DISCLAIMER!!! Hanna Barbera owns these characters, and uses them to make money. I don’t own these characters, and I use them for fun and no money.

Growing Up A Superhero 4
Angel of Death g/g

Risk quirked an eyebrow at Race, who stood on the other side of the door. he gave a short nod, and they both broke through, moving swiftly and silently.

January followed quickly, searching through data banks and file folders, anything that might mention the twin boys.

Risk kept an eye out on the door while Race helped look.

“There’s nothing here!” he whispered hoarsely to January. She frowned and kept digging.

“You’re right. If he has them, they’re somewhere else.”

Risk rolled her eyes as they moved out. No duh.

A guard rounded the corner, whistling, and all three froze. He turned the other way down the hall, barely missing them. January looked at Race and blew air out, puffing her cheeks. That had been close. “Tell Kit to check his office,” she mouthed.

Race nodded and fingered his comm unit. “Tiger, check the office.”

There was silence on the other end, and Race crossed his fingers. Finally, “Over and out,” was Kit’s reply.

“Must’ve been in a jam,” Race said softly. January nodded.

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Kit hid in the shadows, almost invisible. He watched, grinning, as Alyson studied herself in the mirror, turning herself this way and that to see if she looked good. Finally she gave a last fluff to her hair and left the room. Kit sighed. Women. Who could understand them? He didn’t even want to. They wouldn’t be as much fun.

Slowly Kit moved out of the shadows, his feet silent on the rich carpet. He was aware that what they were doing was very illegal, especially since they didn’t even have a warrant. And he loved it. Rifling through file folders, he considered his next job. Maybe he’d be a professional thief. He liked this adrenaline rush.

Kit’s ears pricked as he heard someone coming down the hall. Quickly he stepped back into the shadows, not two seconds before the door opened and two men, talking and laughing, walked in. Kit practically held his breath as they started changing the sheets on North’s bed, cleaning the bathroom and picking up in general. They were just about to leave when Kit’s comm unit went off, Race seeing what was taking so long. Kit bit the inside of his cheek and ripped it off his belt, muffling it in the thick fur on his forearm.

“Did you hear something?” one man asked the other.

“Yeah, my stomach growling!” the second laughed.

“No, really. I thought I heard something.”

The second man frowned and they both walked back into the room. Kit, hidden behind a door, listened to their footsteps approach.

Kit swore under his breath, then hooked his long claws over the door frame, pulling himself up so smoothly the door barely moved. But it did, ever so slightly.

“There,” the first man said, pointing. Kit bit his lower lip and switched one hand to the wall, poking holes in it with his talon. Using that as leverage, he pulled himself up farther until his could crouch on the top of the door. No human could do this, he thought with a toothy grin.

The men reached the door just as Kit was getting his balance, and one started to swing it closed. Kit bit back colorful phrases as he scrambled to keep his balance, scratching the paint on the top of the door. With a graceful leap he went through the doorway, landing silently on his hands and bolting down the corridor and around the corner.

“You see anything?” One asked Two, looking behind the door.

Two bent and picked up a long strand of black hair. “Soft,” he said, feeling it. He looked up, confusion on his face. “When did Mr. North get a cat?”

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“Couldn’t get it,” Kit panted into the comm unit. This was great! What a rush! “I checked a few things, and from what I saw it wasn’t there. But I didn’t have a chance to look all over.”

Race sighed. “Well, don’t worry about it. Maybe Jonny’s having better luck . . .”

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Jonny bit the penlight *harder*, trying to make it shine brighter. It wasn’t cooperating. He flipped through the stacks of books and papers, not bothering to disguise the fact that someone had been there. Maybe they’d think it’d been a robbery.

He growled in irritation, then opened a drawer to look through there. This was a study, there were supposed to be important papers here. Everyone knew that! Ripping open another drawer he paused, then carefully pulled out a file marked “Quest.”

Oh please oh please oh please he thought desperately. He opened it, and grinned when he saw pictures of his boys, document’s on Jessie’s powers so many years ago, documents on Race’s days in the Agency, even Risk had a few paragraphs. And there was the formula for the activator, and that must be the suppresser. Jonny grinned and tucked it into his duffel bag, then started out the door. He had his hand on the knob when it opened, smashing him in the face. He fell back, holding his nose with one hand and trying to save himself from a fall with the other. North stood in the doorway, shock on his face. Cal stood behind him, his face filled with mild contempt.

