Episode 5: I'm On a Boat; Or, Procedures Going Exactly as Planned!
The professor studied the readouts from the seismic generator. These were comparable to the energy spikes she had originally been able to siphon for Prototype 1, and the residual activity spurned on by the turbine had led to a trickle of extra power even after the quake had ended. Something big like she had done was not sustainable, of course. If she continued to trigger seismic activity from the same place, someone would eventually notice they had a similar origin point.
She glanced back to the radar map on her terminal. Perhaps, though, if she could spread it out…
This was all for a catalyst, regardless. She still didn't know if the second prototype was stable enough to maintain a physical form, even if she were to ignite it. Perhaps she could supplement the energy loop with additional seismic reverberation?
"It's unhelpful for you to think to yourself, you know."
The Professor closed her eyes, kneading at the bridge of her nose. "Do you have to maintain the connection? I had almost forgotten you were here."
She hated looking at her. Every time she gazed into that screen all she could see was a testament to her own failings. As though She wasn't ready to pick apart every flaw in her thought process anyways. She knew she was a workaholic. She knew she knew exactly how to get into her own head. She didn't need it verbalized.
The Benefactor crossed her arms. "And trust you to keep on target instead of weeping to yourself in the broom closet? Spare me. Besides, I was right, wasn't I? It looks sustainable."
"It's promising," the Professor bit out. She glanced to the table top, where her other map was spread out, heavily noted. "We still have no idea where the Box might be located, though."
Aurora Bridge, took 30 minutes to respond. light blue and gold.
Mercy West Hospital, responded in minutes. Police reports from patients say 2. gold and navy. Improved energy signal tracking
Broadway and E St Johns responded immediately. Improved energy signal tracking again. City block, not super helpful.
The prototypes were built to track repeated energy signals similar to the ones the Benefactor had provided. But this wasn't enough information.
The Benefactor spoke slowly. "The more points of location, the easier it will be to locate them. Get. To it."
The Professor stood straight, pulling her coat in around her. Approaching the terminal, she took immense satisfaction at hovering over the off button. "Time to recruit some help, I guess."
"Don't."
She turned the screen off.
Her heels clicked sharply as she made her way down the hallway, bouncing off the clean white walls. In the background, she could hear the constant ticktickticktick of others working in the work room, and the door shooshed open as she pushed her way through.
The assistants looked up as she entered. One of them, a man with glasses she only knew as Newman by his work badge, addressed her as she entered. "Professor."
She gave him a nod. "Good morning everyone." The assistants turned from their microscopes and test tube racks to look at her, and she pushed up her glasses in consideration. Who could she trust here?
Newman had worked with the lab for years. "Newman," she nodded at him. "Kesler. Vargas. If you're not too busy, I would like a word with you three."
The Assistants glanced to each other before leaving their stations.
She led them to a room down the hall, which was a showing room. The little tiered stage would make an appropriate venue for her address, if she was going to make this sound appealing. She lifted her head, peering down at the three lined up side-by-side before her.
"Thank you for stepping out. This is a sensitive project, and I wanted it to stay between parties I knew could handle this responsibility."
Already, the bright-eyed youths were glancing to one another with intrigue, Newman's heavy brows risen behind his glasses. He looked back to her. "What kind of project?"
Carmen sipped the last of her coffee, watching with the haze of morning calm as her father gathered up his briefcase, pulling on his suit jacket for work. There was a sense of normalcy in this—she had always felt more comfortable when there was a sense of routine, and they tried to eat their meals together as often as possible. In that way, the empty plate on the other side of table was a comfort. They usually made do with toast or similar to compensate their busy mornings, but today was the first day of summer proper and she'd had the time to get up early and make them some frittatas. It made her feel good to put in the extra effort.
This was nice, her father's Bill Newman records playing. Normal. It was a moment where she didn't have to think about how she hadn't spoken to him yet, about anything. She could just ignore it.
She had been thinking a lot about the conversation she'd had with the girl in the park, Sylvia. She was right; Carmen couldn't just keep putting this off forever, especially if she had finally had a spark of inspiration about what she wanted to do in life. Now, she had something to argue for. Not knowing, she realized now, and been her excuse for not speaking up for years.
But she had no idea how to start.
So, for now, procrastinating a little bit longer wouldn't hurt anything, right?
She sliced off one more little bite of her breakfast as her father straightened his lapel. "Have a good day at work."
He humphed lightly. "I actually wanted to speak with you before I go, about something coming up."
Carmen lowered the fork from her mouth. Oh. That…wasn't promising. "Oh?"
"Yes, "He said, turning to her. He looked like some kind of monolith standing over the kitchen table, obscuring the light from the chandelier behind. Like an Easter Island Head. And then she said the dreaded words: "There's going to be a party coming up, in a couple months. Around the last week of July."
Carmen tried to fight down her blanch, but it was strictly bad news. Handsy patrons, stuffy, stilted conversation and no escape route. She hoped a few specific names hadn't made it to the guest list. "Oh, I see. You'll want me there, then?"
He sniffed. "Actually, this event is one I had planned for you to have a more active role in, dearest. You know the time is drawing near that you will step into the business. I would like to see how you would do in planning such an occasion. I have specific clients I need in attendance, of course, but I'm curious to see what you would do on your own."
