Lancelot 4 - 8

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Cover Page

    Gwen looked around at the hundreds of men and women in brightly colored spandex lined up outside of one of Valiant City’s sports stadiums.

“What the fuck am I looking at here?” She asked Knight-fox who was sitting next to her. They were both in full costume and sitting in one of Jack’s Supercars. It felt weird holding a stakeout so publicly.

    “This...” Jack said as she dug into a box of Mike and Ikes. “...is hero tryouts. This is what happens when the world's most famous city has two hero openings at the same time.” Gwen looked out the window and wrinkled her nose.

    “I didn’t know that there were so many unlicensed supers out there.” She turned to see Jack stifling a laugh. “What?” She demanded, a bit incredulous.

    “Most of these guys are licensed. Look.” She pointed to a guy in a bright Orange costume. “That’s Captain Cincinnati. Next to him is Zom from back east and I’m pretty sure I saw Bear-Cat a while back.”

    “So you think this is the target then?” Lance asked.

    “She said she wanted a world without heroes. She’s never going to have a better chance to take out this many again. Besides, with her power copying ability this is a veritable buffet of powers to choose from.” It made sense. Something about it didn’t sit right with Gwen though.

    “Why do you think she didn’t copy my powers last time we fought?” Jack shrugged back at her still looking out the window through binoculars.

    “You must not have gotten close enough to her.” That didn’t seem right, but she decided not to press the point. She checked her watch. Just a few hours and it would have officially been three days since the curse was placed. If this was the target then Prodigy would definitely strike before then. If not…

    Lance pushed that thought aside. As it was she had already outgrown her previous biggest size and she could feel herself slowly getting fatter even despite her calorie burning. Was it getting faster? She shook her head and tried to focus on the crowd. Why did stake outs always involve so much waiting.

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    The Commodore's submarine base was a triumph of modern engineering. It was one of the most heavily armed vehicles in the world and, due to advances of his own design, was one of the few underwater craft that offered anything in the way of luxury. Still, even the most advanced submarines needed to surface occasionally. The Commodore brought the giant vehicle up daily. Him and his minimal crew could survive on the ship’s reserves for over a week, but why waste expensive liquid oxygen when the air was free. It broke the surface in the Valliant city Bay and began breathing in new air before it once again disappeared beneath the waves. It was such a commonplace process that no one even paid attention to the tiny fishing boat near the starboard hull.

    “This thing better work as fast as you say.” Krystal grumbled. “The plan’s fucked if we can’t get in before the alarm goes off.”

    “Relax.” Prodigy commanded more than reassured. She attached the welder and then typed in the diameter of the hole she wanted to cut into its display. She looked over her shoulder at the wide witch behind her and added an extra couple feet. Krystal rolled her eyes but was secretly glad that her boss was more observant than Plasmark had been. She typed in the last few numbers and with a sudden buzz the welder cut a perfect square out of the hull.Prodigy leaped through and Krystal followed afterward nearly tripping on the lip of the newly carved entrance.

    “Move you idiot.” Prodigy hissed as she pushed the fatter woman to the side. She shoved the cut section of the hull back into place and the welding machine sealed it back up. At that same moment The commodore received a system message signifying a hull irregularity. He jumped up in alarm but the screen flashed again and gave an an all clear signal. He sighed and sat back down. Typical. He retrieved his book which he had accidentally thrown in his concern and began reading again.