The real question though, is will the city be better or worse off now that they are gone? I would point out that before they appeared in our fair city, there weren't giant dragons flying around, or robots smashing up buildings. There certainly wasn't a pair of crazed helmet wearing nut jobs running around causing trouble.
This reporter thinks that the city will be a safer place now that they are gone. That's my opinion, but let's ask a person on the street.
Sir, I'm Abernathy Armine from the Abernathy Armine Show, and I would like to ask you a few questions. Would that be alright?
I suppose so.
Do you know who Karis and the Diz are?
Aren't they those new fangled super hero types that have been running around the city?
I suppose you could call them that.
I heard they battled a dragon. Can you believe that?
I suppose I have to, but that isn't why I wanted to talk to you.
Do you think they give out autographs? I sure would like to get one and maybe a picture with that Karis girl. The guys back home would never believe it.
So you are in favor of these supposed heroes?
How can I complain? They help everyone, right? Sure people get hurt, but it's always someone else's fault.
Thank you sir, maybe we should talk to someone else. Sir, I'm Abernathy Armine of the Abernathy Armine Show, and I would like to ask you a few questions.
Get your camera out of my face. Your show is a piece of crap.
Perhaps that will be enough for now. Why don't we go back to the studio?
* * *
"So we're dead now?" Diz asked as he turned off the television.
"That might not be a bad thing for the moment," Karis suggested.
"How is that a good thing?" Diz asked as he set the romote on the coffee table.
"Mornigan won't be looking for us for a while," Karis replied, playing with her hair.
"That would be a plus," Diz agreed. "So what do we do with our anonymity?"
"Try to figure out a way to get back on that space ship," Karis insisted, pointing at the ceiling.
"Easier said than done, I expect," Diz replied.
"Whatever, if I can make it down through the atmosphere in one piece, we can get back up there," Karis insisted as she got up from the couch.
"I still can't believe you managed that," Diz said with wonder.
"I don't want to try it again anytime soon," Karis laughed.
Chapter 35
I have been dreading this moment, but as Mayor of New York City, it is often my duty to relate bad news to the citizens of this fair city. Today holds the worst news I have ever had to relate. After a careful investigation of the wreckage of the apartment where Karis and the Diz were residing, we have found evidence that they were both in the apartment when it was bombed. We were not able to determine the cause of the explosion, although researchers are still investigating.
The loss of both Karis and the Diz should not panic the citizens of our city. Police and other Emergency Services will still be available to handle most situations you may encounter, and if need be, we will contact the National Guard for additional support. Memorial services are being planned throughout the city. For anyone interested in attending, you may check the city website for more details.
Regardless of the dangers of the future, we have survived without people with super powers in the past, and we will continue to survive. Remember the lesson that they taught us, that vigilantism is not a safe path, especially when you do not have powers to protect you. That is all that I have to say for now. There will be no questions.
* * *
"So now we're officially dead," Diz muttered.
"It could be worse," Karis suggested, "you could be going on another date with Charlie."
"Don't remind me of that," Diz replied, as he covered his face with a pillow. "Besides, I don't think he would like my changes."
"I don't know," Karis joked, "I think you look quite cute."
"Are we the ultimate in Narcissism or what?" Diz laughed, throwing the pillow at Karis. "I think I'm falling in love with my own body."
"Neither of these bodies is who we used to be," Karis pointed out, making a provacotive pose. "I wouldn't have fallen for you with a body like this."
"Really?" Diz asked.
"Fine," Karis grumbled, "I would have taken one look at you and given up before I'd even started."
"Same for me with your body," Diz admitted.
"What are you two, oh what is the word?" Xenia started as she entered the room. "Hmm, I can't seem to think of it, and it isn't something you would understand if I said it."
"Then just change the subject since we don't know what you were going to ask," Diz suggested.
"Fine," Xenia agreed, "how are you two feeling today?"
"I'm feeling great," Diz piped up.
"Not my best yet," Karis admitted, stretching down to touch her toes. "My lower back is killing me, and I can't decide if I want to raid the fridge or cry about something."
"That will pass," Xenia soothed. "Do you feel your powers returning yet?
"What do you think?" Karis asked as she floated towards the ceiling with a giggle.
"That does look good,” Xenia noted on the device she held in her hand.
"Since when could you do that?" Diz demanded running over to her.
"I was floating above my bed this morning," Karis laughed as she lowered next to Diz. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to take it easy a little longer."
"Slacker," Diz joked as he hugged her. "Luckily there wasn't a problem so far. Have you noticed how quiet it's been lately?"
"I assume that Mornigan is still pondering his limited data," Xenia observed as she glanced up from her device.
"I wish there was some way to force his hand," Diz said as he let go of Karis and started pacing at a slightly accelerated speed.
"Can we change back?" Karis asked and she lowered beside him and reached out for his hand.
