"I know what you're saying, Rich. But we really have no choice. It'd take longer than we have time for to hunt down enough of the right people, and convince them to join. This way, we get them to come to us."
"I don't know, Thrash," Vance remarked. "These things always have a tendency to backfire. Remember the Frightful Four tryouts?"
"Don't worry, Vance," Robbie commented. "We couldn't possibly get anything worse than that bunch of losers. They were villains!"
"This is gonna be a lousy day," Firestar said from behind her.
"Let's get it over with," Nita responded.
Entering the lounge area, the partitions having been taken down, the Warriors sat at a long table, trying not to look overly intimidating as the applicants filed into the room.
"That's right."
"And what can you do?"
"I can go intangible."
"Sounds interesting. Let's see a demonstration."
Shimmering slightly, Fantasmic sank into the floor up to his ankles and slid toward the Warriors and into the table. rising back up to floor level, he leaned his hand on the table.
"See. I could be really usefulYOOOOOOUUUCH! My hand! My hand!"
Trying to yank his hand out of the table surface where it had solidified, he pulled it over on himself, papers scattering.
"Go intangible!" Vance yelled, telekinetically catching the papers while holding the table in one spot.
Leaning back in his chair, Speedball whispered to Rage, "This is gonna be a looong day."
Standing in front of the table, dressed in a purple and orange plaid bodysuit, the kid called Plaid Lad replied, "I can cause any fabric to go plaid."
"Uh-huh..."
"Uh-oh, I lost control again!"
Reacting in various states of shock, surprise, and disgust, the Warriors watched as Justice's costume quickly became a blue and white plaid.
"Vance Astrovik, Disco Warrior!" Speedball yelled.
"Better practice, kid," Nova told Plaid Lad as Vance slipped away to change.
"It was the only one left in the closet. We have to get some more of the new outfits in."
"I don't know, hon," she told him. "I kinda like this one."
"She'd like him in anything, I bet," Rage muttered.
"I heard that!"
"Come on, bro!" Jack called from behind him. "Let's head over to the Warriors tryouts! I'm sure they'll take me!"
"Give it up, Jack," Julie commented from the doorway. "Just because Alex *finally* gave in and gave us our powers back doesn't mean they'll take a quitter back, or his kid brother."
"QUITTER, huh?" Alex shot at his siblings. "Fine. Let's go, Jack. You too, Jules, or are you afraid they'll take Jack and not you?"
"You guys leavin'?" Katie asked, as the three ran for the door.
"Yeah. Tell Mom and Dad we'll be back when we get back."
"Fine. Tell Friday I said 'hi'."
"It's been an hour, and so far, only one serious applicant." Vance pointed towards a corner, set up as a waiting area. The only person in the waiting area was a woman dressed in a flame-style body-suit.
"Magma, former New Mutant, former Hellion" Vance commented. "Her recent identity crisis notwithstanding, she'll be a great boon."
"And she's a babe, too," Speedball chuckled, before receiving a glass of water from Timeslip.
"Hi, gang," called a hollow voice from the doorway. "Did I miss anything?"
"Hi, 'Hawk," Nova replied. "Only a mess of incompetents."
"Fun," Darkhawk stated, walking into the room carrying a dozen pizzas. "I decided to stop by to tell you guys I'd like to become a full-time Warrior."
"No problem, 'Hawk" Thrash stated. "Take a seat."
"What, no anchovies?" Speedball commented, digging into the pizzas.
Grumbling, Vance tried once more to explain to the applicant calling himself 'Obstinance' why his application was being rejected.
"One more time. You have no powers. You have no skills. You are just plain useless!!!"
"That's your opinion. I bet you're just prejudiced agains us norms."
"LEAVE!!!" everyone in the room, applicants and Warriors alike, screamed.
"Fine! But you'll be hearing from my lawyer, you bigots!"
As he left the crash pad, Vance manipulated the door to hit his butt on the way out.
"The form's right, Speedball. I recognize her, she IS the World War Two Spitfire. If you'd read the papers you'd know that," Vance informed him.
"Besides," Kymeara said. "I invited her."
"Alright," Thrasher said. "Take a seat in our waiting area."
As Spitfire left the applicant area a small Elvish person dressed as Napoleon and riding a large Holstein cow with a drawn spork charged into the room.
"Canadians! Bow before Keebler the Fifth, Wielder of the Enchanted Silver Spork of Victory, Holder of the Hallowed Jolt Bottle, Prophesied Ruler of all things Canuck! Resistance is futi..."
"THIS AIN'T CANADA!!!" the Warriors shouted at him in unison.
"It isn't???" asked the abashed elf. "Darn! No wonder the guy I got directions from called this the Big Apple!"
Turning the cow around, he called to it as he exitted.
"Let us be off, Marguerite! There are other lands to conquer!"
