Chapter 11: Chapter 1.10 (Conflicts)
Chapter Text
WED FEB 16
My run to school took longer today, since I was watching for Emma and Sophia. I didn't spot anyone that might be them, but I was having trouble trusting myself. I had no idea how long they'd been stalking me. Sophia seemed to have some experience tracking things that didn't mesh into my understanding of the world. Even with Winslow's outlandish 'curriculum' it didn't make sense.
The fact that I knew the basics of picking locks and hotwiring cars through sheer osmosis was damning enough, there. It still didn't explain why Sophia was some sort of super-stalker, though.
I zoned out through the first half of the day, worrying about it. That lasted until I saw Tim on the way to lunch. He'd recognized me and waved awkwardly, and it took me a second to realize who he was. I put in the effort to actually go say hi, but we both had lunch to get to, so the interaction didn't last past that. It put him on my mind though, thinking back to Monday and what'd happened after school then.
Which led me to grabbing my food and heading over to where Cass was sitting. An older boy was talking about something- I think it had to do with Medhall, from what little I caught of it; something about business law and medical licenses. He trailed off when I'd gotten close, and the side of the table facing away from me realized and turned, including Cassie.
"Hey, could I talk to you for a bit?" I asked.
She very briefly looked conflicted, then confused, glancing around the table for a measure of approval, which I guess she got since she grabbed her food and stood up. "Sure, I've got some time."
We headed out, and sat down at the usual spot. She was eating slowly, waiting for me to get to what I wanted. It took me a bit of dithering, but I finally spat it out.
"I don't like the way you treat Tim."
She seemed surprised and confused, then she perked up like she realized what I was talking about. "You're still on that?" She gave a throaty groan. "I don't care and he knows it, what's the problem?"
"It just..." I tried to think of the words. "It reminds me of what happened to me, back in Winslow."
She cocked her head a little. "What, you get used by some fuckboi?"
"What?" I parsed that after a moment, and my cheeks gained a dusting of pink. "No, not that part... Not really." Goddamn, but this made me feel so uncomfortable. "No one cared."
She stared at me for five whole seconds. "Yeah." She stated firmly. A beat later she continued. "It's high school. People are shit, teenagers are worse. No one cares, and that's just the way things are."
I shook my head. "It wasn't just the students, it was the teachers, the staff, the police..." I trailed off. "No one listened, or cared, or did anything. They'd do things to me. Stupid pranks, sure- glue in my chair, steal my bag, shit it my hair..." I hissed that last part. I liked my hair, and I think Cass knew it. "But there was other stuff. They'd trip me, hit me, ruin my clothes and my books. I had evidence and no one did anything. They put me in the hospital and the police investigation hasn't gone anywhere. Like they can't even care to do their jobs."
Cass had backed away a little, but the look on her face was resigned, even dismissive. I needed to hit harder to get through, though I'm not sure why I cared so much. I'd worked myself up and now this was a fight, and I had to win. "That's..." She started, but I cut her off.
"Even the Empire kids didn't care that a white girl was, was that... was hospitalized by a black girl." I didn't want to acknowledge the Locker any more than I had to.
"Wait," She waved her hands in a 'stop' motion. "wait, the girl who did that was black?" I hated playing the race card with a bigot, but if anyone deserved it, it was Sophia. "And nobody did anything?"
I shook my head, turning away and looking down. Distraught, defeated. I felt her heart pick up, and her muscles tense. I held back the smile that would've ruined it.
I win.
"Somethin' fucky's up." She said, startling me out of my mood. I glanced back at her, confused.
"What?"
"Dudn't add up." She slurred. "Nobody doing anything? Not even the cops? Brockton's a shitheap, and I've heard things about Winslow, but..." She glanced back at me with narrowed eyes. "Even these supposed 'Empire' kids didn't care?" The quotes were in her tone more than anything, but I could tell they were there.
"No. It went on for a year and a half, getting worse and worse, but no one ever seemed to care."
I could see her turning it over in her head. "I need names." She muttered darkly.
"What?" Wait, what did she mean? "I can't... you can't do anything to them." I said weakly.
