Whew

Sorry about that. It's been a hectic, um, week and a half since I last posted. For mostly good reasons, though.

Alright, guess I should fill you guys in on what happened at the museum on Saturday. Well, the date actually went pretty well. The guy at the front gave me a little flak, but he backed down when he realized I was A, willing to pay, and B, very, very large.

We didn't go straight for the diamond. Instead, we took a little tour around the museum, saw the dinosaurs, got some overpriced churros, etc. You know, museum stuff. And then we got to the diamond.

It was more impressive than I thought it would be. The gem was bigger than my head and sea green.

It also wasn't really a diamond. I saw that too. There's a type of energy created by harmonizing certain rare gems together, called the Deviant Effect, from the golden age supervillain, Devias, that invented it. It's extremely high energy and very, very unstable, unless you have the exact number of specially made and crafted artificial diamonds to back it up. The first Doctor C studied it and tried to duplicate it once or twice, so I knew a Deviant Diamond when I saw it.

"It's beautiful." Judy, oblivious, said. I started to reply when a large explosion rocked the museum, and a troop of, well, the best way to describe them is "Catfish People". Bipedal, smooth grey skin, big whiskers, spiny bits. You know, catfish people. There's a pretty good picture of them on CapeWiki. Look under Siluriformes. I wrote most of that article, so you know it's quality. They were all dressed in these silver jumpsuits with a breather-apparatus over their gills that was hooked up to this tank thing. They all had these wierd trident-electrogun things.

Anyway, after blowing a hole in the side of the museum with some sort of artillery, killing and injuring dozens, the leader--he had a fish skull on his lapel--started ordering his men around and I shoved Judy behind me. They went straight for the diamond, and started to make off with it when my least favorite meddler in a cape, Quizzer, showed up and started tossing them left and right with that telekinesis of his. They tried their electrowhatsits, but his force field kept them at bay.

Fish Skull was starting to get frantic now, having obiously not anticipated Captain Dumbname arriving. And then he fixes his fisheyes on me--at least, that's what I thought. He gargled out some garglemesh and a bunch of his goons mobbed me--I held my own, but I didn't quite realize that I was just a distraction. Before I knew it, I threw ten of those proto-fishsticks off me only to see two of them dragging off Judy. She yelled out my name, I yelled out hers, it was all very dramatic. And then, Fish Skull pointed his trident at Judy and made a loud gargling noise, probably to get Quizzer's attention.

See, I'm obviously superhuman. So they saw this girl hiding behind a big strong superhero type (ha) and probably thought she was important. Thus, a perfect hostage. Fish Skull grabbed her, and then moved out slowly with a few minions, who happened to have the "diamond" with them.

Quizzer, thankfully being one of those goody-goody types, didn't attack and endanger Judy. However, as soon as Fish Skull was out of eyesight, the fishboys remaining started assaulting us. I tried to rush after him, and Quizzer, to his credit, tried to follow too, but the minions kept us at bay long enough that, by the time we'd gotten out and beaten them all to a sushi pulp, the only sign of them was a trail of destruction leading to and from the water's edge.

"Hey, you there! Bulldozer!" He called to me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not called that anymore and you know it." I yelled back, fuming at this point for letting the fishmen take Judy.

"Okay." He hovered down next to me. "Look, Cataclysm. I know we've had our differences, but I can't go under water very well and.."

I shushed him. "You want me to, what, lend you my sub?"

"...yes."

"First of all, you're not charging into their base and endangering my Judy with my sub. If they want that gem for what I think they want it..." My eyes trailed to the catfish men's bodies. They looked like they had radios. And maybe some kind of GPS system...

"Meet me at the Purple Corner Cafe in an hour, street clothes." He tried to say something, but I shushed him again.

"Don't argue. I have a plan."

That's enough for now, getting tired. Later today, I'll write about the team-up that should never have happened--Me and Quizzer.

Okay, not much time

I'll give a more detailed account later, but I only have a couple minutes right now, and Quizzer looking at me and sighing while I'm typing and as much fun as it is to annoy him, I gotta hurry.

