Issue 11
Written by Trav Hiltz

She’ll make her way....

Chapman Village was one of those little seaside towns, where the population doubles during the summer, but becomes quiet and gray in the fall. Which was why Winter Moran had the cafe all to herself.
She sat, at the table by the front window, watching the ocean. The sky was slate colored, as the waves broke against the seawall. Winter kept thinking that after she’d eaten, maybe she’d go see if there was a stretch of beach to walk along. Then, Winter would have another cup of tea and think about doing it ‘in a little while’. Autumn, on the coast was a time where you needed a good reason to move.
“Refill, Luv?” The waitress, an older woman with slightly curly gray hair and a figure and features that reminded Winter of the maid in the Mary Poppins movie.
“Thank you, yes.” Winter replied, pushing her cup over. “Hope you don’t mind if I linger a bit?”
“If the line of folks waiting for your table gets too long, I’ll let you know,” The waitress chuckled.
Winter smiled, slightly and then went back to peering at the ocean.
“Lovely, isn’t it? I like days like this, where you have a minute to watch the waves.”
“Kind of ... restful,” Winter agreed, sipping her tea. “You’re welcome to join me, if...”
“Thought you’d never ask,’ The waitress replied, flipping over the tea cup, at the place setting across from Winter, and pouring herself a cup.
“You lived her long, Miss...?” Winter asked.
“Miss? Oh, don’t be bothering with that. It’s Molly and yes, I have. Most of my life. Wouldn’t think of living nowhere else. You? Where you from?”
“It’s Winter, Winter Moran. I’m up from London. Little bit of a holiday, I guess you’d call it.”
“Winter? That’s a lovely name. Sure you get all kinds of funny folks asking bout your sisters, Autumn and Summer.” Molly said.“Who is he?”
“Who’s who?” Winter asked, confused by the sudden shift in the conversation.
“This fellow that’s got you coming here to think things over and whatnot?”
“You’re good,” Winter smiled, over the rim of her teacup.
“Years of practice, luv,” Molly told her. “ You’re not thinking you’re the first mopey girl to come in here, are you?”
“Felt that way.”
“The solemn gazing out at the waves always gives them away,” Molly explained, getting up and picking up a plate of cookies from the counter. “Macaroon?”
“Of course,” Winter said, picking one out. “I’m not so far gone that I’d turn down a macaroon.”
“Good to hear. So, what happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Bad ending to what turned out to be a bad marriage.”
“Ah, “ Molly nodded. “ I’ve had one of those. Two actually. He wasn’t a drinker, was he?”
“What? No, he didn’t drink.”
“Good. Those are the worst.” Molly explained. “Joe, my second husband, was. Less said bout him the better.”
“It was one of those things, I guess,” Winter said. “ where you get involved with someone, thinking they’re a certain kind of person. You think you know who they are, then something happens, and you realize... that he’s ... a different person, not the man you married.”*
*(Winter is speaking literally here, as anybody who read the first Miracles Inc story arc would know- Trav)
“Ah, “ Molly nodded. “ Left you, I bet.”
“Well, he’s... gone, and I doubt I’ll be seeing him again,” Winter replied. “ But, it’s also made me realize, that maybe I’m not the person I thought I was, either. My marriage, my whole life feels... unreal, like it was all a ... a dream, that I’ve just woken up from... I don’t know....”
She shrugged, sighed, and listlessly stirred her tea. Her gaze drifted back towards the ocean.
“Thought I could make sense of it, if I got away, but it doesn’t make any more sense here, than it did in London.”
“It’s always hard when a marriage ends, luv,” Molly said, patting Winter’s hand. “I should know, been through it twice. You just keep going and eventually, you meet someone that makes you forget the bad times. That’s my Ben. Took, me three tries, but I finally found a good one. You will too.”
“Yeah, well, I may have found one already, That’s part of the problem.”
“Oh dear,” Molly chuckled, sipping her tea. “You do like to make it complicated, don’t you.”
