Here We Go Again

While Brody and all of his friends were living and loving life on tour with one of music's biggest acts in the later years of the 21st century, Nic Angel was also living life on a high that couldn't be provided by any drug. While Brody was dressed in all black as his alter ego, Lucc'y Luciano, performing alongside his cousin, Toon, Nic could be found honing his electric guitar skills with Smartz listening to every note he played on the couch and Brittney purring on the floor below him reading a magazine. While Brody was strengthening his bond between his lifelong friends, new bonds were forming late at night between Nic, Smartz, and Brittney. Often, Brittney and Smartz could be found inside of skate parks watching Nic Angel gain street notoriety for his hoverboard prowess. Yes life seemed to be going well for both sides of the hero world.
Brittney soon found her place beside Nic Angel and Smartz on their mission to keep Nashville safe. On one of their missions where a massive fire had broke out in the middle of a shootout between rival E-v gangs, she turned to Smartz with hurt black eyes and she asked her, "Is this what I used to cause?"
Smartz had been gaining knowledge and wisdom over the past couple of weeks and it had shown in her statements. "It's not about what you have done, Sheetah, it's only about what you are doing now, and what you plan on doing in the future."
Brittney had smiled. "Well from now on, I plan on being one of the good guys." They both smiled as they seperated with Sheetah sprinting with a vast amount of speed toward the fire to search for any survivors, while Lucky and Smartz jumped in the fray, hoping to incapacitate the rival gangs before they did any harm to one another. After countless battles, they began to learn one another's techniques, coming up with their own formations, their own bond to defeat their enemies.
Between Smartz's occupation as a police officer, Nic Angel gaining fame for his awesome hover boarding skills, and Brittney's diligent watch over the city, they were quite busy, but still in all they found time to find out more about one another. In one instance, while standing outside in the blazing Nashville sun watching Nic Angel in a hover boarding contest against professionals, a question had burned inside of Smartz's thoughts, exploding in her heart. She turned her head toward the awe struck Brittney and asked her softly, "Can I ask you something, Brittney?"
Brittney turned to her newfound love, her new ally and answered softly, "Sure honey. What is it?"
Smartz dropped her head down, gaining the courage to ask a potentially hurtful question. "What do you think your life would be like if...."
"If the Zoo Crew were still alive?"
"I'm sorry, Brittney. I didn't mean to offend. I was just..."
Brittney cut her short once again. She smiled, easing the tension in Smartz's heart. "I sometimes wonder the same thing, what life would be like if my father were here. If he could see me now, but a wise woman once said that it doesn't matter what you've done, but what you are doing now and what you plan to do. My daddy used to say the same thing."
Smartz found Brittney absolutely breathtaking. In one instant, she had made Smartz feel completely comfortable inside of the skate park. She smiled, "You know you are wonderful, you know that?"
"I was raised by a wonderful father."
The statement was simple but it only prompted more questions.
She looked back at Brittney through the corners of her diamond eyes and as her skin glowed from the warmth she felt within, she asked, "What was your father like?"
The statement stewed in Brittney's heart as she watched Nic soar into an aerial flip, garnering many ooooo's and awwww's. In that moment, she was tranquil in the memory of her father, listening to his passionate speeches or watching him run into the night as the Blacc Panther. She smiled thinking how she used to ride on his back through the streets of Knoxville, TN as a toddler. How she missed that city. How she missed her father. No matter how old she may have grown, she still felt like she would always be able to ride on her father's back. "He was a wonderful man, the love of my life. The only love I ever knew. He played the role of mother and father after my mama left. He told me I was the only woman he ever trusted. He was a radical man passionate about everything. He used to tell me all the time never do anything you are not passionate about and that's how I'm living life from now on. I have been walking in my dad's shadow for years, chasing after his dreams of equality for us E-v's, even with force, but I have my own dream now. I plan on making this world a better place for everybody whether man or E-v. Passion."
Smartz liked her passion and she wished her own father would have passed on that same passion before he too met death. "You know my dad was a police officer too?"
"Really!? So was my uncle! Even though I never met him, he's supposed to be some kind of Nashville legend. My father used to tell me stories about him. Even before the Evil Virus infected the United States, my dad used to tell me that he had abilities beyond those that are human. I revered him when I was younger. Do you wanna know why?"
Of course she did. "Why?"
"Because I figured anyone who was strong enough to impress my dad had to be a great man. I wanted to meet him, my uncle that is. I wanted to meet my older cousins too, but things changed when the E-v took place. My father never spoke of my uncle again or my cousins. I knew he was heartbroken. I knew something had happened to my uncle and I never questioned my father, but now my father is dead and I have no clue who my cousins are. But now, I seek to find them, and find out a piece of my past that I never knew. You can understand my passion, right?"
