Power Pack Attack

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dr. Power asked Roadblock. He was a scientist in his early forties with glasses, redish brownhair and a slightly shaggy beard.

"It's merely a precaution," Roadblock explained. Shipwreck, Cover Girl and Spirit were there as well in the home lab of Dr. Power, which just happened to be in his basement. "Considering what happened to your last prototype."

"I can understand the army wanting some security but…" Dr. Power looked at Althea, Todd, Fred, Wanda, Pietro, Angelica, Xi and Lance. "Your guards are just kids!"

"Sir, the Misfits are more than equipped to handle this assignment," Cover Girl said. "And it's only going to be for an hour until Carmody brings the transportation for the MAC over."

"I suppose," Dr. Power sighed. "I couldn't work on this at the lab without him constantly badgering me. It was just easier to get more work done at home, not to mention faster."

"We are aware that the Colonel is a bit…high strung," Spirit said diplomatically. "Why don't we go upstairs and have some coffee?"

The adults went upstairs. Todd looked at a green machine with several wires and tubes. It was roughly the size of a large desk. "All this hoopla over this thing? Man I've stolen bikes that had more stuff on 'em than this."

"Some assignment," Pietro complained. "We sit around on our butts guarding this hunk of junk while looking for signs that some preschoolers might be mutants. I wish we were back at the Pit with Lina and Arcade. I can't believe they got out of this for backup duty. At least there we could play some video games or something."

"Lucky for me I brought my Game Boy," Fred took out his favorite toy of the week. "Hey did you guys hear anything?"

"Yeah, my boredom level hitting the roof!" Pietro groaned.

"Such is the glamorous life of a Misfit," Althea mocked.

"Well I ain't complaining," Lance sat down on a chair. "I could use a nice dull assignment for a change. Compared to our days when we don't have assignments it would be a welcome change!"

"Kitty's still not taking your calls is she?" Todd asked.

"Won't even answer the phone," Lance groaned.

"How much you wanna bet they break up again within a week?" Fred asked.

"I dunno if that would happen that fast," Angelica said. "They didn't break up when Lance made that nude statue of her in his sleep."

"Only because the other X-Guys were such idiots that all the girls got mad at them," Wanda said. "Took some of the heat off."

"That reminds me," Fred asked. "How are we gonna find out if the Power kids are mutants or not?"

"We get them to fill out a survey, Blob," Wanda folded her arms.

"Xi could be invisible and look around," Pietro suggested.

"No, we don't want to scare them," Althea said. "We'll get our chance soon enough when they get back from school."

Unknown to the Misfits the Power children were already home from school. Actually they had never left and were now hiding in a secret crawlspace over their father's lab. Alex, Julie, Jack and Katie power were wearing their uniforms and watching what was going on.

Alex had blond hair and a white uniform with black markings. He had the power to control gravity, making things float or becoming very heavy. His code name was Zero-G. (Age 14)

Julie had long red hair and a red and black uniform. Her power was being able to fly at high speeds. When she flew a rainbow trailed after her. Her codename was Lightspeed. (Age 13)

Jack's uniform was blue and black. He had his father's hair only darker. He could control his density. He was able to turn himself into a gas cloud or shrink his size to only a few inches. He called himself Mass Master. (Age 10).

Katie's uniform was as yellow as her pigtails and it also had black markings. She could absorb and release huge amounts of energy. Her codename was Energizer. (Age 6)

"Great, Dad had to make another one of those things," Jack grumbled. "I just hope this one won't blow up the world."

"It's called an antimatter machine," Katie said. "Even I knew that."

"I know what it is," Jack turned on her. "I'm just saying…"

"Quiet!" Alex hissed. "Do you want to get us caught?"

"I dunno if this is such a good idea," Julie said to her siblings. "We're gonna get in enough trouble when our parents find out we skipped school today."

"If they find out," Jack said. "Don't worry. It's all taken care of. I pretended to be Dad and called in sick. Besides Mom's away visiting Grandma for the next two days."

"Yeah and if that matter antimatter device is as explosive as Dad's last one, skipping school will be the least of our problems!" Alex told them.

"There won't be any school to skip," Jack said. "Or planet Earth for that matter."

"Being blowed up is a lot worse than being grounded," Katie nodded.

"I know, I know…" Julie sighed. "But how do we get past those guards?"

"They're not guards," Jack groaned. "They're just kids like us. Only bigger."

"That one looks like a Snark," Katie pointed to Xi. "Only his nose isn't as pointy and he has pretty eye makeup."

"I don't think that's makeup," Julie said. "I think those are just his natural markings."

"Will you two stop talking about fashion and let's just break the thing before the Snarks show up?" Jack snapped.

"We need a plan," Alex said. "Let me think."

"There's no time to think!" Jack told him. "You heard them, that creep Carmody's gonna be here in under an hour! We gotta do something now before it's too late."

