{We need to do this more often,} Lisa said, smiling widely as she swam along the bottom a couple of miles outside the entrance to the bay, just where it started to get deeper. {It's a lot of fun.}
{Definitely,} Amy agreed happily. {We've had so much stuff to do recently, though, we've managed to avoid the simple pleasures in life. Like being alien sea monsters deep under the ocean.}
{I do like being an alien sea monster,} Lisa laughed, darting sideways and chasing a school of herring who seemed to have been attracted by her bioluminescence. The fish scattered instantly, the school reforming at a safe distance. She grinned at the result.
{You mostly like scaring the fish,} Amy giggled.
{Only sometimes. Other times I like scaring the muggers. But there aren't a lot of them four hundred feet down,} the black lizard pointed out in reasonable tones.
{True enough.} They swam around for a while, before Amy sighed. {I'm going to have to go back, like I said I need to get home and it must be nearly half past nine now.}
{OK.} Lisa turned with her as they began swimming back to the bay at a leisurely forty miles an hour or so. {I may as well go back too. I'll wander around the city for a while, show the Family flag so to speak. Hey, we need a Family flag.}
{It's an idea,} Amy replied a little doubtfully.
{A good one. I'll look into it.}
{You do that.} Her friend gave her a sidelong look, making her grin.
Only minutes later, they were near the shore next to the city hall area. {I'm going to head in here,} Lisa remarked, slowing. {I'll see you tomorrow. Say hi to your family.}
{I will do,} Amy replied, slowing with her, then watching as the other reptilian figure waved briefly before doing a curve to the right and heading for the shoreline. Speeding up again, she aimed towards the DWU yard and her truck, idly wondering what Taylor's surprise was as she swam onward.
Aisha leaned back on her hands, looking up at the sky and the stars visible through the low cloud. She was sitting on the roof of an apartment building a few blocks away from home, thinking about things, and worrying about her brother, who she hadn't seen now for weeks. While she was sure he was OK, since Saurial had assured her of that and oddly enough she trusted the crazy lizard, she still missed the stick in the mud. He was cool enough for someone getting on in years, and she was also about seventy-five percent sure was a cape.
And probably a minor villain, which was also sort of cool in its own way.
When he finally got in touch, she was going to yell at him for a while. He needed that, for worrying her by disappearing for so long. But at the same time she was going to be very pleased he was back.
The young girl told herself very firmly that he would be back soon. She had the word of a weird reptilian woman with a sense of humor that was at least as nuts as her own was, and if you couldn't trust weird reptiles, who could you trust? Teachers and cops?
She snorted. No, not based on the ones she'd met.
Admittedly, most of the ones she'd had contact with were generally annoyed at her, but some people just didn't see how boring they were. They should be grateful for her livening things up. And she hardly ever got caught these days anyway.
Actually, since Saurial had played those bizarre tricks on her, she hadn't been caught at all. This was mostly because she'd resisted the urge to pinch things, having made a promise. She was working on the basis that if she kept her word, the lizard-girl would keep hers and make sure nothing happened to her brother.
Sighing a little, she lay back on the roof, pulling her coat tighter around her. It was pretty cold up here, although the weather was steadily improving. Hopefully the spring would start warming up soon, she was tired of chilly weather and the rain, although she had to admit that this winter hadn't been nearly as bad as the previous one. The downside was less snow, which was both less fun and more annoying since school wasn't closed as much, but the upside was she wasn't freezing her ass off as much as she had done last time.
Hearing a gunshot, which was something depressingly familiar although less common in recent weeks, she sat up again and peered around, trying to work out where it had come from and how far away it was. Another one happened, echoing around the buildings in a strange manner, but allowing her to work out it was coming from off to the left, towards the bay. Standing up she scuttled over to that edge of the roof, keeping low so she wasn't too visible, then crouched behind the low wall that bounded the top of the building and looked cautiously over it.
