The Heroes have finally all met. They know their powers. Can they find the threat that will end the world? Stay Tuned!

-----INTERLUDE. JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg NC--------

Each person entering the room had their ID carefully checked again, although just to gain entrance to the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg NC required passing an armed checkpoint.

Taking a seat, they did their own check, looking over their fellows. It quickly became apparent they were in rare company. The Special Ops community is a small one and they all knew or were familiar with the faces of everyone here. Delta Force, Seal Team Six, the Air Force Special Tactics Squadron, and the Activity, the Army's Intelligence Support unit, were all represented.

Seated with them were members from the FBI's Hostage Rescue Teams. Each gave the other nods, since each group often trained with the other and, in some cases, were members who had moved on to the civilian side of the house, more or less.

The Admiral that came in had them all rising to their feet, as well as raising the stakes of the game. Most had made bets with the others about what this was all about. Being what they were, having a lot of Brass around wasn't anything new. However having the second highest ranking military officer of United States take a direct part threw a curve ball into the betting pool.

“Be Seated!”

An Air Force Colonel stepped to the briefing podium, as the Admiral quietly sat.

“I don't have to tell you gentlemen about the Observer, or the message it gave a week ago. Since then we haven't heard or seen anything to confirm or deny what it insinuated. The President's Science Advisor and the Office of Science and Technology have double-checked everything they have, and have found nothing to back up the alleged worldwide catastrophe at the end of this year.

“Despite some claiming it was all a mass hallucination, we have to take this seriously. We ruled that theory out, since we all heard the same thing. My group has determined that what we experienced was some kind of telepathic message. We all heard it in our native language and saw an image that our own minds translated into an authority figure. In short, we all saw what we expected to see.

“Our conclusion is that this Observer is, as it said, an alien. As for its actual motives, they are completely unknown. The consensus is, that if there was a credible threat to the world, it would've come to the leaders of those countries with the resources to best handle the emergency.

“That did not happen.” He paused, looking at the hard, fit men around the table.

“The policy is, if these empowered people do appear, they are to be taken into custody until their motives can be ascertained. Perhaps they were given more information by this alien that can help determine if there really is a threat.

“It also can not, I say again, can not be ruled out that they are under a kind of telepathic control, considering how that message was delivered. It is the opinion of the National Command Authority that these individuals pose a clear and present danger, not just to the United States, but to the entire planet.

“Planning is to take place to apprehend them and, if they refuse apprehension, to neutralize them safely and quickly. The FBI is here, in case any appear within the United States, while the Navy and Army will deal with those outside of our borders. The Air Force and the Activity will assist all groups as needed.

“However, let me stress that no rivalries will be tolerated. We have no idea as to the nature of these 'gifts' from the Alien. An exception to The Posse Comitatus Act has been accepted from the Justice Department allowing all of you to operate within the CONUS if necessary. A Justice representative will be assigned to each unit to provide the civilian law enforcement presence, and to do the official detaining.

“If said individuals decline to co-operate, then it's up to you gentlemen to do what you do best.” The Colonel sat down.

“Gentlemen.” The four star Admiral spoke. “I'm here only because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff couldn't be. We want to convey to you how seriously everyone is taking this, and that you have our full support. The entire world is in an uproar, and I don't have to tell you how bad that is. If a threat occurs, then I know you will be prepared to take action. If not, then we'll all have a drink come Christmas, and laugh about how the big bad Alien had a joke at our expense.

“However, make no mistake.” His gray eyes were hard as stone. “Not only the President, but all the world's leaders are taking this deadly seriously. I'd suggest you do the same.”

The room slammed to attention as he left.

Smiling grimly, the Colonel spoke, “Shall we begin?”

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MEAGAN:

I swirled, grinning at my image in the full-length mirror. The young redheaded woman's green, silky dress flew around her.

“I can't believe I'm in a real castle.” Giggling, I whirled around again, “And in the middle of Georgia, for Gawd's sake!”

