Power Pack

Issue #51 – Power Reflections – Part One

Pack Pad

"That's amazing. Not only can she absorb energy and shoot energy balls, but she can keep that energy or pass it on to others giving them an energized boost," Franklin commented after all of Power Pack had sat down and visited with Kofi and Kat about her new found ability.

"I don't know why you didn't share it with the rest of us," Julie commented.

"It was something I discovered and figured it was mine, no big deal," Kat replied back.

"It is a big deal. In battle, if we need an additional power boost we got our battery charger right here," Jack laughed as Kat glared at him.

"You're brother is right, Kat. Those on Kymellian have already realized their potential and nearly mastered their powers by the ages you are now," Friday said as Kofi nodded.

"So were a bunch of losers?" Julie asked, taken back by the realization.

"No, my dear Julie, you all are the first humans to ever have been gifted with our powers. I know there have been experiments on other humans and species and no ones ever been able to do it since my cousin gave you his powers. Of course he was rare, a mutant you could say of our species and there is something about you Powers that are acceptable to our gifts. So it may just take a bit more to fully unlock your gifts, but when you do," Kofi encouraged with a smile as he thought of Aelfyre, who had always treated him like a son and had on occasion actually referred to him as his father since he had acted like it more than his own father had.

"Okay, I have a question, is it because you're related that you and Aelfyre that you both have the ability to teleport? And, why is it that you and Julie's powers are used so differently?" Jesse asked, having read fully up on his husband's family and how they had gotten their powers and those they got them from, the Kymellian race.

"Actually, the powers are different. I, in a way, teleport or as I like to call it, slyde from one place to another. Julie's, like Aelfyre, isn't actually teleporting. Julie's powers are actually based on light projection and manipulation. When she is flying she is actually converting her body to light and projecting it forward giving the effect that she is flying leaving behind a rainbow trail. The faster she does it the faster she "flies"," Kofi explained.

"Wait a minute, if she's light how is it that things have hit her, she's carried us or bumped into things?" Alex asked confused.

"You see, my upper body, including my arms are still semi-solid. That's the trick of my flying. In order to move there has to be something solid to be propelled forward. The faster I fly the more of my body is light and I can project or propel farther more quickly. Now I'm not super strong but the reason I can carry you with some ease is that my light and propelling acceleration is pushing you as well," Julie added even though up until recently she too just thought is was just simply she could fly.

"And what looks like her teleporting is just her moving and projecting her body at a very fast speed, faster than even Quicksilver per say. Now, even Aelfyre had limits. When, as it seemed, teleported people, he was wrapping his light around everyone and moving them with him at a super sonic speed. Only thing is the more people you try to "teleport", the shorter distance you can cover, but by yourself, like Julie did the other day, you have become almost completely light and arrive any where in the world in a matter of seconds or farther," Friday added.

"So, if she is becoming light she could survive in space or underwater?" Johnny Gallo, the one known as Ricochet asked.

"Well, in a sense. If she is flying with another, she is moving fast enough you could hold your breath and cover a lot of distance before you had to breath but if she was by her self and she moved fast enough she would be more light than solid and she could be where she needed to be before her body needed air. Only danger with that is if she slowed enough or didn't make it to a breathable destination before she or something stopped her motion she would need air immediately," Kofi warned even though the excitement of Julie and the other's eyes over the prospect seemed to ignore the dangers.

"So, when she escaped the Collector guy, she left a light image of herself and somehow managed to leave enough solid particles behind for the goop to encase," Johnny began to say, thinking out loud.

"And was able to pull the light from around her, merge it into her body and make it solid to replace what she has lost," Friday finished.

"So in theory she could use her powers in a few different offensive capabilities," Alex began to think aloud when the alarms went off in the Pack Pad.

"What is that?" Samantha asked in surprise.

"There's some kind of anomaly forming in the living quarters," Friday said as in an instant all of Power Pack and switched to costumes and ran into the living quarters.

"What is that?" Rock asked as they saw a small little rotating hole in the middle of the room.

"How did it get here?" G-Force asked to no one in particular.