Carmen's fingers were clamped vice-like around the fork. Oh, no. If he was asking her to get experience in this sort of networking already, he must have planned to get her involved sooner than she had realized. She had practiced in the mirror, the sort of things she wanted to tell him, but now she found herself in a bind—she had to either take the task or explain right now why she couldn't. And she knew there was only one way that would go.
Her mind paused, another possibility occurring to her. Well…if she was doing the planning…maybe she could interfere in her father's match making attempts in another way. It came out in a rush, breathlessly: "Could I invite some friends?"
The question caused her father to still. It was embarrassing to understand why the question caught him off guard, but he wasn't immediately saying no. He cocked his head to the side, straightening his tie. "Which friends? Are these those girls I met before?" Girls, he spoke with a level of distaste.
She scrambled to secure her angle. "I can make sure they understand the seriousness," she said. "So they know how important this is. They're very nice girls, very social. I'm sure they'd love to come. And," she threw in, "it would help me…integrate into the role, if there were individuals there I were already close to."
Her father squinted his eyes, bothering his cufflinks. She clenched her fists, waiting for some indication of what he was thinking. Come on.
Her heart leapt as slowly, he nodded. "…I suppose that would be alright. Just make sure they are up on their etiquette for this sort of event. Otherwise, as long as you are able to devote your attention mainly to the business, I don't believe it would hurt anything."
Yes! "That's wonderful! Yes, I promise I will put my all into making this event successful. You can count on me!" And maybe I might finally have some fun at one of these things. Hopefully, having a sort of buffer would prevent the guests from doing anything untoward. Surely, they weren't stupid enough to pull anything when they knew someone was watching.
Her father seemed to relax, his former reluctance softening. "Good. You'll need to arrange the catering and decoration; I want us to really go all-in on this one. The hosting will be up to you, though the networking will still be facilitated with my influence. Please let me know as you have these things arranged. Make me proud, Carmen." With that, her father smoothed back his comb-over and headed out.
Carmen slumped back in the kitchen chair, closing her eyes. Okay, so she hadn't said what she needed to, but she had made a negotiation that might make things better for her. Maybe she had picked something up from the business side of things after all.
She threw her hand over her eyes. Thank goodness it was summer. She really needed a break.
Now, to convince the others.
\\\
Rory walked out of her last test, thrilled with the knowledge that for her, summer had officially began. The air was clear, the sun warming her back as she pulled off her bomber jacket to reveal something a little less than approved by school dress code. It was just one of those little knitted tops she had made, but midriff and bare-back both made the school system antsy, so. Ha ha! Take that, school. Now I can wear whatever I want!
She flashed her student ID as she checked out, letting them know she wouldn't be coming back. Narma and Carmen were both already done at this point; what did Mallory even do, anyways? Wasn't she homeschooled or something by her caretaker? She'd have to find out, because it was chill time now!
She sighed, her enthusiasm waning. Man, if it were really that simple. Just fun and sun with her friends until the fall session came around. The reality of the previous few days lingered in her mind, though. Running around like some kind of frilly Batman, the very real threat of guns a possibility at any moment.
She'd been patrolling, since the night with the guys in the warehouse. It was funny, she'd ended up adapting the route plan Mallory had wanted to go with after all, and none of them even knew it. She knew she was just asking for trouble, but was she imagining it or had things been quieter since she had taken down those gangbangers? Sure, the police had still been patrolling the neighborhood like it was 'bout to be the site of the city's next Krispy Kreme, but she hadn't heard the kids at school talking about any more gunshots. No violent incidents reported in the area, either.
Celene hadn't stopped being uneasy about her nightly strolls, though. She knew something was up. Rory was just going to have to get more creative about sneaking out. It was too late to turn back now.
"Well, hey there!"
Rory peered back to the school's entrance, where Eddie was tromping out with a toothy grin on his face. "Hey, Eddie. You done now?"
He stretched over his head, and she winced at the sag of his book bag. That thing must have been packed. "YES, it is OVER! Woof, I thought chemistry was going to kill me, but now I can turn my back on school with no regrets!" He turned, cupping his hands around his mouth, yelling back towards the school as he descended the steps backwards. "See ya!"
Rory laughed, making her own little megaphone. "Yeah, BYE!" She hadn't seen much of Eddie since the pithos situation; she'd kind of missed his exuberance.
Eddie turned right-way-round, walking leisurely with her as she made her way through the parking lot. "So, are you doing anything to celebrate? Lots of guys are partying all over the city. It should be a show."
Rory wrinkled her nose, sticking her hands in her pockets. "Eh, nothing in particular. I'm probably going to hit up my girls to go do something, but no specifics right now."
Eddie waggled his eye brows, reaching back to pull a rolled-up paper from his backpack. "Then, might I make a suggestion?"
Hm, what kind of partying did Eddie get up to? He seemed kind of…nerdy. It was cute as a personality trait, but not really something she would have associated with partying. Heck, what did she know? Maybe he was an absolute animal in his off-hours, you know, outside of the time he was actually sort-of a bear. She shrugged. "Sure."
