Akshay beamed as he looked across the faces of his promotional day crowd. The group was mingling through his comic store, chuckling and looking over a variety of comics. Today was a good. Akshay was doing much better, the break-up slowly sinking into the back of his mind as something that didn’t require any more thought. He had moved on and it was time for him to get his life back together. Dancing and having fun was one thing, but now was the time to delve into his work! It was time to make “One Comic to Rule Them All!” as successful as it could be.

And success was all he could see.

All around him, people were mulling about, looking through comics, having conversations, debating the merits of very superheroes and villains. It was good to be in his element again. As he moved through the crowd, patting people on the back, answering any questions they may have had he watched as his most enthusiastic worker, Rebecca, carried a box of comics into the back room for storage. She was dressed as tight wearing, elf hero from a video game franchise.

Had to admit that he was surprised she came into work today. Her break up with a certain insect girl had left the redhead shaken for awhile. But she seemed to be bouncing back fairly quickly. That was good.

He turned back around. Akshay himself had actually dressed for the occasion too. He surely did miss his costumes while he was in his funk. He was happy to finally be out of it. Dressed as the impeccable vigilante known only as Blackbird. Black spandex merged to Akshay’s form as he walked around, the blue insignia that blazed across his chest seemed to denote a sense of power that he rarely exhibited on his own, and black mask that sat across the bridge of his nose (held tight with gum paste) masked his eyes with a shade of white. He had to admit that even he looked pretty badass in it!

His fighting sticks safely tucked inside one of his boots, the comic shop owner smirked as he made his rounds before returning to the counter. As he passed by a trio of patrons, he had to mentally roll his eyes. One of them was beginning to stir up stuff.

“Gawd, this shop is so lame,” the overly large man in a Pikachu costume grumbled. “Like, seriously, the workers look nothing like their characters, the comics only go back to 1970, AND they don’t even have a nacho dispenser? What the hell?”

Akshay sighed. Sometimes he was embarrassed to be a nerd…

"Boss... what're we doin' here again?" The duplicate to her left questioned grumpily, knowing full well that she was missing one of her favorite TV shows right now.

Elke glanced over at the girl, resisting the urge to sigh at being reminded of what the clone has wanted to dress up as. "Because, dummy, I want to get a few more comics... and that one guy is supposed to be here. You know, the one Shameless was talking about?"

The twin blinked at her, popping open a snack-sized bag of chips. That one guy?... Hmm.. she faintly recalled that, but attempting to dig up the memory became too hard, too fast, so she switched to stuffing her face instead. Elke rolled her eyes and ignored the duplicate as she attempted to inhale the chips- bag and all. It didn't matter if the clone was on board with the plan; Elke had everything covered already. Tugging at the straps of her backpack at the thought, which was packed full of various other books and magazines she's found laying around the house, the Native grinned to herself. If the day went smoothly she'd be returning home with a ton of new comics to stare at, and would have gotten to meet a cool celebrity type guy on top of it.

"Ohmaigawd! Boss! It's Peek-a-shoe!"

"Pikachu..."

"Pee-at-chu?"

Groaning, Elke slapped a palm to her forehead in frustration. "PEE-KAH-CHU." The clone blinked at her, brushing stray chip crumbs from her face. "Ain't that what I said the first time?"

'ARGH!" Throwing her hands up in defeat, the native stomped past her bewildered twin in order to push her way through the crowds. Dressed in a borrowed costume with a mask sitting nestled on top of her head, she felt like she blended into the crowd seamly. Her twin, however... did not.

"Ha! What are you thuppothed to be, huh? A robot?"

Pausing, Elke turned to see that her twin had been distracted by a man in a colorful costume, and his friend. A feeling of dread washed over her. Would she be able to make if back in time to stop her from embaressing h--

"Imma Vending machine!" The duplicate shouted., loudly, and then struck the most ridiculous pose Elke had ever seen. "I save poor high school students and college kids from starving to death between classes~!"

The guys blinked, taking in the beaten up cardboard boy with doodled on pictures of buttons and edibles, and then started sputtering with snort-y laughter. Elke, being the original and therefore responsible for the clone, briefly considered slipping her mask on before anyone realized she was with the 'vending machine' and ditching her where she stood. Unfortunately, there was certain attitude that came along with dressing up like a hero, even fake ones, that prevented her from doing such a thing.

