A few months ago. That’s when this all began. I was roaming the rooftops in the middle of the night as per usual, when some giant guy landed on the ledge in front of me. He was massive; his arms were bigger than my entire body. The giant curled his wings against his back and loomed over me. “So you’re the one they call Dark Angel?” His voice was harsh.

“Yeah, why?” I frowned up at the man. I did not like his tone.

“Hmph. I thought you’d be taller from how much I’ve heard about you. Or at least look more muscular.” Before I could retort the guy started talking again. “My name is Hawk Man. My partners and I are forming new super hero teams. And you have been selected as a member of our top team, our A-Team.”

“Okay?” I lifted an eyebrow in question, and then I remembered that I was wearing a mask and that he couldn’t see my eyebrows. “What happens now?”

“Take this.” He flipped a small round object at me. I caught it and lifted it up to my face, it was only a little smaller than my already miniature palm and it had the consistency of a rock. “It will begin flashing when we have assembled the rest of the team. When that defiantly happens you will be automatically transported to your home base.” Hawk Man was moving to leap into the sky.

“What if I’m in public? My identity will be given away.”

“Then if it starts flashing, get the hell out of the public eye. You will have 30 seconds before the transportation initiates.” With that Hawk Man leaped of the rooftop with a resounding BOOM! And flew off into the sky.

Well that was just great. What in the heck was I supposed to do with the rock button?! I would have to carry it around until Hawk Man and his friends, whoever they were, called me. I didn’t know what else to do, so I resumed my surveillance for the night and then went home.



The next morning I awoke to the sound of my annoying alarm clock. I thought I had set it for six thirty, I figured I would have enough time to fly to school, but the damn thing went off at five freaking thirty! And no matter how many times I thought I had hit the off button it still wouldn’t shut up.

By the time I got the thing to turn off it was six, so I decided to just get ready for school. I jumped in the shower and then quickly dressed in shorts and a loose T-shirt. Then I turned to my dresser and spotted the little rock button thing. “Now what do I do with you?” I huffed.

It took me a while to figure out what to do with it….. I finally decided to hook it on my belt loop. “Honey! You are going to be late for school!” My mom yelled up to me.

I mentally shook myself and yelled a goodbye down to my family. Then I popped open my window and leaped out into the pale morning sky. As I unfurled my black hawk wings and soared up into the clouds I gulped in breaths of the fresh air. Flying. FREE. The most amazing part of my life, and a much quicker way of transportation than cars. Then again I am only fifteen……. Permits do not get you very far, let me tell you.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the school day today. I had three tests and my best friend was going to be drilling me endlessly about the heroes running around protecting our city, aka, me. I haven’t told her that I’m the Dark Angel; I figured she would freak out and not be able to handle my secret. And plus then she would want to know if I was friends with Eagle and Goat Ninja, the famous tag team heroes.

As I dwelled on thoughts of the day ahead I dipped my wing and circled over the roof a few times before dropping gracefully to the rooftop. I scrambled over the large tubes popping up all over the roof to the single door on the opposite side of where I landed…. Probably would have been smarter to just land by the door. Anyway, when I got to the door I discovered to my dismay that it was locked! Come on! I told Jill, my BFF, to unlock the door for me! My excuse was that I had to come early and work on an extended project. She usually did unlock the door, but today she hadn’t, so I was stuck on the roof with no way down but to fly.

I looked down at the crowded front walk into the school. “This is so not going to work, I’ll have to jump through a window or something…” I muffled to myself.

Then it hit me. I could do a quick change into my hero costume and torpedo through a window then quick change back and it would seem as if it was just a random hit and run. Yeah the publicity was gunna be horrible, but I’ve done worse, and I know for a fact that other heroes have done things that top crashing through a single window by miles.

So I slipped my double angel wing rings onto my middle and ring finger of my right hand, and my hero costume shimmered into existence, replacing my boring shorts and T-shirt with a black leather sports bra top with criss-crossing straps connecting it to my black leather pants, tall black leather lace up boots, my left hand was encased by a leather biker glove, and a double belt holding my array of daggers appeared at my waist. My long dark hair was pulled up into a high braid with a fist sized sapphire attached to the end and my simple black mask framed my now sapphire colored eyes.

“Here it goes.” I said to myself as I leaped off the rooftop.

I let myself fall long enough that I heard gasps and shocked screams before opening my eyes and diving through the nearest window. As I crashed through the window I curled into a ball and rolled ten feet down the hall hearing multiple screams as I tumbled past. The glass was more solid than I thought and it left me with a badly bruised shoulder. I leaped to my feet and dashed down the hallway to the stairs leading to the first floor.