"Who was that cow-riding elf?" Turbo asked in wonder.
"Who cares," Thrash stated. "Next victim!"
"I thought you knew these people," Jack muttered.
"I do," Alex stated. "But you're gonna learn patience. So either shut up, or go to the back of the line."
"Yeah, yeah." I can't wait to see them take me over him.
"Like, totally!"
"What are your powers?" Vance asked, a bit of frustration in his voice.
"Well, I can, like, lift a Porche, browse the Mall in, like, seconds, and not chip a nail when dialing for daddy to send the limo, which would, like, go against everything I stand for."
"Which is?" asked a very disgusted Firestar.
"Like, trashing villainous scumbags who'd, like make the Malls, like, totally tacky places to shop. Bummer!"
Leaning over to Firestar, Vance whispered, "Pump, or dump?"
"DUMP!"
"Nita, if you'd do the honors?"
"And give this gal a really bad hair day? Love to."
Taking Miss Advernture's arm, Nita flew through the skylight, and tossed her into the East River.
Coming to the surface, her shouts could be heard for miles.
"MY MASCARA!"
"Feeel the Suck!" the black-garbed youth intoned, pushing his hands out in front of him. A dark rippling formed before his palms, and a miniature blackhole sprang into existance. The gravitational force was small, but strong enough to pull anything not nailed down toward it.
"YOWZA!" Speedball yelled, trying to keep his ever-present bubbles from being sucked into the black hole.
"That's definately an interesting power," Vance told the youth after the power demonstration was over. "But I think the name needs a little work. Think it over in the waiting area, okay?"
"Because someones gotta knock the legs out from under the badguys."
"Vance, why did you invite her?" Rich asked.
"I asked Ben Grimm for a list of names to keep an eye on," he replied. "Her name was at the top of the list."
"That's high praise, kiddo," Thrash stated. "You must've done something right to impress a member of the Fantastic Four. The waiting area's over there."
Striking a heroic pose, the applicant declared:
"I'm Zenith! The good guy! Cantcha tell?"
"You're rejected!" Thrash stated, popping his armor's titanium blade. "End of story."
"Right," Longbow answered. "If I'm shooting at something, I figure I should either kill it or pin it down. Why waste effort lugging around heavy useless gimmicks?"
"I like this kid, Thrash," Vance stated.
"Yeah. Just what we need on the team," Speedball chipped in. "Another Night Thrasher."
"Just take a seat with the rest of those in the waiting area," Nova told Longbow. "Something tells me yer gonna make it."
"Why did we agree to let Frog-Man and Spider-Kid into the next round?" he grumbled.
"Because I invited them?" Speedball asked in responce.
"I mean other than that."
"Well," Vance stated, "according to the reports Ben let me read, Frog-Man has beaten a number of villains either on his own or with Spider-Kid's help. He even helped out the Defenders, before they broke up."
"And who hasn't helped out the Defenders?" Nova asked, still grumbling. Then he glanced at the next applicant's form. "Porcupine. Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Because my battlesuit was on display at Avengers Mansion?" came the reply.
"Umm... can you use that battlesuit effectively?" Thrash asked.
"I've had it since the Onslaught," replied Porcupine. "I've been practicing every day since. But I've really got no combat experience, if you don't count the two muggers I came across in Central Park last week."
"Fine. Take a seat."
"Word up!"
"And what can you do?"
"Yo, anythin' you's gots undah th'sink, I can slap you a bomb'll blow Magneto sky high."
Looking at each other, then back to Bombadier, the Warriors gave a unanymous thumbs down.<
"Man, I can clean up any mess!"
Vance pulled out a business card and handed it to Janitaris.
"Perhaps you should look into this place, instead," he told the applicant. "Your powers aren't that good in a fight, but might be useful here. They call themselves Damage Control."
"Damage Control, huh? Ya got a phone I can use?"
"There's a pay phone around the corner."
"Thanks a lot!"
"Turncoat," stated a man in his mid-twenties.
"And you can...?"
"Infiltrate any enemy groups, gain their trust, then pass on their secrets to you so they'll be easier to defeat."
"Any enemy group?" Thrash asked.
"Should be able to. I can be very persuasive."
"And you think we should trust you. What makes you think we think you aren't an enemy spy?"
"Well, because I... ah... good point."
Moving around to the front of the table, Firestar embraced her old teammates from the Hellions.
"I thought you two were dead!" she exclaimed.
"Nah," Roulette told her. "My luck powers managed to keep us one step ahead of that wretch Fitzroy. It was taxing, but we survived."
"Catseye happy. Firehair friendly again."
"Sorry. Sometimes I get a spell wrong," the applicant grinned nervously.
"I think we've seen enough, Magitaur," Kymeara choked. "Don't call us, we'll call you."