Catfish men from the bottom of Lake Michigan are trying to destroy all surface life with a giant tuning fork and a series of progressively larger diamonds. Also, I'm helping Quizzer stop them because all surface life dying would probably be bad.

Um, more later if we don't get vaporized.

Just a Couple Things

First off, both me and the old boss were in the news today, both about seismic anomalies. It looks like the old Doc's Cataclysm Engine is shifting down in Old Vineyard, because the news says there have been a few earthquakes centered around Old Vineyard recently. Huh. I didn't even realize that that thing was still intact at all after the incident that killed the boss and American Steel. I might have to take a road trip down to southern Illinois and check that out.

Second, the explosion of the Eye apparently caused a few cracks to form in the earth's crust or something, because there's been a lot of wierd geological stuff happening out in Lake Michigan. No one's quite sure what it is, since whatever's happening isn't like any natural earthquakes seen previously. Oh well, a few subs are launching from the docks to go check it out, so we'll probably know more soon.

Third, Judy and I went out for lunch today to celebrate, in her words, "No more working at that fucking diner". We got some Chinese. It was nice--I'm a sucker for pepper beef.

Lastly, which is more me looking for confirmation than anything else, remember back when Rake got stabbed? Well, after they released the data on that "reality cloak" gizmo the would-be assassin had on him, I looked over the tape a few more times and, well...is it just me, or does that guy look scared out of his mind by Rake. Like, when Rake looks at him just before he gets stabbed, the guy totally flips out. And that's another thing. Rake seems to see the guy waaaay before his guards do. Just a little glance, but if you look carefully, you can totally tell he's seen the guy.

Something wierd is going on, that's for sure. Maybe Rake has superpowers or something? Him being a superhero would explain a lot. Or maybe it was staged, and he's a plant from Op. Mayhem. But that doesn't make sense...Carmichael's on the take, or was on the take, with Op. Mayhem. Why risk their own guy? Or go to all this trouble to get Rake elected?

Maybe I'm just overthinking this. They did say the guy wasn't right in the head. Maybe he was hallucinating that Rake was some kind of monster. An unstable mind plus something that screws with a person's perception of reality...that's practically asking for hallucinations. Oh well, we'll see what happens. That's one reason why I like being a villain--I see something suspicious, I have no drive other than curiosity to find out what's up.

Date Update

Yes, Judy knows I'm Doctor Cataclysm. Yes, she figured it out not terribly long after we first met. No, she has absolutely no problem with going out with me still. In fact, she's enthusiastic to be dating someone who can actually understand what she's talking about when she talks about her day at work.

And she apparently had a crush on Bulldozer back when she was a teenager, which I got her to admit after teasing her and prying for a few minutes.

I'm not entirely sure how she feels about what I do...we'll see how it goes. I'd (obviously) like it to go well...but I am a supervillain, which is a somewhat unpopular career choice.

The rest of the date was filled by her excitedly talking about her internship--it looks like they were interested in possibly even hiring her straight out of internship when she graduates at the end of Summer. Which is completely awesome and doesn't surprise me at all, given just how bright Judy is.

At any rate, we're gonna go see that diamond this Saturday, which I'm currently leaning towards not stealing.

....and, in embarassing news, since it seems I have no end to it, I helped a group of girl scouts across the street today. And then I bought thin mints.

I am seriously the worst villain ever.

Ooooooo

Starting today, the New Vineyard Museum of Fine and Cultural Arts is showcasing "Neptune's Eye", a green diamond the size of my head that was found near what some scientists think may have been Atlantis. I should take Judy to go see it. And, hmm, maybe if it's the right shape, steal it and put it in a laser of some sort. I dunno, I'm still up in the air about it. Something about robbing a museum seems...wrong.

I am such a wuss. How is robbing a museum different than anything else?

