Icarus
"Thank you, again, for helping me move," I said to Lindsay as I pulled another one of the boxes out of the back of her car. We were both off today, and with my apartment lease expiring soon, I didn't know if I'd have time to move later. It wasn't like I'd been home much anyway. Probably three or four days? It had been before the meeting with Blink. Even worse, apparently I had left the window open, too, and a swarm of moths had taken residence in my closet.
"Seriously, a scythe?" my teammate asked as she grabbed her own box from the rusted-out sedan presently dripping oil onto the gray concrete of the PRT's parking garage.
"Like I said, it was a costume piece, from before I triggered," I said with a shrug.
"And you don't use stuff like this in combat?"
"I mean, it's nothing compared to what I can make now. Just last night I designed a napalm module for my arm. Don't worry," I said quickly once I saw her expression. "It was silly, and I adapted it into a confoam launcher. I couldn't get back to sleep unless I made something."
That last part was a lie, if I was honest. Another nightmare. Even after two years, I still couldn't bring myself to fall back asleep after them. Not if it meant reliving it again.
"Brenna?" Lindsay asked. I blinked, and looked over at her. "Stop being a nutjob. I don't care if you turn your arm into a flamethrower."
"I...sorry," I said, taking a deep breath. We made our way over to the elevator, and after the doors opened I set my box down in the gap before running back to help Lindsay grab the last of the boxes. Six smallish boxes. And a scythe. Everything that had been at the apartment, except for some furniture I supposed the next tenant could have. Or however that worked.
The elevator ride up was, as always, smooth and uneventful. On the other end, the same method—a box to block the elevator doors, and a couple trips through the wide hallways leading to the Wards HQ, back and forth to get everything tossed in my room.
On second thought, it was probably a bit rude to block one of the building's elevators, especially during the lunch rush, when twenty floor's worth of PRT staff descended upon the cafeteria. All that thought did though, was remind my grumbling stomach that I hadn't eaten in a couple hours. I'm not THAT hungry. Not for PRT food.
Instead, I distracted myself by getting unpacked into the room. With how little I had, it didn't take long. The drab PRT-issue walls got covered in posters; my clothes, spare costume, and all my old cosplay stuff got thrown in the closet. My laptop got put on the desk, next to the bonsai Mom had brought home from when she'd visited Japan a few years back.
There was a knock at the door. I opened the door to find Jordan, still in his Flashstep costume.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked, stepping back to let him in. "How was patrol?"
Instead of responding, Jordan's mouth opened wide in surprise.
"Are you okay?" I asked, a little concerned.
"That's so cool! That Fatality Crusade poster is so rare! And is that a real bonsai tree? Shit!"
I blushed. I'd never had anyone react so enthusiastically to my interests. "Uh yeah. I got the poster from the 2007 premiere, and my mom brought the tree from Japan on one of her business trips."
"She went to Japan? Neat. I wish I could see it, even if..." he trailed off awkwardly.
"Yeah, me too."
"Oh! I almost forgot. Uh, Ben wants us in his office. He says its important."
Ugh. "Uh, right now? Give me a second to get ready."
"Okay." He said, not moving for a second. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh!" he exclaimed, before disappearing.
I closed the door before throwing off my sweaty moving clothes in favor of my Icarus costume. I looked at my mask briefly before placing it on with an always–satisfying click.
Flashstep gave me a small wave as I stepped out of my room.
"Do you know what this is about?" I asked as we walked down the corridor and onto the elevator.
He shrugged. "I dunno. Just said it was important."
"Of course," I said, exasperated.
We didn't talk the rest of the way to Ben the Asshole PR Guy's office down on the third floor, though I noticed Flashstep glancing at me occasionally.
"Come in," Ben said before Flashstep had the chance to even knock. "Have a seat."
Before we even made it halfway to the chairs sitting across from his cluttered desk, he continued, "I understand you two have an...appreciation for 'anime' and the like. You are going to the next convention in Denver this Saturday. For obvious reasons, I'm not about to ask the other Wards. This is an opportunity for some PR, to show our heroes in public outside of patrols."
"Okay. Uh, is there anything we have to do there?" Flashstep said.