...so, what would any reasonable, level headed hero-in-training do?

"Vile fiend!Cease your laughter or behold my wrath!" From within a flimsy plastic utility belt, she withdrew a marble, and her slingshot. Hopping into place beside her twin with her weapon drawn and loaded and her mask in place, she waited for the man to respond.

"Does any one want a half melted candy bar? Only four dollars! Four do--Oof!" An elbow to the gut shut the clone up quickly, before she could fully ruin all of Elke's hard work.

It was a damn good turnout. Akshay was pleased with everything as he stood behind the counter and began to go through the receipts. Yeah it was still tough now that he alone was the owner, but Akshay was glad the business was finally beginning to turn around a bit. It was less stress off of his shoulders that he knew now that he would be able to make the payment this month so that he could keep the shop. For too long he had been worrying about nearly everything that had to do with his life. With Emerald done, all Akshay had to occupy his mind and time was his store. So he poured his heart and soul into it.

Now that things seemed to be leveling off, it felt much, much better. If he could keep having promotional days like this, sans any incidents, then all should be pretty well!

>> "Vile fiend!Cease your laughter or behold my wrath!" [/color]

>> "Does any one want a half melted candy bar? Only four dollars! Four do--hurk!"

>> “What the hell is your problem kid?!”

Akshay dropped his head. Speak of the devil and his minions appear!! Akshay grumbled as he scooted around the counter and quickly sought out the source of the disturbance. He eyed his patrons but no one else seemed to notice anything. They continued on, mulling, shopping, and chatting, with one another. No one seemed to be having any sorts of disputes.

It was not until he turned and spied his young ward, Red Finch, standing defiantly between a duo of evil looking doers and…um…a vending machine?

Akshay blinked, shook his head and boldly stepped forward. He may as well remain in character of the other person was dressed as his supposed sidekick.

“Red Finch!” he said as he nodded to the young boy and the vending machine. “What seems to be the trouble?” In one swift motion he pulled one of his fighting sticks from his boot and pointed it accusingly at the pair of irritated looking villains. “You dare?!”

"What the hell is your problem kid?!"

"You're face is my problem, jerk!" She drew back on her juvenile weapon a little, adding even more tension to the band. She was fully prepared to let a marble loose at the guys, especially the one in the goofy costume, and didn't really care how much damage she might inflict in doing so. The guys deserved it, for dressing like goons.

“Red Finch! What seems to be the trouble?”

She did pause when another stepped up, however, and turned her eyes away from her target. Who was it that had stepped in to the situation, even though she clearly had everything handled? The Blackbird himself! An odd sense of hero worship washed over her, if only because it had taken her ages to painstakingly compile all of the necessary items required for her to look the part of sidekick. She lowered her weapon, a tad bit reluctantly, but kept her marble readily nestled in the slingshots worn leather pocket.

“You dare?!”

"He dared! He dared!" her clone chimed in, throwing her cardboard clad arms in the air. The man decked out in purple lifted his hands in surrender and glanced at his buddy. "Look, man, all I did wath make fun of her cothtume a little... C'mon, even you have to admit that it'th pretty bad!" His pal nodded, and pointed a finger at Elke. "This genius is the one who you should be pointing your little stick at!"

Elke narrowed her eyes behind her mask, and re-armed her weapon. "How dare you speak to the Blackbird like that! It's not a little stick it's a mighty instrument of JUSTICE!"

Her clone reacted in an entirely different manner... First, by looking down at her costume curiously. Second, by peeling off a strip of duct tape that had come loose, which caused one of her side panels to fall off. She stared at it for a moment, before her face screwed up and she burst into tears. The wail that followed gained the attention of a few curious onlookers, and when the duplicate lifted a hand and pointed at the men, all of the eyes combined landed on them.

"You're a MEAN BULLY!"

>> "He dared! He dared!"[/color]

Akshay crossed his arms over his chest, his escrima stick held in his fist still, as he watched the pair of men trying to talk themselves out of being thrown out of his establishment. Though Akshay didn’t like to lose customers, he was not about to let hooligans make fun of other kids in their costumes. But, trying to remain in-character, he listened to the skirmish continue as the men and kids tried to point fingers at one another.

