Taralynn’s Desk

Gabrielle Celeste Edenview felt her mind come back to life for the first time in—well she wasn’t actually sure. Where was she? Wherever it was, it was extremely comfortable. It felt like she was swaddled in silky sheets resting on marshmallowy clouds. Strangely, despite the fact that she had supposedly been sleeping for days, she felt like she was getting more rest waking up than being asleep. Physically she felt VERY well rested, but mentally she felt like she had just left a final exam in advanced chemistry or something.

She tried to go back to sleep, but as she rolled over her unfamiliar and large chest growths were squished. Gabrielle Celeste Edenview. That was the jolt the heroine needed to remember that she was in grave danger. She shot upright, confused and disturbed by the sights around her.

Firstly, the meta-human found out she indeed was swaddled in silky sheets. Mulberry colored silk sheets which were spread over the most comfortable mattress she had ever slept on. Her long red hair sprayed across the bed like untamed scarlet ivies. More disturbing was the fact that she had apparently been sleeping in a pink tank top and pink shorts. While they felt strangely comfortable, the vixen was incensed by the fact that someone other than herself had pulled the clothes over her body. “If Dr. Faded dressed me himself, I’m going to rip his heart out of his chest.” She groaned, remembering that violent threats sounded absolutely silly when asserted in her syrupy soprano voice.

Yawning, the ravishing redhead stretched her body out for the first time in what felt like days. She needed to take in her surroundings if she was going to gather an escape plan. The walls of the room were mauve and unadorned except for a few landscape paintings. A white desk was pressed against the wall opposite the bed. Above the desk hung a rather expensive looking flat-screen television. “Well, he spared no expense when it came to my prison, it would seem.”

A large wooden chest of drawers loomed over the side of her bed. The former hero shuffled out of the bed, fearing the many feminine outfits were most assuredly hidden within the dresser’s confines. Turning to her left she saw three large windows, framed by satin sheets. The wooden blinds were drawn down, concealing the outside world from her. Remembering that before being put to sleep that she had been unable to use her meta-abilities, the new beauty decided to see if her contemptible captor had grown careless. Attempting to phase through the floor caused the Babe-chip to spring to life; she felt something click in her mind, denying her access to her powers once again. “Grr! I’m going to find a way to rip you off my spine!”

Grumbling, she rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay, what would my manual say about this situation? I’m stuck in a body I don’t want, without my powers, and have a chip in my body that forces me to do as I’m told.” After standing for a few moments sighed. “Okay, so the manual would probably just tell me I’m screwed at that point. Nuts… well I should at least try to figure out where I am.” She took a step towards the window, but stopped when she saw the television turn on. Fading onto the screen was a familiar purple-haired man in goggles. She growled, “Dr. Faded.”

“Goooooood morning, my mesmerizing minion! How was your three-day long nap?”

“Screw you, sir!” She wanted to call him a different name, but the command he gave to only address him in positive terms prevented her from using more colorful terms to describe him.

“Ah, again with the scintillating dialogue! How did I go three days without it?”

She shook her fist at the TV. “Mark my words, Faded! I haven’t figured out how I’m going to escape but when I do…”

“Listen, Chesty McBooberific, we could do the whole routine of I gloat, you make a threat, I scoff, you grunt, then I laugh for a couple of hours. Unfortunately we have a full day today so just shut your mouth for a few seconds and listen.”

She didn’t want to shut her mouth. She didn’t want to listen. What she wanted to do was use her powers to beat him to such a pulp that’d he beg for an opportunity to change her back into a guy, then drop him off at the police station. But that didn’t matter—she needed to shut her mouth and listen. At that moment, shutting her mouth and listening is what had to happen and she knew it. “Yes boss.”

“Good girl.” Dr. Faded clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “First thing is first, my pet, you need to go into your bathroom, and get yourself showered. After that you’ll do your hair. Next, you need to get dressed in the outfit that will be laid out for you while you shower. Make sure to show some cleavage. Then put your makeup on—oh, and be sure to put on your pearl earrings. After that is finally done, you may step out of your room and come see me. At no time may you look out your window, darling. I don’t want you to spoil the surprise of where we are until I’m ready. Any questions, Celeste?”

The new minion raised an eyebrow. “Celeste?” She raised her hands into the air and made quotation marks with her fingers. “I thought you changed my name to ‘Gabrielle’ or whatever it was.”

