The Young Sentinels home base was rather impressive. Situated on an asteroid that traveled near the Earth it had been built thanks to the incredible minds and technology of some of the Sentinels along with help from the Solar Guard. It had taken months to build the basic structure and construction was ongoing, but it still was something to behold. It’d also become home to several of the Sentinels who weren’t still stuck staying at home with their parents.

Thomas “Hard Cast” Johnson had moved in shortly after being forced to join the team by one of the Solar Guard. While it’d felt more like a punishment at first he soon found himself fitting in better than he’d expected. Sure he’d had to curb some of his more enthusiastic tendencies when it came to crime fighting, like blasting people harder than he really needed to with his kinetic blasters, but the digs were comfy and the lab he soon had access to was better than the one he used at the university. Since his parents were off in Florida it hadn’t been a big deal for him to move in and keep closer to the heroing stuff. The fact he had to share a room wasn’t too big a deal since his roommate was rarely around.

He was thankful for that little fact as he rushed about his room in order to finish getting ready. He’d found himself with more luck in the last few weeks in getting dates than in all his previous years and he didn’t want to blow it since he’d actually scored a second date this time around. Grabbing his jacket he jetted for the teleporters to get down to Paragon City and meet up with his date. He’d almost made it before a figure stepped in his way and stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Runnin’ off on yer date, huh?” Mikey Parker, better known as Impact Kid, leaned against a door frame as he watched the other young man dash for the teleporter room. Thomas came to a halt as he looked towards one of the few other guys he really ever saw around the base.

“Yeah,” came the brief response, “And?” Mikey pushed off the door frame and walked over towards Thomas where he wrapped his arm around the other.

“Jus’ wanted ta make sure yer up fer it,” the thick as a brick hero resonded, “Not everyone’s ready to date a woman like I am,”

“Wait, what?” Hard Cast suddenly found himself a little confused. Mikey had taken it upon himself in the past to dish out dating and woman advice to Thomas at times, especially about some of the other girls on the team.

“Goin’ fer one of the new girls an’ bein’ the new guy was a good idea,” Mikey continued to dispense his wisdom, “Means ya don’t have history workin’ to build brick walls in the way. Not all of us can jus’ break down a brick wall,”

“But...” Thomas tried to interrupt given that he was going to be late in meeting with his date.

“Show’s you’re listenin’ to me!” the guru didn’t stop though, “which ya should since I know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. Remember what I said ‘bout Star and Tabby and the others,”

“You mean about the Mona Lisa?” Thomas asked to make sure he was actually talking about something he’d heard before.

“Told ya we’re past that!” Mikey corrected, “Try keepin’ up!”

“Uhh, that’s awesome Mikey but…” HC tried to interject again to get on his way.

“Now remember to be careful,” the advice continued to flow, “Not all us is lucky enough to be datin’ totally hot androids with freakin’ awesome butts,” They both paused a moment as Mikey’s phone went off with a text message. The uber-strong young hero pulled out his phone and didn’t let go of his new protégée before he looked at it, “Oh, right. Bio-Reploid with a freakin’ awesome butt. Don’t get too down on yoself when ya can’t be as awesome as me on a date,”

“Not going to be doing anything if I don’t get going,” Thomas quickly said, “Gonna be late!” Mikey looked back to his phone to catch the time and suddenly dropped HC who fell with an oof.

“Oh, right!” Mikey helped Thomas up and then turned and thrust a finger up into the air to make his point, “Be cool out dere, remember what I told ya and ye’ll totally get a good time out of it, yo!” A moment of silence fell before he turned to look and see that HC was gone. His text message alert went off again and he looked to it to see Tabby had told him the younger hero had already bolted and used the teleporter. Still figuring that he’d done a good job in educating his less experience compatriot Mikey turned and headed for the kitchen. All that wisdom dispensing had made him hungry.

Down on Earth in Pargon City, Rhode Island Thomas dashed as fast as he could without using any of his powers. He’d hoped to leave any sort of heroing off to the side tonight and had only come down in his civvies. While last time he’d gone out with a girl he’d had to step into the hero role for a bit he wanted to avoid that this time around and just concentrate on his second date with Dixie Lynn “Dixie Dynamo” Brambles. The first one had been to a rather formal event that he hadn’t been all that formal at and had ended rather well if he did say so himself. He was hoping he could repeat that and keep things moving along with the curvaceous young lady.

