Seymour Goes Thermoneuclear, or New Powers and A Snow Day

When I got the cry for help from Seymour this morning it was abundantly clear that there was no time to waste.

As stated in my previous missive, I leaped to his aide, using the phone tree to reach all of the other team members... Currently Fuzzy-B is unavailable... Something to do with his most recent Saltmine evaluation but everyone else was raring to go. Well, almost... The Chameleon is still a little off his game (we would soon discover why) and Shaggy is still a bit miffed at our empathic friend but even still they agreed to meet at Headquarters...

It took me two and a half hours to slog through the snow, ice and rain to reach the Saltmine but when I did all of the other heroes were already there with coffee and donuts. I brought the in-depth explanation and a plan.

You see, when Seymour called out to me he was desperate. I could hear it in his voice which quaked unnaturally. He complained of head pain like he has never known before and said he absolutely could not bear to be around anyone... He was terrified he might be losing his mind. Before he could give me a further explanation he was cut off by something. A few moments later, as I tried to reach him I heard the sound of a painful scream and for a brief moment saw nothing but darkness... The psychic equivalent of a "dropped call."

Worried doesn't cover the way I felt as I related this info to the other Heroes.

My first suggestion was that we go directly to Seymour's home and find him, perhaps taking him to a doctor... Though I was a bit unclear about what exactly the "wonders" of 21st century medicine could do for a superhero in need of a headache cure... In fact the only cure I thought might work was if Seymour was suddenly stripped of his powers... A dreadful thought in and of itself.

Anyway, we crossed from Headquarters to the Shop, where the Aviator has been working on a transport for all of us of his own devising. It was a thing of great beauty, though obviously not quite finished yet. After informing us all that we were about to take it out on its first ever test run, he continued, "I'm trying to make it air-tight, but I'm not sure if the seal will hold...hope every one is prepared to get a little wet..."

Shaggy in particular groaned at this little bit of info and said, "Damn it Aviator, you know I hate it when my wings get wet!"

Boe mumbled, "The rest of us don't like it much either dufus, the smell is like wet dog with a hint of chicken thrown in..."

Shaggy growled and aimed a punch at Boe which he deflected with a laugh and Lizzard changed form and flapped between them, coughing a short burst of laughter of her own...along with a bit of flame for good measure.

"Hey! Watch it!" Yelled the Aviator, "Some of this thing is made of wood you know! Dang!"

The Chameleon shook his head, fearing that these scuffles did not bode well for our rescue attempt. I wasn't worried, or hadn't been until I saw the slight blue pallor coloring his face. This look of beaten-down hopelessness was not typical for the Chameleon. I patted him on the arm and was surprised to find that he seemed to be radiating coldness from his entire form... Before I could ask the question that immediately popped into my head, Shaggy yelled, "Are we going or not? Cm'on, ya poons!"

Since as you well know, I am something of a cat (my A.D.D. makes me susceptible to quick changes and short-term forgetfulness) I completely forgot the question I was about to ask and followed Boe, Lizzard and the Chameleon into our new team conveyance.

One last thing... I believe I've mentioned that Shaggy hasn't been himself lately. At first I thought it was just stress over Saltmine stuff, but as of this morning I officially realized that it was something more than that... Upon taking off his coat in Headquarters, I noticed that there seemed to be something else unusual about him (yes, even more unusual than the large wings sprouting from his back, we've all grown used to the sight of them)... There was something weird about his knuckles... They seemed to be bigger somehow...

Of course, as you can imagine, before I could question him, A.D.D. struck again and I was distracted by something shiny and I forgot.

On the way to Seymour's I did remember to ask him and he gave me a stony look from under his hair and mumbled something. When I asked him to repeat it he shook his head and said something that sounded like, "Later Aikens."

My astuteness of course, knows no bounds and even I could take from this that he didn't want to discuss whatever it was under the present circumstances, so I let it go, instead sending my mind out to try to reach Seymour. There was nothing but a quiet hum and a brief flash of red...

By this time we had reached the home of our psychic friend. At first we failed to notice anything unusual. Boe was the first to realize that something was wrong, in touch with vibration as he is, he recognized the sonic frequency emanating from Seymour's house and turned a bit green for a moment. He turned to the Chameleon and said, "It's a bad idea to go in there."

But it was too late. the Aviator had landed our craft and Lizzard and I were the first ones out. Using some sort of homing device that has been developing between our team members unobtrusively over the last few months, we knew immediately which window looked in on Seymour's room. Shaggy and Lizzard both flew up to the window and looked in briefly before swooping down to fill the rest of us in on the situation... Seymour was lying on his side on the floor beside his bed...and he was..."glowing."

I looked at the Chameleon who hadn't spoken since before leaving the Saltmine. His face was creased in concentration. Just as I was about to ask Boe to use his powers to break down the door so we could rush in and help Seymour, Chameleon said, "Wait, I think I can do something about this..." He then proceeded to turn invisible... Just after this, I felt a wave of power that nearly knocked me over and suddenly before us, something began forming right out of the air... Where before there had been merely sleet and rain, there was now an enormous staircase leading up the side of the house... made entirely of ice. While not particularly elaborate, it was impressive.

"Dude..." muttered Boe as the rest of us looked at the re-appearing Chameleon, "What the--"

Chameleon shook his head and said, "Let's talk about it later, we've got stuff to do now don't we?"

Barely had the words left his mouth before I took off up the stairs to stand outside Seymour's window. Boe was right next to me and when we reached our makeshift "entry" he imploded the the window, frame and all with one short burst of sound from his lungs, "Dude, could you warn me next time?" I whined as he laughed and stepped through the new opening in the side of the house.

At this point...I have to stop. I haven't eaten anything since those donuts this morning and I need a break. I'm still so blown away by The Chameleon, Seymour, and Shaggy and their new powers that I need a little bit longer to calm my nerves... And perhaps a Red Bull... Or two...