Stopping, he opened the paper, indicating a little box circled by red-pen. "The Seattle Times is throwing a boat party tonight! Start-of-Summer celebration, you know? They've rented out a trio of yachts down by the pier, and the party carries to the pier itself if you're not feeling the water! Snacks, drinks, swimming and music! Should be super chill." He looked quite pleased with himself, flicking the paper into a smoother position. "Aaaand I can get you a discount, if you're interested."
Wait, what? Rory cocked her hip, "A discount? Boy, where are you getting all of these connections?"
His eyes glittered as he pushed his glasses back into place. "Oh, yeah! The Seattle Times—" He pointed to one side, "saw my articles in the Garfield Times," then to the other side, "I guess they were looking into the attack or something? And they asked me if I wanted to do a little freelance work! I got all the forms filled out, and now I'm doing some little assignments."
Nice! She knew how much Eddie loved his journalism. A little unnerving that the paper had been doing more snooping around the school, but that whole business was over now anyways. "That's great, Eddie! I'm sure you'll do great!"
He flushed with pride. "Mm, I'm mostly doing fluff pieces right now, but I'm just glad to have the opportunity. Hey, maybe they'll take me on full-time after school! Anyways, though, that's why the discount. I'm covering the festivities."
A boat party actually sounded pretty fun, actually. Rory's never been on a big boat before, except for her uncle's fishing boat, which was just a little thing. "Sounds sweet. Yeah, I'll ask the girls what they want to do!"
Eddie folded the paper back in half, so the back page was showing. "Cool. If you guys end up coming, just shoot me a text, and I'll hook you up. If you give me your phone, I can put in my number."
She passed it over, and Eddie seemed to look at it in confusion for a second, before murmuring, "No, wait, I got it." A moment later, he handed it back. "All set!"
"Cool, thanks, man." Rory's eyes fell to the paper, and something made her stop. "Hey…what does that say?" She indicated the article partially obscured by Eddie's thumb. There was a small picture there, one she recognized as a familiar warehouse. Apprehension lit up in her brain like a firework.
Eddie's brow was furrowed, but he jumped when he saw what she had indicated. "Oh, yeah! It's crazy!" He flipped the paper up so the bottom was at the front. "There's some kind of copy-cat vigilante running around!"
She examined the headline, her stomach clenching. COPY-CAT CRUSADER? ANONYMOUS TIP LEADS TO ARREST OF LOCAL GANG AFFILIATES. She didn't think that the work she'd done the other day would be notable enough to make it to the paper, even if the article seemed small. Also, she wasn't comfortable with the fact they'd immediately connected the gangbangers to her other work.
Her "other work." Geez, what even was her life?
"Yeah," said Eddie, leaning in. "Apparently, somebody got some kind of bright idea watching the Soldiers to try and take on the local gangs. Man, that's such a bad idea!"
Rory paused, looking at Eddie more directly. "What do you mean?"
Eddie looked up at her, the excitement in his eyes seeming to falter a little at the apprehension. "Uh. I mean. Gangs, right? They have guns. And there's a lot of them. If some rando off the street is trying to come at that…I mean, I feel like they maybe don't understand the power the Soldiers are packing to be able to do what they do, and besides, that's just a totally different type of combat. They seem to have actual powers, or at least some kind of technology that replicate powers. All I'm saying is that this new guy might not really understand what they're getting into. This stuff's dangerous."
Rory bit her lip. Man, sometimes people do talk right into you even if they don't know it, don't they? "Yeah, I see what you mean." She paused. "Soldiers?"
Eddie chuckled nervously. "You know, just…a name I made up."
Well, at least the man wasn't going to see her out at the first opportunity.
/
Something was off.
Narma couldn't help the prickling sensation that lingered in the back of her mind. She wasn't able to pin-point exactly what it was, but something about the training in the junkyard left her with a bad taste in her mouth. Rory's logic was sound. When they were dealing with an enemy whose major advantage was being about to get dozens of civilians in the way, it made sense to try and figure out how not to hurt them in the process. Still.
For some reason, something nettled at her about it. It wouldn't let it go.
But Rory had no reason to lie to her, right?
It was probably nothing.
It was mid-day, and she knew she'd be hearing from her today—it was the first day of summer, they had to do something. When the message finally dropped in to her chat client, it was more heartening than she could have imagined.
Rory West [RW] opened group chat at 12:43 PM
[RW]: How do you gals feel about a boat party?
Where had Rory gotten a dang boat?
Narma Anand [NA] joined the group chat.
[NA]: Boat party? heck yeah.
[NA]: But on what boat? Where is this mysterious boat?
Mallory Dunbar [MD] joined the group chat.
[MD]: Thank god I am dying in this house
[MD]: You cannot imagine how many camps are starting at the end of the week
[RW]: Lol okay?
Carmen Rodriguez [CR] joined the group chat.
[CR]: That sounds wonderful actually, Yes please.
[NA]: So, not your boat?
[CR]: no!
[RW]: Actually, Eddie got us discount spots if we can make it.
[NA]: who the heck is Eddie?
[RW]: You haven't met Eddie? Eddie is cool. You know, newspaper guy? I'm sure I mentioned him.
[RW]: Anyway he works for the newspaper and they are throwing a boat party and you all should come.
