Mako's Message: ...writing a story is like making chili. Of course you have to have the right ingredients, but it's just as important, if not more so, to let it simmer for a good long while. It let's ideas refine themselves, allowing you to see problems and come up with solutions or disregard them completely, as well as allowing you to come up with new and better ideas.

However, this can also result in you forgetting idea's you were sure were absolutely brilliant when you came up with them six months ago. Which is one of the reasons on my way home from the library I'm going to pick up some post it notes, write ideas on them, and then stick them on my wall so I can reorder and amend them as necessary.

For example, writing this chapter inspired a great Bonus Chapter for later, and I came up with one idea the other day, that instantly spawned about five other ones and made another idea I had for later work so much better. I also I had an idea about three girls from Dave and Mindy's school being a costumed criminal trio...but I totally forgot what exactly I wanted to do with it and and why I thought it was so awesome in the first place.

So, there you go. A little insight into writing from the mind of Makokam.

Sting's bio is after the chapter.


You ever get that feeling that things are going so well that something has to be about to blow up? That's how I feel.

I finally got around to calling Dave to talk about our training...and other things. He apologized for not calling me and for freaking out. He said he didn't mean to make me feel all self conscious and everything. It was sweet of him, but unnecessary. I think it might have been worse if it didn't bother him at all. I told him about how off our game we were the night at the bar and he agreed. Even said he had that morning free and I could come over if I wanted. So of course I did.

Had a quick talk with his dad. He was on his way to work, but he stopped to say "hi" to me and see how I was doing. He also said he was glad that Dave and I had ended up friends. He liked the way Dave was improving himself; he was working out, he'd gotten a job, his grades had even started improving. He said it'd started before he got with Katie, but after he met me things really took off for him. So, he said, "Whatever kind of ass-kicking your giving him, keep it up. And don't be a stranger. You're welcome here any time."

When I saw him, I told him about his dad's invitation and that I might just start stopping by in the middle of the night. Dave just smirked and said, "The only time we're not already together in the middle of the night is when you're supposed to be asleep."

So I told him I'd come over in the morning then. And that's when I started telling him my plans for our morning workouts, and how I wanted him to get into the habit of doing so he'd keep it up once school started. We sat down and made this long list of everything I wanted us to do, and a schedule for what we'd do on what days. When we'd finished, Dave looked over it and sort of sighed and ran his fingers through his hair(I wish he'd push his hair back like that more often), and said, "This is going to take a lot of time."

When I shrugged and said, "It's summer. Do you have anything better to do?"

He said, "No, it's not that. Katie's not going to to be happy about this."

I walked over to him, leaned in close so that our faces were almost touching, grabbed his shirt and said, "Then you tell her that Hit Girl said you need to get your pansy ass into shape, and that if she has a problem with that, that she'll pay her a visit to explain things to her."

For a second there, he actually looked like he was afraid, but then he smirked and said, "Well, when you put it that way, it's kind of hard to refuse."

Since then I've been jogging to his house to pick him up in the morning for a run, then heading to either my house or his house, depending on what we're doing the rest of the day. We usually go to my house since we have the weight room and it forces Dave to jog back to his house. But if we don't have any plans for the day we'll usually end up hanging out at his place until later. I even got to fall asleep watching a movie with him.

I woke up while he was still asleep but I just squeezed in closer to him. I even put his arm around me. That's not bad is it? I mean, it's not like a groped him, even though I thought about it. See? It's not like I gave into temptation.

Katie only argued with him about it once. Kind of a shame. I'd have liked an excuse to sneak into her room and give her a piece of my mind.

And there hasn't been anything major on the crime front. We did have a run in with Chris's stooges though. They were hijacking a Hostess' truck. There were only four of them and they didn't put up much of a fight. Marcus mentioned that similar robberies had happened recently. Some bigger than others, but they all seemed relatively petty. And by that I mean they just seem to be taking stuff because they want it for themselves. Almost crimes of whim since in some cases they didn't even bring bags to carry the loot off in, like they were just walking down the street and said, "Hey, let's rob this place." It's giving the cops a hell of a time.

Let's see...Jessi found herself a new boyfriend. I haven't met him, but Angela says he's, "soooooooo cute. You'll need a drool cup when you see him," that she, "had a hard time NOT grabbing his ass," how she's, "so jealous of her for snagging a piece of man-candy like him," and that she hopes she can find someone as "Yummy" as him when she's allowed to start dating and then she burst into a fit of giggles.

I got caught up in it again. I think it's contagious.

OH! Jessi's birthday is coming up next week. She doesn't have anything planned, but Angela insists we go out and do something. No idea what though. Maybe a movie or something.

So, with everything going so well, is it any wonder I can't help feeling like it's all going to go to hell at any moment? Or maybe I'm just paranoid...


Sting-
Comics and super heroes were never a draw to him, instead preferring historical fiction. However, after seeing the violence that was part of this amateur superhero movement, he realized that, as an anesthesiologist, he had skills he could put to use to stop criminals without hurting them. He put together a costume for himself that's most prominent feature is a white hooded sweatshirt with a red wasp stenciled on the front. He purchased several needles designed for throwing and coated them with a variety of sedatives and anesthetics designed to numb the target and bring them down with minimum force. His equipment also includes some hypodermic needles for injections of large doses should it prove necessary, as well as a baton to keep his opponent at bay while the sedatives take affect. He'll soon be adding a bulletproof vest, courtesy of Colonel Stars.