"We can't just rush in there," Alex told him.

"Why not?" Jack made himself gaseous and sneaked through the air vent. Then he reformed into a very small size and headed for the MAC without the Misfits seeing him.

"And he calls me immature?" Katie grumbled.

"He's gonna try and bust it up from the inside," Alex said.

"Well that's one way to do it," Julie said. "At least they won't be expecting that."

"Hey is that a cockroach?" Todd noticed something. "Time for a snack!"

"Huh?" Jack looked up and saw a very large tongue headed straight for him. "AAHAHHH!" He turned into gas as soon as the tongue touched him. "YUCK!"

"What the…?" Todd yelped.

"JACK!" Katie shouted. Too late Julie slapped her hand over her mouth.

"SHH!" Julie shushed her sister but it was too late.

The vent before them opened. Fred poked his head in. "I thought I heard something in here!"

"EEEP!" Katie screamed, accidentally releasing a ball of energy.

BOOM!

Fred fell backwards, his face charred. "Owwww…That hurt!"

"Oops," Katie gulped. "Sorry Mister."

"What the heck is with all the smoke yo?" Todd waved his face. "What happened to my bug?"

"I AM NOT A BUG?" Jack snapped as he reformed into a cloud boy.

"So much for planning," Julie flew out of the vent.

"I guess we're just gonna have to settle for a head on attack," Alex said. Suddenly the vent gave way around them. "Or not…" He managed to stop falling by using his powers on himself and Katie as they fell through the hole that suddenly opened up.

Angelica flew up and blocked Julie's path. "I don't really wanna fight, do you?" She folded her arms.

"Not really," Julie admitted. "Wow I like your hair."

"Thanks," Angelica said. "I like the rainbow effect when you fly. And your costume."

"Really?" Julie asked. "You don't think it's too babyish?"

"No I…" Angelica began.

"WILL YOU TWO STOP TALKING ABOUT FASHION AND FIGHT?" Jack shouted, still in his gas form.

"Okay!" Pietro ran circles around him, creating a small tornado.

"YEOW!" Jack was forced to reform his molecules or else be dispersed. He was quickly flung back into a pile of newspapers.

"ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY KNOCK IT OFF!" Althea ordered.

"Busted…" Jack groaned as he rubbed his neck. Meekly the Power Pack managed to stand in front of the Misfits.

"I guess this settles the question about whether the Power kids are mutants or not," Lance groaned.

"Not really," Katie told them. "We got our powers from Whitey. You see he was this really good alien horse but he got killed by some bad aliens so he gave us these powers to protect ourselves."

"This is gonna be one of those weird origin stories isn't it?" Todd groaned.

"All right, why don't you kids tell us what the heck is going on and why you wanna trash your Dad's invention?" Althea asked in her sternest voice. "And it better be a good reason."

"Because if we don't the whole world will get blown up," Jack said.

"That's a good reason," Todd blinked.

"Look," Julie said. "There were these aliens, the Snarks…"

"They look like giant lizards and they're mean," Katie interrupted.

"And then there was this other alien named Whitey," Alex added. "He was a Kymellian."

"A good alien," Katie added. "He looked like a white horse and saved our lives."

"The Snarks wanted to get their hands on Dad's technology and use it to power their weapons and stuff," Alex continued. "Whitey wanted to stop them and help our Dad."

"You see back on his home world they had a machine just like Dad's but there was something wrong with it and BOOM!" Jack clapped his hands. "The whole planet blew up!"

"I'm telling the story here!" Alex snapped at them.

"Well tell it right!" Jack snapped back.

"Long story short," Julie interrupted. "Whitey saved us from the Snarks but by doing that he got hurt really bad and he died."

"But before he did he gave us these really cool powers and uniforms and a spaceship named Friday," Katie added. "I named him."

"Actually it's a smart ship," Alex told her. "Because it can think."

"Is anybody else confused or is it just me?" Lance groaned.

"I have three sisters and two little brothers," Althea told him. "Makes sense to me."

"So we've been using these powers to fight off the Snarks," Alex continued.

"We call ourselves the Power Pack," Julie said. "I'm Lightspeed, Alex here is Zero G, Jack is Mass Master and Katie is Energizer."

"You named yourself after a battery?" Fred coughed up some smoke.

"No the cute bunny in the commercial," Katie shook her head. "Sorry that I blowed you up."

"No biggie," Fred told her. "I've had worse."

"We usually fight a lot better than this," Alex groaned.

"I can relate to that," Althea said.

"You believe 'em?" Pietro was surprised.

"My sisters are some of the world's most skillful liars," Althea told him. "Over the years I've learned to tell most of the time when kids are telling the truth. Yeah I believe 'em."

"Me too," Wanda said.

"You believe us about the aliens?" Katie asked.

