ID# 26130 and ID#13080
The first thing you need to understand is that without fail, Halloween is a shapechanger's favorite holiday. Hands down, the whole costumed night of fun and frolic couldn't be more ideal for anyone who can physically turn into whatever they want. I could walk up to my neighbor's front door and be disguised as a perfect imitation of them and shout "BOO" the instant they opened up to my knocking. What a perfect trick, except I couldn't do anything really clever like that in real life to people in my neighborhood.
When you have a secret identity, you have to make sacrifices, even though I would love nothing more than to appear in front of mean old Mr. Bundy as himself and scare the crap out of him after seeing the way he yells at his dogs. If I were in charge of the world, people who were mean to animals would be the first people I'd put off my planet. Then it would be lawyers and politicians. Let them all go to Mars or something.
Even though Mom and I went to Halloween-town to buy a costume, I didn't plan on wearing it all night. I'd do the subdivision with Dad first, milking it for every Milky Way, Three Musketeers, and Kit Kat bar I could, then I'd head off to the real Trick-or-treating event with the "cape-community". I don't know how BADGE came to own an entire section of New Amsterdam, specifically for us to use only one night out of the year, but if it was as much fun as everyone said it was last year, I couldn't wait to go door-to-door and see what kind of stuff other heroes gave out.
And I wanted to see Director Nova's house. I always wondered where he lived. Supposedly, last year, heroes lined up for hours waiting for him to come to the door so they could take a selfie with him on his doorstop. I pictured him with his face all scrunched up and shriveled as he put up with the casual nature and informality. If it weren't for his eyepatch and charismatic natural leader vibe, he'd make and awfully good Scrooge at Christmas.
I hate to say it, but I rushed Dad the entire time he and I walked the neighborhood while Mom handed out candy at home. While I felt a bit too old to be going door-to-door with him, I went to make him happy. Physically, my natural form was a young girl, but the rapid aging I went through do to my Morphon powers stole nearly a decade of potential memories from my parents. Chronologically, I was just over a year old. Why my powers sped up my growth rate, I'd likely never know, but I wasn't going to let my strange gifts rob my parents of any more than needed.
That didn't mean I was going to let him babysit me all night, though. I was a girl with things to do. We visited all the houses of people we knew. Dressed up as a tall sunflower, with a mane of yellow petals surrounding my face, I played the cute little Blossom he wanted me to be, but inside, Madam Marvelous itched to be on her way. There was no casual strolling from house to house. We ran. Well, he jogged. I kind of rapidly shuffled my feet within my costume. Sunflowers didn't have legs, they had stalks.
We got home a few minutes faster than he expected, and together, the three of us (Mom, Dan, and I) inspected the candy. I knew nothing would be wrong with it, but safety first, right. There are villains in the world. Who knows that better than a cape? I shared some of my stash with each of them, and just as we set the last of the candy booty away, Eggie honked from the driveway.
"Have fun tonight, Pumpkin," Dad said as he tussled the petals on top of my head.
"What time will you be home, dear," Mom asked. As typical, she was more interested on when the fun would end rather than the experience itself.
"10ish, I think. I'll be back in plenty of time to get to bed for school tomorrow." I leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek before dashing to the front door. "Night. Love you both. Don't eat all my candy, Dad!"
I was smiling as I left the house until I spotted Eggie's vehicle. She wasn't in her blue Volkswagen. Instead, she had a replica of Ecto sitting in the driveway, the red light flashing as she leaned out the window. She wore the beige uniform of the Ghostbusters, including the proton accelerator on her back. "Happy Halloween, poppet."
"Where on earth did you get this car from?" I asked.
"Do you think you're the only thing that can shift its shape around here, dearie. This car is as tricked out as KITT," she said. She patted the hood of the modified Cadillac hearse. "I always thought I would have made an excellent Ghostbuster. I could have snapped some banter with Murray and Ackroyd like a pro. And their both fine looking men to boot."
I walked around the car, staring at her. My widgets were fully blown as I tried to wrap my head around an android Mrs. Doubtfire look-alike wanting to have been a member of the cast of that movie, but more so the image of her finding the two lead men 'cute'. "Ummm. Ok, Eggie. Let's just go. I'm too young to picture you dating. And what's a KITT?"