"There's a strange tingling sensation," Psi-Lad said as he walked over and reached his finger out.

"Franklin, don't!" Power Pack all shouted as they reached out towards the son of the Fantastic Four.

As Psi-Lad touched his finger to the hole he almost swore it felt like his mind was looking into a mirror. Suddenly a strange mental energy slammed into him as he stumbled and then glanced over his shoulder to see his body hitting the floor while his dream form remained standing, finger stuck to the hole. Franklin began to panic as he pulled with all his might and power to tear his finger free as Energizer, Rock, Hydra and Friday were the first to reach him as the others were gathering around his real form. As Franklin pulled, he felt his mind explode as the hole seemed to expand and moved with his finger's pulling back motion, engulfing him and the four closest to him. He soon found himself facing the opposite direction and as the hole started to vanish he could have sworn he seen his reflection in it, mouth the words, I did it, before vanishing with the hole.

"What just happened?" Rock asked as he, in his human form looked around what appeared to be the Pack Pad but in ruins.

"I think he caused an explosion," Hydra said as she looked at the rubble all around them.

"Oh no, I'm sorry I didn't mean," Psi-Lad began and then stopped. "Where are the others?"

"Don't panic, I am not picking up any readings. They must have teleported or gotten out in time," Friday said as she, in her human girl form, walked around the place, scanning.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," Psi-Lad said as he picked up a piece of rubble and realizing that he was no longer in his dream form but back in his body, or what felt like his body but different.

"Hey, what ever that weird anomaly thing did it seems to have turned the sides of your hair white and a strange burn like scar in the middle of your forehead," Hydra said as she looked at Franklin and then handed him a piece of reflective debris from the floor.

"I," Psi-Lad started to say but went silent as he just knew it wasn't him looking back at him.

"Something is strange here. I can't seem to link up to any of this equipment here and from what I'm getting from my readings, the condition of the Pack Pad has been like this for a long time," Friday started to say as suddenly the room shook and the far side wall crunched inward and then ripped away leaving a large gapping hole as if a large invisible hand had grabbed it and tossed it aside.

"Who dares to come back to this place?" A voice asked as Psi-Lad, Hydra, Friday, Rock and Energizer turned to see a white humanoid looking horse with darkish skin and a long braided mane as dark as night step through it.

"Kofi?" Friday asked looked at what almost appeared to be her Kymellian friend.

"How dare you address our Lord as such," a voice declared as a large white object hit Friday and sent her flying backwards.

"Friday!" Energizer screamed as she saw her friend's form flickering and damaged.

"It's not real," another voice called out as a wave of heat passed through the room as Friday was suddenly engulfed in flames.

"Stop," the one that looked like Kofi commanded.

"Sorry, Lord Darkmane," the man said as the fire instantly went out.

"I want to know who you all are and why you called that synthetic female by a name of someone long past dead and do it before I decide to kill you all slowly," Lord Darkmane said stepping closer into the room as four other figures stood close behind him.

"Oh, Friday," Energizer whispered as she pulled a box out of her pocket and placed it near the almost lifeless Friday.

"Why is Kofi doing this?" Hydra whispered as she and Rock got closer to Psi-Lad.

"I don't think that's our Kofi," Psi-Lad whispered back.

"It can't be, Richards is back," one of the figures said as suddenly Psi-Lad, Rock and Hydra felt their bodies begin to crush as they lifted up into the air and dangled there by some unseen force.

"I thought he died when he killed our, Kathryn!" A female figure suddenly screamed stepping up closer to the man who had his arm stretched out towards the three suspended in the air.

"Julie, Alex?" Kat asked as she looked up at the sound of her name to see the strange and familiar figures standing with the one who looked like Kofi but was called Lord Darkmane.