Ecological Impact

Apparently, because of the explosions of my weather control devices and the Eye, Lake Michigan is about a degree warmer and 3/10 of an inch lower than it was. It's raining a lot, too, though that's not really news during spring, but meteorologists seem to think it's not going to stop any time soon, given how much water vapor I put in the air.

Okay, Okay, Enough Stalling

Here's what happened to the Eye.

Saturday, Saturday went exactly as planned. I got my ton of precious and rare metals and gems. And I got a visit from Quizzer. I let him enter, naturally, as I had known he was coming a good ten minutes before he showed up.

And, when he got here, of course, he started in on the whole, "what gives you the right to hold the city hostage, blah blah blah" speech. To which I essentially replied. "See that giant weather machine? That's pretty much what gives me the right."

He asked what was keeping him from just destroying the base then and there.

"If I shoot at you with my bracer and miss, I will sink this fortress. And when it hits ground, the fusion reactor will go off. And I don't think you want that on your conscience."

And then he fumed and stalked off. I watched AMC for a while. The Pink Panther was on. Good movie.

The next day, my bugs in Brannigan told me they had teleported some antigravity genius in from the mainland, someone new to the company, but smart enough to figure out a way to knock my fortress and weather control devices out of the sky.

Now, my first instinct was to do as I had promised and wipe New Vineyard off the map...but "new young antigravity genius from the mainland"...that gave me doubt. I knew a young antigravity genius who had been on a trip to the mainland, specifically in order to get a job at Brannigan. One who had emailed me the previous day to tell me she had aced the interview.

So, instead of destroying the city, I just made it storm really, really bad. The winds were much too high for jets, even those new half alien-tech planes the government doesn't think I know about....though, really, who doesn't know about those these days? Is the government even trying to keep them secret?

Anyway, back on topic. I was confident that, even if Judy was the expert, Brannigan wouldn't be able to reach the Eye, let alone hold steady enough to find a weak point in my antigrav.

I made some popcorn, watched an ungodly horrible made-for-tv movie about Mechanor's mass robot invasion. I swear, that guy gets more TV coverage...and he doesn't even notice, I'll wager. Mechanor may be a big bad super-robot, but he is boooring. "Television is frivolous," is what he'd probably say. I've talked to the guy before. Sticks are less wooden.

Alright, I'll stop stalling. This is just so embarassing, though. The supervillain is not supposed to be beaten because of a girl. Girls are supposed to be what supervillains kidnap in order to convince the hero to stand down.

Most of the way through the movie, the security camera on Device Four gave me the warning, "Speed." The camera itself, of course, showed only an empty, grey sky.

I'll explain. "Speed" is not "it's going too fast." It's, "someone is looping or interrupting the video feed to make the same image play over and over again". Y'know, like in the movie Speed. Heroes always think they're soooo clever and original when they try it, too. Amrican Steel once tried it twice. In half an hour. And expected it to work both times. That's the sad part--they never learn that maybe we've seen that movie too.

Chuckling, I switched over to that camera and overrode the recursive feed.

I'm going to reiterate here that someone named "Quizzer" has no right being as powerful as he is.

A team of scientists was there, standing on, and in, an invisible dome that also surrounded the weather control device. Quizzer was at the center of it, obviously straining as he kept them up while they studied my improvement on their invention. They even had tables and chairs and laptops. And a goddamn coffee maker. Seriously.

I started to imput the command to fry Quizzer with a lightning bolt--I could have, too. That's the worst part. He was just floating there, cross-legged, concentrating completely on that dome. No telekinetic force field around his body.

But, the sight of one of the scientists stopped me. I bet you can guess who.

There she was, perfect and pretty and making notes of all of the exploitable flaws in my anti-gravity system in a laptop computer. Which she would know, since she had a hand in designing the bugger in the first place.

It was odd, though. She looked almost resigned to be doing it--like she knew she had to, but obiously didn't want to. Hmmm.

I knew this plan had a time limit then. I also knew they would find a way to ground me before I could collect my next tribute.

So, I set the other three weather devices to drop onto the city and self destruct, in that order. Right before, though, I sent Quizzer a message, via a hologram from the device they were analyzing.