Diz reached out and took Karis' hand, but nothing happened. He looked at her hand and brought it to his mouth and kissed it.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I really want to get back to being me too."
"We need to do something," Karis announced. "Can we go out and play?"
"It wouldn't be wise at this time," Xenia stated. "Perhaps we can arrange something entertaining here."
"No offense," Diz replied, "but I doubt the Greys can manage much on that front."
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Michaels muttered as he entered the room holding a piece of paper.
“What’s that?” Diz asked as he sped over and snagged the paper.
“There has been a sighting,” Karis whispered. “We need to go deal with it.”
“That is what this piece of paper has to say,” Diz acknowledged. “How did you know that?”
“What else could it be?” Karis shrugged. “There’s almost always something going on, and there’s usually someone with a piece of paper when that happens.”
“Well, the paper doesn’t have a description, so I guess we can just go find out for ourselves,” Diz suggested as he ran to his room, changed, and came back in a moment.
“And I’m starting to get an idea of where we need to go,” Karis said with a smile as she ran to her room to change into her costume. “I guess I’m back to normal, at least most of me.”
After she made it back, Karis and Diz both made their way out of the building to deal with whatever Mornigan had planned for them.
Chapter 36
Karis was glad to be back in action after her experience on Mornigan’s station and everything else that had happened to her recently even though she wasn’t sure what was going on right now.
The creature on the ground was some kind of shellfish, but she couldn’t identify it. It was similar to a lobster, but that wasn’t quite right for some reason. She wasn’t familiar enough with lobster and other cephalopods to identify it.
That didn�
��t matter at the moment since her main concern right now was avoiding the claws that were trying to catch the flying creature that was distracting it from its path to the city, and she happened to be that flying creature. She hoped that Diz would do something soon.
Before Diz could act on whatever plan he had put together, a claw snatched the crimson-headed fly. Having invulnerability didn’t’ make Karis’ position any more comfortable. The claws couldn’t hurt her, but the not-lobster was intent on testing the limits of her hard shell. Perhaps it wanted a game of who’s-shell-is-harder.
The claw popped open and released Karis. She discovered after a moment that the reason was that the creature had started falling. Karis hovered over the beast and saw that its legs had been tied. It was still scrambling to get free, but since it was bound, it wasn’t going to get very far. Diz gave her a thumbs-up sign before dashing out of sight. It was still amazing to Karis how fast his body moved when Cacy inhabited it.
Karis flew close to a mile away and back at top speed straight for the crawly critter’s head. It didn’t make a difference to the strange animal, but it made her feel better. Perhaps she would feel even better back in her own body, if that ever happened. Now that the situation had settled down, she took a moment to brush a lock of her red hair back into place.
Black cars with black windows pulled up to the crustacean as well as several white trucks. Karis floated to the ground and waited for the Greys to make contact. Diz rushed beside her and Karis waited a moment for the air to flow past them.
“You always have to make an entrance, don’t you?” Karis muttered as she fixed her hair again.
“Only when I’m in your body,” Diz joked. “When I’m Cacy, I seldom get the urge to show off.”
“Can we try and change back now?” Karis asked as she reached out her hand.
“Let’s wait until we get someplace more private,” Diz suggested as he waved her off. “We don’t want the whole world knowing our secrets.
Michaels approached them and stood waiting.
“What’s the word, Michaels?” Karis asked.
“Crayfish,” Michaels answered briskly. “Best guess is that it crawled out of the river about five miles North West of here and has been tearing up the countryside all the way to here.”
“Has it been growing like the others?” Diz wondered.
“Yes,” Michaels answered, holding his fingers a couple of inches apart, “it started around this big when it left the river.”
“So do you need us for anything else, or can we get out of here?” Karis inquired as she took Diz’ hand and started moving away.
“There doesn’t seem to be any other activity at the moment, but we’ll keep you posted,” Michaels shouted at the parting pair.
With that Karis lifted off as Diz sped down the road. There was no need for conversation or explanations; they both knew where to go from there.
Twenty minutes later, Karis was within sight of the tree at the end of an old dirt road where their adventures had all begun. Diz was running laps around the tree, as usual. The tree was in the center of a large patch of untended field with uncut grass and brush all around. Of course they couldn’t see much this late at night with no moon visible. Karis landed a few feet away from the tree to avoid being run over.
“Why do you always do that?” Diz demanded as he walked over towards her. “You know that I have enough control to stop for you.”
“That’s not why I stop,” Karis explained, “I just like to give you some space; I can to at least that much.”
“It isn’t that easy,” Diz chuckled as he took off his helmet.
“Don’t bother being humble,” Karis laughed. “I know you don’t have a problem stopping, and it doesn’t suit the Diz.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Diz agreed as he reached out his hand. “So can we try to change back?”
Karis took his hand, but there was not change.