[MD]: I'm in
[MD]: Not the context in which I thought I would be saying that
[MD]: but in nevertheless.
[CR]: Um?
[MD]: Nonononono
[MD]: Like a cool hacker
[MD]: Not
[MD]: jegus chirst
[RW]: CARMEN OMG!
[CR]: I refuse to take the blame there.
[CR]: I never know with you
[MD]: Please excuse my chronic foot-in-mouth Innuendo-itis
[MD]: It is fatal this is how I die
[CR]: But no, I want to come to the boat party.
[NA]: Same.
Narma checked out the link as Rory shot it over to them. It looked pretty fun, and she could probably get over there no problem. Even this small arrangement felt her with a warmth, though. It felt like their lives had been going 100 miles an hour since this whole chaos started, and the chance for them to just hang out was like a mirage in the desert. Well, as least I know I boat is not going to up and vanish.
She took a breath. It was not that serious. And that's why she was happy about it!
[NA]: Well I will see you suckers in the water then
[MD]: Pft I'll stick to the deck thanks.
[CR]: You don't like swimming?
[MD]: Sports as a leisure activity is a negative from me, chief.
[CR]: Swimming is fun! It doesn't have to be a sport.
[RW]: It should be a chill party, Eddie's cool.
[CR]: Oh! Speaking of parties, I wanted to ask you guys something.
[NA]: I'm listening.
[CR]: My dad is throwing this formal event at the end of July, and he wants me to host. I was wondering if any of you guys wanted to come? It's mostly going to be dancing and chatting. To be honest, I hate it. But it would be more fun if you guys could come.
[NA]: Aw she likes us
[MD]: Fancy rich-people party? Count me in. I'm going to spike the punch.
[CR]: No
[RW]: She's just kidding! We'd love to come.
[RW]: You're just kidding, Mallory.
[MD]: I make no promises.
[NA]: For real though, yeah, any chance to dress up is a good one.
[MD]: Speaking of which, if this is going to be high-profile, what is the dress code? Do I need to pull a ballgown out or what
Narma froze, eyes flying back to the forms she'd been flipping through describing the details of her internship. The program could be used towards course credit at any number of design schools, but there were assignments that had to be completed. She grabbed for the last in the stack, eyes skimming the text again as her hand flew back to the keyboard.
[NA]: Girl, do you even know who you're in a chat with?
[NA]: Carmen, you are a *saint*
[CR]: Thank you?
[NA]: This is actually perfect my internship has this final project thing due at the end that I need new designs for
[NA]: Don't even stress I am on it, right now
[NA]: Send me your measurements STAT
[MD]: Aye-aye captain
[CR]: This metaphor seems a bit confused.
[RW]: Lol girl I'm not even sure they know what they're talking about half the time.
They finalized their arrangements, Narma with a new sense of anticipation hovering in her chest. Maybe they would be able to work out this touch-and-go summer after all, amidst all the business.
Even so, she had one more call to make.
Finding the contact in her phone, she tried not to sound too eager as the line picked up. "Well hey there. How goes the paper-working? If it gets too boring, you can always come by."
Manuel knew she'd gotten a lot of stuff to follow up on and had been keeping her company via text from working. Maybe Eddie would be willing to cover one more guest?"
"Oh, you know, it's a drag. I was actually going to go out with the girls for a while. Hey, I was wondering...how do you feel about boats?"
"This was a great idea."
Carmen had, true to form, spent the first hour on the boat trying to coax the rest of them out to the water before repeatedly diving off the side and swimming circles around them. Rory had tried the water skis and immediately loved them, and Narma had alternately spent time chatting with her and Mallory and watching the intricate network of boats move to and fro out from the harbor. With the intent way she had an eagle-eye on the passenger trips, Mallory got the feeling she had probably invited someone else.
The water was crystal blue and almost too perfect. The sun trickled over the water like a drizzle of glass. Presently, Carmen was taking a break from becoming one with the ocean and was lounging in one of the chairs beside hers, looking as impeccably gorgeous as always. She sighed, the brim of her hat shadowing her closed eyes. "I was really stressed. This is great."
Mallory leaned over the side of the deck, bored with merely lounging. Water flicked up along the boatside, making the air slightly cool. "Yeah. I almost feel like an actual teenager." She smiled wryly, glancing back to Carmen who chuckled, soaking in the sun.
Her mind had been all over the place. She'd been stewing in the drama with Gwen, and it felt good to not worry about it for a little while. If she were being honest, it pissed her off a little bit that the girl was just out here chilling, running away from home like it was a leisure trip. When she had one. When she had something to go back to.
Damn. She thought she was done being mad about this.
She huffed. Okay, she wasn't being fair. She didn't know the context, what kind of home they were running away from. Or why? Why couldn't Gwen just tell her why so she could stop obsessing about her?
Mallory took a breath. No, stop that. Only aquatic teen frolicking now.
In her periphery, she could see Rory and Narma bounding up to the side of the boat. Bouncing on her toes, Rory chanted, "Drink boat...is coming! Drink boat...is coming!" where several passers-by joined in with her.
The little speedboat slowed down as it neared the side of the yacht, and Rory and a mob of others handed ones over the side. Narma came back over with something more complicated, which she sipped at with the panache of someone playing the system. "This discount is the shit."
