The Brotherhood

by Doctor Foster

The Brain builds a new giant robot and a new Rouge thinks that she has killed Rita and Larry

10

"The Brotherhood"

By

Martyn Foster Lewis

A hazy image of Rita Farr standing in the basement storeroom of Larry Trainor's apartment block crackled on a monitor-screen. The monitor was one of several arranged in a bank on one wall of a dark room. Watching the monitor showing the image of Rita was an avid and yet bizarre observer known simply as the Brain. The observer was nothing more than a living, detached human-brain encased within a small, liquid-filled, glass dome. The only movement from the observer was that of a constant stream of bubbles rising from the brain into the liquid in which it was suspended.

A synthetic, not-quite-human voice broke the silence: "So … even after all these years! … I knew those Zahl brats would not be able to kill you!" There followed a clicking noise as six crab-like legs emerged from the metal casing beneath the dome containing the Brain. The legs lifted up the dome detaching it completely from the column on which it was perched. It then scuttled down the vertical length of the column and across the floor. The Brain's metallic feet tap-tapped along the hard surface of the corridor floor until it entered another room – carpeted this time, for it was the bedroom of Madame Rouge.

Rouge was sitting at her dressing table applying make-up to her face. She watched in the mirror as firstly her door was pushed open and secondly as the Brain emerged over the top of her bed to come to a rest on the pinnacle of one of the bedposts. "What do you want?" she said snapping at the image of the Brain in her mirror. The Brain though, did not reply. It remained silent and motionless on her bedpost. In reply to this lack of a response, Rouge smiled and slipped the strap of her negligee off one of her shoulders.

"Is this why you are silent?" She wriggled her shoulder teasingly. "Is this what you are hoping to see?" She then straightened her back and slipped the other strap off her shoulder allowing the whole ensemble to shimmer down the length of her body to lie in a heap at her feet. She was quick though to hide herself from what she considered to be the Brain's eyes. She laughed, and turned to face the strange creature. "Do you still possess yearnings, Brain? Do you want to touch, and be touched?"

"Rouge, you are being ridiculous!" the Brain answered eventually. "Your children have failed. They could not manage the simple task of assassination!"

"They are not my children!" Rouge snarled in reply. "I am their mother's cloned copy, not their actual mother."

"I have not forgotten. And yet it is strange that you do not have the motherly instinct for them."

"I am younger than them: why should I feel motherly?"

"We digress from the purpose of my being here. They have failed. Now it is your turn."

"Turn, I get a turn?" Rouge replied archly.

"Yes. Deal with them, and soon!" and then as an afterthought, "and put some clothes on!"

The Brain then scuttled away as Rouge, smiling, reached down to her feet for her clothing.

A new voice though, suddenly pulled her upright: "You should learn to close your door!" It was a gorilla, Mallah, watching with interest from the corridor. The gorilla then sniggered and hurried off in pursuit of the Brain leaving Rouge to get dressed in peace.

Later that day, Rouge had departed the Brotherhood's secret location and was sitting alone in a busy coffee-shop. She was wearing a one-piece lycra outfit of cream and mid-grey though she kept it hidden from view beneath a cerise-coloured raincoat by Chanel with the further disguise of a pair of fifties-inspired retro sunglasses. If she had thought to pass inconspicuously through a crowd she had failed entirely but on the other hand, if she had wanted to make a chic fashion statement, then she had succeeded admirably. She sat at a window-seat of a coffee-shop in Greenwich Village. She lingered between the occasional sips of her Americano coffee and was clearly waiting for someone. She glanced impatiently at her wristwatch and took another sip.

Rouge was watched with some interest by two of the coffee-shop's waitresses – one mature and the other young. The older waitress nudged her colleague and indicated Rouge. "She's been waiting a while; let's see if I can sell her some pie." She then picked up a jug of hot coffee and walked across to Rouge's table: "Have you been stood up, honey? There's no point just sitting and waiting; why don't I show you a menu? I can recommend the apple-pie," she said as she refilled Rouge's cup.

Rouge smiled and took off her sunglasses. She glanced at the waitress' name-badge: "Thank you, Delores, but it's a no from me to both your questions."

The waitress shrugged: "Well, if you're sure?"

"Oh, I am." Rouge edged her coat off her shoulders and allowed it to fall over the back of her chair. She then picked out her compact from her handbag and made some adjustments to her make-up before resuming her wait.

