Dateline: Thursday, April 23, 1981, 3:59 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Dash thought the school day would never end. He was either tardy or absent for literally every single one of his classes that day. Of course, it was hard to juggle class work and hero work. Yet somehow, he managed to pass with a C average so far. He wasn't going to be valedictorian, he knew that, but at least he would get a diploma.

And if he couldn't be valedictorian, at least he could be the valedictorian's boyfriend. Kimberly Lavender had an IQ of 139, which begot a 4.0 GPA. Everyone in the class of '81 expected her to pursue a career in medicine or technology or something of that nature. Everyone, that is, except for herself and Dash. These two were the only ones that knew the truth: what Kim really wanted to be was a mother.

Dash was well aware that Kim was really chomping at the bit to get married and have kids. That, he knew, meant he would have to be gainfully employed. He figured the best time to start would be today. After all, he promised Violet he would look for work today. As soon as class let out, he set out on a quest for the legendary source of money: employment. The first place he came to was the local O'Daniel's, a popular fast food chain.

"Welcome to O'Daniel's, may I take your order?" said the zit-faced high-school dropout that was the cashier.

"May I speak to your manager, please?" asked Dash.

"B…but I didn't do anything, I swear!" He started to sweat.

"I know you didn't do anything," said Dash chuckling, "I just need to speak to your manager, okay?"

"Oh, okay," said the clerk, calming down. "Mr. Jason! Someone's here to see you!" And in a few minutes, a very…well…a very large man came to the counter. He appeared disgruntled.

"All right, what did Skippy here do to offend you, sir?"

"No, no, that's not why I called you at all," Dash tried to explain.

"Then what do want? And, if you could, make it snappy, I'm missing Donahue!"

"I came here to ask for a job…" Dash began, but Mr. Jason cut him off.

"Great, you start Monday," he said, and he made his way back to his office.

"Wait," Dash protested, "so you're not going to interview me or anything?"

"You can talk, that proves you're smart enough to work here." And with that, Mr. Jason disappeared.

Dang, that was easier than I thought it would be, Dash thought to himself. Wait until Violet finds out I got a job in 7 seconds.

Speaking of whom, Violet had a mostly uneventful afternoon. Then again, it's not like exciting things happen everyday when you work in a cubicle, even if you are a super hero. She had lunch, met with Walker for about an hour, you know, same old same old. The one interesting thing that happened all afternoon occurred out of boredom.

She had been playing around with that newfangled puzzle that was just introduced last year, what do you call it, Rubik's Cube. She stood up, scanned the area around her cube, and when she was sure nobody was around to see, she projected a force field around it in mid-air. But this force field wasn't spherical, like all of her previous force fields. No, this time, the field was cubic, and it confined the puzzle so it couldn't move around inside. Quickly, Violet dispersed the shield and her cube landed on her desk with a clack, which could be heard all up and down the fourth floor.

"What was that?" asked everyone within earshot, literally.

"Nothing, I just dropped my Rubik's Cube, that's all," she said to quell the masses. When she was sure everyone bought her story, Violet went at it again. This time, she made a force field around nothing, just trying to make another cubic one. The remarkable thing was it worked! She tried other shapes too, pyramids, cylinders, cones, etc. Then she tried more complex shapes, like lamps, cassette tapes, television sets, telephones, and so on. With each new success, the smile on her face grew wider and wider.

But the most amazing thing she did was making a force field in the shape of a pair of scissors, and then using it to cut paper. (She held the paper in her mouth because her other hand was busy keeping up the force field.)

Just wait until Dash sees this, she thought to herself.

At quitting time, she located Smitty, because she had a favor to ask him.

"Hey Smitty," she began, but Zachary beat her to the punch, or so he thought.

"I already gave you your paycheck, Parr!"

"No, I just need a loan of about…four bucks, please?"

Smitty gave her a suspicious look. "What for?"

"Well, if you must know," Violet said in a huff, "I need to take a taxi home."

"Okay, but you WILL pay me back the money," said Smitty as he handed her a five.

"Don't worry about it," Violet said reassuringly. And with that, she made her way down the stairs and out the door onto the curb, where she waited until a friendly taxi pulled up.

"Where to, sunshine?" said a dark and disturbing voice.

"Uh, can you take me to the bank on Oriental Avenue?"

"Sure thing, doll," said the cabbie. Violet got in the cab. But when she did, she felt a foreboding sense of evil in the automobile. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of it, yet. "Buckle up for safety, Python," the cabbie said, followed by a dark laugh, you know, the kind that evil geniuses make. Then he floored the accelerator and sped far past the bank where Violet had asked him to stop.

Now she knew all too well what was going on.

(A/N: More suspense! I love it! Unfortunately, I'm coming down with a bad case of writer's block, so it may be a while before I can publish the next chapter. The doctor says I should be inspired and writing again by next week at the latest. In the meantime, I'm willing to hear any suggestions y'all have. That's right, I said 'Y'all'. Got a problem with that?)