"You know I think I had that same passion. I think that was the reason why I became a cop because I wanted to see first hand what it would be like to see the world through my own father's eyes. I feel like I'm doing him a great honor."
"But you're not like him. I can tell. You're different then your father, special, and I think with all of the opportunity and corruption in the police department, your dad would've been proud of the just daughter he had brought into this world."
"You think so?"
Brittney placed her hand on Smartz's shoulder as the crowd went wild as Nic Angel had performed a plethora of tricks as his victory lap. "I know so." And with that they joined in on the festivities as they gathered around Nic Angel, holding his golden trophy.


After the trio celebrated Nic Angel's victory and announced sponsorship by one of hoverboarding's most renown sponsors, The Angel Wings, they walked down the same street where Nic Angel discovered his hover boarding prowess. Clearly intoxicated, Nic Angel had it in his mind that he was going to skate one more time at the skate park he deemed Heaven, and he only thought it proper that his two angels join him for one quick run. They stumbled down the street, having a hard time simply counting their steps.
When they finally reached the park, they seen that they had found another party. The park wasn't empty like Nic had left it weeks before. Now the park was filled with fellow hover boarders, hipsters, beautiful young women, breakdancers, and musicians, all celebrating the success of young Nic. So when Nic stumbled into the skate park, two children who couldn't be more than twelve years old ran up to him as though they just seen Superman himself stumble into the building. He was God in their eyes, and it was at that moment when Nic had realized how much his hard work and late nights at this same skate park had paid off. "You're Nic Angel, aren't you!?" Their loud youthful voices carried throughout the skate park as all of the eyes of the bohemian oasis were upon them. "We watched you earlier. You're awesome!"
The other young boy chimed in, "Yeah those were some narly moves! How long have you been hover boarding for?"
"Since I was able to stand."
The kids were in awe, and Nic just stood basking in the moonlight next to Brittney and Smartz. He had stood as a heroic figure before. It seemed like all his life he had been just another poor lost soul from Amityville with no hope, no plan for the future. But now not only was a hero, he was a celebrity. He had the opportunity to make a difference as Lucky but maybe as Nic Angel too.
"Do you wanna skate with us?" One of the young boys asked.
Nic smiled and jumped on his hover board, "Only if we can skate right now."
The children smiled and jumped on their hover boards, following Nic into the large grafitti'd bowl as everyone else served as onlookers, cheering th three on as they performed a plethora a tricks. Nic's excellence in hover boarding must've inspired something in the young children, trying and landing tricks beyond their years, gaining as many oooooo's and awwwww's as Nic had been receiving. The whole clapped their hands rejoicing the new hoverboarding king riding with his heirs apparent. The scene was all smiles, that was until red beams of light began appearing all over the moonlit field of dreams.
One teenager who had been watching while smoking a blunt looked over his shoulder to see what looked like an automated monster. His once glazed eyes grew to the size of the fear in his heart. "Holy moly, what is going on?"
Before anything else could come out of his mouth, the police officer machine fired several shots into the skate park causing mass hysteria among the bohemian populace.


While Nic Angel and the others were staring into the face of trouble, Brody was in Toon's hometown of New Orleans tearing down the packed stadium with his set of vicious lyrics about the hard times of being a drug dealer in Nashville. Q and Chevy were heavily intoxicated, pulling girls on stage to join them and Toon as they partied like it was the last days of their lives. They shook champagne bottles and shot them in the air as the contents of those bottles created a soft mist to cover them as the heat of the atmosphere began to overtake them. The music had provided Brody with a release like no other as Kylie winded on him as if she were listening to the intoxicating sounds of the Spanish guitar. It was clear to see that love and music was in the air. It was like watching an urban version of Woodstock and Kayla captured it all with her technological digital camera.
After Brody's set was finished, it was now Toon's turn to rip the mic apart with his version of modern rock music. Brody and company stayed on stage with Brody's cousin, headbanging and rocking out to the music that was clearly out of their element, but it didn't matter. The excitement and the happiness that floated off of the chords of the electric guitar and out of Toon's soul brought them all together. The melting pot of people in the stands went nuts as Toon fingered the guitar, shouting out every inch of pain and anguish into the stands, relating in some fashion to some man, woman, and child that stood out of their seats. Brody looked at his cousin like he stared at a legend.