Dolores returned to her previous position next to the younger waitress. "I think she's a robot. She doesn't want pie!"

The youngster laughed: "Let me try?"

"Go ahead, knock yourself out!"

The young waitress than wandered over to Rouge's table and sat down opposite her.

Rouge looked impatiently at her latest visitor. "Shouldn't you be working, serving, or something?"

"Maybe later. This is a good place for meeting people, don't you think? There are all-sorts of things to eat, although the 'swordfish' is off."

"Swordfish?" Rouge asked quizzically.

"Yes, 'swordfish'," the waitress said with a special emphasis.

Hesitantly, Rouge asked: "Are you, Harlow?"

"That's me!" the waitress replied enthusiastically.

"I was expecting someone, different … older," Rouge said looking at the girl's name-badge which just displayed the name, 'Jess'.

"Maybe I'm older than I look!" the youngster replied impishly. She flashed a glance back at Delores and gave her a brief wave before returning her attention to Rouge. "I love your coat, by the way."

Rouge forced a smile and said: "I was told you were up to the job and you can distract my number two target while I engage with number one?" Rouge asked.

"As long as you pay me the money that was promised, there won't be a problem."

Rouge nodded thoughtfully as she studied Jess Harlow. if you wanted one word to describe her, you would pick 'skinny'. She was about six feet tall with very-pale coloured skin and with a very thin build and shoulder-length black hair, cut simply and parted in the middle. Apart from her gender, there was nothing about her that indicated an ability to fully distract Larry Trainor while she went after Rita Farr. However, Valentino had promised that Harlow was suitably qualified for the job.

"You do your job as instructed and you'll be paid as promised," Rouge said. "It's set for tomorrow, at mid-day."

"Tomorrow will be just fine."

Rouge rose to her feet and picked up her coat off the back of her chair. "Why did you pick 'swordfish' for a password?" she asked.

"I love Marx Brothers' films."

"That means absolutely nothing to me."

"Look them up. You may be surprised!"

"Perhaps I will." Rouge noted that Harlow was still gazing lovingly at her coat. "Do the job well and I'll give you this coat," she said.

"That's a deal!" Harlow replied.

Rouge left the café as Harlow sauntered back to Delores.

"Do you know her?" Delores queried.

"I do now! She's gonna let me have her coat!"

Before moving on, let me describe Jessica Harlow for you: As mentioned, she was skinny and young, only about eighteen years old and with a tendency towards a 'goth' look. So with her preference for wearing black, waitressing in a black tee-shirt, short black skirt and black tights suited her style very well. However, the prospect of a superbly-cut cerise coat, would definitely alter her ideas of what was cool and what was not. Oh, and by-the-way, when she was not being plain, ordinary Jessica Harlow, she was the notorious Shadow-Thief, able to become a two-dimensional black shape and able to go anywhere that she wanted.

[N.B. How will Rouge meet with Rita and Larry at the designated spot: maybe a false clue about Robot man or something about the Zahl sisters?

Harlow reveals that she could have stolen Cliff's body without drawing any attention.]

The next morning, Rita called at Larry's apartment. Larry opened the door wearing a pair of garish Bermuda-shorts and nothing else over his bandaged body. Rita had known Larry for many years but his dress-standards were becoming increasingly more bizarre as the years passed. "What are you wearing?" she asked – her tone betraying her exasperation.

"It's hot!" was Larry's reply. "And be grateful; I only put on the shorts when you knocked on the door!"

"Well, get dressed, we're going out! I've had a call from Detective Harrison. They've got a lead on the Zahl sisters."

"Does he have anything on the missing Robotman?"

"He didn't say."

Rita glanced at the time on her wristwatch. "Will you hurry, please?" she urged. "Harrison asked if we could meet him at mid-day!"

"Okay, okay!" Larry wandered off to his bedroom to get dressed as Rita's judgemental eye passed around Larry's living room. "This place is a pigsty, Larry!" she announced. "But you have flowers?" Rita's attention had focussed on a small posy of flowers that were standing in a coffee-mug on the top of the fridge.

"Yeah," Larry replied with uncertainty. "Edith Bassett brought them over. I think she thought that she'd put them on my grave, but when it turned out that I wasn't dead, she gave them to me anyway."

"A nice thought," Rita replied ironically before becoming more genuine and urgent for: "Are you ready?"

