Tales of the Parodyverse

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L!
Sat Mar 11, 2006 at 08:28:15 pm EST
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Semi-Transparent Lad #13
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"Interlude before the Storm"

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Whispering Pines apartment building, Apartment 3a, Goth Haven
The home base for Ben Hermes, the up & coming super hero known as Semi-Transparent Lad.

It's Saturday Morning & he was sitting on his couch watching the TV, eating some cereal, flipping through the channels & not finding much of anything to watch. He misses the days when Saturday Mornings were ruled over by good old American made Cartoons & not the Imported junk that have on now. Ben stopped on one channel to watch a commercial: “Hi there! I’m Jingo Belle, the All-American Action Angel… and I’m proud to support my country with a Patriot Brand. I’m calling on all loyal super heroes to come on down and sign up to serve our nation in line with the Freedom and Patriot Act. There’s no cost – in fact there’s a reservist stipend! And you have the honor of holding your head high in fellowship with your meta-human brothers and sisters who are pulling for the US of A. Remember, deadline’s the end of the month, so hurry and join me and all true blue American legends as we uphold our great country in the war on meta-terror. Register today!”

"Uh... No." Ben thought sarcastically.

Ben flipped over a few more channels seeing only a few brief seconds of each channel. But, he had to stop & flip back to a channel because he thought he saw someone he knew. It was news report happening live. Nancy Olsen, of Marrow News 5, was at the scene & she was standing in front of Seven Freedom's Tower, the headquarters of Wonderful Seven Inc. Parked a few feet from Olsen & her camera was one of Goth Haven's Meta Crimes Unit Mobile Detention Vehicle. Not more then a minute later did the some of the MCU officers start escorting members into the MDV. Goth Haven's Media Darlings were all wearing hand cuffs, ankle cuffs & Inhibitor Bands. Ben was shocked to see his big brother like that. Ben seen him break out of worse situations but John was just taking it.

Ben began to listen to Miss Olsen as she relayed what info she had. The text on the bottom of the scene read "Wonderful No More", the news crawl at the very bottom of the screen was about other news stories so Ben didn't pay attention to it.

"Today is truly a sad day in Goth Haven as our resident super team, The Wonderful Seven, are now being considered Terrorists by the Government. Why? It's due to their highly out of character raid on a Freedom & Patriot Act Meta Registration site late last night. From the looks of it, the Seven were trying to destroy the complex but were stopped by a small group of Meta-Watch members who happened to be in the area."

"Yeah, probably beating the crap out of someone." Ben thought sarcastically.

"It is well know that the Wonderful Seven are or were Anti-Senate Resolution 1066. They claimed to have many reasons, but the one they brought up the most was it didn't fit into their own five year plan. In this reporters opinion: going to jail probably wasn't in their five year plan either." Miss Oslen said & then giggled a bit.

"Whoa! Deja Vu." Ben thought because he thought the same thing.

Miss Olsen went on to say that the team was being broken up. The foreign members of the team, being the Australian Charles Fitzpatrick IV (his codename is The Hunter) & the Amazon from a small island just of the coast of Brazil: Artimis. Those two were being deported to be dealt with by their home country's governments. Shawn Reynolds, the teen idol know to millions of screaming tweens as Speed Freak had run off shortly after the Meta-Watch members showed up. At the speed Reynolds was running he disappeared & possibly entered another dimension, a place nicknamed "The Speed Zone" by the Seven's PR person or "The Zoom Zone" by fellow speeder, De Brown Streak. Miss Olsen then said that if Reynolds leaves the zone & is found he too would sent to Jail.

"Or if he's found the Meta-Watch beaten to a pulp & then sent to jail." Ben thought sarcastically.

"Now being lead in into the MDV is Jet Starscream, team leader & one of this year's 50 most sexist Men as voted on by our viewers. How will his rumored girlfriend Samantha Bonnington, the Fashion Accessory, take this? I don't know. If we find out anything, we'll tell you. Next is Jet's on & currently off Girlfriend: Inter-Planet Janet. A side note: her father, Thomas Marrow, is the owner of this fine Television station. Next is... well... I can't quite tell because the person has their cape over their face. How rude! But it's probably the mysterious Nite-Owl. I don't see his rumored to be gay sidekick, Bird Boy, anywhere. He must be off somewhere. I wonder if the Government will arrest the Seven's sidekicks as accomplices? I also wonder if their support staff will get arrested? Oh.. Here's the next member.. It's a man I don't recognize but am being told that he is Dr. Jack Austen, the man inside the Golden Guardian battle armor. I guess the MCU confiscated his suit, a wise choice. You know what? I didn't know he was black. Well, I guess you learn something new everyday." Miss Olsen said in her chipper tone.

