And moving on:

$Continuing onward...

And you know, there's really starting to be a lot of numbers in the
subject of these emails.

Heh. I noticed it with the second chapter, but there was nothing I could do
with it. At least I didn't call this 'Book 1: Chapter10' :)

"I doubt that very much. I think you're getting a touch
over-enthusiastic
about this super hero thing. Not everyone who's wealthy enough to own
something like this is an evil mastermind bent on world domination."
Giant
Man began searching the room. "I know some Chinese. Let's see if we can
find
some servants to tell us where we are. Hello! Is anybody home?!"

$Did he call that last out in chinese?

Yes, and by some sheer coincidence, it was the same form of Chinese the
Mandarin speaks. Actually I just decided not to weigh dialogue down with
'<>' indicators. Assume when Mandarin is with his lackies (except Swordsman)
he's speaking Chinese. When he's around Japanese, he speaks Japanese.

concealed alcoves and targeted Giant Man.

"Or I could be wrong," he admitted.

$Well, it does take a big man to admit when he's wrong.  ^_^

Wee. Let the puns begin.

Tarou snorted. "And what could she do? Hide nuts for the winter?"

$*shudder* Imagine if her super power was _cracking_ nuts.

Heh. The bane of men everywhere.

Speed Demon shook his head. "I disagree. Standards must be upheld in
order
to maintain a well-disciplined chain of command. Otherwise it will lead
only
to chaos and anarchy."

Power Man nodded his head sagely.

$Heheh.

Irony. A favorite application in humor.

Tarou said, "My latest issue of Playboy just came in."

"Tittie mags! Oh goody! I want to see it!"

"Me too!"

$So they're not stupid, they just have the mentality of 11 year olds.

Yep.

"Would you two idiots get out of here!" the Mandarin shouted.

Tarou also took it as his cue to leave, snickering nonstop as he exited
the
room, Power Man and Speed Demon practically hanging all over him as they
begged to see the issue of Playboy he had mentioned.

Alone once again, the Mandarin shook his head. Maybe he would only give
the
two twits a small island nation rather than entire countries.

$Japan!  No, wait, that'd be a waste.  Just give them each half of
Canada.

Nah. It'd be like someone giving you a frosty version of Hell. :)

Actually, it's just the cold I dislike, not the country. North Dakota is as
much a frozen wasteland most of the year as well. ^_^

 Their loyalty
was unsurpassed, and should be rewarded accordingly, but he didn't need
incompetent boobs ruining the world once he was running things.

$Heheh.  Power Man and Speed Demon would probably take that as a
compliment, even with the 'incompetent' thrown in.

Yep. They take what they can.

Wasp sighed. Surely superheroing was not supposed to be like this.

$Only when it's entertaining.

And even then, only to the author. :)

her? She was helpless without it. She would be ordinary Akane Tendou,
never
to fly again, never to know the awesome might contained in the powerful
body
which allowed her to do what she had only dreamed about. She would be
the
same helpless cripple she always had been. It wasn't fair!

$Universe: Oh, I'm sorry, here, let me make it all better.

Nah. That would be Excel Saga. :)

Slowly Akane walked up to the glass cube and saw a sight that forced out
her
depression. Some cruel monster had locked up a poor little piglet. It
was a
cute little thing, with black skin and a yellow and black striped
bandanna
tied around its neck. She had always wanted a pet just like it. And some
jerk, probably that evil Mandarin, had locked it away to either
experiment
on or do something equally heartless to it. Well, she would foil his
plans
and save the little piglet.

$What's she gonna do when it turns green?

He only does that when panicked.

Spotting the control panel, Akane began to look it over. There was no
writing on the panels: just symbols. She began pushing some of the
larger
buttons in the hopes that it would release the porcine prisoner. It was
the
second dial she turned that caused a hum to emit from the cube the
piglet
was in. In response to her twisting, two buttons located under the dial
began flashing. One was red and the other green. The only question was
which
button to push.

"I like green better than red." Akane pushed the gas evacuation button
instead of the one that would have flooded the cube with cyanide.

$Heh.  Nice to have options, although I wonder if cyanide would really
have hurt Ryoga.