"Alright, Brannigan, Quizzer, you've won. I'm beaten. In fact, I'm just going to drop everything right now. Of course, I'm going to drop everything onto the city and then detonate it, but, really, that's just semantics. Ciao."

And then Brannigan used some kind of emergency teleport, and sent all of its employees and the weather device to Brannigan HQ, leaving Quizzer free to try to save the town. And me free to try to hit him with a lightning bolt from the Eye.

And that's when everything went wrong. When Quizzer reached the first weather control device, he threw it at the Eye with his telekinesis. Its fusion core detonated on impact. Which caused the Eye's fusion cells to detonate.

...and then I woke up naked in Michigan six hours later.

As far as I can tell from examining the craters, the explosion knocked me down at an angle at a tremendous force, with enough heat that, when I impacted the earth's crust at the bottom of Lake Michigan, it went briefly molten, and my armor was ruined and left behind, my yellow suit having burned up much earlier. I then bounced, probably on my shoulder, and soared through the air for a bit until finally hitting the ground on the coast of the lake in Michigan. Probably on my chest, which was already beaten up from taking the full force of the explosion.

If I was not invulnerable and able to absorb all that heat, I'd be a few carbon molecules embedded in the duranium of my armor right about now.

Oh, and speaking of absorbing that energy, my eyes are putting off all of the extra energy as more glow than usual. It's like I have two red flashlights beaming out of my face. And I have a date to meet Judy at Steak and Shake in about twenty minutes. It's the first time we've seen each other since she went to Chi town for her meeting with Brannigan.

I have a feeling this is going to be reeeeeeal awkward.

Insult to injury: the Eye didn't even land in New Vineyard. It landed in the Lake....and apparently detonated then, according to bystanders. Which is wierd, because I remember it (and feel it) differently. Maybe one of the fusion cells was late in going off. None of the weather control devices hit or blew up anything but water, either. I did manage to emergency teleport the wreckage and most of the captured device, though.

Off to meet Judy.

Status Report

What I have:

1. One ton of precious and rare metals and various gems.
2. The largely intact wreckage of three weather machines.
3. The incredibly broken wreckage of one weather machine and the Eye.
4. A mostly re-located shoulder.
5. Plans for updated Doctor Cataclysm armor.
6. A girlfriend who is both brilliant and beautiful.

What I don't have:

1. Armor.
2. A functioning aerial superfortress.
3. The ability to breath without pain.

The lights in the base are on the fritz. I think the explosion damaged my generator. Also omitted is the fact that my girlfriend is smart enough to foil my plans. And the fact that Quizzer is really far more competent than anyone dressed like that has a right to be.

Y'know, before now, I mostly picked on Brannigan because they make things I can use and improve on, and they're the people most likely to be able to find some sort of technological way to stop my machines of death. But now, now it's personal.

I'll post exactly what happened to the Eye once I get a short-term armor replacement ready.

Stupid Quizzer.

The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated

"Though the search for his body continues, experts say they are extremely unlikely to find supervillain Doctor Cataclysm alive inside the wreckage of his aerial superfortress, dubbed "The Eye". Experts on fusion reactors from the Brannigan Institute, like Doctor Kyle Yukizama, have claimed that, "Duranium armor or not, Nothing could have survived that explosion." " -- Taken from the New Vineyard Chronicle website.

Despite what "experts" are saying, I am alive. I am also in a LOT of pain...I think I broke a few ribs, and my shoulder has definitely been dislocated, but, other than that, I'm doing as well as I can be, I suppose.

Guess I'll get that new armor after all. More when I wake up--these meds are starting to knock me out.

The Eye--update

At about noon today, I made my announcement. It was easy enough--I used a sonic modulation beam to make my voice heard everywhere in the downtown area. It went something like this.

"People of New Vineyard, this is Doctor Cataclysm. I trust you're having a good, partly cloudy day. Or, wait, is it raining?" And then I made it rain. "Or, wait, maybe it's snowing." And then I made it snow.

