[The Princes, Book III, Unknown Chapter] [Super Hero] The marriage delegation arrived by shuttle and landed at the New Palace’s north landing platform. Emperor Sionnach, the Fox Emperor, stood with his sons and waited. The boys seemed to be behaving for a change, but that could change at any moment. Prince Mischief glanced sideways for any possible escape route, but his father knew his maximum jump was only thirty meters and had placed him and his brother strategically in a spot that he wouldn’t be able to jump off the platform in one jump. Prince Malice glared at the incoming shuttle, he didn’t want to meet a trade delegation or any other such thing. Hopefully his brother would find a way out of this, if only Mischief could learn to jump just a little bit further, but there was limits to what even his brother could do. The shuttle landed and the Eriden delegation approached the Kitsune Imperial Family. Emperor Sionnach had spent months in negotiations just to get the Eridens to consider coming; this would be the first of negotiation deliberations between the Kitsune Empire and the Eriden Empire. The Eriden guards surrounded a small eight-year old girl and followed her as she approached the Princes of the Kitsune Empire. “Heiress of the Eriden Empire, Flower of the Sun, Tree of Wisdom, Fountain of Life, Princess Iskra Kazan Tseva,” announced the Eriden Herald. Prince Mischief stepped forward and Prince Malice followed his brother, remaining exactly one step behind. “Imperial Heir of the Glorious Kitsune Empire, Lord of the Moons of Kitsune, First Son of the Fox Emperor, Light of the Fox Constellation, Prince Mischief,” announced the Kitsune Herald. Protocol dictated that Prince Mischief would now bow to the Princess and Prince Malice would mirror his brothers movements. Mischief didn’t bow but instead sent a scathing glare at the Kitsune Herald. The Herald looked to Emperor Sionnach frantically, he knew that Prince Mischief wanted his brother announced, but Prince Malice was a second son and didn’t warrant an introduction. Emperor Sionnach nodded at the Herald and smiled at his sons, sometimes rules just didn’t apply and if Mischief wanted his twin brother announced, then so be it. “Second Son, Flame of Demonia, Lord of the Fire Mountains, Prince Malice,” shouted the Herald. The Princes turned as one and bowed to the Eriden Princess. Princess Iskra held her hand out and Prince Mischief stepped forward and took her hand and brought it to exactly four inches from his lips. “May our people forever be united and war a distant memory, my betrothed,” said Prince Mischief. Prince Malice was fairly certain his brother looked like he had just swallowed a bug. The Princess said something about strength and unity and tipped her head, then Emperor Sionnach gave a short speech about the joining of cultures and finally after what the boys were certain was an unusually cruel and terrible amount of time, were released from the ceremony. “You know there’s no proof I was first egg,” pouted Mischief. “Oh no you don’t,” said Malice. “She’s all yours.” “You are an evil demon,” replied Mischief. “You’re just as much demon as me,” said Malice. The boys, twins, looked as different from each other as anyone could possibly look. Mischief appeared to be Kitsune at first glance until you looked at his unusually large eyes that sparkled in the light and glowed in the night. His skin was tanned and seemed normal, if being able to curl up in a fire pit on a cool night for warmth was normal and that tanned skinned glowed a healthy Demonian red when exposed to flames. Malice appeared to be a normal Demonian, though a bit small and without a barbed tail. His horns were more delicate and he could move with the speed and strength of the Kitsune, but still had the brutality of a Demonian. Malice excelled in the marshal arts as Mischief excelled in the art of swordsmanship. The boys ran through the Palace halls heading for their rooms to change. “Whoa, slow down,” shouted a voice. The boys stopped and turned around. “Hi, Uncle Raven,” said the boys together. “How are my two favorite eight-year olds?” asked the small Daraian. “Mischief got married,” yelled Malice. “Did not, it’s a betrothal, and I’m running away before I have to marry her,” replied Mischief. “Well then, you’ve had a big day,” said Lord Raven. “What do you say I send you on a secret mission.” “Okay!” shouted the twins. “I need you to pick up the crop reports and bring them to the afternoon meeting