He had to admit, though, the kid dressed as Red Finch really had the character personality down!

>> "Look, man, all I did wath make fun of her cothtume a little... C'mon, even you have to admit that it'th pretty bad!"

>> "This genius is the one who you should be pointing your little stick at!"

>> "How dare you speak to theBlackbird like that! It's not a little stick it's a mighty instrument of JUSTICE!"

>> "You're a MEAN BULLY!"[/color]

Akshay rolled his eyes. He didn’t need to have guys like this in his store, running off his customers just because they didn’t think their costumes were authentic enough. That sounded too much like Newman Ledge’s crowd and Akshay certainly wasn’t in the mood to deal with him or any of his ilk. Seeing Red Finch pull the slingshot back again, Akshay quickly stepped in before things really started to get ugly.

“Whoa, Red Finch,” Akshay said calmly. “Don’t waste your pellets on people like him. He’s not worth it, save it for the real villains.” He smiled at the crying vending machine and knelt down in front of…him? Her? Whatever. “Hey, don’t cry. You’ve got a dynamite costume. You want some extra candy for it? Just go behind my counter. There is a hold bucket full there.” When he/she decided what he/she was going to do, Akshay shot up and once again pointed his Escrima stick at the fat Pikachu. “And you, get the hell out of here before I change my mind and let Red Finch have his way with you. I won’t tolerate bullies in this shop. Do you understand me?”

The clone sniffled, wiggling in her boxy costume, before she locked her eyes on the guy that had been labeled Blackbird. He was nice... and dressed like a super hero, so she automatically trusted him. Anyone could trust a super hero, right? Yes. Especially ones who offered you candy. With a little nod, the twin speared a glared at the guy's who had mercilessly made fun of her costume, stuck her tongue out, and then shuffled off behind the counter to get some candy.

Elke watched her go, filled to the brim with pride from the Hero's words, before she turned her attention back on her foes. Blackbird was right, of course... she couldn't waste her ammunition and energy on two saps like that, when there were bigger and badder enemies out there to fell. Instead, she propped her fists on her waist and glared at them with what she hoped was a look of stern... er... sternness.

The two men were honestly more frightened by the man and his sticks, than they were of a child with a sling shot, but either way they grumbled to themselves and shuffled out of the store with no further trouble. Elke waited until their cowardly behinds had vanished completely, before she forgot her character and howled in delight. "Woohoo! ohmygod that was SO COOL! YOU were SO COOL!" The native jumped around excitedly, before remembering that she was still in the presence of a super hero and tried to recover sloppily. With an awkward cough, she tucked her third grade weapon away and propped her hands back on her hips. "I mean... Good job, Blackbird, Sir! Those ruffians will think twice before picking on someone in the future!"

Man... why couldn't her voice sound more... heroic? Why'd it have to be all squeaky and junk?!

***

Quinton Bol was having a bad day. Actually, he was having a bad year. The fruit of his labor, the end result of blood, sweat, and tears, was being mocked and ridiculed by people audacious enough to see themselves as his peers. People he had once looked up to as great minds and artists had looked upon his life's work in disdain. They refused to publish it, citing that he needed more work in the story. It's just not original enough, Quinton, they'd say. The art is fantastic, but the story is nothing special. It needs more work.

The fools! They refused to take him on because they had already lined they greedy pockets with the money of his competition. People who called themselves artists even though they rolled out sappy, cliche stories with no viable talent. Unimaginative people who tossed out carbon copies of one comic after another, pandering to the narrow minded masses. They didn't know what real art was... oh, no no no. HE knew was real art was. HE knew better than anyone!

That was why he'd been forced to take drastic actions....for the betterment of all.

You see, Quinton wasn't any normal man. He was a closet mutant. His artistic talents had developed in his twenties when he'd thought up his very first story, and his mutation had manifested ten years later, when he'd started work on GUN LORD. He'd discovered that things like pencils and erasers had a tendency to vanish into the paper he was working on, and would pop up in random pictures... without him having drawn them there. He had the odd, and very much frightening, ability to enter his own art... to walk among his drawings seamlessly. Even to interact with them as if he was a character.