Five stories below the road was mostly empty, a few cars going past in both directions, but since it was nearly ten in a low rent residential area, most of the inhabitants were either in bed, drunk, or both. Or possibly high on something, although with the demise of the Merchants as a force in the city, that too was changing quite a lot.
Yet another shot rang out, followed in quick succession by two more, then a very strange sound accompanied by a scream. It was an odd scream, not one of pain, but one that sounded both masculine and terrified. She jerked slightly at the sound which was definitely not normal.
Based on the noises she thought she had a pretty good idea where the action was. There was an alley that joined Boston Drive, the road below her, to West Avenue, the next one over, about two blocks down from her current position. It doglegged twice and in the middle was a small loading dock for what used to be a storage facility and was now low cost offices, most of which were empty. Aisha was familiar with it because she'd spent a lot of time exploring the neighborhood when she should have been in school, and had used the alley a number of times for hiding in for various reasons. There were lots of places someone her size could fit into that an adult couldn't, and she'd stashed a couple of useful things there for emergencies.
'This is probably a stupid idea,' she thought to herself, even as, after a moment's hesitation, she went over to the fire escape at the rear of the building and headed down the creaking metal steps as quietly as she could.
But her curiosity and her current mild boredom made a powerful combination. Plus, if as she suspected, there was some cape-related shenanigans going on over there, she wanted to see.
Reaching the lowest point of the fire escape, she slipped down the ladder that hung to within six feet of the sidewalk, then dangled at arm's length from the end before dropping and rolling, springing to her feet easily having done this more times than she could count. Getting back up was the tricky part.
Cautiously, she headed towards the place she was pretty certain something interesting was happening in.
"Seriously, what's with the guns and throwing them at me?" Missy hissed, yet again puzzled at this behavior. If the bullets didn't do anything, why would the gun that fired them? "You humans are very slow on the uptake sometimes." She looked up at the man who was currently lying flat in mid air twenty feet off the ground, staring down at her with wide, horrified eyes. She'd found him in the process of attempting to break into the rear of a shop and when she'd pointed out, quite politely, that this wasn't very nice, he'd immediately pulled a pistol out of his belt and fired at her.
Less than impressed, she'd redirected the first bullet into the ground, taken the next two into her hood and thence into her cloak's storage space, put the next one into a dumpster next to her, and the final one, having lost her patience, into his foot. That was the point where he'd screamed and chucked the pistol right at her head. Now he was whimpering a little on the invisible platform she'd made for him, then warped him up to.
He didn't seem to be keen on heights...
"What a baby," she sighed, "It hardly grazed you. I was very careful."
"Monster!" he whispered, gaping at her as she put folded her arms and gave him a look he seemed to feel the intent of even if he couldn't see her face.
"That wasn't very polite," she pointed out. "I mean, you're the criminal who tried to kill me. Sure, it was never going to work, but it's the thought that counts."
Retrieving her Cloak phone from the depths of her hood, she dialed a familiar number and waited. "Hello," she said when it was answered. "This is Cloak. I've apprehended an armed burglar at..." She looked around. "Hey, what's the address here?" she called up to her captive.
"9118 Boston Drive," a voice said from behind her, sounding like it was trying not to laugh. She looked around to see a young African-American girl, about her age, very pretty and apparently trying not to laugh. The new arrival was dressed casually in torn jeans and a t-shirt under a warm if somewhat battered coat and was staring up at the would-be burglar who was illuminated by a streetlight on the main road.
"Thank you," Missy said gratefully. She repeated the address to the police dispatcher. "He was breaking into the back of the building down the alley off the main road. Then he shot at me a few times. He's not going anywhere, although you'll need a ladder to get him down."
The man on the other end sounded both a little confused and also nearly as amused as the girl, who was now looking around for random items like small pebbles which she was tossing up at the captive. He twitched whenever one landed on him. The girl seemed to be trying to work out where the edge of the invisible platform was, grinning to herself in the process.
