A recent increase in shootings had brought on the attention of the Pack. We hadn't bothered too much with it because the police had done a bang up job (no pun intended) of catching the shooters. But the increase peaked the curiosity of PAWS, because let's face it in these stories sooner or later transbeings get blamed for everything. Blood work and such were sent to Brain for analysis. There he discovered the thing that drove us into action.
"All the shooters had high doses of bicyanatripoylate. Which we all know is the chemical Glue used to control and transform his henchmen," said Brain.
"Yeah, sure, of course," I said.
Brain shook his head and added a sigh. "You never read my reports."
"I had a part-time job, schoolwork, and superhero duties. So no, I didn't take the time to read every report you wrote."
"Did you read any of them?"
I scratched at my ear like a nervous dog. "Of course I did."
Brain put his hands on his hips. "Which ones?"
"That one about Hyper accessing a different dimension in order to use her powers was quite insightful."
"I never wrote that one."
I stroked my chin. "Then who did?"
"Boys," said Sally ending the conversation. "If you'd please."
"Right," said Brain turning back to his holographic screens. "So it is clear that these perpetrators are in fact...the victims."
I scanned the screens. "Trouble is we don't now who'll be next."
"Actually, I do." Brain leaned back in his chair and let us bask in his brilliance before continuing. "I found a common link between the shooters, once I discovered the chemical. All the shooters were stockholders in Glue's old company. They were also the ones to take control once he...mmm..."
"Went evil?" I ventured.
"So am I the one to mention the white elephant in the room?" Sally asked. We turned towards her. "If this is a chemical Glue used then does that mean he's back?"
Brain brought up a new holo-screen and made some notes, which no one could understand but him. "Unlikely. He was killed during the Dark Matter Victory."
Sally was not to be deterred. "We thought the Animal Gang and Terabyte were too. We also thought that Joe lost his powers forever. And even before the DMV [Dark Matter Victory], how many times did Glue die only for him to come back?"
"She's got a point," I said.
"Of course you would side with your girlfriend."
I smiled towards Sally. "Every time." Brain rolled his eyes. "Just tell me who the victim is."
Our potential victim/shooter was John Doe.
"Seriously? John Doe?" I wanted to hit my head on something. Of all the spoiled luck.
He was as easy to locate as hay in a needle stack, even in this day and age. Which is probably why he chose that name. If I had a psychotic supervillain after me, I'd make it hard to find me too. Oh, wait, I already do that.
I turned from the circle of holo-screens and moaned loudly. "This is impossible!"
"Found him," said Brain.
Okay, so now I was annoyed. "How..."
Brain explained that he'd found out that John Doe, like many of Glue's old employees, was an expert hacker. "People are creatures of habit. Even more so when they are hiding." Using this information, he found a John Doe that lived at 101 10th Street. A binary address. Also, 10110 is 22 in binary, which was John Doe's age. Go figure.
"I hate you so much right now," I said.
***
So here I sit playing stakeout. At least the Dogmobile is made for comfort.
BURRRP!!
That was my dog, Bandit, by the way. He'd just finished a bacon flavored soda.

"How did I get hooked up with such...men?" Sally complained from the back. "And how did I get stuck in the back?"
"I called shotgun," said Bandit.
This stakeout was about as much fun as waiting for dry paint to get wet. The only thing of interest was the pizza guy showing up. "John" checked the order and paid in cash. If that didn't scream "in hiding" nothing did. At least I got a whiff of pepperoni out of it.
I tapped my glasses. "Anything to report?"
"Nothing of importance," Brain said via the dog whistle comlink. "The only item of note is him calling for a pizza ten minutes ago."
I sat up. "Ten minutes ago?"
"Correct."
"We've got a problem. The pizza was just delivered."
"So?"
"It came from Cousin Mike's Pizza. The nearest one is eight blocks away. Taking into account the time to prepare and bake a large deep dish, the average speed of the normal delivery person and their vehicle, and factoring in the traffic for this time, it should have taken 12 minutes at best."
"How do you know that?" Sally asked.
"I just do. Trust me."
"Pizza, like everything else, is ordered online and 3D printed at home or at a Fabricator shop. The only people who order OG style are the elderly and..." Sally gasped then whacked the back of my head. "You're cheating on your diet!"
"No...I'm not." I began scratching at my ear.
"You're lying! You always scratch your ears when you lie!"
"Do not!" I protested while scratching my ear.
"How do you think I found out you were Dogboy?"
"Glue told you when he abducted you."
"Don't change the subject with your truth and logic! You know you're on a diet. Do you want to get fat again?"
"I wasn't fat. I was husky."
"Husky is a dog breed; not a weight."
"It's not my fault I'm part dog!"
Brain interrupted. "Guys! Bad guy!"
The gull-wing doors to the car opened and I hopped out. As I chased after the delivery boy, I transformed into Dogboy. Sally rubbed her eyes in frustration and exhaustion as Bandit watched my retreat. "He forgot about the shooter, didn't he?"
    "Yup."

