FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 12

The autumn season seemed to go by quicker than I had hoped.

Corey had yet to come home, and I hadn't received any news from him. Perhaps he was as busy as me.

Coach had swapped me for offense, and we began to steadily win games. They were calling it the Return of the Hart. My father's legacy would be brought back. The homecoming game was right around the corner. Until a month ago, nobody thought we stood a chance, but now we were expected to win. The school finally had a football team that they could cheer for. It wasn't even so much my doing, as the team started to play harder on their own.

I managed to keep from taking too many tackles, which definitely helped to keep my abilities under wrap. Rusty didn't seem to mind either way when after the games I was bigger than him. Together we learned that I stored kinetic energy, and as I used it, I would come back to my normal shape. Though, these days, it was still very toned without any of my powers.

Lars tapped me on my forearm with a pencil. There was no way he needed help, after a few tutoring sessions during lunch, he was a straight B student. "Hey, what are your plans for the homecoming dance?"

I didn't think about it. "I don't know." It had been the talk of the school, the homecoming event. Though, Rusty and I briefly talked about it, he didn't like attending stuff like that, and I'd never been. So it just turned out to be an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't go.

"If you don't have anyone to go with, I have enough swing with some of the cheerleaders, I'm sure there's a few of them that would want to go to the dance with our number one football player." The Rottweiler smiled.

"I don't know if I want to go," he started to admit, speaking mostly for Rusty. I really didn't want to tell him that if I wanted to go to the dance it would be with my boyfriend. That'd start up some controversy, maybe even get me booted out of the football team, or even expelled. Then my mother would go into a gamma-particle radiation induced Hulk-Hare rage, and probably bring the whole school into a lawsuit, and then everyone will surely hate me when the dust settles from the fallout.

"Aww, why not? I want you to go with my group. We have a pretty awesome group. We've got a few fun things lined up. Tara's mom is going to drive us to the Italian place right outside of town. Hit the dance, go back to Dennis' place for an after homecoming party."

He was really trying to push me into it, and I just didn't want to say no. Lars had that smile about him that made it difficult to just say no. As a canine, he also had perfected the puppy-dog eyes. The class bell rang. I was saved by the bell, as everyone started to gather their books into their packs. Lars snuck up on me and surprised the hell out of me.

"I promise you, you'll have fun. You can go with Russell, I'm pretty sure nobody will mind."

"W-What do you mean by that?" I wasn't sure if he meant whether or not I'd be going with Rusty as a friend, or if somehow he knew.

"We all know, at least, the people who matter do."

"Know what?"

"Come on, I'm your friend aren't I? You don't have to hide anything from me." We started leaving the class room, and he brought his conversation down to a dull whisper. He normally walked the other way to his next class but he walked with me toward the gym. "Russell has a history, and you know, everyone sees you hanging out with him all the time. Sort of one plus one, and that's the sort of math that I'm especially competent at."

I didn't know what to say.

"Ugh, most of the time anyway. Well, just think about joining us for homecoming will ya? I'd like to have you join us." He gave me friendly clap on the shoulder and walked off in the other direction.

* * *

We ran the track. I didn't even realize that I had been pacing some of the track stars that happened to be in my class. My head was filled with thoughts. Did he really not mind? If he knew, that meant other people knew. Do other people know? I'm sure the bullies in on the team would've been all over that. I didn't know what was going on.

My mother at this point would have said that I was already different, what's being gay on top of having super abilities going to matter? Though, she didn't have to live with it every day. We came around to the last lap, and the cheetah approached me and asked if I had considered joining track.

I didn't say much, outside of, "I'll think about it." I couldn't muster much outside of being cold.

We walked back to the locker room, and I changed for football practice, unsure of whether or not I wanted to practice. I partially didn't want to have to deal with the guys if they knew that I was gay. Would I get harassed by the other guys? I knew that this would have to be something that I faced.

Coach approached me first, "Hey there Hart, you all set for the game this week? We're counting on you to help us win it for us. It's been years since we've ever been this close." The massive bovine continued toward his office and sat down with the play book. Nothing? Nothing like 'hey faggot, get your fairy-ass off my team?' Perhaps I was over exaggerating the problem. Maybe it wasn't as bad as my mind seemed to play out. Paranoia.

I could hear the gentle stomping of Dennis approaching, "Hey there champ," he said in his lackadaisical manner.

"Hey Dennis,"

He set his duffle bag of gear down next to my locker. "So what were your plans for homecoming?"

"Could your motives be any more obvious, Dennis?"

"Well," he sighed, "I guess Lars did put me up to it, but I have to agree that you should come along, we're all friends. We'd very much appreciate it if you were to go with us."

"I'm just not sure I can go."

He must have been waiting for that very statement; he crossed his arms and asked why. He towered over me at this point. How do you say no to a gigantic moose? He was incredibly intimidating when he wanted to be. Which is odd, because he couldn't do any physical harm to me. Yet he had the forceful posture and demeanor that I couldn't attain.

"I don't know," I sputtered out.

"Is this about Russell?"

"God, how does everyone know?"

"Not all the jocks are as stupid as we look," he sighed again, "Maybe the exception of Lars. He's about as dumb as he looks."

"So what will it take to make you guys happy?"

He frowned, "It would make us happy to have you come with us, and it would make us even happier if you did so because you wanted to have fun with the rest of us. Look, nobody cares who you go to the homecoming dance with--save for some of the cheerleaders, because I think they're looking to have a boost in their social status--but as your friends, we just want you to be happy. So, you don't have to come if that will make you happy."

