“Don’t you get it?” Lodestone asked. “I can’t believe you did this! I’m so…aargh!”

“You should be flattered that I went to all this trouble.”

“Flattered? Are you serious? You’ve been spying on me!”

“It’s not like I bugged your room or anything,” he said. “Though it isn’t that difficult to do…”

“You broke into my locker!”

“Well, technically,” M.E.C.H. explained, “I didn’t break into your locker; I slipped a note in through the narrow openings in the door while you were in class. Granted, I did have to hack into the school’s records to find out which one was assigned to you and all.”

“Ugggh! Don’t you realize how violated I feel?”

“Well, if you had said ‘yes’ to begin with when I asked you to join my team, maybe I wouldn’t have had to go to such extreme measures. Now, about the team…”

“Hah!” Lodestone let out a small, guttural sound from her throat. “After all of this, you…you still want me to join some team you’re putting together?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Why not? Well, for starters, I think you’re a sneak!”

“I’m resourceful,” M.E.C.H. pointed out, “and very intelligent. Two skills that all good leaders should have.”

“Who said you’re going to be the leader?”

“It was my idea. And I’m the one who is getting everyone together.”

Lodestone rolled her eyes at that. “Whatever. Then there’s the whole trust issue!”

“What trust issue?”

“The fact that I can’t possibly trust someone who would blackmail me with my own secret identity.”

“Who said I was going to blackmail you?”

“Why else would you go through all of this – the constant emails, the going behind my back, the spying…?”

“I want you,” M.E.C.H. said plainly. He noticed Lodestone staring at him intently. Then he added quickly, “On the team. I want you on the team because, well, you’ve got an established reputation – given your connections to Magnet and Steel and all. They were legends in this town for years, and the public still thinks very highly of them. That translates directly to you and brings a lot of legitimacy to the table…not to mention your powers and all.”

Lodestone’s anger softened a bit at his words. She paused and considered them, letting them roll around in her head a bit. “Really? Legitimacy?”

“Definitely!” M.E.C.H. said.

“I don’t know…”

“Come on! Seriously consider it. With you on board, it’ll be much easier to recruit other talent. I have a few leads on candidates, but I didn’t want to start with them until I had you committed to the idea first.”

“What about my secret…?”

“It’s just that, a secret. I swear to you that I won’t say a word to anyone else. It’ll remain between you and me. I just…I was really desperate. I needed to have a way to contact you, to show you I was serious about my offer. I mean, really, would I have gone through all of this if I wasn’t committed to making this project work?”

Before Lodestone could answer, a sharp, high-pitched sound filled the air nearby. “What was that?” she asked, looking about.

“Screeching tires,” M.E.C.H. said in a matter-of-fact way. His armored head turned slowly and then he pointed to the south. “There! It came from that way!”

“Let’s go!” Lodestone said without hesitation. The two started to fly off. They then heard the sound of sirens and saw flashing red lights coming from the street as a police car was in pursuit. “Wow! Good ears.”

“They’re the best audio sensors ever,” M.E.C.H. said, “if I do have to say so myself.”

“Less back-patting and more hand-lending,” she advised as she burst off ahead of him.

A brown sedan, clearly an early 80’s model that had seen better days as indicated by a number of scratches on the side panel and rust near the back bumper, barreled down the street. The brown haired driver ignored traffic signs in hopes to leave his followers far behind.

In the passenger seat, his black haired partner glanced out the back window. “Step on! The cops are right behind us!”

“I’ve got it floored already!”

“Well, if you can’t lose them, then I’ll take care of them!” The passenger rolled down his window, pulled a hand gun out of his coat and began to fire at the car behind them.

The first bullets struck the hood of the blue and white patrol car behind them. Inside, one of the police offers was radioing for back-up while his partner drove. “They’re heading south on…” he was saying, but he stopped when he realized something was moving along side his window.

The blonde heroine waved as she flew past the car. “I think I can help,” Lodestone said. She swept up and positioned herself on the hood of the moving police car. Her magnetic abilities helped her to adhere to the hood, giving her firm footing despite the speed that the vehicle maintained.

