AN: Sorry for the delay, work and all.
6.
Bludhaven
September 11
13:23 UTC
"Oh my higher power that I question exists or not that has millions of devotees, this is so long and forever taking." Lying down on the edge of the old warehouse the black ops team once used as a fall back base years ago, Irey whined as her arms and legs dangled off the sides with the warm sun shining down upon her.
"They're just three minutes late, hedgehog," Carrie told her friend, referring to her hair.
Both teen girls were more than ready to start their planned excursion with their friends. Dressed as inconspicuous as they could, jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, and other items, they hoped to blend in with what they had planed and told the others to do the same. They even went so far as to wear the "family colors" with Irey's shirt being primary yellow with a orange retro Space Invader design on the chest while Carrie donned a red shirt and green sleeveless hoodie.
"Didn't know we were on such a tight schedule." Joining the two, Lorena came out from the roof access door in a pair of white capris, boat shoes, and a blue buttoned up jean jacket.
"Gill Girl!" Carrie yelled.
"Chicky babe!" Hopping off her ledge, Irey dashed over to Lorena, pushed Carrie out of the way, and hugged the dark skinned Atlantean first. "The three baddest babes on the planet are back together!"
"Babes are right." Reopening the access door, Zachary came out of his house's front door and shut it behind him. A bright light flashed through the seams as the mystical gateway vanished and was like it was never there to begin with. As always, he was the more dressed up of the group with a pair of black slacks, white shirt, and midnight vest with his hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Flirt," Irey told him. "It'll get you everywhere."
"How's things in magicville?" Lorena asked.
"Better," Zachary answered. "I'm not blowing things up so much anymore."
"I can see about helping you. I'm getting better at water manipulation in scorcery academy."
"Might take you up on that. Mom's got me studying an old spell book of hers and it's coming slowly cause I can't control the amount of energy I release sometimes, even when she helps."
"It's easy once you get it down."
"Speaking of down." Drawing her friend's gazes upwards, Carrie pointed out Carter was descending from high overhead. "The last member of our gang's here."
"Finally!" Irey shouted.
Landing near the group of teens, Carter, in a pair of blue jeans, and a lime green polo shirt, was greeted by Zachary first then Irey and Carrie while Lorena stood to the back. Giving her a nod, she returned it before their gazes switched to anything else.
"Don't be weird, you two. We're here to have a good time, not deal with emotional constipation issues." Enjoying the stares she received, Irey gave them both a smart-alic smirk.
"So this party," Zachary slowly said, "there will be girls there, right!"
"Duh," the ginger female told him. "Me, Carrie, and Lorena."
When the boys said nothing, Irey continued.
"Look, our wee little baby Carrie here wants to show the world and her parents she has what it takes to follow in their footsteps. Now my folks are always teaching me what they learned as with Zachary's. Lorena's in the same academy as her old man and Carter is close to being smothered by his mother with his dadums training him to get physical when need be. But alas, in the end, we are nothing but teenagers being held down by our parents who wish for us not to follow in their footsteps, but to live boring, mundane, ordinary lives like the norms. So today, I propose this!"
Leaping on a ledge, Irey spread her arms out. "We go out on our own and show them what we can do! No adult supervision! No one telling us it's too dangerous! We make our own rules and become our own team of mysterious teenage vigilantes like our parents did when they were young, about a century ago."
"A century?" Carter asked.
"Just go with it, CK. Just go with it. So," Irey looked her friends over as they stood in a loose group, "who's in? Who wants to show the world what a bunch of rap scallions can do? Huh?"
The three, Carter, Lorena, and Zachary exchanged glances with each other at Irey's words.
"Come on, guys," Carrie pleaded. "Our parents did this when they were our age. Let's do this too."
"But didn't they tear a building down?" Lorena asked.
"And nearly got killed multiple times a day?" Asked Zachary.
"And the mental duress they came under," Carter added.
"Yeah. That's the fun part." Looking her friends over, Irey swore the three were engaged in a mental chat room curtesy of Carter. She glanced at Carrie who stared back with quick looks back at the three.
Taking his sunglasses off, Carter hung them on the collar of his shirt, his red eyes shimmering in the sunlight as he looked at Zachary and Lorena. "And what would we do?" He asked. "The League's got virtually all the metas causing trouble locked up. Who would we go after? Jaywalkers?"
"Sort of. Carter, guys, don't you want to show the world what we can do? Our parents taught us how to use our powers. What's the use of having them, having gone through the trouble we have if we don't use them how we want to? The biggest things in life often start with the smallest. So I say we go after the small timers of a different city every weekend for practice and if we come across a Meta, we bring them down all to prove to our parents we can do what they've done when they were young. It's full proof."