"We will need you to attend some Q&A, where two of my staff will be there to assist you. Other than that, you will need to attend and participate in the...activities," Ben said, grumbling at the end.
"Cool! That's cool with you, Icarus, right?" he said, turning towards me with a hopeful expression.
"Yes! Yes yes yes! I mean, yeah, it's cool. Totally cool," I said, in a totally-chill way.
"No shenanigans, Flashstep. I better not be dealing with any 'surprises' after..." he trailed off in a tone that suggested something like that had happened before.
"Uh, yes sir, I mean no sir," Flashstep said nervously.
"That is all. Please go away," Ben said, exasperated somehow. I couldn't imagine why.
I could barely contain my excitement as we walked out the door. The moment Flashstep shut Ben's door, I jumped and squeed.
"Yes! Oh my god yes!" I shouted, hugging Flashstep in excitement, who somehow became stiff as a board.
I realized what I did and stepped back, blushing. I couldn't help but notice the blush on Flashstep.
"Go away!" I could hear Ben shout from within his office.
"How are you supposed to move in this thing?" I complained, my voice muffled by the black bandanna over my face. "Seriously, it's impossible to breathe in this thing."
"It was your idea," Flashstep said, doing a twirl in my costume.
"I was joking!"
"If you didn't want me calling your bluff, you shouldn't have made it in the first place," he said smugly.
I made a pouting face I knew he couldn't see behind my "mask".
"Seriously, though, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. I just...your costume wasn't designed with boobs in mind, okay?" Armored bodysuits didn't have as much give as one would think. The more irritating pain was from my wings—more specifically, the lack thereof.
I'd cannibalized some of my old testing equipment, to make a "harness" of sorts for Jordan to wear under my costume, that my wings could attach to. He wasn't about to do any flying, but if you didn't look too closely they looked okay, and I'd even wired a battery and a handheld remote-control to snap them open and shut in case he wanted to show off. He'd turned down my offer to amputate his arm, and instead we'd managed to put together a "sleeve" that almost looked right. It wasn't my best work, but to be fair it had been awhile since I'd made something without the help of my Tinker power.
Around us, the summer Rocky Mountain Cape Convention was in full swing. Vendors of all sorts, with various people acting as speakers and presenters on all sorts of topics. Because Jordan and I were there for "outreach", we got to attend the con for free.
Seriously. We were essentially getting paid to go to a con. Who said being a hero didn't come with perks?
I noticed a boy wearing a Legend t-shirt glance at Flashstep before saying, "Meh, seen better."
Excuse me?
"I'll have you know that that is the real thing!" I blurted out.
"Wait, you're a girl? Why are you going as Flashstep?"
"Because I'm going as Icarus," Flashstep blurted out, twirling again as he did so.
The boy stood there with a confused look. "Wait, am I seriously meeting the Wards costume swapping, or is this some weird joke?"
"Yes," Flashstep said, nodding.
"Flashstep, Icarus," I heard someone say behind me. I turned away from the confused boy only to find myself face to face with an even more exasperated Ben the Asshole PR Guy.
"Oh, I thought you weren't going to be here?" Flashstep asked.
"Someone called off," Ben said, angrily. "Follow me. Now."
We followed Ben, who was almost stomping, over to what I assumed was the room for official PRT stuff.
As soon as we were inside, he turned around. "What. Are. You. Two. Doing? I said no shenanigans! No shenanigans! How hard is that to understand?"
"Shenanigans?" I said, cocking my head, grinning.
"If it weren't for the fact that we had no time, I would you be telling you to change right now. As it is, I expect you to be on your best behavior during the Q&A. Understand?"
"But hey, we're pulling it off, aren't we?" I said.
"No. Just...no. We're going to start off the Q&A by explaining it as some kind of joke, and you two are going to answer your own questions as you really are."
"Okay," Flashstep said glumly.
"Dude. It's cosplay. Look around," I said deadpan.
"You aren't here to cosplay. You are here to represent the Wards, and you are turning it into a joke. There will be repercussions, I can promise you that."
Jeez. Someone really woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Did he even have the power to make repercussions?
"The room is opening in two minutes. Go to the back, and wait for my assistant to signal you over to the panel."
We headed to the back as asked. Flashstep touched one of the chairs along the way.
I see how it is, making a cool entrance for yourself when I can't right now.
