are very good. And they’re only going to get better from here.”
There’s a minor ruckus when the nurses have to take Garlak’s babies from her to take down to the nursery. It’s good she’s too exhausted to put up much of a fight. She screams impotently before I’m able to calm her down. Then she falls into a well-deserved slumber.
The waiting room is full. Someone must have Tweeted or posted the news on Facebook. I doubt Kate King would have risked losing her exclusive. Microphones and tape recorders are shoved in my face. I push my way through them to the back of the room. Mom’s sitting in the back row of chairs along with Tonya and Diane. I throw my arms around Mom to hug her in a way I haven’t since I was a little boy.
“What’s this all about?” she asks.
“I love you, that’s all.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
I’d like to stay there with Mom for a long time, but with a sigh I have to turn back to the reporters. There’s still a world that needs saving, a world with two more innocents who need me.
Also by P.T. Dilloway:
Chances Are Series:
Chance of a Lifetime
Second Chance
Last Chance
Chances Are Omnibus
Girl Power Series:
Girl Power
The Impostors
League of Evil
Stories, Volume 1
Girl Power Omnibus
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Series:
A Hero’s Journey
Time Enough to Say Goodbye
The Hazards of Love
Change of Heart
Betrayal Begets Blood
Future Shock
Living Sacrifice
The Heart of Emma Earl
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection, Volume 1: The Call
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection, Volume 2: The Wrath of Isis
Children of Eternity Series
Forever Young
Young Family
Young Hearts
When You Were Young
Children of Eternity Omnibus
Awakening
The Best Light
Chet Finley vs. The Machines of Fate
The Leading Men
Liberation Front
The Naked World
The Night’s Legacy
Sisterhood
Star Shepherd
About the Author
P.T. Dilloway has been a writer for most of his life. He completed his first story in third grade and received an ‘A’ for the assignment. Around that time, he was also placed in a local writing contest for a television station, receiving an action figure in lieu of a trophy, thus securing his love with the written word. Since then, he’s continued to spend most of his free time writing and editing. In the last twenty years, he’s completed nearly forty novels of various genres.
In 2012, Solistice Publishing published P.T.’s superhero novel A Hero’s Journey, Tales of the Scarlet Knight #1. That same year, December House Publishing included P.T.’s flash fiction stories as part of the collection We Are Now
. Also in 2012, P.T. created the imprint Planet 99 Publishing to publish the remainder of the Tales of the Scarlet Knight series as well as a variety of other novels, all of which can be found at http://www.planet99-publishing.com.
When not writing, P.T. enjoys reading and photographing Michigan’s many lighthouses. In order to pay the bills, he earned an accounting degree from Saginaw Valley State University in 2000 and for the past ten years has worked as a payroll accountant in Detroit. Visit his website: http://ptdilloway.blogspot.com
Girl Power Omnibus
Book 1: Girl Power
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Book 2: The Impostors
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part 2
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Part 3
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Book 3: League of Evil
Prologue
Part 1
Girl Power Omnibus (Gender Swap Superhero Fiction) Page 82