The sun was radiant. Brockton Bay had rarely seen such a bright day, although this did very little to change the reality of living in the city. Still, the sun shone brightly.
And riding it's harsh glare was the mighty Hippogriff, it's master, a noble knight, just as majestic as his steed, basking in the rush of such a high altitude ride, and his master, our hero, with all the grace of a child, clenching his ass cheeks in the face of imminent humiliation.
"What do you think, Master? Is it everything you had hoped it would be!"
Astolfo constantly had the voice and air of an eager child, even when it seemed one should be anything but, and it was even apparent when shouting over the roar of the wind. Knowing him - yes, him - for even a short amount of time, one would come to know that this was not a question but rather a statement made out of glee and exuberance.
Having known him for more than a short time now, his passenger found this trait delightful, but at this very moment, when he was a second away from a bathroom accident, he found it rather insensitive, so he could not help but be short in his response due to this and his agitation. "Ye-yeah! It is!" He lasted approximately five more seconds after this. "Astolfo-let's-go-down-now!"
Astolfo certainly did not enjoy enough time with his mount, but after some bickering the two finally started to descend from over the bay, yet, despite what Astolfo might say, people do indeed look up in a world where humans can fly and leap over rooftops in a single bound, and the pair were noticed.
But before they could fret over their presence on social media later, the pair would have to avoid embarrassing themselves in the presence of a prominent super heroine.
"...ing to have to deal with it when we get back, huh...Jesus christ, what a pain-"
"Master, wait, someone is coming."
"Wha-huh!? What! Where!?"
As his Master panicked, Astolfo took care of everything he needed to in order to make sure he saved face, as any good servant should do. The Hippogriff made a soft landing on one of apartment buildings it was being flown above, in full view of everyone who happened to be standing at their window, and Astolfo turned it calmly to greet the flyer who was approaching them. If they turned and stopped to greet them before they even came into view it would make them look pretty cool. Moments later, a member of the city's unmasked superhero ream glided down and floated just above the roof. Fair hair, creamy skin, thin pouty lips. She was a sight in her white and gold spandex and cape, and the tiara made her look like a warrior princess, but Astolfo needed to close his jaw and return his eyes to their normal size. This was their first encounter with a 'cape'. He needed to display control and professionalism in this encounter.
Glory Girl on the other hand, was treated to the sight of the most feminine and unearthly girl she had ever seen, dressed in the most elaborate and regal looking costume around that didn't detract one bit from her beauty and elegance - the neck of her white cape was lined with fur and she wore white and gold armour over black underclothes. She really liked her style, and honestly thought this girl looked like an angel, but figured she should probably try to display some professionalism here, she was a big name after all and she was technically representing her family, even while on spontaneous outings like this.
Astolfo was awestruck by this woman, he felt even more giddy than usual.
But he needed. To stay. Professional.
"Hi."
"Hiya!"
The Hippogriff made a sound that the Astolfo couldn't decipher.
"Woah, that's one helluva a way to fly! Is that thing real?" Glory Girl and this new cape felt they could trust each other right away. She couldn't help but notice she was wearing her 'girl' smile. "Sorry. You were just flying around town all over the place. I happen to notice. People are kind of uneasy."
The Pink Rider was making noises of agreement and nodding vigorously as she preened at the attention. A giddy sound of - came out from the back of her throat. "Oh-shucks! Thank you for noticing! And she's absolutely one hundred percent real! You can touch her If you want! Do you want a ride later on! Even though you can fly-"
"-Astolfo!" Oh, and there was some guy behind her who looked like every boy she passed in her school corridors. His eyes were popping out of his skull and he looked like he was being caught naked. When the poor guy at the back finally got his bearings he covered the side of his face with his hand and looked off to the side. A little late at that point, even more so that he didn't have a mask on, but, looking at his plain clothes, Victoria didn't really know what he was even doing here.
Although he was just as awestruck - and smitten - he couldn't bear to talk to this woman while there was any excuse not to, and right now was a good excuse to get into a spat with his friend, no matter how rude it was. He turned to his companion. "What're you doing!"
