The Great Lakes Avengers in…

ONE ENCHANTED EVENING

By Brian Hamilton

“This is stupid.”

Super model Ashley Crawford adjusted a stray strand of hair out of her face before crossing her arms over her chest. Behind her large designer sunglasses, her eyes were focused squarely on the suited man standing before her. Sitting on both sides of her were the only friends, and the closest thing to family, she had known for the past couple of years: the Great Lakes Avengers.

“I concur,” said Dr. Val Ventura better known as Flatman.

Television producer Samuel Kerns ran a hand through his normally well coifed hair. To say he was at the end of his rope would be an understatement. The stress of working with a less than enthused team of heroes turned future reality TV stars was beginning to wear on his calm and collected demeanor.

“Guys, look,” Sam started, “you agreed to this. We met, talked, you disagreed, then you agreed, and then contracts were signed.” His eyes drifted toward Val and Ashley who both stared him down in return. “All I’m saying is to make this work I’m gonna need some cooperation on your end.”

Ashley spoke up again. “So, stupid or not, and it’s very stupid, we have to make this appearance?”

“Of course!” Sam said enthusiastically. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing. We’re going to have to do some serious reimaging. You guys will have a bigger buzz than Charlie Sheen when I’m done with you.”

Demarr Davis, also known as Doorman, spoke up this time. “And by buzz you mean what exactly?”

Samuel turned and looked directly at Craig Hollis, Mr. Immortal, and leader of the Midwest’s answers to the Avengers. He spoke at Craig, but his words were directed at the group as a whole. “All I’m asking for is some faith here guys, gals, and reptiles. We spent days arguing because you guys didn’t want to lose sight of your mission to help the people regular heroes forgot.”

“Regular?” Ashley asked, her voice tinged with anger.

“You know what I mean. If your goal is helping the everyman then we need to change how the everyman views you. We have to get out there and we go to every super Wal-Mart opening, high school homecoming, and haunted corn maze we can sign you up for.”

Craig stood and slammed his fist on the table. “Then let’s do it!”

The other Great Lakes Avengers rolled their eyes in unison. Ashley let out a heavy sigh. The contract was already signed. There was no backing out. “Yeah,” she muttered her voice heavy with sarcasm, “Avengers assemble.”

Halloween Night

Recently, the residents of Joplin, Missouri took advantage of every opportunity to come together and fellowship. Just months earlier, a tornado nearly wiped them off the map. What was once a thriving town had been reduced to rubble. Many thought returning to their normal life impossible, but donations from professional sports teams, politicians, and heroes made the impossible a reality.

Halloween was simply another reason to celebrate a return to normalcy. The corn maze, the main attraction for Joplinites before the tornado, was spared no expense. Professional actors and make-up artists were hired giving this year’s maze a feel past years missed. Top dollar was paid for props and stage equipment to set the mood and so far it had been a hit. Little did they know tonight would be unlike any Halloween they had ever experienced.

“This is great! The kids love us!”

Dr. Val Ventura grabbed a handful of candy from inside of the plastic pumpkin he was holding and dropped it into the pillow case held by the mini “Captain America” in front of him. The kid adjusted the too big costume helmet, said his thanks and ran off to catch up with his parents. The two dimensional hero was quickly running out of candy as the group of kids gathered at the maze flocked to him. Not far from him, Dr. Ventura’s teammates from the Great Lakes Avengers were not receiving the same level of adoration.

Dinah Soar, the humanoid pterodactyl and Avenger most likely to attract positive attention on Halloween was doing just the opposite. With bright pink, leathery skin and same colored wings folded beneath her arms, she instead was sending kids running off crying. Just a few feet from her teammates, she let out series of whistles and clicks. Audible to all, only her longtime boyfriend Craig Hollis understood her.

Craig chuckled under his breath before explaining Dinah’s joke. “She’s right. Looking like a certain stretchy member of the Fantastic Four does have its benefits at times.”

Flatman’s smile quickly faded. “Green with envy, are we Dinah?”

A pair of kids ran up to Flatman, smiling from ear to ear in their Human Torch and Thing costumes respectively.

“Mr. Fantastic! Will you take a picture with us please?”

Val’s smile quickly faded away. He took the picture as requested, but was not happy about it. His teammates stifled their laughs at his sudden reality check. “Not a word. From anyone.” Val solemnly ordered.

Deep inside the maze, the little kid dressed in his Captain America costume stopped to dig around in his pillow case. Upon finding the Reese’s piece he desired and taking a bite out of it he quickly broke out into a run down a stretch of the corn maze. He slowed as a neared a corner, unsure of whatever waited around it ready to pounce. A rather frightening actor dressed as a zombie had already chased him for the better part of five minutes.