“Didn’t plan it that way. Meeting someone else was really the last thing on my mind.”
“That’s usually when it happens.”
“Problem is, “ Winter said. “he’s so much like... my husband, that I can’t help wondering...”
“Is it him, or does he just remind you of the other one. That’s tricky.”
“Oh, it gets better,” Winter told her. “Because, I remind him of ... someone else too. Someone he thought he’d lost. He’s very sweet, but I can’t help but worry, that he looks at me and sees... her, because, sometimes I look at him and can’t help but think about Mike.”
“Mike? your husband?” Molly asked.
Winter nodded.
“Whoof, girl,” Molly said, sitting back in her chair. “ You have got yourself twisted round. Sounds like a two macaroon problem to me.” She pushed the cookie plate towards Winter.
“You have no idea.” Winter smiled and took the offered cookie. “Along with everything else, I keep thinking, why am I telling you all this?”
“I’ve got that kind of ‘tell me your troubles, dearie’ faces,” Molly smiled. “Besides, it sounded like you were looking for someone you could talk to.”
“Yeah, I guess I was.”
Winter sat back and sipped her tea while she thought. When it came right down to it, who could she talk to? Discovering your husband is in fact the alternate reality version of a super hero, who has altered history to ensure he can hold onto an idolized version of his life. Then, to have your husband go on a rampage, and destroy several city blocks, fighting another version of himself. Then, as if it wasn’t strange enough, Winter discovered she wasn’t just Winter Moran, housewife, but some odd amalgam of three separate women: Liz Moran, on another earth, Miracle man’s wife, the super heroine Miracle woman, and Winter Moran, Miracle man’s daughter.*
*( confused? Imagine how I feel, trying to keep track of all that? Trav)
Winter looked, thoughtfully, at Molly, trying to sort through what to tell, what to keep quiet about and what, if any of it, made vsense. Then, decided to have another cookie, instead.
“Thanks for listening,” she said. “And the cookies. They’re great. Look, it’s getting late and you probably want to clean up and get back to ... sorry, I lost track. Who’s husband number three?”
“Ben, and nah, he’s working the late shift. Won’t be home for another hour or two.”
“Well, then how about I help you clean up? Least I can do?”
‘Fair enough.”

An hour later, the two women stood outside the dark cafe.
“You have a place to stay?” Molly asked, while she locked up.
“Yeah, I’m over at the Gull and... something. Little bed and breakfast.”
“Gull and Rocks. Nice place. My niece does house keeping for them.”
Winter huddled deeper into her coat, as the wind picked up. She watched the moon shining on the water.
“I could learn to like it here. What do you folks do when all the tourists go home?”
“This and that. Recover from the tourists, mostly. There’s the cinema and a couple of the arcades and whatnot stay open, year round. Men go fishing till the snow’s too deep to get to the pier. Thinking of settling here, are you?”
“Who knows,” Winter shrugged. “I’m free, white and .. .a bit over twenty one. Can’t really say, at this point, where I’ll land. Still, you never...”
“Huh...help,” a voice whimpered as a form came stumbling out of the shadows.
“It’s David!” Molly gasped.
Winter paused, trying to remember which husband David was, then the new arrival stumbled into the light. He was a teenager, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt with some band’s name on it and a torn jacket. He was pale, wide-eyed and reeked of alcohol.
“What in the world...?” Winter muttered.
“It’s David Marrs,” Molly explained, helping the boy to his feet. “Local boy. Lord, smells like he’s been doused in ale.”
“And then beaten with the bottle,” Winter said, taking David’s other arm. “Are you okay? Were you in a fight?”
“Came out of... nuh-nowhere,” David mumbled. “ Monsters. Larry fell...”
“Larry?”
“Larry Elton.” Molly filled in. “Is Larry hurt? Where did he fall?”
“Rowan House.”
“Oh, hell..,” Molly muttered.