Larry replied that he was and they therefore hurried away for the downtown police precinct where Detective Harrison was based.

At mid-day Detective Harrison emerged from his office to greet Rita and Larry. He seemed somewhat mystified. "I never phoned you," he explained. "We have no new leads on who shot you."

"That's strange," Rita said. "Whoever it was that I spoke to on the phone, told me to come to a meeting at twelve-noon. They said that they were you and they sounded just like you!"

Harrison could not explain and continued to deny that it was him who had phoned so, none-the-wiser, Rita and Larry left the police station. They talked as they walked: "Why would someone do that?" Rita asked.

"Either to get us away from someplace or to bring us here," Larry answered.

They emerged from the building and continued talking: "Perhaps they want to get something else from your old store-room, something that they missed when they stole Cliff's old body?" Rita suggested.

Larry made a counter-suggestion: "Or … it could be that Madame Rouge of the Brotherhood is planning to ambush us here in the street outside the police precinct."

"But Rouge is dead!" Rita replied.

"Maybe she is but she has a double standing over on the other side of the street and she's watching us very intently."

Rita looked to where Larry was indicating. "It looks like Rouge," she said.

With their attention focussed on someone that looked just like their one-time-foe, Madame Rouge, standing across the street, neither Larry nor Rita noticed a 'gothy' youngster approaching them along the sidewalk on their side of the street. Harlow was dressed almost entirely in black fishnet with the addition of black denim shorts and waistcoat. She was grinning like a Cheshire Cat as she stopped at Larry's shoulder and tapped him on the arm: "Have you had an accident?" she asked cheekily. Larry turned to see Harlow instantly change into a dark shadow on the sidewalk.

"Rita, watch out!" Larry blurted. "A strange shadow-girl just touched me on the arm!"

As Larry's attention was drawn to his 'shadow-girl', Rouge stepped into the street heading directly towards Rita.

"It is Rouge!" Rita snapped back. "Concentrate, Larry, concentrate!" Rita faced up to Rouge and automatically grew in size until she was twenty feet high.

"I killed you once before, Rita. I can do it again," Rouge announced to the giantess.

As Rita reached forward to make a grab for Rouge, the evil assassin stretched her body forward to evade the gigantic hand and wound herself around Rita's neck. She then constricted her pliable snake-like body attempting to choke Rita.

Meanwhile, Larry was fully engaged in a tussle with a shadow-girl who could easily strike him while he was totally unable to touch her. After receiving several blows from the shadowy girl's hands, he released the Negative Man. The shadowy girl was now faced by a shadowy man.

"At last!" Harlow announced. "I was waiting for you to do that!"

The Shadow-Thief then instantly grew in size and enveloped the Negative Man until he was completely immersed in her shadow. She then reverted to her normal size and within an instant the battle was over and there was no sign of the Negative Man – he had gone! She then reverted to her 'normal' appearance and crouched by the side of Larry who was lying helpless on the ground. She stroked his bandaged face and said: "There's no coming back this time, Larry. You're gone for good!"

Rita was still wrestling with Rouge. She shrunk her size to become no more than a few inches high in order to evade her foe's snake-like grip. She then grew in size again to resume her gigantic form and grabbed hold firmly onto Rouge's elongated form with both of her gigantic hands as she began to pull in opposite directions.

"Give up, Rouge or I'll tear you in two!"

Rouge though, continued to stretch herself so that it didn't matter how much Rita pulled she could not harm the impossibly-pliable-woman. "Pull away all you like. I'm more elastic than you'll ever be!" she boasted. She then snapped back her plastic body and jumped into Rita's open mouth forming a plug within her giant throat. Rita was choking and even as she grew as large as she possibly could, she could not pull Rouge out of her throat or give herself any opportunity to breath. As her giant form was of no use in her struggle, Rita began to shrink as fast as she could before she passed out through lack of air. The pressure inside her throat was unbearable and Rouge continued her choking position. Ultimately, one thing had to give and Rita's body exploded leaving Rouge to resume her human form in the awful debris.

Now that the struggle was over, the police - with their weapons out - closed in on the two super-villains. Harlow immediately adopted her shadow-form and disappeared out of sight while Rouge stretched herself away and disappeared into a quiet alley-way before emerging once again in the shape and features of a random woman that she had seen in the crowd.

A few minutes later, the two villainous women met again at their agreed meeting-place - a public bench in a small park a few blocks away from the police precinct.