Sticking his head around the corner and finding nothing, he took off again in a run. The ground rushed up to meet him as he tripped. The wind knocked out of him and the world reeling in circles, he struggled to stand but found himself unable to. Believing himself still caught in whatever tripped him, the trick or treater looked down but was surprised to find a pair of eyes staring back at him.

Partially intangible, a man dressed in all black tightened his grip on the child’s leg. The man’s lips were turned upward in a cruel smile at the child’s screams. Despite his struggling, there was no freeing himself. Sinking slowly back underground, the boy’s screams intensified as he was dragged underground with the man until finally all was quiet. Elsewhere throughout the maze, the screams of abducted children rang out into the night before being suddenly cut short.

Dinah Soar noticed it first. Her alien physiology didn’t grant her super hearing, but it was better than the other Great Lakes Avengers. She erupted into a flurry of high pitched squawks which sent Mr. Immortal into action.

“Dinah. Airborne. Now!” He barked.

“Whoa! What’s going on?” Sam asked, confused by the sudden change in the mood.

“Something’s wrong,” Mr. Immortal explained, “Dinah heard something from inside the maze.” Without missing a beat Craig turned his attention back to giving out orders. “Flatman and Doorman, you’re on crowd control. We need everyone out of that maze. ASAP. Big Bertha, me and you are Dinah’s ground support. Sam, call 911 now!”

The group of heroes ran off in different directions leaving their full time producer and part time wrangler standing alone. Doorman and Flatman ran deep into the maze, the latter’s two dimensional body easily stretching between stalks of corn. Mr. Immortal climbed onto Big Bertha’s shoulder as she took off into the maze following Dinah Soar flying overhead.

Sam placed his head in his hands and let out a heavy sigh. His mutterings on how this was going to end horribly fell on deaf ears.

Above the maze, Dinah’s eyes focused in on a group of kids running for the nearest exit, but couldn’t make out what was chasing them. She called out to Mr. Immortal in her unique language before swooping downward and landing between the group and the unknown menace. Mr. Immortal relayed his girlfriend’s instructions to Big Bertha who sharply changed directions to where the prehistoric hero had made landfall.

“Stay safe, beautiful. We’re on the way,” Craig whispered to himself.

Running alongside Flatman as he stretched through the maze, Demarr yelled out, “What’s going on?!”

“It seems Dinah’s increased hearing alerted her to a disturbance in the maze.”

“Thank you captain obvious. What kind of disturbance?”

Doorman would receive his answer in the form of a cloaked figure that floated out of the ground feet ahead of him. The two heroes skidded to a stop. The figure, dressed from head in toe in a black body suit accented by a pair of gray goggles pulled down over his eyes, turned and smiled.

“If I had to formulae a hypothesis, that kind of disturbance.” Val answered.

“Would you shut up and grab him before he leaves?!” Doorman ordered.

Flatman’s hands stretched out in an attempt to ensnare the stranger in all black but his fingers simply moved through his body.

“I’m trying, but he appears to be intangible.”

Still smiling from ear to ear, the stranger sunk back into the ground. Flatman and Doorman took defensive positions, waiting for him to resurface and resurface he did. Coming from beneath Doorman, he delivered a powerful punch that knocked the Avenger on his ass. He slunk back underground before Flatman could react.

“He sure doesn’t feel intangible.” Doorman muttered rubbing his jaw.

He stood and dusted himself off, resuming his stance. Never formally trained in hand to hand combat, Demarr managed to pick up a few things from getting his butt kicked as a Great Lakes Avenger over the years.

Beneath Doorman, the stranger rose from the ground again. He was surprised to find his attempt to connect with the hero’s jaw passed through Doorman’s body. The force put into the punch sent the stranger flying wildly through Doorman’s body and back to the ground where this time he stayed. Moving swiftly, Flatman wrapped himself around the stranger’s body. His fingers created an air tight hold around their opponent’s mouth and nose until he passed out from lack of oxygen.

“Intangible, Doorman? That’s a new trick.” Val pointed out.

“My powers turn my body into a living door. Instead of pressing myself up against a wall, I just act as a doorway to whatever is behind me. I’m not really intangible. I’m just faking the funk.” He explained with a smile. “I started trying new ways to use my powers after Quicksand handed us our collective asses. We need to get to the rest of the team and let them know what they’re up against.”

“You go,” Val ordered. He uncoiled his body from around the stranger. “They can’t touch you.”

Demarr’s cries of protest fell on deaf ears as he was scooped up into Val’s elastic body. Using his naturally stretchy body as a slingshot, he launched Doorman into the air in the direction of Dinah Soar and the rest of the team.

“Godspeed Demarr.”

From the shadows outside the maze, an Undercloak emerged. Dressed in all black like his brethren, he approached a lone man too engrossed in his phone conversation to notice him. He solidified his density enough so when he placed his hand gently on the man’s shoulder he was sure to feel it.

