How I Lost My Muscles, But Kept My Head

What happens when a mighty heroine loses her might?

I.

All right. Let’s get this out in the open.

It has happened to me.

Me- Muscle Girl: the fastest, strongest, and most intelligent prepubescent female on planet Earth! (And that doesn’t leave the room unless you want me to prove it to you!) Just as it has happened to others like me who either chose this career or had it forced upon them because their abilities offered them little else in the way of decent, normal employment.

Of what do I speak? Well, you should know, dummy! You only just asked me!

Anyway, here it is:

Yes, I have lost my powers, the ones I was gifted (or cursed!) with at the time of my birth, and with which I defend firstly my home town of Bleakly Corners and secondly, the world, from evil. And yes, I did go through a period of psychological horror at the thought of being a mere mortal for the rest of my life, but I did overcome this to successfully regain my lost abilities- vis., the reinvigorated me you now see.

But, actually, I tell a lie. It actually was all my physical powers, not my mental ones. I’ll tell you all about it.

II.

This story, as it usually does, begins with me in my “civilian” identity of Gerda Munsinger, the little blond-haired, pigtailed, eight year old schoolgirl who looks like she wouldn’t hurt a fly. In my pink sweater, white shirt and grey skirt, with my overstated but feigned air of innocence, I play the Clark Kent bit of being a worthless schmuck, the better to make MG all the more attractive when she shines.

Actually, that isn’t entirely true. In fact, it’s the thing that started this whole mess!

One thing about Muscle Girl that I don’t have to disguise when I’m Gerda is my mind. You see, being from a race of aliens who value both physical and mental valor, and genes thus favored me to inherit both conditions, it’s not surprising that I’m considered a mental genius among my peers. (I’m not tooting my horn; just stating the fact- pays to be honest, I think.) The mental stuff I would’ve had anyway here, but my parents came from a planet with heavier gravity than Earth, so, I also ended up having the superpower bit as well. A blessing and a curse, as I’ve said before, and as you’ll soon see in this tale.

Anyway, getting to that....

A girl like me tends to make enemies easily, not only as Muscle Girl, but also (surprisingly) as Gerda. This is where the fat gets into the fire, if you’ve been waiting for that part.

Our school had administered a universal aptitude test designed to prove to our parents and educators that we, indeed, had brains in our heads (something we kids have always known!) Given that my mental abilities would help me out in a pinch, I concentrated on helping my pal Bob Bloch make sure he had all of his ducks in a row. Bob’s a good guy and all, but I seriously think he prefers me as Muscle Girl to when I’m Gerda- who wouldn’t?

Of course, he also has this creepy idea that we two are one, which I have tried repeatedly to dissuade him (in vain) from pursuing. Naturally, these attributes make him the closest thing I’m going to get to a Lois Lane, in all senses of the term.

Trouble was, little ol’ me didn’t realize I had a rival in scholastic achievement.

Until it was too late...

Her name was Cinnamon Carractacus, and she was the closest thing to an anti-Gerda you’re about to see walking the Earth. She pretended to be all modest on the outside, wearing her plaid skirt, green sweater and shirt-and-tie combo underneath just like I wear my Gerda clothes but, beneath all that, to anyone she thought had crossed her, she was just a snake.

Nothing made her more of a snake than thinking, rightly or wrongly, that someone had bested her at something or other.

Make no mistake- when it came to brains and cunning, the gal couldn’t just brag, she could back it up!

I learned that the hard way, like I usually do with my enemies after I first make ‘em.

Anyway, my introduction to her went something like this:

Bob and I were exiting the school, celebrating the fact that I had made No.1 on the test scores (aren’t you surprised?), and he (miracle of miracles) had passed, even managing to crack the top 40. But all was not well.

Just as we were heading for the door, an expansive, non-verbal grunt, something like a rhino in heat, caught our ears, and we turned around. What we saw was Cinnamon Carractacus, her black hair draped around her head like a lion’s mane, her cheeks flaming red and her eyes nearly the same, pointing an accusing finger at me.

“YOU!” she roared. “You did this to me- you blonde-haired serpent!”

