Chapter 1: What's better than a fair fight? WINNING!

When Blue Blazes had received Nightlad's urgent call for help, he knew he would be in for a fight... he just didn't realize Nightlad would be the one he would be fighting. Upon his arrival, BB took precious moments scanning for the supervillain Nightlad was describing to him, even as his friend was stealthily moving into an attack position. The fight nearly ended before it began as Nightlad (or rather the parasite that now controlled Nightlad) lashed out with its paralyzing stinger.

Only BB's superhuman reflexes and agility allowed him to dodge the first attack. Unfortunately for him, while Nightlad was less agile than BB, he was definitely stronger, and the added threat of the parasite's stinger put BB on the defensive immediately. When Nightlad nearly shredded his arm with a loose piece of rebar, BB also realized that his unwillingness to hurt his friend put him at a huge tactical disadvantage. BB had to fight against Nightlad and the parasite, but also his deep bond with his friend. As his position became increasingly precarious, BB was forced to be more aggressive in his attacks despite the risk of injuring his friend (or worse).

To minimize the chances of that, BB worked to focus his blows on the parasite itself. He hoped that if he could avoid its stinger and sever its connection to Nightlad, victory was still possible. And BB was encouraged as his new strategy seemed to be having an effect: Although he wasn't able to deliver any significant damage to the parasite, Nightlad's fighting stance had become much more defensive as a result of BB's slashing attacks targeting the parasite.

As Nightlad began retreating to a more defensible position inside a nearby building, BB felt increasingly hopeful that he might be able to pull out a win in this fight. Unfortunately, the parasite still managed to ensure that Nightlad's body absorbed any blows targeted at it, so BB's "win" was still likely to come at a terrible cost to his friend.

As BB moved deeper into the dimly-lit building to press his final attack, he was surprised to see Nightlad drop his defensive guard and begin smiling... albeit in a way BB knew looked nothing like his normal genuine smile. "You know, I think I could tell the exact moment in that fight when you decided it was okay if we didn't both walk away at the end. I thought we were friends!" Nightlad exclaimed, waving his arms indignantly.

Unnerved by Nightlad's relaxed attitude, BB warily maintained his defensive stance and slowly tried to maneuver close enough to take advantage of the new situation. "We are friends!" BB yelled in frustration and sorrow. "But I'm not friends with that THING that's controlling you, and it's time for it to pack up and go somewhere else!"

Nightlad laughed heartily--and this time BB was thrown not by its artificiality, but by its apparent sincerity. "Why would my master want to go somewhere else? It likes it here!" Nightlad exclaimed. "It likes the weather here. It likes the beautiful scenery. It especially likes having supers like us to control. Imagine what it must be like, spending all of its life controlling mundane creatures like rats or dogs or accountants, and then getting a chance to control a powerful super like you or me. You can see the draw, right?"

BB ignored the question as he slowly continued to advance on Nightlad, plotting how he could use his superior agility to dislodge the parasite through a calculated feint. Nightlad looked at his friend expectantly, and shrugged when BB offered no response.

"Well, even if you don't understand the appeal, the aliens do." Nightlad said, wagging his finger as if to emphasize a particularly important point to a slow student. "And that actually leads to thing my master likes best about being in this particular place at this particular moment: hanging out with all of its friends!"

BB's face went ashen as he realized he had been focusing so intently on Nightlad that he hadn't really focused on the warehouse interior. He swiveled his head sharply to take in his surroundings and was immediately horrified: the dim illumination in the warehouse was not from LEDs or emergency lighting, but from hundreds of the parasites pressed flat against the ceiling. As Nightlad looked on with satisfaction, the parasites began launching themselves like missiles at BB from all directions.

BB spun toward the door and had already artfully dodged a dozen of the attackers when a stinger connected with his shoulder blade. He spun wildly and succeeded in flinging the parasite off in an arc, but even so he felt the parasite's venom spreading across his back and neck. Worse yet, his loss of forward momentum allowed two other parasites to successfully strike his legs, and the spreading numbness caused him to stumble into a post and bounce off in a heap. BB raised himself up and used his unaffected arm to swat and scrape at the slithering, striking mass of parasites surrounding him, but he gave a pained gasp when a parasite stung him in the center of his lower back.

As BB felt the venom burning into his spine, it seemed like all of his strings had been cut and he crumpled limply onto the floor. As the numbness from the venom spread to cover his entire body, he was began to flicker in and out of consciousness. Eventually his eyes drifted slowly shut and his hearing began to falter. He could feel the multitude of tiny legs on his spine as one of the parasites slowly positioned itself. Then, as his thoughts slowed to a near-stop, he could feel what felt like a thousand pinpricks along his neck and back when the parasite began to burrow itself into his body.

A few moments later, the inky blackness filling his mind was obliterated by a sudden blaze of white light and heat. His body jerked spasmodically as it tried to adapt to the overwhelming power and brightness that coursed through his nervous system. Then, his glowing eyes shot open and his head turned toward Nightlad and smiled broadly. BB slowly stood up and stretched his body luxuriously. With satisfaction that he did not feel and a voice that was no longer his own, BB said, "This one put up quite a struggle! In a fair fight, I think he could have taken you!"

Nightlad laughed and grabbed BB's arm. "Well, that's why we never fight fair! Now that your host's power is under our control, the next fight will be even less so." The throngs of parasites formed an arc around the two fallen heroes and waved their stingers rhythmically. Nightlad laughed again, and boasted merrily to his comrades, "You'll all get your chance to land your own pet super soon enough! But for now let's keep a low profile and build our strength. I vote that we start off by plucking some low-hanging prey. My host is exhausted right now, but I hear sidekicks are total pushovers and get captured all the time!" BB laughed in agreement as the began to gather the other parasites into large crates. He looked forward to expanding their control quietly, completely... and unfairly.