Reverse psychology? Was he using it? No, it didn't sound like.

"Well?"

"I'll think about it."

"That's better, now, we're late for practice."

I looked around, the locker room was empty.

* * *

As we got to the field, I saw Lars, and he was talking to, Rusty?

They hadn't seen me yet. Thank whatever deity was responsible for that. They talked as I watched, they laughed together a little before Rusty took his leave and walked off. What was all that about?

I would have my answer soon after practice.

Lars trotted up to me and put a paw on my shoulder, "So you're coming then?" He was so cheerful about it, it made it hard to give him a no, and I wanted to say yes. "Because I told Dennis that if he didn't convince you than we all weren't going to go at all."

"Really?"

"No, but we do want you to come."

"I am just not sure it's a good idea," my mind off track, wondering what the conversation between Rusty and Lars had been about. He walked with me to the parking lot where Rusty was waiting with his laptop.

"What would it take to convince you to go?"

Rusty stepped out of his car. He was holding something behind his back. There was something going on here, and I didn't know what exactly it was. I suddenly became fully aware that the three of us were the only ones in the parking lot.

Rusty smiled a very suspicious smirk.

Lars, grinning ear to ear, asked me, "How about a formal invitation?"

Rusty presented me with a rose, which presumably was purchased during practice. I officially had to go. There was plainly no way to get out of this situation. I begrudgingly tried to fight back the emotions rising up for my stomach. Yet, I couldn't help but smile, bastards.

Lars had known where to find Rusty after the math class, and they had discussed the whole period long about convincing both Rusty and I of going. Part of his plan was to get Rusty on his side, and I'm sure part of it had to do with it was to show me a good time before Rusty had to leave for college in a year. The execution of his plan was flawless, now if only he could pass like that during a game.

Chapter 13

Homecoming week was in full swing by Tuesday morning. Others were excited that we were going to win the first homecoming game in decades. Spirits were high throughout the high school. Nobody even seemed to be worried that we could possibly lose, not that we would, I definitely would ensure a victory.

The theme of the Homecoming was Harvest Moon, not that it mattered, since it was a formal event. I was going to need a tux. My mother was stoked. She even took Rusty with us to go pick a tuxedo for me. Rusty already had one or two that he hadn't worn since his grandmother's funeral. They still fit him when he showed it to me.

"I've lost some weight over the summer," he said as he stepped out into his tuxedo. The tuxedo made him look incredible. Though you could still tell he was quite bulky underneath, it strengthened his shoulders and made him appear even manlier.

"My, aren't you handsome Russell?" my mother exclaimed. She made a gesture to me, suggesting that I had been drooling. I checked anyway.

She was slightly concerned that there might be some opposition to our attending the dance. She had several legal documents that her publisher had emailed her the previous night when I told her that I would be going to the dance with Rusty. Each were cases of discrimination toward gay or lesbian couples that were barred from a dance. Then the legal repercussions that the schools had to pay for. Mother was poised. She would go on to prove to me that you didn't have to be a super powers to decimate obstacles in your path.

The rumors had spread quickly that Rusty and I would be going to the dance as a couple. Nobody brought it up, either because they didn't care, or they feared that if I were to be persecuted or harassed over it we might not win the game. It seemed to be a weird correlation, I wouldn't choose to fail my team, but I could imagine some people believing that. Some people's looks lingered on me as they passed me in the halls.

It certainly felt strange to hold that sort of power over people, and I wasn't exactly sure that I liked it. My father could tell when people were lying by sensing their blood pressure or whatever it was he did. I had no such luxury. I could have figured that everyone was lying to me when they said that they couldn't wait to see me at the dance.

Most of the cheerleaders were disgusted, Lars sort of waved it away by saying they're just upset that they'll never have the opportunity to ride the coat tails of my popularity (or at this point it may have been infamy). Though, strangely enough, he was dating one of the captains of the cheerleaders. So maybe he knew what he was talking about--at least on the subject of being used for gains in one's social status. Or he genuinely liked her.

Everything seemed to conflict.

Lester said that there was no way and no how that he would attend the dance. So it would just be Rusty and I along with Lars and Dennis' homecoming group. I wished he would have joined us, I'd feel a little less out of place perhaps? I only really knew Lars and Dennis.

* * *

The Homecoming game was a victory unlike any other. It wasn't even because of me. Well, unless I was to say that I was the motivation for their inspiration. It was a shut out game. We beat them fifty-two to zero. Everyone played harder than they probably ever have before and it paid off. Mother thought that the team would be all for letting me win it for them. She was somewhat surprised to hear that they pushed themselves to keep the feeling of victory.

As I got dressed, my mother asked me some questions to help along her book. She told me to answer with what I felt was right, and not to think of her as someone who might judge my decisions. It was easy with her though, she truly didn't chastise me for the things I did, as long as I drew a learning experience from it. Mother would always say that reality was subjective. I didn't quite understand what she meant, but she said it would all make sense one day.

"My, my, Clayton, aren't you just the handsome devil everyone thought your father would have?"

The doorbell rang, I knew it was Rusty.

"Fix your tie and come right downstairs young sir." Mother left my room and headed downstairs. There was always something about dressing up, especially in formal attire. It could change your attitude. As I looked at my visage in the mirror, I couldn't help but wonder what I would do for my super hero costume.

