Powerhouse: Legend of the Archwave

Chapter 39 (Finale): Leave It To Me

We last read Chapter 38, in which the Spraywatch vandal Valentina Valdez is taken—by her best friend Tyrone Hoover—to a special expansive wardrobe within the gang's hideout, the Spraywatch Hub. Said wardrobe contains a vast range of clothing and accessories.....which are perfect for Valentina, since she voiced earlier about her distaste for her current outfit and a desire to find a new one; Valentina and Tyrone also reveal that the Spraywatch gang are preparing to leave the hideout and move to the new districts of Seattle that the mayor agreed to open up for their use after the Seattle-Spraywatch peace talks, and that McIntosh gave them the day off after some persuasion on Tyrone's part.

Valentina eventually ends up finding the outfit she's truly comfortable with, and it ends up being markedly more dangerous than her previous ensemble, now consisting of a tie-dye T-shirt with notably short sleeves, light blue-colored denim cutoff shorts with a white belt splashed with colored splotches, tie-dye pattern shoes with white laces and soles, and a pair of white socks with a rainbow stripe going around the circumference of the upper portion; she also now has a nose ring on her left nostril and peace symbol-shaped earrings on her lobes. Tyrone commends her on it, but prioritizes her own opinion over his, like the best friend he is; after Valentina cheerfully exclaims that she feels "sexy as fuck", the duo initially celebrate her success.

However, Valentina soon ends up nudging a shelf of spray-paint cans, causing the yellow ones to briefly discharge and cover much of the lower left quarter of her body—skin included now—with yellow spray paint. Though Tyrone initially appears worried, a quick gaze between him and Valentina is all that it takes to alert him that Valentina has actually taken a shine to the unprecedented development, and, in fact, craves more. Once Valentina gives Tyrone the green light, he actually topples the entire shelf of spray-paint cans onto Valentina, fully engulfing her in multiple clouds of color.....and by the time said clouds fade away, Valentina has basically turned into a beautiful mess; a living masterpiece of color from head to toe, much to Tyrone's amazement. Her personality also seems to heighten—she becomes more perky and energetic than ever—and shrugs off concerns from Tyrone that some people would call her a "mess", firmly stating that they can keep on hating her, but that this is the real her, and that she's not going back. The chapter then ended with Tyrone and the newly transformed Valentina Valdez embracing—albeit not without Valentina pointing out that Tyrone will need to change clothes—before heading out of the wardrobe's sitting room to go show the new Valentina to the rest of the Spraywatch gang.

This time, the Paragon James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse's story ends again for the time being, as he returns home from a shift at his mother's security firm Lockdown, Inc. and contacts a certain speedy ally of the Paragons to continue the ongoing quest to avenge his companion—Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave—and to protect others like her.....

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-The Next Day-

-Markovsky Residence, Seattle, Washington-

The Paragon James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse entered his upstairs bedroom after another day of work at his mother's security firm, known as Lockdown, Inc. He would not go back downstairs for the rest of the evening, and had, in fact, already bid his mother goodnight about forty-five minutes ago.

As he changed into a set of sleeping clothes and practically threw his body onto his soft and comfortable bed, he groaned as he buried his face in his hands and failed to shoo out thoughts of his late companion and partner, Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave.

She was an undeniable hero to a T, and had only acted with deadly force to either save a greater number of lives—like in the attack on the Lumen Field stadium—or to defend herself from threats that would have very likely killed her had she not reacted, like the two chases against the FBI, the attack on the Seattle Space Needle, and the rescue mission on the King Street Station train.