Volume 3, Issue 15

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.  

Dragonfly watched, hoping that their plan would work.  He’d been unsure at first, but once he realized Transcender was awake, and that he’d used his powers over space-time to slow the area around the cage in which Transcender and the other two junior members of Triumph were tied up, he felt a surge of confidence.  

Suddenly, a sinkhole opened up beneath the cage surrounding the young heroes, and all three chairs dropped.  In the chamber below, dug very quickly and very quietly by The Gray Robe using her earth manipulation powers, Cazmonster caught the chairs and begin snapping the young members’ bindings.  On his skateboard, the American Attitude popped out of the hole, but was momentarily caught in Dorado’s time-trap.  Dorado dropped the trap a second later, allowing the full charge to blow through the cage a millisecond later.  Fortunately for The Attitude, the charge was a pulse, not continuous flow; by the time his skateboard slammed the cage door open, it was safe.  

Unfortunately, the ninja were already reacting.  Bullets started to fly, and three tore into the Attitude before he even knew they were coming.  Two were to the arm, and were blocked by the kevlar sewn into his leather jacket, but one bounce off one of the cage’s bars and into his neck.  

Aaron had problems of his own to worry about.  He closed distance with Ie to avoid being shot at, but that meant being close to an expert ninja now armed with the best sword Dragonfly had ever held. He barely managed to dodge the first slice, which would have been across the neck.  However, that left him open to attack from behind.  The ninja who had retrieved the sword still stood there, and cracked Dragonfly across the back with his own sword.  This weapon, while not as good, as still quite sharp, and served to destroy one of Dragonfly’s wings.  Now grounded, Aaron slipped quickly out of the straps and let the useless and slightly cumbersome wings drop.  

Cazmonster was next to burst into the cage, and the bars shattered against his onslaught.  Four ninja approached him, their weapons at the ready.  “For me?”  Caz growled.  “Guys, you shouldn’t have!” he said, plucking one of the sharpened steel blades from a dumbfounded warrior in black.  He then snapped the blade off and used it as a toothpick.  The other two ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke.    

The gunmen on the catwalk above knew better than to try to attack Cazmonster with guns.  They disappeared stealthily onto the roof of the building.  They paused only briefly in the moonlight to determine the quickest way out of the area, not noticing The Gray Robe hovering behind them.  She’d excavated the tunnel from the outside, to better guide the dirt she was pulling out, and when the action started, she flew up into the air to enter from the roof.  Syd grinned at her unsuspecting foes, and dropped a large slab of rock on top of them.  

Inside, Aaron was momentarily distracted as a massive stone slab fell through the cheap roofing, through the catwalk, and onto the concrete floor of the building.  He swung around with his appropriated sword just in time.  His own sword, a gift from his old friend and mentor Tanaka, swung round in the hands of his enemy.  The blades clanked loudly, and Aaron knew that this sword couldn’t stand another hit like that.  Not from that blade.

“Jan!  Get to the Attitude!  Stop the bleeding!” Aaron shouted as Magma flew out from the sinkhole the Gray Robe had created.  She arched sideways and swooped to her fallen team-mate.  Jan took a moment to review her friend’s injuries.  It looked like only a graze, but unfortunately, it seemed to have cut some major blood vessels.  The blood was already spread out on the floor around the American Attitude.  Jan heated her hand and hesitated slightly.  If she screwed this up, it might kill him.  But if she got it right, it could save his life.  With only another moment’s hesitation, she let droplets of lava pour from her fingers onto Barry’s bleeding neck wound.  

Barry screamed in pain, then passed out again.  The blood from his neck slowed to a trickle now that the skin had melted over it.  Satisfied, Jan prepared to enter the fray, but just as she stood, she felt something sharp enter her shoulder.  From behind her, a ninja had run his sword into her back.  Jan cried out in agony, and tried to flail the blade loose from her shoulder.  As she did, she saw her opponent fly past her, smashing into the concrete floor, unconscious.  Feeling a warm hand on her shoulder near the would, she heard Bill’s voice.  

“Jan, relax!”  She stopped moving and tried to stand still despite the pain.  “This is gonna hurt.”  Before she had a chance to comment, Bill had pulled the blade free from her shoulder.  She almost blacked out from the pain, but Bill guided her gently to the ground.  He began to administer first aid.  