She muttered 'bullshit' under her breath, before she replied. "I'm not going to do anything. I just want to ask around, see if your story adds up." She smirked. "Nothin's coming back to you on this, promise."
I swallowed and wrung my hands a little, glancing around with my eyes even when I knew no one was around. Then I took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "You mean it? You're not going to do anything?"
She grinned. "I promise I'm not going to do anything." I tried very hard to ignore the emphasis in her voice.
With another deep breath, I nodded. "There were three girls, plus their gang of friends, but mostly those three. Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Madison Clements."
"And the bl-" she tried to cover her slip with a cough, but I caught it anyway. "The one who hospitalized you?"
No going back, now. "That was Hess."
"Interesting." She said, and I could see it in her eye, she was filing the information away. We stayed still for a few moments while she memorized the names. "And what do you want done about them?"
I sighed. "I don't care. I'd just be happy if they left me alone." Now to add more to the fire. "I don't even go to their school anymore, and I caught two of them stalking me yesterday morning."
Her eyes opened wide and her brows shot up. "Really?"
I nodded. "Sophia's on the track team, so I had to work pretty hard to get away from them." More because she'd been tracking me, but I had no idea how to pass that along without outing myself.
"Her again, huh?" Cassie muttered. "You sure they're stalking you?"
"Absolutely sure." I said seriously.
She hummed, and rubbed her face in one of those stereotypical 'thinking' motions. "Gonna need to ask around." She got up, taking her mostly empty tray with her. "See ya later."
As she walked away, I added "And lay off Tim a bit?"
She waved and said "Yeah, sure." distractedly. I'm pretty sure she'd stopped internalizing things by then, but that was fine. I could always ask about that again later.
I felt excitement churning in my belly. Maybe something was going to happen, now? I desperately ignored the part of myself that was worried I'd set a Nazi on a black girl, but it wasn't too hard to push the thoughts down to a manageable level, mostly drowned out by the good mood and catharsis from getting some of that off my chest.
Cass kept saying she wasn't a Nazi, after all.
---
The rest of the school day was fine. It got a little awkward when the girl who'd asked me out wanted to talk. Erika had heard I was running the martial arts thing Kara was drumming up people for, and wanted confirmation from the horse's mouth, as it were.
I told her that I was, in fact, doing the thing. She perked up out of her shyness just long enough to say she was excited about it, before she left.
I didn't see anyone I knew on my way out the door, not even Amy or Victoria, who I knew hung around a bit sometimes. I sent a quick text to Amy asking where she was, and headed to my planned outing for the day. It wasn't hard to look up art stores around Brockton, and find one that had a good balance of locations, both distance-from-school wise, and probable-price-tags wise.
When I got there, I checked my phone and found a message from Amy, saying she'd met Vicky at the college instead of Arcadia. A little confused, I asked what she meant. While I was browsing the paints, I stopped to read her longer than usual reply. Apparently Victoria was taking classes at the college in the afternoons, instead of high school courses. News to me, but I guess it explained why I never saw her in the halls after lunch. I asked if Amy wanted to hang out later, and she said that'd be fine, after she was done waiting on Vicky's presentation.
All that done, I grabbed a half-decent selection of paints and brushes. A big tube of the green I thought matched the costume, plus a few browns, blues, whites. I could always say I was trying to get into landscape painting or something. Purchases made, I sent Amy another text, asking if she wanted to help paint 'the things' and hang out after, at my place. I got a short 'sure' back while I was catching the bus home.
Once there, I set my purchases by the kitchen table, ran upstairs to grab the masks, and brought them down. Then I dug out the bag full of old newspapers we kept around for firestarting and messes like this, and papered the table with them. Then I squeezed a good dollop of paint out of the green I wanted onto a double-folded square of paper, and started on one of the masks. The one I'd grabbed was an Eidolon light green, and it felt a little odd, brushing the darker tone over the slightly glossy finish. It honestly felt more like elementary school crafts class than anything else. I hadn't bothered with painting at camp, when there were options like archery and horse stuff.
Honestly, taking care of the horses had been more fun than riding them, in my opinion.
I was partway into the second mask when there was a knock at the door. I could feel two people outside the door, but hadn't noticed them approaching. Sure enough, it was Amy and Vicky I spied through the peephole.
