The Starlight Sentinels: The Amusing Story of a Struggling Superhero Team

Chapter 6: The Lynch Man

"What?" yelped Olivia.

"Daryl said he's going to cut her from the team?" asked Eric.

"No, but she did steal a spaceship and fly it to Romania. I may not be an expert on all the rules of this superhero stuff, but I'm guessing that's a firing offense." Sam carefully examined one of her knives. "I mean, that's usually the kind of thing we're supposed to prevent as superheroes, right?"

"Eric?" spoke a nervous Olivia. "You've been a superhero for a while. Do you know what's going to happen to me?"

"Not really. The Order has certain lines that we're not supposed to cross, but beyond that they tend to handle things on a case-by-case basis. So I don't know what they're going to do."

"Stealing spaceships isn't a line?" scoffed Sam.

"I don't know. I've never seen an actual spaceship," snapped Eric.

"Well I doubt that's going to change anytime soon, so I recommend you get over it," suggested Sam.

"Yeah, yeah. I should just get used to things being boring around here."

"Boring is fine with me. I've already had enough weirdness to last me a lifetime with this job." Eric sighed while Sam pulled a metallic tool from her belt. "What the hell is this, a melon baller? How did that get in here?"

"Well I'm mapping out a route around a double homicide that happened last night. Maybe we can stop a killer. At least see some kind of action."

"Trust me kid, when you get older, you won't be as eager to see action," assured Sam as she folded up her costume.

"Yeah right," scoffed Eric. "This might be just a job for you, but I like making a difference. And—" Eric stopped suddenly.

"And?" repeated Sam.

"The Order just sent us a message," informed Eric.

"What about?" asked an anxious Olivia.

"Daryl's coming back today, finally. Also, the Order is 'transferring two unique individuals and a valuable piece of equipment into the care of the Starlight Sentinels with the following conditions." Eric started reading off the screen quietly to himself.

"Two individuals? Is one of them Angela?" asked Olivia.

"And what exactly is this equipment we're getting?" said Sam.

"Give me a minute, would ya? I'm reading as fast as I can." Eric turned back to the screen just in time for a strange rumble to shake the ceiling tiles.

"Lemme guess?" said Sam. "That's our equipment?" In an instant, Eric burst out of his seat and raced upstairs. He ran down the hall, scaled the ladder, slid open the panel in the ceiling and emerged on the roof. Parked on the firehouse was a small aircraft that Eric had never seen before.

The vessel was painted a flat gray with yellow stripes adorning its wings. The fuselage was a narrow tubelike enclosure measuring about fifteen feet from end to end. The 'wings' stretched another ten feet beyond the fuselage in a circular motion, nearly connecting at the back. At the end of the wings were a pair of orbs that seemed to glow with an unearthly blue light.

"Wow," awed Eric as he studied the vessel.

"Isn't this a school day?" Eric looked over to see Daryl standing by the side of the ship.

"School's out today. They're giving us a break before exams," explained Eric as he moved closer to the ship, admiring it.

"Then shouldn't you be studying?" suggested Daryl.