As the dejected magician wandered off, Nova muttered, "If we have to deal with another mystic applicant, I'll scream."
"Who's next?" Firestar asked.
"Name's Sapphire," a woman spoke up. "Real name's Jen Kale. I'm a sorceress."
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Oh, just thought I'd give the Warriors a second shot. Also, Jack and Julie here are looking for membership."
"Yeah! We're good at property damage," Jack interjected. "Lots of property damage. Even crashed Friday into our apartment building once."
"Friday did that on her own, Jack!" Julie admonished her brother.
"So? It was still cool!"
"QUIET!" Thrash yelled. "Alex, you're welcome back anytime. Julie, from what Alex has told us, you're quite good. But Jack... I'm afraid that for our line of work, you're still a little too young. Try us again in about two years."
"TWO YEARS?! I'm ready NOW!"
"Jack," Alex told him. "Don't."
"Fine. Reject me now, but when you need me most, I may not help out!"
"Name's Pot-Luck."
"Abilities?"
"The battlesuit I'm wearing contains a number of useful weapons and gizmos, designed it myself. For instance, this laser..."
Bringing up her left arm, she aimed the blaster at Nova and fizzled.
"Heh. Needs work. But these infrared sights give me excellent night vision!"
Sliding her visor over her eyes, she squeaked in surprise as the octules blew out.
"Uh...is there anything on that suit that WORKS?" Thrash asked.
"I've got a pneumatic charged grappling hook."
Firing the hook, it fell limply to the floor before getting a bare foot from it's casing.
"Looks like I used up the cartridge getting here," she apologized.
Night Thrasher just groaned.
"Package deal, huh?" Firestar asked. "What are your abilities?"
"Well, Ariel can use doorways to create small tesseract gateways, bending space to her whims," Gomi explained. "Chance can negate or exponentially enhance superhuman abilities, and I myself have the ability to project a pillar of pure telekinetic force. Unfortunately, my own abilities are cybernitic in origin, and experimental, so I have no fine motor control over them."
"A teke blast," Vance commented. "Chance, it says here you're a street fighter."
"That's a fact, pretty-boy."
"Well, we could use all the power we can get," Nova mentioned. "Take a seat, with the others."
"I'm Da Cabbie."
"And you want to join because....?"
"I can gets ya's anywheres ya's wants ya ta go."
"And you can do this how?"
"Wit' my cab."
"And does this cab have any... special abilities?"
"It can gets ya's wheres ya's wants ya ta go."
"I see..."
"Hurry it up, mack. Da metah's runnin'."
"We'll give you a call."
"Ya owes me fifty bucks for dis trip."
"That's right," Persuasion stated. "With Department H in shambles, we thought we'd hang here."
"Well, considering your range of abilities," Nita stated, "and your training, I'm sure you'll have no problem passing the next round. Persuasion, Pathway, Goblyn, Feedback, you just made the cut."
As the four moved over to the now-crowded waiting area, the Warriors breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Is that all of them?" Nita asked.
"Yeah," Justice stated. "Frog-Man, Spider-Kid, Roulette, Catseye, Sapphire, Lightspeed, Spitfire, Ultra Girl, Wildstreak, Magma, Porcupine, Ariel, Gomi, Chance, Longbow, Pathway, Goblyn, Persuasion, Feedback, the Suck, and Twinkle Toes."
"Quite a roster." Darkhawk commented.
"Yeah... Let's see if they pass the next test."
"Count me in for that test," Dagger stated, walking in the door. "Cloak and I had a... falling out, so I thought I'd stop by to ask for full membership."
"No need to ask twice, Dagger," Vance stated. "Welcome back."
"We're gonna need more pizzas," Speedball remarked.
"So go get some."
"My queen," a lower-ranking Nova Corpsman stated, entering the room, "we've been unable to raise Centurion Saal for comments. It is possible that he is dead."
"Then why have we not heard from his replacement?" she asked.
"It is possible he gave the abilities to his replacement before being able to explain everything about us. Also, it is possible, however unlikely, that he returned the abilities to the human known as Richard Rider."
"He was under orders not to do so," Adora stated. "And Garthan Saal has always followed orders. Still.... Send a scout team to Earth to determine the situation. If Rider has regained the abilities of a Nova Centurion, then I'm afraid we have no choice but to strip them from him once again." As much as I admire Rider's courage and spirit, I must do this. Under the Treaty, I have no choice.
"Much better, now, Alex," the smartship replied.
"Don't worry, Alex," Angel called down from the top of Friday's fusilage. "We'll have Friday here back together 100% in no time."
"Good. It'll be great to get back up there. Have you heard anything from Kofi?"
"I'm sorry, Alex, but my subspace communications array is still down. I'll let you know as soon as they are repaired."
"Rina's working on them now?" Alex asked.