with your father,” said Lord Raven. “Oh, that’s boring, Uncle Raven,” said Malice. “The crop reports is the code name for the assassination reports,” said Lord Raven. “We can’t just call them assassination report, but if the mission is too dangerous for you.” “Really?” whispered Mischief. “Wow!” echoed Malice. “You’ll be the Super Heroes of the Empire if you can complete the recovery of the reports and get them to that meeting in time.” The boys looked at each other and ran off to retrieve the secret reports. “You know Uncle Raven is lying,” said Mischief. “I know,” said Malice. “He’s a Raven, they can’t tell the truth if it was printed on their hands.” “Want to teach him a lesson?” asked Mischief. “Lets do it!” said Malice. Emperor Sionnach sat and listened to the reports given by the various Secretaries of the Empire. The Secretary of Transportation was just finishing up his report about the new Comet Ship line that was ready to be released. The Emperor read the engineering report concerning the propulsion system and made a few notes to improve over-all power output. “Who’s next?” asked Emperor Sionnach. “That was the last,” announced Lord Raven. “The marriage delegation is ready.” “Are the boys safely away somewhere?” asked the Emperor. Lord Raven stood and bowed, “Yes, Emperor, I sent them for the crop production reports.” Emperor Sionnach laughed, the crop production report wasn’t due to be published for another three months. The boys should be kept busy for awhile before they figure out there is no report to retrieve. The marriage delegation filed into the room to begin the long discussion of marriage and uniting the two Empires. Princess Iskra led the Eriden diplomats into the room. The Princess scanned the room, looking for something, or someone. Sionnach was already pretty sure he knew what she was looking for. “Will Prince Mischief be joining us?” asked the Princess. “I do apologize, Princess, but the boys may not be quite up to your level of maturity yet,” replied the Emperor. “You must allow them a few years to grow.” The Princess didn’t get a chance to respond, a loud pop startled the delegation. The Emperor knew that sound, it was his son Trans-dimensional jumping, and from the sound, he was bringing his brother with him. The Emperor turned in time to see Prince Mischief materialize in mid-air with Prince Malice, it only took a moment to realize something was amiss. The boys pushed off from each other, flipped in the air and landed on the conference table. Mischief was dressed in a blue leotard with one of the Imperial monogrammed bath towels wrapped around his neck, and his underpants worn over top the leotards, though Sionnach had to give his son credit for choosing his finest silk underpants, worthy of a Prince. The outfit was topped off with a mask over the boys face. Malice was similarly dressed but in red leotards and his face was painted in the ancient warrior stripes of the Demonians. He even had piece of curtain rope tied to his backside to make up for not having a tail. The boys struck a rather dramatic pose with their feet spread apart and their fists on their hips. Prince Mischief dropped a pile of paper with crayon drawings of made up crop reports. The Emperor couldn’t help but grin at his very clever boys. “I am ZAM!” declared Prince Mischief. “I am ZAN!” declared Prince Malice. “WE ARE THE SUPER HEROES OF THE EMPIRE!” the brothers shouted together. The Princess had taken several steps back and displayed an expression of pure shock, none of which phased Mischief. “Zam and Zan Super Heroes is it?” asked the Emperor. Prince Mischief grabbed his brother’s arm and with another popping sound, disappeared from the room. “They are not far, Princess,” explained the Emperor. “Super Hero Zam can only jump thirty meters.” “Let us continue the negotiations while the boys play their game,” stated the Princess. “I have brothers and understand how silly they can be.” By mid-afternoon the Video of the Imperial Princes playing super heroes and dressed in tights was picked up by the News Vids and quickly spread throughout the Empire. The super hero nicknames the Princes used quickly became the boy’s nicknames and they went by the names Zam and Zan from then on. “Hey Zan,” said Prince Mischief, “this is boring.” “Oh shut up,” Prince Malice retorted. “The whole thing was your idea.” “Less talking boys and more scrubbing,” ordered the cook. Zam and Zan, super heroes, continued scrubbing the endless piles of greasy pots.