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An Introduction to the Fabulous Flying Fox
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3a
Episode 4a
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Episode 8 |
Episode 8: "Girls' Night Out"To Raven's surprise, Heather, Belen, and Josie have stopped by Steven Lord's house to deliver her new Flying Fox costume to her. They're a bit put off by Raven's notion that just because she's having a quarrel with Sylph they wouldn't be her friends any more. Heather's still in love with Raven, Josie still intends to give her some martial arts training, and as Belen is free to point out now that Raven remembers she used to be a guy, Raven is the father of Belen's baby. The point of it is that the four of them are friends forever, and that's going to be true no matter who any one of them might be quarreling with, or dating, or even marrying. Besides, as Heather points out, Raven really shouldn't be so angry with Sylph. Oh? And why is that? Because if it weren't for what Sylph did, Raven would right now most likely be smack in the middle of a huge identity crisis. Instead, because of what Sylph did, Raven was forced to face up to the truth. Josie adds that regardless of who she may have been, she is now the woman Sylph made of her. She's Raven Gold, not Freddy Goldman. Belen giggles that the Raven Gold she knows would never to give up an opportunity to marry the man she loves merely for the sake of spiting Sylph. Raven grins at her friends and suggests that Sylph send them here, didn't she? Belen shrugs and admits that of course she did. Heather adds that Sylph knows how much the three of them love Raven. Josie suggests maybe it's Sylph ways of apologizing. For everything. Raven informs the girls that she's thought about this at great length the past couple of days, and has reached a few conclusions. One, she's still angry with Sylph--and with Heather, by the way--for tricking her into becoming a girl. Two, she freely admits that she likes being a girl, and that she does want to get married to Steven Lord. Three, the Flying Fox and Steven Lord are going to make it a high priority to shut down DEMON's operations here in Honolulu. Heather looks worried and says Sylph won't like that last bit. Raven says to tell Sylph to get ready to pack up and leave, and to take Jackson Andrews with her. If she doesn't, Steven is fully prepared to go public with information that will link Andrews and DEMON. Heather glares at Raven and suggests that if Steven does that, Sylph will release information linking the Flying Fox to DEMON. Belen wonders why Raven and Sylph can't have a truce, and get back to being friends. Josie points out that Sylph doesn't like DEMON any more than Raven does, but that she has to put up with them because they work for Sylph's daddy. Raven shrugs and replies that if this is true, and if Sylph does want a truce, then all she has to do is arrange to get DEMON out of Hawaii. She says Steven realizes it would be difficult at best to keep someone like Sylph in custody, so he's not even going to try. It's the organization he's after, and with Raven's help he's going to get it. So the bottom line is that Sylph can save herself a lot of trouble by cooperating. Heather gets to her feet and declares rather angrily that if Jackson Andrews ends up having to leave Hawaii, she'll be going with him. Josie adds that if Heather goes, she and Belen will go, too. But Belen counters Josie's statement by pouting that she wants to stay with Raven. Heather and Josie look at Belen in amazement, and try to argue her out of it, but Belen is adamant. Raven may be a woman now, but she's still the father of Belen's child, and a baby needs both parents around to take care of it. In fact, if Raven would check with Steven and find out whether or not it's all right, Belen would like to move in with the two of them right away. Josie's very upset. If Belen is going to move in with Raven, and Heather is living with Jackson Andrews, where does that leave her? Raven points out that Josie is being premature. She hasn't yet discussed this with Steven, and he might not like the idea of having Belen in the house, particularly when he finds out whose baby Belen is carrying. Heather laughs and says it's Raven who doesn't like the idea of having another woman in the house. Belen grins and says that's not what it is. Josie suggests that what really worries Raven is the possibility that Steven would think Belen is a spy. Josie gets to her feet and declares that they'll just have to tell Sylph that her plan to get Belen in here to spy for her didn't work. Heather says Sylph will be very disappointed. Belen says it's all right, that she really didn't want to do this anyway, that from the moment Sylph suggested it the idea of spying on her darling Raven rubbed her the wrong way. Raven is flabbergasted. They're admitting that they came here to spy? Of course, she knew it, but still . . . Heather gets up, hugs Raven, and reminds her that