"Who said anything about dating, dearie?" Eggie asked as she climbed behind the driver's seat. "And it is a sad, sad thing that you don't know the Knight Industries Two-Thousand or Michael Knight. Now that was a man..."
Whoever programmed Eggie needed to have some psychoanalysis done. Who programs an android to think like that? I mean, beyond Gene Roddenberry and Lt. Commander Data???
We drove through an older section of town to get to the BADGE Trick-or-treating event, passing several abandoned buildings, poorly kept parks, graveyards, and dimly lit streets. We slowed as a streetlight turned yellow as we approached. I glanced around and saw movement within one of the graveyards. A blond woman with a black cat mask and heels, dressed as if going to a dance or Halloween party, wandered casually amidst the cement gray mausoleums and marble headstones.
Other, more shadowed figures hid behind the shrubberies and stonework, tailing after her.
"Eggie, I think this lady needs some help," I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt and shifted into Madam Marvelous form. "Wait here."
"What am I supposed to do, sitting here all alone?" Eggie asked.
"Keep thinking about that Hasselhoff guy you've been mumbling about under your breath. I won't be long." I exited the Ecto-1 and headed off to do my hero thing. Trick-or-treating could wait. A woman was in danger.
The full moon cleared the canopy of trees, most of which had already lost many of their leaves, leaving the manicured lawn of the graveyard a criss-crossed pattern of light and dark patches. I didn't want to frighten the young woman as she wandered aimlessly it seemed in the final resting place of what must have been hundreds of people based on the memorials. The shadowed figures must have seen my approach, though, as I couldn't find any trace of them in the moonlight.
"You might as well come out where I can see you. I know you're out there," the youthful blond woman called out somewhat lyrically. Her voice held no fear or worry in it. In fact, she almost sounded bored. Was she calling out to me, or to those pursuing her? "Every single night, the same arrangement. I go out and fight the fight... Ugh. Now I have that song stuck in my head again...I hate earworms almost as much as I hated my high school principal. He got eaten by a big worm, don't ya' know."
A dark streak bolted from the cover of a pair of headstones behind her. She didn't seem to notice it, caught up in her own commentary to the open air. I needed to move in and protect her. Tonight, I could be her angel. I started to morph into Gar's form, a large stone statue. I wasn't ready to try to become a Weeping Angel just yet. Last thing I needed was to be frozen in place if anything looked at me.
I was so focused on her and the shape closing in on her that I didn't spot the assailant lurking above me in the branches of one of the trees spread out throughout the graveyard. It landed on my back and wrapped it's arms around my head, covering my eyes. Struggling against it, I shook from left to right, trying to knock it loose with Gar's mythic strength. It refused to release its grip, clawing with sharp talons or nails against my stone hide.
"Why are you playing with him when you could be playing with me?" the voice of the lady I'd been following asked. "Last I checked, you can't get blood from a stone."
A hiss erupted from whatever landed on my back. I grabbed one of its arms and yanked it off my face. Before me, standing as battle ready as an Amazon, Slayer B.A.S. waited for a response. The grip loosened around my head. I took the opportunity to throw the being on my back forward like a rodeo bull throwing its rider.
Slayer B.A.S. twirled a wooden stake in her hand before catching in in her tight grip, pointy end facing down. As the being flew into her reach, she stabbed it in the chest with a deft, practiced blow. The body broke down into ashen dust as she withdrew her wooden stake. "Thanks for using Slayer Air; destination hell."
"Wow. I didn't know it was you-" I started.
"Later, Gar. We've got more company." Slayer B.A.S. said as more vampires crawled out from whatever cover they laid in wait behind and surrounded us. Some of them looked much more monstrous than the one she dusted. More savage and barbaric.
"I'm not Gar-," I said as I shifted into my costumed form, "-I'm Madam Marvelous."
"I'm more of a Dark Horse girl, myself, but hey, who am I to judge," she said as she raised her stake and readied for the next attack. "You know how to fight vampires?"
The mass of supernatural creatures didn't give me a chance to answer. They swarmed over us like 5th Precinct cops on a donut.
<to be continued>
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