The sensual feel of my dress floating around me was nearly as good as missing those fifty years of aches and pains. I'd only spent eight years serving Uncle Sam, but there was nothing easy about the whole, Green Beret falling from the sky, deal. Even if I was never on a Team, and only supported them, the training alone was tough. Add all the low wage, strong-back, weak minds jobs that were all my piss-poor resume could provide, getting up in the morning was not easy. Waking up because I couldn't lie still anymore because of the discomfort, and not because of the alarm clock, sucked.

That was then, this was now.

“We're the Knight's of the Round Table,” I sang, overwhelmed with silliness. “We dance whene'er we're able. We do routines, and chorus scenes, with footwork impeccable. We dine well here in Camelot, ya'll,” I humorously added the very southern colloquialism, exaggerating my normal drawl.

“We eat ham and jam and spam a lot,” Janet added, sticking her head in the door. “Please don't tell me you're a Monty Python fan too?”

“Okay, I won't tell you I don't like spam, spam, spam or spam.” I replied, in a very English accent, sticking out my tongue. My mimicry thing was a lot of fun. Before I only tried to sound like my favorite characters from media. Now I did! Whoa, this was soooo, cool!

I resisted the urge to show off my shape changing. A girl had to have some secrets after all. Plus, I didn't know if I would need my powers anytime soon. I didn't know these people very well yet, although I did feel a bond. Better to be cautious than betrayed. That was a lesson I'd learned all too well in my fifty years, even if I looked less than half that now.

“So what's up,” I asked Janet, as she looked me over.

“Tess has zapped out, going looking for those others she sensed.” Karen explained.

“Oh?” I asked. ”Did she take along one of the phones I bought?”

“Phones?” she asked blankly.

“Darn it!” I mildly cursed. “I picked up three of those prepaid phones, as well as the Bluetooth sets to go with them. I bet they're still in the bags downstairs. Here, lets get you one and make sure we have the numbers straight.”

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JANET:

We'd been at the castle for about a day or so, while Tess rested up from overtaxing her tessering power. As soon as she was back to full strength, she shared a meal with us and then took off, looking for more gifted ones.

While Tess was off chasing after more gifted people, I had a chance to just sit quietly and think. So far, this had seemed like my dreams come true. I was transformed into a real woman, I was given awesome powers, and I was damned pretty, not to mention younger.

Yeah, there was definitely a serious downside to all of this though. I mean, I was meeting other people who had been granted some really great powers and abilities, but this whole 'saving the world' thing was gonna get downright dangerous. Of that, I had no doubts.

Again I wondered, can I really do this? This is one hell of a responsibility to expect anyone to shoulder, especially one who had never really had any responsibility, even for myself. Yeah, I paid my bills, and I worked, but all my jobs were crap, minimum wage crap work. No one expected anything from me beyond showing up for work on time and doing the minimum amount of work required, in order to keep a job I really didn't want anyway.

I pondered these problems for awhile, but realized that I wasn't coming up with any answers, so I went to see if I could talk with Meagan about it, but she was way too occupied, preening and posing in front of a full length mirror. She asked me where Tess was. I knew she had gone searching for more of us, but then Meagan asked me something about Tess and a phone. I looked at her, puzzled for a moment.

“Darn it!” She mildly cursed. “I picked up three of those prepaid phones, as well as the Bluetooth sets to go with them. I bet they're still in the bags downstairs. Here, lets get you one and make sure we have the numbers straight.”

I followed her to where our bags were still scattered inside the entry door, and watched her rummage around, finally coming up with three cell phones, still in their plastic armor.

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MEAGAN:

It took us way too long to figure out the cotton-picking demonic electronic devices. I did learn that Janet was far more willing than I to indulge in 'salty' language, as she described it.

Usually I try to resist the urge, remembering my Uncle Harry Joe, who told me profanity was a crutch for those who didn't know what else to say. Coming from a poor rural background, I was very conscious to avoid anything and everything that could be taken, in any way, shape, or form, as white trash or redneck.