"Hey." I said when I opened the door.
Amy returned my 'hey' and Vicky chimed in with "Hi, Taylor."
I gave the blonde a look. "So, college classes?"
Mine was an eyebrow to cow Brutes, apparently. She shuffled and gave a nervous chuckle. "I didn't tell you about that?" I tweaked the brow slightly higher, and Amy started giving her a similar look. "Okay, okay, I just..." She'd raised her hands in defense, then started scratching at her cheek. "I didn't want to sound like I was bragging, after we'd gotten off on the wrong foot in the first place."
I held the look for another moment before I dropped it with a sigh and a shrug. "So what kept you? Amy mentioned a presentation?"
She nodded. "Yeah, had presentations in cape studies, Monday and today, but a lot of them went over time last time, so I volunteered to be one of the students staying longer to give mine, so the people with classes to get to right after the normal time could head out."
"That happen often? How many classes do you have there?"
She shrugged. "Not often, usually have time to hang out a bit before I meet people after school at Arcadia. Just taking cape studies, math and physics. And a lit class Sundays, but I don't always make that one..." she trailed off into mumbles by the end. Skipping class for more social time, I bet.
"So what're you up to?" I didn't want to tell her to get lost, but she wasn't in on me being a cape, and I was really hoping she didn't want to stay and hang out with us.
Instead, she shrugged. "I was just going to stick around the campus library to work on an essay, until Amy said she needed a lift." I caught her sister blushing in the corner of my eye. "So I should maybe get back to that. TTYL?" She waved, which prompted us to give little waves of our own, before she floated up and sped off.
We were still waving awkwardly when she'd passed firmly out of earshot, several blocks over as a fading speck in the sky. "Did she just pronounce an initialism out loud?" I asked.
"Just because she's an extrovert doesn't mean she's not a huge dork." Amy clarified. "So, you wanted help painting?"
I waved her inside and followed after. "I don't need the help, so much as thinking it'd be fun to do together." I showed her the kitchen, all done up for painting. "Plus, we can do other stuff after."
The first thing she did after looking the room over was walk over to the sink, and draw the blinds over the window above it. She slowly screwed the little rod to shut them completely, while I felt my cheeks darkening in a blush. I didn't think about the window opening into the yard, which was enclosed in a fence, but Amy didn't have my foot-senses telling her the other yards were clear. In hindsight though, fliers like Vicky could bypass that pretty easily.
She turned back to find me fidgeting awkwardly. Her heartbeat sped up as she gave a small sigh, her lips twitching up into a smirk. "You doof." She muttered. I gave a little smile of my own, and she came over to the table. "You have any gloves?"
I blinked. Did we? The question made me look down at my own hands, which had a couple of smeared green smudges that further rubbing couldn't dislodge. I grumbled as Amy chuckled at my misfortune. "We've got some of those big rubber ones for toilet cleaning." I recalled out loud.
She shook her head. "Not really what I was after." She dug into her bag a bit, taking a minute or so to come away with a small baggie full of blue plastic. Taking a pair out of their bag, she slipped them on with quiet snaps as the stretchy material clung to her hands.
"Why do you even have those?" I asked, as I watched her replace the baggie.
Amy shrugged. "Just because I can't catch anything doesn't mean other people can't. The nurses got me into the habit of keeping some things around in my civvie gear, like some of them do, just in case."
I didn't mind that she hadn't offered me any. My hands were already marked up, after all. "That's neat. So, painting..." I motioned over to some brushes, one of which I'd been using, and the tube of paint. We both picked up a mask, me grabbing the one I'd already started on, and worked quietly for a bit. Then something I'd wanted to bring up came to mind. "So, I think... I'm going to be forming my own team."
Amy perked up as she looked at me, waiting for me to clarify.
"I don't want to join the Wards, and no offense, but I'd rather not out myself..." She gave a rueful nod. "So I think making my own team is the way to go. I've... sort of got one person lined up already." How much to say about Dinah? "But that's partly about keeping her safe, since she's young and doesn't want to join the Wards either." Amy looked thoughtful, now. "I just... have no idea how to go about recruiting more people."
"What about the indie capes?" She asked, pointing her brush vaguely southward. "I think a bunch of them are set up in the south end of town."
