To Fight without Melting (Both Parts of Two)

A Fight for Recognition
Story Ten: Part One
To Fight without Melting

General Meetings
Professor Nathan was teaching his regular physics class, so I was alone in the lab when Sherita came in. While I was not the one that worked with her, I was familiar enough with her business to take the information. After doing the usual lab stooge routine, I then simply spoke on regular topics as I did consider Sherita a friend.

Both of our eyes shot to the door when another lady declared, “Oooh, Larry, Doctor Jackson really loaded us with homework.” As Cindy came into the room, she saw the other woman. “Oh, sorry, are you and Sherita discussing superhero business?”

“Not any longer,” I replied. “Just talking.”

Sherita replied, “I haven’t really seen any action lately anyway. Minnow made the news in stopping that train situation. I heard that there actually was a bomb on that train, but no one talks about it.”

There actually had been a bomb. I was scared, as I did not believe that my suit would protect me from the blast. I however had the maneuverability that the federal agents did not have. Their helicopter barely managed to get personnel on the moving machine, while I flew about checking cars and marking the positions where the bad guys had established themselves. I also found the bomb.

I carried tools in my machines, so managed to remove the device. Not knowing what else to do, I strapped it to Eagle then rode the machine away from the train. I knew where the police had their bomb range, and flew the explosive object there. Once in place I did not care if it detonated or the trained personnel could disarm it. I simply removed myself from the area.

I replied, “Well, it helps that you and Minnow have completely different styles of operation. It keeps the two of you from overlapping in your duties and prevents the bad guys from feeling safe.”

Cindy said, “Well, it also helps that there are no super-villains. Normal criminals just don’t have what it takes.”

Sherita quickly returned, “Normal criminals are dangerous enough, trust me. Oh!” She looked at me as she exclaimed that. “The police say that they suspect a super-villain. Someone is melting glass to get into buildings. They are finding holes in window panes that are allowing thieves to enter. The police do not know how it is being done, but asked me to keep a watch out for activity of that type.”

Professor Nathan declared that he had been eavesdropping as he entered while saying, “Yes, some of my peers in the chemistry department were speaking of a detective coming around asking about technology of that type. Brought them some window panes to study.”

I replied, “Don’t the feds have their own labs and personnel that the local police can access?”

“Any chance for more funding is always supported.”

“Not when it takes you away from a project you prefer, which is already supplying funds.”

Professor Nathan and I eyed each other. I believe that he wanted to agree with me, but held back any words fearing how the ladies would take them. I guess that I stayed quiet for the same reason. We thus broke eye contact to look at the ladies.

Luckily, I had a way to change the topic. “Well, Sherita, I will leave you with the professor. I need to escort Cindy to her next class then make it to my own.”

Both the professor and Sherita told us both to be safe. The black lady spoke of being glad to see that the German darling and I were still a pair. I grinned with Cindy, then told the two that I planned on enjoying myself whether the activity was safe or not.

As we left the physics building, Cindy said, “Sherita is a nice lady, but Ballet Slipper is not as special as the Minnow. Still, I don’t think that I would like him. He is all serious and quiet, like German men.”

“Really? Well, I believe that you would like the Minnow. Maybe not when he is in uniform, but the person inside is assuredly a nice person.”

“German men are nice too, but American men talk more. That is why I like you. You talk a lot.”

No, I did not start rattling off things. I did ask Cindy about the problems that she was assigned by Professor Nathan. Honestly, I do not believe that I talk that much, but I did have to admit that my actual personality was not like the public perception of my superhero identity.

I had two classes back-to-back, then had an experiment to perform in the lab. I was glad to see Cindy present already working on her homework while Professor Nathan checked the details of my experiment. If the lady had been a little more informed in certain topics, she might have recognized the technology as being slightly unusual. My experiment actually dealt with the science that I used as the Minnow.

Cindy continued to work while I did my own checks, then cheerfully let me sit next to her while I did my homework and watched certain instruments. I did tell her the rough details of my experiment. She did not make certain connections, but just considered it part of my job. I believe that she should have clued in on the fact that it was my experiment, and not something that I was doing for Professor Nathan, but Cindy just provided pleasant company without displaying any understanding.