As I reached the stairs I bounded over the top railing and landed twenty feet below in a low crouch in front of a startled Jill. Her blue eyes widened in awe as I looked up at her with my glowing sapphire eyes. After two seconds I rushed to a standing position and sprinted around the corner on my left hearing: “Wait! Can I get a quote?!” from Jill as I slammed through the exit door.

That was a close call if I ever had one. At that moment as I leaned my back against the side wall of the school I thanked god that my eyes changed from chocolate brown to a startling sapphire when I ‘went hero’. Then I remembered that I should change back before anyone saw me and called the police. So I slipped off my two rings and my costume disappeared and was replaced by my oh so boring school garb.

I slipped around to the front of the building and the second I waltzed in through the front doors Jill jumped into my face and began to gush about the Dark Angel. “Oh Alex! You should have seen her!” Jill gushed, “I mean I’ve heard she’s stunning, don’t get me wrong, but you can’t even begin to imagine the whole effect of her presence! I felt as if I was drowning in darkness and then when I looked into her brilliant sapphire eyes I was pulled free. My very being thrummed with her power!”

“Maybe that’s because she’s what’s called a ‘Copycat’. She copies the all powers and special abilities and then maintains them for the rest of her life. She could have been copying a special ability of yours.” I replied nonchalantly. I couldn’t let her know how nerve racked I was.

“True! I nearly forgot! She must be mega powerful then.” Jill’s eyes glazed over as if she were thinking up her next headline, then as suddenly as she had gone, she popped back to life. “Did you hear how she got in?”

“No, how?”

“She slammed right through a window in the upper east wing!”

“That sounds painful.” I flinched unconsciously.

“Shyea it does! I bet she has one hell of a bruise!” The bell rang right as Jill exclaimed this.

“Yeah, well I gotta get to class. Unfortunately I have a test this hour.” I waved to Jill and sped down our hallway.

“Don’t fail!” she called after me.

First hour was boring, and I probably got a perfect on that test. Just saying, I studied for like…. Three…. No! Five minutes! I was walking away from that test feeling pretty shnazzy, and then the little rock button on my belt began flashing red. Looking down I realized that I had mere seconds before I was transported to where ever it was that our ‘home base’ was going to be.

I sprinted down the hallway ignoring all the weird and annoyed looks from my classmates and threw myself into the nearest open janitors closet. Just as the door slammed closed behind me I heard a loud BANG! And heard a whooshing sound as I spun head over heels through black space.

Suddenly, I was thrown from the swirling hole out into a large room where I flew through the air upside-down to crash land in a pile of hollow wooden boxes. I heard wood shatter around me as I landed on the back of my shoulders. “Hey! We gots ourselves a new recruit!” I heard a strange voice yell. It was definitely male.

“EEEEEEEEAAAAAAGGGGGLLLLLEEEEEE!” I opened my eyes to see a tall majestic figure yell as he spread his wing arms. Unfortunately, that’s when he leaped off the ledge he was perched on and dove straight at me!

“GAH!” I yelped and rolled to the side causing the Eagle guy to crash into the pile of wood with an angry and surprised squawk.

“No, no, no. Eagle, we are supposed to welcome our teammates, not try to eat them.” I lifted my eyes to the same voice that had spoken before.

He was a few heads shorter than Eagle with blonde hair and deep emerald eyes. His arms were muscular and he was dress in formal ninja garb. “Goat Ninja?” I asked.

“Yepers! That’s me, and that wacko over there is Eagle.” Goat Ninja’s chest puffed out in pride at my recognizing him, and then he asked, “So who the hell are you? You look like a random street kid.”

At that statement I looked down and realized that I was in my school clothes. “Oh, sorry, bad time for transport.”

“Well get off the floor and go hero already. We don’t have all day.” Eagle mumbled as he disentangled himself from the ruckus of broken boxes.

I nodded and slipped my rings out of my pocket and onto my fingers. The transformation was instantaneous and in seconds I was the Dark Angel climbing gracefully to my feet to greet my new teammates. “Dark Angel! I’ve heard of you!” Goat Ninja sounded proud of his accomplishment, knowing who I was that is.

“Well that explains it.” Eagle said absentmindedly.

“Explains what?” I turned my glowing eyes on him.

“Why I wanted to eat you.” At my confused look he sighed and continued to explain, “You are essentially part bird, hawk I presume, and you are near my nest. When other birds, or anyone, come near my nest, I attack. I’m gunna call you Todd.” Eagle nodded as he decided upon my new name.

