Tracker 2 found himself alone with The Black Wasp for the first time ever. He formerly introduced himself as being Tracker 2. “You don’t mind being the number two?” Black Wasp asked. “Not really. It is the truth.” Tracker 2 replied. “Don’t you want or prefer to have your own name?” She asked. “It is my name. Always has been. To have another name, that would be weird.” He replied. “Do you have a name besides Black Wasp?” “Sure. Devonne Hampton. You’re the Fire Ant. Is that right?” “Yeah. That’s me.” Tracker 2 replied. “Did you exist when they, uh, I think they call themselves “The Tribe”, fought Crandel to a standstill?” She said. “Sorta. I came along in the middle of it all.” “Impressive! We were all hoping you would prevail. That is why many of us refused to help. Got us in trouble, you know.” She said in an accusing tone while giving him a look to match. “I’m sorry to hear that. It was certainly not our intention.” Tracker 2 replied. “To be honest we have been mostly re-acting, rather than acting, ever since we came into these powers. With the exception of when we first started out. That was when we were training with One Antler. Things were simpler then, though they seemed like they could never have been more complicated.” “One Antler?” Devonne asked curiously. “That’s not a name you hear every day.” Tracker 2 laughed. “I suppose not. I mostly have memories of him but I have met him. We fought Team Crandel together.” “And now you’re a part of Team Crandel.” Devonne noted. “Yeah, but on our own terms. Don’t get me wrong, I do not think we have the upper hand on a weasel like Crandel. I don’t think that is possible which is probably what makes him such a great agent. Just about the time you think you have him pinned down he wriggles free and you have to start all over again.” Tracker sighed. “I suppose that is as good as it will ever get when dealing with the government.” “If its any consolation,” Devonne said while taking Tracker 2 by the hands and looking him straight in the face. “He’s clever, can be counted on to show up and doesn’t have the worst personality … as government agents go. All good qualities for the task we have to accomplish. Now then, about us.” “Us?” Tracker 2 asked, his hopes raised. “I still am trying to wrap my head around the fact that there are two of you. I mention that because I could not help but notice that perhaps the other Tracker is also interested in me. Am I to take each of your advances as separate or are you intending on that both of you date me?” She asked. “I’m not sure what you mean?” Tracker 2 asked. “What I want, he wants. We are the same.” “So which one of you goes with me at Christmas to visit mom and dad, should things ever get that far?” Devonne asked. “Why can’t we both?” Tracker 2 asked. “Okay, let me put this another way. If we were to get married, when the preacher says you may kiss the bride: which one of you will kiss me?” She sighed like she was tired of the conversation but inside the truth could not have been more different. A girl just didn’t happen upon this sort of situation every day. Ever! In fact. She wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered, insulted, greedy or pursued too intently. She did know he was attractive. She liked his vibe. Plus he wasn’t intimidated by her which was something else she didn’t encounter every day. “We could discuss it before hand. It would just be a matter of who went first.” “That’s what I was wondering: worried about. Just what do you take me for? Are you trying to insult me?” She said, her voice seeming to go up in pitch with every word. Now the others were starting to look over to see what was going on. Tracker 2 took notice and lowered his voice when he said, “No, no, not at all. That is certainly not my intention.” “Don’t you mean ‘our’ intention?” Devonne asked. “I suppose you could look at it that way.” He replied. “Please understand that this is all new to me, I mean, us, too. I am pretty sure there are no pre-existing rules for how this should go.” Devonne sighed again and gave things some further thought. Truth be told she didn’t care what the rest of the world thought: she knew herself. She knew she was neither easy, or anything close to being a reason to be ashamed. And she was not. Whether the world saw her dating one guy, or two, she had better self-esteem for herself that she didn’t need the world’s approval. “Okay that’s fair. And I want to be fair. I am attracted to you so of course, I want to be fair. Just understand that because this is all new territory, that I might be prone to swings in opinion without warning, and that I will be respected at all times. If you are unsure about taking a step, you better find out if it is okay before doing so. Are we clear on that?” Tracker 2 smiled. “Yeah. Yeah we are.” Devonne smiled back. “Then we are off to a good start.” “Yeah.” Tracker 2 replied. “Let me ask you this?” Devonne began, “Are you jealous if the other Tracker kisses me? And vice-versa?” “Just if it were someone besides me, … or him.” He said, pointing at his double. “We are still finding out if we are different people that will become further apart as our different experiences take us in different directions or if we will always be like we are now. The same guy just in two separate, yet same, bodies.” She had a perplexing look on her face. “You sir, and your other … sir, are just about