"Full proof." Zachary flatly said. "As in whatever we do will work out for the best interest in our favor?"
"Duh."
"You do know your ideas have a history of backfiring, right?" Lorena asked the ginger girl.
"Name one time," Irey said, slightly insulted.
"Let's eat a five gallon can of jalapeños, they're just Mexican pickles," Lorena said. "Hot poops for three days."
"Let's paint Sphere like a killer tomato and run around town as she chases us," Carter added. "The League just loved that one. Grounded for a week after that."
"Let's fork a teacher's yard," Zachary stated. "Wish you would have been clearer with the word, 'fork'."
"But did any of you die?" Irey asked. When no answer came, she shrugged to make her point. "Well?"
Sighing, Zachary scratched behind his ear. "Fine."
"Whatever," Carter answered.
"I hate you. I truly do," Lorena said.
"Alright! Now let's get this party started!" Irey shouted as she pumped her fist.
Bludhaven Central Park
September 11
15:07 UTC
"So...when's the party starting?"
Situated on a rooftop overlooking Bludhaven's largest city park, the five teens kept hidden within the shadows as they waited for any sign of a crime. Zachary made use of his time asking, albeit sarcastically, about when they would get to do something. His answers would be dirty looks, angry sighs, or the usual, 'soon'.
It had taken some time for the group to agree on a place to stake out. Bludhaven Central Park was voted three to two as it was known to have a number of petty crimes on a daily basis. Unfortunately, those petty criminals seemed to be taking a day off from their crimes, leaving the group with noting to do and figuratively board to tears.
"Ever notice how clouds look like they're about to take over the Earth?" Carrie asked as she lay with her hands under her head. "Like, anytime they could just dive down and blanket us in their cloudy...mass or something and make it to where we can't see for all eternity. Or they could block out the sun and kill all plant life to get us humans."
"That's it," Carter said as he reached over and grabbed a bottle from beside her. "No more chocolate milk for you. Cutting you off."
Giving a slight whimper, Carrie weakly reached out for her half drunk bottle as Carter took it away. She then reached into a pouch on her utility belt and pulled another one out. "My precious." She then kissed the bottle before opening it.
"Gragh! This is boring! I'm out!" Putting a stop to his foot tapping, Zachary stood and headed for the roof access with the key to his house in hand.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Lorena asked.
"Home. I'm missing the collegiate cheer competition," Zachary answered. "Love me some blondes."
"You're not going anywhere!" Cutting him off, Carrie put herself between Zachary and the roof access with her arms spread. "We're here to catch bad guys. Villains. Evil-doers. Anti-law abiding peoples. Heathens who don't go to church."
"Um, I don't go to church," Carter said with the others agreeing.
"That's not the point," Carrie said quickly. "We're here to do a job and a job we shall do."
"Well not me. I'm going home." Moving around Carrie, Zachary was just about to insert his key into the door when he was pulled back from a rope wrapping around his waist.
"You're not going anywhere," Carrie told him. She had managed to snare her friend with a corded Bat-A-Rang.
"Wanna-Hey!" Before the young magician could say a word on the matter, a breeze blew past him and with it, his only way of accessing his home.
Skidding to a stop, Irey smiled as she held his key in hand. "We're all in this together. We just need to wait for a bad guy and-"
"News flash, carrot top," Zachary said. "There are no criminals here. We waisted hours doing nothing but sitting around, thumbs up our butts, and getting sunburned. Now give me my key back and-"
"Make me." Stretching the collar of her shirt, Irey dropped the metal object down the hole and let the material snap shut. She gave the magic user a smug smile until said object landed on the roof with a 'clink'.
A moment passed with no one making a sound until one of the teens couldn't take it anymore. Letting out a laugh, Carter and Lorena pointed at the key and Irey's red face as the girl lacked 'natural holders' with Zachary and Carrie snickering before letting out hearty laughs of their own. Irey herself was soon overtaken by a snort and let out a laugh when a scream interrupted the teens levity.
Down on the street around Bludhaven's central park, people were panicking and clearing away from storm drains and manhole covers. Another scream was heard as a man begged for help when his German Shepard's leash was ripped from his grasp. The animal could be heard whimpering as it vanished into the darkness of a storm drain. As people began to scatter, more and more animals were pulled from their owners and vanished underground. Panicking civilians tried to fight back with bystanders attempting to help, but to no avail.
"YES!" Irey and Carrie shouted as they looked down at the helpless populace.
"Fine," Zachary said as he untied himself then grabbed his dropped key. "You win."
"The sewer? Really?" Lorena asked.
"Really, really," Carter told her.
"Well grab your galoshes, ladies," Irey said as she hopped on the ledge of the building they were on. "We got some heroing to do. MOVE OUT!"