“Was beginnin’ to wonder if you were goin’ to make it or not, Pumpkin!” As he drew closer to Dixie he smiled and moved to give her a hug. The southern bruiser squeeked a moment at the hug before she reached up to kiss his cheek.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Tom answered as he pulled back, “Mikey decided it’d be a great idea to give me advice about dating,”

“Oh? What’d he suggest?” Dixie asked curiously.

“I’ll get back to you when I figure out what he was saying,” Tom gave the young lady a grin which sent her into giggles. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and lead her inside the arena where the reason they were even there was about to get under way. They could hear the crowd roar as the two roller derby teams entered the track and the fun was about to begin.

“Can’t wait to watch them girls bust on each other out there,” Dixie grinned as she looked on in excitement. Tom just grinned at her enthusiasm and led her along towards near where their seats were. He’d won them without even realizing he’d entered any kind of contest from a professor. Since he’d been the only one to figure out a particularly difficult question two decent seats to the derby had been his to collect.

“Just make sure you don’t jump down there and show them how it’s done, eh Dix?” He teased her a little. She giggled a bit and patted his arm.

“No promises, Pumpkin,” she winked up at him, “Heaven knows I’ve already got all the natural paddin’ I’d need to compete,” Thomas laughed at her joke and looked back teasingly to get a gander at her shapely and round backside. Dixie swatted his arm again.

“Dunno, might make you more dangerous to the other girls,” Thomas pointed out. Dixie just giggled and followed along. Things were just about to get under way and they still hadn’t gotten to their seats. She didn’t want to miss what was going to happen since she’d been looking forward to this all week.

“You hear that?” Thomas suddenly stopped and looked around. They were just about to head up the stairs to their seats when he suddenly stopped.

“It’s probably nothin’,” Dix dismissed it at first and tugged on his hand again to get him going. Tom didn’t move as he strained to try and pick up what he thought he’d heard from down the way. She stopped the tugging and peered down as well, curious now if he was just hearing things or there really was an issue. A moment later and a strange bang pushed the two to make their way carefully down a side hallway that didn’t look like it saw much traffic.

The duo snuck their way down the hall careful and looked around to make sure nothing was going on as well as making sure they weren’t going anywhere they shouldn’t. The last thing either wanted to do was get in trouble with guards and have an incident happen when they were trying to be out having some fun and avoiding anything that could ruin the night. Another sound drew their attention towards a door just off to the side a bit. Soon, voices could be heard from the other side; and not just normal ones but loud voices arguing. They pressed themselves in against the frame of the door and tried to listen in, though it was hard to really get an idea about what was going in on the back and forth.

“Can you hear anything?” Tom asked Dixie with a harsh whisper. Dixie shook her head and jiggled a bit as she did so.

“Don’t sound like it should be a discussion goin’ on here, though,” she whispered back. The two looked at each other unsure of what to do. Neither had brought their gear with them and both were still trying to keep their identities secret; even if it was a little easier for HC to do.

“We should go get a guard,” Tom finally whispered to Dixie. The girl frowned a bit at the thought of giving up on a chance to have some fun but nodded in agreement. They could tell the guard and be in their seats and still salvage the evening quickly.

The two stood up quietly as they could and started to turn back down the hallway before the click of firearms caught their attention and drew their eyes towards a couple of thugs who were pointing SMGs at them. Dixie and Thomas both slowly raised their hands to show they weren’t going to do anything dumb, not with people who could identify them looking right at them. One of the thugs, Skul from the looks of him, motioned for the pair to make their way into the room. Thomas opened up the door and entered after Dixie.

“What the hell is this?” one of the Skuls on the inside asked as new people were added. The two undercover heroes looked about to survey the area and saw what they’d heard before. Several more Skuls had a guard and a pair of employees hostage with receipts strewn about on the table. Apparently the gang had decided to hit the arena and score the gate when everyone was busy with the derby going on outside. Unfortunately for the two heroes it was going to be tricky to actually do anything without giving themselves away.