“It’s Dark Angel.” I said calmly.
“Nope. Todd.” As Eagle nodded his approval, I turned to Goat Ninja.
“Do we have any other teammates here yet?”

“Not quite—“A popping sound stopped him mid- sentence, “Never mind, we have another one!”

That’s when I sensed movement in the air, “Duck!” I yelled.

“Penguin!” Eagle yelled back.

“What?!” I asked.

“I thought we were yelling random bird names.” Eagle yelled again.

“Bubble grenade!” An obnoxiously loud female voice yelled triumphantly.

As that voice announced a grenade, an explosion racked the room sending Eagle and Goat Ninja sprawling across the room. Because of my power I was saved from being blown up like the others. I spun to face the girl that had attacked us. She was about my height with shoulder length brilliant blonde hair and eyes the color of the ocean. “Who in the name of hell are you?!” I demanded.

“The name’s Buziba. It means ocean or something like that.” Buziba flipped her hair over her shoulder. Then I noticed her strange skin tight blue suit. It was a full body suit of dark blue with a light blue X across her chest. Around her waist were what I guessed to be her Bubble Grenades.

“Did you have to blow us up?” Goat Ninja whimpered from the corner.

“Buzibo has to make an entrance doesn’t she?” Buziba referred to herself in the third person.

“Don’t you mean Buziba?” I asked confused.

“Oh, that’s right, Buziba.”

“You forgot your own name.” I sighed, it was a total rookie mistake.

“Shut up! I did not!” her face reddened.

“Yeah, you did. I’m gunna call you Sea Biscuit.” I decided.

“Nice one Angel!” Goat Ninja laughed and high fived me.

“No! It’s Buziba!” Buziba yelled. Well at least she got her name right.

“And I’m calling you Luke.” Eagle piped in.

“Ooooo! You are Attractive!” A new voice purred.

“Who the hell are you?” We all turned to Goat Ninja who was being leaned against by a tall and gorgeous girl with short highlighted blonde hair wearing a very skimpy sequined flame outfit. Even her mask and the tops of her boots were matched to the rest of the costume.

“I am the Seductress.” The girl continued to purr.

“Hmmmm…. What to name you.” Eagle contemplated.

“Is this where I should be?” A small shy voice squeaked.

We turned to see a petite girl with black hair pulled back in a bun wearing a short bubble dress that looked like Disney’s Snow White’s dress chopped off at the knees. She had on small yellow ballet flats with little red gems on the toes and her mask was in the shape of apples. “Oh, and she’s Snow White.” Seductress threw a glance in the small girl’s direction.

“Of course, she looks the part.” Buziba nodded in approval.

“Jeff. That’s what I’ll call you.” Eagle, deciding upon a name for Seductress, turned to see the latest recruit. His mouth dropped wide open under his beaked mask.

“Hello?!” Goat Ninja cried.

We all turned to the task of getting Seductress to let go of him. Once we had her convinced to leave him be the room grew silent as we all gathered in a circle staring each other down. Sizing each other up. With a sudden squawk Eagle lifted his winged arms and flew out the window. We waited a while, and then he suddenly flew back in and dropped a small brown object in front of Buziba that landed with a hollow THUD. “I got a mouse.” Eagle said proudly.
“Congrats.” Buziba nodded.
“Thanks! I think my mom would be proud….” Eagle thought aloud.
“I bet she would be.” Seductress said dryly.
“She wouldn’t.” Eagle was smiling and shaking his head like crazed lunatic. What had I gotten myself into?!
“So, we’re a team now.” Goat Ninja stated obviously.

“Yep, what now?” Seductress asked.

“You gunna eat that?” Eagle asked Buziba. We all turned to watch them.

“No Eagle, you can have it.” Buziba nudged the mouse towards him.

“Okay,” We all held our breath as we watched Eagle gobble up the furry creature.

“So you’re the Dark Angel huh?” Seductress turned to me.

“Yeah, why?” I asked.

“Well, I heard you were sexy, but daaaamn girl! I love your outfit!” Seductress almost purred.

“Thanks, I think.” I smiled shyly.

Suddenly, Eagle let out a tiny squawk and looked up at us with horrified eyes. “That. Was. AWFUL!” He blanched.

“Hold on, how can you call another girl sexy? And Eagle, that’s because that wasn’t a mouse, it was shoe polish!” Goat Ninja exclaimed.

“I can call her sexy cause it’s the truth and we’re BFF’s now.” Seductress stated smartly.

“That explains a lot.” Eagle nodded, referring to the shoe polish he had mistaken for a mouse…..

“Yes, yes it does Eagle.” Buziba patted Eagle on the back.


