Dateline: Monday, April 27, 1981, 11:58 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

"Oh, good thing I found you, José," Violet said as she passed him by. He was walking back to the apartment with his clothes, and she was driving back to the apartment to get her super suit. "There's something I need to give you."

"Let me guess, it is the radio-watch thingy?"

"Yes sir! Here, catch!" She tossed it to him and he tried it on.

"It fits like a glove," he commented. "So, why are you going back home? You don't get off work until 5:00, right?"

"Listen, there's this guy at work who has an unhealthy obsession with 'Python', and he kind of invited her to lunch."

José cast Violet a sideways glance. "You're not really planning on going as Python, are you?"

"The way I see it, if he hears Python say to him 'Get a life', he just might listen to her."

"I see. It still sounds kind of dangerous, though. I wouldn't recommend it."

"Relax, José. If I get into trouble, I can always reach out and touch somebody," she said while holding up her watch.

"Whatever you say, boss."

"Please don't call me that."

"Sorry."

After Violet got dressed in her suit, she got into her car and drove to Smitty's house on Virginia Avenue. Needless to say, Smitty was more than thrilled to see Python standing in his doorway.

"Are you Zachary Smith?" she asked as if she didn't already know.

"Yes, I-I-I-I-I am, b-b-but c-call me S-S-Smitty, p-please."

"Okay, S-S-Smitty! I understand you have lunch prepared? I got dressed for the occasion, you better be feeding me!"

"Yes, come in, I prepared a stew of frog eggs and mice for you."

Python was confused. "I'm sorry, I must be losing my hearing, I thought you said you made me a frog egg and mouse stew."

"I did."

"Uh, huh. And why would you think I would want to eat that?"

"Well, that is what snakes eat, isn't it? Frog eggs and mice?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm not a snake. Python is just a codename."

"Oh, of course, I'm so sorry. Damn it, I didn't prepare anything else for us to eat!"

"Relax, I happen to be a master of the culinary arts," Python bragged.

"Wow, I didn't know you could cook! And to think, I told all my friends at work that I was your number one fan! I should be ashamed of myself!"

"Don't beat yourself up over one minor detail, hey, where do you keep the olive oil?"

"Olive oil! Of course! You won't eat anything fried unless it's fried in olive oil!"

Python was a little worried. Her own brother didn't know about the olive oil thing! "Uh, yeah, how'd you know that?"

"I told you! I am your number one fan!"

"Well, I appreciate your support. Matter of fact, I appreciate support from everybody."

Smitty was as giddy as a schoolgirl. "Listen, Python, I didn't call you over here just to have lunch. I had, no, have something I want to tell you."

"Fire away."

"Python, you will marry me."

Python merely scoffed at the idea. "Smitty, I'm flattered that you would ask me such a thing, but I'm not ready to get married just yet."

"I didn't ask you anything. I said 'you WILL marry me', as in 'whether you like it or not."

Now Python was absolutely horrified. This was no ordinary obsessive fan; Smitty was a full-blown psychopath! Thinking quickly, she pushed the distress button on her watch. "Oh, would you look at the time! I really have to be somewhere else, okay?"

"No, it's not okay! And it won't be okay until I make you mine, forever!"

While Smitty was monologuing, Python turned invisible. "You can't marry what you can't see!" she bantered. She quickly punched him in the arm. When Smitty reached out to grab what he thought was Python's arm; all he got was a fistful of air. A few more rounds of invisible jabs, and Smitty just lost it. (Like he had it in the first place?)

"You can't hide from me!" he screamed. He grabbed a lighter and held the open flame next to the sprinkler system. Instantly, the whole house looked like the Amazon forest during monsoon season. Smitty knew that Python was morbidly afraid of water, so he scanned the house for a shivering human-shaped partition in the falling water. "There you are!" he growled. Python put her hands up in surrender.

Suddenly, there was a crash by the front door. Smitty went to see what was going on. He discovered that the door had been demolished. And standing in the doorway was the rest of Alpha Force, Rocket, Blind Tracy, and Heartthrob!

"Leave my sister alone, punk!" Rocket threatened.

"Never!" Smitty hollered. He charged right at the assembled, trying to knock them down the way a bowling ball knocks down the pins. However, the sprinklers were still running and had made the floors all slippery. The three cleared a path for the over-accelerating Zachary, and he landed in his front yard. Undeterred, Smitty got back up and charged them again. Heartthrob formed a ball of fire in his hands as was just about to chuck it, when his heart rate lowered from 100 to 99 bps. With his powers zonked out, he had no choice but to take Smitty's tackle full force.

"Oy! Get this hippie off of me!" Heartthrob bellowed. Blind Tracy lifted him up with her telekinesis and held him up while Rocket delivered the finishing punch. Over and over.

"Okay! Okay! You win! Please don't kill me!" Smitty begged.

Just then, Python (who had returned to visibility) came outside and saw what was going on. She waited a few seconds to shake off her terror before saying, "Okay, Rocket, he's had enough. Blind Tracy, put him down. Heartthrob, get off the ground, you look like a fool!" The team did as their leader said.

"That was the single worst experience of my life!" Smitty screamed.

"Yeah, well, if you ever try to make me your bride ever again, just know that I can get these guys to do this to you anytime I want! And next time, they just might decide to get rough!"

"Wait, are you saying that what they just did to me WASN'T rough?" Damn, I don't want to find out what rough is! Smitty ran back into his house, never to bother another female super ever again.

"Thanks, you guys," Python said. "I don't think I could have done it without you."

"What do you say we go home and change?" Heartthrob suggested.

"Okay. Hey, Da…uh…I mean Rocket, what happened to your cast?"

"I'll tell you about that later, sis."

(A/N: You guys should know that I compromised on this chapter big time. The original sequence involved an entire cult that worshipped Violet and, upon her insistence that she wasn't God, tried to kill her just before Alpha Force came to save the day. My instincts told me it would be too much, so I scaled it back a little. The net result is what you see here. Speaking of scaling back, I'm going to be calming things down a bit in the coming chapters, before the dramatic conclusion. Okay, that's enough jibber-jabber. See you all next time!)