One More Excerpt From Chasing Lady Midnight

Here's another excerpt from "Chasing Lady Midnight" and probably the last one as I'm getting really close to getting it to the beta readers:

Crystal asked, “So what can I do for you this time?”

“I wanted to talk to you about how you got fired,” I said.

“Oh old news sweet pea. Wildcat Woman, who knew she was such a sensitive little thing…” Crystal said dismissively, but I interrupted her.

“But that’s just it, is she?”

Crystal frowned as she tried to compute what I was getting at.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean a lot of people were criticizing her at the time. Some were much harder on her than you were, but only you got fired. Why?”

Crystal thought about that, and after about a minute or two she nodded and agreed, “Okay I see your point, so you think there was something else going on?”

“Yes. Now I know you had just finished a story on The Squad reconstruction…”

“Now that’s not quite right,” she interrupted, “I had finished on the back story of The Squad, You see, The Mighty Superhero Security Squad is one of those good intention things gone bad. Before The Squad, which has only been around about ten years or so, all the supers worked as independent operators, helping the helpless, defending the innocent and all that jazz. Then someone had the bright idea that the superheroes should get organized, hang out and help each other battle evil.”

“I remember that,” I admitted.

How could I forget? My parents were two of the founding members.

“Most do, as they made a really big deal out of it. You know “banding together to protect all mankin"d. Right. Although I do admit that it was benign enough at first. There was no formal membership, and most of the supers came and went as they pleased. It was great idea, until it wasn’t.”

“With the leadership coupe,” I said with a nod.

“Right when Wildcat Woman, her husband, The Crimson Destroyer, Captain Courageous and Tracker took control by cunning and muscle power. Mind you, that’s all hearsay, but it’s from a really good source. Then The Squad became a more formal structure and changed its focus from protecting the innocent and helpless, and instead only came to the aid of the rich and powerful. Because only they could afford the price. Everyone else calls the police, and are better off for it. At least they are still public servants,” Crystal said in admiration.

“That still doesn’t explain why they would come after you,” I said beginning to get aggravated, “I mean, so far nothing in what you were writing would be considered threatening to them. Most of what you described was old news, even then. You weren’t working on anything else?”

“Well there was this one thing,” Crystal admitted, “But it wasn’t my idea it was my editor’s. Monica Thorne. She wanted me to do a series of articles on the different powers the supers have and how The Squad was making up their mini teams. Like The Protection Platoon you had your run in with.”

“You mean a flyer, a powerhouse and a special ability?”

 “Exactly, and we were going to start with the special abilities as they are the most varied group. Specifically I was going to cover..."

If you want to find out about that you'll have to buy the book. I'll be setting the release date after the beta readers get done, as I don't want to be putting it off like I did with The Great Scarecrow Invasion. But it will be in Fall of 2013.

Talk to you next week!