Superhero Adventures, UK Style

Mary smiled in spite of everything. They had known that their acceptance, in principle, of Dalton’s offer was going to be a hard sell to their existing patron.

The team had gathered in the lounge staring at the wide screen normally used by Frankie when she wanted to talk with the whole team. On this occasion she had elected to ‘sit this one out!’ X-Ray was convinced she was listening in though.

That gave Bethany, still dressed in her school uniform having just finished another day at Claremont Academy, and Jimmy ‘the Fish’ Selachi Jr, her personal lawyer, split screen presences as they jointly castigated them for their decision the previous night.

They had been taking turns to bawl the team out. Jimmy’s objections to Sir Damien Dalton’s offer to fund what he’d called the Sanctuary Project had been a calm and considered warning about getting into bed with the enemy; i.e. Bethany’s estranged father Sir Damien Dalton and, through him, with Labyrinth!

Thirteen-year-old Bethany’s objections had been, shall we say, less delicately stated and primarily focused on why she had filed for emancipation from her father previously and his untrustworthiness. Her arguments, consisting of an impressive display by her of apparently every known swear word, seemingly expressed in at least four different languages including sign, had been a diatribe that had lasted continuously for at least the last fifteen minutes. All apparently without the need for her to blink or breathe, going by the ever-increasing redness of her youthful freckled face.

Mary was quite impressed by Bethany’s intimate knowledge of so many swear words and phrases, though she’d stopped trying to ‘translate’ for a very confused Celestus after the first few minutes. He was struggling to understand why the various acts of intercourse and human (as well as cross-species) reproductive acts were seemingly inserted as every second or third word into Bethany’s objections to their proposal to work out of both the BASEment and this new location in London. Did they still expect her to trust them or continue to fund their endeavours, she asked?

Finally, emotionally exhausted and close to tears, Bethany asked the only question that really mattered; “Why?”

Mary scratched her head and sucked on her pipe, unlit as a favour to an exasperated Jeeves, and screwed up her eyes. “Mebbe it’s cos we have already seen the future?” she hazarded uncertainly. “It’s all a’ awful muddle in me poor old brain, but I t’ink what we saw in th’ days ta come, had Dalton’s Defenders and a world-wide co-ordination of superheroes as bein’ kind of crucial to fightin’ off Terminus?” She raised her shaggy eye-brows and looked around at her fellows, then her face broke into a grin. “Or mebbe we jus’ can’t resist shiny new things?”

X-Ray smiled, “To be sure… to be sure…”

Akira interrupted, for once serious and very calm, “As I believe the great philosopher Al Pacino once said, or possibly it was Sun Tzu; Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”

He paused to let this sink in before following this pearl of wisdom with “We have made no assurances to Dalton of any kind. Quite the reverse in fact. He has promised us autonomy, support, and a public forum in which to attempt to rebuild our tarnished reputations. We have no commitment to him or through him to Labyrinth, and that’s the way it will remain.”

X-Ray nodded, “As a surgeon, I get to see and use trusted routes of excision, but I also have to improvise when things go wrong…

With Labyrinth, things have been going wrong, and this might just be our way to figure out a new route in, to cut out the cancer in full. If Dalton’s Defenders are part of the future, but Mary doesn’t know about Labyrinth’s involvement, then I’m happy to assume that Dalton is destined to become a key figure, not Taurus. If that means that Taurus and his cronies meet an untimely accident… before Terminus returns for the Earth, well… oh dear, what a shame, never mind.

Besides all that, the Earth’s survival is what’s truly important here. I feel her every minute of every day; it’s what I am, and it’s what I do. Without the planet to live on, all this…” He waved his hand around the room, indicating his colleagues and the BASEment in general, “… is for nothing. And that Bethany, is a whole waste of your time, support, and your money.”

A quieter, calmer Bethany interrupted, “Assuming I agree, and I’m not saying I will but if I did, how would you make this work? Are you planning to relocate to this bribe of a building, and what happens to Jeeves and Mikey given that location will be public knowledge? If they transfer to this ‘Sanctuary’ they will likely become targets for your enemies, assuming they don’t elect to stay and risk becoming redundant relics here in Wessex?

I can see ‘Daddy big bucks’ wanting to open at least parts of this new base to the public as a tourist attraction – like the London Watch’s Watchtower has become, so are they expected to become tour guides? How much thought have you put into this?”

Mary looked slightly alarmed. “I wasn’t thinkin’ that we’d be quittin’ our old HQ. Why, sure we can run both, can’t we? One secret an’ one public?”

Celestus was uncomfortable at Bethany’s evident distress and wondered if accepting Dalton’s offer, even conditionally, had been such a good idea. He understood the arguments put forward by the others, however, and the need to preserve harmony in the group.