"Yes, and doing an admirable job, I might say. I noticed Julie has joined the team. Is Power Pack reactivating?"
"Not yet. We're kinda being absorbed one at a time into the Warriors."
"A more admirable group than I've seen anywhere."
"They should have done more to get Voxz without getting you nearly destroyed in the process," Alex grumbled.
"They did the right thing," Friday explained. "Although I was trying to maintain control of my systems, I was fighting a losing battle. It's a miracle I was able to leave you that trail at all."
"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better."
"Alex," Angel stated, landing next to him, "I kinda know what you're feeling. Someone I once trusted killed a close friend, and nearly made me into her personal assassin. After most of the Hellions died, however, I realized that holding a grudge against her was wrong. I still don't trust her, but I've stopped hating her for it."
"Thanks, Angel."
Hindsight grumbled and cursed at the pannel he was working on as Thrash, Vance and the applicants entered the training area. Snapping the new card into place, he closed the access hatch and gave the Warriors the thumbs up to procede.
"Okay, applicants," Vance stated. "This is your basic obstacle course. We'll be appraising your performance in speed, combat ability, power levels, teamwork, and stress management. You'll go through in groups of two. Frog-Man, Lightspeed, you're up."
Why did I let myself get talked into this? Julie thought to herself. "Costume on!" Swirling patterns surrounded her, replacing her street clothes with her new costume. Gone was the red and black Kymellian design. Replacing it was a similar, yet enhanced pattern of silver and black. From Julie's left shounder to her right foot was abroad band of silver, with the left leg being black, as well as most of the right section of the chest down to her hip, along with a silver stripe along her right shoulder into her silvered arm. She wore black gloves and silver spatted boots. Over her face was a silver halfmask, and on her chest was an off-center blacvk and silver pyramid aligned to the color's borders with the rest of the costume with a silver streak terminating at her right shoulder.
"Ready?" Vance asked.
"Ready," they replied.
"Go."
Lightspeed and Frog-Man leapt into the course. They found it easy at first, as they ran down a corridor of obstacles. Julie simply flew down the hallway, ducking under, over, and around several objects in her way. Frog-Man, on the other hand, used his suit's powered springs to bounce down the floor, ceiling, walls, and several obstacles. As they came to a halt at the end of the passage, they were greeted by a pair of doors.
"Left, or right?" she muttered.
"Open them both," Frog-Man suggested. "Whichever explodes is the wrong choice."
Slowly opening the doors simultaneously, the pair braced for an explosion. Dual explosions rocked through the hallway, as red, blue, green, and orange paint splattered the hallway.
"Very sneaky, Carlton," Vance commented.
"Thank you."
"Okay," Frog-Man muttered, "they both exploded. Got a coin on ya?" Julie rolled her eyes.
"I don't believe this," Julie groaned as she fought her way around the pies towards one of the guns. "Jolt Pop Rox Grenades and Kamikazi Custard Pies. What's next? Anvils?"
In another corner, Frog-Man bounced off both walls before landing on one of the guns. Wrapping his hands around the barrel, he attempted to angle it so it'd be firing at the pies attacking Lightspeed. Without warning, he saw a shadow loom over him. The shadow got larger. And larger. And larger.
At the last second, he leapt out of the way, as an anvil landed on the gun with a loud PLINK!.
"So I used hollow aluminum, instead of solid iron. Sue me."
For a breif moment there was total silence, every eye coming into focus on Frog-Man.
"GET HIM!" everypie yelled in unison, and launched themselves in his direction.
"Lightspeed! Find the exit!" he called out, trying frantically to avoid the deluge of pies.
"Like calling Nita 'babe' wasn't?" Carlton retorted.
"Shut up, squirt."
"I found it," she yelled, and yanked open the hatch concealed in the ball's base.
Getting up a good head of steam, Frog-Man, now covered and dripping with custard, sprang toward the openning, and followed Julie out of the room.
"Eugene," Vance asked, "what was that stunt with the pies back there? Strategy, or stupidity?"
"Desperation," the exhausted Frog-Man breathed, removing his suit's head.
Vance and Rich looked at each other for just a moment before Rich spoke up.
"Well, Speedball would have done the same thing."
"Speedy stumblebum big clutz," Catseye exclaimed, giving her "partner" a not-so-friendly look. "Why stick me with loser?
"At least we know who's not gonna make it," Vance stated. "However, that still leaves us with nineteen applicants to choose from."
Glancing over at the clock, which read 1:09 AM, Thrash stated, "Why don't we call it a night, come back in the morning. I think we'll all be able to handle this in the morning."
Therefore, I'm asking you, the readers, to vote for your five favorite applicants. Highest number of votes makes it in. Duplicate votes will be taken; however, your second vote invalidates the first, the third invalidates the second, and so on.
The applicants are: (pick 5)