“Do I want to know?” Winter asked, struggling to keep the dazed teen upright.
“Rowan House is that gray place, down towards the garage. Old place, it’s the local ‘haunted house’.”
“Haunted?”
“People are always hearing noises and whatnot. Ask me, it’s just the sound of the place collapsing in on itself. It’s a spot for youngsters to go.”
“All right,” Winter said. “Let’s get him inside. You can call a doctor and get some black coffee made. I’ll go see if I can find Larry, and see how badly he’s banged himself up.”
“Just be careful.” Molly warned. “ It’s sheer willpower holding that place upright.”
“No...,” David mumbled. “It’s ... there... got Larry... get you...”
“Come on,” Molly said, unlocking the cafe door. “ We’ll collect Larry and get you two patched and sobered up. Hope neither of you have to work in the morning...”
Winter trudged down the road, towards the Rowan House. It wasn’t hard to miss. It was as big a dilapidated eyesore as Molly had said it was. Winter thought she could probably push it over, without even changing to Miracle woman.
“Charming,” she muttered. Whatever color it had originally been painted, had long since faded and merged with the weathered gray wood. Few of the windows had any glass left in them. Shadows moved about the house. Shadows that Winter thought came from the wind moving the nearby tree branches.
“ Apparently, I’ve stumbled into a Scooby- Doo cartoon. I am not a super hero, just a normal woman on vacation, so all I will find is a drunk kid with a sprained ankle.”
She nodded to herself and climbed the front porch stairs. The door swung open with the expected ominous creak. Winter was able to follow the boys trail in footprints, left on the dusty floor, as well as a couple of discarded larger cans.
“Hello? Larry, can you hear me?” Winter said.
There was no reply, but Winter could hear sounds of movement in the next room. She made her way around the broken bits of wood and old furniture.
A shadowy figure moved, behind a dust covered sofa.
“Larry? Come on, I’ll help you. David sent me to...”
The monster reared up from behind the sofa, lunging for Winter, it’s long, hairy arms flailing about wildly...

Winter opened her eyes, peered around the room, then closed her eyes again, convinced it must be a bad dream.
“Know I’m going to regret this,” she muttered and opened her eyes again. “hate when I’m right.”
The room looked like a set from Doctor Who had collided with the mad scientist lab from a Frankenstein movie. It was cramped, low ceilinged and jammed with more bizarre scientific equipment than seemed possible. Glass tubes buzzed and flickered, computer banks blipped and there was a smell of chemicals in the air. It was so surreal, after her time spent in the little resort town, that it was almost impossible to take it seriously. When she tried to sit up, Winter started to take it all a bit more seriously. She couldn’t move. Winter was, in good monster movie tradition, strapped down to a rectangular slab of a table. There were tight straps across her chest, waist and ankles. Several moments of struggling told Winter she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Awake, are you?” a voice, with a heavy accent asked.
Winter turned her head to get a look at her ‘host’. He was a short, stocky, older man. He had a high domed forehead, made even larger by the scarcity of his hair. What hair he had, was snow white and receded to the back of his head. He wore red pants, and a red parka jacket with a white furred hood. His boots were blue, as were the gloves, which were tucked into a wide blue belt. He had a broad, stern face, and his eyes peered at Winter with an intensity she found uncomfortable.
“Who... who are you?” she asked, nervously.
“Come, come” he said. “You can do better than that.”
He strode up to the table and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
“I knew, eventually, my enemies would hunt me down. I have grown too old for games. So, I shall be direct: who sent you? KGB? MI3, perhaps? The accent sounds native...”
“What...?” Winter exclaimed. “I’m not... I have no idea what you are talking about. I came looking for Larry. he was hurt...”
“Yes, the two young men. A very convincing act, I must say. A lesser mind, than that belonging to Ivan Kragoff, would have been taken in by it.”
“Ivan Kragoff? Where have I heard that name...?”
The older man chuckled and nodded.