Rory grinned. "Yeah, Eddie's great."
Mallory frowned, straightening a little as she caught sight of Rory's upper arm in the sun. "Ouch, that looks like it hurt."
The girl blinked, turning to look back. "Huh?"
The gash was a messy red line slashed through her dark skin, curving to the underside of her arm. That would have been…what, back at the hospital? "I would have thought that would have healed by now." Her ribs didn't seem to be bothering her anymore.
Rory blinked at the wound like she didn't recognize it for a second. "Oh, no, I just caught it on a nail in the doorframe this morning. No biggie."
Carmen winced. "Yikes."
"Looks like tetanus to me," Mallory accessed shortly.
Rory wrinkled her nose. "Can we even get tetanus?"
"Oh, oh," Narma suddenly froze, gazing out to an upcoming passenger boat. "I've got to go." She patted Rory firmly on the shoulder. "Don't die. See ya."
Mallory wondered, for just a moment, why Rory looked so uneasy.
The passengers loaded and unloaded onto the yacht, swarming like a school of fish swimming upstream. Narma scanned the deck, trying to locate the familiar mop of curly hair she had spied from the rail.
There—he seemed to have gone around, and was lounging near the back of the deck. The breeze tussled his curls, where they swept forward attractively to frame his face. Her chest gave a nervous little pang as he turned his head and smiled, eyes finding her in the ruckus. He straightened as she joined him at the bow. She tipped her head up casually, leaning back against the wood. "Hey there. Glad you could make it."
Manuel grinned. Shadow rimmed his lower lid, his weariness peeking through the façade of his button up, his pressed dress slacks. She could appreciate a well-dressed man. "Wouldn't miss an opportunity to escape the café." He peered down to her patterned one-piece and the sarong at her waist. "Nice swim suit."
She couldn't help but preen a little. "Thanks," she rolled back her shoulders. "Made it myself."
He leaned back. "Impressive." He glanced to the deck behind them, where she could still hear Mallory and Rory making a ruckus (and Carmen, making gentle interjections.) "Your friends going to mind if I steal you away for a little bit?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Meh, They'll probably be glad for one less monkey in the circus."
Well, no. They might mind a little bit. But it wasn't like she was ditching them; they were like ten feet away!
Manuel looked around appraisingly. "This is a nice set up. Wonder how they came up with this one?"
Narma peered past him to the myriad of boats filtering in and out from the docks. "Yeah, I'd be scared to know how much fuel they're burning through." This little shindig must have cost a pretty penny.
Even so, the ocean was beautiful. Her gaze moved out to the ocean, where it stretched out for miles and miles beyond. It was almost like the world dropped off. Even in the midst of party, the sight brought her a sense of uncommon peace. Usually, especially with everything that was going on, even calm evenings carried the undercurrent of unease, like a beat rising up from the city pavement. Here, though…she could imagine being here when it was quiet and believing that none of the rest of it existed.
She spoke softly, trying not to disrupt the feeling. She hoped her could hear her. "I should come out here more. It's pretty as hell." She never would have had the opportunity before she moved here. Even though it had only been three years, it felt like a whole different age. She peered up to Manuel, who was watching her with what seemed like intrigue. "I used to live in Missola, Montana, and it was the same thing? Big river cutting through the city. Never visited it. Course, that has nothing on this." Turning, she joined him, leaning back on the rail. "Have you spent a lot of time on the water out here?"
His brow rose, and he nodded consideringly. "Yeah, actually. I grew up here, and my uncle loves to go deep-sea fishing." There was a shine in his idea, like he was focusing on something very carefully. "We used to have this trip every summer, where we'd go out. He doesn't get around as well anymore, though." His gaze lit up. "At night? Beautiful. Every possible star. Like a million grains of sugar on a black counter. Seriously."
She almost laughed. Of course, he would use that as a metaphor. She really needed to get him out of work more often! Still, she felt herself smiling. "I would love to see that."
Manuel grinned. "Mm, perhaps that could be arranged."
She flared a wrist like a debutant. "Oh, splendid, yes."
He laughed, and they grew quiet, enjoying the ocean's peace.
The silence was broken by a sudden excited chattering off one side of the boat. "What is that?"
Reluctantly, Narma turned away from Manuel and the railing, taking a few steps to view the other side of the yacht. "One sec." Wonder what the commotion's about.
Some of the community college girls were leaning over the side. It was immediately obvious what had caught their attention: jutting out of the water was a white, spikey object. It was stark and clean-looking, and it almost reminded Narma of one of those squishy puffer ball toys. It was quite large, about the size of the loveseat in her living room at home. She couldn't imagine they hadn't seen it on the approach.
"Some kind of trash," one girl said distastefully.
A guy laughed. "That thing could have Titanic'd us." He spread his arms out, leaning out over the water. "I'm king of the world!"
Another student hummed, as Narma made her way through the crowd. "Sea urchins don't get that big, right?" The object bobbed mildly, then more aggressively. Hm, the tide's picking up. We may have to turn in soon.
"Nah, man, that thing's solid."