“So what are your powers?” Snow White decided to jump in.

“I can fly and I peck people!” Eagle shouted jumping up and down waving one of his wing arms through the air.

“I have my trusty NPT’s and my ninja skills. Hiya!” Goat Ninja struck a ninja like pose.

“I gots me my trusty Bubble Grenades and I control water.” Buziba winked at us. I didn’t know about the others but the wink thing was odd.

“I seduce men,” Seductress said smoothly turning her now glowing reddish eyes on Goat Ninja who cowered in fear. Then Seductress popped back up and said cheerily, “I can also move things with my mind.”

“How bout you Snow?” I asked, hoping that we could delay my explanation longer.

“When I sing I communicate with animals and they do my bidding,” She said creepily. “Also I can control minds,” I did not like where this was going. She had that sweet innocent thing down and I could have sworn she was gunna whip out an axe and murder us all at some point. Then she said, “And I can heal any wound.” That cleared my horror.

“Yay! Now when we get hurt we won’t die!” Eagle clapped.

“Your turn Sexy.” Seductress inquired.

They all turned to look at me and I sighed. “I can fly-“

“How?” Eagle asked.

“With these.” I stepped back from the circle and extended my long slim black hawk wings before them. Then I pulled my wings back in and came back to the circle. “Also, I’m a Copycat.” I held my breath after I said it waiting to see their reactions.

“What?!” Goat Ninja shouted.

“Wait a second, not a permanent one right?” Seductress asked.

I shook my head, “I am a permanent Copycat, so I have all of the powers of every bad guy I’ve ever fought and every hero I have ever encountered. That includes yours.” I said quietly.

“No! You can’t have my power!” Buziba flipped.

“I can’t help it!” I yelled back.

“SILENCE!” We all gasped and spun to face the large loft above us. Hawk Man had flown through the window and was waiting for our complete attention. “Good, now we can’t hold grudges against our teammates for their powers. They were born with it and that is a gift.” He glared down upon us. “Now, I have come with your first assignment. A new villain has surfaced and only you six can defeat him. But you must work together and use your skills to help each other. I will leave this file with you.” Hawk Man tossed the file to Goat Ninja. “That is all the information we have gathered on this villain. Good luck to you.” With that Hawk Man left back through the window.

Goat Ninja ripped open the file as soon as Hawk Man was out of sight. He flipped through the pages reading aloud as he went, “Name: Archfiend Cephalopod,”

“What in the hell does that mean?” I asked dumbfounded.

“’Arch’ is put in front of titles like ‘bishop’ to show superiority, a fiend is a demon, so a superior demon is what we are dealing with, and cephalopods are animals like squids and octopuses.” Goat Ninja waved a hand as if anyone would know that.

“Well how da heyl are we sposed to know that?” Seductress asked. Serious tude implied in that one.

Goat Ninja looked up and with Eagle said, “Guuuuurrrrrl.” both snapping and doing the head nod. Then Goat Ninja said, “Don’t you sass me while I’m reading our assignment. This guy wants to turn all humans into squid/octopus hybrids. That’s disturbing….”

“Now that, would be cool.” Eagle nodded.

“Ew.” Buziba flipped her hair.

“That’s scary.” Snow White squeaked.

“We should go find this guy then shouldn’t we?” I asked.

“Right you are! You got a tracking ability in that body of yours? Cause we kinda have to hunt this guy down.” Seductress said.

I nodded and then Goat Ninja said, “I am a ninja, I have the most advanced tracking sense within all of the ninja community. I’ve got this one.”

“Lead the way.” Buziba swept a hand towards the door indicating that Goat Ninja should lead us to Archfiend Cephalopod.

Goat Ninja strode out the door confidently and led us on our first steps of a long and perilous journey.


When we got outside we all looked to Goat Ninja expectantly and he pulled a- that can’t be right! “Are you kidding me?!” Seductress gawked. Yep, it was right. Damn that Goat!

“What?” Goat Ninja froze, the GPS cupped firmly in his hand.

“A GPS?! Seriously?!” Buziba flared.

“That doesn’t work on people genius!” I glowered.

“Says you!” Eagle glared at me with a pouty look.

“Says the manual!” I threw my hands up in exasperation.

“Shut up Todd! No one cares what you think!” Eagle crossed his arms and turned away.

“Well it’s worked before.” Goat Ninja said as he began to enter the villain’s name.

“If that thing doesn’t work Goat Ninja, I am going to make you slap yourself.” Snow White glared at him.

“Relax, look, ‘Archfiend Cephalopod: located at a secluded island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean’.” Goat Ninja read from the screen.

