They arrived back at the headquarters in double-quick time. Lycralad opened the door swiftly and ran inside, holding it open so Angela and the Cloud could go straight in. Muriel Magnificent was walking into the kitchen when she heard the commotion.
“Lycralad? Cloud?” She asked. “What’s going – is that Angela? Goodness. What’s happened?”
“Is Nat in yet?” Lycralad asked.
“I think so.” Muriel replied. “I think I saw her when I walked passed the medicentre. I was going to pop in to see Sue, but I’ll do that later now. But Angela? What’s happened to her?”
“I’m fine, Sue,” Angela replied, her lips wobbling as she spoke. “I’m rather surprised you recognised me like this.” She joked.
“It’s your shoes, Angela. I’d know them anywhere!”
“Is Reide about?” Cloud asked.
“I think I saw him leave a few minutes ago, just before you arrived in fact. You’ve literally just missed him.”
“Good! That is just what we wanted!” Lycralad said. Lycra nodded toward Muriel as they ran passed her, to the double doors to the stairs to take them to the second floor, which housed the medical centre.
All three ran quickly up the stairs, and burst into the medical centre, startling Natalie who was putting a form away into a folder at the filing cabinet.
“What on Earth?” She asked, before noticing Angela.
“Natalie. I don’t know what’s happened. I’ve got stuck mid-transformation.”Natalie glared towards Lycralad and the Cloud. “Oh, I’ve had to tell them everything, Nat.”
“Everything?”
“Well, almost everything. About me being Angel Change.”
“At least they are good with the secret identity thing, I suppose.” Natalie smiled. “Thanks for bringing her in. I can help her now. Come through to the assessment room, Angela. Sorry, guys, but you’ll have to stay here now.”
“That’s fine, Nat. See what you can do!” Cloud replied, sitting himself down in one of the chairs in the waiting room. Lycralad sat beside him and picked up a copy of the latest Cheshire Motorways magazine.
Angela sat in the patient’s chair in the consulting room, and Natalie pulled up a small plastic one and sat opposite her. They held each other’s hands and looked deeply into each other’s eyes. A red mist appeared to form out of each of their eyes, emanating outwards, towards the opposite nurse. When the mist connected in between them, it changed colour; first to orange, then to gold, and then to the brightest of yellows. It became a bright light which then encased both of their bodies.
The light contracted to a tiny speck in the centre, leaving the two chairs where the women had once sat now empty. It then enlarged once more, covering both seats once again. It then faded, and both Angela and Natalie had returned. The ‘monster’ was gone.
Lycralad absent-mindedly flicked through the pages of the magazine. It had been all of two minutes, and he was feeling restless.
“I can’t stand this waiting!” He declared.
“Take it easy, Alex. I’m sure it will be fine.” Cloud said. “I wonder how Angela got one of our comms devices though?”
“Well, she is part of the EFB, I suppose. Support and all that. And being Angel Change she is a superhero, so she has that going for her as well.”
“Yeah. But – I wonder if Natalie and Dr Flopp are superheroes too?”
“Or worse – they could be supervillains. We don’t really know anything about them, do we? They could be anyone, and we just put our trust in them.” Lycralad was starting to talk himself out of his side of the argument.
“They are part of the team. We have to trust them. We can’t second guess them, Alex. Especially not now.” The Cloud brought them back into the realms of reason.
“We’re not very good superheroes, though.” Lycralad sighed. “We didn’t even know that Angela Chance was Angel Change. I mean to say.”
“We know now,” Cloud replied. “And we know too well the reasons why we don’t tell everyone we know who we are.”
The door to the assessment room opened, and Angela walked out first, back to normal, followed by Natalie.
“Ange – What??? How???” Cloud stood up.
Lycralad put down his magazine and stood as well. “You must be a miracle worker, Natalie. Angela, you were grotesque!”
“Thanks, Lycralad.” Angela replied frostily, but soon broke into a smile. “Natalie has seen this before. That was why I told you she could help.”
“Well, good work, Natalie.” Cloud added, with more than a hint of relief in his voice.
“I still didn’t get to pay the cheque in though, Natalie. I think I’ll let you take it tomorrow!” Angela chuckled, as she took to her seat at the receptionist desk.
“You can’t possibly think of working after all that!” Lycralad held up both of his hands towards Angela.
“I’m fine. Honestly. Worse things than that have happened, believe you me. All in a superhero’s days work. You know how it is.”
“I suppose you’re…” Lycralad was interrupted by the sound of the priority one alarm.
The Cloud dashed over to the console by the entrance to the medical centre. “It’s Firetop. He’s in trouble.”
“Go, boys!” Angela shouted. “Do your stuff!”
They ran out of the medical centre, and almost collided with the Diver who was also responding to the alarm. Bettystretch quickly followed. They ran down the stairs, and met up with Muriel Magnificent in the kitchen.
“Firetop’s under attack from Matthew Mist,” Muriel explained, “and an army of an unknown origin. It’s apparently too big a threat for him to handle on his own. He’s at Mid Marina. Good job the Diver’s responding!”
“It’s been a while…!” Diver replied, eager to get on with the job.
The Mansionic Perspective 
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