Jack woke up on time, his internal alarm telling him it was sunup. His head was on

something soft but firm at the same time. He could hear the sound of a faint drum. He

thought he could stay like this the rest of the day.

“You are going to have to move, Jack,” said Elaine. “I can’t spend the day with you

attached to my breasts.”

“We can try,” said Jack. “I think that is a wonderful idea to be honest.”

“Don’t set a bad example for your sister,” said Elaine. She touched his head, brushing

his hair with her hand. “We have work to do.”

“One day,” said Jack. “We are going to shoo everyone out and not leave the bedroom

until we are sick of looking at each other. That will never happen, because you are

great to look at, and touch, and kiss.”

“Until that day comes, we have to untangle ourselves from each other, and do things

like work,” said Elaine. “Shall we get started?”

“The tangling is the best part,” said Jack.

“It is for me too,” said Elaine. “Give me a kiss, and then we have to get started.”

Jack lifted his head. He was lower on the bed than she was. He lifted his body up and

moved up in position to kiss her while she kissed back. They broke apart.

“I’m not ready to deal with the others right now,” said Jack. He kissed her again, fast

and light.

“We have to get to work,” said Elaine. “And when we are done, we can do some more

enjoyable things.”

“Maybe we should move up to the Enterprise,” said Jack. “We’d have plenty of space

to ourselves to do things.”

“I think we would have to fight Josie for that,” said Elaine. “Come on. I will give you

one more kiss to buy your cooperation. Then we have to get started.”

“I am worth more than one,” said Jack. They kissed again.

“I will have to owe you the rest,” said Elaine. She slapped his butt. “Let us be up and

about.”

“Okay,” said Jack. His face would have been called a pout if he was a child. “I’m

going.”

He moved so he could roll out of bed without causing Elaine problems and stood up.

He dressed quietly in his jeans and Deadpool shirt. Cleaning the clothes before he

went to bed seemed the best thing to do.

He watched Elaine pull herself together. How had he been so lucky to meet this

woman? He decided to put that thought aside. It would stroke Elaine’s ego, but

flattery would get you nowhere with her.

Elaine smoothed out her hair and pinned it out of the way with a set of hair combs.

She checked her appearance in the mirror Jack had placed on the wall. She nodded

to herself.

“I am ready,” she declared. “You look passable, but not quite ready to handle the

day.”

“I just need some coffee, and I will be charged up enough to do the first few things

we need to do,” said Jack. “Part of that will be building a dial so we can go to Jane’s

headquarters or the hospital with our gate without anyone being able to use their gates

to get back to here. Then I can start on looking at the machine the Amazons need to

get things started.”

“All right,” said Elaine. “They will need a lot of help to move the sleepers from the

lawn to the hospital. Getting that other building will be a big help.”

“Maybe Josie can do something to get the Exchange moving on that a bit faster,” said

Jack. “Let’s see what we have for breakfast so we can cook before our stomachs on

legs arrive.”

“I am ready,” said Elaine. She smiled at him.

They exited the bedroom, and split apart. Jack went into the kitchen to make a cup of

coffee for himself, and look at what was in the ice box he could cook for Josie’s

minions and his sister. Elaine went upstairs to the office to check her notes about the

women Jane was holding and protecting.

“Josie has already started,” said Elaine when she came down with her notebook and

pencil bag. “Boim Russ, our Russ, asked Josie to help her sisters in need. So they

took the Enterprise to see what they could do. Josie left Aviras with a list of

reminders to give you.”

“So we have to work while she gets to sit back,” grumbled Jack. He smiled when he

saw that he had enough ingredients to cook with for the horde. “Typical.”

“She is helping the Russes,” said Elaine. She gave him a stealth hug as she started the

fire to boil water for tea. “I doubt that she is just gallivanting around on the Enterprise

because they can.”

“I would,” said Jack. He took a breath. “All right. They will have to get their own

food if they don’t get back in time for the feeding. That makes things easier for us.

Let’s get started.”

Jack started work on breakfast, using his watch to switch around as he used the

different personas to put together plates for everyone. He made enough extra to give

June two plates. She was a big eater usually.

They drank their tea and coffee as everyone else woke up and got ready for the day.

They assembled at the table, with Aviras coming downstairs to take a spot at

Matilda’s elbow. June came in from the bathroom. She grinned at the Ducklings and

her brother.

“Josie took off to help Boim Russ,” said Jack. “So you guys are stuck with me until

we get what we can done.”

“So we are going to be moving the sleepers off the House grounds?,” asked Laura.

“The first thing will be to check on the Amazons and make a machine, or a simple

automaton that will remove the spines growing in them,” said Jack. “Actually the first

thing will be to build two gates for them to get across the city, and linking our gate

to that without letting them able to get here while letting us visit either one of them

at will.”

“We still have practice,” said Beatrice. “And we will have to help Jane and Madam

Harp.”