“I cannot believe that actually worked.” Seductress sighed.

“Who cares, let’s just get going.” Snow White said softly and we all followed Goat Ninja.

“Can I play with that?” Eagle whispered to Buziba as he stared intensely at the GPS with his yellow eagle eyes.

“No Hon, you can’t play with the GPS. Maybe later.” Buziba comforted him.

“Fine.” Eagle pouted.




We ended up taking a boat out into the middle of the ocean. When the GPS indicated that we were close we discovered that it didn’t have the best sense of direction when it came to islands in the middle of the ocean. So Eagle and I took to the sky and led the rest of the team to the island through mind communication with Snow White. It took a little while but after about an hour Eagle let out a shrill squawk and circled over the island directing the rest of us towards it.

Once the others had gotten off the boat Eagle and I landed next to them on the shore. “Where do you think this guy is gunna be on the island?” Snow White asked.

“Probably in a secret lair at the heart of the volcano on the West side of the island.” I said looking in the direction of the volcano I had seen while flying over the island.

“Nerd.” Eagle said to me.

I shrugged. “Angel’s right, the GPS says he’s that way.” Goat Ninja stated as he began walking in the direction of the volcano still staring at the GPS screen.

We all trudged along behind Goat Ninja. When we entered the forest the GPS decided it would speak to give us directions: “At next Squid take a…. right.”

“Did that useless contraption just say ‘at the next squid’?” Seductress asked.

“I think it did.” Buziba said.

“Is that thing confused or something?” Snow asked.

“No, there’s a squid.” We all looked at Eagle who was nodding.

“Where?” I asked skeptically.

“About twelve yards in front of us. He is Not happy that we’re here.” Eagle shook his head.

“What?” I asked.

“Squid is now within ten feet, turn right.” The GPS spoke up suddenly.

We all turned to Goat Ninja who was holding the GPS. Goat Ninja looked up and his face blanched. “RUN!” He yelled and dashed behind the nearest tree.

We heard a bellowing ROAR and a giant squid sprung at us. Its long tentacles flung us all in opposite directions. I slammed against a tree trunk not far away and fell to the ground with a soft THUMP. When I looked up again Buziba was the only one back on her feet and she was pulling out a Bubble grenade and telling us, “Get down!” I tucked my head under my arm and curled into a ball just as the grenade blew the squid a few feet back the way it had come.

I leaped to my feet and sprinted to Buziba. “What now?” She asked me.

“Well I could set it on fire.” I suggested.

“No, I got this.” Seductress pulled herself out of a thorny bush to our left and scrambled over to the squid. She looked into its giant bulging eye and gave it this weird look.

“What is she doing?” Goat Ninja asked shocked.

“It’s giving me the scaredy poos.” Eagle shivered.

“I call it, the smolder.” Seductress said, well, seductively. Her eyes sparkled with flames and the squid seemed confused for a second.

Then the squid ROAR-ed again and flung seductress back against a tree directly behind the rest of us. “It’s a female!!” Goat Ninja yelped.

“Blow it up!” Snow White yelled to me as the squid lunged straight for us.

I lifted my hand and snapped. A deafening CRACK sounded and a bolt of sapphire blue flames sprung from my fingertips and hurled itself at the squid. As it hit the fire exploded and blasted massive pieces of blown up squid all around us. “That, I must admit, was awesome!” Eagle squawked.

I looked at him in a daze and smiled, “Thanks! I think I got that from some alchemist a few years back.”

“The Flame Alchemist?” Snow White asked mischievously.

“Yep.” I winked at her catching her drift.

She smiled so brightly that we all had to stare. Then we all broke into smiles before remembering that our journey was still far from over. “Let’s keep moving.” Seductress said as she took the lead towards the volcano.

We all rushed to the edge of the massive volcano and stared up at it. “Well now what? How do we get in there?” Buziba asked.

“Let’s fly up and see if we can’t find a way in.” Eagle nudged me and we both took off.

From above, the volcano seemed to be active. Smoke curled from the opening in the top and a slight rumbling came from within. Then I spotted something deep below, a glimmer that didn’t look like the dim glow of the lava. “I’m gunna dive in and see what’s down there.” I yelled over to Eagle.

“Are you insane?!” He asked flapping his wings at me.

“Shya I am!” I smiled and winked at him and he just laughed. So I pulled my wings tightly against my body and dove down into the smoky depths of the volcano.

I hadn’t gone very far when the lava appeared below me and I slowly opened my wings to slow my descent. I hovered over the lava just staring at it, I couldn’t help feeling that it didn’t look right. Then I remembered that I could make myself fire proof thanks to some whack job I had fought off last week. I focused on my hand and it turned a dark charcoal color. Then I dipped my hand in the strange lava and slowly pulled it back out.