We found a couple of boxes to wait on. Flashstep somehow managed to exaggerate sitting down, appearing daintily. Someone was really enjoying himself. One of Ben's office drones leaned against a wall, tapping away at his phone.
I peaked through a break in the curtain and found Ben fussing with his suit while holding a mirror in front of him.
The con-goers streamed in like a flood all of a sudden, a mass of boys and the occasional girl in all sorts of costumes. I smiled upon noticing a couple Icarus cosplays, though they could use some work at a quick glance. It then struck me that one of them was wearing a prosthetic arm stylized similar to my own, though it was on the other arm.
I supposed that was part of being a hero. It felt odd, having someone look up to me because of...similarities.
Conversation buzzed through the crowd as they sat down, though it didn't take long before everyone found seats. I noticed Ben step forward, and while I couldn't see his face, I could tell his body posture changed entirely. He raised his hands and everyone went silent.
"Greetings to you all, and thank you for attending the April 2010 Wards QA panel. My name is Ben Kessel, and as the head of the PRT Public Relations department, I am pleased to introduce our two heroes who will be here today, with a slight twist."
His assistant pointed at us and waved. We took that as the signal. As Flashstep disappeared, I walked over to the panel.
"Say hello to Flashstep and our newest Ward, Icarus!"
What the fuck. He's...not being an asshole?
Flashstep and I waved as a chorus of applause sounded from the crowd. This might actually be fun. Several in the crowd seemed confused, probably given Flashstep's entrance wearing my costume. The rest probably figured it out already.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave this up to the two heroes. You may ask your questions."
Numerous hands went up, and one of Ben's office drones selected one seemingly at random.
A boy wearing an Alexandria t-shirt stood up. "This question is for Flashstep. Can you tag anything with your power?"
"Not exactly," Flashstep said, confusing everyone in the room. "I can tag any solids, whether it be a lamp post or a single speck of dust. I can't tag any gasses or liquids."
A girl with a blue hat, that faintly reminded me of some superhero, but I couldn't remember who, stood up. "Are you two wearing each other's costumes?"
"Yes," I said. "Did you have another question?"
"Oh uh...How are you liking life in the Wards so far?"
"It's nice, actually. A lot of changes to get used to, compared to running solo. Having a teammate to watch my back is nice, and, well, as a Tinker I have a lot more access to tools and materials. Not gonna lie though, the PRT cafeteria will give you powers if you don't have them already."
Flashstep nodded. "My own changed after eating that goop."
I was pleased to hear the brief laughter before more hands shot up.
The girl with the missing arm and Icarus cosplay stood up. "I've gotta say, I love the representation we see in the Wards and Protectorate. Makes me feel a bit better." I smiled as she took a deep breath. "Umm, Icarus, do you ever intend on making some prosthetics for other people?"
I shrugged at that. "It's something I've considered, but Tinkertech requires a lot of maintenance, and even most another Tinkers would have trouble due to my...niche, if you want to call it that? I mean, Having my arm back is great, but I spend hours doing maintenance on it. When you add on the wings...let's just say I don't have much of a social life anymore." I laughed, a little nervously.
A larger boy in what might have been a Myrddin cosplay based on the...robe stood up. "Hey Icarus, do you have any tips on cosplaying you?"
"Oh, yes!" Now it was time to get even with Jordan for him enjoying this so much. I leaped up, and grabbed Flashstep, who just so happened to be wearing my costume. The next few minutes were spent with me pointing out various details and things while Flashstep stood there awkwardly.
Finally, I showed a little mercy, and let him sit down, "...and that's all I can really think of right now. If I think of anything else, it'll probably end up on PHO or something." I took a deep breath and sat, ignoring the strange look from Ben.
A guy in a surprisingly good Eidolon costume stood up. "Icarus. Before you joined the Wards, you basically went after the Ravens the whole time. Why did you target them specifically?"
"Because they're disgusting?" I said, a little angrier than I intended. "I grew up in Denver, I've lived here basically my whole life. Next question, please?" I wasn't too confident in my ability to get through that without getting too personal.
A girl, in an extremely good Mouse Protector costume spoke next. "Are either of you dating anyone? Oooh, are you dating each other? That would be so cute!"