the four of them have emotional bonds that go far beyond any loyalty any of them may owe to Sylph. Josie joins in the embrace, and Belen pushes herself to her feet, grinning and saying that if the four of them can't be honest with each other, they're going to have trouble being honest with anyone. As Belen joins in the embrace, Josie tells Raven that if she can rely on nothing else, she can rely on her three best friends to love her and to care for her. Heather tells Raven, "We love you, Raven." Josie tells Raven, "We don't want to do anything that would hurt you." Belen tells Raven, "Not even if Sylph tells us to." Raven looks completely bewildered. Later, Raven is conferring with her vampire friend, Sylvia, who warns her that those other three can't be trusted. They may well be sincere in their affection for Raven, but they still work for Sylph. The fact that this Belen would have been perfectly willing to spy for Sylph, even if she didn't like the idea of doing it, should be proof enough. Raven agrees with Sylvia's analysis, but also thinks Belen was right about a baby needing both its parents, and so fully intends to discuss the matter with Steven. It's conceivable that Belen could be useful as a means of communicating with Sylph. Having Belen here might facilitate the matter of persuading Sylph to get DEMON out of Hawaii. Raven tells Sylvia that from a rational point of view, there's no particular reason Sylph should want DEMON hanging around, particularly now that the head of the special forces branch of Hawaii's state police knows they're here. It's a lot easier for an organization like that to work in secret, and at this point the only way they're going to have secrecy is by going somewhere else. Sylvia laughs and says that what Raven proposes, then, is to pass the problem of DEMON along to someone else? Raven looks surprised and admits that she . . . hadn't thought of it that way. Sylvia leans forward and whispers conspiratorially that the reason Raven doesn't think that way is because she's not a real superhero. She's really a supervillain posing as a hero. And as such, what she really wants is for things to be convenient for her. If something is inconvenient--like the idea of putting herself at risk by dealing with DEMON herself--she wants no part of it. Now that she's decided she's going to let Sylph win on the one thing, she might as well let Sylph win on the other. She might as well just hang up her costume, stay home with her boyfriend, and start to work on making babies with him. This infuriates Raven who says that she doesn't see Sylvia going after DEMON! Besides, what does she mean when she says Raven's letting Sylph win? Sylvia laughs and points out that Raven has decided she wants to be a girl, that she wants to get married, and that she wants to have lots and lots of babies with her darling Steven. Now, is Sylvia mistaken, or isn't that precisely the vengeance Sylph planned to take on the male Flying Fox? Didn't she fully intend to destroy him as a man by changing him into precisely the kind of woman Raven has now decided she wants to be? Raven accuses Sylvia of twisting the truth. Sylvia offers Raven a deal. If Raven wants to stay female and let Sylph win on that score, Sylvia will accept that. But she'll accept it only on condition that Raven start acting like a superhero and claim a more important victory of her own. Raven is intrigued. What, exactly, does Sylvia have in mind? What Sylvia has in mind is a full-scale assault on DEMON. Raven likes that idea, and says she knows a place where they can start. Thus, within the week, Steven Lord, the Flying Fox, and Sylvia (who's posing as the Fox's new teenaged "sidekick," Nightraven), lead a strike force of special agents against the same harbor facility where Raven, Heather, Belen, Josie, and Sylph first arrived in Hawaii. Then, armed with the information they get from that assault, they systematically set about shutting down DEMON's other operations. As his world comes tumbling down around him, Jackson Andrews is furious. He accuses Sylph of deliberately provoking the Flying Fox into doing this to him! He suggests that this was her plan all along, to use Raven to drive him out of Hawaii so that she could take control of what little was left, and rebuild from there. That, he says, was why Sylph hooked him up with Raven in the first place, so that the little bitch would learn things she could later use against him! Sylph is surprised at the accusation. She hadn't realized Jackson would be smart enough to figure it out. Not all of this was planned from the beginning, of course. She hadn't anticipated the possibility that the Inner Circle of DEMON would see fit to punish her for being so much at odds with them by stripping of her shape-shifting powers. She hadn't anticipated the possibility that she would be removed from DEMON's formal chain of command. She had, however, anticipated the possibility that in order to take control of the legitimate operations Jackson's organization