“I did. But I think it’s sexy when girls go by their middle names so that is what you’re going to do when you’re not mincing about as my voluptuous minion, Umbra. Any other questions?”

Celeste clenched her fist. Under no circumstances was she going to be “mincing” anywhere. “Yeah, how on earth am I going to do my hair or put makeup on? I’ve never had this much hair and I sure as hell haven’t ever put makeup on.”

The villain smirked, hinting that he knew something the hapless heroine did not. “Just try your best, kitten. I’m sure you’ll be able to whip something together.” Then Dr. Faded started laughing manically and the screen turned off.

“Ass,” Celeste huffed. She turned to the windows but again, she knew she couldn’t look out. More importantly, looking out the windows just didn’t even feel like an option, like it was some moral line she just couldn’t bring herself to cross. Somewhere in her brain, the thought of disobeying Dr. Faded appalled her so much, that she just would not do it. She knew it was an artificial feeling, but it was there nonetheless.

She sighed and marched towards the bathroom… but Celeste wasn’t walking in any manner that was familiar to her. Her shoulders were thrown back while her pelvis pushed forward more than she was used to, giving the illusion that she was leaning backwards somewhat. Instead of the weight being on her heels she could feel herself keeping it on the balls of her feet. “What the hell?”

As Celeste continued to move, her feet pushed themselves directly in front of each other, as if she was walking on a tight rope. This caused her hips to sway back and forth, tracing a figure-eight path with the steadiness of a pendulum. “What on earth is going on?” The minion tried to stop the swaying of her hips, but every time she did, it felt so unnatural and so uncomfortable that she’d just return to her bewitching strut.

She blew a strand of red out of her vision as she approached the bathroom. “Looks like I was wrong about the whole ‘mincing’ thing. I have got to get this guy out of my head somehow. Wonder if the DEVO manual said anything about mind manipulation.” Celeste sighed and peeled the unwanted nightwear off her body. She noticed a laundry chute to her left, opened the door to it, and stuck her head in. The chute was so long she couldn’t see anything but a faint light at the end of it. “Damn, too small to fit into anyway.” She tossed the pink tank top, shorts, underwear, and sleep bra down the chute and moved towards the shower. The former hero did her best to avoid glancing at her naked body in the mirror that she passed by.

The shower itself was shoved into the corner of the bathroom. As Celeste opened the clear, glass door she had the feeling she was walking into a small closet. All the joints, knobs, and handles on the shower sparkled like polished silver. Though she wasn’t an interior decorator by any stretch of the imagination, the design looked very fashionable to her; she could have sworn she’d seen showers like this in one of those home improvement shows.

Underneath the showerhead, behind a plastic casing was an LCD display that let Celeste know the exact water temperature, time, weather, and even seemed to be connected to some kind of music player. She set the water temperature to 90º and gradually increased it until hot, soothing droplets danced across her pleasantly pale skin. She sighed and pressed the play button, looking forward to some relaxing music.

“I’m never gonna let’em go, No girl will eva’ get to my beau.”

“What the hell is this?”

“I’ll keep him happy forever, and we’ll stay happily togetherrrrrrrr.” Celeste raised an eyebrow as the beat picked up. She knew that she knew this song but couldn’t quite place it. Whatever it was, it left a horrible taste in her mouth. ”He’s gonna keep his eyes on me, Make sure he’s happy so I’m all he sees.”

“Zara Venus!” Celeste desperately tried to stop the music but found no buttons for stopping, pausing, or skipping the song. “Ohhhh, Faded you bastard! Forcing me to listen to this… garbage pop music!” Zara Venus was one of the hottest items on the radio. She was gorgeous and had a cute voice but all her songs were about relationships and boys and just made Celeste want to vomit.

“He holds me tight so he’s all I see too. You think you can take’em? You don’t have a cluuuuuuuuuue.”

“This man is by far more devious than I thought!” She hurried and started cleaning herself as quickly as possible so she could escape the music of Zara Venus.

“Dancin’ with my baby ‘til it gets hot. Dancin’ with my baby ‘til the music stops. I’ll be dancin’ with him all night long. I’m dancin’ with him to this song. No girl gonna be able to split us apart. No girl gonna steal awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay… his heart.”