All four figures wore black outfits with a strange symbol in the middle of their chests that Kat recognized as the World Symbol of Kymellia. The one with the out stretched arm was Alex but his hair was long and shaggy and he wore a patch over his right eye. Next to him was Julie, but her hair was black and cut short and spiked and Kat could swear that she had almost a translucent look to her. Then she glanced over and saw Jack who looked the same except that both hands up to his elbows were gone and capped with silver but a cloudy substance came out of it loosely forming and moving like arms and hands. Last was Jesse, whose hair was black to match his very Goth look, including daggers hanging from his pierced ears.

"Kathryn, I don't know how you survived but we're glad you are, now get over here, quickly," the one that resembled Alex said.

"No," was all Energizer could manage as she stared at the group resembling her siblings and her trapped teammates.

"Energy Cell, your place is with the Dark Pack. Move over here now, or join their fate," Lord Darkmane said as he raised his hand and a strange black rotating disk formed in front of his hand.

"I don't now who you are but you're not my family," Energizer said as she put the box pack in her pocket and started to disintegrate the debris around her to power up.

"Lord Darkmane," Julie began to say when the Kymellian glared at her causing her to go silent as Alex and Jack looked away from their sister and said nothing and did nothing.

"So be it," Lord Darkmane said as the rotating disc shot out at Energizer with alarming speed, slicing through the two energy balls she shot with ease causing them to vanish and continued heading right for her neck.


New Warriors

Down Time

Daily Bugle

Rooftop

"What ya doing up here all by yourself?" Melati Kusuma asked as she walked out to join a man sitting upon the roof's edge.

"Nothing, just enjoying the peace and quiet. I like the new legs," Ben Reilly answered as he continued to look down, his mask retracted allowing the wind to blow his blond hair.

"They're nothing special. Plasma generated so I can walk in civilian mode and easily vanish when I need to go all Komodo. Now, don't change the subject, you miss them don't you?" Melati asked as she looked down and saw a man with brown hair sitting on a bench down below next to a gorgeous woman with long red hair.

Melati didn't know Peter Parker or Mary Jane Watson-Parker personally but from her time with Dr. Connors she had heard enough about them to almost feel like she knew them. They were a very nice couple and technically relatives of Ben. From what she understood, a villain by the name of Jakel had been tormenting Spider-Man and conducting all kinds of cloning experiments but resulted in drastic failure because the cloning of Spider-Man didn't take properly. Jakel then tried a different route, cloning a human and then infusing it with DNA that would replicate the abilities of Spider-Man. Unfortunately, Peter Parker had been randomly picked, kidnapped and went through a painful cloning process.

It had been a success as Peter was not only successfully cloned but the clone was completely stable and the DNA infusion process worked and had granted Spider-Man like abilities. This lead to quite the confrontation between Jakel, Spider-Man, Ben and the other clones but in the end it lead to Spider-Man winning. Spider-Man, having known Peter for years had introduced him to his clone, who had taken the name Ben Reilly. Ben had then gone on to be a hero taking the identity of the Scarlet Spider and even joining a former version of the New Warriors. It wasn't too long after that Ben ended up sacrificing his life to safe his brother Peter and Spider-Man. All thought he was dead, but he hadn't died and Thrash had found him and brought him back into the New Warrior fold.

"I just wish I could let him know I'm still alive," Ben sighed.

"Why don't you?" Melati asked.

"I can't, it's too risky. I can't take the chance that it is discovered I am alive and accidentally put Peter and his wife in danger again," Ben said, his voice trailer off while he looked at the couple below as Melati put her arm around him.

New Warriors Headquarters

Private Training Session

"Argh!" Robert Baldwin screamed as the machine sent out an electric whip that hit his body causing him to scream while kinetically charging his body.

"Robert, what are you doing to yourself?" Namorita asked as she stepped in to the room as saw the man in front of her, scars and burn mars all over his body.

"This is a private session," Robert said as in a charge of kinetic energy is body was instantly covered by his Penance costume.

"We need to talk. I know that you're the only one that completely remembers what happened during that time battle with the Sphinx. What happened to you?" Namorita asked, having a feeling she played some part.

"Nothing, I'm fine, please just leave me alone," Penance grumbled.

"You're not fine. Not only has your powers changed since that event, but so has your mood and personality. You're no longer the fun loving and always annoying Speedball that we had all grown to love and hate," Namorita said trying to spark some humor.