Bow ties were complex; this one however was a clip on. I vaguely remembered how my father taught me to tie my first tie. It was nothing like tying my shoe strings.

As I walked down the stairs, my mother was waiting with a camera. I felt all kind of embarrassed. Rusty, handsome as ever was waiting for me. We took a few pictures, and Rusty and my mother talked a little while longer about her progress on her book, and whether or not it would be entitled "So My Gay Son is a Super Hero".

* * *

Unconvinced that Lars' plan was very good, Rusty and Lars collaborated on a few things. Rusty had no problem splurging on the evening. The sun had yet to sit, but my eyes roamed over to the limo that was waiting for us in the driveway.

"A limo?" I choked out.

"I feel a stretched hummer might have been too much."

"A stretched hummer?"

"It was an H1, but yea, Lars didn't like the idea either. I said that it wouldn't be very appropriate to show up for dinner at the space needle in a minivan."

"The space, what?!"

"I made a call to my mom. To see if she knew what I should do to treat my boyfriend to a wonderful homecoming game that he's going to win. She suggested a limo and dinner at the Space Needle, can't go wrong with that. She made some calls, and she says she'll foot the bill because she didn't want to have to hear from my dad about why I spent so much of my own money on a single night. Not that my dad doesn't do the same thing practically every night.

"Oh, and she added that you better be putting out tonight."

I was in too much of a shock to even pretend I had a retort. He gave me a big hug and a kiss, and we went off to gather the rest of our party. Lars had his date Dominique, she was one of the captains of the cheerleaders, and she was more floored than I was at the prospect of going to dinner in a limo. She didn't even know where we were going. Dennis brought his girlfriend from church, Lisa, who was already in college, and they apparently were promised to be wed as soon as high school was out. Dirk the tiger had shown up as well with one of the cheerleaders that kept giving me a funny look every time we made eye contact. I never even bothered to learn her name.

It took two hours to get into Seattle, and we watched the Seattle skyline rotate around us as we ate. Rusty had to explain to us what most of the food was before we ordered. We had a pleasant time, most of the time we all talked about how extravagant this all was. Most of the females couldn't wait to tell the other girls where they spent their homecoming. I just simply couldn't wait to get Rusty alone and all to myself.

We were quite fashionably late to the dance that took place in the auditorium. The principal, the short rotund beaver was at the ticket taking booth. He frowned when he saw us coming. Principal Warren.

"Mr. Hart and Mr. McCoy," he prefaced his sentence with nothing but condemnation, "I have been meaning to talk to you. It would seem that rumor was correct, that you two were in fact going to the dance 'together'. I should have nipped this in the bud as soon as I heard about it."

The disdain was so thick you could cut it with a hot butter knife.

"I spoke with your mother Mr. Hart, if that's what you're thinking, and frankly, I don't give a damn. We don't not tolerate nor promote this sort of behavior here at our school."

Lars and the rest were shocked. They all started to speak at the same time.

"Hush all of you, or you all forfeit your rights to attend this dance as well."

It didn't seem to stop them, at least not Lars and Dennis.

"Quiet!" he yelled in an unexpected rage. "I am principal of this school, and so help me God, I will not allow such abominations on my watch."

Everyone fell silent. Rusty never let his smile waiver for a moment.

"Is there something that you find amusing Mr. McCoy?"

"I had expected just as much out of you, Mr. Warren. It's why I booked a band to play at the firehouse tonight. Lars, would you kindly let everyone know that there's a free all-ages show being performed by some local bands.

"I would advise against that Mr. Dickenson," the principal growled, "Are your math grades insufficient to graduate still?"

"Actually, I'm getting a B, thank you very much." Lars took his leave, and walked by him.

"I will not tolerate this insolence from you degenerates. You all will have detention until the end of the year, and we will discuss whether or not you will ever graduate."

Rusty's smile still went unphased, and he knew that his smirk was driving the principal insane. "My SAT and ACT were both done a long time ago, I have been accepted to the University of Washington two years ago. There is nothing holding me here."

"You may feel that you can escape me Mr. McCoy, however, Mr. Hart has four years here at this school."

Oh god, I felt fate weighing down around me. Life was going to be hell for the next four years in high school.

A car pulled up behind the limo, was that my mother's car? Two people stepped out, my mother and a hare. It must have been David, her publisher and as I would find out later, also her lawyer.

"Step away from my son, Mr. Warren," she yelled out as she approached.

David broke the silence first, "Everything alright?"

"I will not have these abominations at my school event," Principal Warren was kind enough to reiterate.

David adjusted his spectacles, "You must be Principal Warren, I've heard much about you, my name is David Steward Attorney at Law," he cleared his throat, "And I was not speaking to you, I was asking these kids."

* * *

Homecoming Night ended with quite a bang. The local bands took stage early, but didn't seem to mind when the huge crowd of students that stormed through the doors at the Firehouse. The firehouse was an old fire station that was almost abandoned after the fire department was given a new facility. Several petitioners had made a bid to turn it into a community center, and eventually it came around to become a fairly small concert house.

From what I heard, the school had hired a rather lame disc jockey. The selection wasn't very wide, and most of it was music nobody listened to anymore. Playing it straight from a playlist.

I still couldn't help but wonder if this is what Rusty had intended all along, it was far too extravagant for one person to have thought up. When I asked him about it, he said he knew the band, and said they would be more than happy to play for homecoming. They could sell their CDs and get some more exposure.