“Why’d you bring those two in here?” The guy who looked like the lead Skul demanded. Both Dixie and Thomas had seen enough of the gang to know that he was probably a Bone Daddy, “We don’t need no more hostages,”

“Found these two snooping outside, boss,” the Skul who’d pulled them in said, “Didn’t think greasin’ ‘em out there would be a good idea,”

“For once you were thinking,” the Bone Daddy agreed. He reached roughly to grab Dixie and pulled her in close to get a look at her. A lewd smile crossed his lips, “Maybe we can take one hostage with us,”

“Do anythin’ to me but let me go and I’ll make ya miss your junk!” Dixie promised him. The Bone Daddy smirked and roughly pulled her in closer. Thomas tried to move forward to stop him, secret identity be damned, but was stopped by the other Skuls who grabbed him and gave him a slug in the gut for good measure. Tom doubled over but looked up, still ready to spring into action. He didn’t have to do anything as Dixie responded to the grab by front suplexing the Skul into the wall on the other side of the room and temporarily stunning the other gang members. The Skuls all stood there for a moment before one of them moved forward and smacked her in the back of the knee with the butt of his rifle. Dixie gave out a cry of surprise and a bit of pain as her leg collapsed under her.

“Leave her alone you bastards!” Thomas cried out as he tried to surge forward. The two Skuls that had him didn’t let go and instead shoved him forward next to Dixie. He stumbled in next to the woman who caught him as both looked like they were about to spring to action regardless of the consequences when guns were pointed their way. Dixie figured she could charge them before they could do anything and twitched ready to do so when a voice called out.

“Don’t,” the Bone Daddy had recovered and looked rather pissed, “We’ll take ‘em with as hostages and kill them later,” the remaining Skuls kept their guns trained on them but didn’t fire; though they really wanted to. The Bone Daddy turned to one of the employees and pointed to the safe.

“You, get that open,” any humor the gang leader might’ve had was instantly gone after the incident. The employee didn’t want to be another hostage so she jumped up and moved over towards it. It was a simple combination safe and she was one of the few with the combination. As she got there she leaned forward with a shaking hand and started to undo the safe. When she started to open it up one of the Skuls moved forward.

“I’ll take care of that!” He reached for the latch and popped it, only to drag his hand back with a cry of pain.

“What is it?” The Daddy asked, truly in a foul mood.

“Damn thing shocked me!” the Skul answered. The gang leader looked at the employee.

“Did you do this!” he demanded. The woman, in near tears, shook her head furiously.

“There’s no extra security on it I swear!” she exclaimed and shrunk back towards the other hostages. The Daddy reached out to the handle and tested it to see if he got shocked. When nothing happened he looked back to the Skul who’d complained about being shocked and motioned for him to try again. The gang member started to open it and this time wasn’t jolted. Instead the door slammed shut on him as quickly as it opened.

“What the hell, man!” the Skul shouted. The Bone Daddy looked over his shoulder at the five hostages and glared at them, waiting for any sign of activity. Instead they just looked up at him, though Dixie and Thomas looked at him unafraid. The gang leader turned back to the safe and reached for the handle, one eye over his shoulder towards the hostages before he opened it. This time nothing happened as the money inside was revealed for the gang.

“This is it?” one of the Skuls suddenly blurted out, “That’s all the money you’ve got from the gate?”

“M-most people p-pay with cards anymore,” the manager offered, “Online…be-before hand,” The Bone Daddy frowned and motioned for the safe.

“Get what you can and let’s get out of here,” One of the other Skuls nodded and started to move forward. He stumbled as one of his legs went out from under him and he suddenly felt very weak. He fell forward and crashed into the Skul closest to the safe knocking him over.

“What’s your problem, yo!” the Skul who’d been having the worst luck that night demanded of his gang mate and pushed him off.

“Not my fault, man!” the other yelled back, “I tripped or something! My legs don’t feel very strong,” The Bone Daddy glanced back to the hostages and scanned for something he didn’t find just yet. He looked back to the two and motioned for a third to move forward to help out. The last Skul reluctantly did so and reached for the money in the safe when he suddenly shot forward faster than he thought he’d been going and slammed into the desk and nearly knocked himself out cold.

“Okay,” the gang leader said, “Which one of you is doing this?” The hostages all looked to each other as if not sure what he was asking. The Daddy reached for one of the SMGs and cocked it before he pointed it at them.