"People change all the time, evolving and adapting to become better. I thought you liked bad warriors?" Penance said thinking of Nova, the man Namorita had always loved, whether they were together or not.

"Robert, this isn't about me, this is about," Namorita began and then stopped, "or is it?"

"Just go," Penance said, not moving.

"Robert, speak to me. You're not Penance your Speedball. Why are you acting like this?" Namorita asked as she touched his arm.

"Why am I acting like this? Because someone like Speedball only jokes and doesn't take things serious. That only gets someone you care about dead while you can't do nothing but watch and take the pain, physically and emotionally from your attackers till you learn to embrace it," Penance said, still showing now signs of moving.

"Oh, Robert, whatever happened or what you went through, it doesn't exist anymore, it never happened. This persona is not you," Namorita said as she took his hand and tried to look into his eyes underneath the mask.

"This persona didn't seem to bother you when we fought side by side bringing victory to our tribe and demolishing our attackers. As I recall it was one of the reasons you took me as a mate, especially after a hard core battle," Penance shouted as he shrugged her hand off of him as he turned to walk away.

"This is about me. Robert," Namorita began to say not truly knowing what to say now.

"Don't worry about it. Like you said, it doesn't exist anymore, it never happened," Penance declared as a kinetic pulse blew Namorita backwards as a whole blew into the ceiling and he shot upwards and away leaving Namorita staring in silence through the hole that lead to the blue sky above.

Downtown

Applebees

"Welcome to Applebees, how many?" The man at the front door podium asked with a pleasant greeting.

"I'm meeting, oh there he is," Valeria said as she waved passed the man and headed into the side dinning area.

"Val, glad you could make it," Dwayne said as he stood up as Val approached and then took her seat.

"Thanks for inviting me. I've never been here but I've heard the food is good," Val said making small talk, still curious why Dwayne had asked her to dinner, but kept insisting it wasn't a date, not that she minded, or did she?

"I kind of wanted to talk to you about the team and such and thought it might be nice to try a different setting," Dwayne said nervously.

Dwayne didn't know why he was acting this way. He never gets like this, even with Silhouette, his first major love, he didn't get all high schoolish. Was he being ridiculous? Or maybe he was finally accepting Sil's decision and trying to move on? Dwayne shook his head, he couldn't be thinking this way. Val was only here to talk about the team, not the two of them. He had to keep this professional. Team romances never worked out well in the end. Dwayne shook his head again, as he cursed at himself for letting his thoughts go there again and the way he kept acting.

"Dwayne, you okay?" Val asked, as stared at the man who seemed off in another world.

"I'm okay, guess still getting used to you being closer to my age now. Nice dress," Dwayne said as he suddenly cursed himself again.

"Thanks, I guess in my mind I have always been this age so whether my body was eight or in my twenties, I've just thought I was the same person," Val said as she looked at the menu.

"I guess your probably wondering why I asked you here. We need to talk about the team," Dwayne said trying to clear his mind and focus.

"Oh, and here I thought we were on a date," Val teased as Dwayne spat out his water and began to choke.

"I'm fine," Dwayne quickly said as he composed himself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, just teasing," Val said wondering if that was actually true.

"No, you're fine. Just went down the wrong pipe. Okay, I would like you to be my partner. I mean, help me co-lead this team. You've got the battle experience and the mind set to really help pull this team together and lead it," Dwayne said.

"Are you sure? What about Namorita, Robert or even Elvin?" Val asked

"Robert isn't stable enough to lead this team and Namorita can be some what of a wild card at times. Elvin, he's become a good friend of mine but I need someone like me. Head in the game and can lead and fight under any kind of pressure. I need someone like you," Dwayne said looking into Val's eyes.

"To lead the team or be with you?" Val said with a smirk as she leaned towards Dwayne.

"Both," Dwayne said as he found himself leaning the rest of the way and allowing their lips to touch.

Next: Issue #52 – Power Reflections – Part Two & New Warriors: The Anointed – Part One