From across the stage, Kayla caught Brody's adoring eyes staring at his cousin, and for an instant, she saw exactly what Brody had seen surrounding Toon. She understood Toon was a Fire Blood and that his blood boiled lava, but what she seen, what her camera lens captured was epic. Toon had a glowing red aura around him. His pupils glowed a deep red as he stared out into the crowd, captivating every soul in the crowd. In her eyes, it was like capturing a photograph of the sweetest devil she had ever known.
After Toon and Brody had performed their last set, the first of many after parties kicked off back stage. It was like trying to house Mardi Gras in a one story house. There were a sea of people everywhere. Chevy looked around as Toon toasted a bottle of the best champagne with his little cousin. Kylie and Kayla were busy staring at the pictures she had taken and Q was picking the cutest girl out of the crowd to whisper some sweet nothings into her ear. Chevy was starting to feel claustrophobic. That was until a beautiful, stout young lady appeared at his side. He barely even noticed her because of her petite size, but when he felt the slight tappings of the young woman, he turned around to see the beautiful Creole with two golds in her mouth and blond and brown kinky twists. His interests were peeked then. "Wassup."
"Hello love?" She stretched her arm out to the six foot Chevy in greeting and to the naked eye, it would look like he had at least ten years on her, but in reality, she was only a year under him. She introduced herself as, "My name is Raven Bealiuet, I seen you on stage and thought you was too cute. How you knowing Toon and them?"
Chevy was intrigued by her New Orleans accent and fell in love with her raspy voice. "What's good? I'm just chilling with my boy Brody."
He pointed to Brody and she leaned to her right to inspect the celebrating his triumphs in the Big Easy. She smiled, liking what true happiness looked like. Seeing him made her want to pursue her own happiness in Chevy. "So that's ya' boy, ha? Yeah I seen him doing him on stage. He's really talented."
Brody looked back at Chevy and their eyes caught one another's, sending messages that only they would understand. Brody, seeing the beautiful Raven, smiled in approval. Chevy smiled, loving the compliment that he had just gave to him. Chevy turned back around with a look of pride on his face. His brother from another mother had made it, now it was his turn to celebrate with her. "Yeee, he his talented, been that way for as long as I knew him."
"How long have y'all known each other fa'?" She asked curiously.
Chevy just smiled, "Long enough to tell you everything about that boy. He's been my best friend for going on twelve years, and he stayed with me and my mama for two years, so I know the ends and outs on Brody."
She smiled, her two gold teeth catching the glare from the bright light above them. "I would love to know more about you two, especially you."
Her diamond cut browns placed Chevy in a trance. Those eyes and her seductive accent was enough to make him forget that he felt claustrophobic earlier. Now it felt like the only people in the room were Q, Kayla, Kylie, and Brody, but even they were far enough away to become something like mirages. The only person who had intrigued him at that moment was standing right in front of him. "Likewise." His cool demeanor still prevailed over his wants, something he had learned from Bailey.
Raven saw this as an opportunity to further explore something beautiful in the making. She asked him, "Would you like to see the sights, ya' know, just ride out? I'm sure you got time to before you leave, ha?"
He nodded his head, containing his smile. "Yeee, we got time. Only one thing though."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" Her smile toying with him in the most flirtatious manner.
"I gotta drive."
He said it so simply so matter-of-factly, that she was caught by surprise. "How you gon' drive? You done lived in The City before?"
He smiled, feeling as though he were a magician, revealing another trick he had up his sleeve. "Nah, I ain't never been here before."
She laughed, knowing there was more to find out about the young, handsome man who stood in front of her. "Then how you expect to navigate through The City, boy, no."
She laughed some more, until Chevy grabbed her hand gently and begun to lead her to the exit. His smile made her feel as though she could melt right there. "Just follow me, and I'll show you." Words wouldn't formulate in her mouth. A syllable wasn't small enough to escape from her throat. She was simply stuck. So all she could do was nod her head yes, and follow Chevy aimlessly to the exit door with Kylie and Kayla's vigilant eyes watching over them. When they got to the exit, Chevy faced the entranced Raven and said with a voice filled with confidence, "By the way, I'm Chevy."
She shook her head out of her trance and giggled. "What a coincidence."
"Why you say that?"
She smiled slyfully, "Cause I drive a Chevy."
"Well you riding with this one." They both smiled as they left out of the exit doors. This promised to be a good night for the both of them.