Celeste grumbled as she finished washing herself. “Stupid girly pop music. Is he trying to drive me mad before I can get an opportunity to escape?” Opening the shower door, she instinctively tried to activate her powers, so she could simply phase the water off of her body and down the drain. Again the BABE chip denied her. “Dammit!” Begrudgingly she reached for a towel and hand dried herself off for the first time in years. The redhead was careful to not over-dry her hair as she somehow knew she would need it slightly damp to style it. “Probably another damn mind job.” Once she felt she was sufficiently dry, she wrapped the towel around her body and strode out of the shower with the grace of a model.

Without understanding why, Celeste gravitated towards the mirror and pulled a brush free from one of the drawers. She glared at the brush for a second. “I… I know what to do…” With her eyebrow raised, she found herself running the brush down the length of long scarlet tresses. After working out her tangles, she picked up a can of hair spray and reminded herself to make sure it was a low-hold hair spray. She shivered as she realized that however Dr. Faded had messed with her head, it was starting to affect her thinking as well as her motor functions.

“This is getting trippy.” She shook the can a little and lightly dusted the long hair strands. She grabbed the brush once more and with a few skillful strokes had luminous waves of red dancing down her back. Next Celeste gripped a can of mousse, whipped up some foam into her hands, and worked it into her bangs. When she was done, she examined herself in the mirror and knew that her hair was perfect. The thought both pleased and disgusted her.

“Well, guess that’s done.” She wanted to delay getting dressed, but she had her directions. And Dr. Faded’s directions were meant to be followed. Celeste re-entered her bedroom and immediately found her bed made with an outfit laid on top of it. “What the…” She groaned. “This stalker routine is getting annoying. Why the crap does a super-villain want me to dress like this?”

She picked up her panties and bra slid them on. She gave a sigh of relief as the bra took some of the burden of her ample breasts off of her back. She continued to monologue as she buttoned up a lavender-hued silk blouse. “I mean, he’s a mad scientist, right? Wouldn’t he be doing some experiments on me or something?” She kept buttoning up the shirt until she remembered her orders to show off a little cleavage. She groaned and undid a few buttons. “Stupid super-villains!”

With some struggle, she squeezed into a tiny, tight, pastel yellow business skirt that left no curve to the imagination. “Grk… how am I supposed to move in this?” She stepped into a pair of three-inch purple heels. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she looked like the sexy office coworker she had seen in chick-flicks.

“Make-up next, I guess.” With heels on, her new strut felt even more natural than before. As she reentered the bathroom, each step produced a crisp clack against the tiled floor. She sat herself down at the mirror and pulled a make-up kit out from a cabinet. How she knew where the kit was being stored was beyond her. She examined her face and without a moment of hesitation started applying foundation. As she did so, Celeste considered what shade of blush and eyeliner would go best with her outfit. Before she knew it, she was applying some mascara to her eyelashes and putting on some lipstick. With a pucker of her now tantalizing dark red lips, she finished putting on her face, knowing that now was an absolute knockout that any man would die to have.

As she put away her make-up kit, she remembered that Dr. Faded told her to put on her pearl earrings. She quickly picked them off the counter and pushed them into the pierced holes in her earlobes. With a quick glance, she straightened her blouse and swayed out of her bathroom, through her bedroom, and out the door for the first time since waking up.

The sight that greeted Celeste’s eyes was staggering. She stood in some kind of penthouse that was perched high atop Pinnacle City. Instead of having a wall, the spacious living room had a large glass window that gave her a view of the entire city. She gravitated towards the window as if hypnotized. She scanned the area immediately below, trying to figure out where she is. “Okay, what’s down here? Holy crap, is that Superior Motors Arena?”

“Yes, my dear. That is indeed Superior Motors Arena. As you have no doubt already deduced, you are in the southwest part of town, in top penthouse of the recently rebuilt Hoffman Hotel, which I own I might add.”

Celeste raised her head from the view. She recognized the voice in an instant, as each word he said seemed to send a tingle into her neck. “You own? That’s impossible. The Hoffman Hotel was bought and rebuilt by…” She turned around and found herself looking at a tall, broad shouldered man. His brown hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and she found she couldn’t pull her gaze from his chocolate-colored eyes. Against her will, her heart skipped a beat. “… Maxwell Paragon?”

The man smirked. “In the flesh, my sexy minion. And I must say, you look absolutely delicious this morning.”

Celeste staggered backwards, her brain suffering from all kinds of overload. Maxwell Paragon was one of the richest men in the world, not to mention the owner of the company she had worked as a shipping manager for back when she was Daniel Erie. “There—there’s no way. You can’t be Dr. Faded. You… you can’t!”

