I'm so excited you guys finally got to see Cavalry ^_^ Is she everything you imagined and more?
Sorry not sorry for the short(er) chapter. I completely blanked out on the fact that this week was Thanksgiving in the states...and that I was hosting two different events. But we made it! Hope your weekend was full of too much delicious food and alcohol.
"Ok, sounds good. I'll let you know what he says." Anna hangs up her call with Lamplighter and drops her phone on the couch next to her with a sigh.
Leopold looks over at her expectantly from his spot in the armchair. "Well? D-d-does he agree?"
She nods. "Yeah. We can't wait anymore. I'm going to call Sentry."
"Good. I know it's not your favorite op-option, but it's the least b-bad at this point."
Anna shrugs. "I know. Sentry's a good guy, I don't think he'll just bury it."
After everything that happened with the Knights calmed down, Anna and the team talked about the evidence they have against Sinclair. It's become apparent that they're not going to get the chance to talk to Bruja any time soon. It would have been good to have something to connect the dots between Sinclair, or Monarch rather, and Incarnate, but they'll just have to move forward without it. They tried tracking the number that Sinclair had been texting the night Sinner was traded, but it was a burner with no useful information. So, they decided to give what they have to the heroes and hope it's enough to open an official investigation.
Anna picks her phone back up, dials Sentry's number, and puts it on speaker. It rings a few times before he answers. "Sentry."
"Hey, it's Crusade."
"Do you just have me on speed dial now?"
She chuckles. "That's what you get for being the only friendly hero around. You remember your adventure with Jackass?"
He groans. "Unfortunately."
"Well, it turns out we uncovered –"
"I'm going to stop you right there. Hang on." There's a shuffling noise, like something covering the phone and moving around. After about 30 seconds the noise stops and Sentry's voice is just a whisper. "Look, this hasn't been made public yet, but I'm getting transferred."
Her brow furrows. "What do you mean? Why?"
"The official line is that they're looking for someone with more experience to help hold down San Francisco since Apogee has been gone so long. I'm going to San Francisco and Blacksmith will be moving here. I think Syzygy is announcing it tomorrow."
Leopold frowns. "And unofficially?"
He huffs. "I'm not quite the yes-man that Syzygy prefers to have around. May be tired of me bending the rules."
Anxiety creeps at the back of Anna's head. "Do you think she suspects that you helped us?"
"It's hard to tell. I've hardly even seen the woman lately."
"What do you know about Blacksmith?"
"Not a ton, actually. Joined the Wardens right after me, a little younger. Melee fighter, likes swords. She's kind of Apogee's unofficial protégé. Word is she's not too happy about the transfer either." He sighs. "But all that's to say, whatever you found, I can't help you."
"Even if it's something that affects everybody, not just San Domenico?"
"I'm sorry, I can't make any more waves right now. And, unfortunately, Siphon is Syzygy's number two, he won't disobey her orders. You'll just have to come up with something else."
Anna's heart drops. Shit. This was their best option. If they go to any of the other heroes, their chances of getting arrested skyrocket. And if they go to the cops, there's a much higher likelihood of everything they have just disappearing, or someone getting killed.
Leopold speaks up when Anna remains silent. "Yeah, we'll come up with something. Thanks, Sentry. Good luck in San Francisco."
The hero sounds just as unhappy as they are. "Appreciated. You guys…stay safe."
The line goes dead and Anna lets out a groan as her head drops back on the couch. "Why is nothing about this simple?"
Her roommate shrugs. "Important things generally aren't. So, what now?"
"This changes a lot. Trying to work with Sentry on this was like jumping out of a plane with a parachute. Going to Siphon or Syzygy would be like just jumping out of a plane."
Leopold chuckles a little. "Says the person who can fly."
She snorts a laugh and lifts her head. "It's not flying, it's running in mid-air. Very different." She sighs. "I'll let everyone know that Sentry's not going to be able to help us. We'll need to talk about alternatives."
He nods. "Agreed."
~0~0~
Man, what a bummer. Po'boy stuffs his phone back in his pocket as he climbs the steps to the STRANGE Academy and pushes through the big, wooden front doors. Their plan for dealing with Monarch is a no-go. Guess that means it's back to the drawing board for them.
Po'boy is actually a little nervous to be back at the school after what happened last time. Not enough to make him stay away, though. He's gotta keep an eye on Fidget and Steampunk. He's found out a lot about the staff over the last couple of days and he needs to play it cool. They didn't find anything bad, but he doesn't want to go bringing something up that he shouldn't know on accident.