Back in the car with the thieves, the passenger cursed. “Damn! They’ve got help!” He started to reload his gun with another clip.

“Who?” the driver asked.

“That Lodestone girl!”

“Well, mow her down too then!”

The passenger leaned back out the window and began to fire once more.

Lodestone shook her head as she concentrated. The bullets deflected off of her projected magnetic field, bouncing harmlessly away before they could even reach the patrol car. “When will these guys ever learn?”

“She’s stopping them!” the gun-wielding thief exclaimed. “My gun is useless against her! You’ll have to lose them!”

“I’m trying!” the driver said. He cut the wheel sharply, causing the sedan to skid around a corner. He went a bit down one street then cut the wheel again. The car took the corner on two wheels. “There, that should lose…”

The car came to a quick and sudden stop!

The two men lurched forwards until their seatbelts jerked them back into place. As the stars cleared about their eyes, they looked out the cracked front windshield. Standing confidently in the street before their damaged vehicle was M.E.C.H., who moments before slammed his armored fist into the front end of the car and dropped most of the engine to the ground.

The police vehicle pulled up behind the brown sedan, and the officers quickly swarmed the car. They pulled open the doors, yanked the bruised and confused thieves out of the car and cuffed them.

Lodestone meanwhile stepped off the police car roof and floated in the air over to where M.E.C.H. was standing. She glanced at the damaged car hood. “Very thorough,” she said with a positive nod.

The armored figure nodded. “I thought the direct approach was in order,” he said, “to make sure they didn’t hurt anyone with their reckless driving.”

“Great job, Lodestone!” one of the officers called to them. “We might not have caught up to them if it wasn’t for your help.” He glanced at the armored figure. “You and your friend, that is.”

“Glad to be of service,” the heroine said with a smile. “Anything else we can do for you?”

“We’re good,” the officer replied as they shoved the two men into the back of their squad car. “We’ll take them down to the precinct and book them.”

“Have a good night then,” she replied. Lodestone turned to M.E.C.H., nodded, and the two flew off into the air.

M.E.C.H. waited until they got a good distance away before he started the conversation with her again. “See?” he said.

“What?” she replied.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said. “Victoria loves you. The police greatly appreciate your help, and they didn’t even question who I was. That’s the legitimacy I was talking about.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Lodestone had to admit.

“Of course I’m right! So, now what do you say? Be part of the team!”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, please! It will be fantastic, trust me. You’ll really have a ball working with others. And won’t it be nice to have someone there, watching your back and able to help pick up the slack so you can focus on personal things when you need to? Plus, you’ll have friends who totally relate to what you’re going through as a hero and all. I mean, besides your parents, can you really talk about this stuff with anyone else?”

“Well, no.” Clare had to admit to herself that sometimes it was even hard to talk to her parents about it. And she certainly couldn’t let her friends in on her secret. That would complicate way too many things. “I just…” Lodestone said hesitantly.

“What? What can I do to convince you?”

“I need something,” Lodestone said as she moved closer to him.

“Yeah?” M.E.C.H. said with some anticipation.

“I need…” she said as she reached for him, placing her hands about the armor’s shoulders. “I need something on you.” She began to pat around on the armor.

“What are you doing?” M.E.C.H. exclaimed.

“There has to be some kind of hidden catch or something,” she said. “Fair’s fair. I should see who’s under the armor after all. You know who I am under this mask.”

“No!” M.E.C.H. said as he pulled away from her. “You can’t!”

“Why not?” Lodestone said. “If I’m supposed to trust you, the least you can do is trust me!”

“It’s not that easy!”

“Why isn’t it? What’s the matter? Are you all shriveled up like Darth Vader or something in there?”

Across town, Edward appreciated the reference, but not enough to tell her the whole truth. How would she react if she found out I was a twelve year old genius?

Still, he could tell from the way that the conversation had been going that he could quickly lose any ground he had gained with her unless he offered her something. “Okay, fine,” he said into the microphone which disguised his voice into a more mechanical form. “I’ll trust you with something.”