The lava slipped through my fingers like….. Water. I laughed and took a deep breath before diving in. It was water! It wasn’t lava at all. I swam down deep and spotted a door in the wall. Then I exploded back out of the colored water and shot up out of the volcano. “Find anything?” Eagle asked flying over to me.
“Yep! I’ll tell you down there.” I nodded towards our friends. When we landed before the rest of our team I told them what I had discovered.
“Sick nasty! So now we all fly up and dive in!” Seductress said.
“How are we going to all get up there though?” Snow White asked.
“I can jump up the mountainside.” Goat Ninja said.
“Good and I can make a rock fly Buziba, Snow, and I up to the top. Eagle and Angel can fly up and we can meet on the ledge.” Seductress said as she went about finding a large flat rock to fly her and the other two up the side of the volcano.
She eventually found a rock fit for the job and she, Buziba, and Snow White all boarded it. Then Seductress closed her eyes and put her hand out and the rock began to float upwards. Once it seemed to be halfway up the volcano Goat Ninja leaped up the side of the volcano like a goat, obviously, and Eagle and I took off following the others in case one of them should fall.
Once at the top we all stepped onto, or landed on, the edge of the giant hole at the center. “You’re sure it’s just water right?” Snow White asked nervously as she peaked over the edge.
“Positive. I dove in.” I told her.
“All right. Together?” Buziba asked holding out her hands to us.
“Together.” I took her hand and the hand of Goat Ninja who stood on my other side.
We all stood there holding hands and leaped off the edge plummeting to the colored water below. As we hit the water a resounding CRASH reverberated through the crater. Once under water we all opened our eyes and I led the others to the metal door twenty feet below the surface. When we reached it I reached out to Snow’s mind and asked her to connect us to each other telepathically. “Okay, everyone join hands again and then follow me one by one through the door.” I told them with my mind.
“We better not die from this.” Goat Ninja said as he and the others joined hands.
I snatched Goat Ninja’s free hand from where it was floating mere inches from my arm and pulled the others to the door. Then I closed my eyes and yanked all of us through the solid metal door which seemed to melt like butter around us pushing us through to the other side. We all sat on the ground inside the door for a few moments gasping for breath. “That was just bizarre.” Seductress said to me with eyebrows raised.
“Hey, don’t blame me. I got that power from some creep who was robbing banks.” I shrugged.
“Well at least it was useful for us.” Snow White said as she stood and fluffed her dress. “We should keep moving.”
“Agreed,” Eagle said hopping to his feet.
“Where to Goat Boy?” Seductress asked.
“Hold on,” Goat Ninja pressed the resume button on the GPS and it instantly spoke: “In five hundred feet make a…. left turn.”
Goat Ninja then led the way down the long hall. We followed the GPS’s directions until we came to a halt at a large pair of steel doors with a giant squid intertwined with an octopus engraved on them. “Cause that ain’t creepy at all.” I mumbled.
“Destination. Route guidance ending.” The GPS spoke for the last time.
“Y’alls ready fo dis?” Goat Ninja asked.
“Hell yeahs! Let’s go mess this bad guy up!” Buziba shouted.
“I think he can hear you.” Eagle whispered.
“Good, maybe he’ll come out and fight.” Seductress yelled at the doors.
“Guys, let’s just go in.” Snow sighed as she shoved the doors open.
The room inside was massive and surrounded on all sides by ocean water. Around us lay lab tables strewn with equipment and experiments in glass containers. Through the glass windows separating us from the deep sea we could see the dark foreboding silhouettes of squid and octopi. “Welcome to my lab young heroes.” Our heads snapped in the direction of the voice. There stood an eight foot tall man with a slimy orange face with a beard of tentacles dressed like a pirate right out of the movies. His solid onyx eyes smiled devilishly at us from the raised platform where he stood. “I suppose you’re the ones that oversized bird sent to stop me?”
“Pft, shyea we are!” Eagle whooped.
Archfiend Cephalopod raised his slimy brows at Eagle and laughed. “You? You’re all just a group of lowly misfits. Do you actually think you can stop me?”
“Yep. And its gunna be fun.” I laughed darkly.
Even my friends turned to stare at me, and then Seductress smiled and winked at me saying, “She’s right. You goin down Squid Boy!”
“And how are you going to do that?” Archfiend Cephalopod sneered, “Try and seduce me to my grave?”
“Oh no you di’int! Come at me bro!” Seductress stepped menacingly towards Cephalopod.
Archfiend Cephalopod flung one of his tentacle arms and it stretched out to knock Seductress into the far wall. “Hey!” I yelled and rushed forward throwing sapphire flames at Cephalopod.
“Miserable girl!” Archfiend Cephalopod cringed away from the flames and then swung his other arm at me.
I was thrown over several lab tables, knocked into the glass wall and fell crashing down on top of a lab table strewn with chemicals. As I landed on them my body began to burn everywhere the chemicals touched. I gasped as I rolled off the table onto the floor. On the ground I curled into a ball while the burning subsided and my body absorbed the chemical energy. When I finally was able to lift my head I saw Eagle hovering over Archfiend Cephalopod darting down to peck his slimy head whenever he got the chance. Goat Ninja was kicking Cephalopod every time Eagle distracted the villain. Buziba was readying ten Bubble grenades and Snow White was attempting to gain access into Cephalopod’s mind. I even saw Seductress lifting tables and chairs off the floor with her telekinesis readying to throw them once the grenades went off.
I leaped to my feet and ran to the others. I reviewed what everyone was doing and planning to do and I decided I would use my natural ability to magnify power to increase the power of the Bubble grenades. “Alright, everyone get out of the way!” Buziba yelled.