"OK, thanks," Missy said in reply to him saying that a patrol car was on the way to collect her capture. "Have a nice night, police person." She hung up and tossed the phone back into her hood, which made the other girl gape a little.
"Oh, cool," she said. "I'm Aisha."
"Cloak," Missy replied, holding out a hand, which the girl shook without hesitation.
"I thought it was," Aisha said, smiling widely. "Not many floating cloaks around, even here."
"I suppose not," Missy nodded, inwardly also smiling. Aisha looked up at the man who didn't seem even slightly happy about his current position, then turned to gaze at a piece of scaffolding pole that was lying next to the building. She sadly shook her head after a moment.
"Not long enough," she sighed.
"For what?"
"Poking him."
"Why do you want to poke him?"
"Why not?"
They both looked up at the man, who stared back, whimpering a little. "Excellent point. But I don't think the local police want me to poke criminals I catch." Missy shrugged. "They can be funny like that."
"Aww." Aisha looked disappointed. "I always wanted to poke a criminal." She tossed the last pebble she was holding in her hand up and down a couple of times, then surprisingly accurately lofted it over the edge of the spacial warp and got the guy right on the back of the head. He yelped in pain.
"Probably shouldn't throw rocks at him either," Missy said after a moment in which she tried not to laugh. The expression on his face was very funny, he didn't seem to know what to do.
"I'm done," the girl snickered. "That was fun."
"I assume you live around here?"
"Yeah, up that way." Aisha waved in the general direction of away from the bay. "I heard a weird sound and got curious."
"Possibly not the safest thing to do in Brockton Bay," Missy pointed out.
The other girl shrugged. "Not really 'safe' anywhere in this city," she replied with a sort of world-weary attitude that bespoke considerable experience. "Compared to a lot of places. But with those crazy reptiles around it's a lot safer than it was." She looked Missy up and down. "You too. PHO seems to think the creeps are running scared of you as well." She looked back at the almost comatose burglar, who seemed to be praying with his eyes shut, although who to was anyone's guess. "Somehow I can believe it."
Snickering, Missy nodded. "They do seem to find me… worrying."
"I wonder why?" Aisha said with heavy sarcasm in her voice, grinning.
"I have no idea, all I do is wander around and try to help out here and there." They looked at each other and laughed for a moment.
"Neat. I always wanted to meet a real cape. Now I've met two inside a couple of weeks."
"Who else did you meet?" Missy asked curiously.
"Saurial. She's… a little odd." The girl seemed thoughtful. "But cool too, I think. Actually, she came looking for me. It was weird."
"Why did she do that?" Missy asked, following as Aisha started slowly walking to the end of the alley.
The girl sighed slightly. "My older brother got himself into some sort of trouble. She came to find me and my dad to let us know he was OK but couldn't see us for a while. And she promised to let him know I was worried. She told me he'd be able to call us sooner or later, when whatever it was got fixed."
"Oh." Missy looked at her new acquaintance, who seemed abruptly somewhat morose. She seemed prone to somewhat sudden mood swings. "I'm sorry to hear he's got problems. But I'm sure that with Saurial helping him he'll be fine."
Aisha nodded, smiling brilliantly again. "I guess so. She seems to be able to do some weird shit and if PHO is telling the truth, there isn't much that can get in the way of the Family. Not without getting fucked up."
"That's true enough," Missy laughed. "They're very good at what they do."
"Fuck with people?"
"Well, that's not really what they do," she replied slowly. Aisha put her hands on her hips as she stopped walking and faced her, her head tilted and a skeptical expression on her face. "Not all they do," Missy temporized. Which was true enough, they did other things as well. But they seemed to make sure to enjoy themselves doing it, which she could definitely appreciate having spent time with Saurial and her friends and family.
"Sure. They fuck with people while they're stopping crimes and wiping out the Merchants," Aisha said, shaking her head but smiling again. "Livened the place up a lot though."
"It's certainly much more interesting these days," she nodded. "I like it here."
