by TheTimeTrust
A little outdoor cafe in Puerta Mibela:
"This is great! Wonderful! Fabulous!"
Kit Piper was positively beaming after listening to the story of this group of exceptional people as told by Marv Velo, Pete Glover, and Sam Dawson in an outdoor cafe, where they had had a long, late lunch. They had given him the full story from the beginning, although none of them had been with the group quite that long. Velo had been filled in on most of the details, however, and although he was at first wary of this "two-bit, washed up salesman," there was something very charming in Piper's way. As Sam told him with a whisper, though, he was a bit too Hollywood in his manner for their liking.
"I knew there was something about you folks, I just knew it!" Piper exclaimed. "I knew it the first moment I laid eyes upon all of you."
"So... back ta bus'ness, bud," said Pete. "We's thinkin' about creatin' a foundation or somethin-or-other ta keeps us busy, y'know? Sumthin' ta use our gifts fer helpin' people, while keepin' us in da ranks o' da employed. Only, none o' us got any experience in bus'ness."
Kit Piper rose from his seat in an excited manner and began waving his arms around as he spoke. "I can see it now! A consulting company! Only, you're not just any consulting company, you're specialists in high-risk assignments! Not mercenaries for hire, per se, but a crack team of adventurers who will perform assignments too dangerous for ordinary individuals to perform. You'll investigate the mysterious forces of nature with your varied abilities and charge a necessary fee to those who employ your services. Although you're based on the beautiful tropical island of La Perdita, you operate WORLDWIDE! Yes, a consulting company-slash-adventurer's organization... with our own little Pete at the helm!"
"Welll... act'lly, I'm givin' up me money fer me friends," explained Pete. "It's goin' directly inta that foundation I talked about."
"Such a charitable figure of a man you are, sir! You put me to shame!" Piper said, quickly adding, "I, of course, would be glad to operate as your financial adviser, however, as your humble employee! But who shall run the organization? Velo?"
"We've already talked this over, uh... Kit," said Velo. "Any major decisions we need to make for the team will be made by group consensus. And as far as any assignments go, we have agreed that different team leaders will be chosen based on the assignment. Conceivably, all of our members will have a chance to lead. The head of this organization will essentially be the team itself."
"Democracy in action! I love it!"
"Maybe Shirley can be our secretary or something," suggested Sam. "It would be better than her last job, that's for sure."
"Yup, and Doc Quantos already agreed ta be our scientific consultant, even though he lives in Canada," said Pete.
"First of all, though, we would need to fix up our apartment building," said Velo. "We're supposed to be getting our telephones hooked up and our computer equipment today, but we should see if we can adapt the basement into a training and exercise room. And we might want to scout around for an outdoor training facility for more serious workouts with our powers."
"Of course," added Sam, "we have to run everything past the rest of the guys and gals when we get back before we can agree to anything."
"I understand completely, sir," Kit said with a very serious tone. "As a family man myself, I understand that any major decisions of this magnitude need to be discussed. If you will allow, however, I would like to begin working on setting up the consulting company. If your fellow members should say no, I would most certainly abandon the project."
"That should be fine," said Velo.
"Excellent! Now, all we need is a name! La Perdita Consulting? Puerta Mibela Consultants? Any thoughts?"
The three looked at each other. "Well, we've never actually given our little team a name, beyond the nickname of 'the Revolutionaries,'" said Velo. "I guess we've never really had to think of any before."
"I don't think our consulting company necessarily has to be the same as our nickname, though," said Sam. "'Revolutionaries Consulting Group' doesn't really work."
"I kinda like Puerta Mibela Consultants," said Pete. "Only... it's too long, eh?"
"How about Mibela Consultants?" suggested Sam.
"No, the name doesn't really signify what we need," said Velo. "However... what if we take out the vowels and use the remaining consonants? That leaves us with something like... MBL Consulting, Inc. It sounds more... powerful, I think." As Marv Velo said this, he wore a sly grin on his face, remembering something from his past.
"MBL Consulting? I like it!" said Sam.
"Aye, me too," Pete said.
"Beautiful!" said Kit. "MBL Consulting it is!" He shook each of their hands, and they parted ways.
The three men walked away from the outdoor cafe, and Pete started giggling suddenly. He whispered to Sam, pointing at Velo. Sam looked at him and also broke out in a peal of laughter. "BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
"What. Is. So. Funny?" a very cross Velo said.
"There's a...BWA-HA-HA-HA!... there's a... HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!... piece of... BWA-HAA-HAAAA--" As much as he tried, Sam couldn't get the words out.
"WHAT? A PIECE OF WHAT?"
"Heh-heh. Ye got a piece o' pie in yer hair, b'y," Pete said, grinning.
"Oh, bloody hell..." Velo muttered as he shook his hair out for the fourth time since this morning, "...this never ever happened when I worked for the little blue guys."