"Really?" I blinked owlishly in confusion. "I hadn't heard of any of them."
Amy shrugged. "They don't make the news. Small-time heroes guarding a couple blocks for a few months until the Nazis snatch them, or villains raiding houses instead of risking the boardwalk shops until the cops catch them, or people stuck in the slums until Lung steps on them..." She wiggled her hand in a so-so motion. "They tend to not last long. Marketing to the cape geek tourists says we've got something like a hundred capes in the city, but it's closer to sixty. We've got about twenty total in both the big gangs and the hero groups, and maybe that many indies, depending on the week. I don't think we've broken seventy since I've been a cape."
That was... actually a lot more than I thought we had. "How do you know all this?"
She shrugged and her heart sped up. "I'm plugged into the rumor mill, remember?" She was lying, had some sort of insider information, but I wasn't going to hold it against her.
"Do you know where any of them are? Like, specifically where?"
Amy shook her head. "Not really, no. I could keep an eye out, though?"
I nodded. "That'd be great, thanks."
We were quiet for the rest of the half hour it took to make sure all six were properly done, before we moved on to meditating. Apparently it'd been helping her mood quite a bit, since she was fairly excited (for her, anyway) to get started.
After a few hours on that, we went outside to practice martial arts to loosen up after all that sitting. Dad came home about half an hour after we started, and offered to call in food. We flipped a coin and decided on Chinese food again, getting some less-noodly options this time.
When the food got here, and everyone was at the table, dad cleared his throat. "Your grandmother is coming by next week, figured I'd remind you."
"Huh. Yeah, alright." I muttered. "We need to do anything more than set up the guest room?"
He scoffed. "She's probably going to stay at a hotel, knowing her. Might be best to clean up the room just in case, though."
Amy cut in. "Does she know about you being a cape?"
I shrugged. "I don't think so?"
Dad cleared his throat nervously. "She... might have some idea about that, yeah."
I couldn't help but gawk a little. "Really?"
"I was obtuse about it." He defended. "Didn't give any details, let her make her own conclusions. All she knows is that you might need help with things." He looked like he wanted to say more, but kept silent.
Groaning a little, I muttered, "At least it's just Gram."
"What could she help with?" Amy asked, curiously. "What does she do?"
With a shrug, I took a moment to think about it before I answered. "She runs one of those retail pharmacy chains. Y'know, the ones that try to be a drug store and a supermarket, but have to pick which one they get right?" I didn't really want to relay which one, I was still mildly embarrassed every time I wound up stopping in at one, I didn't want to extend that into my social circle. She seemed to get that I didn't want to talk about it, though.
"Yeah, I think I know what you mean." She slowly replied. "So, what? You think she can help with legal stuff? Money things?"
Dad shrugged and made a waffly, unsure noise. I could tell he was embarrassed and trying to hide it. "Yeah, pretty much."
I decided to bail him out. "She also does investments and things. Mostly medical research."
Amy made an acknowledging grunt. "So, what's she like?"
Dad groaned and rolled his hand, giving away his thoughts on the woman.
"She's always been nice to me, but... kinda' distant. Really controlling, mom didn't get along with her very well." I answered.
"They were too similar." Dad cut in. "Annette was the same way, always had to know what was going on, have some say in things, when she wasn't the one planning everything. The captain of her ship." He said, wistfully. "Rosalind always had to have her way. Had Annette's life planned out for her since before she was out of diapers. By the time teenage rebellion caught her, Anne'd had enough. Started bucking back, used University as an excuse to get away so she could run off with a bad crowd..." Yeah, maybe not telling Amy about mom's gang days, just yet... "Never reconnected. They started talking again after Taylor was born, but there was always this tension whenever they interacted." He shrugged, helplessly. "She's been good to Taylor, but she's not a nice woman."
I wanted to refute what he'd said, but I really couldn't. With a wince and a groan, I nodded. "Yeah, kinda."
Amy hummed. Then she perked up. "So wait," She pointed her fork at me. "You're like, some big pharma heiress?"
"No?" I couldn't keep the questioning whine out of my denial, and she pounced on it.
