🚀 go-pugleaf

        The van traveled down the street, slowly, yet deliberately.  In-
side, the driver and passenger looked around nervously, making sure they
were not being watched.  They had transported the cargo entrusted to their
care this far, and with only a matter of minutes left, they didn't want any-
thing interfering with the delivery.
        As the van turned a corner, the driver shut the lights off and guid-
ed the vehicle to a warehouse at the end of the street.  A single overhead
light illuminated the double-doors on the front of the building, where two
people, one of whom was a woman, stood waiting silently.  The vehicle slowed
to a stop, and the driver and passenger got out.
        The woman, dressed in what appeared to be an expensive mink coat,
didn't move.  "Did you bring it?" she asked.
        "It's in the back," the van driver said.
        "Get it."
        The driver nodded, and he and his companion walked to the back of
the van, where the driver opened the back door.  The other man took out a
large box and set it on the ground in front of the woman.
        The woman nodded to the man standing next to her, who opened the box
and took out a large gun-shaped device.  After activating it and examining it
thoroughly, he nodded to the woman and gave it to her, then moved to stand be-
hind her.
        "Well, gentlemen," she said to the driver and his companion.  "Thank
you for bringing me my instrument of power."
        "When do we get paid?" the driver's companion said.
        "I'll pay you right now," the woman said, lifting the weapon up and
pointing it at the two men.  A light on it turned green, and she pulled the
trigger, releasing a violet-colored beam that struck the two men dead center.
        "Nooooooooo......!!!!!" they shouted as they writhed around in agony.
        The woman returned the gun to her man, and walked back into the ware-
house.  "Get rid of what's left of them," she told him.
        Behind her, two figures dressed in clothes they seemingly weren't
wearing before collapsed and died.

                                -+=^=+-

                             The Hero Patrol
                                Episode 7
                             "Realty Bites"
                                   or
                  "Where's Century 21 When You Need 'Em?"
                                   by
                              Mike Escutia
                           The man who's back

                                -+=^=+-

        It had been a number of weeks since the announcement was made of
the formation of a new super-group, the Hero Patrol.  During that time, the
Industrial Revolution had reached its crescendo (so to speak), CalForce had
reemerged to stop two (or three, depending on who you asked) global domina-
tion plots, and Intercontinental Salvage had gone on strike [Author's note:
As of this writing, I have not read anything posted between August 3 and
28.  My apologies if this paragraph is incorrect in any way.] in Bob City,
among other things.
        Now, you would think that this scene would open with the Hero Patrol
relaxing in their state-of-the-art headquarters, waiting for the call to fight
evil, be it the commonest criminal or the most heinous villain.
        Well...not quite.
        Sure they were waiting for the call to fight evil, be it the commonest
criminal or the most heinous villain.
        But there was no state-of-the-art headquarters.
        No, they're not under-funded, like Team Cynical.  They're just find-
ing it really hard to find a place to open up shop in.  Up until now, they
had been hanging out at either Jon Perceptor's apartment in Manchester or
the house of a friend of Misfit's in Londonderry.
        Unfortunately, they lost the latter hangout when the fall semester
began at the University of New Hampshire and Misfit and his friend, whose
name was Mike, returned to school -- and to living in the dorms.  (Of course,
with the Hero Patrol still based in the Manchester area, Misfit quickly
learned that he would have to commute, but that's another story altogether.)
        The five members of the Hero Patrol were currently hanging around in
Jon's apartment.  Jon was on the phone, talking to what must have been the
tenth realtor the team had tried.
        "Okay, I've got an appointment with the guy at two," Jon said after
he hung up the phone.  "At least I got that far."
        "Did you tell them we're super-heroes?" Sean McAllister, asked hope-
fully.
        "Nope."
        "Toldya it'd work," Rob Jones said to Sean.  "Now pay up."
        "Ack!" Sean muttered as he dug a five out of his wallet and handed
it over to Rob.
        Jon chuckled, then said "Anybody coming with me?"
        "I'll go with you," Rebecca Daylin said.  "In costume or out?"
        "In."
        "Right."  She got up from where she had been sitting on the floor
and grabbed her duffel bag.  "Just let me change."
        "Check."
        "Do you think we'll ever find a place to set up our headquarters in,
Jon?" Amy Myerdon, the energy manipulator known as Starwave asked.
        Jon sat down on the arm rest of a chair nobody was sitting on.  "Beats
me," he shrugged.
        "We're in troooouuuublllle..." Rob sighed from the couch he was
slouched down in.
        Rebecca, a.k.a. Earth Girl, came out in her green-and-blue costume,
and she and Jon (who was already wearing his costume) left the apartment.
        Rob pulled himself off the couch and regarded the door.  "Y'know,
if this doesn't work out, we could always rent a space in the mall."
        Sean and Amy just looked at him.
        "I...don't think so," Sean said.
        "It was just a suggestion."