“Whoa!” Bob interjected, as he is wont to do. “First of all, who are you? And second, what exactly did Gerda do to you?”

“SILENCE!” she shouted at Bob. “Leave- if you want to live!” He obeyed without a second thought, leaving me alone with her.

“Okay,” I said, trying to remain calm. “What’s this all about?”

She told me.

“I, Cinnamon Carractacus, have been accustomed to being the best at everything in my academic and athletic careers for my entire life! In each and every discipline, in every style of passion, I have been unmatched. UNTIL TODAY! For you, Gerda Munsinger, have had the temerity, the alacrity, nay, the unmitigated GALL, to reduce me from my prized position at number one to the mundane indignity of NUMBER TWO!”

I couldn’t help but snigger when she uttered those last two words. Shows you what kind of mind I have, huh? That was a big mistake!

“YOU CONSIDER THAT FUNNY?” she blazed.

My meekness act suddenly wasn’t an act now.

“No...I mean...I just....”

“Have you nothing to say befitting your new “stature”?” she mocked me.

That hurt, too.

“Look here,” I said. “I didn’t mean to become number one- it just happened that way! As for hurting you, well, we never met until now...”

“Not good enough!” she pronounced.

And then she slapped me.

And it hurt!

She wasn’t just smart, she was strong. As strong as I was, if she could actually hurt me!

“Understand this, Munsinger!” she said. “You have made yourself a mortal enemy! Do you hear? A MORTAL ENEMY! I will stop at NOTHING to destroy you! And, by the way, I know your precious little secret, but I won’t blab it around. Better that the fate of Muscle Girl stays between us!”

She turned on her heel and marched off like the Nazi she was.

And leaving me with the feeling that she really would do what she said.

Especially to Muscle Girl.

III.

It didn’t take long for CC to show me, Bob and the world how many kinds of asshole she really was. And nearly bring me to my knees permanently doing it.

After Caractacus gave me that chewing out, I headed home as soon as I could. Knowing for certain that Bob would rightly be concerned about my welfare, I gave him a ring on the phone right away.

“You’re alive!” he said, when he heard my voice on the other end.

“Very funny!” I shot back. “You really think that girl would try to kill me? Her parents probably just worked her hard to do well, and she just took it out on me.”

“I don’t think so,” he answered. “She really sounded like she wanted your blood.”

“What- like a vampire? Didn’t see any fangs on her! Besides, when Muscle Girl finds out about this, she’ll smack her around like a paper doll, and end of story.”

“Don’t underestimate her, Gerda. She- OH, MY GOD! NO!”

Behind Bob’s change in tone was a loud CRASH, like half of his house had been picked up and torn off its foundation. And then, there came the sound of a figure coming slowly towards Bob. That figure began to wrestle for control of the phone from him while he struggled.

“HELP!” Bob bellowed. “GERDA!”

“Silence, fool!” said the voice on the other end.

And then, there was the sound of a body hitting the ground and the line going dead.

“Bob?” I shouted into the phone. “BOB?”

There was no further response, so I hung up. But I didn’t need to ask to know who was responsible.

“Carractacus!” I pronounced.

IV.

There was only one thing I could do. I headed to my room, doffed my secret identity clothes, and put on my Muscle Girl costume- the flashy purple shirt with “MG” on the chest in yellow, tights of the same color, the tighty whitey thong over that, and my custom fit cape and boots. Then, it was time to go, and I did just that.

The first thing I did was present myself at Bob’s house, where I assured his worried parents that, yes, I would find him and return him home. (Just like I have to do every time this happens- yeesh! )

And, as it turned out, the house had been torn in half.

But my investigation of the scene suddenly gave me chills, because it hadn’t been done by any crane, bulldozer or cherry picker.

Someone had ripped the house in half WITH THEIR BARE HANDS, something I thought only I could do.

But a heroine has her duty to do in these situations, and I couldn’t just stand around waiting for things to happen. So I went to where the trail lead, into the deep, dark woods just north of Bleakly Corners.

Sure enough, I was able to spot Bob within the trees right away. And I knew things were bad when I saw that look on his face. Normally, he can keep his cool with the best of ‘em, but, at that moment, he looked anything but cool. And no wonder.