"You are!" She was smiling a big, wide grin. The sort with too many teeth. "How does that work? You don't act like a rich kid."
I sighed. "Estranged, remember? Probably have some cousin I don't know about who'll inherit everything."
Dad hummed, shook his head a little, and went back to his food.
Well, shit.
Amy didn't seem to catch it, though. "Sorry. Didn't want to dig up family trouble." I could feel the emphasis she put there. For all that New Wave put on a strong front, I'd picked up enough cues to know it was a front. I didn't want to pick at her family issues either, so I decided to drop it.
I asked some inane question about the English teacher's essay assignments, knowing Amy was a year ahead of me and would know which one I was talking about. It served to break attention away from the drama, and we got back to our meal.
---
When we'd finished eating, I grabbed a hoodie because it was getting a little chilly out, and we went back to training. Amy'd gotten some basic forms down, so I decided it was time to start evasion training. The big limitation to her power was the risk of being taken down before she could close range, after all. So, I pretended to have a gun, 'firing' rocks from the bunch in my hand, pretending to throw them to appease Amy's paranoia about me outing myself. We quickly decided that running towards someone with a gun was pretty stupid, and went back to dodging at range to find cover.
About half an hour after Amy was tired of that, because training isn't always fun, we cooled down with more Tai Chi forms. For want of something to talk about, I grasped at straws.
"So, you coming to the thing Friday?" I didn't stop moving to ask.
She stumbled a bit, and looked confused for a second. "Oh, that. I dunno, am I invited to your lesbian orgies, now?"
This time it was me stumbling, not to mention sputtering. "It's not like that!" I whined, trying to fight down a blush.
Amy shrugged. "Usually is, with her. And it's all her friends coming, soo..." she trailed off.
I huffed. "Not going to be like that. If they try to start something like that, I'll just leave."
She let out an exaggerated sigh. "I suppose if the poor maiden needs me to protect her virtue, I don't have any choice but to go."
I growled low in my throat, which just made her smirk harder. "Not like you're not a 'maiden' either." I grumbled.
"Yeah," She acknowledged with a shrug, putting her hands up in a 'why not' gesture and grinning. "Except I've actually got kinks. You're vanilla as fuck." She pondered for a second. "More than, really."
My blushing wound up getting worse. "I don't need kinks, and don't need to hear about yours!" I stomped my foot with another huff, not helping my image at all, but not really caring. It was just Amy, after all.
She stifled giggles at my reaction, then started chuckling. "Sure thing, vanilla bean."
"Don't call me that." I grumbled. I had no idea why she was blushing a little now, but I heaved out a sigh. "Well, I'm not in the mood to practice anymore. You calling Vicky for a ride again?"
Amy shrugged and grabbed her phone to text her sister, then we headed inside to wait. After a few minutes of awkwardly skimming mom's old books in the living room, she checked her phone again and groaned. "Nothing. Probably sucking Dean's face again." She stared at her phone for another few seconds and sighed. "I don't suppose I could get a ride?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, that should be fine. Lemme go ask dad." I headed up to dad's room, where he was working at his desk on something. I asked about a ride for Amy and he agreed, getting up and stretching with a groan before he followed me downstairs.
When we got down there, Amy rattled off an address, dad said he knew the area, and we all piled into the truck with me sitting in the middle. Our truck only had the one bench-seat style row, not anything fancy. I was mostly coming along because I was curious about the Dallon's place.
We were most of the way through the first song after Dad turned on the radio when we heard a series of crashes behind us. Dad swerved off the road in time to miss the flickering blur that raced past us.
All three of us muttered some manner of expletive over the event, and I pushed Amy and motioned for the door. She got out, and I hopped after her.
"Masks?" I asked, prompting her to start digging through her bag.
"Taylor?" Dad asked, hands still on the wheel, looking a bit shell-shocked as he watched us.
"I have to help." I said. He shook his head, and I pressed on. "I have to help eventually, I might as well start now."
First thing's first. Stop the truck. I could feel it, blocks away now. I dropped, my knee and fist hitting the ground prompting pillars of road to shoot up around and in front of the truck. I wasn't sure it would be enough to make them stop, but the driver slammed on the breaks and started skidding, coming to a stop well before they had to. As I rose, I thrust my fist up, cutting off their retreat with more pillars.