It really means a lot to him that the team is totally behind him on his hunch. He knows they're all there for each other and everything, but, in comparison to what everyone else has going on, his thing seems super small. But they jumped right on it. It gives him the warm and fuzzies. He knows it's really only a bad feeling at this point, but it's the second one he's had about this place. Plus, gut feelings are important. They keep you safe and alive.
He makes his way towards the lunch room. The kids should have just gotten out of class. Dr. Samuels gave him a free pass to visit during the kids' free time as long as he wasn't 'distracting them from their studies, whatever that means. Po'boy never really got the appeal of school. Learning new things is great, he loves picking up new skills and stuff, but he never got the point of read this, do that, run a mile, no don't learn that. It was all so…restrictive.
The sound of loud chatter and laughter seeps through the big doors of the cafeteria. Po'boy pushes one of the doors open and enters the large dining space with half a dozen tables in it. Every table is occupied by a different group. Even at a school as small as this one, cliques are totally a thing.
One table houses the smart kids, always reading or debating something. Next is Fidget's crew, the weirdos. They're loud and fun and don't really mesh with the other kids. Then it's the 'jocks'. The school doesn't have any sports teams, but these are all the kids whose powers give them a physical boost. There's a table of artsy kids and then the popular kids. Steampunk hangs with them. Po'boy didn't take the guy for a popular kid at first, but since he's gotten control of his power, he's really gained a lot of confidence. It's nice to see. The last table is filled with faculty.
Fidget spots him and waves, a huge smile on her face. "Po'boy! Over here!"
He grins and waves as he starts walking over. Fidget's buddies, Grinder and Wheezy, smile when they see him. Wheezy is a smaller kid, younger than Fidget, with red hair. Grinder seems to be Fidget's age, maybe a little older, with short, dark brown hair. Grinder scootches over to make a spot for him on the bench, sliding his tray piled high with food with him. The kid is huge and can pack it away like no one else, but it all has something to do with his power.
Po'boy settles on the bench next to the hungry kid and lifts his chin to them. "S'up little dudes?"
Grinder gives him a sideways glance. "Who you calling little?" Po'boy chuckles and nudges him with a shoulder as he smiles and digs back into his food.
Fidget plays around with her silverware, but she's not actively building anything, she's keeping her hands occupied. "So, what's up? Been up to anything interesting?"
He shrugs. "We've got a few things going on, nothing huge though."
Wheezy points his fork at him, his voice is high-pitched and breathy. "I saw in the news you guys were fighting the Beach Bums with some new vigilante group."
Po'boy runs his hand along his newly buzzed hair, tickling his palm. "Somethin' like that."
Fidget rolls her eyes. "Oh come on! You gotta give us something good. Who's the new vigilante group?"
The Knights are a bag of dicks, but he's not sure that's the best thing to tell them. Not that he would glorify them either. How do you explain to kids that sometimes the people who think they're doing the right thing are actually dead wrong? He doesn't know right now, so he decides to just…flub the truth. "Didn't really have a chance to talk to them. Beach Bums ran and then they just beat it too. Not too friendly."
Fidget frowns. "Aw…that's lame."
Grinder turns to him. "I heard a rumor that you guys fought Triple Six a couple times."
The other two gasp. "What?"
"No way! What was it like?"
Po'boy thinks for a moment. "It was intense, for sure. They're a serious villain group. But just cause somethin's hard doesn't mean it's not worth doin'."
Wheezy's eyes are wide and he leans forward in excitement. "How did you survive? No one ever does against them."
He shrugs. "Everybody's got a weakness, just gotta figure out what it is and how to use it."
Fidget makes a raspberry noise. "Not Incarnate. He's unstoppable."
Po'boy raises one eyebrow. "Yeah? Like how?"
Wheezy starts ticking off his fingers. "He has horns and impenetrable skin, he breathes fire, he can turn into a giant bat –"
Fidget shakes her head. "No, he turns into a swarm of bats."
Grinder puts down his sandwich. "No, he just has a tail and wings."
Wheezy makes a disbelieving noise. "Are you sure you're not just thinking of Hellion?"
The hungry teen thinks for a moment before shrugging. "Maybe. He flies one way or the other. But Incarnate he can, like, possess people."
Fidget leans forward on the table. "How do you know it's possession? What if he can just…control their bodies?"
"Same difference! He controls them."
She shakes her head again. "It's different! When you're possessed something else is inhabiting you like your body is theirs. Controlling someone's body, they're still aware of everything going on. One's way worse."
Grinder nods. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
Po'boy chuckles. "Seems like a ton of powers for one guy to have."
Fidget shrugs. "People can have more than one thing going on."