Cinnamon Carractacus, who obviously was a champion weightlifter among her other self-professed “talents”, had hoisted a huge boulder over her head and was preparing to crush him to death with it!

Not if I could help it!

As soon as she tossed, I sped in and blocked the boulder’s path with my body, so that it harmlessly shattered into a thousand little pieces on my chest. I further confirmed my arrival by inserting myself between Bob and CC on the ground, making the snake girl retreat, at first, but only for a moment.

“So!” she hissed. “You finally choose to show yourself, Muscle Girl!”

“The only reason I showed up, Carractacus,” I barked as fiercely as I could, “was because you were threatening an innocent boy with his life! I won’t stand for that!”

“You are brave,” she admitted. “That there is no doubt. But I rather doubt that you possess enough intelligence to foresee what I intend to do to you...”

“Knock off the two-dollar words and tell me what you planned to do- before I snap that scrawny little neck of yours!” I countered.

(I had no intention of killing her, of course, but I find villains are easier to work with when you threaten them like that. Not this time).

“You dare to threaten me?” she screamed. “Your equal, and your better?”

“Uh, you haven’t actually proved that!” I said.

“Then I WILL!”

With a fiendish lope, she walked over to the biggest, thickest tree she could find, and totally uprooted it! Then she tossed it right at me and Bob! I grabbed it and snapped it clean in half before any damage could be done. But I was worried, now. Even I couldn’t keep things up like this indefinitely. An earth-shaking battle with someone like CC would completely tire me out, even kill both of us- and Bob!- if it went too far.

So I had to try another route to end things sooner.

“Carractacus,” I said, “you might get your jollies out of throwing your weight around, but I haven’t got time for this!”

“Oh,” she said. “You admit defeat? You admit that I am your better?”

“Hardly!” I answered. “I’m just saying that we should settle this like adults.”

“We aren’t adults!” Bob interjected.

“Shut up!” I said to him in a whisper.

“But you don’t know how she got so strong, or what she can do to...”

“ENOUGH!” Carractacus shouted at him. “We will settle this without any further interference from you, MORTAL!”

The way she said that last word, I knew she hated him even more than me.

I caught this tone right away and made it clear to Carractacus.

“So that’s how you’re going to play the game, huh?” I roared, spitting fire out of my mouth. “You’re not just a villain, you’re a racist, besides!”

“And proud of it!” she declared. “You and I both are not of this Earth, hero, and we have every opportunity to conquer it, provided you choose to work with me!”

“Me? Work with YOU?” I snapped angrily. “You’re INSANE! Better you be put out of your misery...”

“And do you propose to do that?” she said, walking into my path of movement for the first time and shaping her mouth into a deadly, devilish grin.

“I do!” I snapped. “You saw what I did to your weapons! You yourself would be child’s play!”

“Then HAVE AT YOU!”

I had intended to fly over to her, subdue her, and end this tale prematurely.

But, with those words, and a speed even greater than my own, she beat me to the punch- and nearly ended me doing it!

Carractacus slithered-literally- across towards me in a fraction of a nanosecond, and clamped her stronger-than-they-appeared meat-hooks onto my boots.

“HEY!” I exclaimed. “What are you...?”

But I had beeped when I should have bopped.

Before I knew it, she had pulled my feet off the ground- and me besides.

Then, while I was down, she carefully placed her hands onto my arms, and stabilized her grip by putting one of her feet onto my thighs. Normally, I would have shattered her grip like melting ice, slugged her and that would have been the end.

But this scenario wasn’t normal at all.

Because I, instead of being strong enough to defeat anyone who crossed me, as usual, had suddenly become weak.

Weak! ME!

And not only that, I was getting weaker by the minute!

Carractacus apparently had the ability to steal anybody’s power out from under them just by applying a cheap pro wrestling move to their body.

And I, the eternal dope, had goaded her into doing it to me!

“You now see what I am capable of doing to you- and to others- do you not?” she said.