“I’ll be damned,” North said quietly, motioning for Cal to grab the man, “I really didn’t expect to see you here.”

Cal pulled his father up by his arms, almost bringing him off the ground. Jonny wiped blood off his face and pushed the Îspeak’ button on his comm unit. If he was caught, at least the others would know what was going on. “You kidnapped my son, North,” Jonny accused, his eyes flashing.

North twisted one eyebrow, bringing it up. “He came with me willingly.”

“Bull. He’s sixteen years old. He’s not old enough--mentally or legally--to make that kind of a decision.”

North just shrugged and poured himself a shot of brandy. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Jonny struggled with Cal for a minute, trying to get his arm free.

The boy grinned and twisted it back, making Jonny grimace in pain.

North sipped his drink and eyed them. “Be careful. Angel likes pain.”

Jonny glared at the boy and two black eyes in a gray face gleamed back. Chance was right. This wasn’t his son. “Angel, huh?” he snorted.

The boy raised his eyebrows and twisted the arm higher. “Angel of Death,” he whispered. Jonny held his gaze steady, and the boy was the first to look away, though he simply looked at North.

North sat down at his desk and turned on his computer, replacing brandy with coffee. “Now, what to do with you . . .” he started flipping through files, thinking about which killers would best make this look like an accident.

“You keep everything on your computer?” Jonny asked, apparently bored. North glanced up at him, then back at the screen.

Jonny sighed and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Any time you want to do something . . .”

North glared at him. Jonny didn’t care. It wasn’t for him that he’d said that. It was for the others in this house who were listening in.

January, in the west wing, bit her lip to keep from laughing and typed furiously. Trying to hack into North’s computer system wasn’t as easy as it looked. “I’ve searched through everything,” she whispered vehemently, “And there’s nothing here about the suppresser.” She glowered at the screen, then grinned wickedly and started typing again.

“What are you doing?” Risk hissed.

“Giving his computer a cold.” January tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and kept typing.

“We need to go get Jonny,” Risk pointed out.

“So go. See you later.” January concentrated on her laptop, chewing on her lower lip. Race shrugged, knowing he couldn’t leave her alone here. Someone had to watch her back.

Risk glared at him half heartedly, knowing the same thing, then started down the hall herself. Halfway down she met up with Kit, and he joined her silently.

“What’s going on?” Jessie’s voice said over the comm unit. She waited with Chance in the plane, ready for any time they came racing out.

“We have a small problem. Jonny’s been caught.”

“I have a small problem too,” Jessie snapped, her nerves frayed, “Chance is starting to mutate again. February says we need that stuff in twenty minutes or less!”

Risk started to swear, then picked up the pace until she was almost at a run. Kit kept up with her easily, and they were almost silent. If Risk hadn’t been there, they would have been.

There was silence on the unit for a time, then Jessie’s voice came over. “Chance is coming to help.”

“No! Tell him to stay away!” Risk snapped.

“You tell him! How am I supposed to tell him when he’s fifty feet in the air??”

Risk groaned. Kit grinned.

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“So then the Rabbi says--”

“Would you shut him up??” North bit off, glaring at Jonny who was telling jokes.

Angel brought his knee into Jonny’s stomach, sending the older man onto the floor.

“That’s okay,” Jonny wheezed, “I’m sure I can find another kidney.”

North rolled his eyes and grumbled as he went back to his computer. “What the Hell--?” he said, bringing his hands away from the keyboard. His computer was deleting all the files! “What the fuc--”

Angel grabbed Jonny’s neck and dragged him over, wanting to see what was happening himself. Jonny saw his chance. Grabbing a paperweight off the desk he brought it down hard on Angel’s knee, sending the boy sprawling. For a minute he felt guilty--that had sounded like his son. Then he looked at the transformed face and his heart hardened again. Turning, he ran for the door, flinging it open as he heard North start shooting behind him. Then there was a rustling of leather, and the next thing Jonny knew he was being pulled up by the back of his shirt. Swallowing hard, he knew it was Angel. Kit and Risk burst through the door then, shouting for everyone to freeze. There was a stand off as North aimed at Risk, and Risk at North. Kit eyed the man in the air, holding onto Jonny. He snarled, then jumped upward, breaking the stand off as North shot at the cat. Kit managed to miss the first two bullets, but the third caught him and he went flying into the wall, his head cracking against the molding. Risk fired at North, but he ducked behind his oak desk and stayed there. “Angel!” he shouted, “Kill Quest!”