                                -+=^=+-

        Decade 201 Realty was not the greatest of places one could go to.
Its name brought the obvious competition to mind, making one wonder why the
name hadn't been changed yet.
        Still, Decade 201 did have some business, and its fair share of poten-
tial customers, so the realtor didn't flinch when two people entered the of-
fice.
        He didn't flinch when he saw they were in their early-to-mid twen-
ties.
        He did, however, indulge in a nice, long, flinch when he saw they
were in costumes.
        "Ah," he stuttered.  "How may I help you?"
        "We're with the new super-team, the Hero Patrol," the man said
cheerily.  "We just called a little while ago."
        "Ah, yes!" the realtor said.
        "We're looking for a good place to set up our headquarters."
        "Ah, yes!" the realtor repeated.  "I think there is something you
should know..."

                                -+=^=+-

        "Well, that could have gone better," Earth Girl said as she and
Jon left the Decade 201 office.
        "We must be doing this wrong," Jon mused.  "There's *got* to be an
easier way."
        "What I'd like to know," Earth Girl said.  "is why that realtor seemed
so familiar...."
        They looked at each other.
        "He looked like Gilbert Gottfried!" they concluded.

                                -+=^=+-

        Just northwest of Manchester, west of Londonderry, and east of
whatever towns are west of those two is a small parcel of land, about a square
mile in size.  Strangely enough, it belongs to none of the towns touching it,
as they all think it belongs to someone else.
        In the middle of this largely-untouched area is a large hill.  This is
no ordinary hill, however; rather, it is a secret base for alien observers
from another planet.
        Aliens who happened to be moving out.
        "<It's such a shame we have to leave,>" one of them said as she
packed suitcases into the cargo hold of a space car.
        "<I understand, Nina, but we have run out of observation material.
I find myself regretting that we have not gotten to know some of this world's
superbeings more.>" her companion said.
        "<Yes, well, to phrase a coin, better luck next planet.  I believe
these are last cases, Quim.>" Nina said.
        "<Quite so.  Makks!>"
        "<You called?>" came the computer voice from the wall speaker.
        "<We shall be leaving now.  Take care of the base, in the event
that it is needed sometime in the future,>" Quim said.  "<Although I doubt
we will be back.>"
        "<That's what you said *last* time.>"
        "<Yes, well this time, I mean it.>"  Quim and Nina got into the space
car as the hangar doors opened, and the vehicle took off for the aliens' home-
world.