Five years after he started in earnest, his comic was finished. Twenty issues in all, each hand drawn and written out personally.... and they'd turned him down. His blood had boiled, his vision had gone red. He'd raged for days and nights, unable to think of anything but the harsh words those people has used to slander his most cherished work. And then... he thought of revenge. One by one, within the span of a month every single person who'd turned him down vanished, five in all. He'd visited each, and with help from his mutation, trapped then all in the world he had created.

Oh, they would see first hand just how much of a genius he was; or they would die.

The men were grumbling but at least they were leaving. That was good. Akshay didn’t like bullies and liked to think of his comic store as a place for EVERYone. Not just the people who could afford the uber expensive costumes, or wasted their lives picking out every single minute detail. In truth, Akshay knew that it was things like that that didn’t matter. Yes, he loved to spend time working on his comics and making the absolute best costumes that he could imagine, but the truth was that deep down he knew that none of that should be done at the cost of other people’s enjoyments.

Bullying, no matter what the context, was simply not cool. That was why he was happy those men left, and exactly why the smile on the child’s face who was dressed as a vending machine just made his day. He was more than happy to spread the love.

Watching the vending machine shuffle away behind the counter to find the candy he promised, Akshay placed his fist at his hips and beamed as he looked down the young sidekick.

>> "Woohoo! ohmygod that was SO COOL! YOU were SO COOL!...I mean... Good job, Blackbird, Sir! Those ruffians will think twice before picking on someone in the future!"[/color]

He smirked as he watched Red Finch hop around excitedly. The young sidekick was obviously both completely embracing his character and seemed to really believe that Akshay was Blackbird. Akshay chuckled heroically and nodded. He was more than happy to keep up the charade for now.

In deep, baritone voice, Akshay laughed and nodded to Red Finch.

“Of course! Any ruffian who comes up against Blackbird and his sidekick Red Finch would surely think twice about ever doing so again!” he posed, heroically, before nodded to the younger. “Come on, brave warrior! Let us join your friend and enjoy the spoils of heroism!”

Meaning, of course, sharing in the candy…

“Of course! Any ruffian who comes up against Blackbird and his sidekick Red Finch would surely think twice about ever doing so again! Come on, brave warrior! Let us join your friend and enjoy the spoils of heroism!”

Wow!... he was just too cool! Posing next to him, while pretending that her cape was flapping in a glorious wind of justice behind her, blew her thirteen year old mind. "You betcha!" She quipped, and trotted along behind him.

Meanwhile... at said counter, where the clone was currently trying to decide which candy to eat and which candy to put in her vending machine slots (for customers, you know!), she noticed something on the counter a little ways away from her. Glancing left and right to see if it belong to anyone (and not seeing any apparent owner), the clone shuffled over to her, trailing candy wrappers behind her. She reached for what appeared to be an unattended comic, before realizing that her fingers were dotted with melted chocolate. A quick lick, slurp, and hand wiggle later, she picked up the booklet with only the soggiest, cleanest fingers, and flipped through it.

***

With the first issue of his comic in hand, Quinton had left his apartment in order to give it one last try. He was nervous, however... because in his rage against the people who had wronged him, he had made a terrible mistake. He'd used the first issue, the very book in his hands, to get rid of them. He knew he couldn't very well approach someone, looking to be published, and not have the very first comic in his storyline on hand! That meant he needed to be careful... he needed to keep an eye on which pages people saw, because he knew at any moment one of his captives could turn up randomly on a page.

His goal had led him to this comic shop, where people had packed themselves inside to browse, buy, and socialize. With his comic tucked safely away inside his coat, he'd joined the fray, keen eyes on the lookout for anyone he felt worthy of his work. Here, amongst the throng of fellow comic nerds, he made a second mistake... He let the excitement of the event overtake him.

After showing his pride and joy to a fellow enthusiast, the two of them got into a long winded debate. One was sure his comic was gold, while the other was sure he'd read a similar story elsewhere. Quinton set his booklet down while he argued his opinion, and had wandered a few steps away.

That's how a little girl dressed like a vending machine got her grubby paws on it. The clone flipped form page to page, not understanding most of the words, but fully captivated by the pictures. Elke saw her from the other side of the counter and her curiosity piqued. What was she doing with a book? Hadn't she made it explicitly clear that the clone was not supposed to touch anything?

