Disclaimer: Static Shock belong to DC Comics
Rating: T. Mostly for swearing, but the rating may get worse eventually.
Bang Baby
Episode 010
November 12th, 2001
I silently berated myself. I should have seen it coming, should have known that I could not have put this off, should have known that I would have to deal with this. I had seen Thomas and Ron leave the room to talk about it, had seen Thomas send out Gabriel and Little Mikey and Erika do it, and had been sent out to do it myself on more than one occasion: I should have planned to do something about it since I had stepped up as leader. I would not have felt the amount of frustration I had felt in the last few days if I had done planned ahead -- and the others wouldn't have looked at me like they had started to either.
I had learned that I didn't need to eat unless I wanted to or needed to replace the mass I used to create a replicant clone, but I had made a lot of replicant clones in the last few days and had been hungry. I had seen the issue when I had opened the kitchen cupboards, had known the moment I had started to eat, and had tried not to think about it. But now we were nearly out of food, and the others were looking at me, and I didn't have the money to purchase food or the lack of self-preservation it would take to rob a store while the league were in town.
'Idiot, idiot, idiot!'
Listening to Ron's suggestion that I step up as the leader of the Dockside Devils might have been a little short sided: I had never had to make sure so many people's needs were met. I had been a part of the Dockside Devils for some time, which meant that I had a reasonable knowledge of their needs, but other than the time that Thomas had me fetch some groceries, I had never had to be responsible before. Now it was up to me -- and I was learning that being able to meet all of their needs was more than I had thought it would be.
And this was just food...!
Before I did anything else, I went through the foreclosed house the others and I lived in, searching for some money that I could head to the store with. Erika had a bad habit of leaving bits and pieces of her things or the things she was working on all over the place -- which included her share of the money we brought in -- and I thought that I had seen some money in Ron's room, but I didn't know if it would be enough money to buy all the food I would need with that.
It wasn't enough.
I made one of my small snake-sized replicant clones move out of my room and move towards Ron's room before I made it peak its head underneath the door. I made it look around for Ron, wait until he started to move toward his closet, and then dart out in the direction of the money on his makeshift dresser. I made it split open its head and then clamp its newly-formed mouth around the money before I made it start to move toward the door.
'... I don't know how much money that is, but it should be enough to allow me to buy a few more things.' I thought as I made the replicant clone slip under the door and start to move toward me.
'Even if it isn't enough, as long as there aren't security camera in the store, I can store a couple of things inside of me or send a couple of replicant clones in later. I'll have to be careful, but as long as I avoid attention, I should be able to pull this off.'
"What the hell...?" The replicant clone heard Ron [something]. "There's slime on the floor. Why is there slime on the floor?"
I bent down as I made the replicant clone bend upwards to take the money from it.
'Ron didn't tell me that he had this much money....' I thought as I slipped the three ten dollar bills inside my pocket. I stood up and climbed down the staircase before I started to move toward the front door.
'Hopefully, I'll be able to pay him back for it soon.'
"... Susan!"
XxX=-=XxX
"You need to watch this, Susan." Ron said as I stepped into the room, his eyes looking straight at the television. "You need to come over and watch this right now."
Ron looked like he had after he had come back to their old base after we had fought True Blu, his clothes ruffled and a little more torn than usual, as tense as I had ever seen him. I took a moment to look around the room to find that Erika and Little Mikey were also there and also staring at the television before I turned toward the television.
"Is that...?" I asked.
Ron didn't turn from the television. "Yeah. It is."
Superman flew upward and out of sight to avoid the hand of the towering shadowed figure that had attempted to grab him. The camera tilted upward to show Superman just as his fist came into contact with the shadowed figure -- a larger version of Ebon -- face and knocked him back. Green energy lanced downward from out of sight to hit ebon in the chest, force him to his knees, and then start to form a band around his midsection to keep his arms pinned.
"Is it...?"
"Yeah."
The band shook for a moment and then broke apart into hundreds of pieces.
"How...?"
"I don't know. It happened before any of us saw."
[
X]
Ear To The Ground: I should send one of the others out to talk to people that we can learn what people are talking about, but the news isn't. Most of it will probably turn out to be nothing but gossip, but there's a chance that we could learn something interesting.
[
X]
Recruitment Effort: I should send one of the others out to look around the place that I thought I saw that purple-skinned metahuman.
[
X]
Soul Power: I should look around for Little Mikey. I left it alone because I didn't want to talk about it, but it's been all I have been able to see it since then. I have to bite the bullet -- I have to talk to Little Mikey about what he did to me.
[
X]
Spend Time With Erika: I haven't spent a lot of time with Erika, so I think that I should spend some time with her. I can help her with what she is working on.
[
X]
Spend Time With Ron: I haven't had a chance to spend time with or talk to Ron in a while, so I think that I should spend some time with him. If he has any lingering feelings regarding my theft, we can work it out through 'training'.
[
X]
S.T.A.R. Labs: I should head online to see what I can find out about the Gotham City S.T.A.R. Labs facility and the other S.T.A.R. Labs facilities 'close' to Dakota City. Erika will need the information S.T.A.R. Labs has on metahumans if she wants to make something to block telepathic powers, and I want to see if there is a chance we can get it.