Back in Nashville, things had become less cozy for the trio as their stared into the fiery eyes of three mechanical behemoths, all ready to rip the skate park to shreds. At first, Nic wondered what new technology he was facing. He looked back into the face of Smartz and she looked horrified. She wondered in her mind who had gotten a hold of the technology she helped create. She had only trusted one man to her secret advances in technology, and she was sure he wouldn't use it for this. At first, when she first started seeing her technology in battle, she had thought they were overzealous officers trying to take down what they perceived to be a great E-v threat, but what she was seeing now was corruption. There was no E-v threat here, only kids, and these monsters were firing their weapons at these innocence.
The mechanical monsters began firing their giant weaponry at the youth, leaving Nic Angel and Smartz horrified by the actions. Brittney was the first to act, transforming into Sheetah, and collecting kids at a rapid pace. Her loving arms placed the children out of harm's way, cradling them as if they were her cubs. They looked at her as though she were a spotted product of divination. Her sharp toothed smile showed her kindness, and before she placed the youngest child down, she blessed his cheek with a kiss before joining the fray. The small boy rubbed his cheek, telling himself that he would never wash his face again. He wanted to cherish the mark given to him by lips that belonged to the being that had just saved his life.
Sheetah sprinted back into action, clawing at the machines with her diamond sharp talons, providing Smartz with a distraction to find a dark spot to enable her Smart Suit. She pressed the button that appeared in between her bosom and she took the form of a Bohemian young lady with long black hair and pale skin. When she looked into the face of the full moon above her, the moonlight revealed a fury in her eyes that couldn't be mistaken for nothing else but pure unadulterated rage.
While the machines were trying their best to catch a bead on Sheetah who appeared to be moving at the speed of light, one of the machines were caught by surprise, greeted with an extremely forceful punch to the face by Smartz. The massive blow was strong enough to knock the protective plate away from the machine's face, exposing the inner workings of the machine's CPU. While the machine was trying to regain its balance, she grabbed a handful of wires that were once protective armor, and with her other closed fist, she hit the monster directly under the jaw, sending several feet into the air. But before the machine could fully reach its zenith in the air, she grabbed the protective plate of armor that housed the pulsating energy core and summoned a bomb in her hands, sticking it to its chest plate. Then she kicked the monster toward another machine, both of them exploding and engulfing one another in their flames. And with that, the machines had a new target. Smartz.
Nic had watched Sheetah and Smartz fight valiantly, and he felt out of place by not helping them out, but he couldn't risk revealing himself to the staring eyes of the youth that still watched, trapped by the surrounding flames and mayhem. Nic looked into those innocent children's eyes, and he found himself at a crossroads. Does he keep his secret and risk the lives of these children? Could he sleep at night knowing the only reason his secret was kept safe was because these children had sacrificed their own lives for him? Or does he expose himself? The answer came quicker than he thought as he began transforming into Lucky.
The children watched as four leaf clovers appeared all over his body, and his muscles rippled with power. They watched as his power took over his hover board, and then, before they could blink, they were in his arms, watching as grinded on invisible rails, performing tricks that would be impossible without them in his arms, much less with them in his embrace. His mission was clear. While Sheetah and Smartz were picking the machines off one by one, Lucky was saving the children. That's what Gun Man would've done. That's the kind of hero Gun Man wanted to be. Not the famous hero, but a hero for the people. He would remind him of that next time he had a chance to, but for now, he had children to save.
Sheetah and Smartz had their hands full slicing and smashing the giant robots with their bare hands. Their movements were incredibly quick, dodging bullets like raindrops. Sheetah clawed at the protective plates with such veracity that one of the robot's protected core exploded on the impact of her talons. Smartz had figured that Sheetah could make the flame follow her velocity and that was when she had a moment of inspiration. Sheetah ran toward another monster, dodging oncoming bullets with ease, with a massive conflagration behind her. Smartz's long black hair flew behind her as her speed increased ten fold to compensate for Sheetah's great speed. She then created a vacuum of oxygen to trap the giant blaze in her hands. When Sheetah clawed at another robot's protective plate, Smartz released a concentrated blast of flame into the monster's weak spot, causing it to look like it had spontaneously combusted. Smartz had floated above the flame, watching the blaze melt the wires and circuitry of the great beast.
