I Can Not Tell a Lie But I Kind Of Have To
The Stars Look Cool Squirt
“Millie?” I called timidly into the night. No response.
“Millie,” I said a little louder. I was waiting at the playground, like she had told me, in pitch black. And I must say it was starting to spook me a little. The castle behind me seemed so warm and friendly during the day but now it was lurking in the dark, as if it were waiting to swallow me whole.
The eerie silence of the night was suddenly broken by an incredibly loud thud. I jumped and spun around.
“What the hell?” I shouted at Millie, who was standing on the roof of the castle, laughing.
“Man, you jumped like a little school girl!” she cried. I waited for her to finish laughing before I said anything.
“How did you get up there?” I finally asked. She looked around, as if realizing she had just gotten there.
“I have no idea,” she said. “But its cool up here. Come on.”
“If you don’t know how you got up there, how am I supposed to get there?”
“Can you fly or not?” she asked. Oh yeah. So I flew up there and landed next to her on the roof. She sat down and leaned back looking at the sky.
“Wow,” she said amazed. “The sky looks amazing!”
“Yeah, amazing,” I said distractedly, staring at her and waiting for her to explain things to me. When she didn’t say anything for a while, I said, “So can I go or are we here for a reason?” She looked up at me with a don’t-get-smart-with-me face.
“Sit down,” she said, moving over a little. “We have a lot to go over.”
“Okay,” I said sitting down, “what exactly do we need to go over?”
“Basically everything,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Let’s narrow that down.”
“Don’t sass me boy,” she snapped suddenly. She took a deep breath. “I guess we’ll start from the beginning.”
“The beginning of what?”
“Of time.”
“Seriously?” She burst out in laughter.
“No you moron!” she cackled. She took another deep breath and stopped laughing. “The beginning of superpowers.” She said these words with so much feeling that you would have thought these were her dying words.
“When the first few supers were born--”
“When was that?”
“I don’t know, 1700’s,” she guessed. “Anyway, when they were born, there was basically chaos because--”
“Everyone was running around using they’re powers.”
“Yes, and don’t finish my sentences,” she said pointing her finger at me. “So, people were either confused or scared or… what do I know? I wasn’t there. But eventually, like in the late 1800’s, some guy was able to control himself. He helped other supers do the same.”
“So, what’s the problem? Why are you here?”
“I’m not done bozo,” she barked. “But of course, there were some supers who didn’t want to listen to him and started some league or group against this guy. And that’s where the role of the trusty villain comes in.”
“Who was the guy? The super?”
“We don’t know his true identity but he was called Commodore Albino,” she said. I snorted.
“What?” I laughed.
“Yup, Commodore Albino,” she said, nodding her head. “He was apparently really, really pale. Not tan at all. Now back to our little story. So, some of Commodore Albino’s supporters wanted to fight back, you know? Commodore Albino just believed that the whole thing would blow over, and there was no reason to make up some team of superheroes. So, everyone listened, but they eventually did form a group.”
“What made them form the group?” I asked.
“Clusters of atomic explosions in Antarctica, Europe, and Africa,” she said plainly.
“Explosions?” I croaked.
“Yeah,” she said. “The supers figured that it was those other guys. Commodore Albino didn’t need convincing and formed HQ.”
“What’s the other group called?”
“Fight Against Commodore Albino, or FACA,” she said, pronouncing it FAH-KAH. “Not too original.”
“Head Quarters isn’t too original either,” I said pointedly.
“That’s not the real name. The real name is much longer.”
“What is it?”
“The Commodore’s Conquest of Searching For Super Souls to Help Reform Our World,” she said. “Most people just say Conquest.”
“Okay, so did the bad guys win?” I asked.
“Win what?” she asked confused. “There wasn’t any battle or anything. FACA and HQ’s relationship is more like the cops and robbers. We wait for FACA to act up and then we go after them. But in the mean time, we track new supers, train them up, and then send them off to do good in the world. Which is where we come in.”
“When you were born, your name was added to the Master List,” she said. “A gigantic list of all the supers in the world and their powers. So, whenever you used your powers when you were a kid, we would know.”
“Then why didn’t I get any messages or warnings from Conquest?” I asked.
“Cuz you weren’t hurting anyone or letting anyone know about your powers,” she said. “If you did, we would have broken down your front door and whisked you away to HQ before you could blink.”
“Lovely,” I mumbled.
“But eventually, we need to let you know about all of this,” she said. “So, they send someone to watch over you and decide when to tell you all of this.”
“And you wait 16 years?”
“No, it’s usually 10 years but everyone down at HQ thought you were extremely mature and you could handle everything.” I beamed.