***
The pizza guy spotted me and ran. I used the 3D Fabricator in my purple sports vest to print up the leash grapple. I fired it at his leg and tripped him up. He face-planted on the ground. But recovered surprisingly quickly. As he stood, he flipped off his hat and shook out his long, brunette hair. He was a she!
"You're a girl?!"
"Glue always did say you were the observant one." She then hit me with a wild smirk. "Expecting someone else?"
"Actually...yes. Glue for one."
Her face twisted to anger. "Why would you? You were the one to kill him?!"
"No, the Xacians did. For all his faults, Glue was a hero at the end."
Her face relaxed for a moment. Thanks to my dog senses, I could tell she'd appreciated the statement. But then her hard countenance returned. "Of course he was. He was the best of us. If it hadn't been those fools on the board, the world would have seen that! They took away everything he worked so hard for! I will avenge him!!"
"Why?"
"That is the duty of the child. To avenge the father."
"Father? You're like five years younger than him."
"Not his biological one, you doof. But he was more a father than my real parents. They abandoned me. Left me to fend for myself on the streets. I spent years as a pickpocket until Glue found me and gave me a home. And a purpose." She moved into a fighting stance. I jerked in surprise. "You don't have a problem fighting a girl, do you?"
A memory from one of Brain's training sessions hit me.
    "Joe." Brain paced as he gave the lecture. "Your foes will not fight fair. They will not show mercy. You must do everything possible to throw them off balance."
I got in to my fighting stance. "I'm a 21st century guy. Especially when it comes to psychotic women who drug people."
"Good. I wanted this to be...entertaining." Her arms and hands transformed into blades. Her clothes morphed into a white catsuit with blue piping and a clear facemask. "Glue was a father to me in many ways." She smirked.
"Well, that's new. And kind of hot."
"I heard that," came Sally via the dog whistle.
The pizza girl pointed a blade at me and then sliced it across her throat (I could see drops of glue-blood as she went a little too deep) as she said, "Tonight, you die."
"Promises, promises."
She howled a primal scream of rage and charged at me. She swung and I blocked it. My fur "armor" protected me from the blow. She pushed against me as I her. Both our faces showed the strain and anger of battle.
"I just realized, I don't even know your name."
"You can call me Stickyfingers."
"That sounds like a sidekick's name instead of a supervillain. Sorry, supervillainess."
She roared again and shoved me back. Her blades became hands again. She jabbed. I managed a block but she came at me again. Jab. Jab. Cross. Cross. Jab. And a front kick to the chest. I had to keep taking steps back to avoid the fury attacks. She threw another cross, but I caught it. I flipped her. As she was partway through her arc, she held her hands towards the ground. A stream of glue shot out. She slid down it like she was a firefighter.
I clapped my paws. "Impressive."
"Thank you. It's almost a shame I have to kill you. You are kind of cute." She shot a beam of glue at my chest. She used it to pull herself to me.
"You're quite the fighter. Do you think under different circumstances we could have been friends?"
"I highly doubt it."
"I thought so." I blew some dog breath in her face.
She coughed and wheezed. "That's nasty! Do you ever brush your teeth?"
"Every meal." With her distracted, I used my claws to break the hardened glue and pushed her back with an escape move. She went into another fury of jabs and kicks. I blocked most of them. Finally, I could shove her away. I then jumped back further.
"Don't you ever learn? There's no such thing as distance with me."
"I'm not trying to get away. I'm getting out of the splash zone."
She tilted her head in a mean and egotistical way. "What?" Her voice full of venom and a bit of concern for herself. I pointed at her stomach. She looked down at the tennis ball shaped Dogbomb sticking to her.
"I'm rubber and you're glue, baby." I used this OG one-liner with Glue all the time (minus the "baby" part) so I'm reasonably sure it wasn't corrupted by time like the others. Or was it "I'm plastic and you're glue"?
BOOM!!
Bits of glue went everywhere.
"You blew her up?!" said Sally, Brain, and Bandit.
"Oh please," I said with a wave. "I blew Glue up every other week. It always took him a minute to reassemble."
Already the pieces were flowing backwards like someone had hit rewind. I followed them to the center. There I found a tiny Stickyfingers. I picked her up and smiled. "Why, hello there, little lady."
She started kicking and screaming then finally in a high-pitched, tiny voice yelled, "This isn't over! Glue will have his vengeance!!"
"In the meantime, you can chill-relax in a nice cell back at PAWS."
Brain came over the comlink. "They are on their way as we speak." He paused for a moment. "And do not fret, Sally and Bandit took care of Mr. Doe."
"They did?"
Sally came on the line. "I was a superhero for awhile, remember?"
"And an amazing one too." I smiled.
"And don't you forget it."
"I never will."
"Oh barf," squeaked Stickyfingers. "Just hurry up and put me in solitary."
***
Later at the containment center for the Paranormal And Weirdness Specialists (PAWS)...
"You have three minutes." The guard took her position in the corner. Stickyfingers flopped into the chair. Across from her sat a man dressed as priest but had his head covered.
"Hello, my child." He raised his head enough that she could see his pale-white face. His features looked almost liquified. He slowly smiled.
Stickyfingers sat up straight.
"Hello, Father."

Images created using the ProCreate app
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Until the next wormhole...
End of Transmission.