Since it was an experiment with my technology, Mrs. Lorshein showed up. It had been her husband that had helped identify and develop my discovery, so she did have an interest in what I was doing. I had let her know about the experiment, so expected her to check on things herself. If she had not showed up with food, I would have ordered pizza.

Cindy had no desire to stay sitting around a physic’s lab, so kissed me and excused herself after finishing her homework. I admitted that I would probably be going over the data from my experiment tomorrow, but would be at my house. Cindy told me that she would stay with me there.

After the young lady had gone, Mrs. Lorshein said, “We should go to Germany this summer, Larry.”

I knew where she was going with the conversation, but tried to side-track her. “Octoberfest is not in the summer.”

“My wheelchair does not do well in crowds. Plus, I am intending for a nice visit. Drunken revelries can make for a cheerful visit, but not a nice visit.”

I still knew where the conversation was going, and since I could not side-track her, I went ahead and moved the topic there. “You want me to meet Cindy’s parents.”

“Her presence here was not intended as an extended stay. She will thus need to return to Germany and resubmit papers. We can help with the process and get you to know certain people as well.”

“You like her?”

“I like you, Larry. I love you. I am sure that you heard, but Gary and I lost our children in an earthquake. I thought it so cruel. Gary and I were lying in bed, but came out unharmed.” I saw tears come to her eyes as she added, “It just was not fair for God to send those shelves upon our babies.” She wiped her eyes then said, “We considered you our son, Larry, and I did not think it was fair for God to take your first Cindy from you. It is right for God to have sent you to us, and it is right for Him to have sent this Cindy to you. You take care of her.”

“I do my best,” I assured her.

“Oh, and you need to take care of the other lady as well.”

“Other lady?”

“Sherita? I believe that is the name of Ballet Slipper.”

Those words confused me, so I asked, “What is it about Sherita?”

“Larry, how long will this experiment take?”

I was still confused, but answered, “Professor Nathan wants me to take readings all night.”

From elsewhere in the lab, the man declared, “Yes, I do!”

I explained, “Most is done by computer, but visuals can possible see things the computers are not set to alert for.”

Mrs. Lorshein said, “Minnow needs to be about looking for whoever it is breaking into places. He is using some type of device that Ballet Slipper might get into trouble facing.”

“She slips and slides on the ground, so should have gotten into more trouble than she has. I won’t give her any disrespect.”

“No, but if you can spot the device and determine something about it, we can possibly work at alerting the authorities before someone, namely Ballet Slipper, gets hurt.”

Not wanting to argue with Mrs. Lorshein, I allowed, “I can possibly do a patrol a time or two tonight. It takes too long for me to get into the outfit to do more than that, as I do need to assure the validity of the data I am gathering.”

“Do what you can, Larry. There should be some heat involved, as the glass is melted. Thus, use your infrared capabilities.”

Minnow usually travels at night. Most people assume that I do have special vision, as the bulbous eyes could hide some visual components. Honestly, they are just present to protect my eyes. Moving at the speeds I do is not safe without goggles. My wings however do have extra components, with a couple having infrared cameras that I sometimes use on my nighttime patrols.

Since Professor Nathan had mentioned the melted windows earlier, I called him over to hear what he had learned. Since I knew nothing, I mostly listened while Mrs. Lorshein quizzed the man. Since her husband was ex-military, she had sources in the police department. Professor Nathan of course had connections among the other distinguished members of the university faculty. Between the two speaking of what they had heard, I got an idea of what I would be looking for concerning someone melting windows.

Finally, Mrs. Lorshein’s nurse returned from whatever assignment she had been given. The elderly lady thus said some kind words before making her exit. Professor Nathan then had me help him with his work, then gave me instructions before making his exit.

I calmly sat and finished my homework, then checked everything with my own experiment. Finding everything satisfactory, I relaxed until needing to check everything again. By then I felt that the building was indeed empty. Thus, not scared of being noticed, I moved down to the basement while calling a couple of my wings to me. After checking my flying machines and my uniform, I set off to spend time as my superhero identity.

A Fight for Recognition
Story Ten: Part Two
To Fight without Melting

Encountering the Threat
There was every reason that I should not have seen anything. Crimes did not take long to enact. Security cameras had caught a multitude of crimes, and watching the footage only declared that they were momentary events. For me to be at the right place and time would be a miracle.

