Over the next week, Serena moved her belongings in to Mia & now her's home. Mia had found the punk was in to videogames & computers, was secretive about her belongings, and usually wore her jacket indoors too. She seemed to make a habit of trying to hide certain parts of her face, but Mia was pleased to find that she was ready, almost excited, to kill criminals with her new Revenant. A lifetime of videogames had desensitized her to the idea of violence.
At 5PM on Thursday, Mia knocked at Serena's door. "Serena, it's time for training!"
"Right now? I'm in the middle of a game!"
Mia blinked. "Can't you just pause it?"
Friday afternoon, they visited a local bookstore with Marisa, and while Mia normally enjoyed her presence, it now gave her a troubling suspicion she was making mistakes as a mentor: something she tried rectifying by imitating Matoi, if with less cruelty.
She was thankful to find that Serena's eyes stuck only to Marisa's face, and while she didn't know her protege's sexuality, she doubted there would be a time soon when Serena would ask her to leave for the night. She never did seem to leave class with anyone else.
"Have you met Aimee yet?" said Marisa, and Serena glanced to Mia.
"She hasn't." said the mentor, digging through a shelf of books. "Aimee's our student president, Serena. She's my girlfriend."
Serena nodded, hoping Mia wouldn't take one of the bigger books.
Mia did. "Serena, this would be useful, yes?" She handed it to her.
"Um, that's a pretty big one." murmured Serena. "Probably has every myth in here."
"Exactly. We'll, er-" - not wanting to stutter in front of Marisa, she paused - " - read over it, take notes, and I'll test you on it daily."
"I- all of it?" sputtered Serena, offering up a thinner text as a sacrifice. "This is like eight hundred pages!"
Marisa stifled a laugh as Mia replied; "Do I need to make you read it twice?"
"Jeez. You're harsh." Serena laughed, shaking her head as she put the sacrifice back in. "I will, I will."
"Good." chimed Mia. "Still, we should -"
- her dispatch device vibrated in her pocket, and Marisa's a second later. Mia pulled her's out, and as Marisa took a peek over -
" - ooo, that's like, three blocks from here. Bank robbery, no injuries." Marisa grinned. "Wanna go check it out?"
"I- you and I should go." murmured Mia.
"What?" sputtered Serena.
Marisa's eyes turned on Mia's. Out of Serena's sight, Mia saw a wagging finger. "Mia-Mia. She's your protégé, right?"
"Er, yes, but it would be better to -"
" - she needs actual experience -"
" - there will be plenty of time -"
" - uh, miss mentor -" said Serena, suddenly preening and eliciting another laugh from Marisa - " - what if someone comes here while you're gone?"
Mia closed her eyes, top of her lips and nose vibrating with a laugh. "… Fine." Her eyes opened. "We'll go. then."
"And I'll head back home with your book." said Marisa, taking the thick one.
"Er, lemme keep the abridged version." said Serena, shoving it in her jacket.
++++++
The bank was three blocks away on the corner. Serena and Mia rushed down the sidewalk, mentor keeping a steady pace for her protégé's benefit -
- and ahead, a man they knew as their foe burst out of the bank's doors. His eyes caught the two as he swept around the corner, and the true chase began then.
"Here!" - said Mia, gripping Serena by her collar, sheets of ice forming at her feet and slickening their step, and as they slid around the corner -
- the next scene was instant. A minuscule fire hydrant grew at Serena's feet, launched straight up and bashed the back of her skull; the pain staggered her forward, and as the geyser of water burst out from below -
- a swarm of fire scarabs vaporized the water, and the two started their chase again, dead-end street up ahead, warehouse at the end, man still running as the women pursued.
"At least that didn't hit my crotch -" - winced Serena, eyes sharp behind - " - uh - does that fire hydrant look weird to you?"
Mia glanced back and saw the fire hydrant fall to the ground, deflated as if it were a balloon.
"Inflation and deflation." said Mia, still rushing down the sidewalk, and as they came over one casual tile -
- a titanic wall of asphalt burst up ahead and blocked their path -
- but a sweep of scorching sword went through the sudden barrier, deflating it quick as they kept their chase through, seeing their foe close to their warehouse's entrance now. He held his hand to the door, and the barrier deflated; in to the warehouse he swept, a second inflation reforming the barrier behind.
With no time to waste, they came up to the door, and as Serena swept her tattoo needle back, readying to pop the entrance open -
" - no no." said Mia, yanking Serena back again. "The most expected route, yes?"
"I - yeah, but -"
" - Worldwide."
- and a pillar of ice burst up below their feet, launching them up and bringing them eye-level to the roof. The two leaped off the frozen platform to the roof, and ran across to the perch on the other end, waiting for their foe to come out of the back door below.
But no figure met their stare, and the two sighed.
"No sign of him." said Mia. "He's waiting for us below. Ready?"
"Ready."
- and a flash of fire scarabs burnt a hole below; the two leaped down and through, landing straight on a shelf. The platform buckled under their two weights, throwing the two off-balance -
- and down the two collapsed and fell on to the ground below, fallen shelves scattered around, hearing but not seeing their foe running out the back door. Mia's expression filled with dread as the two stood.