Eagle dove behind an open doorway, Goat Ninja bounded after him, Seductress threw the items she was holding in mid- air at Cephalopod, and Snow White widened her eyes and said “Freeze.” Causing Cephalopod to stop moving where he stood. A split second after all of this happened Buziba’s grenades went off, and while Buziba dove behind a table I stood and pushed my hands towards the explosion letting loose a resounding battle cry as the explosion doubled in magnitude and power.
When the explosion hit Archfiend Cephalopod the kick back threw me tumbling backwards head over heels into the large double doors we had entered the lab through. Suddenly the room was quiet and as I opened my eyes I saw gray dust and ash cloaking the entire room in a blanket of smog. I slowly scrambled to my feet and felt my way to where I remembered Buziba and taken cover. “Sea Biscuit? You down there?” I asked quietly.
“It’s Buziba!” The blonde girl yelled as she pulled herself out from under a fallen shelf.
“Are you okay?!” I rushed to her and helped her stand.
“I’m fine, just some minor bruising.” Buziba shrugged me off but before she could get out of my reach I grabbed her arm and used the healing power I had gotten from Snow to heal her injuries. Buziba looked from my hand on her arm to my eyes. “Thanks Crow.” Buziba smiled.
“Crow?” I asked.
“Hey, you call me Sea Biscuit, now I can call you crow.”
“Why Crow?” I asked, still confused by the choice of name.
“Cause you are annoying and have black wings.” Buziba winked and nudged my arm playfully.
“Alright, I guess I can live with that.” I nudged her back.
“Live with what?” Seductress coughed as she and the others joined us.
“Me calling her Crow.” Buziba told the others.
“I see, good choice of name.” Seductress laughed.
“Not as good as Todd.” Eagle mumbled.
“Can we just get the bad guy and leave now?” Snow White asked.
“Too late. He just jumped through a hole in the glass and is swimming away with his cephalopod friends.” Goat Ninja sighed.
We all spun and saw that he was right. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?! We could have stopped him!” I yelled frantically.
“Wait, you said ‘through a hole in the glass’…..” Eagle said quietly.
We all slowly turned to look at where we had seen Archfiend Cephalopod escape. There was a massive hole. “Everybody get close and hold hands!” Buziba yelled.
We all joined hands as the water cascaded in through the large opening and Buziba created a bubble of air by manipulating the water to take us up to the surface. We were halfway up when another giant squid came hurling out of nowhere. “Angel! Stop it!” Snow White screamed.
I flung my arm at the squid and a bolt of water slammed the creature deep into the dark depths of the ocean. “It’s Todd.” I heard Eagle whine in the background.
“Oh shut up Bird Boy!” Seductress snapped.
“NnnnnO!” Eagle drawled with his hands on his hips.
I rolled my eyes at the two of them as we floated towards shore. We reached a dock sticking out into the ocean and we all hopped onto it. Just as Goat Ninja was about to open his mouth for the millionth time Hawk Man cawed and slammed to the ground in front of us. “Did you defeat Archfiend Cephalopod?” He demanded in his gruff voice.
“Define defeated, do you mean permanently or temporarily?” Goat Ninja inquired.
“I was hoping for permanently.” Hawk Man glared at us.
“Well, we blew up his lab, killed a few squids, and then Archfiend Cephalopod escaped through a giant hole he blasted in the glass wall of his lab. So he’s gone for now.” I reported.
“Nerd.” Eagle huffed.
I glared at him. “I suppose that will have to do for now. But when he resurfaces I expect that you will get rid of him in a more permanent fashion.” Hawk Man said.
“Of course.” I spoke for all of us.
“Good.” Hawk Man turned to leave but Goat Ninja and Eagle stopped him.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Eagle half squawked half spoke.
“What is it this time you two?” Hawk Man sighed.
“Do we get a team name now?!” Goat Ninja was hopping up and down in excitement.
“That, my boy, is something the six of you must come up with.” Hawk Man turned expectantly to us waiting for us to decide.
Seductress barely opened her mouth with a suggestion when Goat Ninja yelled, “Six Million Ways to Die!”
“That sounds disturbing…” Snow White whispered.
“I agree, Six Million Ways to Die is out.” Buziba said.
“Fine, how about Those White Kids?” Goat ninja asked.
“That’s racist!” Seductress yelled.
“Yeah! Plus Dark Angel here is almost black.” Buziba put in.
“I am not! I’m just naturally tan!” I whined.
“Well have you got any better ideas?!” Goat Ninja asked Seductress.
Seductress merely stuck her tongue out at Goat Ninja and crossed her arms over her chest. Eagle slowly raised his wing/hand/thing on the side of his body. “Yes Eagle?” I asked.
“I-I have an idea for our team name.” He said quietly as he lowered his wing arm thing back to his side.
“What is it?” Buziba asked sweetly.
“How about, the Injustice League?” Eagle suggested.
“Perfect! It’s so us!” Goat Ninja jumped in the air.
We all laughed in agreement and turned back to the expectant Hawk Man. “We’re the Injustice League.” I stated firmly with a huge smile spread across my face.
Hawk Man smiled slyly back and nodded to us, “I’ll be in touch,” He paused for a moment, “Injustice League.” He smiled once more and then leaped into the sky.
After Hawk Man was out of sight the six of us all turned to smile at each other. “Well what do we do now?” Snow White asked.
“I really don’t know.” Buziba shrugged.
“Pancakes!” Goat Ninja and Eagle both yelled at the same time.
“Sounds good,” seductress nodded.
“What sounds good?” Goat Ninja asked with a blank look on his face.
“You just said you wanted pancakes.” Snow White said confused.
“Nooooo…..” Goat Ninja’s forehead crinkled in confusion.
“Salamander.” Eagle glared at me with his hands on his hips.
“Why are you glaring at me?! I didn’t do anything!” I threw my hands up in exasperation.
“You’re a nerd. You’ve done everything.” Eagle shook his head in disappointment.
I stuck my tongue out at him and threw him into the water with a strong gust of wind. “Nice!” Seductress, Buziba, and Goat Ninja all hi-fived me. I laughed as Eagle pulled himself back onto the dock.
“That was cold!” Eagle whined.
“I’m hungry, can we please go for pancakes now?!” Snow White asked excitedly.
“What is wrong with you people?! I never said I wanted pancakes!” Goat Ninja flailed his arms around.
“So what?! I want pancakes!” Snow White jammed her hands on her hips and glared darkly at Goat Ninja.