Narma shuffled through to the side rail. She squinted, the object's bright exterior only intensified by the sun on the waves. Hm. If this was trash, she couldn't fathom what it might have been previously. The shear alienness of its presence was almost mesmerizing; as she watched it, she focused in on the humming of the boat's slowed rudders. But…wait. That wasn't coming from the rudders. It was coming from—
Bzzz.
Narma leapt back as the object rushed violently forward, crashing into the yacht with a crunch. The party-goers screamed as the boat lurched, damp shoes slipping and sending them crashing to the hard deck wood. Narma grabbed the door handle into the interior cabin, pulling herself back at the boat went sideways. What is that?
The thing unfurled. While it retained its ball-like shape, long, angular arms and thin, wide legs flapped in the water like fins. Its spikes left a large dent in the boat's paneling, and they all yelped as they each gradually felt the glug of water slipping in through a puncture hole. It wasn't large, but that wasn't much of an improvement.
Narma scowled; she recognized those jutting arms. This creature could have been Spindly Leg's round cousin. Had to come from the same place. Knew this was too good to be true.
In a panic, folks leapt overboard, trying to swim for the pier. That went about as well as one could expect. As she tried to figure out a way to move without hurdling into the water, the arms jutted out in different directions, grabbing people with extreme conviction. She recognized the way they went limp as an aura descended over them—her eyes widened. Over the water, that was bad news. She had to do something.
She felt down to the little hidden pocket in her skirt where the scepter was hidden away. The creature picked up another victim, the aura over the other fading as it dropped the first girl into the water. She began to sink like a stone.
No time. A plan was formulating, but she had to work quickly. A prayer running through her head, she yelled at the top of her lungs, over the screaming and panicked wet sounds: "Beta! Play catch!"
Without another moment to spare, she dove into the water.
\\\
When the screaming started, it was almost comical the way their gazes shot to one another, as though it'd been choreographed. But none of them were laughing, the moment had come for the peace to break.
Carmen rolled off the sunbathing chair, watching the other boat-goers scrambling about.
"Where is it?" Mallory barked sharply, body turning one way then another to find the source.
The boat tilted—the rush of water. "The other side," Carmen called over the noise, where she could see the inorganic shapes of something bright white spearing up from the water.
Rory's eyes focused on them, "We have to move." She glanced around, eyes finding the captain's quarters and pushing towards it through the crowd of fleeing high school kids.
"No, wait," Carmen shot out, and Rory halted, turning back. "We should split up. If they see us all go in one place and then come out—"
Rory huffed. "Good point."
Mallory moved for her pocket, then cursed. "I left my bag in the upper deck room."
She looked startled when Carmen grabbed her wrist. "We'll go. You can take that room."
Rory nodded. "I'll try to find Narma. Find us as soon as you can."
"Got it." Carmen tugged Mallory behind her as she headed for the tiny set of steps leading to the upper deck. Her blood hummed with adrenaline—this, she could do. She had always been task-oriented, feeling more comfortable doing a job, where she could get lost in the repetitive motion, than socializing, where she so often got tangled in her thoughts. And this was the most effective task of all, becoming immersed in being this other person in the heat of a crisis.
She drove through the masses sweeping past them, fighting back against the number of people pushing to get past her. As they finally made it to the top of the steps, a man appeared at the rail, his crisp jacket rumpled by the chaos.
"Head downward, head downward," he commanded gruffly, waving them back. "We need to get to the boats."
Crap. If they couldn't get up there, they couldn't transform. As it happened, she'd set her bag in there as well. "I just have to grab my things," she said placatingly.
The captain ruffled his mustache, and stepped down, still blocking the way. "We're sinking, girl; we have to get to the lifeboats. No time to save your phone."
Carmen bristled and tried to hold her ground as the captain continued to usher them down. "It's really important."
In her periphery, Mallory pointed behind them. "Oh my god, it's growing wings!"
The captain straightened in alarm, shuffling forward down the steps to try and see. Mallory let go of her hand, ducking under the captain's arm to slip past. Following her lead, Carmen flattened to the wall, squeezing through. Quick thinking.
They trampled up the steps to the deck room, darting for the door.
Narma sunk down in the water as though she were cutting through jello, the weight of her sarong fanning out around her like a parachute impeding her aquadynamics. Still, her eyes opened to see water deepening and darkening around her. Her gaze shifted to both sides—there. A little way below, she could see the first victim slowly sinking. Paddling forward, she dived deeper, forcing her body through the water. No, she was moving too slow!
No choice. Pulling her hand from her pocket, she clenched the scepter, and detached the sarong, where it writhed down into the depths like some kind of jelly fish. Ability to move much improved, she kicked through the water, encouraged as the girl's floating body came within reach.
She grabbed her under the arms. She had to get her to the surface—she hadn't been the only one in the beast's clutches. But she had to do one more thing first.
She'd never been holding on to anyone else when she'd done this before; would it even work? Using a fragment of her precious remaining air, she glubbed out, "Egeria Star Power, Make-up!"
A kaleidoscope of light cut through the water.
Sailor Egeria nearly gasped as her vision cleared, success as her uniform resolving around her. Startlingly, she realized that the burn in her lungs was no longer as bad as it had been. Maybe that ran in the vein of the super-fast healing the transformation lended them. She was concerned for a second that her shoes were going to make it hard to swim, that she might have to ditch them, but looking down she realized they were different—flat, slick, clinging to her calves. The uniform can adapt? Tack that up to some magic shit, she guessed.