As Cazmonster, the Gray Robe, and Transcender finished off the ninjas who had not managed to escape, Aaron was locked in a heated battle with their leader.  This guy is frightening, Aaron thought.  He had found he couldn’t lose his concentration, even for a second.  He had a minor cut only his leg, and a deeper one on his abdomen; both would require stitches.  

Aaron waited for an opening, and took every opportunity he could find, but he’d still not hit his opponent.  With an sudden effort, something inside him sparked to life, and he managed to push through the ninja’s defenses and slice into his chest.   Unfortunately for Aaron, his opponent took the opportunity to bring his own blade in from the side.  The hit almost severed Aaron’s arm at the elbow.  Dropping to his knees, he felt darkness washing over him.  As the leader, the fake Ie Tanaka, went in for the kill, he felt something solid, like a ton of steel, hit his chest.  A lung collapsed, and ribs shattered.  The man flew back at great speed, slamming against the wall with a sickly splat, as Cazmonster stood protectively over Aaron.  “You’re okay, Aaron.  Look at me.  Focus on me…” Aaron dimly heard Cazmonster’s voice as he blacked out.  

*******************************

Aaron awoke hours later in an ICU.  He could tell he’d undergone extensive surgery.  The gash on his stomach was closed, the lesser wound on his leg tended, and his arm was in a sling.  He was heavily sedated.  Probably a good thing, he realized.  Next to him, Syd and Caz (no monster) were discussing their mutual performances in an on-line video game.  Syd was first to notice him awaken.  

“Hey, DF!  Welcome back!” she said, coming to his bedside and touching his good arm.  

 

Aaron struggled to speak, his throat dry from his mouth hanging open after surgery.  Caz poured him a cup of water from the bedside table.  “Here you go, big guy,” he said, offering the cup.  Aaron took hit and drank quickly, dropping the paper cup when he was done.  

“How….Barry?” he managed to cough out.

“Barry’s gonna be fine.  Jan too.  I was able to help them along,” Syd said.  Throughout her career, Syd was, on occasion, able to draw on the powers of the Earth to bring about supernatural healing, but it wasn’t a reliable ability.  She’d been unable to help Aaron much, for example.  

Aaron nodded.  “Good.  Was worried.  How about Bill and Transcender?  Are they…”

“They’re fine, Aaron.  A few cuts and bruises.  They’ll be fine.  Hey, guess what.  Brought you a trophy.”  Caz moved to the closet and drew Dragonfly’s sword.  

“You got it!” Aaron said, trying to sit up and then quickly falling back again.  “I was afraid they’d gotten away with it.”

“No,” Caz said with a half-satisfied sigh, “though they did get away, for the most part.  We got a couple of injured ones, but they both used a suicide pill before we could question them.  Slippery bastards.”

Aaron chuckled slightly.  Disappearing was a particular specialty of the ninja, taught with even more dedication than combat itself.  Aaron held the hilt of the sword, his sword, in his hands.  As much as he couldn’t help but wonder what mysteries lie in the code hidden there, right now was not the time.  He handed the blade back to Caz.

“Take care of it for me, man,” Aaron said.  “I think I need a nap.”   

Volume 3, Issue 14

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.  

If all had gone well on that cold January night, Dragonfly, Cazmonster, The Gray Robe and The American Attitude would have been escorting the younger members of Triumph to a warm hotel, the ninjas who’d kidnapped the junior members having been overwhelmed by the sheer power of the experienced superheroes.  But it didn’t go down quite like that, exactly.

It was bitterly cold that January early morning, and it got colder the further north Dragonfly flew.  Behind him, the Gray Robe, a druid of considerable mystic power, carried the American Attitude.  And in the fields beside, every couple of miles, Cazmonster stirred up dirt and snow as his landed and launched his powerful form once again.  Dragonfly was the first to arrive in Lasalle, the town in northern Illinois where the ninjas had taken the captive younger members of Triumph.  

The small city along the Illinois river was well known to Dragonfly; he’d grown up within a few miles of here.  He wondered, as he flew, what the significance of that was.  The ninjas who were after him obviously knew who he was, and knew the significance of it.  But was there a further connection?  His old friend Ie Tanaka, whom he’d trained with years ago, was also a resident of this area, until he’d disappeared just before Aaron Majesky had gone off to college at Central Illinois University, and Dragonfly had been born.  Aaron wondered in the back of his mind as he landed in the snow-dusted yard of a warehouse, did this have any connection to his old mentor?