"Wassat?" The Native inquired, trying to peek over her shoulder at the pages. "I dunno.. but it's got lots'a blood in it... and pretty drawin--"

"What are you doing with that!?" The alarmed voice belonged to Quinton, who had only just notice that some brat had his book. He attempted to snatch it from her, but she refused to let go. A tug-o-war sprang to life, with Elke jumping in to slap her hand down in the middle of the open pages, pinning the book to the counter.

"Chill dude, she was just looking at it!"

Akshay chuckled as he patted his young protégé on the back and began to lead him/her back to his counter. After their altercation with the more stubborn customers, Akshay was actually looking forward to hang with these two. They fully embodied their characters and that was something that Akshay just loved. They were not obnoxious like the fully grown adults who came in costume; they were kids and they had a right to be full of whimsy. Akshay liked that and hoped that they would continue as such.

But, leading Red Finch back to his counter to claim their prize of candies and sweet stuffs, Akshay ground to halt. Already there was something else going on? He rolled his eyes and watched as Red Finch ran off first to intervene between what was going on.

>> "Wassat? “[/color]

>> “I dunno.. but it's got lots'a blood in it... and pretty drawin--"[/color]

>> "What are you doing with that!?"

>> "Chill dude, she was just looking at it!"[/color]

Akshay sighed. Couldn’t he just have one promotional day where things didn’t completely collapse into some horrible state of affairs? Just one day where he could enjoy his comics, his nerdom, and make lots of money. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Apparently it was between the two kids seemed to get heated with the gentleman about a comic.

Akshay grumbled silently before he finally stormed forward. Thankfully Red Finch had attempted to quell the situation at first.

“What’s going on here?” he growled in his best imitation of Blackbird. He looked squarely at the man. “What’re you doing to these kids?”

“What’s going on here? What’re you doing to these kids?”

Quinton looked away from the tug-o-war momentarily to the man who had just approached. "These kids have my property, I want it--" Elke and the clone tugged... and his frustration grew another five inches. If he wasn't careful, they'd rip his life's work! "-- back!"

Turning his full attention back to the two bothersome children, Quinton adjusted his grip, moved his feet into a better position, and tugged all the. He could see in his mind, the front page ripping... the inner pages wrinkling and the pictures destroyed! In that very second, his power kicked into full gear.

The man tugged, the Vending machine clone lost her grip... and Elke vanished in the blink of an eye.

Quinton, set off balance by the sudden win on his side of the game, was sent crashing into the man in the Black Bird costume. The book in his hand slapped suddenly into contact with the comic shop owner, and Quinton let out a yelp.

***

Elke blinked, and suddenly she was... outside? No longer was she fighting over a book... or in a store... or near anyone, for that matter. Where was she? Scratching her head, she glanced around, and then her eyes drifted downward a little. Why did everything look so much like a drawing? The trash can to her right had black outlines... So did the building behind it. The sky looked like it had been painted with water color, and...

"...Omaigod." SHE WAS A FREAKIN' CARTOON CHARACTER!?

Akshay didn’t like the direction that things were going. Standing there, he watched as an older man was participating in a tug-of-war contest with a couple of kids. Really, there was no cause for that. Surely Akshay had a spare copy of whatever this comic book was that they were fighting over. This WAS a comic shop after all. It was just silly to assume that he couldn’t find a replacement for it.

>> "These kids have my property, I want it-- back!"

Or not.

Another glance at the comic and Akshay began to realize that it looked like no comic he had ever seen before. Not to be sound conceited or anything, but he did happy to know any and all comics that were out in circulation now…at least from the mainstream companies. Those that were independent were a little harder to pin down, and even worse, there were those from budding artists that had never been published.

That is what this looked like. With the righteous anger that shown through in the man’s eyes, it was obvious that this was his piece of work, his masterpiece. Akshay had the same feeling about his own work when he was first writing it. Hell, he STILL had moments like that. But while he understood, that didn’t mean this guy needed to take it out on the kids.

“Yo, buddy,” Akshay started to say, breaking his character momentarily. “Just relax or you’ll te—“

Ripppppppp!!

POP!

Akshay blinked. One second he was watching the struggling between this man and the kids, and the next, one of them was gone. He blinked and blinked but that in no way provided him with the image of Red Finch who had just been standing there. Where did she/he go? Oh god…

He turned away from the vending machine kid, and looked at the man who had plopped down onto his butt. Was he…?