"Me too, most of the time. It's better than it was. If Dad could get some more work it would help, but he seems in a good mood at the moment. Now if only Mom could..." The girl stopped talking abruptly, looking away. Missy wondered why, with a sense that she had some idea. "Never mind."
They could hear a siren approaching. Aisha looked in that direction, towards the bay, and sighed. "The cops and I don't get on. I'd better go. It was nice to meet you, Cloak." She turned away to head in the other direction.
Missy watched her for a couple of seconds, then grinned to herself. The girl needed cheering up and she knew what worked for her.
Moving after her she caught up and walked alongside, a foot off the ground. Aisha looked sideways at her with a quizzical expression. "Are you scared of heights?" she asked.
"Not really," the girl replied, looking confused.
"Good." Missy stopped, making some changes to her platform. "Want to have some fun?"
The girl also stopped and stared at her. Missy waved at the space just in front of her. Aisha looked at the sidewalk where she was motioning, then back at her, before very slowly she started to grin like an idiot.
"Really?"
"Why not?"
"Does it work for other people?"
"If I want it to, sure."
With a mad grin the other girl bent down and felt around, her eyebrows vanishing into her hairline when she found the immaterial yet solid platform Missy was standing on. Straightening up, Aisha lifted a foot and very cautiously put it down again, nearly a foot of clear air between it and the sidewalk.
She moved it around, looking amazed, then leaned forward and lifted the other one. Moments later she was standing on nothing, gaping downwards in stunned amazement. "Fuck me," she whispered in shock.
"It's an interesting system," Missy said contentedly. "Lots of fascinating math involved. But the end result is worth the work." Aisha looked at her empty hood, then down at her feet again, appearing speechless. "Come on, you'll like the view."
Waving her new friend forward, Missy started forming stairs, this time adding sides to them to make sure the girl wouldn't fall off, since she had no idea where the edges were. Rather tentatively the other girl followed her as she started climbing. Her expression when she instinctively reached out and actually managed to find a handrail that wasn't really there was hilarious.
"What about that guy?" she said after a few seconds, both of them fifty feet in the air by now.
"Oh, he'll be fine, that platform will last an hour or so and the police will have him down by then," Missy assured her, looking back. "They're nearly at the alley. How are you doing?"
"I think I'm dreaming," Aisha said, staring down at the ground as she kept climbing stairs she couldn't see, her steps coming more confidently now as she seemed to gain assurance in what she was doing.
"It's not a dream, Aisha," Missy laughed. "Just a lot of fun. Hey, do you like doughnuts?"
"I do," the other girl replied.
"Here, I've got lots left over." She retrieved the box those nice guys in the shop had given her, pulling it out of her hood with a flourish. Aisha stared, then took one when she held the box out. Missy took another and put it away again.
"This sure isn't what I thought I'd be doing tonight," Aisha said after a couple of seconds. She looked down again, around at the scenery below them now that they were above most of the rooftops, at the doughnut in her hand, and shrugged. "Roll with it, I guess," she mumbled, taking a bite.
"I find it's the best way," Missy assured her. Eating their pastries, both of them kept climbing, heading across the city and enjoying the cold but bracing night.
As far as Missy was concerned this was a very entertaining way to relax from her normal life. 'Vista' was fun, but sometimes a little boring.
'Cloak' was never boring.
"I think that on balance that's a pretty good documentary," Taylor's father said as he prodded the remote, stopping the DVD at the end credits. The screen of the TV went blank, only the small icon showing the selected input channel coming on for a few seconds. "They left some of it to the imagination, were honest about the fact that they didn't have answers for a lot of it like where the Family comes from, and why they turned up right when they did, but didn't try to spin it too much either way."
"I liked it," Taylor said, putting the now-empty bowl that had contained popcorn down next to her feet.
"I thought it was rather well done, indeed," the Varga commented from where he was draped across the back of the sofa both of the Heberts were sitting on, as usual in his favorite mini-dragon form. "The reporting was nicely done, your Saurial interview gave the impression we wanted, as did the Kaiju one, and both Danny's and Roy's interviews were well balanced and informative. I can't see anything in it that would require either changing or being worried about."