"I was watching you fight with Elasti-Girl," Harlow said. "That was so gross!" she admitted, "like some horror film!"

"What about Trainor?" Rouge asked.

"He's in a coma soon to be dead and the Negative Man is gone trapped in my shadow-universe never to return."

Rouge smiled: "Then we've killed them again."

Paramedics were quickly at the scene. They took away Larry's body and the CSI Team gathered up the scattered bits of Rita Farr. Both bodies were taken in body-bags to the local morgue.

The Mortician received two bodies at the morgue. He unzipped the first bag containing Larry Trainor and horrified, hurried to look at the body in the other bag. To his increasing alarm, he also recognised the remains of Rita Farr. The Mortician's recognition of both bodies began something of a reaction: "They've been here before!" he said. "Both of them have been dead before and both got up and walked away!" He looked around the room – there was no-one else there but that didn't stop him from continuing with his conversation: "I don't need this! I'm not paid enough!" He then dashed from the room undoing his coat and throwing it to the ground as he departed.

Following the mortician's departure, everything appeared still within the morgue. Out-of-view though, within the body-bag containing Rita's remains, the dislocated parts of Rita's body were flowing together and reconnecting while missing parts were being regrown. She was re-forming herself.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Jessica Harlow was experiencing an excruciating pain the like of which she had never done before. She was wracked with a continuous stabbing pain in her body. Her only escape was to change into her shadow form and as she did so, the Negative Man surged out of her body and returned to Larry.

Following the joining of the Negative Man with Larry, back in the morgue, Larry coughed and groggily raised himself up on one elbow. He looked around, reached out of the body-bag and unzipped it all the way down to his feet. He then stepped off the trolley and looked into the open bag containing Rita. He watched silently as her body was re-assembling itself and stroked her head until her eyes opened and she regained consciousness.

"Hey?" he said quietly. "Guess where we are again?"

Once the pain had departed from her body, Jess Harlow realized at once that the Negative Man had escaped from the shadow-world where she had thought she had permanently imprisoned him. She wisely decided not to tell Rouge what had happened and considered it best to make plans for a hasty departure.

The two women were at their agreed rendez-vous in a sleazy down-market motel across the river on the other side of the city. Rouge was sitting on the bed, flicking through the news-channels on the TV set when Harlow entered the room from the bathroom.

"Hey, what about that coat you promised me?" Harlow said.

Rouge smiled and pointed at the wardrobe. "It's in there. Your money is in the inside pocket," she said breezily.

Harlow opened the wardrobe door and slipped the coat off its hanger. It was there all-right. She tried on the coat: it was a bit small for her but that did not matter. She then pulled out the envelope from the coat's inside-pocket and checked. In the envelope was a stack-full of money. "It's nice doing business with you," Harlow said, "But it's now time to disappear."

Rouge dropped the channel-changer onto the bed and got up to give Harlow the briefest of hugs. "Look after yourself, Jess. Keep in touch."

"Thanks, I will," she replied brightly and without any hint that she was about to skip town in order to avoid Rouge's reaction to Negative Man's escape.

Harlow stepped back from Rouge's embrace and immediately changed into the Shadow-Thief. In that form she slipped out past the closed door and hurried away without looking back.

Larry and Rita took time out to relax and recover from their recent ordeals in the luxury of Rita's living-room. They were both dressed casually: Rita in a silk dressing gown while Larry wore a loose shirt and trousers.

"As soon as you're okay we'll go after Rouge and that Shadow-girl," Larry said.

Rita was taking a sip from a cup of tea to aid her recovery. "We'll need a plan," she said thoughtfully.

Larry agreed: "And we'll need to draw them out from beneath whichever stone they are hiding."

"I don't think they will have gone too far," Rita replied.

"Then maybe Negative Man can find them," Larry answered.

The Robotman body lie inert on a well-lit bench in the Brain's workshop. Its chest-plate had already been removed as, from out of sight, the Brain then appeared, more crab-like than ever, as it scuttled over Robotman's face and used its two forward-pointing claws to swiftly remove the face-panel. Once removed, it flung the face-panel to one side and delved into the exposed workings within the casing.

Mallah watched closely while the Brain feverishly dismantled and removed several important components from Robotman's innards. Finally, and with a dramatic flourish, the Brain held up one small piece of electronic wizardry.

