Chapter 3
Lora had no idea why she knew how
to fly. It was one of the things on her mind as she and Cindy flew straight up
into the air. To Lora, flying upward was as fun a convertible car top as it
screamed down the 405 freeway, which she thought was great for the summer heat.
She didn’t dwell on it for long.
Lora watched Cindy reach the pinnacle of her
trip, and then suddenly dive down, her arms spread eagle and body twisting
through the atmosphere. Lora got a look at how high she was and gasped. From
2,000 feet up, she could see for miles. Saddleback Mountain loomed at her left
and Laguna Hills to her right, dwarfing before the ocean. Catalina Island was
off in the distance, behind the veil of haze. Lora looked south and saw the
forests and the populated deserts that south Orange County had to offer beyond
Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita. The characteristic blue California
sky blanketed the state with its warm embrace.
Lora’s breath caught, and she fell after
Cindy, letting her newfound instincts guide her. She twirled through the air,
laughing up a storm in spite of leaving her stomach behind. She figured that if
fighting crime was anything like the thrill of flying, than she was going to
have a lot of fun.
The two landed at Cindy’s apartment, a half mile
south of Lora’s current home. Cindy rushed to the door and got her key out,
leaving Lora behind.
“Cindy, what are we doing?” Lora asked. A huge
grin on her face refused to leave.
A still hovering Cindy shooshed Lora and
shoved the door open. It hit the wall with a loud bang, scaring her parents
inside. Cindy flew to her room with an excited chortle and slammed that door
shut.
Lora peeked inside and saw Cindy’s parents,
Tina and Norm. They looked at Lora.
“What was that about?” Norm asked. He looked her
up and down and pointed at her.
“Is it you that she’s spazzing out over,
Lora?”
Lora chuckled with her hands behind her back
and an uneasy expression as she floated inside. She showed off her wrists.
“Umm, yep. I… I was in Costa Mesa when Sergei
Slade attacked and I got the EnWol gauntlets. Cindy was there to see it. I’m
unhurt from the kerfuffle, but this still happened. ”
“What?” Tina asked.
Tina
left her computer and approached Lora.
Norm
paled and he looked uncomfortable. He fidgeted. Lora shook her head and placed
her hand on his shoulder. He winced.
“Oh, no, no, no, no. I can’t stretch,
thankfully. I know how you feel about it, Mr. Richards.”
Norm paid attention to his breathing and his
voice warbled.
“In spite of how squeamish I feel, it being…”
he shuddered, “…weird. In spite of that, Lora, I’ve always, always been
supportive of Cindy, her powers and her goal of being a hero.”
Lora smiled.
“That’s
so sweet. I admire that Mr. Richards.”
Norm tried to smile, but he grimaced instead.
Tina rubbed his back.
“However did you find those, Lora? And isn’t
stretching a part of being an EnWol?”
Lora shrugged.
“Oh, I don’t know. They just flew at me after
the explosion, I think. Cindy saw my inauguration, went crazy and brought me
here.”
They
heard Cindy’s room door open.
“Okay guys,” Cindy said to announce her
presence, “I am now Flex Shapeoid!” She showed herself and made a strongman’s
pose without deforming her body.
Cindy
had changed her clothes from civilian to heroic, although, she wanted it to
look more like a spy’s catsuit than bright spandex. Her new outfit consisted of
a dark cerulean, slightly reflective tank top, low-rise jeans, gloves that
extended to the elbow, and a pair of combat boots. All topped off with a
choker, hair band, and sunglasses.
Tina
looked at her daughter from the top of her glasses, an amused smile creasing
her lips.
“Flex Shapeoid?”
Cindy nodded.
“Yep. Flex-your-shape-oid. It had a nice ring
to it.”
Tina and Norm went back to their own
computers.
“Sounds a little hard to say.” Tina said. “It
is spelled with the word ‘shape’ and the letters O-I-D at the end? If you want
to go down that route, you might as well be Stretchoid.”
“Eww.” Lora said.
Cindy dropped her arms.
“M’oooom! Picking a heroic sounding name is
tough! I don’t want to fly around with a name like… like Super Girl or
something stupid like that!”
Norm chuckled.
“Wasn’t it The Resilient Miss Flex last week?
It was C-Girl for the longest time before that. What is a Shapeoid, anyway? Is
it like a trapezoid?” He asked with a smile.
Lora
never failed to notice Norm’s own resilience when it came to shrugging off
Cindy’s elasticity.
“Dad, The Resilient Miss Flex was a terrible
name! I couldn’t go with that! What is a trapezoid anyway? Is it like a robotic
mouse trap?”
“I think it’s a shape, some kind of square?”
Lora said with faint traces of a valley girl accent shining through.
“What? Flex Trapezoid? Like, really, dad?”
Tina stood up.
“I have a concern, Cindy. Can you tell me where
you are taking Lora? You came back in such a rush to change that you left us
all in the dark. I’m sure that she’s had a rough enough day already.”
Cindy’s smile broadened and she tensed up.
“Okay, sorry, look. Lora, being EnWol is kinda
a big deal, you know that.”
Lora nodded.
“Sure.”
“Well, someone, a good friend like me, needs
to show the newest member of the species where to go.”
Lora pursed her lips to the side with mild
bewilderment.
“Species?”
Cindy didn’t miss a beat.
“So, I’m taking you to see Helena Christophers
in Huntington Beach. We could get you evaluated and signed up and everything!”
Lora smiled.