“Yeah,” I croaked, now suddenly sounding like someone on their deathbed due to my cancerously spreading weakness. “But how did you...?”

“Easy,” she replied. “All the natives of...”- here she pronounced the name of her home planet, which I won’t pronounce since it’s nearly as complex as mine is- “...have this ability. And we especially feast on those who lord it over us, like those fools on...”- my home planet!- “...who foolishly thought themselves to be our superiors, and enslaved us after defeating us in their war of conquest! I, however, escaped, and vowed revenge on any native of....who crossed my path! And, naturally, that included you,.......”

She shouted out my alien name! Thank God Bob had fainted upon seeing CC pin me. Otherwise, he would have had the perfect link to connect Muscle Girl with Gerda, since, as Muscle Girl, I’d already told him that was my original name. What a jerk I was to do that! But it wasn’t like I could do anything about it now, or anything, period, for that matter, so I just had to keep listening to CC as she stole my powers and played the dozens with me besides.

“How did you know...?” I croaked.

“I know all about you, fool!” she screamed. “Your parents, in their capacity as soldiers for their army, KILLED MINE! What better way to hurt them by not only killing their only daughter, but completely humiliating her beforehand?!”

I saw what her game was now. She’d escaped being hunted down by my people, since her power had made her too dangerous to live.

Now, she was gaining revenge by destroying ME, the most famous native of my planet alive on Earth!

“You won’t get away with this!” I tried to snarl, but ended up bleating instead.

“I already have! I now possess the majority of your physical abilities in addition to my own above-average physical and mental abilities, so now I am UNSTOPPABLE!”

She chose this moment to release her grip on me, and looked on arrogantly as I struggled to get up after what I had undergone.

But stubborn little me wasn’t giving up yet, like the fool I was.

“Carractacus,” I spat, “I don’t believe you!”

“WHAT?” she roared.

“Prove to me you’ve got my powers, so I know! Deck me- if you’ve got the guts!”

“Very well, Mortal Girl!” she taunted as she cocked her left arm back to throw a punch. “You ASKED for it!”

And then- KAPOW!!!

I went wheeling backwards, as a shiner made itself at home above my left eye, and blood- BLOOD- trailed from my lips as I did. My path was finally broken by a tree limb that my cape got snagged on, and I was trapped as well as weak now. CC added insult to injury by stripping me of my cape and turning it into a punching bag- with ME inside! After a few minutes of this, she let me go, and, as I gasped for air on the ground like an animal, she draped my cape around my back again and held me tight, drawing what little strength I had left into her body.

“I could do this all day, you feeble daughter of Adam!” she said. “But I have a PLANET to conquer! So I will simply dispose of you now and say adieu to you...forever!”

Letting go of my head and chest, she switched over to my feet. Grabbing them, she tossed me around and around, like I was some sort of oversized shot put, while I screamed like the wimpy, scared little semi-mortal girl I now was.

Finally, she let go, and I, still screaming, flew over the hills and far away, though not in the way I was accustomed to.

Eventually, I hit the ground, and tumbled ass over teakettle for another eternity. Then I splashed into the river and, lacking the strength even to swim, I floated impotently along with the current, until I drifted into sleep....

V.

“Muscle Girl! Wake up! MUSCLE GIRL! Please wake up! You’re our only hope!”

That last paraphrase from “Star Wars” was what got me up. When I opened my weary eyes, I discovered two things.

First of all, I was soaking wet, an obvious consequence of having been dunked in the river water for so long. And second, the voice greeting me was none other than Bob Bloch, who seemed to have recovered from his fainting spell quite nicely- and had saved my ass, to boot!

“Bob...” I whispered to him.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Would you GET OFF OF ME?!”

“Oops! Sorry!”

He had, it seemed, been so eager to hear what I had to say that he’d crawled onto my chest, something I never would have permitted if I had been conscious and at full power. He must’ve had to use CPR to revive me.

Wow! How far I had fallen!

In any event, I shook myself off like a dog and walked up to him once I got off the ground.

“Jeez!” I said. “What happened?”

“You were in the river, and...”

“I know that! How long was I out?”

