Hidden by the tree, we spy two guards taking watch. Nick rushes them at blinding speed and takes them out before they know what hit them. He then runs around the perimeter of the base and returns to us. The girls didn’t notice Nick’s little outing because they can’t see when he moves at high speeds. No normal human can see a bullet coming at them after all.

Nick is gagging violently and bending down, holding his knees. He looks like he can puke any second now, so I use my Infinity to alleviate his sickness.

“You OK, Nick?” Nick gives me the thumbs up and stands straight up.

“Those motherfuckers stink worse up close. I don’t know how we can fight them.” Nick puts his hands on top of his head and breathes loudly.

I put my fingers on my chin to think of a way to figure something out. If what Nick says is true and their smell is worse up close, I think I can try to make them smell good. But that would require too much thinking on my part.

“Why don’t I just make us immune to the smell?” I suggest.

“Fuck that,” Gwen says, shaking her head. “What if, and I am speaking hypothetically here, I would somehow smell rancid as these idiots. I would like to smell it and fix the issue.”

“But why would you smell like that in the first place?” I ask. “Were you skipping baths for a year straight?”

“I said it was hypothetically!” Gwen screeches angrily.

“Yeah, but hypothetically,” Nick emphasizes the last word. “ Skipping baths for a whole year is fucking gross.”

“I am not skipping baths, dumbasses!” Gwen’s face is glowing red and her yellow eyes are glowing so bright, that she could fire lasers out of them.

“Let’s slow it down, everybody.” Barbara steps in between Nick and Gwen, defending the former from the latter. “I think this joke went on long enough. Let’s get back on track, OK?”

“Alright,” I say, going back to the drawing board. “How about I create some respiratory masks for us? That way we can breathe without having to smell that funk.”

Gwen and Nick agree with my idea.

Barbara tilts her head to the side. “How?”

“With my Infinity, I can create almost anything as long as I know the ins and outs. Frankie forced Nick and me to read every book at the nation's capital last summer using the Ultimate Force.”

“That shit sucked,” Nick interjects.

“I agree. Anyways, I retained most of the information I’ve read so I know how to create a few things. But I can’t create things out of nothing. I need a base to morph it into what I want,” I dig into my black adventurer’s bag that I got for a birthday present from my grandpa. It’s a knock-off brand Mega-Lo Mart, I used my Infinity so it can hold infinite items. Its fake leather is flaking off and the zipper sometimes gets stuck in the middle. 

I just have to think about what I want and it comes to me. I brought up three old tissue paper packets I obtained a few weeks ago. Angels were out in the streets handing them out to people, instead of preaching about their lord like usual. I turn them into what we need before I bring them out. My head started to hurt from the back of my neck. I ignored the pain and gave Nick and Gwen each their own masks. They both put them on and took in a deep breath and I did the same.

“Uh, what about me?” Barbara whines in her valley girl accent.

“You’re going to stay here, where it’s safe. We don’t know if they own any Celestials among them or if they have weapons that can hurt you.”

Barbara looks annoyed. “Hey, who is the adult around here? I can’t have three kids try to protect me!”

“And who here has their adventurer’s license and who is a civilian.” Nick shot back.

Barbara glares at him, but Nick chooses not to say anything. That, or he didn’t see it as he took off toward the base. Gwen and I follow closely after him.

With no guards guarding the northern gate, we charged full speed ahead unopposed. Even if we’re not using the Ultimate Force, we Holy Knights are slightly faster than Gwen. I try not to be too far ahead of Gwen, so I deliberately move slower than usual. 

Nick made it to the gate first and with a leaping kick and sent the make-shift gate flying off its hinges. 

“Yo, which one of you assholes shot a rocket at us?!” Nick yells into a crowd. 

This shanty town residence looks like extras from a post-apocalypse zombie show. There is hardly anybody younger than fifteen here, and they look like they haven’t bathed in years. They stare daggers at us as soon as they see us. Almost everybody here is human, with cyborgs being the only other race among them, if you can call cyborgs a different race.

“Freshers!” A man with a gray beard shouts.

“What?!” Gwen looks confused.

“It’s what we call you people who take baths.” A brunette woman says.

“Oh no, they are Stinktologist,” I say.

“Then let’s force this stink mother fuckers to take a bath.” Nick threatens.

“Get them,” I burly black man yells. “They’re judging us for our religious practices!”

“We’re not judging you for your religious practices! We’re judging you for your lack of hygiene!” Gwen shouts.

“Same difference,” Someone says.

And like that, the crowd rushes us. This is going to be a difficult fight, Not because they are tough, but because I really don’t want to touch them. What if they have like all of the diseases in the world? Even though I have the Ultimate Force and have never been sick before, the thought of being touched by someone so dirty makes my skin crawl.