Amy handed me the entire partial pack of cheap masks she'd had in her bag. I grabbed one, pocketed the rest, and tossed her bag into the cab before Dad could argue, shutting the door behind it. Amy looked a tad perplexed by my actions as I put the mask on. Then I grabbed her in a bridal carry and started running.
It had nothing on Glory airlines, I was sure, but she still squealed briefly and clutched on tight as we took off. I made a beeline for a fenced in yard between here and the truck, leaping it with an air assist. By the time we made it there, the residents of the house were still slowly making their way out front to see what the ruckus was, so I knew we were safe for a bit.
Immediately, I shucked my shirt and hoodie, pulling the shirt out to tie it around my head like I'd seen in a diagram online. My masked eyes peered out of the neck-hole as I tied the arms behind my head. Amy was just getting over her surprise and shock then.
"You know it's probably bad if we're seen together, right?"
I raised a fist with one finger out. "You live just down the street." I raised a second. "Saving lives is more important." I dropped my hand and put my hoodie back on.
"I don't think it is." I glared at her, and we heard gunshots. Two of the men who'd gotten out of the truck to run dropped as we looked in that direction. "But you'd just drag me along anyway. Fine." she conceded.
It was a bit easier picking her up when she let me. I vaulted the wall with a gust of air, and started down the street at a wind-propelled sprint. we crossed the intervening blocks in seconds, and I was forced to use airbending to help slow our speed when we got there.
There were three capes here, two were inspecting the truck from a few feet away from it, one in red and black robes, and the other in a red catsuit. The third, a blond man in a black breastplate, was standing over the third and last man from the truck, who was on his front on the ground, hands over his head. His compatriots were groaning on the ground near the pillars to either side of the truck. One clutching his thigh, the other his stomach.
We all stared at each other for a moment, before the girls clustered together near one of the pillars, catsuit holding robe's left arm while her right scribbled something on the asphalt chunk at the top of the pillar, causing it to break free and float in front of them. The man turned towards us, but didn't move after that, gun still pointed at the man on the ground.
"Now this is interesting." He said.
I set Amy down, and she headed straight for gut-wound, the closer of the two injured men. "I'm going to need you to put the gun down." I said firmly.
"Really?" He asked with a chuckle. His features firmed into stoicism and he wiggled the gun slightly. "I don't think you're the one dictating terms, here. You leave, and we won't follow."
I glanced my eyes around. There was a huge slab of asphalt off to the side, which was probably how they got here, if the robed girl was Rune, like I thought. The man was almost certainly Victor, which made the other girl Othala. Situation assessed, I turned my eyes back to him.
Then I tapped my heel to the ground.
The girls shrieked as the ground fell from under them, landing them in a pit. A turn of my foot, grinding it against the asphalt saw the dirt in the pit constricting around them.
"Nope." His eyes were wide as he turned them from his compatriots back to me. "You put down the gun, then-" I let out a pained squawk as the floating piece of asphalt slammed into my face.
So Rune didn't need hand-motions to control things. This was valuable information.
By the time I'd shaken myself back to awareness and kipped up onto my feet, Rune had dug the girls out with trump-granted super-strength, and Victor had regrouped near them. Othala was standing with a hand each on the others' shoulders, and the large mass of asphalt they'd rode in on was hovering ominously nearby.
The gun was pointed at me, now.
"That was rather rude." Victor said, his voice surprisingly calm. "I will reiterate my original offer. Leave, or else."
Okay, so they weren't shooting me. That was good. "Why are you even here?" I asked.
"It should be obvious." He nodded towards the truck.
"It really isn't." I shot back.
"They were assaulting our territory, and we were punishing them for it."
The unwounded man on the ground snarled. "Didn't do nuthin' 'till they started-" he was cut off by a gunshot, and started screaming. By the time my attention was back on Victor, the gun was pointed at me again.
"Pretty sure that was rude." I growled.