“Well, it’s been about two days since Carractacus stole your powers, and another since she rampaged through town and nearly levelled it....”

“What? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I didn’t know where you were! And besides, in your current condition, you aren’t exactly an even match for her!”

“Ha ha, Bob! Laugh it up! You like it now that I’m the same as you...”

“I DON’T! I want you back the way you were as much as you do! You have to stop Carractacus before she takes over the world!”

“With WHAT?” I said, drawing his attention to my now flaccid physique. “I couldn’t punch my way through a doggy door, let alone duke it out with her!”

“Am I detecting a note of resignation in your voice?” Bob asked, hands on hips. “It’s never been like you to give up so soon, MG! Even when I was totally disillusioned about the predicaments we used to get into, you came through for me. I need you to come through for me again.”

“You’re asking for too much, Bob!” I barked. “The girl who used to save you is DEAD! Carractacus KILLED her- in cold blood! Get yourself another heroine!”

“How can you be so CYNICAL?” he growled, icily. “That’s not like you, at all!”

“Well, maybe being cynical is the only power I have LEFT!”

“Boy! I’m starting to think I should have just left you in the river instead of fishing you out!”

“WHAT?”

“You heard me! I saw you when you floated past just now, waded out, caught you, pumped out your bad air, and saved you. Maybe I should have just let you go over Whattalottawatta Falls and get crushed by the rocks!”

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

If he had been trying to see if I could still get mad, he succeeded effortlessly! Forgetting myself for a minute, I lunged for him like I still had my strength and speed. But Bob knew me well, and he also knew my moves, offensive and defensive. As I shambled towards him, baring my teeth, he re-executed a classic defensive move of mine, grabbing my wrists like CC had and stomping his big feet all over mine until I finally yelled at him to stop.

Then he let me go, and I fell on the ground, panting over the energy I had expended.

“Bob, please!” I said, turning meek again. “Cut it out! Look, if you want me to behave myself, I will!”

“That’s not what I want,” he said. “I want you, as calmly and rationally as you possibly can, to think about something for me.”

“What?”

“How you can defeat Caractacus without using your might, your speed, your agility or anything else physical you used to be able to do. She has those abilities now, and she’ll destroy you if you keep on doing that John L. Sullivan impression you just did with me. But you can do it. She said it herself; she told me before you rescued me from the boulder. She can only steal physical powers, and she took those away from you. But not your greatest asset.”

“Which is?” I said naively.

He growled in frustration, and I thought for a minute he was going to slug me as hard as CC had done. But he didn’t. He just yelled at me.

“YOUR MIND, STUPID!” he shouted. “Your MIND! She has enough brains in her head for the President’s whole cabinet- she doesn’t need yours. But you can do things with her mind that she wouldn’t DARE! And you can use those abilities to defeat her!”

“Okay, smart guy!” I said, getting to my feet. “Name one thing I can still do to be super even though my body’s broken down on me!”

He did- and it wasn’t just one thing.

Like I said, Bob knows me and what I can do, and he rattled off a whole list of things I suddenly remembered I could do because I was alien to Earth- stuff that had absolutely nothing to do with the strength, etc., that had been stolen from me.

“In the first place,” he said, “you have an excellent memory. You remember every detail of every adventure you’ve ever been involved in, the names of all your superhero allies, your friends, and especially your enemies. You know what they look like, their likes and dislikes, the very sound of their voices. And you remember the details of every fight you’ve been in, not only the ones you won, but the ones you lost, too. You’re smart enough to know every single trick your enemies have ever tried against you, and smart enough to figure out which of your fighting techniques will work for you at any given time and which ones won’t. Now that you’ve fought Carractacus and know what she can do to you, your brain’s probably indexing a counterattack plan in your mental files right now. And your id must be slavering for a rematch with her. But get this through to your superego first: you cannot allow her to touch you again, or you’ll die. In any event, that steel-trap mind of yours has always been your biggest asset, whether or not you know it! And it’s surely going to help you prevail even without your physical abilities.