She looked to the girl beside her. No time to spare, then.
The surged for the surface. Just as she had almost made it, she heard another splash, and then another one. Two more limp figures cut down into the water. That was too many, too fast. She had to enact her plan now.
She just hoped Rory had gotten the message.
She got the girl to the surface breaking through before she made the call. Scepter still tight in her fist, she thrust it out, letting go of the girl. Gasping through water, she dived below, turning upside-down. Through bubbles, "Typhoon Strikedown!"
She put all her intentions into the orientation. From above her, which from her flipped position was below the victims, bursts of water shot up through the surface of the ocean. The floating figures were caught with the streams, buoyed into the air. Come on.
For one moment, Egeria felt her heart sink as the figures began to fall back to the water, thinking the maneuver had been for naught. They were still going to drown.
But then, they seemed to freeze, floating. A familiar star-speckled wind held them suspended.
Peering up as she bobbed in the water, she spied Sailor Boreas, standing arms-extended on top of the sinking boat. She pumped a fist in the air, bobbing in the water. "Yeah!"
/
Sailor Boreas lowered the water-logged figures to the boat surface, where two of them coughed and turned over on their sides and the first one lay limp. Luckily, a fleeing chaperone noticed her and knelt down to check her.
"She was in the water," Boreas shouted over the cacophony, and the man startled but seemingly got the message, moving to do CPR. She breathed. Hopefully, she would revive.
Out in the ocean, Sailor Egeria was cutting through the waves, pursuing the creature.
While at first, the creature seemed to only be able to handle a couple of people at a time, it was moving faster now, invigorated by the energy it had absorbed. She pointed to the area it was working in. "There are more guys over there," she called to her cohort, who gave her a thumbs up. "Keep them out of the water until we can get that thing under control!"
She watched Egeria continue after the creature, anxious watching the other boats roving around them. Apparently, the other partiers had caught on that there was something going on, and the delivery boats ferried back and forth fishing folks out of the water but too scared to get too close. Sailor Boreas waited for others, concerned about the recovery time for Egeria's typhoon attack, and she did her best to Dire Gust folks who had just fallen in back onto the drooping boat. But sooner than she had expected, more bursts of water erupted from the surface, bringing her more civilians in need to resuscitation.
"Hey," She turned her head to see Concordia and Decima standing alongside the stern. "We're here what do you need?"
She appreciated Carmen's willingness to take direction in a high-stakes situation, but she felt a little ill-equipped to give it. No time to dwell, though! "The folks we're bringing in need reviving. Once we've gotten that under control, we have to take that thing down!"
"Got it," Decima nodded, and the two moved into position.
Carmen headed down to the dented area of the boat, Mallory as Sailor Decima trailing right behind her. The structure racked with instability. She scanned the deck, looking for any passengers who weren't breathing. Quickly, she identified a couple that weren't breathing, and her gaze shot to Decima. "Do you know CPR?"
Mallory immediately shot back, "I have trained for a number of survival situations."
Carmen paused, then nodded. "That'll do."
They tended to the victims until they could breathe on their own, and the next round of three that Narma tossed up were breathing. Carmen turned on Mallory. "We have to work now. This could be our only opening!" That thing was working through the swimmers easy as plucking petals.
"Wish I had my magnets."
They moved further up along the rail, to higher ground. They took their position, watching dark wind yank civilians out of the water. Narma called out to them as she spied them on the boat. "You guys decide to join the party?"
"I am the party," Mallory shot back and Narma laughed.
Carmen called, "What do you need from us?"
Narma didn't hesitate. "Just go at this thing—whoa!"
Narma hadn't even the chance to finish her sentence when the urchin-like monster grabbed her out of the water.
They jolted. As they watched helplessly, the creature thrashed, yanking their teammate back and forth. That thing's going to really hurt her if we don't move-!
With no time to lose, she raised her arms, bringing two fingers together on each side. "Harmonious Bellicoso!"
The harmonic barrage battered the creature, the ribbons of light circling its body like bonds. It shuddered, and despite its lack of a mouth it made a low bellowing noise. The waves picked up, and escapees yelped anxiously from their boats. Carmen clenched her teeth. Can't keep that up—too risky.
"Wonder how solid this thing is."
Carmen perked, glancing back. "Hm?"
That was all the warning she got before Mallory-as-Decima called out a destiny chain. She stumbled out of the way, watching as the chain burst out from the boat. "M-Decima!"
"It held the other guy still," Mallory clarified with upmost concentration on her face. "I wonder if I can use it other ways."
Carmen whipped around, watching the chain loop not through, but beside the creature.
"Grab it!"
She hadn't realized how close Narma was to the attack. To her shock, when the other soldier grabbed the chain it held, pulling her from the monster's grip.
Mallory tipped up her chin. "Who needs a boomerang?"
Carmen gaped as Narma clung on long enough for the chain to return to Mallory's hand. The girl's grip failed a little too far back to land on the boat proper, but celestial breeze was summoned to catch her. "Oof." It lowered her to the boat surface. "0/10, would not recommend. My headache is homicidal."