“You have ten seconds to tell me who of you is doing that to my boys before I just waste you all and call this a wash,” Thomas and Dixie looked to each other for a moment and hesitated. They could probably charge the Daddy and take him out before he could fire but it might be risky and the innocent arena workers could get hurt. Thomas swallowed and started to stand up, ready to sacrifice his secret identity to save the rest. The Daddy didn’t even give him a chance to do so before he lifted the gun and prepared to fire.

“Time’s up,” he said and his finger went to squeeze the trigger. It didn’t get that far before the firearm was suddenly ripped from his hands and lifted up.

“What the…” The question wasn’t finished before the Daddy’s jaw was soon met with a brick hard fist which sent him spinning to the ground. The hostages all blinked and looked over to see two new figures had entered the room and quickly subdued the gang.

“Heard there was a ruckus going on down here,” Kid Tantrum, better known to Dixie and Thomas as Tabby hovered in the air with her hand glowing with energy. The guns of all the gang members were floating in the air, removed from their grasps which made the Skuls easier to take out. Impact Kid, or Mikey, stood over the bodies of the guys he’d knocked out.

“Yup, heard it over the radio,” Impact said and looked towards the hostages and especially Thomas, “Didn’ receive any kinda alerts or anythin’ or distress calls. Just the police band,” Tabby and Thomas both rolled their eyes as the hostages made their way for the door.

“there’ll be some police outside to take a statement,” Tabby told them as she crumbled the guns up by increasing their gravity to an incredible level, “We’ll finish up in here,” Tom took Dixie’s hand and led her out along with the guard and the office workers to where the cops were indeed waiting for them. They took several moments to finish giving their side of the story and explaining what had happened.

By the time it was all said and done the event was over with little fuss or muss to alert the rest of the crowd to what was going on. Dixie found herself rather disappointed that they had missed the derby, but was thrilled to get tickets to the next several matches so they wouldn’t sue the arena for being kidnapped. All in all between that and a late dinner it’d been a rather interesting night.

“Well, sorry it didn’t all work out the way I thought it would,” Tom told her as they wandered through the halls of the space station. They both lived there now so it was easy to walk her home.

“Was exiting for a different reason, Pumpkin,” she wrapped her arms around his and walked with her head on his shoulder. Thomas couldn’t help but smile some as he enjoyed feeling her against him, even if her chest was causing him to act up some.

“Yeah, just glad that the station got my distress signal,” Tom mused. Dixie gave him a glance up before she looked forward again.

“So that was you what told them what was goin’ on?” She asked and turned the last corner until her room.

“Yeah, figured if they could get there soon enough they could handle it and we could save our identities,” he answered, “That was some nice work magnetizing the safe to delay them by the way,”

“You’re not the only one with some sciencey knowledge, Tommy,” she giggled and winked up at him, “Besides, wasn’t the only one doing some secret power usin’ what with the power draining,” she pointed out. He shrugged and grinned.

“Was just trying to give Mikey and Tabby more time to get there and finish them off,” he responded.

“Shame Mikey took ‘em out so quickly,” shoe followed with a small pout, “Wouldn’t have mind getting’ in another shot on them,”

“We’ll go Skul hunting later,” He promised her. She grinned up at him teasingly.

“Ooooh, you take me on the most excitin’ of dates!” Her voice squeaked as she joked with him. Thomas just smirked and stopped outside her door.

“So, here we are,” He said and looked down at her. She smiled up at him waiting to see what he’d do next. While Tom had been the one to initiate kisses before they’d mostly been fairly tame, and he wondered for a moment if he should kick it up a notch. Evidentially he took too long as Dixie smirk and reached up to grab his cheeks.

“Ahh, to hell with it!” without any warning Dixie yanked his face down to hers and laid on him a deep, passionate and electric kiss. Thomas’ eyes bulged in surprise for a moment before he settled in enough to wrap his arms around her body and pull her in close. He soon matched her intensity as they stood there for several moments in the impassioned embrace before she finally broke it and pulled his head down against her bosom. His head rested for in sweet bliss before she stood him up again, a bit more wobbly than he had been.

“I’ll catch ya tomorrow, Tommy!” she giggled before disappearing into her room and shutting the door. Tom took a few moments to catch himself before he started down towards the guys’ locker room; he was going to need a cold shower before he crashed for the night.

Hi! what server?

I'm over on Virtue.