The party would continue into the night, our small group slipped out the front doors when midnight rolled around. It was down to Rusty, Lars, Dennis and I. The girls had decided they'd stay at the concert. We went back to Dennis' place where Lars had managed to convince someone to buy him a keg. He said he knew someone from the Rogue brewery. It didn't taste very good at first, but it got better.

Everyone mostly complained about the events that transpired, but we came to the decision that we needed to celebrate the good things in life, so we toasted all the good things until the keg wound up empty.

I awoke in Rusty's bed the next morning. He wasn't nearly as hung over as me, and was content to let me sleep in his arms.

"Sorry, I didn't put out last night," I apologize realizing that I must have blacked out at some point while we were at Dennis'.

"You didn't?" he smiled, jokingly. Or at least I thought it was joking.

* * *

I was surprised at the quickness of getting me out of school. Mother pulled me out of classes, to be 'homeschooled', but we both knew that she far too busy for that. She and David spoke for quite some time, and had several conferences with the superintendent.

As I sat at my desk reading the second issue of the Death of the Wolf from Mars, my mother called up to me from downstairs, "Clayton, put on something nice, we're having a guest for dinner."

"Who?" I yelled back, I knew it wasn't David; he had been having dinner with us since the events of homecoming.

"Superintendent Warren," she replied.

"Who?" Had they promoted him to superintendent?

"He'll be over in ten minutes, look your best."

Superintendent Warren was not the same person, in fact, he just so happened to be Principal Warren's younger brother. He was a bit taller than his older sibling, and in better health and much better dressed. He introduced himself, "Just call me Roy," the beaver said with a very heavy lisp. He shook my hand quite gently. Was he making fun of me?

As he complimented my mother on the decorum of the house, I realized he wasn't. Roy Warren was probably the gayest man I've ever met. Though, it was pretty limited to myself and Rusty--though I think he would have considered himself bi (if he believed in labels).

We sat down to dinner and Roy insisted he say grace, something nobody else at the table was familiar at all with.

"I so do apologize for my brother's behavior," Roy sighed, "Not just as my brother, but as his superior."

Mother chimed in, "We can save this conversation for after the meal."

So we ate, and had several conversations on mother's works and her time at the school. Roy had remembered hearing many things about my father in his time. David explained that he did legal work for his main profession but worked as a publisher because he felt it was his calling.

As we finished the gelato David had picked up for dessert, we came back to the matter at hand, my education.

Roy could not have his brother removed from his position, and having reviewed my grades and reports from my teachers felt that there was a much better offer than to displace me into a different school. The program was called 'Running Start'. David and my Mother agreed that it would a great alternative to high school education.

Roy's only concern was that I would be missing out on the opportunity to grow with the rest of my peers and it could be hard on my social future. My mother gave me a knowing look when I said that I knew that I was already different and will need a different environment to become all that I could be.

Chapter 14

Rusty and I laid in his bed, his sheets slightly moistened, and the cool winter breeze rolling through.

"Are you going to miss football?" He lazily asked.

"I don't think so," I thought out loud. "I joined because of my friend."

"Corey?"

"Yea."

"Hear from him at all?"

"Nope, maybe his grandpa is really sick and they have a lot to look after."

"He wouldn't have missed out on all the schooling?"

"Just like us?"

Rusty scoffed at the notion that they were teaching anything worthwhile at the school. Most of the teachers had turned away from the principal, even the coach was severely upset at the idea that their victories would quickly come to an end without me. The team's spirit was broken too.

Lars and Dennis said they couldn't be happier for me, they said they waited four years to get out of the place, and I didn't have to wait barely four weeks.

"So how about we get some practice?" I thought that it might be good to further test our abilities. I still couldn't fly, or control the weather; I was very limited to the physical realm. Rusty had improved somewhat, being able to control multiple sources of light and being able to create them as well. He was able to move them around like fireflies that you see in the movies.

"I can think of a few things we could practice." He rolled himself onto me.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind."

He smiled at me, "You telling me you're sore?"

He knew there was no way that I could be sore. We had discovered among a lot of other things that the kinetic energy I absorbed could be used to regenerate.

His muzzle was inches from mine, "So what's stopping our little practice session?"

* * *

Rusty held me in his kiss for what seemed like hours, the daylight in his room dimmed as though the curtains had been drawn.

"See, there I practiced my abilities," he said as he broke the kiss, resting his stocky body on top of me, "Now let me practice some other things on you."

Already naked, it wasn't difficult to convince me to get hard. Did people with powers always produce so many hormones with such gusto and abundance? He gnawed at the flesh of my neck ever so gently. Our bodies writhed against each other, our kisses becoming heavier, and our tongues twirled around each other.

The grinding of our bodies gave me enough energy to quickly reverse our position with ease. As I laid down on top of him, I held his paws by his head. Our kisses continued as our flesh continued to encompass each other. I lifted my hips slightly so that I could slide his prick down along the divide between my balls and my tailhole. His piercing was still a little cold as it swept across my puckered orifice. Without much warning, Rusty bucked his hard-on into me. I gasped and moaned as it had grown tight since the last time we fucked. However, his spent seed that lay dormant in my insides helped lube up the edges as he pulled out.

The bulbous head of his cock was still inside, I could feel it there. He was letting me grow accustomed to his manhood before he rammed it up into me again. I let out a sigh, and took a deep breath. I tried my best not to move too far as he began fucking my ass. His tempo was quick, and I could feel his piercing brush up against the tender parts of my inside. I feel the clap of his balls against my rear with each hard and powerful upstroke.