“Hey!” he asked. “What happened there? Where is the kid?!”

“Hey! What happened there? Where is the kid?!”

Quinton started to panic. Someone had just seen his power in action! The jig was up! Without thinking, he got quickly to his feet and approached the man in the Blackbird costume. All it would take is just... one... touch.. to each of the people involved. Then.. then all of his problems would go away.

Quick as lightning the book in his hand shot out, slapping against the man's chest. Then Pop!, just like that Blackbird vanished.

***

Seriously... where the hell was she? It looked kinda like the pages of the book her clone had been reading, but... that was impossible, right?

Elke's expression shifted from wonder, to horror, then fell into an ugly scowl. Great! She was dealing with a freakin' wizard! As the thirteen year old glanced around her surroundings some more, she could hear sounds from further down the Alley. At the very end, if she squinted juuust right, she could also see the blurry forms of people.

Grumbling about her current situation, she started to head that way. As much as she like comic books, she didn't actually want to BE a character. She was just way too awesome for ink and paper to contain! Upon nearing the entrance to the alley, the thirteen-year old noticed that a lot of people were gathered. All along the sidewalks for miles and miles, crowds had formed. There was cheering, laughter, and people blowing colorful horns. Confetti seemed to rain down from above, with seemingly no point of origin, and there were elaborate floats driving past.

...Great. It was a parade. Elke paused a few feet from the opening, hesitant to step out among the others. They were all just characters, or something... right? Or.. were they real now that she was among them? She pondered whether to sling a marble at one to see if it would bleed, but stopped herself short. Did she really want a bunch of drawings mad at her? ...What if they erased her?! She didn't want to die young and in a stupid cartoon!

From behind, a sudden noise made her jump. Half turning, she had her slingshot out and ready. "Who's there? Don't make me use this!"

***

He had done it! One of his problems was gone, which only left one oth--

The clone had clambered over the counter quicker than Quinton could react, leaped, latched onto the book in his hands, and effectively ripped it from his grip! Before he could so much as squeal in outrage, she shouldered into the crowd of comic book lovers and headed for the door.

Fresh air hit her face like a slap, but she didn't stop running until she'd turned a corner and found a secure place to hide. Whatever that guy had done, he'd poofed her boss! Without Elke, the clone didn't know what to do! Stealing his book had seemed a fitting enough act of revenge at the time.. but... now what?

.....

"... I wish I had a five dollars, so I could buy a snack from myself." She grumbled sullenly, while settling down behind a dumpster and flipping open the book in her hands.

POP!!!![/b]

Akshay felt dizzy for half a second as it seemed as if his senses were all dulled at the same time. Gawd, what the hell was that!? Akshay couldn’t recall every feeling like that before. Maybe he was just tired of dealing with people all day that he got momentarily side-tracked. It seemed like a plausible enough answer, right? He blinked and began to rub his eyes, trying to focus on his world around him. Why was everything so…quiet now?

He rubbed his eyes, opened them, and blinked before rubbing them again. Something had to be wrong with his vision because everything around him looked so…unreal. Almost cartoonish. Wow, he really hoped that wasn’t the sign of a tumor or something.

Grumbling, he rubbed his eyes fiercely before blinking and looking up again. Nope…the cartoony walls were still around him. What the fu--?

“AHHHH!!” he jumped and backed away as he had raised his hands. W-W-Why did he looked like a cartoon!?! Shakily he thrust his hand into his pocket for a cellphone and activated the mirror app. Holding it up, he looked wide-eyed at himself. “Oh…my…GOD! I’M DISNEY!!!”

Shakily he shoved his phone back into his pocket and began to stagger down the alley that he found himself in. He had hoped that it was just some delusion or a joke but it seemed that as the seconds passed, it was quickly not becoming that. Was he…was he really in some cartoon or…comic bo--

>> "Who's there? Don't make me use this!"

Akshay jumped and looked over to see another cartoonish character. This one was aiming a slingshot at him but the character seemed oh…so…familiar….

“Red Finch?” he asked. Obviously he was not drawn like in the comics, but he was still familiar. Because he had seen her only moments ago…in the real world?

What else was there to do? He fainted…