Ben just couldn't believe 2 things: 1. How heartless Miss Oslen seemed & 2. That his Brother had just been arrested for being a Terrorist. Ben surely thought that John & his Posse would have gone along willingly with the Government but he guesses he was wrong. As Miss Oslen commented: it was clearly out of character. Maybe their consciences' got to them?

Ben continued to watch the report until The MCU drove away in their MDV with members of the WS in the back & Miss Oslen threw it back to the Anchors in the Studio. Ben still couldn't belief it. As he sat there shocked, Ben's neighbor from across the hallway: Laura Smith walked in through the door, literally. It's some times shocks Ben to see his neighbor come into his apartment even with his locked door, but that is what he gets for living next to a girl who cane become intangible!

"Ben?" She said.

Ben, a little shocked she was there, said: "Yeah?"

"I see that you saw the report." Laura said mentioning the turned on Television.

"Yeah."

There a few moments of silents & then Laura said: "I'm a little embarrassed to say this but.. I'm scared of what happen to people like me in month."

"I'm sure they'll still be a market for an actress of your caliber in a month." Ben said with a little smile trying to lighten the mood.

Laura gave a courtesy laugh & then said: "No. I'm talking about people like me who aren't 'super heroes' but still have powers. I'm sure you'll be alright since your part of the Government group, what's it called again ?"

"The FMRC. The Federal Meta-Human Resource Center." Ben replied but wasn't all that sure if he'd be ok. He was sure that he didn't want to end like B Class.

"Yeah. They'll take care of you." Laura said as Ben rolled his eyes.

"But, I know tons of people like me who don't have that sort of support system. I have friends who are going to get those Patriot Brands because they feel it's their civil duty to do so, but I'm not sure. Plus, I'm not from here. The Government is already deporting the foreign members of the Seven. Which bring up will I have to leave, too?" Laura said with a sad, unsure look on her face.

Ben remembered their somewhat ill fated trip to Laura's home country of Wakandybar. "I'm not sure if they'll make you leave. I sure hope not. That would suck."

"Yeah. My Dad wants me to come back home until this all blows over."

"When's that?" Ben retorted.

"I know. That's what I said."

"I know he's worried about me, but this is my life. My life is here in Goth Haven, not there."

"Hey! Wait a minute... Didn't Wakandybar disappear? Your father want you to return to a hole in the ground?"

"No. My dad was out of the country when the country vanished. He & some of Wakandybarian diplomats have set up a temporary government in one of their embassies near by. I think it's the one in Ouagadougou."

"oh. Well, I'm not really sure what to tell you."

"This really sucks."

"Yeah."

She stood there & Ben sat on his couch in silence, the only sound in the room were the one's from out side & the one's from the TV.

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THE END!


NEXT TIME: We get back to what's happening over at the FMRC with C Class. Major changes are a coming.


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FOOTNOTES:


Why is the story called "Interlude before the Storm"? Well, all the STL stories in my SR1066 story arc mention a forth coming storm in the title & this story wasn't really pushing the FMRC part of the story arc forward, so it's an interlude.

The Jingo Belle commercial is from Untold Tales #260, written by Ian Watson & used with his permission.

Laura & Ben went to Wakandybar in STL # 7 & 8. Laura's father works the Wakandybarian Government as a Scientist & she got her power in a accident in her Father's lab. Laura is in the US on a student visa & is working towards become an actress.

Wakandybar was stolen by The Parody Master in Untold Tales #225. Ouagadougou is the capitol of Burkino Faso, a neighboring country.

This is the 3rd or 4th appearance of the Wonderful Seven (Their mentioned more then they've been seen). I've sort of being avoiding them because I wasn't sure what to do with them & I've been concentrating of the FMRC for last couple of story lines. But, recently I've come up with something for them to do: Go to Jail or be Deported! It's gets better for them, I promise. We'll find out what's up them in a later story.

Miss Nancy Olsen, host of the local talk show "Goth Haven Afternoon" & sometimes reporter for Marrow News 5, has been seen in the STL stories a couple of times. Mostly in conjunction with Jet Starscream: She interviewed him on her show a couple of times & They have also spent a few nights together (as seen in STL # 1 & 2).


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