I could feel my body start using the kinetic energy as Rusty slammed his member into me. My muscles starting to expand with strength and growing with each pounding motion. It slowly tightened the ring of muscles that encircled my tailhole. Rusty's breathing started getting heavier as he fought the resistance met against his pumps into me.

He wanted me to free his paws so he could grab me by the hips and drive me down upon his fat cock. I held them still, my strength severely outclassing his at this point. The rest of his body started to convulse as I recognized his oncoming climax. His heavy belly undulating with the throes of his orgasm as the abs under his tummy strove to force his kitten maker further into me. The familiar slickness of my innards told me he had buried a load or two deep within my bowels.

His breathing was staggered, as he continued to push his dick around my sperm laden insides. Bucking a few last times. The light went back to normal, as I could start to hear him snore ever so gently.

* * *

We woke up to his phone ringing. What time was it?

"Hello?" Rusty answered slightly hoarse from his dehydration. Rusty sat up in bed as he was fed some bad news.

"Slow down, what's happening?" He listened some more before he gave his plan of action, "I'll get my coat and be on my way."

"What's going on?" I asked impatiently.

"Lester's younger brother is in trouble. He says that it's gang related."

Gangs were typically urban problems, but it would seem that Lester's younger brother Josh had been mixed in some gang activity in the past and he was continuing to do so without anyone finding out. Tonight, he had slipped out while everyone was in bed, but left his cell phone, when very cryptic texts started to flood the phone. Some sort of deal was being made in Federal Way, it sounded like it was going south in a hurry.

"Am I going with you?" I asked, probably a little more hopeful to use my powers for good than necessary.

"Does the Pope shit in the Vatican?"

I leapt out of bed, and as I pulled on my underwear. Rusty surprised me with a gift.

"I had sort of planned to give these to you later, but now seems as appropriate as ever."

It was a hoodie, but the fabric was indeterminable by me. It was completely black, and he held up a Zorro mask.

"It's supposed to be able to stretch to ten times its original size and it's inpuncturable."

"Is that even a word?"

"I--I'll get back to you on that."

We changed quickly and took off in his car. We discussed what we were going to do, do we rush in there and Rusty could blind them all with a searing bright light and I go in and clean them up? Perhaps we could black out the whole area, snatch and grab Lester's brother with my super speed and agility. Or maybe I could jump down from a second floor and pick up the energy I would need to bowl everyone over.

As we discussed battle tactics, Rusty was quick to remind me that all these plans were great in theory, but in situations like this, we would really have to play it by ear. This wasn't football where if a play failed you could try again on your second down. If we failed, we might be killed. It was likely that the gang members were armed. There have been plenty of news reports that say as such.

Especially with superheroes around. Not all of them were bullet proof, so criminals had to make sure their fangs were sharp.

We picked up Lester, who was too worried about his brother to really concern himself with the jackets. He read to us the history of texts that were on his brother's phone. Chastising himself for allowing his kid brother to have one in the first place. We followed it to the address that was listed.

We parked across the street very slowly and quietly, Lester didn't even seem to notice that the street lights went out as we parked. It was an apartment complex that was a cookie cutter build from many other apartment complexes. Three-story tall buildings

"Do you see anything?" I asked.

Shh, Rusty silenced me, "I think I hear something."

We narrowed down the apartment from the ones that still had light on. There were one or two of them. The one with the loud explicatives and cursing from multiple people would probably be the one.

"Lester, stay here, Clayton and I will take care of this," Rusty tried to soothe his friend.

He was in bad shape, "He's my brother, and I have to get him out of there."

"No, you're far too emotional right now to do anything with a level head, Clayton and I will handle this, just you watch our backs from here."

* * *

We silently went up to the third floor, the yelling was still going on, some crying in the background of one of the rooms.

Rusty was a bit behind me, he could see some of the light under the shoddy door frame. It flickered out into darkness. The occupants were confused. With a heave of my footpaw, I kicked down the door, giving myself more energy from the impact. The loud noise startled the people on the other side, but not quite enough that they didn't know to shoot.

Bullets hit hard. It didn't matter that they were probably only 9mm, but they still hurt. None of them seemed to pierce through whatever material it was that made up the hoodie, but it still really hurt. I caught my breath as one of the bullets hit me dead on one of my ribs. I could feel my bulk build, the fabric stretching like Rusty had said. I wondered if I would still be able to fit through the door. Not that it mattered as I stepped through. They realized something was wrong, and fired a few more shots. My shoulders widened as they nearly touched both sides of the narrowing hallway.

I was brimming with energy. The lights came back on, and I could see the terror on all their faces, there was a small otter in the room, and he would be the one that I could keep safe. I bull-rushed the first guy in front of me, the poor rat slammed against the opposing wall and went through the dry wall into the next room. The others reacted by firing at me, but I was already moving faster than their aim. I ducked around a fox, and grabbed him around the waist, shoving him into the ceiling directly above him. Two to go. I took two more shots in my shoulders. Not only did I hardly feel the impact, but it made me even faster. I darted out of the way of his next few shots. I quickly grabbed the wolf's gun and crushed it with my strength. He was mortified. Mortified and now in the crossfire. His friend, or presumably was his friend, but not likely anymore, shot at me but it hit the wolf a several times.