Sam let out a surprised yelp and dropped his phone. The 911 operator on the other end called out but got no answer in return. The man brought his food down on the phone destroying it.

“You bastard! What was the point of that?” Sam angrily demanded.

“Surely you don’t want your Earthly authorities privy to our conversation.” The Undercloak’s voice had a supernatural echo to it. Deep in bass, but low in volume, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. The sound of it sent chills down Sam’s spine.

“Conversation? There’s no need for conversation. You and your,” the producer paused to think of the right word, “men had one job. Provide an easy fight for the team. Not scare a whole freaking town! Boy do I have a word or two for your boss!”

The head Undercloak’s attention piqued at the mention of his boss. “So, what would you have us do then?”

“End this. Now. The contract is the same. I turn the Great Lakes Avengers into real heroes and your boss gets them. Just stop this madness.”

Pitch black eye stared deep into Sam’s. He felt like the creature in front of him was staring into his soul, and given the circumstances it very well could have been. “Fine. We will return from the shadows wince we came. Remember this Samuel, if you don’t deliver the Avengers, we shall return to claim out debt.”

The Undercloak became intangible and sank beneath the ground leaving his words to echo in Sam’s head.

Dinah Soar watched helplessly as the man in black drug another child underground. She descended and attempted to cut the villain down with the razor sharp tip of her wings but her attack was ineffective. The alien hero let out a high pitched whistle in frustration.

She was growing tired of his fight and was eager to put an end to it.

With a few flaps of her wings she took to the air again circling the few remaining kids in the maze. They were slowly being picked off by the intangible newcomers, but there was next to nothing she could do. The same Undercloak rose from the ground ready to abduct another child. Dinah went into overdrive. She hovered just yards over the man and released her hyper-sonic scream. He fell to his knees, clutching his ears. Her scream increased in intensity. She ignored the man’s screams of pain focused solely on making him pay for every kid he abducted.

Without warning, the man in black’s body began to waste away. There one second, and gone the next; he faded away like smoke of a just blown out candle. Dinah collapsed, exhausted from maintaining her hyper voice for that long. Physically exhausted, she sub came to the wave of emotions she had been holding back. Tears streamed down her pink skin, invisible in the night except to the man closet to her.

Standing behind Dinah, Mr. Immortal wrapped his arms gently around his girlfriend repeating in the softest whisper he could muster, “It’s ok. They’re gone.”

Epilogue I

“It goes without saying that Halloween was…eventful.” Demarr looked around the table to his fellow Great Lakes Avengers, Ashley and Val.

Ashley was dressed like her normal fashionable self. She wore a fitting, black pencil skirt and a white blouse. She eyed Demarr over the rim of her designer shades. “You brought us here to talk about Halloween? I’m so over that craziness.” She pushed her chair back and moved to leave the room.

Demarr motioned for her to remain in her seat. “No, well yes, but not just Halloween. This is bigger than just that one night.”

Ashley interrupted Demarr. Her views on that night had been made clear. “Look, we don’t know where those things came from, but they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Plus, all the kids they kidnapped were found. All’s wells that ends well.”

Ever the voice of reason, Val chimed in. “Maybe we should hear what Demarr has to say.”

Ashley pulled her chair back up to the table. Val turned his attention back to Demarr giving him a nod to continue.

“Ok, the reason I invited just the two of you here without the cameras is because I think I saw something that night. Val, when you launched me in the air, I think I saw Sam talking to one of those things, whatever they were.” Val and Ashley sat there in stunned silence. “Guys, I don’t know what we signed up for, but I think we’re in way over our heads.”

Epilogue II

Craig Hollis hadn’t slept much since that night. Tonight was no different. Dinah laid on his chest, while he stared at the ceiling running over Halloween night for the millionth time in his head. He couldn’t help but think there was so much he could have done differently. He sent the only person he cared about in the world out on her own, and when pushed to the edge to protect innocent children she killed a man.

Or she thought she killed a man. There was no real way of telling. The creatures they fought that night all disappeared, but if pushed to that point would Dinah have gone that far? As much as he wanted things to be different, Craig knew the answer. Because of the empathic bond the two shared, the same bond that made him the only one that could understand Dinah, he felt her determination to keep those kids safe. Dinah would have done anything.

A low whistle interrupted Craig’s thoughts. Dinah moved slightly, looking up into his eyes. Craig leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Something wrong, beautiful?”

Dinah replied with a string of low whistles and clicks. Despite the late hour, Craig listened intently. Like him, Dinah’s mind had been on Halloween night. Fighting to protect the trick or treaters had brought out a side of her she had been ignoring. A side she could no longer pretend didn’t exist inside her. Craig realized what Dinah was alluding to before she said it out loud. He tried his best, and failed, to hide his surprise. “You want kids?!”