“I understand your anger, Bethany, but also the arguments of my fellow members of the Balance. I suggest that we agree to cooperate with Dalton’s project, but decline his offer of the building. We have our own established headquarters here, and Dalton’s proposed replacement is indeed a bribe. As a Prince of the Vilani I will serve whatever I choose and with whom I choose, but I will not be bought.”

Mary scratched her head and looked deeply puzzled, as she sucked on her pipe. “So… yer saying’, take no money and no buildin’ but cooperate with his scheme for networking supers? That would be okay, I guess, so long as it don’t mean our own little snuggery here don’t get made public. Though I think he was wantin’ us to run the scheme… which might be a tad safer than lettin’ him have charge of all the choices and decisions.”

Bethany shook her head in disbelief. “If you want to proceed I’ll continue to support you, at least for the present. Just make sure you go into this with your eyes wide open! So, can we confirm where the team stand on this? Jimmy?”

Jimmy shook his head, “I’ve nothing more to say and as long as you pass any contracts or documents to me before you sign anything then I’ll continue to support and work with you for as long as Bethany agrees.”

Bethany smiled for the first time since this ‘debate’ had started. “So the question is does the team agree to work with ‘Daddykins’ and if so, to what extent? Do you accept his deal? Take his money and, or the London base, and so do you retain the BASEment as well? What about recruiting supers, who trains them?

What’s your thoughts? I’ll support, admittedly against my own personal judgement and feelings on this matter, whatever you decide.”

X-Ray spoke first. “I support the idea of training new Metas. I support the idea of using this new facility, and I fully support keeping the BASEment totally secret and as secure as possible, but we start to take the initiative from now on; The Shambles was attacked by The Professor, and he works for Labyrinth, and that was a shameful and repulsive act of violence, but in order to heal the community and Wessex as a whole we tell the world that The Balance is co-operating in this new venture for the benefit of Mankind in the face of threats like Labyrinth and Terminus. We tell the media about Taurus, about Switzerland, we out him, we slap his face in public, and if this is part of his plan, we turn it around and slap him with it again.

We oversee the construction, we remove any bugs, any cameras, we insist on total anonymity at least until full training is completed, and even then it is the meta’s choice as to whether they publicly reveal their identities. My abilities are well-defined in the high-frequency end of the EM Spectrum, less-so in the extremely low end, but I am adapting myself to use the radio wave portion and the alternating current frequencies of mains electricity; with time and effort, I should be able to pull the plug on any electrical power supply and override any kind of communication systems that he or Labyrinth utilise. Eventually, I will be able to neuter The Professor.

If Dalton gives us the free reign that he suggested, then we take it and we run with it. We install our morals into the trainees, not his, not Labyrinth’s – we train heroes, not villains.”

Akira spoke next. “I agree with X-Ray, but only if Bethany can live with the arrangements. I don’t see that we would be sleeping anywhere other than the BASEment. I see this new building as a part time endeavour, possibly even a work from home project. If that’s not acceptable to Dalton or it compromises the secrecy of the BASEment then screw him ! Is that ok with you?” This last question was addressed to Bethany, wrapped in Akira’s most disarming smile. 

She smiled, admittedly it was a wobbly one as she tried to regain her cool.

Celestus remained uneasy but said, “I sense that I am somewhat isolated in my opinion on this matter. For the sake of harmony in the Balance, I vote to accept Dalton’s offer and yes, his money and his building too. We must nevertheless tell Dalton that we shall make our own decisions about to use the money and the building. We would be fools to trust him completely and I agree with Mary that the BASEment should continue to be our headquarters.”

“Seconded” said X-Ray.

That left Mary to have the final say. Mary look with new respect at X-Ray, “Well figured-out, me ‘manny’. Sounds good. And what Akira and Celestus said, too. Good thinking people. I’ll vote for all of that!”

“That’s sorted then!” muttered Bethany, only for a invisible Frankie to interject.

<<Please note that the renovations and alterations to the current facilities will take at least a year before the building is ready for even limited residency and recruitment and background checks of potential staff and team members will take several more months to complete. Can I suggest Designation: The Balance that you give consideration to who they might want to recruit as your initial team members and how you propose managing this scheme?

Meanwhile the rumours circulating on social media still need a strategy and a response.>>

Mary nodded, they’d faced adverse public scutiny before and likely would again, even once this had died away. She had heard from Young Sam about some students at Claremont Academy that might be worth recruiting when they finished their schooling – one in particular stood out, a norm with exceptional physical skills going by the moniker Cadet was certainly worth considering, both as a future member and possibly even as a potential team leader.

Her thoughts were disrupted when X-Ray blurted out; “What about the criminals we keep locking up?  I don’t mean Kaos, that guy can swing, but we may be able to appeal to some of the others ‘better’ natures?

And then there are Dalton’s Defenders… if anyone needs training, it’s them.”

Mary smiled, while she agreed with the diagnosis of the Defenders skills she wasn’t sure she could trust them but who knows,,?