"I'll call Roy in the morning and see what he thinks of it before I leave, he must have received his copy today as well," her father said, getting up and turning the TV off. "But I doubt he'd have any problems either. It makes him come across as a clever and dedicated politician, which he is, of course. It certainly doesn't do him any harm."
"Quite the opposite, I suspect," the demon noted. "Everyone involved comes out of it looking responsible and effective, with a clear positive goal for the city. And it manages to add to the mystique of the Family quite nicely, if only by implication. That can only help us in the long run."
Taylor smiled as she leaned her head back. "I guess it does. The myth continues." She giggled when he laughed quietly. "And they didn't mention any of the trouble with the Triumvirate either, which is good. I don't want Legend and his friends to get in trouble, even if Eidolon is a bit weird. He seemed very confused at the time."
"The way they showed just enough to imply that the main heroes of the Protectorate dropped by for a friendly chat with Kaiju was nicely edited together," her father grinned. "It glossed over what happened next. But I doubt they wanted to upset either the Family or the Triumvirate, never mind both at once."
"No, I suspect that would have been an easy choice to make. The cameraman did delete most of the footage when we asked politely, but he had enough left to work for their purposes." The Varga rolled onto his back and relaxed, looking very contented. "We have nothing to worry about from that source."
"I've never been on TV before," Taylor remarked. "Well, not like that."
"And now you've been in the same documentary as two separate people," her father chuckled. "Which is very odd." He picked up her bowl, and his coffee cup. "Do you want anything else to eat?"
"No, thanks, Dad, I'm fine right now," she told him. "I'm going to go out later and poke around for some muggers or something, since we haven't done that for a while. I might get something then."
"All right." He went into the kitchen, coming back a couple of minutes later with a fresh cup of coffee. "One of the things I appreciate about Amy's work is that I can drink all the coffee I want before bed and still get to sleep," he smiled as he sat in a chair opposite her.
"How are the upgrades working so far?" she asked lazily, slipping over sideways to lie full length on the sofa. The demon dropped down and curled up on her stomach, looking pleased when she stroked his back between his wings.
"A hell of a lot better than I'd have believed," he replied. Lifting a hand he formed a small knife in it, as she watched with a smile. "Being able to do that is just unbelievable. Like powers, without all the trauma that apparently goes with getting them."
"You'll never have trouble opening a letter again," she smirked, which made him chuckle.
"No, or cutting toast either. I wonder if I could learn to make a fork too?" He inspected the bioceramic knife then made it go away again, watching with impressed interest as it dwindled to nothing in his hand. "Simply amazing. God, I wish your mother could have seen this. Mind you, she'd have had a tail and been running around with you inside a week, and I'm not sure the city could take that. You and your friends are bad enough."
Taylor giggled, watching his face. He seemed in a very good mood, even with the reference to his wife. He was definitely improving in that regard, as was she. It still hurt and always would do, she suspected, but it was less immediate these days, something they both could deal with. Looking down at the dozing demon in her lap, she knew why…
"The hearing is incredible too, as is the better vision, and the sense of smell," her father added after drinking some coffee. "Not to mention the strength and speed. And of course I can tase people by poking them, if that ever becomes useful. Not sure it will, but..." He shrugged, smiling. "You never know."
"The main thing is that if Sophia turns up and has a try for you, you can probably deal with her now," she said, causing him to stop smiling and nod soberly. "Hopefully she won't. I don't like the thought of her trying anything. But I'm a hell of a lot happier now than I was. If I can't be there, Amy's work is the next best thing."
"I'd have to agree," he sighed. "It's a very annoying problem. I wish that blasted girl had never met you, or you her."
"So do I, Dad," she replied softly. "But if she hadn't, none of this would have happened." She indicated the Varga, who lifted his tiny head and regarded her. "That gets her some leeway from me. Not enough to save her if she hurts my family, but some."