Jonny felt his chest constrict as the beast took his chin in one hand, and wrapped his body in the other. Angel was going to break his neck. And there wasn’t a single thing he could do.

Risk aimed at the man thing, but couldn’t fire for fear of hitting Jonny.

That was when Chance broke through the window, taking everyone by surprise.

North whipped around, shooting at the boy from his desk. Chance ignored him and flew straight to Jonny, ripping him out of Angel’s arms. Jonny landed hard, yelping as his head smacked the floor.

Still North stayed behind the desk, shooting first at Risk and the at Chance. Chance plowed fists and teeth into his opponent, the ariel flight dipping and swooping, many times just missing the high ceiling. Chance was winning, Risk and Jonny about to overpower North. Then Chance screamed, arching back as his skin turned gray and his fingers turned into talons. Risk paused and looked back, saw Chance fall and Angel start toward him. Then suddenly North shouted and jumped out the three story window. Angel screeched and dived after him, wings folded close to his body. He caught the man and then they were gone, flying off.

Jonny ran to his son, Risk to Kit.

“Chance?”

The boy opened black eyes, then they fluttered closed again.

“JANUARY! DO SOMETHING!” he shouted into the comm unit.

“I think I’ve found something, just hold on,” she barked back, then looked up at Race. “The basement, in a safe. According to this computer there’s a center down there for changing people, and a vial to change them back.”

Race was gone in the next instant, and she heard his gun go off as he shot his way down the halls. The alarms had gone off, sending guards and rent-a-cops running. January picked up her computer and phased through the wall, entering the darkness of the shadows as a troupe came around the corner.

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Jonny bit his lip, watching helplessly as his boy was transformed before his eyes. Then the shadow in front of him swayed, melting forward then back as it tried to keep the figure from coming out. The January was there, Race behind her, a frosty vial in his fisted hands.

“Inject it here,” January said, pointed with a pale finger. Race pulled the liquid into a syringe, then pushed it into the boy where January had pointed. He shuddered again, then lay still.

January bit her lip and looked around. “Let’s get everyone out of here, there’s nothing more we can do.”

Jonny nodded and, with Race’s help, picked up the boy. January and Risk got Kit, and they started toward the door. That was when someone started pounding on it.

“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that our cover’s blown way off,” Shadow stated, cringing. She smiled sheepishly at Jonny.

“And Jessie says I forget important things,” he muttered under his breath, shooting the female twin a murderous glare. She smiled innocently.

“Out the window?” Race grunted, hauling the winged boy that way and causing Jonny to stagger behind.

“Three floors down?? Race, I may do some daring things, but there’s a fine line between daring and stupid,” Risk scoffed.

“Well, we’d better do something quick,” Jonny ground out, “Because the cavalry’s about to come through the door.” Sure enough, the pounding had stopped to be replaced with a rhythmic shooting.

“Can you ‘port us all down, January?” Risk asked, looking out the broken window doubtfully.

January shook her head. “I can only shadowport a few people at a time--three at the most.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Kit said, his voice weak as he leaned heavily against the girls, “I’m not even sure if I have another life left. I only have nine of them, you know.”

Risk turned and glared at him. “Well I’m not a cat, and I only have one, so tough it out.”

Race chuckled, then suddenly looked up. “Waitaminute,” he said, his mind working quickly, “Kit, you can climb?”

Kit just looked at him. “You’ve got to be kidding. My leg has been shot!”

“Yeah, but not your arms, right? You can climb?”

He groaned. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What are you thinking, dad?” came Jessie’s voice over the comm.