However, I was weak, and all too often failed to keep my tongue civil. In other words, I did as much cussing as Janet did at the damn things.

“Shit, I need a smoke.” She grabbed her purse and went out the back door.

I followed, although I was a nonsmoker. In fact, I was almost militant about it, being allergic to the smoke. It was one thing I probably didn't have to worry about anymore, maybe. I had no idea as to the limitations of my shape change thing. No matter, as long as I was upwind.

“So where're you from?” She asked, blowing a plume of smoke into the air.

“South Carolina, by way of Tampa, Florida.” I answered. It was pretty nice outside, being around 60 degrees. A little bored, I practiced projecting my force fields. I could form them around something, or I could use them like balls to hit things. Glancing at Janet, I didn't put a charge into any of them. She was trying to relax and I didn't think explosions would help any, even firecracker sized ones.

I did learn that the further from me that I projected the field, the less strength they had. Wrapping the field around me, actually augmented me very nicely. Easily stronger than I'd been as Carl. How much, I didn't know, since all I had to gauge myself were the odds and ends in the backyard.

“How about you?” I asked Janet.
-------------------------------
JANET:

“I'm from Buffalo, New York, but right now I got some thinking to do. I'm gonna go 'walkabout' for a bit. I wanna explore the castle grounds and get some shit straight in my head. When I get back we can talk more, okay?” Meagan nodded at me and I began walking toward a tree line in the distance.

I wandered for quite awhile, thinking about what I had to do, what we were all going to have to try to do, getting more and more confused and concerned about my own ability to live up to what the Observer claimed he'd seen in me, and what he believed I was capable of doing. What I'd originally seen as a wonderful chance to escape a boring, pointless life, had turned into the almost soul crushing realization that I had no damned clue of how to do it!

I wasn't really paying a lot of attention to where I was going, or the changes in the land I was walking on, when suddenly, I found myself slipping and sliding on a wet, muddy hillside which ended in a nasty looking pond of water! I reacted in much the same way anyone would, by trying to grab for something to stop my slide, but there were no trees or even bushes close enough for me to get a hold on.

I tried digging in with my heels, but only ended up sliding faster in the slippery mud. I turned over on my stomach and tried to dig my hands into the soil when, to my shock, I plunged my hand into the mud, almost up to my elbow! I came to an immediate stop, halfway down the muddy hill, confused about what I had just done. I worked my way back up the hillside , being very careful about my footing and, once back at the top, I turned and looked back down the hill.

“What the shit just happened?” I wondered to myself. I wasn't hurt, although I was considerably muddied up from head to toe, front and back. What I was amazed about was that I had plunged my hand and arm into more or less solid earth, with no pain or even discomfort!

'Of course.' I suddenly realized. My gift of strength and agility had enabled me to stop my slide without injury! Well, the strength anyway. As for the agility part, it dawned on me that even the most agile person can still be caught by surprise and slip or slide. That line of thought brought me to another thought. 'I'm supposed to be able to fly!'

Thinking about the way I'd seen movie superheroes perform that particular aspect of their powers, I tried a few things. First, I just jumped into the air. *Thump.* That was the sound my feet made upon contact with the ground. Okay... that didn't work at all. Then I tried using my mind to lift myself into the air... headache. Damn! How the hell does this work anyway? I sat down on a nearby rock and thought about it. Do I have to yell 'up, up, and away' or something? Hmmmm... what if...

One of my other gifts was supposed to have something to do with gravity, so I began concentrating on... well, being lighter. The next thing I knew, I was floating about 20 feet in the air! Woo Hooo!!! Now this was more like it! Over the course of the next hour or so, I managed to get some control into my rising and coming back down to earth. I tried moving parallel to the ground while I was floating above it, but quickly realized that it would take a lot of practice to get that part of things down pat. Still, I felt a bit better about things after my practicing, and I now could feel the control and knowledge of my powers that I had asked the Observer for.