                                -+=^=+-

        The street was dark, except for the occasional street lamp.  What
few people there were, even only an hour after sunset, hurried to get to where
they were going.  A lone elderly man, in his mid-sixties and using a cane,
walked slowly down the street.
        Suddenly, five hoodlums came out of an alleyway and surrounded him.
"Okay, gramps," one of them said.  "you're in Toughie territory, so we're
gonna have to teach you a lesson."
        "Are you now?" spoke a voice that seemed to be all around them.  The
punks pulled out hand knives, ready to do some damage.
        Suddenly, a blur streaked around them, and they found that their wea-
pons were gone.  Two of the punks ran down the street, while two others dart-
ed back into the alleyway, hoping it would be too dark for them to be pur-
sued.  They didn't even notice the black-garbed figure in their path, and
were knocked out for their efforts.
        The two punks that had run down the street suddenly found themselves
running against a ridiculously strong wind.  They were quickly thrown back
several feet, and knocked out by the human-shaped blur.
        The remaining punk turned to see a young woman with glowing hands
step out of the shadows.  Gesturing as if she was about to blast him to
smithereens, she asked "Ready to give up?"
        "Yeh," the punk said flatly before fainting.
        A girl in a green jacket landed next to the old man.  "Are you all
right, sir?" she asked.
        "Oh, yes, yes, I'm fine," the man said.  "Thanks to you kids."
        "Are we good or are we good?" a young man in costume asked as he
stepped out of the shadows.
        "We are good!" Misfit (hey, you knew it was them, didn't you?) said.
        Suddenly, there came the sound of something falling out of the sky,
and all heads turned to see a small alien craft make a hard landing in a
nearby park.
        "Our first UFO!  Let's check it out!" Jon Perceptor shouted.  The
five heroes ran over to the craft, which looked like some sort of futuris-
tic mini-van.
        After taking a quick look inside using his powers, Jon Perceptor
was about to try to open it to help the crafts occupants when a hatch on
the left-hand side and two figures stepped out.  Both wore gray jump-suits
and had pale skin and blue-gray hair.  Other than that, they looked human,
if somewhat slim.
        "<I can see that this bodes ill for the vehicle's suspension,>" Quim
said as he surveyed the thankfully limited damage.
        "<We'll have to find some way to fix it, I...oh look, Quim!>" the
other said.
        "<It's those new superheroes,>" Quim said.  "I will attempt to com-
municate with them in their native language.>  Que pasa?" he asked.
        The five heroes looked at each other.
        "Is that Spanish?" Earth Girl asked.
        "I think we'd better respond in Spanish," Misfit suggested.  "Just
to be safe."
        Soundbyte looked at him.  "So respond, already."
        "I can't.  I don't know Spanish."
        "Some help you are."
        "Um..." Starwave said, approaching the aliens.  "Do you speak English?"
        Quim and Nina looked at each other.  "Oops," Quim said.  "Yes, we
speak English.  That was...an accident.  Ah...I am Quim, this is Nina.  We
were wondering if you could help us with our vehicle.  The anti-gravity gen-
erator is broken."
        The five heroes looked at each other.
        "We'll give it a try," Jon Perceptor said.
        "Excellent.  I will get the repair kit."

                                -+=^=+-

        After about a half-hour, the repairs were complete, and the craft was
ready for take-off again.
        "<Quim, we need to reimburse them for their services,>" Nina said.
        "<You are correct.  We do,>" Quim said.  "Friends, how can we repay
you?  We have none of your currency."
        "We'll take a ch.." Soundbyte began before Misfit's hand covered his
mouth.
        "<This is dreadful,>" Nina said.  "<We can not spare any of what we
are taking with us.>"
        "<Yes...>" Quim said.  "<but what about what we are leaving behind?>"
        "<The base.  Of course!>"
        "Friends," Quim said to the Hero Patrol.  "could we interest you in
a secret base?"
        The five heroes looked at the alien, then huddled together in confer-
ence.
        "As far as I can tell, they're sincere," Jon said.  "And if their
technology is anything like the car..."
        "Yeah, but was the base built for humans or aliens?" Misfit asked.
        Jon turned to the aliens.  "Can your base accomodate humans?" he
asked.
        "Actually, it is not even ours," Quim admitted.  "It was an aban-
doned base a scout from our world found."
        The five heroes discussed this, then turned to the aliens.
        "We'll take it," Jon said.
        "Excellent.  Nina?  Bring the keys."

WHAT AWAITS THE HERO PATROL IN THEIR NEW HQ?
WHO BUILT IT AND WHAT WAS IT BEFORE QUIM AND NINA MOVED IN?
NOW THAT THE AUTHOR IS BACK, WILL THINGS BEGIN TO HAPPEN?

Superguy: the roof over your heads.