His pistol was spent, and he no longer posed a threat. I turned around to look for Rusty to make sure he was safe. He was fine, still standing outside of the apartment, satisfied to let me do what I do best--apparently. In all the excitement I had lost track of him, we smiled at each other knowing that we were both safe. Sirens began wailing off in the distance, quickly approaching. Rusty grabbed the kid and we left the remaining gang members horrified in the dark.

Chapter 15

It was a while before we heard back from Lester. It was over a month before his brother could speak again, and he didn't know what happened, he suspected a rival gang wiped out his friends and spared him and one other to tell the tale. Rusty suspected that he couldn't handle the trauma.

It was Thanksgiving and we were celebrating it with my mother's fine cooking. Rusty and I were setting the table when David and Roy came in. According to my mom, they had been spending quite a bit of time together after meeting the first time around, mostly doing things "clearly not business" related according to her. Over dinner, the conversation of seeing Rusty's work and trying to get him published came up.

"Have you been doing any more heroic deeds lately?" David asked. Mother had informed him, knowing that he would take the secret with him to his grave. Roy was helping my mom with the dishes.

"Here and there," Rusty replied. "It doesn't just spring up out of nowhere."

"The occasional bank robbery?" David asked.

"A thing of the past really," Rusty admitted, "Not all people are so direct these days."

"It still happens," I interjected, "We stopped one two weeks ago."

"I think I read that, they say a super hero named Blackout did it?"

Rusty laughed, "Well, technically, I just made everything go dark so nobody knows what's happening. Though, it's funny that the local media thinks we're one person."

He was getting a lot better with his power; he was able to make a room dark with the exception of certain things, or people. It amused the people watching the cameras to see somebody standing in a sea of darkness getting knocked out by something in the shadows. Rusty was still working on bending light around an object. He could do it on smaller things, but it took up so much of his focus that he couldn't do much more than that.

My own powers didn't seem to increase, but I was learning to fine tune it every time we went out. I had it more and more under control so that I wouldn't have an accident that could cause somebody to die. After the events of Lester's brother, I felt bad that anyone had to die, there was only one death, and though I didn't cause it, I could have easily tried to prevent it.

Rusty didn't seem to care much about it, saying that they were trying to kill me, so it's only right that one of them paid the price.

Now that Thanksgiving dinner was out of the way, the five of us spent time putting up the Christmas tree. It was a tradition that my mom and my dad had. There was a lot of crime that took place between the holidays. He was never sure when he'd be able to stay home and help decorate the tree. So this year we had a lot more help, and this time it was under Roy's superior guidance. David told us that Roy had super designing powers, but the League of Defenders already had someone to fill that niche.

There was a knock on the door and David went to answer it. The guest joined us in the living room. It was Lester.

* * *

Lester, Rusty and I went up to my room where we could talk quietly. He wanted to thank us for whatever it was we did up there. He said he was terrified when he heard the first gunfire. He was so afraid that he just lost his brother and two of his friends. He admitted to being so very depressed that he could stand by and do nothing but be a coward hiding in the car.

"What could you have done?" Rusty asked bluntly.

"I could have been a lot stronger, and been up there with the both of you."

"There's a problem with that," I said.

"I could have tried. I didn't."

Rusty and I looked at each other. "When I told you that they were really lousy shots, they weren't."

"What do you mean? They even shot one of their own. I read it in the paper. There were holes all over the walls."

"I didn't want to tell you the truth," Rusty admitted, "I had to lie, just because we need to be secretive about what really happened." The police probably weren't entirely baffled by the fact that there were more spent casings than holes in the walls.

He was silent out of confusion.

"You guys some sort of superheroes?"

"Yea."

It was that simple. Lester didn't freak out. He didn't even ask us to spill everything about our abilities and power. He just nodded.

"Thank you then," he said with the utmost sincerity. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to pry it out of you. I really just wanted to come over to thank you two for making it so that our family can have a Thanksgiving as a family. You don't know what that means to my mother. She doesn't even know what happened. Hell, I didn't know until just now. Thank you both, thank you both so very much."

He gave us both a hug. Not a very sensual one, because he broke down into tears. I had suggested to Rusty that we might bring him in on a threesome a while ago. Rusty's response was that Lester just wasn't his type. We had both agreed that we'd have to convince Lars to join.

* * *

Now the six of us sipped on egg nog as we spread from the tree to decorating the room. Mother and Roy were like tyrants with the decorations though. Eventually they took over because the rest of us weren't doing it very well. Lester, David, Rusty and myself sat by the fire.

"Does he know?" David asked.

"Yes on both accounts. That we're gay and have special abilities."

"You shouldn't be so trusting of that information," David said, from a practical sort of view.

"I know," I said, "it can spell doom for someone's loved ones if their identities were exposed."

David nodded, "I hear it happens quite a bit on the east coast. Not everyone can get a membership into the League of Defenders and move their family into the Sovereign Tower."

The Sovereign Tower was an enormous building. It was a city of its own. It reached far into the sky, and was the platform to get to the suborbital station that the League also possessed. I've always dreamt of going up there as a child, my father had been there on a few occasions, but he wanted a simpler life for his family so he never moved us there. Part of me wished he had, I would have met some of the legends that walked through its halls.

"So why don't you two do more things like save people from burning buildings or cars from falling off the mountain side?" Lester asked.

Rusty was the first to answer, it was a bit colder than when he explained it to me, "It's difficult to be on the lookout for stuff like that. Secondly, it's glory hounding. We don't do it to have our pictures taken.