was conducting here in Hawaii she'd have to arrange for the illegal operations to be shut down. The crimson gemstone that Jackson normally keeps invisible begins to glow on his forehead, and he leans on Sylph's desk telling her he's not as stupid as she seems to think, that stupid people don't get raised to rank of Morbane. She reminds him that he is merely a lesser Morbane, a priest of the lowest rank, and that whatever power he may think to wield against her through his soul gem is as nothing against her own. He accuses her of being a traitor to DEMON. He insists that he is a loyal servant of Azum-Gandi, and that ultimately, despite the treachery of the dread lord's own daughter, DEMON will gain the occult power it seeks, overthrow the world's current political system, and rule over all mankind. At that point, Sylph leans to the side, speaks into her intercom, and asks if Mister Lord and Governor Kuno have heard enough. The reply comes back that they have. Doors open, and Jackson is astonished to see that the governor, Steven Lord, the Flying Fox, and several state policemen have been listening to the entire conversation. The governor is very disappointed to learn that the accusations against his good friend, Jackson Andrews, are true. He's concerned that this will present a political problem for him, but there's nothing to do for it but to let justice take its course. It a fit of rage, before anyone can even think to try to stop him, Jackson focuses energy through his soul gem and unleashes it against Sylph, calling her once again a traitor to her own father. She laughs, gets to her feet, and says she's hardly that. She turns the accusation--and the unleashed power--back against Andrews, saying that it's DEMON itself that betrays its own dread lord. As, to the obvious horror of everyone else in the room, Jackson Andrews begins to shrivel up and die, Sylph declares that for the past four decades the Inner Circle has been recruiting the wrong kind of person into its ranks. Jackson Andrews himself is a prime example of what happens when power itself becomes the goal rather than the means to an end. The Fox manages to knock Andrews off his feet, and Steven pulls a gun on Sylph and tells her to stop what she's doing. Sylph looks annoyed, gestures at Steven's gun, and causes the barrel to melt, but this does have the desired effect. She stops focusing on Andrews, and he doesn't die. However, his crimson soul gem crumbles to dust, and so does his mind. Later, when he's home in bed with both Raven and Sylvia, Steven Lord has to admit with some grudging admiration that their dear Mistress Sylph has pulled off quite a stunt. She comes into Hawaii, takes over the money-generating pieces of DEMON's operations, arranges for the police to shut down the illegal stuff, and neutralizes the guy who used to run the operation in such a way that he won't be able to offer any testimony implicating her. She not only gets everything she wants, she comes out of it smelling like a rose. As Raven snuggles up against Steven, she wonders if either Steven or Sylvia noticed the way the governor was looking at Sylph. Unless Raven misses her guess, that demonic bitch noticed it, too. If she decides to act on it, and turn it to her advantage, it could produce some serious political problems. As Sylvia snuggles up against Steven, she suggests that he and Raven ought to consider the possibility that Sylph wants Honolulu as a safe haven against these Inner Circle people, and really doesn't want any illegal activities going on. The bottom line is that, at least for the moment, DEMON is no longer active in Hawaii, and Sylvia doesn't think Sylph is the least bit interested in rebuilding that portion of what Jackson Andrews had. Raven says Sylvia's being stupid. Sylvia replies that Raven is engaging in idle speculation. Steven tells them to stop arguing, and reminds them that the only reason he agreed to these rather uncomfortable sleeping arrangements was because they promised to be good girls and behave themselves. If they're going to start misbehaving, he'll damn well throw them both out of his bed. Sylvia and Raven both pretend to be highly offended, and remind him that Commissioner Gordon never got to sleep with Batman and Robin. He tells Sylvia that even if she's right about Sylph wanting to avoid anything illegal, he's still going to keep a close eye on the woman. He tells Raven that if Sylph does manage to worm her way into the governor's confidence, he'll deal with it when it happens. Raven and Sylvia look at each other, an unspoken communication passes between them, and the next thing Steven knows he's being slammed with pillows so hard that he gets knocked out of bed. As Steven sits there on the floor, watching the girls snuggle together without him, warning him not even to try to get back into bed with them, he rubs the back of his neck and muses that his life as a bachelor has just become very, very interesting.
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