“Ah, heroes and their preconceived notions. And pray tell why I, a multi-billionaire genius cannot be Dr. Faded.”

“B…because…” She tried to form words but her brain was still rebooting from the startling revelation.

“Because what? I assume you have a point to make after that because, otherwise you’re just using the same argument that a kindergartener would use; though, frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if you couldn’t muster arguments better than a child. You have yet to show much skill at these verbal sparring matches.”

That was enough to get Celeste to wake up. She growled, “You can’t be Dr. Faded. You’re a respected businessman, owner of Paragon Industries, and you invented the CADS-car, you own the Paragon City Crashers, for justice’s sake! Nobody with a profile as high as yours could possibly run all that and be a super-villain! There just isn’t enough time in the day!”

Maxwell Paragon chuckled and straightened his tie. “Maybe I should explain my history a little so you can understand how a man like myself can have the time to be a villain. I got my second doctorate a year before most people get their high school diploma. At that point I was being recruited by all kinds of businesses, but I was far too intelligent to work for a company. I mean, any idea I came up with would become theirs and I’d earn a pitiful fraction that I could on my own. So instead, I set out with some venture capitalist money and started Paragon Industries in a humble, little office in Gaussberg. Within a few months, I invented the integrated system that made it possible for cars to navigate the streets without a person behind the wheel: the Completely Automated Driving System or CADS.”

Paragon leaned on the window and overlooked the city. “The individual car companies tried to buy CADS from me but I wouldn’t have it. I simply demanded I get paid a small royalty for every car sold with CADS installed. Oh, they initially balked at the low offer of one-quarter of a percent of each car sold. Not to be deterred, I set up shops across the country where people could get CADS installed in their vehicle for a mere $275. People gladly paid me $275 to be free of the hassle of having to actually drive their cars everyday… and it didn’t hurt that manned vehicles were in 32 times more wrecks than CADS-cars. Insurance premiums on CADS-cars became a fraction of what they were on normal cars.”

“Finally, Superior Motors accepted my proposal and agreed in exchange for the right to put CADS into every car they built. It was to a point where now nobody would even consider a CADS-less car and thus the other motor companies were forced to agree to my terms. I now essentially was the owner of point-two-five percent of the entire automobile industry. That netted me my first four billion dollars.”

“Once you make four-billion you don’t have to work very hard. Plus it’s hard to keep track of all that money. At that point I hired competent business experts to run the day to day operations of Paragon Industries. Now I am the venture capitalist. I spend four hours every weekday in my office just going over technical ideas that are submitted to me. Thanks to my acute eye for the world of physics, chemistry, engineering, and such I can figure out which ideas should be invested in and which ones should be dropped.”

“When presented with a promising idea, I invest in the individual or individuals who came up with it and provide them funding to work on their idea. Now, of course I could proceed with a project much quicker than them, but with so many projects I essentially have them do the preliminary testing on ideas for me. Individuals like Jenny Sparks make for great testing grounds for great ideas.”

Celeste gasped. “Jenny Sparks? You mean Cirquette? The teenage techno-heroine?” Cirquette may have been only seventeen years old but she was a genius and one of the more prominent members of DEVO.

The businessman flashed a villainous grin. “Oh yes. Who do you think paid for her suit? The government subsidizes her, sure, but there is no way they’d completely pay for such a costly suit of armor. No, I paid for all the expensive research, testing, and upkeep of her technologically advanced suit… and then I improve whatever concepts I’d like to incorporate for my own villainous purpose. If anyone cared to pay attention they’d realize that Dr. Faded uses the same Tesla-cannons that Cirquette uses, only my gloves require much less power than her “energy gauntlets”. She wouldn’t need the hydraulic lift units covering her entire armor if she didn’t have to carry that 400 pound power supply on her back. Quite wasteful really.”

“Wait, so you’re claiming that you’re actually funding the people you fight as Dr. Faded.”

“Oh yes! I fund quite a few of DEVO’s projects. Gives me the heads up on what they are planning. Always stay one step ahead of the competition. It also gives me the additional advantage of raising my profile within the Villains’ Union when I defeat heroes like Cirquette and Trooper.”