Thinking about divinely motivated events caused me to consider what Mrs. Lorshein said about our relationship. I did have living parents and a full family. My father had experience as a factory worker, although the changing economy had him move into being in charge of a warehouse for a major retail chain. My parents were not rich, but they had supplied their children with a relatively comfortable life. Mr. and Mrs. Lorshein had not been rich, but he had the support of his military career and they did not have children to feed, clothe, and otherwise spend their money. They thus freely spent money to keep me in their lives, although I made certain the funds went to our shared research and not to put them in the place of competing with my real parents. I however did know that the couple came to consider me a member of their family.

I had heard Mrs. Lorshein mention that she was going to include me in her will, but I felt such was proper in relation to certain patents. As for her general wealth, she had family who surely felt that they were the proper recipients. Whatever future probate battles would occur, I felt it best not to consider them.

One thing nice about moving at night was that peculiar events were quite noticeable. I did not use special goggles, because they were of little use. Eyes could adjust to seeing in small amounts of light, and flying through the air there was really nothing to get in my way. Others however needed lights for the things that they did in the dark, and those sparks of illumination often told me where to look for trouble.

I first noticed the radiation on Eagle’s camera panel. I had Barracuda with me, but rode one of my larger machines because it had the special camera fitted into it. Seeing the bright spot on the panel, I switched to Barracuda and had it fly me down for a closer look.

Flying low, I saw one man bent over with a jet of intense flame coming from his butt. I had heard of people attempting to light their farts, but something like what I was seeing was slightly extreme. I really did not know how to respond, but I did bring Eagle down where it could get a better image of what I was witnessing.

The men congratulated themselves while going over their plans once inside the building. I was not going to intrude on their activities, except to pull an alarm. The police were the proper agents for dealing with bad guys. I stayed on the good side of the law by letting them do their job. All I mostly did was inform them of the illegal activity, then assure that the criminals stayed in place so they could be apprehended. I thus simply watched and listened to the plans so I would know how to make my own.

“All right me, stop right there!”

Sherita had made that command while sitting on her bike under a street lamp. She was wearing pink tonight. I personally did not think that color worked for her. It was also my opinion that she did not need to involve herself in this fight. My belief found support as she revved her bike, as one of the men dropped his pants while issuing a command of his own.

“Light me back up.”

As Ballet Slipper accelerated her bike upon the men, and they prepared for her arrival, I dropped. The desire was to strike the man bent over, but I worried about hurting him. While coming upon a man from above would not be painless, someone standing up had a better chance of breaking his fall and mine. The one bent over however could have his pelvis ruined or his back break depending on where I impacted his form. The only problem with my decision was that I also needed to move fast in order to arrive before Ballet Slipper.

Honestly, the moves could not have been better coordinated. I came down upon the shoulders of the one with the lighter, which prevented the farts from igniting. Ballet Slipper set her bike to its side and came low upon the men to take them off their feet. In a matter of seconds our moves had gained us the upper hand.

As I came off the one man to set for an attack upon another, Ballet Slipper came off her bike to engage directly as well. The oil she had her bike slip on was real, and I noticed one of the criminals suddenly fall. Worried about my own footing, I called down Barracuda to put me back in the air. Ballet Slipper had made her reputation moving on slippery surfaces, so came forward with an expression of confidence.

I tended to wait for the cops to do most of the work. They had the legal protection and procedures to minimize any mistakes that would enable the criminals to escape justice. Understanding that these criminals were willing to cause harm to their opponents however made me feel willing to go into superhero action with Ballet Slipper. If it would save the life of an officer of the law, I would do the work.

What worked against the two of us was the simplicity of the bad guy’s option. Just as Ballet Slipper and I were prepared for action, the criminals were as well. The one with the flammable farts was already disrobed in the appropriate area, and it seemed that all were carrying lighters. While I had taken down the one who was ready to cause ignition, another bad guy stepped up and sparked off a flame.

Luckily, Sherita wore protective clothing. The primary reason was simply due to being safe on the motorcycle. Her older brother was a good mechanic, and he did advise Sherita. He might have made the vehicle for her superhero identity, but he also had her dress to be prepared for most situations.