“And that’s only touching on some of the things you can do with your mind. Do you know how much kids like me would kill to do the stuff you do with your mind? Sure, lifting more than your weight, and running fast, and being able to clear all sorts of boundaries is cool and all, but for me, it doesn’t compare to the things you do with your mind. You’re a telepath, for God’s sake! You can dissect Carractacus without fighting her by looking into her mind with yours. You can communicate with animals in their own languages- they’d surely lend you their strength if you needed it and asked them. You have ESP- you should know when bad things are going to happen to you and how to avoid them. Your abilities at problem solving, planning, ratiocination and detection are phenomenal. Hell, both of your parents were certified mental geniuses on your home planet- you told me that yourself! And if both of them were geniuses, then obviously you...”

“All right, all right, ALL RIGHT!” I broke into his soliloquy. “I know I have all those things- I just needed to be reminded, that’s all. But the thing is, I generally don’t use much of that stuff when I fight- my battle plans are usually built around my brawn. How am I supposed to use my brain alone to defeat a multi-world champion brain in her own right- not to mention a gal who’s carting around my powers in her body in addition to that Ms. Universe physique she had before she stole them?”

“Trust me on this, okay?” he said. “I know what I’m doing. And I know what you can do, too. You’ve helped me enough times, lord knows I should be able to do the same.”

“Bob,” I said, embracing him in a friendly way, “you are a prince among boys!”

“That’s kind of high praise,” he said, “seeing as how Carractacus seems to think being a mortal boy is so bad!”

“Her opinion doesn’t count,” I said. “Mine, on the other hand, does.”

I kissed him, and he went and fainted on me!

Apparently, even though I’d lost my strength, speed and agility, I’d still kept my power over boys, at least.

VI.

After Bob recovered, he and I worked to refine a battle plan which used my non-physical abilities to their greatest advantage. I soon found that, in spite of my initial fears, I could use these abilities to fight in place of the strength that used to be in my muscles. In particular, I found that, if I concentrated hard enough, I was able to move objects, not with exactly the same ease I used to be able to hoist ‘em with, but enough to get things over people’s heads as a bargaining tool, like the Sword of Damocles. Of course, I had to be careful with what I chose to manipulate- I nearly dropped a big rock on Bob, and he insisted I use smaller but still threatening stuff from then on. Just to keep my physical body okay, I worked out and ran in between mental sessions, lifting what I could and doing chin-ups and what not, and I managed to work off a little of the flab that had come to replace my great guns and pecs.

But I knew that, if I ever wanted to be fully powerful again, I’d have to fight Cinnamon Carractacus on her terms- the world of the mind. I’d tried it on my terms-the world of muscles- and failed. If I wanted to save myself- and the world- I couldn’t afford to fail again.

Fortunately for me, I soon got my chance to shine again. And the new Muscle Girl (or maybe I should just say Mind Girl) would prove herself to be as formidable a foe as the old one had.

After she’d trashed my home town, CC had blazed a trail down south to Winnipeg, the capital city of the Canadian province where I live.

The reason? Need you ask? Lots of people, lots of power to steal. Overpower the Premier, take over the Government of Manitoba. Then on to Ottawa and take over the Federal Government. You can guess the rest.

Since I now lacked the ability to fly, along with my other absent abilities, Bob took over the role of my chauffeur. He hooked up his bicycle to an old Radio Flyer wagon, which I hid clandestinely inside. It took us a few hours to get to town, but we made it. Just in time for the show!

As we made it into downtown Winnipeg, who did we see climbing the outer walls of the Richardson Building, one of the tallest buildings in town, but Cinnamon Carractacus!

She hadn’t made it easy for us, either. The bitch had strewn broken cars, traffic lights and street lamps all around, showing off her strength recklessly in a way I never would have done with mine. The way she’d thrown things around, it would be hard for us to get to her.

But damned if she was getting away this time. ‘Cause it was my strength and speed and agility and whatnot that had helped her to do this, ‘cause she couldn’t have done it on her own.

Curse her!

“Bob”, I said commandingly in anger, “stop!”

He did. But not without protest.

“But, MG, are you sure...”

“I am! Go get into that broken car over there. I’m gonna move that thing with my mind up there, and then, boy, is she gonna get it!”