“Don’t forget the quests are coming in according to the big boss,” said June. “We

might have to deal with Shemmarian Russ before the day is out.”

“I had forgot about that,” said Jack. “Some of that we won’t be able to do anything

about until we get the Enterprise back.”

“So we do the best we can, and hope for the best,” said June.

“You ready for your fight?,” said Jack.

“Yep,” said June. “I even have the Society’s approval.”

“That’s not what I heard,” said Jack. “I heard don’t disappoint us, or else.”

“I have to agree with Jack, June,” said Elaine. “The exact words were ‘Don’t lose.’”

“I can take this muffler sniffer,” said June.

Jack let his sister explain what a muffler sniffer was as he sat back in his chair. Their

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conversation had carried them through the eating of breakfast. As soon as they were

done, they would have to start moving.

He decided that he could give Beatrice the ring and have her practice with it. She was

smart enough to use it without blowing her head off. And there would be two

Ducklings able to fly and carry the rest.

“Are you done, Bea?,” Jack asked. He had wolfed his own serving down like a

starving man.

“Almost,” said Beatrice. “Do you think I could be an adventurer? Laura and I have

been talking, and I am almost old enough to take the test for the license.”

“I still have a couple of years,” said Laura. “Part of it is written, so having Matilda

help us learn to read and write has been a big help.”

“Do you both want to go in that line of work?,” said Jack. “It’s dangerous.”

“I think we can do it, but we will both have to be apprenticed to someone after we get

our licenses,” said Beatrice. She shrugged. “I thought about asking Sir Harp for a

recommendation for a teacher we can trust.”

“It’s not my place to stand in your way,” said Jack. “If you guys do get on a party, and

need help, I will do whatever I can to stop anything bad from happening to you.”

“We should be calling you Uncle Jack,” said Melanie.

“I don’t think so,” said Jack. June grinned at him. “You’re Josie’s kids. If anything,

you guys should be calling her mother. Come on, Beatrice. We should go out to the

Hangar so you can practice before you go to class.”

“I would love to see that,” said June. She finished her extra serving. “It might bring

a tear to Jo-jo’s eye.”

Jack led Beatrice and June to the Hangar. He had no doubt that Elaine would get the

girls to help her clear the table. Then they could really start on the day.

“This is Mister Warner’s ring,” said Jack. “Put it on, Bea. Then I will show you how

to activate it, and work it.”

Beatrice put the ring on her middle finger. She frowned at the emerald glowing in its

gold setting.

“You might not want to point it at your face,” said Jack. “It is a weapon capable of

blowing your head off.”

Beatrice jerked her hand out of line with her face at that. She glared at him. He

grinned back at her.

“The original build for this worked on imagination and determination,” said Jack. He

gestured for Beatrice to line up with the archery dummy June had constructed. He

waved for his sister to get next to him so she wouldn’t be caught up in any mistakes.

“This build works on voice commands,” said Jack.

“So I tell it what I want it to do?,” said Beatrice.

“Yep,” said Jack. “You might want to name it so no one knows you are talking to an

object they can take off your hand if you get taken by surprise.”

“Show us what you got, Bea,” said June. “This could be a Green Lantern ring.”

“It used to be a Green Lantern ring,” said Jack. “Now it’s more like Aladdin. I’m sure

Josie knows a bunch of guys that have the same thing going on. So you don’t have

to point it, just say something.”

“Ring,” said Beatrice. “I am going to name you Aladdin. Do you accept?”

“I don’t think I rigged out a way for it to talk,” said Jack.

“I hear it with my mind,” said Beatrice. “It said designation accepted.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s see what you got.”

“Aladdin, punch a hole through the target dummy,” said Beatrice.

A small explosion of wood marked a phantom bullet passing through the target

dummy’s head. Jack walked over and stuck his finger in the hole. He backed up.

“Okay,” Jack said. “You are going to make Alicia jealous.”

“You are a loon to give someone like me something like this,” said Beatrice. “I could

kill someone by accident.”

“You could have killed someone by accident the way it was originally set up,” said

Jack. “Now, you have to say the name of the target and what you want. I wish Josie

was here to show you the Green Lantern in action.”

“I got it,” said June. “That’s what I got from the big wigs. I need to experiment with

it to see what I can do, but I think I can handle this if you want.”

“All right,” said Jack. He stepped back. “Show us what you got.”

June dialed her new form. She became someone wrapped in robes of white with red

lines at the cuffs of her sleeves and pants. She had a tall hat, and a staff that held a

star on one end. She smiled as she took in her new, slender body.

“Sakura has a spell that changes with every transformation, cycling through what she

holds,” said June. “This is Kami. She is a ghost, but with a lot of control over the

world around her. Everything has a spirit and she can use that to make magic

happen.”

“So you can make spells?,” said Jack.

“Not like your Magik, or Josie’s Zatanna,” said June. “It’s like that book with

Maxwell’s Demon. He can do a lot, but only in a small space.”