Just to make sure everything I'd asked for was working, I took a kick at a sizable rock. A piece flew off it! I kicked it again, and it just crumbled, and I felt no pain at all! I almost skipped back to the castle after all of that, my mood considerable lightened by discovering the things I could now do, and how to do them.

When I got back to the castle, I wanted to go clean up, but I noticed a different car in the parking area, next to Martha.
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TESS

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ELISE/WINTER

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Though those cops and feds all around the shabby apartment building where she had lived weren't there for her, the person who had started thinking of herself as Winter, or Elise through necessity, had rightly decided that going in was a bad idea given her appearance and presence in a man's apartment who was nowhere to be found and never would be found.

That kind of attention was the last thing the new woman needed, she thought while barreling down the turnpike between Kansas City and Topeka at close to eighty miles an hour.

“Whoa!” She had to do a double take at something beside the highway.

It was a female figure, wearing a green and gold something that looked as if it belonged in a comic book with a moon covering her breasts and butterfly on her stomach.

Even stranger was the sign the person was holding.

I'm a gifted too. Please stop and talk.

With a sigh and shake of her head, Winter slowed down, pulling to the shoulder of the busy highway and waited for the stranger to reach the car. Once she had she tapped on the passenger side window and reminded Winter to lower it. “Hi, I'm Tess, one of the gifted and I sense that you are, too.”

“Uh, yeah.” Winter got a sudden flash that this other woman, Tess, really was a friend and could help. “I'm — Elise. But what's with the Halloween costume?”

“What's wrong with it?” Tess questioned then grinned. “I kind of like it, actually.”

“Okay, on to something else here.” Winter shrugged. “Don't you know it's illegal to hitchhike on the turnpike?”

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Tess shrugged, “but I sure don't want my parents to find me.”

“Then all the more reason not to hitchhike out here.” Winter sighed and reached over to open the door on the passenger side. “So get in before a state patrol car comes by.”

“I've found two more gifted and I would like to take you to them.” Tess said as Winter got the car moving and out in traffic again.

“Wait, two more?” Winter looked at her companion then nodded. “Well, you found me, so I can believe that. So now what?”

“Yes, two more.” Tess grinned. “I have the power to teleport and can take you and your car to them, except...”

“Except what?”

“I'Il need your help.”

“Help with what?” Winter questioned.

“I can sense another gifted farther west, but she seems to be very elusive and I may need some help to find her.”

“You found me when I was doing eighty on the highway.” Winter pointed out, so how do expect me to be any help?”

“You'd be an extra set of eyes to look for her.”

“Fine, so where are we headed?” Winter nodded.

“I have the ability to look out anywhere on Earth I want.” Tess said. “I just have to find the right spot to find her. Someone else looking at the same time would be a big help since this one keeps moving around even more than you were.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Winter wondered if all the nodding she was doing would hurt her neck but decided on the face of things that the person she'd given a ride to might not be quite such a nut case as she'd first thought given the costume. Then her eyes glazed over for a moment and she shook her head at seeing something that definitely wasn't the highway in front of her.

“Hoo boy.” She shook her head and asked. “Does Long Beach, California mean anything to you?”

“No, just that it's farther west, why?”

“I dunno.” Winter gave a little shiver. “I just got a flash of Long Beach when you were talking about finding the other gifted is all.”

“Okay.” Tess answered then closed her eyes for a moment. “Like I said, I can teleport things so I'd like to take us, and your car to park it where the other two are staying. It's a safe place, isolated, and we are welcome there. A friend of mine owns it.”

“We can take my car?”

“I can teleport inanimate objects.” Tess nodded with a little frown. “But I've learned not to do that a lot or it really drains me and I need to sleep for awhile.”

“Okay, teleport us.” Winter answered. “Why not, with everything else that's happened to me over the past few days why should I be surprised about anything?”