“Okay, okay! Pancakes it is!” Goat Ninja scampered ahead of Snow White to lead the way to a pancake house.

“Oh that boy.” Seductress sighed shaking her head.

“Tell me about it.” I sighed.

“Well let’s go, don’t want to miss the pancakes.” Buziba said.

Buziba, Seductress, Eagle and I started towards Goat Ninja and Snow White who were a few meters ahead of us. Then Eagle turned to me and said, “Hey, hey, heeeeeyy.”

“Yes Eagle?” I asked turning to look into his yellow eagle eyes.

“If I were a girl, would I be a preeetttty girl?” Eagle asked dreamily.

“Uh…” I did not know how to answer that.

Then Goat Ninja Turned around, “Yo soy una chica bonita!”

Eagle’s eyes suddenly focused as he jerked to face Goat Ninja, “NO!”

“Well you’re ugly!” Goat Ninja huffed.

“No, I’m a purty birdy.” Eagle said confidently.

“Shut up!” Seductress had finally had enough of the random fighting.

As she and the two boys argued Buziba and Snow White joined in the argument. I walked along the others wondering if this is what life would be like for me from now on. The constant arguing over things that make absolutely no sense, the random conversations. And I decided that I didn’t mind any of it at all. I loved this rag tag group of misfits that I had become a part of, and I never wanted life to go back to the way it had been before. Even if it meant getting blown up every other day, I wouldn’t trade my new friends and my new life for anything.