Yep. Even the Hulk would have had a bad time. He's vulnerable to gas
attacks.

 Within
moments the red mist was filtered out and the door to the cube sprang
open.

$Thought it was green mist, for some reason.

Nope Red. Rechecked it.

Akane considered that. Perhaps they had already experimented on the pig
and
increased its intelligence so that it could understand Japanese. That
would
make things easier.

$You know...  I bet it would.

Nod, nod.

"Oh ho, like someone who's been stripped down to their shorts and a
stupid-looking mask has any business criticizing someone else about
their
fashion sense."

$I will never understand why the badguy doesn't remove their masks when
they catch them.  I mean, come on.

Mandarin: Don't be a fool! If it turns out the male heroes are good looking,
all the bad guy females on my side will fall in love and rescue them. It
says so in the Evil Overlord's Handbook.

"Thor doesn't think I'm a pervert," Hawkeye mumbled before realizing
that
the very reason Thor thought she wasn't a pervert in fact did make her a
pervert.

$Nah, just open minded.

Confused is more like it. Really got to write the chapter where the
Enchantress shows up to seduce Thor. It's coming up soon. That'll be fun.

Speed Demon added. "Sometimes he shows very little mercy to those who do

$Suggest putting 'Speed...added.' at the end of the dialogue.

Right.

"What comrade? Do you mean the green behemoth? He's not with us. I have
no
idea how he showed up. I think he attacked your men only because you
attacked him. He seems to do that," Iron Rose said, still strapped to
the
table.

$Heh.

She is right.

"No, not him. He's locked up with Thor. I meant the one in red with the
little insect-like projections on his mask. Blue gloves, boots, and
shorts?"

"Don't know anyone like that," Hawkeye said.

$Heh.  The problems of being an evil villain in a world of superheros.

Yep. Need a name to go with the face. Villain names tend to be worse. I mean
'The Ringer' or 'Steeplejack'? Of course, what's worse is there have been
two versions of each.

"Oh, and what will you do if I get you angry? Torture me? You already
said
you were going to do that."

$Heheh.  An excellent point.

Could always threaten to throw her in a Rhea lemon, I suppose. :)

Bucky saw the two slavering men approach, their eyes focused solely on
her
cleavage. She began squirming in her bonds, trying to stay out of their
reach and not moving a centimeter. "I'll behave! I'll behave!"

Delighted at the acquiescence, the Mandarin gave a curt, "Back! Back I
say!"

$*whipcrack*

Pretty much the image I was going for.

Power Man and Speed Demon reluctantly backed off, mumbling about how

Bucky tensed up. This was a perfect situation to institute a basic
technique
her father had taught her when it came to being a superhero. "Why,
whatever
plan would that be?"

$Heh.  Genma wasn't half bad.

Genma knows martial arts. In this universe he learned standard super hero
tactics to go along with it.

"Me," Iron Rose said.

$Everyone snickered apreciatively.

Always wanted to do the lackies complaining about the boss giving his origin
story repeatedly.

"It's said the ghosts of dead dragons fill the area and devour all those
that dare trespass upon it. Of those that have dared to tempt the legend
by
entering the mists, none have ever returned," Daredevil said in a voice
filled with awe.

$Daredevil isn't helping.

Well, he is validating the story.

"I see you are familiar with the legend," the Mandarin said, delighted
that
someone backed up his tale. "But being imbued with the blood of dragons,
I
had no need to fear such a place. I entered the valley, scouring every
centimeter of it. It was there I discovered the key to my ultimate
victory:
the ruins of a spacecraft that had fallen there hundreds of years ago."

"It was hundreds of years old and still worked?" Hawkeye asked.

"The race that created it apparently knew how to make machines that
last,"
the Mandarin said.

$Actually, they went all out and got the super-duper-uber-extended
warrenty.  It'll still break the day after the service contract runs
out, just like everything else.

Heh.

as

long to court the proper authorities to supply me with the more
elaborate
materials that I required to construct what you see before you, but it
was
worth every moment. For now, I stand on the pinnacle of success."

$You know, when you're on the pinnacle, that next step goes a loooong
way down...