* * *

I stirred from my sleep, I dreamt of my father. We were fighting against one another. It didn't make any sense to me at all. It left me in a daze as I took in my surroundings.

Rusty was still asleep, his light snoring a comfort after my strange dream. It was quite warm in here. I quietly made my way to the window to open it slightly to let the cool air in. As I looked out on the six inches freshly fallen snow, I saw car tracks that lead up to Corey's house. However, it wasn't his mother's van that was parked in the driveway.

I put on my pajama bottoms, and climbed out the window. Years ago, I would've climbed down the tree, but I leapt down into the grass, as I landed, I tucked and rolled. My sleep was driven out with the impact as my body bulked up a little. I jogged over to Corey's house. One of the lights in the kitchen was on.

I hurried to the door and knocked on it with the secret knock that Corey and I used to use when we were kids.

An elderly lion answered the door, I didn't recognize him. Though there was something in his eyes that reminded me of someone I knew.

"What's wrong with you boy? Do you want to catch a cold?" He looked past me, to see that I had walked over.

"I'm sorry sir, I just, nobody's been in this house since September, and I was wondering--"

"You must be Corey's friend?"

"Yea, do you know where he is? There's a lot that I have to tell him."

"He's been at the Swedish Hospital."

"He--what?"

A shroud seemed to manifest around me as I felt the news sink in. There was a head on collision while they were on the road. It was night, and nobody found them until a day or two later. Corey's mother didn't survive. Corey was in a coma, possibly for the rest of his life. I don't even remember if I cried while the old lion admitted to losing his daughter and his grandchild. He himself had months left before his cancer would take him to his own grave. We shared time staring at nothing, with nothing to say.

I felt a cold wind blow throw me, chilling the warmth that was once in me to ice.

As we parted ways, I staggered home.

I spent hours in the kitchen not doing much of anything, until my mother came downstairs.

"Clayton? What are you doing up so early?"

I could feel the tears spill forth, perhaps I had cried when the old lion told me everything he knew, my tear ducts felt weak. No amount of super strength could have stopped me. I told her everything. She could only try her best to console me. Both she and Rusty held me for quite some time. I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do but let the sadness consume me. What super powers could fend against this?

* * *

Winter Quarter was just around the corner, and I needed to register for my classes. However, I could barely focus on the list of classes that my mother had suggested for me. She said that there were several core classes that I would need regardless of what I would decide to do later on in life. I didn't know what made it harder to focus, the fact that life is so easily taken away, or that I wasn't going to live a normal life anyway. Was I going to have to live with the uncertainty that everyone I love could easily be stripped away from me?

The kitchen seemed rather empty, aside from me and the papers that lay before me.

"Knock knock," Rusty said as he came into the kitchen, "Your mom told me that I'd find you here."

"Hey, I didn't even hear you pull up."

"Yea, I just was swarmed with new powers like the ability to manipulate sound waves as well as light waves. It's damn amazing."

"Oh."

"Your lack of enthusiasm tells me that you weren't paying attention to what I just said."

"Huh?"

The cougar took a seat in front of me at the table. "You're still feeling down?"

"I guess," I agreed, "It's just hard to concentrate, I keep pushing the thoughts that there might have been something that I could've done, but it just keeps coming up."

"You couldn't have known that they were going to get in an accident, nor is this directly in your control."

"I know, but it's not something that I can control either."

"We're still alive, without you, Lester's brother might not be. Cheer up." He held my paw. "Hey, I bought you a book that you might like. It's called Sudoku. Some sort of math thing."

We sat in silence for a little while after he explained to me how it worked. It was pretty easy, but it was the thought that counted. After a while of doing some puzzles, it set in. "You had new powers manifest?" It wasn't entirely unheard of. Some people developed second powers. Somewhere more powerful than their first, some even worked well with their first ability.

"No. Your mom said that I had to do what I could to take your mind off of things. She even said she wouldn't file charges against me."

"File charges against you? What for?"

"Rape." He smiled, and I couldn't help but partake in his smile. "Of course, it's hard to rape the willing, so I'll just pretend your Yes's are No's." He placed both his paws on my shoulders. His smile widened.

Chapter 16

We were back on our heroic escapades and we were in top form. I was already stronger and faster without having to gather any energy. I was finding that as I improved I could hold onto the energy longer and longer without burning it as quickly when I used my strength and speed.

Rusty had learned to control his power a great deal bit more. He taught me how to drive a stick shift, so that he could concentrate on keeping the car invisible as we prowled the streets.

The local media started to boast that the super hero Blackout was defending our streets. It only seemed to draw more attention. Now powered villains were starting to strike in the area. Rusty and I theorized that you couldn't have one without the other. Now that there was a local do-gooder, anyone able to take him down would get some notoriety. It seemed strange; because I had always believed that it was a super hero's call to duty when faced with a challenge, guess it works both ways.

Rusty had purchased a police scanner in early December, and it helped us find where some action was going on. Rusty thought it would be a good idea to keep a map of where all the different crimes were being committed. I helped out by color coding the different sort of attacks. It was just after the second week of December when we discovered a pattern of arsons. They were fairly evenly spaced according to the little red tacks.

With some string, we charted out where the arsonist might have been working out from. It narrowed us down to four blocks in Renton. One of them was a warehouse, an abandoned theatre and some closed down strip mall. It very well could have been coincidence, but Rusty figured that it would be worth a try. He didn't have much better to do since the University of Washington didn't start until next year for him. Winter quarter wouldn't start for me until the new year. There was plenty of super hero'ing to do in the mean time.