The area was deserted at this time of the early AM.  A harsh wind blew from across the river as Dragonfly opened the door to the riverside building and slipped quietly in.  There was no hope that he’d not been noticed, no hope that he was not currently being monitored.  The ninja who’d managed to incapacitate 3 super heroes, however inexperienced, were in many if not all ways his equal.  They had IR cameras, no doubt, and probably had weapons trained on him as soon as he touched down.  But, Aaron thought, that’s no reason to make it easy.  

A second later, the lights turned on, and the entire floor of the warehouse, emptied except for a cage in the center which held the three young heroes tied to chairs, was bathed in a harsh light.  

Jan was obviously heavily drugged; drool tumbled out of her mouth, down her face and onto a pool on the floor, mixing with lava slowly dripping from her fingertips.  Dorado was still out cold, and had a serious bruise on the side of his skull, and an ugly gash on his eye.  Bill was...Bill.  Aaron could read the hate in his eyes from here.  He’d been beaten, as well, but to less effect.  He was tied with high-tensile cable, and even so, he was straining against it.  One second of freedom, and he would have seriously injured the first opponent he could find.   Aaron nodded to him.  

Aaron was immediately calculating.  How far to the other heroes?  What was the tensile strength of the wires on the cage they were in?  How many enemies could he pinpoint in the dark?  Aaron had an advantage, of course, and one perhaps his opponents didn’t know about.  Dragonfly’s costume was equipped with night-vision contact lenses, advanced technology from the same source that supplied his wings.  Aaron spotted at least 10 figures around the room.      

“No need to worry, Aaron,” the figure who approached said.  Was that...it was.  Ie.  Aaron was dumbfounded.  

“Ie.  What happened?”  Aaron knew his friends were listening in.  The heroes of Triumph were waiting to burst in to his rescue.  But if they came in now, before Aaron was certain the others were safe, there would be three new Triumph members added to the deceased list.  Anyway, Aaron wasn’t ready for them yet.  He wasn’t sure what was happening.  Before him stood a friendly face from the past.  Yet that friend was obviously no prisoner here, where young friends clearly were.  Why would Ie Tanaka go to all this effort to get a sword he himself had given to Aaron?  

The answer was, unfortunately, obvious to Aaron.  He wouldn’t.  This person, no matter how much he looked like Aaron’s old martial arts mentor, wasn’t him.  

“Much has passed,” the liar said as he approached Dragonfly.  “Unfortunately, you must give me back the sword I once gave you.”

Aaron pulled the sword, sheath and all, from his back, and held it with both hands.  “Much has passed, if my old friend is kidnapping people to get back what was given.”  Dragonfly drew the blade of the sword, and approached the familiar yet obviously false figure so armed.  

‘Ie’ himself stood back, but gestured to others.  A dart flew from the side, but Dragonfly, the hero who’d defeated the Milan, the swordsman who’d fought beside the powerful Cazmonster and matched wits with the mad Sampson, was more than prepared, and deflected the the toxic dart without effort.  

“Careful,” the fake Ie commented.  “One move too far, your friends are forfeit.”

This gave Aaron pause. Undoubtedly, the ninja who wanted the sword, or him, or both, could kill his young friends on a moment’s notice.  Aaron nodded.  

“You want the sword?  For the lives of my friends?  I can get another sword.  Here.  It’s yours.”  Aaron dropped the blade, which clanked against the concrete as it fell.  But he had his doubts.  His friends’ lives were worth any sword, and then some.  But why these ninja wanted this sword, it puzzled him.  

Ie gestured, and one of the “hidden” ninja scuttled out of the dark to grasp the weapon.  He stood and held it out to his master.  Ie grabbed the sword by the handle and examined it.  

“Well done!  You’ve brought me the real thing, instead of some trick,” he nodded with false courtesy..  “Of course, I have no doubt the others are listening in, and are probably nearby.  I reiterate, if anyone else enters this room, those three die!”

Aaron nodded.  He hoped Syd was being very, very careful.  

“Unfortunately, this meeting is now at an end.  I had to be sure we had the real, legitimate sword, so that I could gain from it the secret information held in the markings on its hilt.”  Fake Ie was nodding as he inspected it.  

Aaron cocked his head and an eyebrow and thought back.  He’d never seen anything he thought was Japanese, or any other language he knew, written on the hilt of his sword.  If he had, he would have researched its meaning, hoping to find a clue as to what happened to...to Ie.  Aaron’s shoulders slumped, and if he could have face-palmed himself without being obvious, he would have.  Ie went somewhere secret, but left Aaron some means of finding him.  He’d totally overlooked it.  And now, his enemies knew where he was, or would, once they analysed that hilt.  