“After that we can go find the other gifted, from what you said I would guess that she is in California.”

“Yup, Long Beach.” Winter agreed.

“May I touch your shoulder?” Tess asked. “I need to be in contact with who and what I'm teleporting.”

“Okay, do whatever you need to do, then get us to Long Beach. Just let me slow down a little...”

A swirl of rainbow colors enveloped them for an instant...

“Arrrrghh!” Winter screamed while slamming on the brakes. The little car lurched, spun around several times in the gravel parking lot they had suddenly appeared in and finally Shuddered to a stop.

“Tess?” Winter managed to get out once she had started breathing again and laid her head on the steering wheel for a few moments. “Next time I'm driving and we do that, please, please let me stop the car first.”

“Okay.” Tess let out a breath of her own. “Sorry, but it was kind of fun, wasn't it?”

“Oh yeah, just like a trip to the dentist.” Winter agreed.

“Did I forget to tell you to cut the engine?” Tess asked then let out a sigh. “I am so ditzy these days.”

“I'd say it was the blonde hair, but since I'm blonde, too...” Winter grimaced and parked the car then shut it off. “Well, we're here.”

“Sorry again.” Tess said apologetically. “I was concentrating on the rules for my power and guess I just forgot to tell you.”

“Well, I have to admit that hitting a gravel parking lot at almost eighty miles an hour was a trip, but I'd really rather not make a habit out of that. I'll let you go this time.” Winter let out a sigh. “Obviously you're new at this kind of thing.”

“Well, I am kind of sure it's just me with the ditz thing, but you know how that can be.” Tess answered.

“Oh, yeah.” Winter sighed. “I'm kind of frazzled myself just now. Don't feel bad.”

“I'm trying to get better.” Tess sounded almost defensive.

“I know, I know.” Winter answered then grinned. “Me? I can make these really neat little ice sculptures out of nothing. And freeze pipes. My landlord is going to be pissed about that one. Glad I'm not going back to the dump.”

“Well, I can take ditzy right now because I was close to dying and that about what I was going to do before this happened to me.”

“Yeah, I was slowly dying at the time, too.” Winter gave her a sympathetic look without asking any more. But come on here, bleach the hair, bleach the brain? Nah.

Once Winter had parked the car and they'd had their short conversation, the pair got out and she looked around, then stared. “A castle? A freaking castle? Where the Hell are we?”

“In Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta called Covington.” Tess answered. “It looks like a castle on the outside but it's a huge modern home started in 1990 and finished in 2000. It's very nice inside.

“And we're close to the largest granite outcropping in the world.” She finished almost proudly.

“But we were in Kansas... Never mind, teleport, I got it.” Winter waved off Tess' answer to that before she could give it.

“Now we can tesser to Long Beach to find the other one.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Okay then, take my hand... We'll go into the tesseract. You have to keep touching me or it drains me while we are inside the tesseract.. I don't know why. That's the place with the swirling rainbow lights we were at before we were here.”

“Let's do it.” Winter smiled and took Tess' hand. “How does this thing work? The tesseract?”

“All I have to do is think of a place, wave to the wall and a window will appear for you to see out of to the place you thought of.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Winter nodded. “Don't forget, Long Beach and let's go.”

Then the pair were in the tesseract, looking to a window to somewhere else.
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TOMMI/AURA

Tommi had been entertaining herself by forming different outfits to wear, but wished there was a decent mirror so she could see herself in them. She had ended up on the slopes of the LA river and decided to stay there for awhile before leaving to find the Mayans.

She went from a sexy nurse's uniform to a french maid's outfit complete with a feather duster, all of it in gold and black.

From the tesseract, Winter closed her eyes briefly and sighed. “Another one.”

“There's our gifted one.” Tess pointed to the window Winter had been watching.

“I kind of got that idea.” Winter nodded. “Who else would be changing outfits every second or two?”