“I thought it was a load of crap.” I dropped the smile.
“So, here I am!” she shouted happily and threw out her arms, almost knocking me off the roof. I sat up again and stared at her. She gazed at the sky.
“Hold it,” I said. “There are a few gaps in this little story of yours. You’ve been watching me for a week?”
“Well, technically, for the past month,” she said, ticking off weeks on her fingers. “You’ve just known me for the past week.” She looked up at the sky again.
“This is weird,” I mumbled.
“Huh?” She whipped her head back to me.
“Nothing,” I said. “And how exactly did they pick you to stalk me?”
“Well, I basically live at HQ,” she said. “The leader’s known me since before I was born.”
“Before?”
“He was psychic.”
“Oh,” I said. “So, who works at Conquest?”
“A few retired supers, some who were born into a super family without powers, and a handful of great supers of the past.” She looked at the sky.
“One more question.” She closed her eyes and sighed dramatically.
“What squirt?” she said irritated.
“What exactly are your powers?” I asked tentatively.
“Well, you saw I have speed and control of heat on the news,” she said. “But I sometimes get these visions. It’s not like in movies where I go into a trance or have to draw out what I see. I just space out, see what I see, and come back in. That’s how I knew it was going to rain on Friday.”
She stared at the sky once again, and we shifted into a long silence; her, stargazing and me processing the information.
“Okay, squirt,” she said eventually, pulling away from the sky. “When should we start?”
“Start what?”
“Training!” she said, annoyed. “Haven’t you been listening?”
“I though I was going to Conquest to train.”
“No squirt. Not until you’ve reached Hot Stuff level,” she said.
“Who’s training me?” I asked, knowing who it would be but praying I was wrong.
“Your very own stalker of course!” she said smiling. “We’ll train for a few weeks, then we’ll leave for HQA.”
“HQA?” I said.
“HQ Academy, as I like to call it,” she said. “It beats saying The Commodore’s School Of Super Souls.”
“And when will I go there?”
“We’ll go there when I say we will, squirt,” she said.
“And where is Conquest and HQA?”
“New Zealand,” she said.
“New Zealand?” I said incredulously. “I thought Conquest was in the country!”
“Nope,” she said, standing up. “Its in New Zealand squirt.”
“And one last question.”
“Shoot, squirt.”
“What’s with this squirt business?”
“Millie,” I said a little louder. I was waiting at the playground, like she had told me, in pitch black. And I must say it was starting to spook me a little. The castle behind me seemed so warm and friendly during the day but now it was lurking in the dark, as if it were waiting to swallow me whole.
The eerie silence of the night was suddenly broken by an incredibly loud thud. I jumped and spun around.
“What the hell?” I shouted at Millie, who was standing on the roof of the castle, laughing.
“Man, you jumped like a little school girl!” she cried. I waited for her to finish laughing before I said anything.
“How did you get up there?” I finally asked. She looked around, as if realizing she had just gotten there.
“I have no idea,” she said. “But its cool up here. Come on.”
“If you don’t know how you got up there, how am I supposed to get there?”
“Can you fly or not?” she asked. Oh yeah. So I flew up there and landed next to her on the roof. She sat down and leaned back looking at the sky.
“Wow,” she said amazed. “The sky looks amazing!”
“Yeah, amazing,” I said distractedly, staring at her and waiting for her to explain things to me. When she didn’t say anything for a while, I said, “So can I go or are we here for a reason?” She looked up at me with a don’t-get-smart-with-me face.
“Sit down,” she said, moving over a little. “We have a lot to go over.”
“Okay,” I said sitting down, “what exactly do we need to go over?”
“Basically everything,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Let’s narrow that down.”
“Don’t sass me boy,” she snapped suddenly. She took a deep breath. “I guess we’ll start from the beginning.”
“The beginning of what?”
“Of time.”
“Seriously?” She burst out in laughter.
“No you moron!” she cackled. She took another deep breath and stopped laughing. “The beginning of superpowers.” She said these words with so much feeling that you would have thought these were her dying words.
“When the first few supers were born--”
“When was that?”
“I don’t know, 1700’s,” she guessed. “Anyway, when they were born, there was basically chaos because--”
“Everyone was running around using they’re powers.”
“Yes, and don’t finish my sentences,” she said pointing her finger at me. “So, people were either confused or scared or… what do I know? I wasn’t there. But eventually, like in the late 1800’s, some guy was able to control himself. He helped other supers do the same.”
“So, what’s the problem? Why are you here?”
“I’m not done bozo,” she barked. “But of course, there were some supers who didn’t want to listen to him and started some league or group against this guy. And that’s where the role of the trusty villain comes in.”