"Kid we've tangled with just about every nut job there is out there: mutants, evil sorceresses, demons, dragons, clone armies and giant robots," Todd told her. "We kind of figured aliens would show up sooner or later."

"Um, you're not gonna tell our parents are you?" Katie fidgeted nervously.

"You mean your folks don't know?" Lance was surprised.

"We couldn't tell them," Alex said. "It's too dangerous."

"Yeah even we know that superheroes can't tell their families what they do," Jack said. "Or else the bad guys would hurt 'em."

"So please don't tell them," Julie asked.

"We gotta think about this," Althea said. "On the one hand they have a point, but on the other…"

"We kind of have to," Angelica said. "I mean it's going to be hard enough explaining to everyone how the MAC could be a bomb that would destroy the planet."

"Yeah they'd never believe us," Pietro frowned. "And something tells me it's not gonna be good if we 'accidentally' break it."

"But if we do tell on the kids you know what will happen," Lance said. "Eddington will try and use them for the military in a heartbeat."

"It would not matter to them that they are not mutants," Xi said. "The fact that they have powers to exploit would be too tempting."

"This is a bad situation either way," Althea frowned. "Maybe we should talk to Roadblock first?"

"You're going to tell?" Katie looked worried.

"Just our grown up," Althea said gently to her. "He can keep a secret when he has to."

"I just hope he has to in this case," Jack grumbled.

"Wait a minute…" Wanda frowned. "Something's not right. We've been down here making a racket and nobody's showed up."

"Yeah…" Todd said. "How come…?"

Suddenly the door to the basement slammed open. Several Snark troopers burst in. Some of them were carrying the unconscious Dr. Power and the Joes on their shoulders. "There's the device and the Earthers!" One hissed raising a huge weapon. "Get them!"

"What are those things?" Lance shouted as he dodged a laser ray.

"They're Snarks!" Alex told him.

"They're mean!" Katie shouted as she powered up. "GO AWAY!" Her energy blasts hit several Snarks.

"Get them!" The Lead Snark hissed. However this proved easier said than done since both the Misfits and the Power Pack were easily clobbering them. "Fine! Forget them! We have Dr. Power and we'll take the other humans as hostages!"

"But what about the Antimatter device?" One Snark asked as he watched another Snark fly through the air.

"Simple fool," The Snark punched in his codes on his communicator. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before! Control room! Beam up the landing party and the Antimatter device at these coordinates!"

"Hey!" Fred swung at a Snark only to have it disappear. "Where'd it go?"

"They have a teleportation device!" Althea shouted as the Snarks and the MAC disappeared. "They've got the MAC!"

"And they got the Joes!" Todd shouted.

"They got Dad!" Jack shouted. "We gotta go after them!"

"But where did they go?" Pietro asked.

"I bet I know where," Alex dug out a small communicator. "Friday! We need a pickup! Now!"

"Come on!" Julie told them as the Power Pack ran out of the basement. "Follow us!"

"I hope you kids know what you're do-," Lance's eyes widened as they went out into the back yard and saw a white spaceship hover into view. "-ing?"

"This is Friday!" Katie said happily. "Say hello Friday."

"Hello Friday," The spaceship intoned.

"Nice spaceship," Todd remarked as they went on board. Soon they were flying into space.

"Bet you've never flown in a spaceship before huh?" Jack felt smug.

"Please," Pietro waved. "We go for joyrides all the time in ours."

"Liar!" Jack made a face. "You don't have no spaceship!"

"We do too have a spaceship," Pietro said.

"Do not!" Jack snapped.

"Do too!" Pietro got in his face.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Great! Two of them…" Wanda groaned.

"Do not!"

"Do too infinity!"

"SHUT UP!" Lance screamed. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"You are not going to be sick," Althea told him.

"Yes I am!" Lance told her.

"You're exaggerating," Althea said.

"I do not exaggerate!" Lance looked pale. "I think I know my own body and when I tell you that I am going to be sick, I'm gonna be sick! I hate flying!"

"Look at the pretty stars," Xi blinked.

"Yes Xi they are pretty now please pay attention here," Althea groaned.

"Do you have any airsick bags on this thing?" Lance asked Julie.

"Are we there yet?" Fred whined.

"There! That's the Snark Mothership!" Alex pointed to a huge spacecraft hidden behind the moon.

"That's a pretty big spaceship," Angelica blinked.

"And here comes a lot of fighter ships," Lance pointed to a squadron of Snark fighters headed straight for them. "Now I'm really gonna be sick!"

"Please tell me this ship has lasers or photon torpedoes or something," Todd whimpered.

"Uh…We kind of broke them yesterday," Jack gulped.

"You broke them!" Katie snapped. "I told you not to push those buttons!"

"This…could be a problem," Pietro gulped.

Next: Not one, but two great lizard fights coming up! Whoopee!