We stood there at an impasse for almost half a minute. Victor was angry and stressed, but forcing himself to be more calm. Othala was anxious, but mostly had this weird giddy feeling. It was parts happiness, joy, excitement... I think she was a little turned on by the fighting, though that might have been working with Victor. I'd heard they were close, possibly even lovers or married. Rune was the odd duck out, her feelings not really centered on the fight at all. She was wary and anxious which I assumed were fight related, but her emotions were dominated by shock, confusion, and worry. The sort of compassionate fear one feels for others. That didn't seem right, but I was more worried about the fight. What to try next, how to dodge so that even if I was hit, I'd still be alive for Amy to fix me up, which of them I should prioritize... I was still cycling through possibilities when the world turned purple. Victor dove in front of Othala, a beam of purple energy splashing against him from above me. I turned and looked up, finding Lady Photon in her civilian clothes glaring thunderously at the trio through the shield she'd thrown up between us and them.
"I think we'll be leaving, now." Victor stated, motioning for Rune to bring the platform over. Othala kept her hands on the pair. I knew she needed touch for her power, but holding on like she was seemed significant in a way I couldn't quite understand.
"What makes you so sure of that?" Photon Mom asked, and from her tone I was pretty sure her hands were glowing.
The gun turned to point at Amy. "I can think of a couple reasons."
"You can't." She hissed.
Victor smirked. "I can shoot the wings off a fly, and the rules are a might fuzzy about kneecaps."
Everyone knew Amy couldn't heal herself. As far as they knew, an injury like that would put her in the hospital for months, and might cripple her for life. I wasn't sure I could heal that kind of damage.
Amy joined us in glaring, from where she'd been kneeling next to the leg-shot man, having finished stabilizing gut-shot.
"Fine." Sarah snarled out after a tense few seconds.
The trio took their time climbing on, going one at a time and making sure not to break their contact chain. Victor was last, gun pointed unerringly at Amy, even as they started floating away. By the time they were far enough that I'd doubt his ability to make the shot, they were high enough in the air that taking out their ride would almost certainly kill at least one of them.
There was a crack of air as Dauntless landed nearby like a lightning bolt. "Is everyone okay?" He asked after glancing around.
"Yeah." Amy answered, having gotten back to work.
"Victor, Rune, and Othala were here. They flew off that way." Lady Photon pointed.
He paused for a second. "Armsmaster's on the way now. We might be able to catch them." She nodded, and the two took off into the sky.
I heaved in a breath. "Well, that happened." I walked over to Amy. "Need help?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine." She said, tersely. "You just had to play hero." She added, a few seconds later.
"I can't not help."
After a moment, she sighed. "I know."
I started fixing the place up, after that. Pushing the pillars back down one at a time, filling in the hole I'd dumped the girls into. I was debating whether or not to try fixing the road surface when I heard the motorcycle approaching. By now people had stopped watching from their houses, and were standing nearby, but none had come close enough to try talking to us yet.
The blue chromed bike slowed to a stop just outside the street damage, offloading its matching rider. I'd dreamed of moments like this, meeting the heroes, him in particular. I took a deep breath and pushed the giddy excitement down. Nobody would appreciate the fangirling right now. Armsmaster observed the damage, then strode over. I was having trouble reading him through the alloys of his suit, and the suspension system in his greaves and boots.
"You're the geokinetic." He stated as fact. He gave me a once-over, then added, "Not much of a costume."
"Because it isn't one." I shot back.
He paused to process the statement, then gave a thoughtful hum. He turned to where Amy was fixing up the last guy. "Everyone is fine?"
"They will be." She answered, and he nodded.
Turning back to me, he said, "Not everyone would jump into a fight, plainclothes."
I shrugged. "Heroes gotta hero."
He chuffed and smirked. "You know we have a team for that."
I blushed a little, not that he could see it. I stifled the fidgeting as much as I could. "I know, but I can't."
The smirk faded a bit. "Are you sure you won't reconsider?"
I heaved in an unsteady breath. "Please, don't."
His face grew stony as he nodded. "Dauntless mentioned Empire capes. What happened?"
