Powerhouse: Legend of the Archwave

Chapter 8 (Act I): The Alien's In Our Sights

We last read Chapter 7, in which James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse bears witness to an astounding rescue from Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave in which the latter stops a young boy from stealing a young girl's bicycle by non-lethally pinning the young boy to a fence with one of her arrows; the situation resolved with Archwave returning the bike to the young girl and her mother while the young boy is pulled off the fence by his father and given a well-deserved scolding. Powerhouse, having observed the entire scenario without interfering, remarks positively on Archwave's work and muses that she may very well be a Paragon in the making, to which she reacts very positively to.

The pair then eventually arrive at the Green Lake Pitch 'N Putt golf course and begin to stake out the check-in booth for the vandals. At about half past 12:00pm PST, the vandals—from an organization called "Spraywatch"—arrive and begin to paint the booth.....but upon Powerhouse and Archwave's interception, all of them run away except two: Valentina Valdez and her friend, Tyrone Hoover.

Though Tyrone reacts with great suspicion and apprehension, Valentina approaches Powerhouse very cheerfully, as though she is a huge fan of his. Then, after some convincing on Valentina's part, Tyrone allows her to convince both Powerhouse and Archwave to visit the Spraywatch Hub—which she gives Powerhouse the coordinates to—in order to learn more about the graffiti gang and who exactly they are.....but not without stealthily shooting a tracking device onto Powerhouse's tricked-out convertible during the latter's negotiations with Valentina. The chapter ended with the party of four departing in separate directions—Valentina and Tyrone returning to the Spraywatch Hub to prepare it for its "guests" and Powerhouse and Archwave leaving the golf course to prepare themselves for their upcoming "visit"—without any further issues.

This time, on the way back to the Markovsky Residence, Powerhouse and Archwave are suddenly pursued by a third faction who will stop at nothing to accomplish its goals.....

***********************************************************************************************

-Enroute to the Markovsky Residence, Seattle, Washington-

"Well, we've got about seven and a half hours before our meeting with Spraywatch at their Hub," James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse recapped as he and his companion Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave drove back to the Markovsky Residence with the former in the driver's seat. "We've already had both breakfast and lunch.....and my mom's recently started warning me against having my meals too close together. .....What do you want to do?"

"Well....." Archwave replied, saying the word "well" in the exact same intonation as Powerhouse. "I was hoping that you would help me train a little bit. It couldn't hurt for me to be a little bit better, just in case this whole 'Spraywatch Hub' meeting is a trap." Then, she remembered something. "Oh.....by the way, you need to admit that I was right about the vandals showing up at the golf course."

Powerhouse groaned and rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but crack up slightly at Archwave's comment. "Seriously?"

"Yes! Come on.....say that I was right and you were wrong! Say that I was correct about them being at the golf course and that I was amazing doing my homework ahead of time!"

The prosthetic-armed boy chuckled, before conceding to Archwave's request. "All right, fine. You were right and I was wrong. I was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! Are you happy now?"

Archwave grinned proudly. ".....I knew it. So.....where are we going to train?"

"We could just head back to my house and set up a target range for you in the backyard," Powerhouse offered. "Or we could just rest at my house for a bit while I look up some vacant lots nearby that we could use."