“Maxwell’s Demon?,” asked Beatrice. She frowned at the both of them.

“It’s imaginary,” said Jack.

Beatrice gestured at his sister.

“Even more imaginary than that,” said Jack. He grinned at her. “You ready to

demonstrate what you got, Juni?”

“Sure,” said June. She pointed her staff at the ground. Parts of it separated and

became a doll floating in the air. “I don’t know how to change colors yet, but imagine

this little guy is wearing a green and black costume, with a green ring that makes a

green light.”

“I can do that,” said Beatrice.

“So the ring runs on imagination and will,” said June. “Whatever the Green Lantern

thinks about and imagine, he can create it with his determination to do the job.”

The doll floated around, lifted up a piece of the ground with a giant hand, punched

a hole next to Beatrice’s shot with a green bolt.

“That was how the ring originally worked for Mister Warner, I assume,” said June.

“And the guy who found it, but he didn’t seem to know how to fly with it,” said Jack.

“The changes Jack made makes you more like this guy, Beatrice,” said June. “He’s

the hero of an old story who gained command of a djinn, lost it through the

carelessness of his wife, and gained it back.”

Another doll appeared. A whirl of dust followed as it walked along the grass. Beatrice

saw the doll had a ring on its hand as it moved.

“You need a sandwich, you go get me a sandwich,” said June. The whirlwind left the

second doll, ran over and grabbed a sandwich from another doll popped out of the

ground. “It just gets you the closest sandwich, whether it’s right, or wrong. If you

command it to carry you, it will, but remember always that it is mindless and if you

tell it to drop you high in the air, it will. It only has loyalty to whomever holds the

ring, and it doesn’t think about anything but the quickest way to do something.”

“So if I said I needed some gold, it might rob someone down the street, a store, or

even the Duke,” said Beatrice. “You are a loon to give me something like this.”

“I think highly of you, Bea,” said Jack. “If I and Elaine have kids, I want them to be

as cool and level headed as you are. This is my way to try to make sure you do stay

alive until I do have kids.”

“Ring, carry me home,” said Beatrice. Nothing happened. “Aladdin, carry me home.”

Beatrice floated a few inches off the ground. She flew across the grass at a walking

pace. She said something else, and the ring sped up its carrying speed to lift her to the

road so she could fly home.

“That was some good puppeteering,” said Jack. He gestured at the dolls waiting for

their next command.

“I hope she doesn’t kill herself,” said June. She let her new persona go. “That was a

bit weird.”

“So you think you can figure out how to do things with this new face?,” asked Jack.

“It probably won’t be able to get me another Enterprise, but I can do things,” said

June. “Just watch me.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s go back and get started with the rest of this. When the

quests come down, we can do those while we wait for your time to run out. Good luck

on your fight.”

“It’s my last,” said June. “I can come here and retire in peace and comfort.”

“Nope,” said Jack. “You are just trading one job for another. And this one requires

a lot more thinking.”

“That’s why I am glad that Boim is staying around and helping me out,” said June.

The siblings crossed through the sunken pit that waited for its aircraft to come home.

They went through the gate. The other girls had cleaned up their morning mess while

they were gone. Elaine wiped her hands with a towel as she came out of the kitchen.

“Beatrice will be home soon enough unless she runs into trouble,” said Jack. “How

are the rest of you doing?”

“We are ready for practice, and to help with the hospital,” said Elaine. “Aviras is still

going through the Warner Archive upstairs.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I’ll have to crisscross the city to hook the gates up. Once I do

that, I can set up something to help with the spine things you guys were talking about.

Then I can help move people across town with Gravity.”

“I will tell Sally that we will need any adventurers we can get to help with the nursing

part,” said Elaine. “It is going to be an organizational nightmare.”

“See if you can get Fass’s Fighters to help with that part of things,” said Jack. “He

should know some people we can hoodwink into helping us.”

“We’ll need a similar setting if we can get that other building from the Exchange,”

said Elaine.

“I know,” said Jack. “I wonder how long it will take for Beatrice to get home, and

should we wait on her. I think you guys can head over to the Hall while I start on the

gates and the locks. Once you are done with practice, we can meet up at the House

and try to figure out how to move things.”

“What do I do?,” asked June. “I feel a little lost.”

“Go with the girls,” said Jack. “Find out if the adventurers have maps of that city

where we found Boim Russ. Since you are going to have to move up there when you

come back from your fight, you might as well see what you can find out about it and

how you can figure out the quests. Kami is a game changer as far as general spelling

is concerned, but don’t be afraid to use your other three bodies if you need to. I will

come up and coach you on things when we get you set up.”

“You are going to coach me?,” asked June, a small mix of disbelief and scorn in her

tone.

“I can get Josie to do it,” said Jack. “She would love to throw baseballs at you while

you run around.”

“I would like a gate for a quick escape if I need it,” said June.

“You are going to have to find a house first,” said Jack. He grinned at her.

“You are liking this a bit too much,” said June.