"I think you get the jist of things by now. My weather control is complete--I made the monsoon that flooded Brannigan. And I can do so much worse--and I will, unless my demands are met. I want all the precious and rare metals and gems this city has to offer--at least one ton per day for the next, oh, let's say week. These items are to be placed in a large pile in the park where they will be teleported to me.

"Now, you might be wondering--what happens if you refuse? Well..." The clouds got darker, and thicker, and a huge downpour began, lightning crashing and thunder blasting out of the sky. Winds began to pick up, until they reached near-hurricane levels. Then, as suddenly as I could, I turned the storm down to a light misting.

"If my demands are not met, I will erase this artificial island with an artificial hurricane of such magnitude there won't even be foundations left to mark the houses. If I get fake metals, or an undersized pile, I destroy this island. If you try to leave or someone tries to arrive, I destroy this island. If a superhero, like you, Quizzer, or the army tries to stop me, I destroy them, and then this island. You have thirty hours--that's six p.m. tomorrow, to make your first tribute or, well...I think you get the point by now. Have a nice day."

Oh, that felt good. I spent the rest of the day watching movie channels.

Speaking of movies, Brannigan finally did something smart, and drilled a hole through the top of their installation rather than try the front door. Which is kind of disappointing...I was really looking forward to the look on the first guy to open the bunker door's face right before the wave hit. I was thinking about making it my screensaver. Oh well.

Respect

Okay, I don't terribly like Rake, because of the whole job security thing, but, after what he's doing right now, I really gotta respect the man. He got stabbed, like, less than 24 hours ago, and he's insisting on finishing his speech. Look at that doctor in the back--you can tell that guy's nervous that Rake's gonna pull out his stitches or something.

And he's not even mad about getting stabbed? How cool is that. He's all, "The man who stabbed me is as much a victim of the supervillain organization Operation Mayhem as myself." That, my friend, takes some serious gumption.

Hell, I might even vote for him after this. Because, well, damn.

Oh well, off to make my demands. Enough molly-coddling. It's time for me to man-up and be a supervillain, damnit.

Great Movie

If you haven't seen Iron Man yet, go see it.

I like a superhero movie that doesn't take itself too seriously (the fact that Spiderman did is my greatest disappointment with that film series), and Iron Man definitely does not take itself too seriously, but it's not all comedy either. I also loved all of the tech scenes, surprise surprise.

It may be time for the armor to have an upgrade. I'm just not sure I'm up to the task. I mean, the old Doctor Cataclysm was a supergenius. I'm bright, yeah, but nowhere near good enough to improve something he's made.

...I almost wish I could ask Judy to help. I'm pretty sure she knows, though. Or, at least, suspects.

I'm worrying too much. I should get some rest. Big day tomorrow.

Did I call it or what?

I knew it. Operation Mayhem.

They found a few pamphlets on the guy when they grabbed him, as well as some wierd gizmo. The security guards that nabbed him also think the perp's very, very mentally unstable. That's all they're releasing right now.

Now, I should probably do my thing, give my ultimatum, etc., but, really, I don't feel like it. The whole day's kinda on a down note. Even though the doctors are saying he's stable, everyone's probably both worried about Rake and also still shocked by seeing the guy get knifed on national tv. So I think I'm going to make the rain stop and have a little sun peak out for the rest of the day. Just to make everyone down there's day a little better. Cause, honestly, I'm a supervillain and I think that was a little crazy. I swear, Op. Mayhem just ruins everything for the rest of us.

It just seems, well, a little tacky to hold the city hostage on the same day that something like this happens on. And on a completely selfish note, I'd kinda feel like I was second fiddle. Yeah, their day would be ruined, but their day already sucked. No real accomplishment there. When the citizens of New Vineyard have a bad day, I want it to be because of me, damnit.

Yeah yeah, bitch bitch bitch.

Anyway, I'm gonna hop down to New Vineyard and grab a pizza, maybe go to see Iron Man. City gets held up tomorrow--it has to be tomorrow, because otherwise Judy'll be here for the fireworks.

