At exactly 9:52 AM, the limo pulled over on a side street off of Nicole’s street. Lyle’s heart was beating just a bit fast and his palms felt damp. He had the driver stop so he wouldn’t appear over anxious to see Nicole. He glanced around for the umpteenth time to make sure everything was perfect. Chilled Champagne was sitting in a silver ice bucket. A bouquet of flowers awaited Nicole on her seat and the country music she loved was grating on his nerves. But, oh well, he thought with a slight smile. We must keep the lady happy. Lyle checked his watch, 9:58, and tapped the glass separating him from the driver and the limo moved forward.

Nicole looked out the window at the sound of the car in the drive and hurriedly checked her appearance in the hall mirror. She grabbed her suitcase and walked out to meet Lyle just as he was getting out of the car.

"Good morning, Lyle," she greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Good Morning," he smiled.

They settled themselves in the car and she thanked him for the flowers and for being "so sweet." heard the music, smiled, and said "you remembered" as she reached over and turned the radio up. Lyle wished he could close his ears but he definitely was enjoying the view.

The flight was very enjoyable. Nicole was entertaining and naturally affectionate which Lyle found very appealing. Lyle felt lulled by the easy conversation and her contagious laughter. Before he knew it he was seeing her to the door of her friends house. As he turned to leave she grabbed hold of his arm and kissed him long and hard on the lips and whispered "See you Sunday’" with a big grin. Lyle hummed "I’ve got friends in low places" all the way to the hotel.

Sunday dawned bright and promising. Lyle and Nicole were meeting for a picnic lunch on the beach and then heading over to the stadium. Nicole surprised him by picking him up on a motor-cycle. He definitely enjoyed the ride, especially when they hit a bump and his arm slid up a little from where it was wrapped around her waist, his other arm occupied by an ungainly picnic basket.

"I hope you like it" she said as she handed him a plate of fried chicken, potato salad, and the works. "I made it myself."

He honestly stated that it was the best he ever tasted. With a stomach full of delicious food and a lapfull of delicious Nicole, Lyle felt almost peaceful. He started nibbling her warm inviting neck. His hands tingled as they slowly drifted up her waistline. He suddenly stopped as her latest words registered on his preoccupied brain. He pushed her off his lap and said, "You what?"

Nicole looked perplexed. "I was just saying that with all the wonderful things Clinton is doing for our country, I just think it’s awful all those lies they’re spreading about him. I mean isn’t it just obvious that a man of his impeccable character and integrity would never cheat on his wife. Specially one like Hillary. Did you know that I met the President at a game once. It was sooo excit... Hey Lyle, where are you going.

Lyle stalked off angry, incredulous, and VERY frustrated. A new determination to let pea-brains like her see the truth coursed thorough is body.

Not wasting any time Lyle returned to Washington D.C., hotbed of corruption and home of the ultra-criminal William Jefferson Clinton. He was beyond reason and decided to give the big one a try. Leaving his Mansion, Lyle switched over to Spectrum and secretively made his way to the White house. Extending his incredible array of senses to their maximum he scoured the area for guards and defenses. It looked like a simple hop and he would be in. He marked his landing spot carefully... Timed his jump precisely... and WHAM!

The next thing Spectrum knew he was sliding swiftly down the side of an invisible barrier and landed HARD on the ground beneath. Already smarting from his date with Nicole and his dignity twice as bruised as his body, Spectrum was in a really bad mood. He took a shot at the barrier with an infrared laser to test it again. He couldn’t understand. He could SEE the other side. He should be able to GO there. In a simple act of peevishness he gave it one more kick before turning to leave. Some guards were on the way at a fast run and he decided to take out his anger on the unfortunate men. Before they could get a shot off he burned a couple guns right out of their hands with a few well placed Micro-Wave beams. He let a couple of others get a few shots off at him but easily dodged the bullets without even resorting to a teleport. He was about to teleport into their midst and blind them all with a flash of light and play a little blind mans bluff when he realized how stupid he was being. Information was power and he was selling his pretty cheap. He left the guards with burned hands and egos and feeling worse than he had when he arrived.

At home Lyle realized that it was gong to take more than a quick plan to get him in the white house and decided he would need some help. To that end he needed some big cash quick and did what he always did when he needed to finance his alter-ego. He planned a little redistribution.