While Sheetah was standing, admiring the blaze overcome the monster, she had failed to remember the fact that there had been one more monster lurking around the destruction and rubble of the skate park. By the time the revelation had dawned on Smartz it had already been too late, and the monster machine had its red eye beaming on both Smartz and Sheetah with its giant Gatling gun hands spinning in a dangerous rotation, readying itself to rain down punishment on the duo. But before it could release a single shell out of its hands, a hover board flew into its main CPU as Lucky leaped over the monster's head. When the board had left out of the opposite end of the CPU, flames shot from the disorientated robot's eyes as it tried to recollect itself. Lucky had planted his feet firmly on the hover board and grabbed a hold of the protective plate that covered its face, swinging through the air, slowly ripping the metal from the flaming circuitry, exposing the destruction going on inside of the monster's main CPU. It was like watching the fall of a titan, and like its brothers, the machine had fallen in a collection of flames, destroying the skate park even further. The destruction of the skate park gave testament to the violent measures the corrupted government were willing to take.
The kids came out of hiding to see their sanctuary destroyed by the battle and Lucky saw the destroyed souls behind everyone of their pupils. It reminded him of when he saw Amityville burning in flames. He knew something had to be done. Smartz did too. She threw ice grenades over the flames to contain the fires, and when the ice froze the rubble and flame into its icy grip, Lucky saw opportunity. When others would have seen glaciers and icebergs, Lucky saw halfpipes and bowls. He looked at the lost souls and he smiled as he ran toward the glacier. Smartz wasn't sure as to what Lucky was planning on doing. Sheetah just smiled, knowing whatever he did, he did it for the kids. And that he did. He grinded and carved out bowls and halfpipes and rails and anything else one would imagine to be skateboarding Heaven. The children just watched, amazed and thankful, and at that moment, Smartz and Sheetah both thought that out of the entire night, that had to be one of the most heroic thing they saw. It was nothing to destroy those fighting war machines. That was fun for them, but Lucky was showing what a true hero was all about. One who had the ability was not the hero, the hero was the one who had the ability and used it for the betterment of his people.
When he was finished, the finished project was beautiful as the kids simply stood and marveled at its greatness. Lucky had walked up to the two youngest hover boarders and with a confident smile, he asked, "You guys like?"
They just stood there open mouthed in awe of the great structure in front of them. So did the rest of the bohemian group. Lucky simply smiled as one of the small children walked up to him slowly, cautiously. Sheetah sat on the ice structure watching the actions proceed, while Smartz hovered above the crowd with a look of great laughter. The little kid looked up into Lucky's green eyes and asked him, "Who are you?"
"A friend. A friend with a secret."
The young child's curiosity was peaked as a million questions ran through his mind, but only one burned his mind so that he had to ask, "So is Nic Angel your secret identity?" The eyes of the res of the group were upon him now. They had witnessed with their own eyes him transforming, seen a display of his magnificence, and were carried in those powerful arms of his, so to lie to them would be insulting their intelligence and that was something he was not willing to do. Not now. Not ever. Not to his people.
He placed a single index finger over his mouth, indicating that it was truly a secret, and the young boy in front him smiled, feeling as though he held in his mind, the Golden Grail of knowledge inside of his mind. His friend had ran up eyes welling with excitement. It looked like he had a million questions on his mind. His excited voice lifted out of his voice and into Lucky's ears. "So....so what are you like called!? You're like awesome dude! You gotta have a name!"
"Lucky."
The teenager who had been smoking on a blunt before the attacks and the first one to notice the monsters advancing from their rear, walked forward and with a slowed voice, said, "Lucky? Nah dog, you're like my lucky number dude. If it wasn't for you and your crew right there, we'd all be dead." The marijuana enjoyer looked around to see everybody was in concurrence. "Like I said, you saved all our lives, so don't even sweat your secret. I know I'm gonna keep it til' the day because I could've died tonight, ya'dig. You aren't the regular brand of luck homie. You different. Most times, luck only applies to white people with status, man, money. It don't apply to people like me, people like us, dog. I ain't gon', if y'all weren't here, this park would've been gone, but y'all proved it possible for anybody to be lucky, and we lucky to have you, Lucky Brand No. 7."
Lucky never knew he could influence somebody like this. The impact he just had on these people's lives were greater than anything he had ever known. Sheetah covered her mouth, giggling to herself, while Smartz just smiled, admiring the hero she always knew him to be. Lucky smiled and bowed his head in respect, "Lucky Brand No. 7. I kinda like that." His smile widened as he looked at the children below him. "You guys still got your hoverboards?"
The children yelled, "Yeahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"
"So I guess y'all wouldn't mind christening this new bowl with me, right?"
They didn't even wait for a response as they just jumped on their boards and dove into the inverted ice dome, performing tricks that could only be labeled as legendary as everyone else stood and watched the hero and the saved fly across the ice. Lucky felt a great warmth in his heart as he finally felt like a real life hero.