Celeste shook her head, quite disturbed at knowing that a great enemy of the Department of Enhanced Vigilante Oversight actually had very sensitive knowledge freely at his fingertips. Were heroes really that inept or was he just this good? “So, wait, you spend four hours a day just looking over business proposals? Don’t you have more responsibility than that as an owner of so much?”

“Well, as I said I have many competent business professionals who run my various companies for me. I’m mostly a very well paid and insanely brilliant engineer. Since I only spend four hours a day on business, I can spend four to six more hours a day on villainous schemes. Now, that could entail improving technology for my own use, gathering intelligence for future heists, or scoping out future targets… like you.”

Celeste took a step back. “How did you find out about me?”

Maxwell laughed. “Please! You worked for my company as a shipping manager. Every few nights you wouldn’t clock out until very late. Luck would have it those were the same nights that security would pick up an obscure vigilante standing on top of the roof of Paragon Industries Tower talking to himself while listening to a police scanner. I instructed security to let you be. They thought it was because I was being kind and letting a hero have a perch from which to launch his campaign of justice. What they didn’t know is I was observing you, studying you, watching your every move.”

“Your powers intrigued me. And I wanted a sexy minion who had powers that would be both useful and fun to study. To that end… well here we are.”

Celeste shook her head and closed her eyes. “This—this is impossible.”

“And yet you are standing here in a short business skirt, wearing a revealing blouse, and have more curves than a sine wave.”

She grit her teeth together. “Why did you have me dress like this? What does any of this have to do with me being your minion?”

Paragon steepled his fingers menacingly. “Ah, the crux of the matter. Well, my buxom beauty, you see if I have someone as sexy as you living in my penthouse, rumors are going to start flying. Rather than try to hide them, I think it’s best if we just run with what people assume. You, Gabrielle Celeste Edenview, are going to be my girlfriend.”

Celeste felt herself try to throw up at the very thought. “Your… girlfriend?”

“Indeed. It makes perfect sense given that you live with me and are quite female.”

A surge of panic flooded her mind. Live-in girlfriends typically were a lot more intimate with their boyfriends than the redhead was comfortable with. And Celeste knew she couldn’t disobey any orders that she was given. “You’re not going to make me—you know—are you?”

Maxwell cocked his head to the side curiously. “Make you what? Have sex with me? Do you want to? I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“NO!”

Celeste’s yell caused the billionaire’s ears to ring. “Then no, I’m not going to. If I had intercourse with you, against your will, that’d be rape. I’m a super-villain, not a sex-offender. Members of the Villains’ Union have standards. Besides it’s considered unprofessional to sleep with your minions unless you’re going to up their status to partner-in-crime.”

Celeste took a big sigh of relief and felt strangely grateful. Sure she had been kidnapped, transformed into a hot woman, and had her free will removed, but at least the guy who did it wasn’t also a sex-starved pervert. She lamented how far her standards for what constituted “good news” had fallen. “That’s nice to hear—uh, so that’s my cover. I’m your girlfriend. Okay, could be worse, I guess. Wait…” Suddenly, she remembered the rumors about Maxwell Paragon’s girlfriends that swirled around the office. “Don’t you usually employ your girlfriend as your secretary?”

Paragon clapped his hands. “Ding-ding-ding! She finally connects the dots! Congratulations, Celeste, you’re hired!”

She scowled. “But I don’t want a new job! I was perfectly fine working as a shipping manager!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I have a certain reputation to uphold, darling. If there isn’t a beautiful young woman who is my girlfriend sitting at my secretary’s desk, people will start to wonder what I do with all my time at the office. Right now I can get away with people not asking questions because they assume some of my time is spent with my girlfriend, if you get my meaning.”

Celeste tried to find a way out of the current situation. “But—but I don’t even know how to be a secretary.”

“Oh please, it’s not going to be that hard. Just manage my files, keep my schedule from getting too full with real work, and type up stuff for me every once in while. It’s not a difficult job. Most of my secretaries just spend most of their days texting their friends and looking pretty at their desk. If they can handle the job I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

She held her hands in a last ditch effort to get him to change his mind. “I have no clue how to type with these fingernails being so long.”

He rolled his eyes. “Such things can be taken care of, Celeste. Quit whining. You’re my new secretary and that’s that.”

“Dammit.”

Paragon reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a miniature can of hair spray. “Now, another reason people have never guessed that I’m Dr. Faded is that I look nothing like him. What helps in that regard is that Dr. Faded has purple hair. Now, standard hair dyes would take too long to wash out, temporary hair-coloring sprays wash out too easy, and wigs can come off in battle. To that end, I invented this: FACADE.”