Our powers went together fairly well for the most part. He could keep them lost in the dark while I moved in to disable them. As far as anyone was concerned, we were one person. We were fine with that, we didn't really want any of the glory that a lot of super heroes were after. We kept each other honest, well Rusty kept me honest. It was hard for me not to feel the rush of the power that I had, especially after any skirmishes.

* * *

The strip mall turned up empty. Left abandoned after the economic crisis, probably never to recover again. The whole area was a mess; the only place that still seemed to be standing was the ominous Walmart down the way. The theatre was the next place that we checked. Seemingly vacant as we went through, though it became appeared as we stalked up to the second floor that someone was squatting in

There were someone's belongings in the projection room. Clothes mostly.

"Smell that?" Rusty asked me.

"Smells like campfire."

"I think we found what we were looking for."

We hid in the corner. It was easier to have Rusty darken a corner than it was to make us entirely invisible. We waited into the night. That's when we heard him walk in. The guy was dressed in some fireman get-up that was mostly red. He might have known that we were there. He hesitated quite a bit when he entered the room. He had taken off his soot covered helmet and dropped it to the ground.

He looked around, his eyes probably adjusting to the dark. His hands ignited and were suddenly on fire. He didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. I realized he was lighting the room, had Rusty's powers been enough to still hide us in the shadows? If he was powered, I didn't want to risk the chance of him seeing us. I ran at him from out of the shadows. Right into a jet of flame.

It was incredibly hot, and I could feel the flames engulf me. I was worried that I could be burnt to a crisp and the fire wasn't going to provide me the capacity for regeneration. I could feel it draining my reserves of energy as my regeneration began to eat into my supply. I was feeling weaker, and I fell, nearly blacking out. As I fell and hit the ground, the jolt woke me back up. The fire had stopped as he approached.

I could feel the searing hot flesh around me cool and start to heal over as he walked toward me. He gave me a kick to my chest. Had he not seen Rusty? He gave me another kick.

"Is this the guy they call Blackout? I can't believe he just went down like that. I'm going to have to tell the guys." I could feel his hands grow cold as his flames shut down. He reached into his pockets, was he going for a cell phone? He was. He gave me another sharp kick to my ribs, but at this point I didn't feel it much. He hardly noticed the bulk that I had put on. As I heard him flip open his phone, I grabbed his footpaw with my closest paw. He didn't know how to react, and in a split second, I swung his leg out from under him. He landed on his ass with a hollow thud. I jumped up to my feet, quickly inspecting him. He was an ocelot, and now he was an unhappy ocelot, which quickly turned into an angry fiery ocelot.

Fire seemed to wrap around his whole body, and it quickly caught to the room. It might have been too hot for me just a minute ago, but this time it felt different.

My body had adapted, the plasma that he must have been creating was being absorbed, and I could feel myself growing more and more powerful. I grabbed him by the collar and picked him up, the tongues of fire licking at my body, the hoodie had been very flame resistant, but now crumbled into ash. As my mass started to grow, I could see the panic in his eyes. He tried to pump more and more fire in me as he panicked. I was more powerful than I ever felt. Then it hit me, I was brimming with energy, and it seemed to be more than I could handle. The firebug was slowing down, his fire weakening, but I was stronger than I could contain. I could feel the world around me vibrant with energy as I completely blacked out.

* * *

I found myself standing on top of the Space Needle, how did I get here? As I started to concentrate on the notion how I got here, it became apparent that I might have been dreaming. It was confirmed when Crimson Wolf stepped down beside me.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

He didn't speak to me. His thoughts were clear as a bell though. What those thoughts were, I wouldn't remember at first as I suddenly felt myself being yanked out of the dream world, violently.

* * *

There was a brilliant flash of light. Then the night sky started to reveal itself through the debris of what was once a ceiling. The flames were out. The floor quickly turned to rubble as we fell down to the concrete below that. As we fell, I felt weak once again, much the way my body did the first time it tried to completely regenerate.

But with the rubble falling and colliding against me, I picked up enough energy to stand on my feet. The whole building had collapsed. Some major concussive force seemed to have blasted it. As I stood up in the massive demolitioned pile of rubble, I realized that the concussive force stretched out a little over the block. I looked down at my feet where the ocelot was breathing heavily, but battered and bloody. He tried to reach up toward me for help. I was barely strong enough to hold myself up.

I had never heard a death rattle before. This one came out very much a gurgle, as it seemed that whatever hit us crushed his body as though he were thrown in front of a freight train. The sound seemed to echo in my head. The blood began to dribble down off of him, yet I was untouched by a single fleck of his blood.

It slowly dawned upon me. The overload of energy, and the sudden weakness from lack of energy. I had hit my limit, and it made me explode? I was able to produce an amount of concussive force capable of devastating an entire building? Could this really have been my doing? The firebug was proof. I had killed him.

My thoughts turned to Rusty, was he okay? I looked around, and as I kicked the rubble away, I started to pick up energy. I was sore, and it didn't seem to draw power as quickly, but I was too concerned about Rusty to really care about my own body. I found him under some light rubble, he didn't seem too hurt. By the look of things, he had made it most of the way out when the building started to collapse. He probably managed to find a way out when the room started to be consumed with fire.

I pulled Rusty free of the debris, and carried him back to the car that was still parked out by the strip mall. After finding him, my brain must have put itself on autopilot. I drove us away, drove and drove and drove.