"Where'd you guys hear all this?"
Wheezy looks down at his food, way less animated all of a sudden. "Around."
"What other rumors about powers have you guys heard?"
Fidget launches into how cool Syzygy's power is, eyes wide and arms waving. Before she finishes, though, Dr. Samuels comes over and clears his throat. Fidget falls silent and all three kids look up at him expectantly. The principal turns to Po'boy and smiles. "Could I have a word in my office?"
Po'boy feels a familiar panic rising in the back of his head. Is he getting suspended again? Did he get caught skipping? Wait a sec…he's not a student. Ugh, this is like those stress dreams where he didn't study for a test. Chill out, brain.
"Sure." He climbs off of the bench and gives the kids a wave. "Later dudes."
A low "oooooh" comes from one of the tables as he and Samuels start walking across the dining hall. Po'boy turns and sees Steampunk and his friends watching them. The other tables join in, the volume increasing. Po'boy scoffs and half-heartedly tells them to shut up, breaking up the ominous sound with laughter.
Po'boy follows the headmaster down the hall towards his office, tan slacks and blue velvet blazer with elbow patches leading the way. The school isn't super big, so it takes less than a minute to get there. Samuels settles in his big, leather, cushy office chair behind his desk and gestures for Po'boy to sit with a small smile. "You know, Po'boy, we've been very lucky to have you here with us."
Po'boy's eyebrow quirks in confusion, but he smiles anyway. "Yeah?"
He nods. "The kids seem to like you and respect your point of view. Even the teachers have noticed your positive influence on them."
The surfer nods. "They're a great bunch of kids, it's nice to see them improve so much."
"I was wondering if you would be interested in taking a bigger, more official role here?"
His eyebrows arch and eyes widen. Well, that's surprising. Here he thought he was in trouble or something. "Like what?"
Dr. Samuels leans forward, forearms resting on his big, wooden desk. "I was thinking it would be valuable for the students to learn how to use their powers in the field. None of our teachers have the experience you do. Maybe a bi-weekly seminar to start."
He tilts his head. "You want them to learn how to fight with their powers? They're just kids."
Dr. Samuels laughs. "No, no. I'm not looking for a combat class or anything like that. My thought was more along the lines of creating situations to help them learn how to use their powers creatively. Out of the box thinking, problem-solving, that sort of thing."
Po'boy hmmms. That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Even if it means some work for him, it's a good thing for the kids to learn. Plus, being around more will give him a chance to see what's going on around here, figure out if there's actually anything sketchy happening.
He nods. "Yeah, that sounds like something I'd be into."
Dr. Samuels smiles. "Wonderful! We can have our first session next week. Plenty of time for a professional like you to think of something stimulating for the students."
Oh jeez, that's soon. Po'boy smiles nervously. A professional…right.
~0~0~
"Hang on a sec, don't forget the pants." Dakota hands Anna the pants that go with her newly-ruined armor jacket.
She shakes her head. "That didn't get damaged, no sense sending it."
Dakota shoves it into the box. "Yeah, but you wanna prove you had the whole set. Plus, what are you going to do with just pants? You already got new stuff anyway."
"Ok, ok, fine." She smushes the armor down as much as she can, placing the letter on top, as Dakota folds in the top of the cardboard box. Anna pulls her hands out and grabs the tape, sealing it shut.
As a result of Dakota's strong encouragement, Anna is sending her sliced-up armor with feedback about the lack of breathability back to the manufacturer. Hopefully, they'll give her a refund, but also maybe they'll be able to make some improvements. In her teammate's words, "How else they ever going to make it better if you don't tell 'em it sucks?" Her note put it a little nicer than that, but that's the gist.
She writes the address for the manufacturer that they found online in big letters on the top of the box with a marker. "There. I can mail it out tomorrow."
Dakota leans back on the couch. "See? That didn't take any time at all."
Anna sighs as she readjusts herself, leaning on the back of the couch with her legs tucked under her. "I know, I know. I just feel like such a bother when I complain about that kind of stuff. Like, I know it's not going to be perfect, it's not impenetrable, but I expected a little better than that. Especially for the price."
The Texan nods. "Exactly. And if they don't send anything back, no skin off your nose. If they do, great. Either way, you said your piece." She puts her feet up on the coffee table, crossed at the ankles. "So, what's your take on this whole Sentry thing?"
Anna chews her lip a little. "Splitting up your team and sending a local to another city is a big change. Having people who are popular with the public helps increase trust, switching out someone who's been on the scene for years for a stranger won't do anything for their image. If it's a punishment for not staying in line, then she's just shooting herself in the foot. If it's to keep him out of something, then it must be important. It just…doesn't seem like a good decision no matter which way you look at it."