the most confusing, complex, brain-bruising twisting riddle of a joke, or joke of a riddle, or perhaps none of the afore mentioned two, that I have ever ran into in all my life. Why, just the intrigue of how all this, me, myself, and him, stuff will play out is enough to have my full attention. Put aside whether we will manage a love story out of it too. Yes sir, you sure have brought curiosity back to stiff attention in my life.” Devonne hesitated for a second and then added, “But the first time you and yourself try to get physical with me at the same time will become your first initiation to the business end of my stingers. They burn like fire, but they are not fire.” “Say no more.” Tracker 2 said, holding up his hands while at the same time flashing her that confident smile that said, it was smart enough not to say, that if need be, he could handle whatever was thrown at him, most certainly anything she had to throw into the ring. She was both attracted by his grin, and yet it sort of pissed her off at the same time. Kind of like when an older brother or sister that you look up to; grabs you and throws you into the swimming pool while wearing your street clothes. You are flattered to get the attention but still inconvenienced to have to go change into dry clothes. She supposed the attention was weighing the scale in that direction over the being angry direction. In fact now that she realized she was wasting her time thinking about it: it made her smile. The group of rooftop alien watchers began to dwindle as the night sank deeper into its depths. Finally when there was about an hour left before dawn, the few remaining team members retreated to their sleeping quarters to get any final tasks finished. Preparations were made for the coming fight such as adding any weapons or additional gear that the person thought they may need during the course of battle. Those going up into the fight who did not have the ability to fly were double-checking their parachutes and the instructions for making them work. They were all manual required actions for the chutes to operate which meant when you fell you had better keep your wits about you. Failure to pull the chute cord was failure to continue. Period. Considering the result, you can go ahead and throw an exclamation point in there too! If you need one more hint, here it is: SPLAT! The Flea, The Cricket, The Grasshopper and Seta aka The Scorpion, were all too aware of what happens if they didn’t use their chutes. Grasshopper, much like Tonka, aka The Beetle, had limited flying ability. Unlike The Beetle, The Grasshopper did not come with an armored body which was nearly impossible to crush or penetrate, so she had opted for the chute as an added protection from a bad fall. The jet-pack soldiers were also issued a parachute of sorts. It was designed to protect the jet pack from hitting so hard it exploded, possibly killing civilians on the ground. That was, if the soldier flying the jet-pack was unconscious or dead and the pack detected a fall speed of terminal velocity, it deployed the chute. Problem was that the chute was not designed to protect the human being falling. The chute was just designed to protect the jet-pack. Story to the soldiers was it was to protect the civilians on the ground however scuttlebutt among the grunts was that the jet-packs cost too much to have them trashed every time somebody died, so they invented the chutes. Soldiers believed that if congress could figure out a way to cut the soldiers loose of the chute, that they would. It would greatly reduce damage to their jet-packs. Less than an hour from battle time, it was definitely on the minds of the ones assigned to wear them. So was a bad conclusion on the minds of the super soldiers of Team Crandel. Members of the tribe had kept a few details from their leader. They had not told agent Crandel that they had regenerative powers. Although he did seem to have suspect. It was not important to the matter at hand. If it came down to one of them being taken out, it would not be immediate that the downed team member would be able to get back up and fight anyway. For all intensive purposes that team member was killed since they would be out of the fray until they had healed. Time to travel. Word went around to gather on top the building for those going up. Anybody staying on the ground was assigned a transport if their particular abilities were not the kind to make covering large chunks of ground an easily accomplished endeavor. Crawdad sat atop the first transport. Several national guard soldiers could be seen racing this way or that, getting ready to move ground support to the locations intel provided. Up on top the building Tracker and Tracker 2 turned their fire on. Daniel and Daniel 2 were carrying Seta and Tonka. They were backed up with a dozen jet-packed super soldiers. Leading the next squadron to come after the Tribe, was Black Wasp. She was carrying The Grasshopper. Flying next to her was The Hummingbird, who was carrying The Cricket Bumble Bee was carrying The Flea. Next Page |  Devonne Hampton aka “The Black Wasp” Shoots a stinger that paralyzes its victim Agile flyer  Carrie Sanders aka “The No-See-Um” Invisible when in battle mode Fast flier: has a mild sting that momentarily paralyzes.  Part of Team Crandel watching the UFOs  The Bumble Bee Armed with paralyzing stingers Strong flyer |