[6/7/2001 1:08:26 AM | Jared Edwards]
  Meanwhile, Gwar was back to mixing drinks, but with no one around at all, he was doing it
 the easy way. Any person with a
  brain would've still thought he was a better bartender than Tom Cruise, though, because 
the way he was doing it now
  made the tricks Vacuumboy had observed look rather dull. 

  Gwar was standing at least 5 feet away from the nearest glass (he was mixing about ten 
drinks simulatneously). He hadn't
  lost any control of his rifts in his time away, that was for sure. The glasses appeared 
to be filling themselved, because there
  was a small rift inside each appropriate bottle which allowed alcohol to flow directly 
into the appropriate glass. Gwar was
  able to control the proportions and even do the mixing within the rifts. He really viewed
 this as a way to stay on top of his
  game. Only his need for flair kept him from ever simply inserting an air bubble directly 
into an enemy's aorta. No one would
  know, and that would be worse than having done nothing. Still, Gwar had to smile when he 
thought of how easily he
  could've ended those pummelings from Captain Crash is he had so chosen. Now that was a 
rivalry. Crash never would've
  left him to the whims of those druids. Crash would've tried to save him. These upstarts 
had left him there to save himself.
  For a villain that would be fine, but for heroes, it was simply unacceptable. 

  Finally, ice cubes appeared in the appropriate drinks. Gwar then created microscopic rifts
 in the icecubes in which to insert
  the potion. It tasted horrible, so he imbeded it in the ice. That way, it would slowly 
disperse, also, those that chewed ice
  would get it along with much impaired taste buds. Later, when everyone was more drunk, 
the taste wouldn't be a concern.
  For the heroes, who were early and heavy drinkers, taste had long ago ceased to be a 
concern, and Gwar was free to include his potion liberally...

[6/15/2001 12:06:36 PM | Jared Edwards]
  Back in the dining room, things had gone from bad to worse. 

  Brooke had gotten up on the table to try to reach her nametag. This had led to several 
drunks, including Murray, to start
  reaching for dollar bills. Brooke was clearly trying to decide whether continuing or 
giving up would be a greater
  embarassment. 

  The Progger and a group of people Vacuumboy didn't know were huddled around the trivia 
machine playing Buzz, because,
  even drunk, if the Progger said it then he could do it. A very vocal local was busy 
claiming that he never got a distribute or a
  face card becuase the game was rigged. Quiet Girl, much to Vacuumboy's relief had decided
 to dump the townie and join
  the game of Buzz. 

  And, finally, the Hunter had tried on every ash tray in the place and still didn't have
 one that fit. He claimed to be seriously
  considering getting his stilt and "inquiring" about why this armor store didn't have 
anything in his size. 

  It was at that moment that Brooke got a call from Brenton (mostly by means of shouting)
 that the next drink order was
  ready...
  
  
  [6/16/2001 2:09:39 AM | stAllio! nGsta]
  as soon as brooke was out of the room vacuumboy rematerialized. 

  "guys, something is seriously wrong here," he said. 

  "what are you talking about? we're just having fun. this is no different than hanging 
out back at hq," said progger. 

  "...except that garfield's is cooler than hq," said murray. 

  "something is really fishy," vacuumboy contiunued. "i tried to follow the bartender down 
this hallway toward some door
  with this creepy graffiti on it, but i couldn't even get close. there was some invisible 
force pushing against me. it was
  powerful like a tornado." 

  "probably the air conditioning," progger replied glibly. 

  "maybe it was your conscience coming back at you for nosing around the 'employee-only' 
areas of an innocent restaurant
  slash bar," murray said. 

  "no, there is serious trouble here. what about you guys? progger, you said you were going 
to take it easy tonight. hunter
  wasn't even going to drink at all! now look at you!" 

  "...hey..." hunter suddenly entered the conversation, ashtray helmet still leaving 
cigarette butts in his hair. "who are you to
  cast judgment on our character, foul knave?" 

  "see what i mean?" vacuumboy said to the others. 

  "dude, dying has gotten you really paranoid," murray said. "you need to relax." 

  "no," vacuumboy had lost his cool now. "you guys are under some kind of spell. somebody 
has done something to
  brainwash you so you won't see what's going on here. maybe the drinks are spiked..." with 
that, & with a swing of his arm,
  he sent murray & hunter's drinks crashing to the floor. hunter seemed not to notice, but 
murray stood up, obviously angry. 

  "dude, chill out," progger said. "i'll buy you a drink. play some buzz. relax, it's not 
that kind of bar." 

  vacuumboy, reaching for answers, thought aloud "maybe the trivia machine is brainwashing 
you subconsciously," & with
  only a glance, vacuumboy destroyed the trivia machine. now progger stood up. vacuumboy 
had never seen a look of such
  spite in the eyes of another hero. 