"And now we lost our in over there. If we get pinched, we're plumb outta luck."
She snorts a laugh and Dakota gives her a funny look. "Sometimes I wonder if you use those southernisms just to get a rise out of us."
Dakota gives her a crooked smirk and laughs. "Mostly it's just how I talk, but I do pull out all the weird things old folks say for Po'boy. I don't know why they confuse him so much. It's just funny to see him get all worked up." She's got a point; his confused face is pretty hilarious.
The front door opens and closes again as Leopold arrives. He looks at them as he puts his backpack on the floor in the kitchen. "What's so funny?"
Anna chuckles again. "Nothing. How was your day?"
Her partner walks over to the living room and flops into the armchair. "Really good. I convinced one of my ed-editors to take the piece I've been working on."
She sits up, excitement making her eyes go wide. "Really? That's awesome!"
He nods with a smile. "Going to b-b-be in the Sunday edition."
Dakota tilts her head a little. "Sunday? Isn't that, like, the most important paper?"
He nods again. "Not as much as it used to, but yeah. Lots more papers are sold on Sundays."
This is huge for him and them. This could be a great launching point. Their team's reputation has been...ok lately. Good, even, with the police. This could help boost all the vigilantes. With the heroes making some changes, this couldn't come at a better time.
Dakota pushes herself off the couch. "I'll go wake up Po'boy so we can get business out of the way."
Their last team member is out in the back, probably sleeping in his hammock. He came in a couple of hours ago, told them all about the kids' crazy Incarnate theories, then went to decompress. Apparently, he's going to start teaching at the school and the news wore him out. It's a great opportunity to try and gather more intel on the school. But he would also just be a great teacher. The few times he's given her surfing lessons he's explained things very simply and made them relatable. Hopefully, it doesn't stress him out too much.
Dakota comes back with Po'boy, who rubs his eyes and yawns as he lies down on the floor in the living room. Anna chuckles. "How are you still tired?"
He groans. "Responsibility takes it out of ya." With a dramatic sigh, he sits up. "So, what the hell are we going to do?"
Silence fills the space for a few moments. They're out of good options. Hell, they never really had any in the first place. But now they're just left with the worse options. "Either we take our chances with the other heroes or we go to the cops. Those are the two options."
"I d-don't want to put Jenkins or Collins in any more d-d-danger than we have to, b-but they know we're legit. I say we go to them."
Dakota groans. "If we do that, then we best be prepared to act as their personal guards 24/7 because then they'll be the targets. I say we take it to the heroes."
Jackass shakes his head. "You heard Sentry, Siphon is Syzygy's lap dog. And she's part of the problem. We can't –"
The radio sitting on the counter crackles to life. "10-100 in progress on Rt 2 overpass." Anna's head whips towards the kitchen. 10-100, that's the code for a powered attack. She shushes the debate going on and silence falls. The voice on the radio is filled with panic. "Dispatch, we're seeing Triple Six Syndicate on the overpass, send immediate backup! Send –" The voice on the radio screams and then there's just static.
Anna turns back towards the group, mouth open to suggest they respond, but everyone is already up and moving. Anna joins the frenzy, running to her tiny room to put on her new leather armor. She was hoping to break it in a little before taking it into a fight, but it's not like she has a choice right now. She pulls on her leathers without even bothering to change out of her street clothes.
Jackass' voice reverberates down the hall. "I'll get the car started!"
She grabs her mask and starts following him out the door, Desperado and Glade only a few steps behind her. They pile into the car as Jackass throws it in drive and peels away from the curb.
They're all tense as they fight their way through Kerrigan Heights and into Earring Inlet. The overpass the call came in from is the bypass to the beach, high over the other roadways. As they pull onto it, the cars are stopped, locking up the road.
Desperado leans out the window, trying to get a better view. It's blocked all the way down. We ain't gettin' anywhere fast."
Jackass starts turning the wheel. "I'm gonna get us over to the shoulder and we can just run." With the car off, they all jump out and start running along the side of the highway.
Something about this seems weird. The call said Triple Six, but so far there's no sign of Hellion or Rite. Maybe it's just Reaper? Or someone they haven't seen before?
There's a break in the lines of cars ahead, like a bunch were shoved off to the side. As they get closer, the sky seems to get darker, and fog rolls down the corridor between the vehicles. Crusade reaches the edge of the clearing and sees a single figure standing at the center, black hair slicked back and hands in the pockets of his red suit.
Incarnate.