AGONY'S GAMBIT: Issue 1, Chapter 5

The Neptune Dance Bar
Midtown, Freedom City

"You can tell a lot about a man by his wist wrach. . . wrist watch." The unsteady blonde corrected herself carefully, this time enunciating every syllable in her thick Bronx accent. She smiled crookedly at the gentleman sitting at the bar next to her and took another large swallow from her third drink. Tendrils of curly hair slipped down into her eyes.

"Is that so?" The handsome man with the brown hair ostentatiously put both hands underneath the lip of the bar. "Tell me, what kind of watch do you think I have?" His grin was challenging and flirtatious.

The blond put an unsteady finger to her red lips and considered. "Well, Andy, I'd normally think that you may have one of those really big Rolexes. . ." Something subtle flickered around the bar, and hidden from sight the man felt something heavy drop into his palm. He surreptitiously slipped the band around his left wrist. "But the only men who have those are trying to compensate for something, if you know what I mean." With a tiny roll of his eyes, the man cupped his hand over the heavy watch now adorning his wrist. He pulled his hand away and the watch had become a razor-thin Pulsar.

"Wrong," he said, pulling out this hand to show the woman. Her eyes widened at the sight of the expensive watch.

"Omigod! It's beautiful!" Then she frowned. "Hey, it's not working," she said. The man barely even checked.

"Is that so?" His brown eyes twinkled disarmingly. "That must be because when I'm with you, Amy. . ."

"Angie."

". . .Angie, time seems to stand still." Then his eyes caught the clock hanging over the bar.

"Drat. Nevertheless, I have to be somewhere. I'm sorry to have to leave you so soon after we met. These last fifteen minutes have been precious to me."

The woman squinted through her alcoholic haze. "You aren't going to meet another woman, are you?"

The man paused for a minute as he thought of the first time he had seen Wave. Then he shook his head slightly, like a dog shaking off water. "Will you please take care of my drink?" He reaches out one hand and smoothly drew a perfect red rose from behind the tipsy woman's ear. She raised one hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Are you some kind of magician?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder. "Something like that."

Fifteen minutes, Anderson Daley stepped out of the Freedom Transit System into the dark and littered streets of Southside. The night air seemed cold after the warmth of the subway. He stepped into an alley and held out both hands; a mask fell into them. He ran one hand down the front of his clothing, and under his touch the fabric shifted into a different color and material.

It had been Anderson Daley who walked into the alley, but it was The Reformer who emerged.