Fake Ie continued talking.  “Now, your life must end.  It is a pity I couldn’t spare your young friends, but they’ve seen too much.   Such is the way of secrecy.  Ie nodded to someone on a catwalk.  

“Now!” Aaron shouted, but he feared it was too late.  Suddenly, the cage Bill, Jan and Dorado were in was electrified.  But not.  Aaron noticed that he could see light sparking down the cable into the cage, but slowly.  That’s when he saw Dorado, AKA Transcender, lift up his head.  He wasn’t unconscious!  That little rat was faking!  He’d slowed time near the cage, so their plan would have time to take effect!

Volume 3, Issue 13

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.  

Jan Graylin walked home from her evening class on a cold, starlit January night.  She never heard her attack, never got a chance to bring her mighty power to generate and control lava to bare.  All she felt was a sharp pain at the base of her skull, and then nothing.  As Jan’s consciousness faded, she was vaguely aware of being pulled across the ground, though her eyesight had failed her.

Aaron opened his eyes late that same evening just as the messenger left.  His window had been cut open, and a note, shaped as a paper shuriken, tossed in.  Aaron had known the second his visitor had touched the ledge; he’d installed pressure sensors there after the first attack.  But it was better his stalkers not know he was following them.  Sliding out of the covers, Dragonfly strapped on his mask and grabbed the paper shuriken note before exiting via the same window.

The January air was frigid, and Dragonfly was immediately grateful of the jacket he’d thought to put on over his usual sleeveless uniform.   The ninja was good.  Aaron had almost lost sight of him right out of the gate.  Had he not been scanning the area for motion, he would not have seen the very normal-looking young man walking out of the dorm across the street.  Even so, most people would have dismissed him as unrelated to the event.  But Aaron was immediately suspicious.  He zoomed in on the man with his high-tech contact lenses to find that this man was not “young” at all.  Odd, that a 30 year would be walking out of a dorm’s side exit at this time of night.  

Dragonfly clung to the tips of a tree, balancing precariously.  He needed to be careful here.  Following a normal street thug, or even a Milan soldier, was one thing.  Following a trained ninja who was expecting pursuit was another entirely.  Sitting silently in the chill air, he watched as the man rounded the corner of a nearby pasta restaurant.  As he was waiting for his prey to be far enough away that he couldn’t hear any trace of Dragonfly’s wings as he followed, Aaron opened the “shuriken” note.  He was momentarily stunned as he read it.

“Dragonfly.  We have your companions, the beginners.  They are unharmed.  Come to the coordinates included below and they will remain so.  Bring the sword, but no other allies.”

Aaron nodded.  So they had the younger members of Triumph, or at least some of them.  As a large truck passed the dorms, Dragonfly buzzed as quickly as he could to the roof of Carlini’s.  He dropped the last ten feet, and tumbled to a  halt.  Peering over the edge of the building, he could find no sign of the “messenger”.  He had been afraid that would happen, but revealing he was following would have had the same results, or something worse.  Standing, Dragonfly flew into the air and headed toward the lights of downtown Stevenson.      

Dragonfly touched down on the icy rooftop observation area of the Citadel, looking into the main recreation room.  Using his identity key, he slid the door open and walked into the headquarters.  Dragonfly immediately heard the voices of Barry Stills and Cazmonster discussing something in the meeting room.

As Dragonfly walked in, Barry looked up.  “Good, you’re here.  I think we might have a problem.”

“I know,” Dragonfly nodded.  “Ninjas are kidnapping our junior members.”

“Okay, THAT’S a problem!” Barry said, looking at Cazmonster as he pointed to Dragonfly.

Cazmonster just chuckled.  “Ninjas?  What are they gonna do, pelt me with Chinese throwing stars?  Maybe poke me with a sword?”

Dragonfly shook his head, indicating his profound disagreement with Caz’s attitude.  “This is bad, CM.  Since their recent attack on me failed, they’ve obviously changed tactics.  Here.  I found this.”  With that, Aaron threw the note on the meeting room table.  Barry read it quickly.  

“So that’s what’s happened,” Barry said, gritting his teeth and slapping the paper with his other hand emphatically.. “ I was trying to get in touch with Bill and Dorado, and was surprised to find their private cells off-line.  Syd was supposed to meet with Jan earlier for coffee, and she never showed, so I got suspicious.”