Stupid Operation Mayhem.

Holy Crap

Jonathan Rake just got stabbed. On national TV. In front of a crowd. During a fucking speech.

Seriously, go to your news station of choice. Hell, I'm pretty sure every other channel will have it too.

Where the fuck were his security guys? How the hell does someone get close enough to a presidential candidate giving a speech and stab them in the gut.

I had the thing recorded, too, since all transmissions I get are passively recorded. I've replayed it a couple times on the big monitor. Shit, the guy just meanders up there, and the guards don't seem to do anything until they see he has a knife. And then, well, it's too late.

What the hell? Maybe there's supervillainy afoot. Operation Mayhem or something. This seems like somethig they'd do.

Still, a knife? Half of the members of Op. Mayhem's council could nuke him. There's got to be something wierd going on.

Brannigan--Not Waterproof

I'm just saying, if you're going to make a high-tech installation like Brannigan, at least put adequate drains in the floors so that all those fancy electronics don't get wet. Or, at the very least, fix that big hole in the side of the hill and change the security codes so that, say, a supervillain who's recently cracked your security doesn't close all the drains, open the emergency door that was hastily put on the big ass hole, open all the interior doors, and then flood the bejesus out of the place by pouring a monsoon through said hole.

They didn't even change the front door code. That's just sad, people. I mean, I'd given Brannigan a bit more credit than that.

That being said I did change the security codes, for everything but the big main door.

I think I'll hack a camera feed to capture that wave when/if they open that. I just know it'd be great on YouTube.

The big reveal is tomorrow. This is going to be great...my first master plan. That amateur Quizzer's going to be in for quite the surprise.

Weather Control--Update

It's still raining. I love it. I'm writing this from my newly rebuilt floating fortress above New Vineyard, which I have affectionately dubbed "The Eye", as in, "of the Storm". It looks, roughly, like a big flying saucer with a giant-sized version of that weather machine shoved through the middle. In standard Doctor C fashion, it's covered in weapons. Also, and this is the best part, it's completely invisible to scanning unless I want it to be seen. The fact that it's above the major cloud cover I'm putting out with this and the four other super weather machine's I've cobbled together doesn't hurt either.

The day's been pretty slow, all in all. Watched Young Frankenstein on AMC, then I started looking up episodes of MST3K on YouTube. I love that show so much...too bad it's gone. I hear they've done some internet stuff, the creators I mean. Maybe I should check that out.

Anyway, there's really not to much I can do except chill until the Eye is tested. Well, no time like the present. I'll update again once I'm sure this thing won't fall out of the sky or detonate on me.

Mwahaha

It's going to storm all day today.

I love this thing.

An Eventful Few Days

Okay, okay, I know it's been a while since I've last posted. I have good reasons for it, though.

First of all, the date with Judy went great, and, as it turns out, she left for the mainland this morning to talk with the home office of Brannigan about her internship--it seems they're really excited about her projects with artificial gravity manipulation, and are thinking about giving her a giant grant for her work. She's going to be there a good week. Perfect.

I got to know Judy a bit more on Monday. First of all, she's smart. Really, really, genius-level, rivals-the-old-doctor-level smart. It's so sexy. Her theories with gravitational compression fields are the cleanest I've seen, ever. As in, unlike every thoery that came before them, I think hers will work without grievous injury and/or death to the user and everyone in a two-mile radius.

When not at work, she seems to dress a little punk, a little gothy, and mostly eclectic. Her clothing style seems like (and I'm pretty sure this is the case, given her sleepless schedule) she has a big bin of things she likes and picks them out at random until she has a whole outfit. When I told her this, she just smiled and said, "Function before form."

Anyway, the date itself. We went out to the park out on American Steel Memorial Pier, rode the Ferris wheel, ate some cotton candy, and just pretty much had a nice, quiet, relaxing evening together in which we made out like mad whenever we were the least bit alone. Yeah, two dates (as I count the night at the diner as date one) and we're already "that" couple.