“Yes, yes. I see. You feel you must play your ‘role’. Very well, Miklho, bring him in.”
Coming into her range of vision, was a young man, Winter assumed must be Larry. He was strapped into an old fashioned wheelchair and had a dazed look that gave the impression he’d been drugged. Pushing the wheelchair was a large, brown furred gorilla.
“Dear god,” Winter said. “ I’m trapped in a Hammer Film! What is going on?”
Kragoff studied Winter’s face, for several moments. His stern, assured expression faltered. Then the grim frown returned. He snapped his fingers at the gorilla and pointed at the limp form of Larry. The massive creature unstrapped one of the boy’s arms and held it in his own hand. It tightened its grip and the boy groaned in pain.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Winter exclaimed, squirming frantically against the straps. “Stop it! No one is hunting you! You are hurting that boy for no reason! Stop it!”
“What?” Kragoff said, holding up a hand to halt the gorilla’s efforts.
“Just listen to me, for a moment.,” Winter gasped. “ I came here, after ... my marriage fell apart. I’m a housewife! That boy is not a spy. He’s a kid who had a couple drinks and thought it’d be funny to check out the local haunted house. Nobody’s hunting you! I don’t even know who you are.”
“Don’t... even know...?” Kragoff muttered, his brow furrowed in thought. “No, it cannot be. I am Ivan Kragoff. The pinnacle of soviet scientist. A pioneer of space travel! “
He leaned in, until mere inches separated him and Winter.
“ I am the Red Ghost! I have fought the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to a standstill! I have stood on the surface of the moon and threatened governments with my creations! No one is looking for me? Never heard of me? Bah!”
He turned away from Winter and stomped off, to stand by a workbench. A baboon scampered into the room, climbing onto the table to check on its master’s outburst. It nuzzled the Red Ghost’s shoulder, with it’s furry snout, growling questioningly. The gorilla let go of Larry’s arm, unsure what to do next.
The old villain reached up and patted the baboon’s thin shoulder.
“Maybe ... maybe you are right,” he said, turning back towards his captives. “Maybe the world has forgotten about me. We’ve been so long running and hiding, it to deal with all this. She found herself feeling sorry for the Red Ghost. He looked old and tired.
An orangutan waddled into the room, concern on his face. He looked from the Red Ghost to the other simians. The gorilla shrugged.
“I’m... sorry,” Winter said. “ All I wanted to do was help the boy.”
“This will have to be abandoned,” Red Ghost continued, waving wearily at the surrounding room. He picked up a metal tube, studded with several buttons. “ I rebuild equipment, I flee, and then I rebuild again. It has become the pattern of my life. Perhaps it is time I...”
He was interrupted when the device he held began to beep, quietly.
“Um... is that okay?” Winter asked. “ If it’s going to blow up, you will untie me, right?”
Red Ghost peered at the device, then at Winter, than back at the device.
“Interesting,” He murmured, the tone of sadness fading, replaced with cunning. He walked back to her, the apes following tentatively. “How very... interesting.”
“ Is it okay?” Winter asked, anxiously. “The noise is getting louder.”
“This is a device for measuring certain types of energy,” Red Ghost explained, an evil smile on his face. “ and you, young lady seem to be its source... isn’t that interesting?”
“Oh no, now wait a second,” Winter protested. “Before you go back into mad scientist mode...”
“No more lies!” The Red Ghost raged. “ I should have seen it. A direct attack would have been too risky, so instead this subterfuge...”
“Fine,” Winter snapped. “I tried to help. I should have known it would turn out this way. Kimota.”
Thunder and lightening erupted inside the basement laboratory, and the form of Winter Moran was enveloped by a nimbus of crackling white energy.
The Red Ghost and his ape minions all flinched back.
The energy faded, the leather straps snapped and Miraclewoman stood up.
She was taller, and slimmer than Winter. Her hair blonde, short and styled. Her outfit, was a variation on Miracleman’s, except his was a darker shade of blue and covered a bit more of his body.