"I'm a little busy," Flashstep spoke up. "Maybe someday."
"Same," I said. "Being a Ward makes that sorta thing difficult. Obviously, we're all trying to have a normal life outside of cape stuff, and, well, that's another person you'll end up telling your secret."
A guy stood up, wearing some kind of cowboy hat and a duster. I could see some weirdly overdesigned boots through the crowd, and he had a lasso hanging at the side. "Flashstep, have you ever considered adding more tools to your belt? Your ninja theme is pretty cool, but I think you could play to it more."
"I've thought about it. I've been talking to a Tinker who might have something for me soon."
A girl wearing a Legend t-shirt and colorful armbands stood up. "You wear that Icarus costume very well, Flashstep. Have you ever thought about being a girl before?"
What.
Flashstep cocked his head. "I'm not transgender, if that's what you're asking. I just like this costume. It's cozy."
A guy wearing a Cupid shirt with a little adorable bow on his back stood up. "Did you deliberately name yourself after someone who died flying? How would you describe your flying skill?"
I laughed. "I actually didn't choose the name. After I first started going out, the Denver Post ran a bit on me and decided to call me Icarus. I hadn't even thought of a cape name at that point, so I just stuck with it. As far as my flying skills go, well, I've had almost a year of practice, even if I've only been active recently."
An...extremely androgynous small person wearing a hat with the Triumvirate-symbol spoke up next. "Flashstep, what's it like working with a vigilante?"
"I wouldn't know. Icarus helped us out just before joining, but I wouldn't really consider that enough to really answer. Did you have another question?"
"Uh, okay. Do you have any embarrassing stories?"
"Yes," Flashstep said, nodding. "I don't actually have to share them, do I?"
"Please?"
The rest of the audience nodded.
Flashstep sighed, his posture slumping in an exaggerated fashion. "In the heat of battle, sometimes miscalculations happen. There's so much movement from so many sources. Well, I wanted to get behind a mean thug, and when I say mean this guy was freaking six-foot-six or something. I threw a tagged token above him, but, well, I accidentally fell on top of him rather than behind him. He was so surprised that we all fell down, and knocked down a couple other thugs along the way. We...well, we all had to untangle ourselves from each other. I couldn't look any of them in the eyes later when we were moving them to prison vans."
I could feel the audience cringing. Honestly, I was kinda cringing myself.
A kid with a mop for hair saved the day with a question. "Icarus, you're the newest Ward. Any pranks they play on the newbies?"
I smiled, although the audience couldn't see it behind the bandanna Flashstep used for a mask. "If there are, I haven't found out yet. Of course, I had a pretty unusual first day, so..." I trailed off with a laugh.
A blonde-haired girl in a dress had the next question. "Icarus, is Tank Buster as big in person as he looks under the armor?"
"Uh," I paused. I was not about to risk outing Naomi. "I wouldn't know. TB never takes the armor off. Your guess is as good as mine," I said in a fairly sarcastic tone.
The questions continued for some time, but eventually we found ourselves watching the crowd filter their way out of the room.
Ben came up, looking almost normal. His scathing anger must have cooled. "That could have been worse," he said flatly.
"Thanks," Flashstep said in response. I nodded. Coming from Ben, that was probably the highest praise one could expect.
"Okay. Go away now," Ben said, back to his usual cheery self.
"Cool. Hey, Flashstep, wanna go check out the vendor hall?"
"Race you there," he said, and a second later he disappeared.
Asshole.
"...I'm just saying, he makes a good point. Even without beef, the bell peppers are still bell peppers and beef." I said from my spot curled up on the couch.
"Can you two please shush about bell peppers? I think I'm losing brain cells over this," Naomi said from her curled up position on the other side of the couch. She was typing away at a laptop as always.
"I mean, Brenna, Naomi is right. You're making an awfully big deal about an anime that only aired one episode before...yeah," Jordan said, still wearing my costume. I was still wearing his, but...
"One episode? You're off tonight, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, cool. Naomi, plug your ears for a second...So, fun fact. On Earth Aleph Cowboy Bebop ran for twenty-six episodes. And guess who scored a bootleg copy of the whole series when she first started beating up thugs and taking their money."
Naomi focused very intently on whatever boring stuff she had going on.