The vans full of PRT troopers showing up gave me time to think as I watched them file out and case the scene. Couldn't mention being with Amy when things kicked off, but I didn't have to veer too far from the truth. "Heard crashing, so I investigated. The truck," I indicated the vehicle in question. "Was invisible. I made pillars around it to make it stop, and it did. The capes came flying in, shot the guys..." why wouldn't they have shot me, in that scenario? "I don't think they knew I was here. So I jump out, tell them to stop, they tell me to leave, and we get into a bit of a standoff until Lady Photon showed up. Then they threatened..." Can't call her Amy. "Panacea with the gun, so we let them leave. Dauntless showed up and they flew off."
Armsmaster stared for a beat, then turned to look at Amy, though he was still addressing me. "And ms Dallon?"
I blinked, and shrugged. "I don't know when she showed up." Good, didn't make it sound like a question.
He stared for another beat, and I could imagine his eyes narrowing. Eventually he gave a brief nod. "I'll need a name for my report."
The first thing that came to mind after looking around and ruminating on it for a bit seemed fitting enough. "Terraform."
Armsmaster scowled. "Are you aware that name was used previously?"
"Was it?" Oh no. None of the other options that came to mind sounded anywhere near as good.
He nodded. "One of the tinkers who worked on Sphere's moonbase project. He was hunted down by Mannequin."
I stood in shocked silence for a few seconds. That wasn't great, but... "Was he a hero?" Armsmaster seemed to hesitate, but gave a small nod. "Then it's fine."
At first I thought he was going to argue, but a few moments later, he gave a brief sigh out his nose, and nodded. He glanced around, and asked, "Can you fix the road?"
"Oh, yeah," I perked up and observed the damage. "I was waiting a bit though, it's probably going to smell."
His head tilted slightly and I imagined his brow was quirked. I responded by flashing out a stream of fire along part of the line of former-pillars, then packed the gravel tight in the now-molten tar. Armsmaster had jumped back slightly when I started, and was eyeing me warily.
"Not just a geokinetic, then." It was a statement, but I could hear the request for clarification in his tone.
"Nope." I replied.
"...Grab bag?"
"I don't think so." I shook my head.
Another minute inclination of his head. "Then, what is your power, if you don't mind?"
I shrugged. "Classical elements."
He spent a few seconds processing this, before letting out a slightly impressed hum. He waved a hand to indicate the rest of the damage, said "Carry on." And turned to walk over and talk to Amy.
I squeed internally.
The giddy hop to my step as I turned to get back to work was entirely necessary. Even the rank stench of molten tar couldn't bring my mood down. Though it did stifle my smile a bit when I started tasting the stink after grinning to hard. When I finished, I waited off to the side. It didn't take long for Amy to be done, but instead of heading over to me, she took out her phone. Moments later I felt mine vibrate. I turned away, grabbed it, and noticed I had two texts. One from Amy telling me to meet her two streets over, and one from dad, telling me he was waiting for us at the Dallon's.
I couldn't help the feeling of impending dread as I jogged around a corner and hopped a fence. I did the next couple too, just to be safe, before I found one I was sure to be private. I fixed my shirt and hoodie before taking off the mask. Another hop, and I was off to find Amy.
She was standing around, irritably tapping a foot as she waited. She spotted me coming, and turned with a quirked brow, frowning disapprovingly.
"What?" I asked, causing the frown to intensify. "What'd I do?"
Her heart rate jumped, and she sighed, shaking her head. "Let's just go meet your dad."
"Oh, he sent a text saying he'd meet us there." She froze, turning wide eyes on me, before she cussed and started power-walking down the street.
The walk was quiet and tense as we skipped over another couple blocks and turned. I knew we were there when I recognized one of the cars when we were half a block from it. The house was fairly nice, but all of them were, compared to ours. Everything in the bay got nicer as you went south, at least until you hit Arcadia. Even then, aside from the Boardwalk and the mansions out west near Captain's Hill, the nicest parts of town were still further south, like the Towers and the area around Medhall.
Amy didn't slow as she stormed up the porch steps and opened the door. I followed her in to find Dad sitting on one of the couches, with presumably mr and mrs Dallon on the other. Dad heaved out a relieved sigh when he saw me, mr Dallon gave us a tired smile, and mrs Dallon turned judging eyes on the pair of us. I couldn't help but gulp under her scrutiny.
"Hey, dad." I managed, with a wave.
"You two," Carol snapped, "have some explaining to do."