Which is why you settle in right there.

made
this fortress invisible to the eyes of the outside world. Even if
someone
stumbles on it, my weaponry can shoot down any craft or vehicle. You
witnessed that yourselves. And I have other devices that can raise a
barrier
of energy to protect the fortress from anything, even nuclear attack.
Not
that radiation can harm me to begin with. An advantage of my dragon
blood
makes me immune to it. I have complete anonymity."

$Anonymity to radiation?  I know what he's actually saying, but that
sounds weird.

Will try to revise.

impunity, and strike I can. Today I was finally able to launch my
satellite,
the last piece to my master plan. It's no ordinary one. Oh no. It
employs
the most powerful weapon from the space ship: an orbital particle beam.
With
it stationed in orbit, I can create a thirty-five kilometer wide beam of
destruction that can eradicate anything in its path. And it leaves no
harmful residue behind, unlike nuclear or biological weapons."

$I dunno, glass can be pretty harmful.

Nah. That would be if it was a giant laser beam.

"You're insane," Hawkeye spat.

"Actually, his idea has merit," Iron Rose said from her prone position.
"Even if the man implementing it clearly needs to be institutionalized."

$I agree.

If I wanted to rule the world, the good old 'Hand of Death' threat would be
a good way to go about it.

trustworthy individuals that will obey my orders to whom I will delegate
authority. I will need people to manage the daily maintenance of the
land.
To others, it might seem oppressive at first, especially to those that
believe in freedom --which does not really exist-- but the truth is
people
want to be ruled.

$Sad but true, most of them do.  Not me, though.

Society is fine, since anarchy is a bigger headache, but I'm not a mindless
sheep to be led either. Regretably, most of the people I know are. And half
of those that aren't are misguided idiots, which can be worse than sheep in
many ways. :(

world order under me and for all future generations. All that I ask in
return is complete obedience, and I shall take care of everyone.
Suffering
will come to an end.

$Of course, so will goodness.

Mandarin: No, since I know what's best, and I'm working for the good of the
people, it is by definition good. Those that disagree with me are evil.

"As of a half hour ago, Mexico City became a thirty-five kilometer wide
crater."

$Oooh.  *winces*  I've got a bunch of co-workers who are going to be
pretty upset about their families.

True.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx


Endnotes:

Not sure if I threw anyone with the idea that the heroes have
essentially
failed in their mission, or at least the scope of it, and now can only
keep
things from getting worse. Admittedly, it can get much worse, but
still...

$On the other hand, that probably cleared up a major smog problem.  Or
added to it, your pick.

I know many environmentalists that would agree with you. :P

Man tale. She defeated Dr. Doom. I'm fairly certain Doom has since
explained
that it was really a defective Doombot she had beaten, and that it had
been
summarily destroyed for daring to debase the good Doctor's name. I mean,
wouldn't you if someone claimed Squirrel Girl kicked your ass? ^_^

$Hell yeah.  My people eat squirrels, and getting your ass kicked by
one would be the height of wussiness.

Now a pack of squirrels attacking would be different.

In case anyone was wondering, Mexico City's population is somewhere
around
13+ million by the latest census estimate. Just in case the full impact
of
Mandy's statement wasn't fully realized.

$So the question is, was it really?

Do you think with the way Mandy reacted he was lying?

 And if it was, are they all going

to be wished back to life in the fashion of all too many comic books and
the entire dragonball series?  I certainly hope not.

Do you see an Infinty Gauntlet lying around? If not, then nope, no chance of
that. ^_^

Anyway, excellent chapter, as always.  Good to see Wasp and Giant Man
finally start getting in on the action, at least a little, and the
dialogue was quite witty when it needed to be.

Yes, well, this is their first offical case together against a common foe.
And they did only start with chapter 7, whereas the others have been super
for a while longer.

Now I'm off to more C&C.

I think I shall do the same, though I still have to alot myself enough time
to watch the Escaflowne movie. Just finished Gundam X. I liked it as an
entry into the Gundam series. Ah, rental stores. Got to love them.

Thank mucho for the C+C. Really appreciated.

D.B. Sommer



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