Rory touched down beside them, holding herself with the same powerful aura that always seemed to overcome her in this state. "Good to have you back. What's the plan?"
"Spike this thing like a football," said Mallory.
"I think that metaphor's a little backwards," Narma rubbed her head.
Carmen turned to Rory. "My bellicoso disturbs the water too much. It could endanger the people on the boats."
"Got it. You're benched, then." Rory eyed the monster, who—
Oh, boy, it seems it's noticed the rest of us. It bobbed through the water towards them, its fin-like arms paddling the distance with no small measure of speed.
"Guess that means we're up," Mallory crossed her arms, gaze unwavering from the beast. "We on the same wave length right now?"
Boreas said, "I think we are."
Carmen had never seen this from the outside. The other times, she'd either been a part of it, or had been too distracted by other things to notice. Alyssa, the skating rink, self-hatred.
Their two cohorts seemed to find a formation—Rory with one arm out and the other over her head, and Mallory holding her arms in a circular position before her. Together, they called out, "Fate Cyclone!"
She felt it—the ping of two energies finding the same frequency. Mallory actually hadn't been too far off with her "wavelength" comment. So that's what happens?
A swirl of air encircled the creature, until it was slowly lifted into the air. Within the gust, she could see bright streaks which she realized were a myriad of Mallory's chains. They grabbed the beast by all limbs, holding it tight as it began to spin, faster and faster, the chains stretching taut. For a second, she thought they were going to pull it apart.
But then the creature bellowed, low and angry. One second it was there, and the next it had blipped out of existence like a TV turning off.
"Damn," Mallory cursed. "I thought we had it."
Rory frowned.
They stared out at the empty water, the last of the boats come to ferry the passengers home.
/
They were all crowded in Rory's living room, gathered around the TV wrapped in bath towels. They waited for the local news to find the right story with a stony atmosphere.
After the attack, they'll all either had to blend into the scene or swim to shore. Carmen and Mallory had done the smart thing and retreated to the deck room so they could pretend they'd always been there. Narma laid on the deck, too drained (metaphorically and literally) to so anything else. Rory lowered herself into the water before flagging down a pick-up boat.
Rory had already fielded a shrill phone-call from her mother, who wanted to know exactly what had happened with an update on every bone she had. Nothing broken, Mama. You can call off the Calvary. It had taken nearly twenty minutes to talk her down from rushing home early.
Mama being still at the office and Tyrell not yet returned from school for the summer, it was just them and Celene. Their feline guide perched on the back of the couch, tired from subjecting them to an in-depth interrogation. It was almost like she'd gained a second mother, sometimes.
Rory got it. She was just worried; they both were. She stroked idly along the cat's back. She was lucky to have people who cared so much.
"Hey," Mallory interjected into the silence, "here it comes."
The scene on the newscast changed, switching to clips of their boat askew.
"Summer-Time Madness? Fun in the sun didn't last for long today as the summer-kick-off event hosted by our very own Seattle Times took a scary turn. Torrential waves, which local geologists say may have been caused by some minor earthquakes in the area, swept the unsuspecting party-goers away. Passengers fled from the main ferry which was punctured by debris. Luckily, quick action by the local coastal authority retrieved the displaced from the water, leaving only minor injuries. That sure was a close one, Bob."
"It sure was, Trisha. And now, in sports today—"
Rory clicked off the TV, turning to the others with a thrum of excitement. "Did you see that?"
Narma blew a raspberry. "'Torrential waves.' Bluh, not even a good lie. Get with it, King5."
"That's not what I mean," Rory shook her head, leaning forward. "No casualties. We got everybody. That thing came out of nowhere, and we still took it down."
Carmen held up a finger. "Technically, we were in our swimsuits."
Mallory held out a fist to bump to that. "I'll take a technicality."
"Guys," Rory drew their attention in. "We were in the middle of the ocean, okay, in our swimsuits, and we still handled that thing! If we can get caught vulnerable like that and still win, we have a chance against these things!"
The other girls had begun to perk up from their soggy slumps.
Rory slammed her fist into her palm. "I don't care what they are, or what they want. They want to come into our city and cause this kind of mess? Then they're gonna get messed up."
"Yeah," Narma burst out suddenly. "Yeah, you know what? Yes!"
Carmen clenched her fists, practically humming with energy. "You know, I think I'm just about ready to kick some ass."
Mallory laughed. "Hell yes! Let's show these freaks who they're screwing with!"
For a few minutes, Rory felt the electric energy, the whole of them committed to this cause: to set things right again.
It was about darn time.
Back home the next morning, Mallory lowered her glasses. She blinked at the screen, and put them back on. She wasn't seeing things. This was it. She'd finally done it.
She nearly been on the verge of giving up. She only could have done a little bit more, she though, before she reached her limit. Another hour, maybe. Two tops. Maybe three.
The pulled up the messenger, quickly tagging in the group.
Mallory Dunbar [RW] opened group chat at 1:43 AM
[MD]: Rise and shine, bitches.
Narma Anand [NA] joined the group chat.
[NA]: ugh do you have any idea what time it is
[MD]: It's 1:46 am. Pack your bags, ladies. We're going camping.