"I - fuck, he's going to -" - she groaned, and in the next instant -
- the building began to buckle, sound of deflation filling their ears as the walls collapsed; the roof rend inward, and as the rain of rubble threatened to bury them alive -
" - World-"
" - Hephaestus!" shouted Serena, yanking Mia close and writing swiftly below -
- and a geyser of lava claimed the two as the rubble fell, scorching a clear hole through as the building collapsed around, leaving them standing waist-high in debris.
"Good - work." chimed Mia, glancing around the ruins -
- and there, a hundred feet separating them and he, still standing atop the rubble; with no time to waste, the women rushed forward -
- but behind, Mia felt something bulky and yielding pounce on Serena, and as she turned -
- a bizarre scene met her stare; a sentient piece of rubble, sharp concrete as knives, stomping Serena's chest, and as it readied to slash her torso -
- a swarm of ice scarabs froze the lively rubble to crystals - but they had no time to rest.
The ruins around began to rise up, shattered and inflated debris, the concrete army now stepping with the speed of quick-mix concrete to the two, and as one leaped forward, concrete-sword outstretched -
" - freeze - freeze that one, whole!" - panted Serena, and with no time to ask, Mia's scarabs froze one alive -
- and a swift flash of Odyssey's needle went down, writing 'Ares' -
- and as if called from the underworld, a set of golden warriors flashed to existence, their spears a whirlwind of steel, two armies meeting on a battlefield. When a concrete-man went down, he did not get back up underneath the stomping boots and whirling blades.
Inch by inch, the pressure of their strikes forced the mob away. Seeing a single opening, the women rushed out of the circle, foe still on the other end, fifty feet separating them and he. Mia cleared the clearing in a single bound, and as he raised his right hand out -
- a bash of her electrical sword against his skull knocked him unconscious. At her back, she heard the sentient rubble return to their former solidity, illusory phalanx disappearing as Serena caught up with Mia.
"Very good." chimed Mia, then nodded to Serena. "You did very well. Go ahead."
Serena just blinked. "Go ahead with what?"
"…er, with killing him?" chimed Mia. "You said you wanted to do it."
Serena shrugged as she crouched down. Odyssey's bacteria stifled her hesitation as she wrote 'Zeus' on his head -
- and nothing happened. She frowned and rewrote it, and a lightning bolt blasted his skull apart in a shower of gore; she shrieked for a second, then nervously laughed as Worldwide's scarabs washed the brain off their faces.
Mia's tablet vibrated and Serena shot up like a dog, but Mia gave her a disciplined headshake. "We're injured. It would be best to -"
" - no, no - that's why I got the book! Like, gimme your arm. I wanna try something."
Her protégé was as persistent as Marisa. Mia gave out her bloodied arm, and Serena flipped through the abridged text, needle in hand. "Okay, I bet this one is good. Asclepius."
She wrote it down -
- and nothing happened.
"God - fuck, this stupid handwriting requirement sucks. Sorry, um, lemme try it again."
Mia let her try it again, and as she finished up -
- her wounds rapidly closed. Serena nodded, started her own set on her arm, the good word fading once its purpose was through.
++++++
Coming up to the alley, Mia pressed Serena back, whispering they should try to sneak up on him. She peeked around it and saw a man accosting another giving him his wallet. Trying to silence their footsteps, the two stepped in to the alley, and in the next instant -
" - that's them!" shouted the unlucky victim, pointing them out - " - you're going to get what you deserve now, you fuckin-"
- and a tongue burst out of the first man's arm & out through his victim's head; he turned before the two could react, and in the next instant -
- a geyser of blood hit their eyes, blinding them and staggering them back; the two sighed as they wiped them, already seeing their foe running away 30ft ahead. No time to waste, they rushed in pursuit. More blood shot towards them, but pillars of white flame disintegrated them before they could strike.
"Why did he point at us?" winced Serena as they ran, relevantly.
Mia sighed. "Serena, you'll learn that the average civilian is very stupid. And half of them are stupider than that."
Serena tittered as their foe left the alley ahead, and Mia pressed Serena back as they came up to the exit; sword readied, she swept out -
- direct in to a glob of gasoline shot at her, and a gust of orange fire came -
- but she laughed as a geyser of water doused herself, pulling Serena out with her & their foe on the sidewalk 30ft away. As they pursued, Mia noted that he wasn't too fast, and asked Serena if she wanted to write on him; nervously Serena nodded.
Ahead, he reached the corner and placed his hand on the wall. Mia saw Baal's pentagram wound on him and rayed it quickly to Serena; beside, the wall began to rumble, and in the next instant -
" - got it!" shouted Serena, and as she started her writing on the wall -
- a spike burst out of it -
- and impaled through her heart, swept down and cleaved her stomach in two -
" - Worldwide - White-Hot!"
- and a pillar of white flame charred their foe dead in an instant. Mia turned and caught a collapsed & bleeding Serena, weak with relief and grief.
"Serena? Serena?"
Fearing she was dead, her ice scarabs chilled the wound splitting Serena's torso. She set her down, took her tablet out and repeatedly tapped Marisa's name, worrying that her mid-summer nightmare had become corporeal.