[color=brown][b][u]No Longer Airborne[/u][/b][/color] ----------------- Thunder Fox speaking. When the C.I.D.F. said that there were other supernatural forces out there picking up where CNG left off, they were not telling lies, because now, a very strange thing has happened to all of us. Super C had always been the exception because he comes from Caticon, and his powers come from special circumstances. But now, it has come to the point where any G-52 that can fly can no longer do so. Well, we do not have the powers of flight unless, and this is important, we are wearing our battle uniforms (the G-52 term for a supercostume). This used to be a circumstance that was unique to Cripto, but now, it's true of everybody that has the powers of flight. No tights, no flights. Okay; my uniform is actually modern spandex, but you get the picture. Is this bothersome to ask, you ask? Well, no. Not really. None of us ever had a reason to fly unless we were wearing the battle uniforms anyway. We knew it was possible because there was a case one time where D.W. was not wearing her battle uniform, but her Supercross gear. (She has since retired from the sport, but she is a commentator for Supercross when WBC does coverage of the sport.) Yet she had to jump out of the way when a bank robber decided to go after her, because he thought she was in the way of what he was doing. All she did was cross paths with him. When she jumped to avoid the robber, she was still airborne! That spooked him so much, he let out a ragged yell of terror, and then virtually broke down in tears as the police came to arrest him. "Is this embarrassing?" the cops asked D.W. "It is in one respect," she said, "but on the other hand, it isn't, because everybody already knew I was a superhero." She brought herself back down to the ground. "I'd rather keep my feet on the ground, though." "I thought superheroes didn't give away their secret identities." "Traditionally, they don't, but don't forget that the boss got unmasked one day, and the world now knows all sides of him. Since then, e's given everybody the option of whether or not they want to reveal it. If they want to keep it secret, then we have to keep it secret, although you police officers are allowed in on the secret." (For identification purposes, Super C has always let the police know both identities of each G-52.) "Otherwise, we let it out in the open, so everybody knows that I'm Danger Woman when I'm not Jennifer McCartney." "Oh, yes; that's a very good point." -------------- Today, we woke up to another blinding flash, just like we did with the big explosion that signified the end of CNG. "Am I still dreaming?" I asked myself as I grudingly got out of bed. "I hope CNG did not come back from the dead. I'd better call the boss." I reached for my communicator and did so, only to discover that the boss was actually calling me. He spotted it before I did, and so when he sent the communications signal out, he put the G-52 app in party line mode so all the G-52s could hear him, loud and clear. "Oh, hi," I replied. "I was about to call you." "Oh, were you?" Super C replied. "I am sorry to wake you, and I am sorry to wake everybody, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't seeing any hallucinations. Did everybody see a blinding flash?" "Yes," most of us replied. "I was afraid of that." "I just hope CNG didn't come back from the dead," I added. "I don't think it's ever going to come back. When Cripto slayed those supernatural creatures that were discovered to be the creators of it, it went along with them, and so if they're dead for all eternity, it is dead for all eternity." "You don't know how big a relief that is," came Cripto's voice from the other end of the line. "I worked hard to purify my mind the best I could after fighting those creatures." "What were they doing?" "Attacking Zanta's world. I had no idea they were the reason CNG existed. I thought they were just nightmares on top of nightmares, and so, in obedience to the white kitten, I fought them and beat them." "Whatever; the main thing is they're all gone. Everybody meet me at HQ, and we'll figure it out from there." "Okay." "Cripto, can I have you summon portals for everybody?" "Sure thing." 30 seconds later, the screen went blank. ----------- Later, everybody met at G-52 HQ, and including my dad, Prius (because he's the founder and Supreme Admiral), the C.I.D.F. sent a bunch of its agents over as well. (The C.I.D.F. followed the lead of the various incarnations of [i]Star Trek[/i] by using Navy rankings instead of Army rankings, then modifying it a bit; that's why he's the Supreme Admiral.) "So I called everybody here," he said to the C.I.D.F., "because I am curious to know what that blinding flash was, and what it did to all of us if it did anything to us." "We'll do some of the tests we do when we show a new recruit what powers they got," Dad replied. Everybody cooperated, and we had Cripto summon various objects to help us test these methods out. I can't speak about what we did because that is strictly confidential, and anybody who asks will never know the answers until they die and go to heaven or hell, whichever it ends up being. There are severe consequences to both us for giving the secrets away if we do it, and to those who figure it out, because they know too much. Everybody relax, though. We get so busy with we do in our day to day lives (Cripto especially) that we forget about these things sometimes. -------- It was the jump test that revealed it to everybody. "So we have to point out that in your case, Cripto, this was always the case with you," Dad said. "But now, it applies to everybody. If you have the superpowers of flight, and you are wearing your battle uniform, you can fly. If you don't have the uniform on, you can't fly." "It had to do a blinding flash just for that?" said my cousin, Furious Fox. Everybody was clearly unhappy with the supernatural, but there was no use in filing a complaint about it. Still, some let out a groan or two. "Trust us," Prius replied. "We aren't happy about it either. It could have just sent us a message on an index card, or something." "I wonder if it does this to us just to make us mad?" D.W. commented. "You did say it picked up from where CNG left off." "We did, and it's the truth. I do believe there are times where it acts the way it acts just for the sole purpose of making us angry. Think of it as if we are Tom and it is Jerry. Know what I mean?" Indeed, many old [i]Tom & Jerry[/i] cartoons had scenes where Jerry was mean to Tom just to be mean to him. Still, it was the truth. Everybody soon found, however, that there was an index card in their possession (probably prompted by the comment about the index cards), and the background color on the index card matched the primary chest color of our battle uniforms. (Super C wears a costume of crimson and yellow, for instance, but the boots, cape, gloves, belt, and mask he wears are red, so the chest color is yellow. Thus, he had a yellow index card.) The information written on the index card confirmed the blinding flash did this to us. --------- In the end, it did not really have an effect on our overall lives. It was just toying with us just to make us angry. How many people do you know that have done this to you? Feel free to tell us in the letters you write to us, okay? Just write it in such a way so that Super C can approve a response. -------------- Thus ends the news flash (pun intended). Sleep well, public. The supernatural isn't doing this to you. Just us, but promise us you'll also pay attention, will you? Thanks. Good night. ------------ [color=lightyellow][b]THE END[/b][/color]