"I'm making a new friend of course!" The wide smile never left his face as he responded to the frantic whispers. Even though they had no place to be and this was obviously a great heroine in front of them, his Master was admonishing him for 'dragging things out' again. Honestly, he thought his Master just didn't like being seen by people. "You need to get out more. Honestly, you don't need to be so shy, I think you're great!"
This only seemed to make the whispering more frantic. "What! No! That's not why you're doing this and you know it! Just-Look, Rider, we need to go."
Those last words were spoken with a sudden authority if the look on the girl's face was anything to go by. It looked like they were about to make off right there, but Glory Girl didn't watch them argue with each other for long before she spoke up.
"Hey, hey! It's cool." She immediately gains their attention again. "You guys are new, right?"
"We sure are! We're here to help humanity stem back the tide of death and destruction from these dastardly villains!"
"Um... yeah. We're, uh-We're good guys. So, um... yeah, you don't need to worry about us causing any trouble."
Some semblance of normalcy was regained. The shy one was speaking more clearly now, trying to reassure her. She had that effect on people.
"Cool! You guys need to be careful though, it's seriously dangerous out there for newbies. The protectorate can definitely help, but you do you." The rest of the family weren't going to believe that there'd be a Griffon in air with them now. "I'm just here because you caused a little panic. Don't sweat it though, I'll put in a good word at the Rig, let them know you're on the up and up. No need to thank me!"
Apart from a briefly perplexed look on their faces, Victoria was satisfied they'd understood all the important stuff, and on that last line she was already off to whatever she was up to on this Saturday morning.
Astolfo was already missing her.
"Aww, she was nice! I hope we didn't take up too much of her time! I wonder how she got in costume so quick! Do you think she used a phone booth!" Meanwhile, his quieter half was muttering to himself just as much, although about very different concerns.
"...Air zones?...ah shit, I totally forgot about those..."
"Do you think New Wave will call us for missions now? She really liked my Hippogriff huh! Do you wanna order pizza?"
Astolfo was shaking his arms in glee as he sat on the bed of their dingy motel room. His Master was quite lethargic on the other hand, he hadn't moved much from his bed. The ride sure must have taken a toll on him. Astolfo had been going off for so long now that his roommate almost didn't catch the question.
"Huh? Oh...Yeah, sure. We'll get some." Astolfo was on him in a second. "Ah! Wha-Astolfo what?"
"Master." Master might not have been the most sociable person, but he had been "Are you okay?"
He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes before he replied. It was 3:23 PM. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Astolfo was quiet for a moment.
"Yeah, look. We really should get to work now. What were those...uh... those three guys' powers again?"
His Servant didn't respond right away. In fact he huffed and then went to lie down on the bed with his legs dangling over the edge. "I don't know, haven't you found out by now."
"Yeah...it's just, I had to get my bearings first, and money was an issue, and I barely had any time...Look...There was...c'mon...uh...the one that could zap us. Blaster. And I think he was a striker too. And brute. Then there was the one with the shaper power. And...-"
"-the schemey one!-"
"-yup, the schemey one. Yeah. Thinkers, I think they're called." The classifications for powers were actually very fun to learn for both Astolfo and his Master. It was like a game trying to classify and sort capes with these names and devise strategies against them, because they were were doing 'professional reconnaissance'. Not to mention it made it much easier for them to remember what kind of danger each cape posed, since they weren't forced to rely on their memories for such important information. They would just stay away from strikers and brutes, keep an eye on their surroundings with shapers, and generally be wary of thinkers. The discussion had revitalised them both. "Now we just have to find them, eh? Let me look em up. What was the shaper called, it's on the tip of my tongue..."
These capes were why they were here after all. Humanity was in a bit of a bind you see, and unlike the countless races in their galaxy, humanity had a collective will to survive strong enough to act when people themselves were unable to or unaware of the danger their species faced. A will with only enough power to act through it's servants, and the complete souls of exceptional individuals from humanity's past, present, and future. Through this, it would work against the alien parasites that were the cause of so much conflict on the planet right now, conflict that would eventually lead to the destruction of mankind.
"...ah, Leviathan."