“Look at the terrain.” Tess cautioned. “I can set us down easy but we have to be ready to stand up once we're back in normal space.”

“We aren't standing now?” Winter asked then added. “Never mind, I'll brace myself.”

“Are you ready to come out?” Tess asked again, then looked at the hand not holding Winter's. “Good, I'm ready, I have my sign.”

Tommi changed to being dressed like Jessica Rabbit as the pair stepped out of the tesseract to stand almost next to her.

Winter noted that she had added rabbit ears to the costume.

“Hi Jessica!” Tess announced their presence. “I'm one of the gifted and you must be one, too. I loved that movie by the way.”

“Yikes!” The girl squeaked and did a very creditable hop given her costume that sent her back about ten feet to land on her bottom.

Tess thought to look at Winter and asked. “You okay, Elise?”

Winter shrugged and spread her arms. “Sure, just along for the ride here, you know.

“Oh, hi.” She gave the new girl a little wave. “I'm Elise.”

Carefully and cautiously getting up while watching the two people who had just appeared out of thin air, Tommi returned the one's wave and asked. “Did the Cricket send you?”

“Cricket?” Winter asked.

“The Observer.” Tess elbowed her in the ribs. “Everyone sees it differently for some reason.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Tess nodded.

“Figgers.” Tommi tilted her head and grinned.

“We're getting the band together,” Tess told her, “and we got us a gig to play.”

“Good.” Tommi nodded. “I thought I'd have to go looking for you guys. All I know about the Mayans is they live south of here.”

“Well, even if we don't do what the Cricket wants, we already have a gifted support group to help each other. We'll figure this out.”

“Wait, Mayans?” Winter asks. “Uh, just to point something out here, they don't have a civilization any more.”

“They left stuff behind,” Tommi answered. “You know, buildings and stuff?”

“Well, I can't argue that point.” Winter agreed.

“Remember you guys?” Tommi waved her arms around. “December 21st, Deadline? Derp, derp, derp?”

“Yeah.” Winter nodded.

“It might be fun to save the world.” Tess put in while Winter just rolled her eyes.

“Might be fun for you guys.” Tommi answered while hefting her breasts. “But I'm going to get arrested for smuggling watermelons here.”

“We won't get arrested, hon.” Tess assured the girl. “I can teleport us to a safe place where we can talk with the others.”

“Oh, wouldn't happen to have any sunscreen would you?” Winter hopefully asked.

“Nope, don't need it.” Tommi smiled and her skin changed to a golden color and she was suddenly wearing a bikini with high heels, also in gold.

“I had to ask.” Winter muttered to Tommi's amused giggles.

“Oh don't worry about getting arrested.” Tess smiled and touched both the others. “I can get us to where we need to go without actually traveling to do it.”

“Five of us now.” Tess nodded. “The three of us and two more at the safe house.”

“Just warn me before you do that again, the teleport thing, okay?” Winter told Tess.

“Sorry.” Tess didn't sound sorry at all, but tried to look it. “At least I'm glad to say that I haven't landed anyone inside solid rock, so far. I always look before I land. Have to be careful when you teleport.”

“I can't help it.” Tommi plaintively answered, thinking Winter had been talking about her sudden costume changes. “I don't have good control over what I'm wearing yet. At least I'm not butt naked. Smokey Joe almost had a heart attack when he saw me that way.”

“I can imagine.” Winter smiled then shook her head. “Not you, her. A naked girl I could handle.”

Tess blithely ignored that and waved at the air in general. “We have seventy-eight acres of woods out there to hide in to try and figure out what we can all do before we have to do anything real.”

“Oh, cool!” Tommi almost bounced up and down with her enthusiasm. “I can fly but I haven't figured out how yet. Maybe I should imagine me with a pair of wings?”

“Whatever works.” Winter chuckled.

“Teleport is a cool thing to do.” Tommi told Tess then looked at Winter. “What do you do?”

“Umm, I make ice thingies.” Winter answered then added. “Out of thin air.”