Using the controls before him, Edward made M.E.C.H. move a bit back from her. Then, again by his doing, the armored form put its hands to its face plate. The systems released the locking mechanisms, allowing the plate to swing off to the side.

Lodestone’s eyes grew wide as she saw circuit boards and wires where she expected a face to be. “Oh…”

M.E.C.H. quickly slid the plate back into place as he reached out to steady the girl in case she was about to faint. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…I’m just surprised is all.”

“Well, M.E.C.H. does stand for ‘Mobile Enhanced Computerized Henchman’,” the armored figure said.

“So,” she said, “it’s a robot.”

“Not a robot,” Edward, slightly offended, said into the microphone. “It is much, much more sophisticated than that!”

“So, a remote controlled robot then.”

“Hey! No fair!”

Lodestone started to frown a bit. “So,” she said, “I guess I can’t trust you then.”

“What? What do you mean? Why can’t you?”

“Well,” she said, “how can I trust a machine? I mean, really, anyone could build something that looks like this…”

“Not anyone!”

“Sorry,” Lodestone apologized. “What I meant was: how could I tell your M.E.C.H. from one that, say, some criminal scientist puts together? If we had a team, big if, how could we even know it was you calling the shots and not someone else? See my dilemma here?”

“I…” M.E.C.H. started to say, but then paused.

“You see my dilemma,” she said. “I guess we’re through…”

“Wait!” M.E.C.H. said as he grabbed her hand before she could fly off. “What if I give you something more – something like a codeword or something?”

“A codeword?”

“Yeah, banks and credit card companies do it all the time. You know, so they can confirm the person calling about the account is the one whose name is on the account.”

“Okay,” Lodestone said. “A codeword. But what kind of word?”

“How about a pet’s name?” he asked

“You got a pet?” she asked.

“Uh, no. How about where I was born?”

“How about your name?”

“My mother’s maiden name?”

“Your name,” Lodestone said insistently, “or no deal.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

M.E.C.H. paused and considered. “Fine,” he then said. “But only my first name.”

Lodestone considered. It was better than nothing at all. “Okay.”

“Edward.”

“Edward?” Lodestone asked. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Huh,” she said as she wrinkled her nose. “You don’t look like an Edward. Can I call you ‘Eddie’?”

Edward sighed. “If you must.”

Lodestone put her arm about the armored figure’s shoulders. “Okay, Eddie, here’s the deal. Number one, you only call me Lodestone. My real name is off-limits.”

“Okay.”

“Number two, we stick to electronic contact whenever possible until things get organized.”

“Okay.”

“Number three, since you’re using my ‘legitimacy’ to form this team, I get some rights of refusal on membership.”

“Within reason,” M.E.C.H. countered. “I am doing all of the legwork after all.”

Lodestone considered. “Fair enough.” She held out her hand. “Shall we shake on it?”

M.E.C.H. carefully took her hand in his, applying enough pressure to acknowledge it but not enough to cause her any harm. “You drive a hard bargain, lady.” He released her hand.

“So, about these leads…” she said.

“I’ll have to get back to you on them, Cla…Lodestone,” he said, correcting himself. “Sorry. I don’t want to jinx anything.”

“Okay,” Lodestone said. “But I won’t hold my breath waiting. Shoot me an email when you have something.” She heard the bell tower of a nearby church begin to chime the top of the hour. “Look, it’s getting late. Are we done for tonight?”

“Yeah, sure,” M.E.C.H. said. “Thanks for being cool about all this.”

Lodestone nodded. “Let’s just keep this on a strictly professional level, okay? Night.” And with that, she started to fly off towards home.

Through M.E.C.H.’s optical sensors, Edward watched her fly off. “Well, that could have gone worse,” he said to himself before instructing his creation to return home. “Now to get to work on other recruits.” Beside his keyboard was a print out of an article from the Miami Sentinel’s website that talked about two new heroes active recently in that area of Florida.