“All we wanted was a quiet holiday!” Miracle woman raged at the mad scientist and his apes. “That’s all! Winter even tired to help you, but if this is the way it has to be... !”
She flew across the room, at the villainous quartet. The Red Ghost went intangible, chuckling smugly, as Miracle woman flew through him. Unfortunately, the gorilla standing behind him had no such power, and his enhanced strength was no match for hers. A gloved fist slammed into the gorilla’s solar plexus, causing him to double over with pain. Her other fist, caught the beast under the chin, sending him staggering back. The baboon leapt from it’s perch on the work bench, sprouting wings from it’s shoulder blades. It dove at the heroine, spitting, snarling and attempting to claw at her eyes. Miraclewoman ducked, then quickly grabbed a hold of the baboon’s tail. She began to swing it, over her head. The baboon’s snarl of rage, soon turned to a wide eyed stare of surprise and worry.
While the Red Ghost was able to go intangible, he had to return to solid to touch other people and objects. It was while he shifted back to normal, that the baboon, swung around and struck him in the back of the head. The older man grunted and stumbled into Miracle woman. She let go of the baboon, which went flying across the room, landing with a crash.
Miracle woman grabbed hold of the Red Ghost’s coat and pulled him up till they were nose to nose. This left the Red Ghost standing on tip toe.
“Happy now?” Miraclewoman snapped at him. “You got your way and rather than talk about things, I’ve had to pummel you lot senseless in the time honored super hero tradition! “
She raised a gloved fist, capable of shattering concrete and aimed it at the villain’s head.
“Is too late... to... ahh... change my mind...?” The Red Ghost stammered in panic.
Miracle woman paused, raising an eye brow at him.
“Yes,” she replied, grimly. “It is too late.”
Her fist flew down at the old man’s head. His face screwed up in a grimace, anticipating the blow. A quarter of an inch from contact, Miraclewoman’s fist stopped. She flicked a single finger across the Red Ghost’s right temple and he sagged in her grip, unconscious. She glared over at the orangutan, the only other conscious thing in the room. “Now, what am I going to do about you?” she muttered.
The orangutan immediately threw his arms up in the air, in an obvious gesture of surrender.
“Good,” Miraclewoman said, lowering the Red Ghost to the floor. “Now, I’m going to get this kid to a doctor and then, I need to talk to someone I know, that may help you guys.”
The monkey nodded his head in vigorous agreement with her plan.

As morning came, rosy red light creeping out from behind the clouds, Winter Moran sat on a bench on the beach, looking at the waves over the rim of her styrofoam coffee cup.
“This seat taken?” Miracleman asked. He wore sunglasses and an overcoat, over his costume. Winter didn’t have the heart to tell him, that as attempts to look inconspicuous go, it wasn’t a huge success.
“You and ‘the men from Z.O.W.I.E’ have everything under control?” Winter asked, glancing over at Gabriel, Michael and the armored van that now contained the Red Ghost and his Super Apes.
“Don’t let Gabe hear you say that,” Miracleman said, smiling. “He’ll put it on his business card. Things are set. Most likely W.H.O. will end up putting the Red Ghost on the payroll. You... um... okay?”
“Actually, I think I am. Cutting loose like that seemed to help. I guess I had some stuff bottled up. That and someone got me thinking about... you know, things...”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about ‘things’, myself.” Miracleman nodded. “I’ve been meaning to give you a call. I thought we should talk... about.... um...”
“Things?” Winter smiled.
“Us,” He replied, quietly. “I ‘ve been thinking about us a lot.”
“Me too,” Winter replied.
Both looked out, over the ocean, neither feeling brave enough to look at the other or be the first to speak.
“We aren’t an ‘us’, are we?” Winter said. “It took me awhile, but you aren’t ‘my’ Mike and if we became a couple, that thought would always be floating around, in the back of my head.”