It wasn't all bright and happy, though. On the second trip up the Ferris Wheel, Judy swiped my glasses while we were making out. One of my powers isn't "super fast-thinking", so rather than keep my eyes shut, I opened them and reached for my glasses and, well, the damage was already done by then.

Much to my suprise, her response wasn't, "Eeeek!", but rather, "Cool! How do you get them to glow like that? New contacts?"

I stared at her in disbelief before I replied with, "It was an...industrial accident, when I was a teen."

She didn't buy it, but let it slide. "Cool. You look like a super villain or something."

I tried to laugh nonchalantly and snatched back my glasses. "I'd cover them with contacts, but they just shine through. These glasses are especially made to absorb that wavelength of red."

"What about contacts made of that stuff?" She responded. I shook my head.

"Makes my eyes pitch black."

She looked thoughtful. "You know, with those eyes you look almost like Bulldozer. Only more handsome."

I nearly twitched when she meantioned Bulldozer. In case you haven't figured it out, that was my identity when I worked for the old boss. I know, not obvious at all, right? Not sure whether I felt insulted or flattered, I laughed, hugged her, and did my best to distract her.

So, after the date I came back, and I'd been working non-stop until, oh, about an hour ago. About then, all my hard work and my little Brannigan rampage paid off.

As I'm typing this, I'm in my new device, and, just as I'm typing, I'm switching it on.

New Vineyard Weather Forecast--one hundred percent chance of Cataclysm.

Oh God

I read over my last post. I sound like such a total teenage girl.

Woohoo!

Last night was fantastic.

It started out well enough. I ate a small dinner at Fazoli's, then went to see Forbidden Kingdom. I liked it--it's a bad kung fu movie about bad kung fu movies. I especially liked the cameo of the Bride with White Hair, one of the best/worst of its genre. Plus, it has both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. What's not to like?

After that I was hungry again because, let's face it, I'm a giant, so I stopped by a diner and had a horseshoe and several cups of coffee while I went over a few plans for my Secret Project for Mr. Weather Control Device on my laptop. I was comfortable enough, and I don't sleep much since the boss did the Experiment on me, so I stayed there for most of the nigh and part of the morning, abused their coffee refills, and ordered some fries every now and then to not be too much of a moocher.

While I was staring blankly at some equations some time after midnight, a new waitress came up to me and asked in a chirpy voice, "Watcha working on?"

I was a bit startled, and mumbled a few things about "technical stuff" when I saw her. She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen--milky smooth skin, wavy black hair, pretty much a supervillain's dream.

"Looks like Reinholdt's Antigravity Equation, and a couple related formulae." She replied. Yes, I should have been infuriated by how nosy she was being but, honestly, she recognized Reinholdt's Equation from a glance. I fell in love right then.

"Yeah. I mean yeah, it is. I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to respond to the required mass, though." I responded.

"Can I take a look?" She asked as she re-filled my cup. "By all means." I answered.

In about one minute, she solved the problem for me. It was pretty obvious once I thought about it, but still.

"That's pretty amazing. I'm Silas, by the way." Yes. That's right. Remember, before you make fun of my name, I have access to weapons of mass destruction, and I can probably break you in half with one hand.

"I'm Judy." She returned, with a smile that made me feel warmer than a plasma conduit on overload. We talked for the rest of the night--we have the same interests in movies, physics, and mechanics. She's apparently a graduate student at UI New Vineyard, and is thinking about interning with Brannigan. She also thinks that Quizzer is lame, though she appreciates what he's doing for the city.

When I left in the morning, she was headed off shift too. She gave me both her phone number and a really, really good kiss.

I got a lot of work today, especially on my antigravity thrusters. Then, I called up Judy. We have a date on next monday, her next off night.

...oh crap. Which also just happens to be the day I unveil my new master plan to New Vineyard.

Oh well. Making the city my hostage can wait a day or two. Maybe I can convince Judy to get out of town a few days...