Martha Hayward was an idiot. One of those air-headed hypocritical liberals that made her money on the sweat and blood of those she purported to defend. Extremely rich and opinionated, she really pushed all of Lyle’s buttons. He had met her at a number of social gatherings and she was always sporting an impressive array of valuable jewelry as well as spouting an impressive array of meaningless liberal gibberish. He attended those social gatherings for the express purpose of making contacts and selecting marks for later redistributions. Part of his mission in life, he felt, was to take wealth from the likes of her and redistribute it to the likes of the kids living in Bright Home for Boys, an institution he helped form and continued to support. All of the kids in that orphanage were handicapped in one way or another and Lyle loved every last one of them. All of them had been screwed by the government and people like Martha Hayward at one time or another too. Lyle thought of himself as a modern day robin-hood, as evidenced by the gaudy costume he wore as Spectrum. He shied away from calling the thefts robberies, and rather liked to call them redistribution missions.

As he always did when on a redistribution mission, Spectrum approached the site invisibly. With his x-ray vision he was able to case the apartment before he made his entrance. The area was clear and a window left conveniently unobscured, the socialite away at a party. But before he made his hop he checked around again to see if anyone was looking. Whenever he performed a hop he left a brief, hard to miss rainbow arc between his starting and ending points. Since public opinion was very dear to him he did not want anyone to know who had removed the jewelry, and that arc would be as good as a fingerprint if someone saw it. When the area was clear and noone was looking out any windows, he made his hop and landed inside the apartment. Before he touched anything he summoned his strength and squirted an electro-magnetic pulse which normally fried any electronics unfortunate enough to be anywhere near him. He heard a loud "SHIT" from the apartment above and winced.

The safe was hidden under a rug in the socialites bedroom, easy to find, but beyond his ability to pick. Even if he had the ability, it was too late now as it had an electronic lock. He settled himself on the floor and prepared to slice his way through. Deep in concentration he pointed his index finger at the steel and began cutting with a powerful laser. While he was finishing the job he got an odd tickling feeling in the back of his neck like someone was watching him, his subconscious’ way of warning him of something out of the ordinary. Tracking down the source of the disturbance he noticed a figure flying through the sky overhead, periodically brushing him with odd radar pulses seemed to penetrate AND bounce off of every object it encountered. Spectrum could turn invisible to radar as well as light, but the opportunity had already passed as the figure, known as Edge, had already begun his approach. Instead, Spectrum quickly collected the jewelry from the now open safe and nonchalantly wandered over to an open window at an oblique angle, attempting to lure the meddler close enough to blind him with an electro-magnetic flash. But before he was able to maneuver Edge close enough, he noticed an odd prison begin to form around him and reacted instinctively with a teleportive hop. Now near the window Spectrum had a clear shot at the hovering Edge. Unable to respond to the blinding speed with which Spectrum was able to act, Edge receive a pair of radio blasts which shattered the window and wounded the meddling would-be hero. Before he could recover, Spectrum, disappeared in an arc of light to a distant point.

Spectrum was a little worried as he listened to Edge call the police over the radio. He had hoped Edge would have some kind of anti-publicity thing and leave the scene without mentioning him. But from what he could hear over the radio, he was blathering the whole thing to whoever would listen. What was worse, he was embellishing his part in the whole thing making himself out to be some kind of saint while describing Spectrum with words like "killer," and "criminal." He was trying to think of some way salvage his reputation when he spotted a camera shop near by. A plan solidified. He assumed one of his fake personas and purchased a nice camera and film. While Edge was hovering outside the window, posing for police as he related the events to them once again, Spectrum took a photograph. He smiled. How very cooperative of him.

Lyle had quickly converted the jewelry to cash using his usual provider, and paid a visit to the Bright Home for Boys, a very special present in his limo beside him. Lyle had been meaning to brush up on his literacy skills for about a year now and figured he could also help some of the kids while he was at it. He had heard Hooked On Phonics advertised on the Rush Limbaugh show and figured it could help him and provide some quality time with his adopted family. As he entered the main play area he was rushed by a squad of sweaty, happy kids, all yelling "Lyle’s here, Lyle’s here!"

Life was definitely getting better. He spent the rest of the day in the company of family, making his contribution to the thousand points of light.

Two days later the police received an anonymous tip and a picture showing Edge floating outside the shattered window while a very cute girl in her late teens with fair hair and blue eyes handed the jewels out to him. Spectrum wondered what the two meddlers would have to say NOW.