“Are you sure you want to do this? It’ll take a lot of energy for you just to try to move it, let alone get it all the way up there. And Carractacus won’t go quietly, so you might have to...”

“Just DO it, wise guy!” I blazed. “I got myself into this mess, and I’m gonna get myself out of it!”

It was starting to be like the old days. I talked, he listened. And he did, too.

Getting into the ruins of the jeep, Bob watched as I concentrated on my task, placing one hand firmly onto the ruined metal and another onto my head. I was preparing to use every ounce of my mental and remaining physical energy to make the thing rise up into the air and float up to where Carractacus was. It took every bit of strength I had, mind and body.

Blood rushed to my head. I bit my tongue. I cursed and swore in my alien native language. I grunted and groaned as every inch of my body and mind filled with horrific, unbearable pain. Eventually, though, the broken car gave in. I took my free hand off my head, joined it with the one on the metal, and lay my head down beside them. As the energy flew down from my mind into my body, I uttered a lusty grunt and pushed the car forward...

...and, mere seconds later, we were on top of the Richardson Building, in the car, alive! And, in spite of withdrawing all of my physical and mental energy to make the projection possible, I was still sane.

“Holy...” Bob exclaimed. “You moved us up here, MG! Just by thinking about it! See what I meant? Your brain is some weapon! “

“Darn right,” I said. “Like you said, Bob, I got a good mind. All I needed to do was apply all the strength in my mind and body to that car, and then boom! Now all we have to do is...”

“A-hem!”

Carractacus had made it to the top. And she wasn’t even winded yet! I had to think fast, or, boy, I was in trouble!

“So,” she said, “you still insist on confronting me, even though you are no match for me in any way!”

“Bad form, Carractacus!” I said. “Maybe I don’t have my muscles anymore, but I can still stop you!”

“Tell you what!” she said snidely. “I’ll give you just one minute to try to stop me! Do you hear? ONE minute! If you cannot, I will proceed to take over the world, and you and the boy will be my willing slaves. But one minute will hardly be enough to defend you from the likes of THIS!”

She ran towards me, bellowing, fists at the ready, fully prepared to tear me apart like she nearly had before. But I was ready. I thought and thought and thought as fast as I could, right when she began running, closing my eyes and clenching my fists as I did...

...and I got action.

Carractacus suddenly stopped in her tracks and began shouting. I looked up, and I saw that I had caused the roof’s surface to spring up in bands and tightly imprison her arms and legs, like she was in chains.

“You fool!” she snarled. “How dare you do this to me...?!!”

I ignored her and put my hand to my head.

From the top of my head, a beam of light pulsated out of it, hitting her like lightning. But she wasn’t having any more of that.

She thought, too, and not only broke out of my trap, but brought me down to my knees, besides. She ran up and gleefully gripped me again, stealing more of my energy, as she clearly was now trying to finish me off.

“It ends here, Muscle Girl!” she said. “You have failed!”

Not yet I hadn’t. With my last remaining untouched amount of energy, I put my hand to my head again, and again my brain beamed out a bolt of electric current. This time, the force was enough for CC to free me, be thrown backwards...

...and fall off the roof to her death!

As her body hit the ground far below with a CRASH, I suddenly began to feel better again. My chest, arms and legs bulked up again, and the old pepper was back in my bones.

Now that the creature who had stolen my powers was slain, they had, somehow, reverted to their rightful owner!

“Yeah!” I said. “Muscle Girl is back!”

“She never really went away, though,” Bob observed.

“Whadaya mean?” I asked.

“Because you used your most powerful muscle- your mind- to help you win. Best of all, you found a way to win without punching anybody to do it. I’m proud of you.”

“Sure you are. Look, Bob...”

“What?”

“Thanks. You taught me a valuable lesson about being overzealous with all of my powers. I’m gonna be careful from now on, or else I might lose ‘em all again- or my life.”

“Sure thing, MG. I-oh, my God, look at how late it is!”

“Allow me,” I concluded.

Now once again strong enough to hold Bob in my arms, and once again able to fly off across the sky in a nanosecond, I proceeded to both of these things post haste.