“Oh cool. Yeah, you mentioned her back home
too. She stopped a bunch of bad guys from creating a radioactive Pittsburgh.”
Cindy
nodded.
“We’re still waiting for both a result and a
movie from that trial too.”
Lora nodded, and then stopped, a realization
coming to her.
“Wait, I’ll get signed up there? But I’m
moving, Cindy, I can’t do that.”
Cindy waved her hand.
“Doesn’t matter, the main branch is in San
Francisco. Besides, if you sign up at one, you’ve signed at all of them! You’re
pretty lucky!”
Cindy lost control of herself. She shook her
fists and squealed again.
“Oh, this is so exciting, Lora! I was worried
that I wouldn’t be able to meet anyone who I knew when I left to be a hero, but
now my girl is at the top of the tops!” Cindy screamed again. She fell into a
fit of giggles while pitching backward in mid air.
He three of them watched Cindy, slightly
puzzled. Lora shrugged as if to say that ‘Cindy was Cindy.’
Lora cleared her throat with a smile.
“Well, gee, Cindy, if I didn’t know better, I
would think that you got a new boyfriend.”
“Hey, not in this house.” Norm said.
Cindy looked up at Lora from being suspended
upside down.
“That would be stellar, grab something that
would put a bigger shine on my face than this.”
Lora
smiled.
“That would be great.”
Cindy swished upright and grabbed Lora’s
hands.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s head
out!” She started to fly out the door.
“Cindy, stop. You’re waiting for me.” Norm got
up and approached his daughter without pause.
Cindy’s arms stretched out as Lora gasped,
stumbled and almost fell over. Cindy twirled back, knowing what was coming. She
let go of Lora and whined as she hovered near the ceiling, her arms shooting
back to normal.
“Oh no, Dad, please, not this time.”
Cindy lowered to the carpet and Lora stood by
patiently by standing with her feet in a T-pose.
“When you’re here, Cindy, you will receive
this lecture.” Norm said.
Cindy moaned again and let her father speak.
“Not everyone on this Earth is like Lora.
There are people out there that would not hesitate to hurt you, especially in places
like Meta Corps. There are people that can take you and manipulate you to do
their own bidding.
Now, I’m not saying that you’re gullible,
never, but think about this. What if someone offers to help you learn to be a
better hero, or lets you in on some kind of super serum that will enhance your
powers without going crazy.”
Cindy rolled her eyes.
“Dad, that only happens in the comics.”
Norm held his finger up.
“I’m not done. What if you accept and the
serum only lasts for so long. To get more, you need to do something for them
and before you know it, you’ve gone and secured a lock for a room that was
about to blow up and you only realize it until it’s too late. Sure you get your
serum, but at what cost?”
Cindy backed away, her face contorted in
disgust.
“Gaia, Dad.”
Cindy glanced at Lora, herself in mild shock
with her hand over her mouth.
Norm nodded, wide eyed.
“Yeah, I know! Where do you think these
storytellers come up with the ideas for all the horrid things that Hyper Glass
does? Who do you think Sergei Slade looks to for inspiration?”
Cindy rolled her head and used what she
learned from a lesson on sneering from Sarra.
“I don’t have an addictive personality. I
wouldn’t take such a serum anyway.”
Norm clutched Cindy’s arms and slid them down
past the cuff of her gloves. He held her wrists
“Look sugar, I’m not for sheltering you in the
least, or telling you to be ultra paranoid like my father did me. I’m saying to
be careful, be very careful because you could be an accomplice to a headlining villain.
I’m sure that your mother and I, and Helena would not be pleased with you if that
happened.”
Cindy rolled her eyes and puffed her cheeks
with a sigh.
“I get it dad. Don’t buy the watch from the
street vender. I hear this every time I leave the apartment.”
Norm looked Cindy in the eye; she could see
his fear for her in his. Depending on the day, Cindy took the look as his worry,
his shyness poking through or a means to suppress her. On that day of new
discoveries, she believed the third option.
Cindy looked up at him.
“Okay Dad, fine. Umm, can we go?” She pointed
out the door with one hand, her other stretching arm slunk to the door to open
it. Norm nodded and looked the other way; his cheeks flushed.
“Yeah, bye. Your mother and I love you, and we
don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Cindy opened the door with a smile.
“You forget that the doctor said that I can’t
get hurt, but whatever, see ya, come on Lora.”
With a loud boom, Cindy was gone. Lora half
trotted, half-floated to the entryway and bid Cindy’s parents a goodbye. They
did the same and Lora followed her friend to the north, the metaphysical wings
on her feet uncertain.
Norm sighed and headed back to his computer.
Tina frowned and got up to rub his back.
“Sweetie, Cindy will be fine. Lora’s with her,
and she has enough sense for the both of them.”
“Lora’s moving away though, so that’s out.”
Tina’s tone hardened a little; her hands moved
to his shoulders.
“There are other fish in the sea, Norm.”
Norm smiled and grabbed Tina’s hand.
“I know. I hope that Cindy doesn’t get a
chance to see just exactly what I’m talking about first hand.”
Tina rounded Norm’s seat to sit back at her
computer.
“They’ll both be fine, taffy.” Tina said.
While still grasping Tina’s hand, Norms own
arm elongated several feet across the table and he let go. He let it reel back
slowly while looking up at the ceiling with a grimace.
“Only my old man. Why did you have to be so
stern about this?”
If you would like the whole book, a souvenir of the experience, check it out at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87111
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