"This is it," the Brain announced. It then held out the component which was taken by Mallah. The gorilla looked at the part with interest as the Brain continued: "Make sure it is installed as quickly as possible. Now that Trainor and that actress have been destroyed, we can push forward with our plans. This will allow me full control of our robot."

Mallah grunted his understanding of the Brain's orders and rushed away with the piece of electronica held firmly in his hand. Later, Mallah inserted the same piece into another complex panel of electronics and announced via the blue-tooth that he was wearing: "Brain, the device is in position."

The Brain had returned to his earlier position in front of the bank of monitor-screens. "Excellent! As soon as you are clear, I will complete the connection."

"I'm clear now," Mallah replied.

The Brain made the connection via the pedestal into which he was plugged. Immediately the screens in front of him combined into showing one huge image of a murky chamber. "I am connected!" he announced to Mallah.

"And Caulder's creation gives you full control?" Mallah asked.

"Yes! It is as if the robot and I am one! Much as I am loath to admit it, Caulder's little invention allowing him to co-exist within Robotman's body was a spark of genius!"

"So much so that Steele was never aware that Caulder could share his body with him whenever he chose!" Mallah added.

"And now I have that facility and with it we shall rule over all! The world will never be able to stand against our robot!"

As the robot piloted by the Brain began to move, seismographs all over the tri-state area began to register increased activity. Experts watched their monitors in awe as they began to think that a major earthquake was about to take place. They were wrong though, for it was not an earthquake but the Brotherhood's robot that was awakening.

Thirty years in the making, its construction had started in an underground chamber which had been constantly enlarged to accommodate the enormous metallic titan. As the robot awoke and lifted itself up out of the ground it caused buildings to collapse and rivers to divert from their normal course. The robot rose to its full height – taller than most of the skyscrapers in the nearby metropolis. It was truly a monolithic construction of epic proportions – and totally within the control of the Brain. Every step that it took caused destruction – roads and vehicles crushed and buildings demolished. Even airplanes descending to land at the city's airports had to take evasive action before they were smashed out of existence.

The robot headed towards its immediate destination - the downtown finance sector of the city. Its advance on the city was quickly picked up by the TV news channels.

Larry and Rita were still recovering from their last near-death experiences when their attention was drawn to the 'breaking-news' announcement about the giant robot. They watched the newscast in amazement.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that the Brotherhood were behind this robot," Larry said.

"I agree. They have a tendency to use giant robots but the scale of this one is beyond belief," Rita said.

"Mallah stole Cliff's robot body and then this one appears," Larry suggested. "There could be a connection!"

"Let's check it out. Are you up to it?" Rita asked.

"I'm ready if you are!"

"Then let's go!" Rita jumped to her feet and sped off to get dressed.

Larry stood up but loitered noticeably. He called after her: "You can say no, you know!" And then, mostly for his own benefit: "I'm getting too old for all this … running about."

Under the Brain's direction meanwhile, the giant robot was wading along the East River smashing through every bridge that it approached. Although it occasionally stepped ashore to smash a shore-line building it continued to follow the river until it reached the downtown financial centre where it finally proceeded inland purposefully demolishing everything in its way. It was while it was doing this that Rita and Larry closed in on it. Rita was in her giant form but even at her greatest height she only reached as high as the giant's chest. Before approaching too close however, she released Larry from within her closed hand placing him on the ground near the robot's path of destruction.

"Go get it, tiger!" Larry yelled as Rita turned purposefully towards the Robot. "I'm sending N-Man to help out! Hopefully, he'll be able to fry some of that monster's circuits before it can do any more damage!"

The Brain could see everything through the robot's eyes and reacted in horror and surprise at the sight of Rita advancing towards his robot. "Damn You Rouge!" he shouted out. "You lied to me about Farr but what about Trainor?" He was answered almost immediately by the sight of the Negative Man hurtling towards the robot.

"Mallah, where are you?" the Brain demanded.

The voice of Mallah answered immediately: "I am over the downtown area now. I can see Elasti-Woman and Negative Man. Rouge has failed in her mission."

"I know! I can see them too! I'll take care of both of them. You must take care of Trainor while the Negative Man is absent!"