“I know,” Miracleman said, sliding off his sun glasses. “I’ve been thinking something like that that too. You see, I ... um... I met someone... and I’ve been, kind of, keeping her at arms length, while I tried to figure ‘us’ out....”
“Maybe you should be talking to her,” Winter said, reaching over to pat his arm. “ You and I have too much... history, I guess, or something. God, it’s not like relationships aren’t hard enough.”
“I know,” Miracleman said. “ then add in alternate versions, time distortions and magic. It’s a wonder any super heroes are able to get a second date, let alone try for a long term relationship.”
“Oh god, don’t get me started on super heroes,” Winter smiled.
“Take it, that means, asking you to join the team would be a bad idea?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Winter replied. “The other epiphany I had, last night, was that I don’t seem to have the hang of being a super hero. I think we’d rather try for a quiet, normal life.”
“We?” Miracleman asked.
“Me and Miracle woman, I think we’re both ready for the quiet life. Though, just having the powers seems to make you a magnet for things.”
“Tell me about it,” Miracleman said. “Well, if you need anything or just want to ... hang out or something, when you get back to London, give me a call. Nigel is determined to get me a social life, so I know some good restaurants and clubs now.”
“I’d like that, and you ever really needed help, you could call us... “
“Deal. Look, I gotta go. You all set? Can I give you a lift anywhere?”
“Thanks, but no,” Winter said, standing up, as Miracleman did. “ I’m going to stay a couple more days. I’ll give you a call when I get back.”
Miracleman nodded, smiled and walked off down the beach. Winter sat back down, watched the waves, sipped her coffee and wondered, now that she’d made this life changing g decisions, what to do next?
“One day at a time,” she said to herself. “You’ve ended a relationship and fought your first super villain. The rest can wait till tomorrow.”

The next day, back at the London HQ of Miracles Inc....
“Didn’t go well, eh?” Nigel asked, ambling into the living room.
Miracleman grunted in reply. He’d been slumped on the couch for the past two hours, not paying any attention to the TV he’d left on. Before Nigel had left, MM had made the announcement that he was going to call Shevaun Haldane* and try to make things right with her, hoping she’d give him another chance.
( * alias the Dark Angel- Trav)
“Bout flippin time, “ Had been Nigel’s reply. Nigel had been in enough bad relationships to spot one a mile away and MM trying to hook up with Miraclewoman ( even though she was hotter than nuclear fusion) was a break up waiting to happen. Now, it looked like he was going to be spending the rest of the evening lending moral support to a friend that’d gotten the ‘Let’s be friends’ talk. Nigel plopped down on the sofa, and sat, pretending he was intently interested in the cooking show on BBC3 and waited for Miracleman to start pouring out his soul.
“I am an idiot,’ the blonde hero announced, quietly.
“What happened?”
“I called Pendragon Island, hoping we could work things out. Hoping she’d understand how stupid I’d been and how I’d dragged my feet and.... you know... “
“All the usual groveling,” Nigel nodded. “She’s dating someone else.”
“She’s on the other side of the barrier,” Miracleman said. “She decided she could help people there and felt there really wasn’t anything keeping her here... if I’d only talked to her sooner...!”*
(To get the full story on this, go read Pendragons-Trav)
Nigel knew that laughing was the absolute wrongest thing to do at this moment. MM was his mate and he was hurting, but the absurdity of the whole thing was too much. It was like an episode of Friends mixed with Dr. Who. To think, the poor guy, finally gets his act together and now has to deal with a magical wall on top of a most likely angry woman.
“Smeggin Hell,” Nigel said. “If this doesn’t call for a larger, than I don’t know what does. Come on, the band actually got paid for a show. I’ll buy.”
“I... um... I don’t drink” Miracleman muttered, in reply.
“If there was ever a time to start...”
Miracleman looked up at his team mate, a tiny, sad smile on his lips.
“You might be right.”
“Trust me on this one,” Nigel said, standing up. “Grab your coat.”

Next: DC Collision!