“Let me guess, it has an acronym.”

“See, you’re catching on. Follicle Adhesive Colorizer Applied by Dispersive Emission.”

“And how is this any different from the temporary hair-coloring sprays you just talked about.”

He started shaking the can up. “This formula doesn’t just sit on the hair; it physically bonds to the follicles. The only way to break that bond is with a special counter-spray. Even better it only bonds to hair. Thus you can spray it without worrying about it staining your clothes.”

Celeste sighed. “So what does this have to do with me?”

“Well, if Umbra has red hair that is exactly your length, then Celeste cannot have red hair as that could link me with Dr. Faded. And we can’t have that. So…” He held the can up to his new secretary and pressed down.

Celeste was engulfed in a blue dust cloud that induced a coughing fit. When she finished coughing, the strands of red that had been hanging over her left eye were now midnight blue. “You could have at least warned me to hold my breath.”

“Nah, it was more fun this way.”

“Why dark blue? Why not something more naturally colored?”

“Because dark blue is pretty much the opposite of bright red and I think it looks good on you. Whether or not it looks ‘natural’ doesn’t really matter to me.”

“Wouldn’t the opposite of bright red be dark green?”

“Yeah, but dark green wouldn’t look good with your green eyes. It looks better this way.” He handed her the can of Facade. “Now here, don’t lose this. While not expensive, it is difficult for me to formulate this on short notice.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes sir.”

With a smile, he checked his watch. “Ah, it’s 7:30. Don’t have to be into work for another hour. Would you like to make us some breakfast?”

It wasn’t even 8 in the morning and she was already tired of his antics. This was going to be a long day. Still she hadn’t been ordered to make breakfast so she was going to take full advantage of it. “Bite me, Faded. I’m not you’re maid. Don’t you have a butler or something?”

“I do… of sorts. You’ll meet him later. But that’s beside the point. You are not allowed to say, infer, or in any way attempt to refer to my secret identity when I’m not in my Dr. Faded outfit. Also, just to cover my bases, you are not allowed to attempt to reveal my identity in any way at any time. But thanks for mouthing off like that. It gives me a chance to try this out!” He pulled out what looked like a large T.V. remote.

Celeste groaned, knowing she was not going to be pleased. “Dare I ask the acronym for this?”

“MERR—Matter Energy Recombinant Ray.” With a click, she found herself engulfed in a yellowish light. Strangely her clothes glowed with the light. They seemingly liquefied and snaked over her body.

With another press of the button the light shut off and Celeste found herself dressed in a very revealing maid outfit. “Holy hell? How did you…”

“A cute little device I cooked up that allows me to reform matter into something else by first converting it into energy then back into matter in a predetermined form of my choosing. Unfortunately it only works on items that have been thoroughly scanned and studied. Prevents me from using it in battle but as it just so happens I’ve been sure to make sure to thoroughly scan pretty much your entire wardrobe.”

Celeste glared at Paragon and just shook her head. “You know, I really, really, really hate you.”

He shrugged. “Really, given the circumstance, that doesn’t come as a surprise to me. In fact, I’d think there was something wrong with you otherwise. I mean if you can’t hate a guy who steals your entire identity and life from you, who can you hate? Now go make us some breakfast, sugar lips.”

With a grunt she sauntered into the kitchen. “You’ll slip up, villain. Nobody is perfect. And when you do slip up I’m going to make you regret you ever messed with…”

“… the Spectre Protector of Pinnacle City?”

“I was just going to say Spook.”

“Of course you were.”

“I was!”

“Oh I totally believe you. You don’t have a history of over-talking at all.”

“Ergh… bite me.”

Gah! Took so long to get this chapter done. For those of you who don’t know why, it’s because I got sick with the flu for a week and spent the week after that just making up for two weeks of schoolwork. But now I’m all better and caught up! Yay!

So the secret identity of Dr. Faded is revealed. We designed Maxwell Paragon to kind of be the villainous answer to Tony Stark. I really like how he turned out. I also like constantly coming up with acronyms for all his inventions.

Thanks to all who donated to get this chapter up. Your donations are much appreciated. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. More antics are on the way so I hope you keep donating. It’s easy to donate: by card or just send money in the mail. Every little bit helps! Thanks so much!

Rock on!
Taralynn Andrews