"I can't tell you where, we gotta be on our toes today. I don't think this is what we gotta be on our toes about, but this isn't the only thing we're gonna see today. And it's got something to do with these guys." He showed us the pamphlet.
    "The 1-800-HENCHMEN dudes?" Scott said. "They're based out of Seattle, I talked to their phone rep."
    "I think they're making big push to get into town here."
    I groaned.
    "As far as I can tell from their literature, they're actually kind of a national corporation," Scott told us. "I didn't find a copy of their annual report, but I did find some of their sales flyers while I was out in Seattle, though. They supply your supervillain needs. You call 'em up, they give you goons, they find you a base, they set you up with a cover identity.... And they take a percentage off the top."
    "Hm. Actually a good deal," Paul admitted.
    "I don't need this shit," Talon muttered, which was pretty much what I was thinking. I don't want this to be happening, not in our town. It's a Seattle kind of problem.
    I sighed. "Taking it as read that there's going to be trouble, I think it would make sense if we stayed down by the waterfront, where there's going to be most of the people, which would be a good location for them to cause trouble if they're going to." I looked at Paul's fatigues. "You need a costume."
    No one dissented to the plan. Scott went to his gaseous form, Phoenix Talon went back to the wharf and picked up his bike, and Paul continued getting used to the hoverbike. We scattered across the city to patrol.

[Aside: Scott]

    That was at lunchtime. Nothing else happened until much later, unless you want to count the growing sense of tension from knowing that some idiot with a bunch of hired thugs and the collective IQ of milkweed were out there planning to ruin the day. Phoenix Talon seemed to enjoying himself, but he likes this kind of thing. It was almost a relief when we got the call from the Coast Guard. They'd found a boat full of people claiming that guys on rocket-powered surfboards had come by and stolen all their stuff.
    It wasn't just a boat. It made "ostentatious" seem somehow low-class. When I landed there were a dozen Beautiful People on deck.
    "So what happened?" I asked Coast Guard Captain Fitzwilliams.
    "Apparently these kids on rocket-powered ski sleds came flying up, jumped on board, they had their boss with them, a guy calling himself Manta Master."
    "Manta Master. That's a new one. Which way did they take off?"
    "The Manta Master guy went gliding off, apparently he can fly. The rest of them all took off on the surfboard/jet ski things in various directions, they made quite a haul. Apparently these fuckin' bastard idiots come out here every year to show off their girlfriends' jewelry and stuff, plus their wallets and their...." He growled irritably for a moment before getting himself under control.
    My eyebrows climbed. "I see."
    "I say, are you one of the local superheroes?" someone asked.
    I turned.
    "When are you going to do something about this?" the boat's owner demanded. "It's outrageous that this happened! I'll be putting in a call to your boss, you can believe that. This problem should have been resolved hours ago," he looked at where he used to have a watch. "We have been floating out here for four hours!"
    I looked at Fitzwilliams, who shrugged and said, "They wrecked the radio unit when they came through. They apparently took great glee in that."
    "Ah."
    "Something could have happened! We could have been attacked, there were sharks...."
    "There were sharks?" the Coast Guard man asked skeptically, looking at the Boston Harbor water. It seemed unlikely that a shark could survive in that stuff for long.
    "There were SHARKS."
    "Um, sir, we'll be attending to it directly," I told the man. "Thank you very much, bye."
    "That's not good enough, don't think you can just walk away from me, young lady...."
    I was in fact doing so when Scott arrived as a cloud.
    "Oh, and now it's going to rain. What else could go wrong...."
    We ignored the hapless boat owner as I gave Scott the rundown. "We'll have to fan out over the harbor and look for them."
    "We've gotta thank these 1-800-HENCHMEN guys for returning a certain sense of quality and workmanship to being a villain," he remarked.
    "You can tell them."
    We called the others and filled them in as well. It was late in the afternoon by then.
    Paul and Phoenix Talon, who were sharing a bike, found the next one, two hysterical women waving a white sheet to flag them down. Paul used his first aid training to bring the boat's owner around; he appeared to have suffered an electric shock.
    "We were all supposed to be getting together later, and now we're not gonna be able to make it, and the whole day's been ruined, and they took my bracelet..." one of the women wavered.
    Phoenix Talon seized upon the "we" and, after some questions, found that there was a small group of exorbitantly wealthy men who got together every July fourth after the fireworks to compare triumphs. George came around. There were apparently about 20 of the men on surfboards. The Manta Master, a man he described as "this freak in a skin-tight costume—no offense" had shot him after he took a baseball bat to one of the punks. Then he'd said something about having three more targets to hit before their final destination, along with "ushering in a new age of dominance of the sea." Also worth noting, the Manta Master had specifically instructed his troops not to "molest the women, it's beneath you."
    Phoenix Talon called the rest of us and relayed all of this. If his hunch was right about the five, there were three yachts to go.
    "If we can find one that hasn't been hit yet and stake it out, that's probably our best bet. Get the name of the owner, 'cause we got a set list. Ralph, Lou, and Brandeis." Mark and George had already been hit.
    We kept up our search until Scott called, having found Brandeis' yacht. It was easy enough to locate, being the biggest boat in the harbor that wasn't the fireworks barge. I hovered overhead, keeping an eye out for the Manta Master, while Phoenix Talon and Paul went down to the deck and Scott talked to the captain. I really do have to remember not to let Phoenix Talon talk to the public; he's been better since Japan, but he's got a ways to go yet in the tact department.
    "Let me talk to him and see about moving the party downstairs?"
    "I find it unlikely that Mr. McCaully will go for that, sir."
    "There is likely in the very near future to be a small horde of people on jet-powered ski-doos that are being led by somebody calling himself Manta Master who are going to be arriving to steal everything that's not nailed down."
    "I see. You're unfamiliar with Mr. McCaully, aren't you? I have no doubts that I can respond with some certainty, as to what his answer will be: Funny, isn't this the sort of thing that you are paid to stop?"
    This might be difficult. "It seems Mr. Brandeis is likely to be recalcitrant," Scott suggested to Phoenix Talon, floating up in gas form to take up his post.
    "Yeah, but dentists can take care of that." He landed the bike on the deck. Party guests oohed and aahed.
    Brandeis recovered quickly. "Yes, I invited them out here, I figured it would make the party unique. Phoenix Talon, how are you? And you must be...?" He looked at Paul with some puzzlement.
    Phoenix Talon was somewhat curt in response. "Mr. McCaully, we have reason to believe this ship is going to be attacked within the next few hours, we're here to defend it, please stay out of our way, we'd appreciate it."
    The man gave him a look. "You mean, stay out of your way once the fight starts."
    "Well, we don't know when the fight's going to start, that's the problem. We would hate for any of your guests to be caught in the crossfire, that's basically the bottom line."
    "Everyone! Please, your attention! Mr. Phoenix Talon has just informed us that there is a slight, slight chance that one of my many rivals might be launching an attack against us today."

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