Dateline: Sunday, July 5, 1981, 7:39 PM, Parisian Standard Time.

José could hardly wait. He hadn't had a solo mission since he joined Alpha Force. It was nice to take down a villain without any help. It gave him a sense of accomplishment, a real ego boost. Of course, his parents had always taught him not to count his chickens before they hatch.

Still, full of pride and full of himself, José leapt from the whirlybird before it even landed. Not exactly a bright idea, because they weren't even Barcelona yet. José landed in the middle of the ocean. He was so humiliated. Luckily, the chopper had a rope ladder he could use to pull himself out of the drink. Wiser for the wear, José stayed put until the chopper landed on one of the city's many factories. The pilot wished him luck as he disembarked, for real this time.

All right, he thought to himself, the key here is to blend in. I am just a regular guy, putting in an honest day's work. He climbed down the stairs and entered the factory. He calmly strode through the rank and file, saying "hola" to a few of them, all the while looking for the restroom. José didn't want to ask where it was, afraid that doing so would expose him. He finally found it, ducked inside, and dressed out.

Now, he had another problem, how was he going to get out without anyone noticing him? Hmm, Rocket always bragged about how he avoided the press by zooming past them faster than they could spot him. Heartthrob had super-speed too, so why shouldn't he try it? A few jumping jacks was all it took to get his heart up to speed, and he was out of there like greased lightning.

Once on the street, he began looking for Tomcat. Thanks to his super-vision, he could see for miles…if there weren't so many freaking buildings in the way. Heartthrob had to look down sixteen streets before he found his feline target. Once he did, he used his super-strong legs to reach him in a single bound. But I should mention that super-balance was not one of Heartthrob's powers. Inasmuch, when he landed, he took the brunt of the fall on his face.

Tomcat chuckled at the sight. "I sure hope," he said en Español, "that you're not thinking of stopping me. I wouldn't want to be held responsible for the death of a mental patient." Heartthrob looked up at his opponent. He could see that he had two cat's ears on the top of his head, a T-shaped nose, whiskers growing out of face, sharp claws on both hands, and a sniper's gun. When he got to his feet, he also noticed Tomcat's twitching tail.

"Let me assure you," said Heartthrob, "that I am the real deal."

"Whatever, sweetie," he mumbled. Tomcat turned away from the Mexican, pulled his gun back up, and looked through the scope. Heartthrob, with his telescopic vision, could see that Tomcat had the mayor of Barcelona in his crosshairs.

After the previous exchange, Heartthrob could see he wasn't going to get his fight by mere words. So he snatched the gun out of the villain's hands, tied the barrel in a square knot, and handed it back to him.

"Now do you believe I'm really a super?" he asked.

Tomcat threw down the now useless weapon. "You want to fight with the Tomcat? You got it!" He swiped his left claw at him (cats are usually left-handed), but Heartthrob blocked. The cat grabbed the hero's wrist and pulled it to his mouth. He was just about to bite when Heartthrob phased his hand out of his enemy's grasp.

The cat hissed. "So, you're strong, and you can pass through solid objects? You may turn out to be more of a challenge than I thought! No matter, I'll still kill you, somehow!" Tomcat bounded away, but Heartthrob gave chase at Rocket-like speed. Tomcat's eyes widened when he saw the Mexican running alongside him.

"How many powers do you have?"

"Enough," Heartthrob responded.

Tomcat had an idea. He stopped running suddenly, expect his opponent to not notice what was going on and just keep running. But Heartthrob…didn't notice what was going on and just kept running. What did you expect?

"Oh, perfect," he mumbled when he saw that he had been outmaneuvered. Now he had to find him again.

Little did he know that his adversary had found him first. Tomcat had bounded to the roof of one of the buildings, then pounced his way to where Heartthrob was. Then, certain there was no way he could lose, he jumped off the building to land on our hero. Tomcat was so sure of his victory, in fact, that he impulsively let out a sharp "Rowr!"

But that feline noise gave him away. Heartthrob looked up just in time to do something about this attack. He threw up his hands, wanting to throw Tomcat as soon as he landed. As the weight of the villain's body pressed on him, he focused every fiber of his strength on pitching him far and wide. Just when it looked like then end, the great cat went flying, but not before leaving his painful trademark on Heartthrob's arms.

Our hero winced in pain, then looked up to see that Tomcat had landed on his feet. He had a look in his eye that would make one think he was going to charge again. As a matter of fact, he did. Heartthrob saw this, and reacted just in time. He leapt into the air and did a somersault, so that he would be directly over Tomcat's charging mass. Then he kicked him in the back as hard as he could. Tomcat stumbled, and fell face first into the dirt.

But remember what I said about Heartthrob's balance? Yeah, he kept flipping end over end until he too hit the ground…hard. After he hit, he moaned in agony. He got up, aching in every cubic centimeter of his body. He saw Tomcat struggling to get up, but not succeeding.

"Ohhhh!" he moaned. "I have underestimated you, sir. You managed to find a weakness in my feline power. All the supers of Spain couldn't do that. You have my respect."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me," Heartthrob lied. "Now you just stay here while I get the police."

After Tomcat had been taken away, José dressed out and began to examine the scratches on his arms. They still stung a little, but he knew they would heal in time. About that time he heard the voices of his teammates crackling on his radio.

"At the rate we're going," Ashley said, "I wouldn't be surprised if he was listening to us right now."

José laughed. "Chalk one up for our psychic friend!"

Everyone laughed.

"Oh, Vi, I heard you talking about your new acquisition."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"How did you convince the French to let you keep it? Isn't it evidence?"

"That's the funny thing, they insisted I take Monsieur Mincemeat's sword. I didn't want to at first, but now I think I kinda like it. So, honey bunch, how'd you fare?"

José spilled his guts.

"Ouch!" said Dash. "So far, none of us have completed their mission without an injury."

"I'll bet your wife will come through without a scrape," said José. "There are few thing on Earth that can hurt Liquegirl."

(A/N: Hey, listen, sorry I haven't been updating as often, but I've been kinda swamped with schoolwork and stuff. I am going to finish this story, I promise. I hope you all stick around, because this story's just getting started! Until next time…)