Tommi grinned. “Snow cones? What flavor?”

“No snow cones yet.” Winter had to grin. “Little ice sculptures, ice cubes, curtains, things like that.”

She formed a duck out of ice then made a small wall ten feet behind her.

“Oh, cool.” Tommi breathed as Winter handed her the duck.

“And if either of you gets hurt.” Tess put in. “I can take you inside the tesseract and that will heal any injury. I've seen it work.

“I hope we don't need it, but if we do it's there.”

Tommi changed into a pair of really tight black jeans and a gold top that was just as tight and very revealing, along with a silly little pillbox hat perched on her head that she didn't even seem aware of.

“Umm, nice hat...?” Tess said.

“Oh! Yeah.” Tommi grinned sheepishly. “I'm — uhh — Molly Gold. Aura. And what hat?”

“Elise Winters, Winter.” Winter grinned as Molly started reaching towards her head.

“Tess, Tessaract.” Tess put in.

Looking at both of them, Winter shook her head. “I'm an NOT going to wear spandex.”

“You won't have to.” Tess assured her. “A friend of mine made this for me and I couldn't disappoint her by not wearing it. She almost died because of me so I wear it. And she kept me from dying, too.”

“Oh, really nice hat there, Molly.” She said, changing the subject.

“What is this?” Molly turned the little hat around in her hands and poked at it. “It looks like something out of The Great Gatsby or something.”

“It's cute.” Tess reassured her. “I don't know how you do your designs but in time I'll bet every girl will want to be wearing them and looking so stylish and sexy.”

“Uhh, these are all stage costumes.” Molly responded. “You know, for my act? But they all keep coming out in gold and black!”

“Good colors for you.” Winter noted.

“And this — this!” Molly looked at the little hat. “Is just ancient!”

“What's old is new, Molly.” Tess shrugged. “Everything old comes around again and you, Molly, are setting a trend with that.”

“Well, I guess I am kind of a natural leader.” Molly giggled and thrust out her chest. “Because I'm always out front like this.”

Tess giggled, and kept giggling as she told Molly. “Oh, I liked that one!”

“I didn't look like this before.” Molly said a little shyly.

“Neither did I hon.” Winter softly answered. “We all changed when the — Cricket came to us.”

“Oh, but I was a...”

“Uh, guys?” Winter interrupted that as a vision of police, leading to other government types swarming over them came to her. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

“Do her eyes always go so glittery and spooky like that?” Molly asked while looking at Winter.

“Off and on.” Tess answered then held out her hands. “Come on ladies, let's go home.”

“Will it hurt?” Molly questioned.

“No, not at all.” Tess assured her. “Might tickle a little bit, though.”

Once a shaken Winter had given her a hand the rainbow engulfed them again.

“Beam us up, Scotty!” Molly shouted.

“Might want to close your eyes.” Winter advised.
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TESS, AURA and WINTER ARRIVE AT THE CASTLE

“Wow.” Molly looked around once they'd arrived back at the castle. “How do you do all those colors? I feel like I'm upside down. Are we in Australia? Is that really a castle? Do you take drugs? Can we see a kangaroo? Do you have a drawbridge?”

“We're just in Georgia and I think I need to throw up.” Winter may have been pale but with her complexion it was hard to tell before she shook herself and got back to normal.

“It came with the package.” Tess told Molly while ignoring Winter for the moment. “Nice room, isn't it?”

“Yeah.” Molly grinned. “It comes with built in entertainment for druggies.”

“There's your car, Elise, safe and sound where we left it.” Tess told Winter.

“Oh, good! Got stuff in there.” Winter grinned as she went to the car and started rooting around to emerge a bit later carrying close to a dozen bags of stuff much to the others amusement.

“What?” She looked at both of them and shook her head. “I had to get clothes. Nothing I had before fit worth crap.”

“Shopping gene.” Tess confided to Molly, who just giggled.