What worked against her, was that she used real oil for her sliding stunts on her motorcycle. When the man’s rear end again erupted in flame, he tried to direct it upon the superheroine. Instead of setting her on fire, the layer of oil on ground ignited creating a whole area of flame and smoke.

Desperate situations like the one that suddenly formed beneath me caused me to desire the gift of speech. I however had learned that people tended to make enough noise without me adding to it. Hearing the screams, I managed to tell audibly as well as visually who was in the worse situation. I thus moved to begin making rescues.

Whatever thanks a bad guy might have said to me became curses when they found themselves bound. Mr. and Mrs. Lorshein suffered hours of having me tie them up in order that I could perfect my routine for binding criminals. I thus went through the motions quickly and effectively.

In case one was wondering, I did have special Minnow plastic ties, if one considered plain black as special. Police carried just one pair of handcuffs, although had the gift of being able to call for aid. Mr. Lorshein originally bought the first case of long plastic straps, and only recently has Mrs. Lorshein felt a need to order another case.

Sherita gave Professor Nathan one of the pair of handcuffs made for her superhero identity. Brian did a lovely job of covering them with yellow paint. He and she both however realized the problem with regaining them from the police, so also bought a case of plastic straps. The police know that the yellow ones are hers, the black ones are mine, and they began ordering blue and white for themselves for those times they also had a reason not to use handcuffs.

By the time I took out the third criminal, cops were present to do the binding job for me. I looked in to see Sherita coming out with the final bad guy. I could not talk, but I could act. The police watched as I pulled out a certain criminal from a squad car, bent him over, then pantomimed igniting a lighter then having an eruption of flame.

Ballet Slipper could speak, so could speak on our behalf when the man denied what I was attempting to relate. The police also knew that neither of us used fire, so the only source of the flames could have come from the bad guys. I called down Eagle, then replayed for the police my actions from detecting the source of heat. The man began requesting a lawyer as he realized the evidence against him.

The police accepted that I would need to edit my movie file before submitting it to them. They however told me to keep the original promising me security, but wanting the access to the original should there be a need to verify evidence. After nodding and shaking some hands, I went up into the air to return to my other job for the night.

I returned to the lab as the phone rang. Knowing that Mrs. Lorshein knew that I would be spending the night in the lab, it did not surprise me to hear the noise. What did surprise me was the voice that came through the phone’s speaker.

“Larry, is the Professor there?”

It was Sherita, so I calmly replied, “No. I’m the lab stooge, so I get graveyard shift.”

She chuckled, then asked, “Well, do you know if he has made another pair of shoes for me? I spoke to him earlier about my technology, but forgot to simply ask him if he had a pair of shoes already made.”

“I know that he set up another batch of material to cure, but how far along it is and whether he has done more I cannot say.”

“Well, I was just going to leave a message for my next order.”

I could not ask the question that I wanted to, but I did hope to get her to supply an answer. “I will let him know. I assume you saw action tonight.”

“Yes. Got into the middle of an oil fire. I am glad to know that my shoes are flame resistant, but the heat still messed them up. I have already been thinking of applying my technology to my tires, but now I am thinking even more about it.”

“You will have the same problems with your tires that you have with your shoes.”

“Been working on it. Let me know the next time Professor Nathan is pulling an all-nighter. I want to talk to him.”

I promised her that I would, as well as leaving him a message about her order. She knew that the note would have nothing clearly indicating any association with the superhero. Calling a physics’ professor for an order of shoes was strange, but most university professors had odd interests.

No sooner did I hang up, than my personal phone rang. The display showed that this call was from Mrs. Lorshein. No longer surprised by the lady knowing when to call, I activated my phone.

“Larry, I heard the news scanner speak of a fire involving you and Ballet Slipper. Are you all right?”

“You’re the one that told me to go out. Well, I found the person you wanted me to look for. I am also all right, and so is Sherita, although she needs new shoes. I thus want a pie this weekend.”

The lady laughed before promising me that she would have something prepared. I told her that my experiment was going smoothly, so I could probably bore her on speaking about the data being collected. She calmly asked me if Cindy would be with me. I then laughed, and told her that I would choose better topics during the meal.