“So, those are coordinates on the paper, right?” Cazmonster asked eagerly.  “Let’s call Syd and go get these guys.”

“I don’t know, Caz,” said Dragonfly, scratching his chin thoughtfully.  “They want me to go alone.  I’d hate to see would happen to others if we show up guns blazing, so to speak.  They might knife them before we could react, and disappear into the darkness, leaving us with three dead members to explain to their parents.”

“Huh-uh, No way,” Barry said adamantly.  “You’re not going in there alone.  These are seasoned killers, if what you told us is accurate.  If they want you, it can’t be for anything good.”

“One more thing.  They want the sword.  My sword.  I think it somehow involves an old friend of mine, someone I lost touch with long ago.”  

Aaron thought for a moment, then nodded to himself as if deciding.  “I think you’re right, Barry.  Going in alone is a bad idea.  I can’t prepare for these guys.  When I infiltrated the Milan I had the element of surprise, and even then they almost killed me.  There’s no way I’d make it out of there alive, and no guarantee they’d free the others after they’d killed me and gotten the sword.”

“Right,” Barry said, grabbing his skateboard from his chair at the meeting table.  “Let’s go!”

“One problem; no Adept,” Aaron reminded Barry.  “He’s still in a coma.  We need to somehow get there, quietly, and you guys need to keep a distance while I head in.  That would be a lot easier with Rick there to teleport us around.”  

“Well, quiet or not, the fastest way for us to get there is the ‘copter.”  In the background, Cazmonster was already contacting Syd, The Gray Robe, the only other member of Triumph currently able to help.  

“True,” Aaron said, “but we don’t need fast.  They’re expecting me to fly there, and probably to leave soon.  Syd can fly; let her carry you.  Cazmonster will have to leap along.  I’ll try to go slow.”

As soon as The Gray Robe arrived, the four heroes left for the northern Illinois town to which the coordinates led, Barry complaining about the cold the entire way.

Volume 3, Issue 12

Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!

Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.                                                             
                                            
Aaron awoke to the sound of frozen rain hitting his dorm room window.  After the Anti-Man incident, the rest of winter break had been uneventful.  He’d gone home for an uneventful eight night of Hanukkah with his mom, and visited his dad in the care facility.  Aaron had come back the very next day.  He couldn’t stand the microcosm of his hometown.  His mom was used to her own ways, and didn’t need him getting under foot, anyway.  

He thought about the week before, about the old team heading up to Chicago and facing off against the Anti-Man again, after the CPD had notified them. That was the night they’d been at Jake’s, having fun and remembering the old times.  Mere hours later, they were at UC Hospital, fighting to save Rick Pennington’s life.  Syd had been contacted, and had rushed to the scene to save him.  Nevertheless, The Anti-Man’s attack had been devious.  He deposited a portion of his dark soul into Rick, and it almost succeeded in killing him.  In the end, magic and science had won out over whatever dark place The Anti-Man came from, and Rick had stabilized.  He was still in a coma.  

Aaron sat up and looked at the clock.  3 AM.  He hadn’t slept well since Emily had broke the news.  Aaron sighed as he looked out at the falling rain.  Then, his brows wrinkled.  For a split instant, he thought he saw something on the wall of the next dorm; they were seven floors up.

Suddenly, the glass of Aaron’s window shattered, a large piece cutting his forehead as he dove to avoid the majority of it.  Rolling to his feet, Aaron searched for a cause to the vandalized window.  Instead, he caught an unexpected foot to the chest.  

Flipping backward, Aaron caught a glimpse of his opponent before he was gone again.  Realizing his opponent could be unseen at will, Aaron closed his eyes to force himself to rely on his other senses.  This time, he caught a sound of motion behind him, just before a powerful slice of a sword, a shinobi sword very similar to his own, cut where Aaron’s head had been.  Aaron dodged to the side, and struck sideways with his fist using all his might.  A snap and the feel of cloth and breaking bone let Aaron know he’d struck home.  

“Die, son of uragirimono!” A knife sliced into Aaron’s arm, and he knew right away it was poison.  He had only minutes, perhaps seconds to finish this fight.  Fortunately, his roommate, Caz, as stirring in the upper bunk.  

“Wha?” Caz said, looking down to see Aaron locked in combat with an armed man dressed in all black.  Flipping his legs over the side of his bunk, Caz fell to the floor as he transformed into the powerful cyber-werewolf known as Cazmonster.