Her father watched her face for a few seconds, smiling a little. "I understand, dear. Now, tell me about the things you girls have been doing that I've missed."
"Ah." She organized her thoughts, while he waited patiently. "OK." Waiting for him to take another drink, she grinned evilly. "Did you know the Simurgh posts on PHO?"
The explosion of coffee was very satisfying, causing both her and her demon to laugh for some time.
Kevin nailed the final lid onto the final box and put the hammer on top of it. Straightening up he looked around. Randall was moving the next to last one to the side with the rest of them, leaving the large space they'd occupied for several years looking oddly empty. All the smaller stuff was boxed up and the large items were either disassembled and packed away, or in the case of a few of them, wrapped in plastic sheets intact.
"Done," he sighed in relief. "Finally. That took a lot longer than I thought it would."
"Yeah, I had no idea just how much crap we'd collected over the years," his best friend nodded, coming back to get the final crate. It soon joined the others. They stood next to each other and stared at the huge pile of stuff. "We're definitely going to need a bigger truck," he said after a moment.
"For sure. Or a lot of trips in mine. Lisa said they could arrange some help from the DWU guys. They've got some pretty big vehicles there."
"I wonder if they've finished with the workshop Danny was talking about yet?" Randall said. Kevin shrugged.
"I don't know, but probably. They're pretty good at that sort of thing. Anyway, we don't need to worry about that now, we can call Lisa in the morning. Right now I'm starving." He headed towards the kitchen. Ten seconds later he stopped, stared, and sighed. Randall joined him.
"Oops. I think we might have got carried away."
"Dude, where's the fridge?"
"In the big crate there." Randall pointed. "I think."
"The one on the bottom, you mean. Under about forty tons of other crap."
"Yep."
"Fuck it." Kevin sighed. "I'm going to get some pizza."
"Fine by me."
There was a long pause. "Where are the keys to the truck?"
They exchanged a look. "Probably the same place my wallet is. They were in that green bowl thing you kept from that Mariokart project."
"The shell. Which is…?"
"In the crate next to the one with the fridge in, according to the label." Randall pointed again, sagging.
"Oh, for god's sake."
Kevin rooted through his pockets, coming up with twenty dollars and some change. His friend had another fifteen. "That'll do, it's enough for a pizza each and a beer. Barely. Next time, we put the important stuff to one side."
"Agreed. How are we getting to the pizza place?"
"On foot." They both sighed at once, before heading towards the door.
"Got the keys to the place?"
"Damn it!"
"Thanks, Cloak," Aisha said gratefully as she reached out and slid her window up, relieved that she hadn't locked it. "This was fun."
"I thought so too, Aisha," the apparently empty item of clothing replied in a quiet and eerie hiss. Both of them were standing on a solid yet utterly invisible surface several stories up outside her apartment building. She'd had a very strange but very interesting couple of hours wandering around much further off the ground than seemed feasible, oddly unconcerned about any possibility of falling. Something about the weird cape made it seem unlikely. Watching the traffic downtown from five hundred feet in the air was strangely satisfying, making her wish she could do the same thing.
The girl slid through her window and turned around when she was standing on the floor. "See you around, maybe?"
"I think that's pretty likely," the floating cloak replied, somehow producing a nod even though she apparently lacked a head entirely. Putting a hand into her own hood, she produced a final chocolate doughnut, which she handed over. "Last one. Take it, I've had enough."
"Thanks," Aisha said again with a smile.
"Bye, Aisha. I'll mention to Saurial that you'd appreciate an update on your brother the next time I see her."
"That would be good," she replied honestly. "He's an idiot but he's my idiot."
Snickering, the cloak lifted a hand, then turned around and sort of skated off into the darkness above the street. Aisha watched her until she faded from view, then closed the window, lay on her bed, and slowly ate her doughnut, smiling to herself.
You could meet some very cool people in alleys sometimes, she thought.