  "you're going to be sorry you did that," progger said, reaching behind his back. 
vacuumboy, now no longer able to trust any
  of them, lashed out in self-defense with his newly acquired powers, perhaps using more 
force than he should. progger fell
  to the ground dead, with what appeared to be a beer bong in his hand. 

  "oh my god, they killed progger!" quiet girl yelled out. 

  suddenly vacuumboy noticed the presence of brenton the bartender. he had not noticed 
brenton coming in & had no idea
  how long he'd been there. but now brenton was walking toward him. 

  "i'm sorry, sir, but superhero or no superhero, we can't allow our customers to kill each 
other while inside our
  establishment. we're going to have to ask you to leave." 

  as he was being escorted out, vacuumboy could've sworn that he heard brenton laughing 
nefariously... but it seemed like
  nobody would believe him if he'd even had anyone to tell...


  [6/17/2001 10:20:10 PM | stAllio! nGsta]
  now ejected from garfield's, confused, & alone, vacuumboy floated aimlessly throughout 
the mall. he paid no attention to
  the shoppers as he floated past all the common areas & into the ghost wing, the phantom 
wing that connects all malls,
  living & dead, full of the stores which had closed long ago or been burned to the ground, 
felled in earthquakes, or even
  destroyed by superbeings. 

  he had wandered as far as the coffee shop section, occupied with thousands of 
independently-owned coffee shops run out
  of business by starbucks, when he finally noticed the figure ahead. at a simple glance, 
the figure was undistinguishable
  from the other spectres & memories in the ghost wing, but there was an uncanny 
recognizability which vacuumboy couldn't
  ignore even in his dazed state. the figure looked like him. was it his reflection? no, it 
was... 

  "the mysterious archetypal informant!" vb exclaimed. "but i thought you & i were the same 
person?" 

  "we are, but for everything you think you know, you still have a lot to learn," answered 
the informant. "you might have
  access to all the power now, but you don't quite grok how to use it all yet; you still 
need a little help. look at how easily
  gwar handled you back there." 

  "gwar?! i didn't see gwar, just my team, & a few employees... except..." 

  "of course," said the informant. "you did recognize him. you were only confused by his 
glamour." 

  "uh, glamour? he just looked like some boring bartender..." 

  "a glamour is a charm one wears over one's image, an illusion. most are worn to intensify,
 or stylize one's natural
  appearance... much like magical dress wear. but there are also charms to obfuscate, 
although they are more difficult to
  maintain. didn't you ever pay attention when stAllio! was rambling on?" 

  "well..." mumbled vacuumboy guiltily. "wait, of course i did, because if i didn't know it,
 you wouldn't know it. right?" 

  "now you're catching on." 

  "so what was up with that hallway? why was it all windy like that?" 

  "the mark upon the door was a rune of warding, a basic spell to keep intruders away. to 
those unversed in magic, its
  effects are usually more subtle: a creepy, uneasy feeling; small coincidences to keep 
people away; et cetera." 

  "then if i don't know anything about magic, why were the effects so intense on me?" 

  "think: you're a ghost now. no matter how little you understand your new abilities, you 
*are* a paranormal creature now.
  you need to stop thinking like a human; it's holding you back. things are going to start 
happening now, & you need to be
  ready..."



  [6/21/2001 11:58:01 PM | stAllio! nGsta]
  as if on cue, elsewhere in the (physical part of) the mall, a flicker of light from a 
jasmine-scented candle in the new-age
  shop caught through a "magic" crystal at just the right angle, crating a prism effect, & 
a large rainbow appeared. four
  figures then rode out of the rainbow into the shop, seemingly from nowhere, & the rainbow 
vanished. 

  the woman behind the counter had only caught a glimpse of this, but still she realized it 
was an unusual event. her human,
  amateurly-trained eyes, however, were prevented from seeing just how strange these four 
figures were. regardless, she
  was highly excited by the event. 

  one of the figures said "okay, let's do a perimeter sweep to scout for guards or alarms 
before we storm the bar itself. have
  we found the exact location yet?" 

  "i don't even need my diving rod," another one said. "i can smell that bastard's warding 
rune from here." 

  "i can too, son, but it could be a trap, there to mislead us. we do the sweep before we 
go in. swords, take the outside.
  coins, take the west wing. son, you're wands, so take the ghost wing. i'll take the food 
court. we meet back here, then we
  go in."


[6/22/2001 1:51:27 AM | Jared Edwards]
  Meanwhile, beneath Marvels & Legends, a newly reformed (and detoxified) Progger was 
getting ready. He had taken a
  minute to collect his thoughts after his resurrection. It didn't take him long to realize 
that Vacuumboy had been right now
  that he was free of the potion (although he wasn't really sure why everything made sense 
now). One thing he was sure of
  was that Vacuumboy and the others were in danger. 

  He grabbed a new Progg(tm) Blaster and his tool kit. Once he had everything together, the 
Progger took the Love Chicken
  2 (the Love Chicken was at the mall, of course) and started speeding back toward 
Garfiled's...