A startled look appeared on the ninja’s face; clearly his intel had been lacking.  He had not expected to fight the equivalent of a saikō no gakusei AND some super kaiju at the same time.  He realized his mistake too late; raising his sword arm barely managed to avoid a knock-out blow from Aaron.  

Flipping backward, the ninja barely evaded Cazmonster’s long grasp.  Realizing his opportunity was lost, the ninja sprayed a yellow gas out of a jet below his wrist.  Aaron dodged to cover his mouth.  Cazmonster, however, breathed the gas in deep.   His lungs momentarily affected, Cazmonster entered a coughing fit.  When he had recovered, he and Aaron stood alone in the room once again?

“Friend of yours?” Cazmonster asked in his low, echoing voice.

“No idea.  pretty obviously a ninja, though.” Was Aaron’s reply.  

Cazmonster and Dragonfly searched the entire campus over the next two hours, but found no trace of Aaron’s assailant.  It was breakfast time when the two heroes finally returned to the dorm.    

The freshmen were quite interested in the two heroes coming in for breakfast, even though Cazmonster had changed back.  Dragonfly still wore his costume, though he’d removed his mask and held his wings in his hand.  The sophomores on up were used to these two heroes, and several others besides, coming and going in their dorm.  It was just Langley Hall.

After signing a couple autographs, the heroes sat down at the table with Barry Stilles, aka The American Attitude.  Stilles was on the phone with the director of the ERT down at the Stevenson PD.

“I don’t care what some lunatic pretending to be me says, I never called Taco Bob’s and told them to strip search an employee!”  Barry waved loosely at Aaron and Caz as they sat.  He hung up the phone a few seconds later.    

“Can you believe that?  Someone’s watching too many movies!” Barry said, taking a bite of his hash browns.  “What’s up with you guys?  DF, you’re in uniform awfully early this February morning.  What gives?”

“We had a nocturnal visitor.  Ninja,” Aaron said quietly, sipping his milk.

“No way!  A real bona fide ninja!  Like in the 80s movies!” Barry said, uncharacteristically enthusiastic.

Aaron motioned for him to be quiet.  He’d learned enough about these things to know ninjas had eyes in unexpected places.  He didn’t want to draw undo attention.  Someone could wind up dead, and Aaron didn’t want that on his hands.  “Yeah, like that.”

Barry leaned in conspiratorially.  “Looks like you’ve got some enemies.”

“Evidently.  I’m not sure...” Aaron said, thinking back to his training…

Three years earlier..

It was night in the small town in eastern Illinois, home to one Aaron Majesky.  For two years, Aaron had been taking whatever opportunities he could to meet Ie Tanaka.  Ie was a martial arts enthusiast, a businessman who’d transferred from Japan to work at a local Japanese owned auto plant.  

The unlikely pair met months before at a martial arts expo in Aurora.  Striking up a conversation about a savate demonstration they had both attended.  Aaron had been surprised to learn that Tanaka lived in his same small home town.  The two became friends, and studied various martial arts styles and techniques together.  

One evening, Aaron had noticed a shinobi-to, a ninja sword, among Tanaka’s weapons.  It was worn and used, obviously a combat weapon, not a practice sword or a decoration.  Tanaka brushed it off as an antique, a weapon he’d picked up at an auction in Japan.  Aaron had fallen in love with that sleek blade, straight, short, and razor sharp.  

As the months went by, Aaron’s skill grew quickly.  Tanaka, being ten years his senior, was much more experienced and trained than Aaron, but the two fought as equals, and Ie was surprised at the level of natural aptitude Aaron displayed.  Then, at the end of the school year before Aaron went off to college at CIU for the first time, Tanaka vanished.  Aaron was never able to figure out what had happened to him.  But Tanaka left him one parting gift: the shinobi sword he’d grown so fond of.  Aaron had used it, as well as the special equipment he’d fallen into possession of, to become Dragonfly.

Now...

Aaron looked up as Barry stood with his tray.  “Gotta get to class.  Later, DF, CM.”

“Hey, where you at, big man?” Caz asked Aaron, noticing he was distracted.

“Just thinking.  Thinking maybe it’s time I looked up an old friend.”  If ninja were involved, and Tanaka’s possession of what was now Dragonfly’s sword had not been the result of clever antique shopping as he had said, perhaps the two situations were connected.  And unlike a teenage pre-hero coming to college for the first time, Dragonfly now had the skills and the resources to try and find out how.