"Huh. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Sure," Jordan said.
"Woo! Okay, I'm gonna go get into something that isn't crushing me, and then we can start watching," I said excitedly. "Oh, this is going to be so great!"
Without waiting to hear his response, I ran back into my room and peeled myself out of Jordan's costume, breathing a sigh of relief as I could suddenly breathe again. A quick moment to get into my pajamas and grab my laptop, and I made my way back out.
It only took a few seconds to get my laptop's screen pulled up on the big wall TV we had in the headquarters. I turned to see Naomi looking at me.
"For someone who claims to be bad at computers, you seem fairly competent when it comes to anime."
I shrugged. "In my defense, this is literally the only thing I know how to do. I had to call up an old friend to help me download the actual episodes onto my RAM."
Naomi looked at me blankly before returning to her paperwork. The best anime of all time, better than even Fatality Crusade, and she was doing paperwork.
Jordan was already sitting on the couch, and I plopped next to him after starting the video. "Oh, this is gonna be fun! It'll be my first rewatch, I can't wait to see everything I missed the first time around."
Jordan didn't respond, and I was too focused on the screen to look at him.
Even with the degraded video quality—reducing filesize was apparently a necessity when sending things through Professor Haywire's portal, and TV shows weren't a huge priority—it was amazing. I found myself glued to the screen, idly leaning against Jordan as we watched.
I smiled smugly as I noticed that Naomi was trying very hard to pretend not to be watching the anime with us. Our eyes met at one point, and I saw her smile for once before she quickly looked back at her laptop.
We got five episodes in before my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket.
New SMS message received from (UNKNOWN +1 (970) 958-2150): good to go, I'm heading out now
"Everything okay, Brenna?" Jordan asked, "You just got really tense."
"Yeah," I said with a shrug. "I just have a contact that might have some information for us, I'm gonna go check it out." I'd been practicing the lie enough that it came easily. I extracted myself from his warmth somewhat regretfully. "Where'd you put my costume?"
"Oh, uh, it's on my bedroom floor."
"Oh?" Naomi said with a smirk, paying way too much attention to us.
I didn't deem that worthy of a response, instead running over to Jordan's little cubby and getting changed. It took a minute or so to get my wings back on, but then I was ready to go.
"Icarus," Naomi said seriously. "I'll be suiting up, ready to move if you find something worth investigating. Radio us the situation. That's an order."
"Uh, sure," I said. Could I tell her? Or at least drop a hint to expect a call?...No. If Tank Buster were to show up, Blink would call it off, and I'd lose my chance. I nodded. "I don't think much will happen, though, but thanks for watching my back. I'll let you know if things turn hairy."
"I'll suit up too," Jordan added.
Naomi nodded at that. "Remember that we have your back. You aren't a solo hero."
"Okay, cool. Your costume's on my bedroom floor, Jordan," I said, shooting him finger guns. Which was admittedly a lot cooler when one of your arms was actually a gun.
Not wanting to say anything else, I clipped my mask into place and made my way out the HQ. By the time I made it to the elevator, it had initialized.
As the elevator made its way silently to the roof, I began a hardware diagnostic, the first step of my familiar pre-mission routine.
Initiating full hardware diagnostic check...complete
ACESO Mk 3 Blood Filtration System - nominal
ACHILLES Mobility Enhancement System - nominal
ERIS Mk 2 Radio/Navigation/Combat Interface - nominal
ICARUS Mk 3 Biomechanical Flight Apparatus - nominal, fuel and power subsystems at 100%
XIAOLONG Mk 5 Weaponized Forearm Replacement - nominal, 3/3 installed weapon modules fully armed
Current system time is 24 Apr 2010, 11:42:26 PM
Transmitting encrypted geolocation telemetry to . port 2947
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out onto the roof. A reinforced landing pad dominated most of the space, but that wasn't were I headed. I walked over to the ledge, looking down at the cars far below, their headlights tiny dots in the darkness, like ants from this height.
I took a deep breath. No going back.
A combination of mental connections and eye-tracking hardware made navigating my HUD's many menus simple. In only a few seconds, a new message flashed onto the lenses of my mask.
Geolocation telemetry service halted. Connection to . terminated.
I jumped.