“Who was the guy? The super?”
“We don’t know his true identity but he was called Commodore Albino,” she said. I snorted.
“What?” I laughed.
“Yup, Commodore Albino,” she said, nodding her head. “He was apparently really, really pale. Not tan at all. Now back to our little story. So, some of Commodore Albino’s supporters wanted to fight back, you know? Commodore Albino just believed that the whole thing would blow over, and there was no reason to make up some team of superheroes. So, everyone listened, but they eventually did form a group.”
“What made them form the group?” I asked.
“Clusters of atomic explosions in Antarctica, Europe, and Africa,” she said plainly.
“Explosions?” I croaked.
“Yeah,” she said. “The supers figured that it was those other guys. Commodore Albino didn’t need convincing and formed HQ.”
“What’s the other group called?”
“Fight Against Commodore Albino, or FACA,” she said, pronouncing it FAH-KAH. “Not too original.”
“Head Quarters isn’t too original either,” I said pointedly.
“That’s not the real name. The real name is much longer.”
“What is it?”
“The Commodore’s Conquest of Searching For Super Souls to Help Reform Our World,” she said. “Most people just say Conquest.”
“Okay, so did the bad guys win?” I asked.
“Win what?” she asked confused. “There wasn’t any battle or anything. FACA and HQ’s relationship is more like the cops and robbers. We wait for FACA to act up and then we go after them. But in the mean time, we track new supers, train them up, and then send them off to do good in the world. Which is where we come in.”
“When you were born, your name was added to the Master List,” she said. “A gigantic list of all the supers in the world and their powers. So, whenever you used your powers when you were a kid, we would know.”
“Then why didn’t I get any messages or warnings from Conquest?” I asked.
“Cuz you weren’t hurting anyone or letting anyone know about your powers,” she said. “If you did, we would have broken down your front door and whisked you away to HQ before you could blink.”
“Lovely,” I mumbled.
“But eventually, we need to let you know about all of this,” she said. “So, they send someone to watch over you and decide when to tell you all of this.”
“And you wait 16 years?”
“No, it’s usually 10 years but everyone down at HQ thought you were extremely mature and you could handle everything.” I beamed.
“I thought it was a load of crap.” I dropped the smile.
“So, here I am!” she shouted happily and threw out her arms, almost knocking me off the roof. I sat up again and stared at her. She gazed at the sky.
“Hold it,” I said. “There are a few gaps in this little story of yours. You’ve been watching me for a week?”
“Well, technically, for the past month,” she said, ticking off weeks on her fingers. “You’ve just known me for the past week.” She looked up at the sky again.
“This is weird,” I mumbled.
“Huh?” She whipped her head back to me.
“Nothing,” I said. “And how exactly did they pick you to stalk me?”
“Well, I basically live at HQ,” she said. “The leader’s known me since before I was born.”
“Before?”
“He was psychic.”
“Oh,” I said. “So, who works at Conquest?”
“A few retired supers, some who were born into a super family without powers, and a handful of great supers of the past.” She looked at the sky.
“One more question.” She closed her eyes and sighed dramatically.
“What squirt?” she said irritated.
“What exactly are your powers?” I asked tentatively.
“Well, you saw I have speed and control of heat on the news,” she said. “But I sometimes get these visions. It’s not like in movies where I go into a trance or have to draw out what I see. I just space out, see what I see, and come back in. That’s how I knew it was going to rain on Friday.”
She stared at the sky once again, and we shifted into a long silence; her, stargazing and me processing the information.
“Okay, squirt,” she said eventually, pulling away from the sky. “When should we start?”
“Start what?”
“Training!” she said, annoyed. “Haven’t you been listening?”
“I though I was going to Conquest to train.”
“No squirt. Not until you’ve reached Hot Stuff level,” she said.
“Who’s training me?” I asked, knowing who it would be but praying I was wrong.
“Your very own stalker of course!” she said smiling. “We’ll train for a few weeks, then we’ll leave for HQA.”
“HQA?” I said.
“HQ Academy, as I like to call it,” she said. “It beats saying The Commodore’s School Of Super Souls.”
“And when will I go there?”
“We’ll go there when I say we will, squirt,” she said.
“And where is Conquest and HQA?”
“New Zealand,” she said.
“New Zealand?” I said incredulously. “I thought Conquest was in the country!”
“Nope,” she said, standing up. “Its in New Zealand squirt.”
“And one last question.”
“Shoot, squirt.”
“What’s with this squirt business?”
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its 2:30 AM, i'm tired, i have volleyball tomorrow at 8, so... comment and subscribe. good nite!