Chapter 37
Among the many wonders that have plagued the world since the appearance of Karis and the Diz, I would be remiss not to include the crayfish that has been quickly contained in Upstate New York. In an even more surprising turn of events, the two heroes who were presumed to be dead were spotted on the scene dealing with the enlarged animal. Perhaps the reports of their deaths were premature. This reporter certainly hopes that we aren't seeing the start of the zombie apocalypse. There have been many who have heralded such an event, but I doubt this is a sign of it starting.
* * *
After getting home from their meeting place, Karis and Diz had changed into something simple to lounge around in. Diz had chosen dark blue jeans and a tee shirt, and Karis was wearing black yoga pants and a red tank top.
Karis looked at Diz while she held out her hand expectantly. He seemed hesitant to take it for a change.
"What's the matter?" Karis demanded. "We need to change back. I need to change back."
"Then what happens?" Diz asked. "What if something else has gone wrong with our matrices and we get stuck in our own bodies? I want to be Cacy again just as much as you want to be Gavin, but can the world afford for us to take that chance?"
"I don't know," Karis admitted. "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course," Diz answered. "You know you can tell me anything."
"There are moments, like the one right now," she whispered, "where Karis doesn't care what Gavin wants-where Karis is afraid to change."
"Because you don’t know if you'll ever come back," Diz prompted. "I know that feeling too."
"What are we going to do?" Karis wondered as she fought back tears. "It's like we have the worst possible case of split personalities ever."
Diz took Karis by the hand and then pulled her into his arms. They stood in silence as then held each other under the old oak tree. Karis looked up at the stars.
"Do you know the constellation Gemini?" he informed. "Do you know anything about it?"
"I happen to be a Gemini," Diz replied, "or at least Cacy is one. I'm not sure how we should figure our birthdays to be honest."
"That part isn't important right now," Karis insisted. "Do you know the story behind those twins?"
“Do you?” Diz asked.
"Not a clue," Karis admitted.
"The constellation is of Remus and Romulus," Diz explained.
"I need more than that," Karis laughed.
"Do you know about the city of Troy, how it was destroyed?" Diz asked.
"Sure, I saw the movie," Karis chuckled.
"Well, when the city was destroyed, these twins, Remus and Romulus were able to escape the destruction and founded the city of Rome," Diz explained.
"What does that have to do with us?" Karis demanded.
"One story says that one of the twins was born of Zeus and the other was born of a mortal man," Diz continued. "That is sort of how it is with both sides of our personas. One side is human, and the other is something different."
"What happened to the brothers?" Karis asked as she leaned against his chest.
"Romulus killed Remus and founded Rome," Diz answered. "That doesn't mean anything though."
"Yes it does," Karis insisted. "We can't live dual lives forever. At some point we will have to choose who we will be."
"Or it might be chosen for us," Diz suggested.
"I don't think that will happen," Karis insisted. "I won't let it happen."
"You'll be there to catch me if you need it," Diz joked.
"I already made that promise," Karis reminded Diz, "but I should have gotten yours a couple of weeks ago so I didn't have to crash when I reentered the atmosphere."
"If I'd known," Diz assured, "I would have come running."
"You did what you could," Karis replied as she lifted her hand to kiss his.
"So what do we do now?" Diz asked.
"We go back and let Xenia have her investigate us in our regular bodies," Karis suggested. "Then we can find out more about our situation."
Chapter 38
&n
bsp; After dealing with the crayfish, Karis found herself back on the inspection table next to Diz just like they had been a few days ago. Xenia stood between them looking at one of the instruments and humming and muttering to herself.
"So what's the verdict, Doc?" Diz asked. "Will we survive?"
"Hmm," Xenia replied, "I'm sorry, but I was looking at your readings. They are fascinating."
"Didn't you have something specific you wanted to learn?" Karis prompted.
"Oh, yes," Xenia recalled. "I was just distracted by all of this data. It makes me wish I had a team of, um, researchers to help me."
"Is there something wrong?" Karis wondered.
"What?" Xenia replied. "No, no, everything is just about perfect. Your matrices have balanced out nicely."
"I guess that's a good thing," Diz muttered. "So what do you want us to do now?"
"I would like to see your transformation," Xenia explained. "I can scan you both while it is happening. The data should prove a benefit."
"What if we can't change back?" Diz insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. “The world can’t take that chance.”
"There is no concern on that front," Xenia replied as she adjusted a dial on the device she was using. "You're link is strong enough that there shouldn't be many reasons for it to break."
"So you want us to switch?" Karis asked, just barely stopping herself from jumping for joy.
"Yes, do whatever it is that you do," Xenia reply with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Karis and Diz both shrugged. They realized that they were already holding hands so that step had been out of the way. They switched bodies. Gavin opened eyes that he didn't know were closed and looked around the room. He took a deep breath and took a moment to enjoy being in his own body again. Cacy hummed just to hear the sound of her voice being under her control again.
"That was fascinating," Xenia announced. "There will have to be a, oh what is the word? We could write about it in something. Your language is complicated."
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