“Nothing, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

“I’m worried,” Jonny quickly put in. “What are you thinking?”

The pounding on the door increased as it splintered, sending shards of wood onto the carpet. “No time to explain. Here, put Chance on Kit’s back. Now tie him there--good. All right, Kit, climb out onto the roof.”

Kit scoffed, but swung out and up. As Race had hoped, his long, lean body had more power in it then it looked like--as most large cats did. And his pain tolerance was obscenely high, like any wild animal who had to survive. He snarled as fire ripped through his bleeding leg, but kept climbing. At least he didn’t have to use them! His long claws digging into the side of the house, he crept arm over arm until finally he was on the brick roof. He quickly untied Chance, leaving him lying there, then tied the rope to the chimney, and used it to slide down and into the window. Race grabbed the end, then boosted Jonny out onto it and started him climbing. He was about to toss Kit out too, but the cat dodged him and sat, trying to keep from fainting from the pain that shot through his leg. That would seem unmanly. Race frowned and watched him, but the door was about to break, so he grabbed January and hauled her out onto the rope. She laughed in his face and disappeared in the tiny shadow it cast on the wall. Race shrugged and looked at Risk. “You going?”

She bit her lip. “You first. I’m going to make sure Kit gets out.”

He started to argue with her, but recognized that stubborn set to her chin and so started out himself.

“Come on, kid. We’ve gotta go! Now!”

Kit groaned and sat up, lurching out the window after seeing Risk on the rope. He bit his lip until the blood flowed freely, then started up after her.

Race reached the top and saw with some amount of panic that the rope was shredding. He grabbed for it, but was too late. With Risk and Kit still on their way up the rope broke, falling into the bushes below.

Risk made a slightly “yeep”-ing noise, then grabbed onto Kit who had found purchase in the wall again. She closed her eyes as she heard the door open, and men walking around in the room they’d just vacated. To one side, and down ever so slightly, was the window.

She heard one of the men walk to it, then saw him look out and down. Kit tensed underneath her, and she tried to calm her heart, although she knew they couldn’t hear it anyway.

“I don’t see them. They’re gone,” the man said, pulling his head inside and walking away.

Risk breathed a sigh of relief and held on as Kit started up the wall.

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After feeling like she was going to have a heart attack, Jessie vacated the plane and “borrowed” one of North’s helicopters. Hovering just over the roof, she watched as one by one each person climbed up the ladder and collapsed on the floor. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. They could see her fury in her eyes.

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Two weeks later Chance walked out of the lab, his skin back to the easily sunburned pink he’d gotten from his mother, his eyes the deep blue of his father’s, his wings gone. And Cal no longer in his head. With the use of Questworld and modern day cloning, Cal had a new body. North and Angel had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. No one knew anything, heard anything, and the houses that he’d owned had burned to the ground one at a time.

It upset Cal greatly to know that his body was being used by someone who thought he was him but wasn’t really because he was in a body that was like his but not. And then he’d start to get a headache because this was really confusing.

It was quite handy that they’d had Chance’s DNA to work from for the cloning, and that the best specialists in the world happened to be his father’s best friends. And it was really nice that he and his brother were identical, otherwise he’d have a slightly different body. This one wasn’t in as good a shape as he had been, but at least it wasn’t his brothers. He couldn’t believe the things his brother liked to eat!

“How you feeling, Cal?” Jessie asked, putting her arms around his shoulders and hugging.

“Good, considering I lost my body.” He grinned. “But this one doesn’t look too bad, either.”

January laughed. “Better not. I made it.”

#Me too,# Chance put in. Cal grinned and flopped down on the couch, turning on the TV.

The phone started ringing a few minutes later, and Cal picked it up. “Yello?”

“Cal? Mind explaining why you’ve been avoiding me for the past few weeks?”

He grimaced. “Uh, hi honey. I can explain. Really.” Sure. ÎErica, I was in my brothers body for the past weeks while fighting myself because I’d grown wings and become evil.’ *That* was going to go over real big with his girlfriend! “But, before I explain, I have to go . . . do my homework. Bye!” He hung up and looked at Chance, who was grinning. Cal started to laugh. “You have any idea what to tell her??”

--fini--

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