Dropping a shoebox, Winter gave the pair a glare that became an entreating stare. “You could, could, offer to help me with this stuff you know.”

Laughing, they did so.

“Are you sure we're in Georgia?” Winter looked at the castle again and took a deep breath.

“Which Georgia?” Molly asked. “One might have lots of castles.”

“Not the one in Russia,” Winter grumbled.

“It's not Russia any longer, silly.” Molly laughed. “It's a country all by itself now.”

“Oh yeah.” Winter nodded. “That's right.”

“They're at war with someone right now, but I forget who.”

“Never mind, this is Georgia, USA.” Tess reassured both of them. “Now let's get inside. I've only been gone about fifteen minutes, so Tanisha, my friend shouldn't be far from the door. I didn't warn her, but I hope she hasn't gotten too far away already. Teleporting takes no time at all and we didn't spend a lot of time in either place before we got back here.”

“Oh, better try to look normal, then.” Molly changed from the gold skin to a flesh tone and grinned as she looked at the turrets and huge double doors. “Nice castle.”

“I need a bath.” Winter sighed as they approached the large set of double doors.

“I don't need to take baths.” Molly cheerfully responded. “I can push stuff away from me so the dirt and stuff will just go flying!”

“I hate you.” Winter grumbled then grinned. “And pity you. Baths are wonderful.”

“Oh, I could take one if I want.” Molly giggled. “If they feel as good as my mom used to say, I think I'll be taking a lot of them.”

“Being clean is good.” Winter chuckled as she nodded.

“Especially with all bubble bath in the water!” Molly enthused.

“Uh huh.” Winter answered while thinking that she had to experiment with that herself.

Tess knocked on the door and within minutes a gorgeous black woman answered it and smiled at all of them. “Welcome and come in. My home is your home.”

MEAGAN:

I hadn't gotten very far, besides writing down what I'd found in my self-strip search, which was a big fat nothing. However, that was how investigative work functioned. You recorded everything and then looked for patterns.

What distracted me was the voices from downstairs. For a half second I marveled that Tess was back already, before recalling just how fast she could zoom in on things and do the 'energizing' thing.

I took a moment to make sure I was presentable. From long experience, I knew how easily I could get caught up in computer games, good books, and working through puzzles like this one. Just as easily, I could neglect my appearance. Live well, I reminded myself.

The young woman in the mirror agreed with me. Average height for a woman, her shining, red hair gleamed like new copper. Curvy, but not top heavy, her green dress shimmered into the t-shirt and jeans I was most comfortable with. A pair of knee high boots appeared, completing my outfit. After a moment's thought I added moderate heels to the boots because I could. Have I said I love being able to dress the way I always wanted?

My image gave me a green-eyed wink, Perfect!

Walking out to the stairs, I got my first glimpse of my new teammates. Both were girls like the rest of us, and one was quite tall. Then I noticed the skyscraper heels and how golden she was, no pun intended.

Her tan, extremely voluptuous look screamed 'California girl' with her metallic gold top and spray painted black tights. She even had a little gold pillbox hat, like a sixties sitcom character.

Tess's other companion was just as unforgettable. She was dressed plainly in jeans, blouse, and jacket, but her pale slimness, and platinum blond hair, just screamed Jadis, the White Witch from Narnia. If casting had seen this woman first, Tilda Swinton wouldn't have had a chance at the part.

“Oh,” Tess exclaimed in that exuberant way of hers, “Here's Meagan!”

Smiling, I descended stairs the best I could. Maybe the heels weren't the best idea after all, but I wasn't going to let them know that. All the practicing I'd done as Carl in my small apartment didn't translate well into the real world with things such as stairs, gravel, and soft ground.

“You do know you two have that Winter and Summer thing going don't you?” I asked.

They both kinda stared at me as Tess introduced them.

“This is Elise, and Molly.”

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Chapter 7 will be along soon. Stay tuned, as the action begins to pick up!