Mallah acknowledged the Brain's instructions. At that moment, he was flying around and above the giant robot with the aid of a small jet-powered back-pack. At the Brain's command, he swooped down towards the supine body of Larry Trainor – intent on causing him as much harm as was possible. Larry though, was still dimly aware of his surroundings. He could see Mallah's approach and was instantly able to call back Negative Man to his aid. He was not in time to prevent Mallah from landing close-by to Larry and pick him up off the ground as if he were a rag-doll. He threw Larry's body across the plaza and bounded after him to further his pummelling. The Negative Man had arrived by this time however and zipped in front of Mallah to carry Larry to safety. Mallah shook his fists in rage at the missed opportunity to deal a fatal blow to his foe. Negative Man released Larry's body on the flat roof of a nearby apartment block and immediately joined with Larry while he watched for Mallah's next attack. He was not surprised to see that he was already rising from the ground towards where he was standing. Instantly, Larry released the Negative Man once again into the fray and the energy being zipped towards Mallah. Its attack disrupted Mallah's jetpack and the gorilla fell helplessly towards the ground. With Mallah out of the battle, the Negative Man was able to speed towards the giant robot.

Rita was struggling in her battle with the giant robot. Her initial thoughts were to stop it by picking up a damaged railway engine and to use it as a club against the robot's head but the robot was so strongly built that it easily shrugged off the attack leaving Rita defenceless against its savage blows. She quickly realized that she had little hope of defeating it that way so she shrank down to a tiny size in order to infiltrate the robot's brain and cause as much damage to it as was possible. This too proved fruitless as she soon discovered that there was no electronic brain there which she could try to disable. She even tried to use her size shifting abilities to increase her size whilst within the robot's head but this had no affect other than to confirm that she was unable to harm it in any way. The robot meanwhile, continued in its destructive path across the city and paid little attention to the irritation caused by Rita.

The Negative Man though was now free to attack the robot. It passed into the robot's head but was initially surprised at the lack there of any noticeable electronic brain.

Rita confirmed: "There's nothing here for you to disrupt!" she yelled. "It's as if the robot's brain were elsewhere!"

The Negative Man continued its search for a means of stopping the robot as Rita jumped free from the giant and made her escape in order to gather her thoughts. "There must be a way of stopping this thing?" she said out loud but to herself. She watched as the Negative Man surged in and out of the robot but being mostly mechanical it seemed not to be causing the robot any difficulties at all. But then, at last, it came across the chip created by Caulder and inserted by Mallah into the robot at the Brain's orders. At last, here was something that it could influence. Negative Man ripped the chip out of its housing and the robot slowly ground to a halt.

Larry and Rita stood at the feet of the now still robot and surveyed the damage that it had caused. Slowly and tentatively people began to emerge from the surrounding buildings as they too looked in awe at the giant robot and its path of destruction.

Larry whispered to Rita: "Do you think we should get out of here? The crowd looks like it could get angry."

"Wait, don't be too hasty. Let's see what they do."

As the crowd advanced they began to cheer and clap their hands. They thronged around their rescuers relieved at being rescued from the clutches of the Brain's gigantic robot.

"There's still work to be done," Rita shouted at the crowd. "We have to catch who is responsible for this," she added indicating the swathe of destruction. "This robot was just an instrument of some dark menace."

"And talking about a 'dark menace', we ought to pick up Mallah before he can escape," Larry said.

They both then took off in the direction of Mallah's last known location and found him regaining consciousness following his encounter with Negative Man. Rita, in her giant form, easily caught hold of Mallah in her hand and carried him the short distance to the zoo. There she dropped him into a suitable cage. "That's where you belong …," she told him, "… behind bars."

The Negative Man meanwhile had carried out a sweep of the area and come across the two Zahl sisters making ready to skip town. He captured them as they were about to catch a taxi to the airport.

Later that evening, Rita and Larry compared notes as they relaxed in Rita's apartment.

"Well that's Mallah and the Zahl women behind bars. It's a shame there was no sign of The Brain or Rouge," Rita said.

"It was easier when we had more people to call on … Cliff and Gar," Larry said.

"What are you saying … that we should go on a recruitment drive?" Rita asked as she applied ointment to the bruises on her shins.

"It was a thought, that's all ... something to consider."

Rita continued to rub the ointment into her legs while she mulled over Larry's suggestion. After a few moments she answered him: "We should both agree to their suitability," she said. "And not just take the first super-powered person that we come across."

"Agreed." Larry held out his cup of tea as a toast. "To the Doom Patrol!" he said, "May it go on forever!"

[END]