It isn't hard to convince my dad I need to miss school. I dropped a few comments about 'not feeling well' last night, left my dinner half-finished, and went to bed early. Come morning, I stumbled past him and into the bathroom before he could claim it, and left him with the clear impression that I must have picked up a bug from somewhere.
I didn't even have to suggest staying home from school. He suggested it immediately, and I spent the rest of the morning huddled in my bed while I waited for him to work his way through his morning routine and leave for work.
That was about ten minutes ago. Enough time, I think, to be fairly sure he's not about to turn around because he forgot something. So I slip out of bed, work through a few stretches, and swap my pajamas for my 'costume'. Which I really need to fix. Huh. I have some money to work with now, don't I? Alright, so that's moved up the list.
I dig my bat out of my closet and inspect it for a second; just making sure the...grip? The grip is still taped up, and that there aren't any major dents or dings that I hadn't noticed before. It's all good, so I'm…
Well...not quite good to go. I consider, for a long second, then toss the bat on my bed and move to my desk for the charm.
Still there. Still the same, weird, wishbone-looking...thing. I turn it over, pick at the metal caps that cover the ends of the bone protrusions. They're on there pretty tight, and the center thing where everything is mounted feels just as sturdy. It's got those little buckle-things on it, so...a belt? Yeah. That would work.
I manage to dig one up, and thread the charm onto it with a little trial and error. After some consideration, I lift my sweatshirt up and strap it around my middle, so that the charm is resting above the small of my back. When I've got everything settled again, it's covered entirely by my clothes, and shouldn't be too easy to spot even if something rides up.
So...I've got my good luck charm, too. God I feel stupid, now.
"Time to go." I grumble, grabbing my bat again before 'porting out.
xxxxxxxxxx
I wind up waiting on a rooftop downtown for almost twenty minutes. Figures. Even with how gung-ho she seems about this, Victoria really hasn't struck me as the type to stick to a plan...not that I have much room to talk.
That depressing thought gets pushed aside when I finally spot her, arcing through the air from somewhere toward the bay. She's actually pretty fast in the air; I wonder, for a second, just what sort of speeds she can reach. But then she's landing, and I have to scramble to catch something as she tosses it at me.
"Sorry I'm late. It's kinda hard to duck out of an electronics store." She winces. "So many cameras…"
"Thought you liked the spotlight." I spout off without thinking, still focused on the...phone. That's what it is. "A cell phone? Really?"
"It's a prepaid. Hardly what I'd call a 'phone'. But I'll be able to actually reach you, so keep it on you, huh?" That said, she lifts into the air again. "Now c'mon. We're goin' to the bank."
"Whoa, wait-" And...she's gone. Great. I jog to the edge of the roof and jump after her, picking a good spot across the street to 'land' and hitting the spot a moment later. Victoria (Glory Girl in costume, really have to remember that) is still ahead of me, and it doesn't look like she's about to slow down, so I resign myself to playing catch-up.
It had better not be like this all day. Because I'm not sure I like working with her enough to put up with that. Not that I haven't...actually dragged her around for hours myself. In the middle of the night. Right into a fight.
Dammit.
Luckily she'd arranged for us to meet downtown; Bay Central wasn't particularly far away, and after almost losing track of her a couple of times, I do eventually get there. She's hovering above a rooftop across the street from the bank; apparently, now she'd decided to wait for me. Impatiently.
"You know, I get that this is important…" I brush myself off as I arrive, wincing at the momentary, phantom ache in my hand, "...but you know I can only move so fast."
She glares, for a second, but then there's a flash of regret, and she drops to her feet. "Yeah, sorry." She doesn't sound very sorry, but I'll take what I can get. "Look, yesterday, they got away on Hellhounds dogs, right?" She gestures at a section of the roof not far from us; there are some pretty distinct impressions left there. Considering the size of those things and the way they jumped around, it wasn't surprising they tore into...whatever it is rooftops were made of. "I figure we can follow their tracks, see where it leads us. Go from there."
Not a bad plan. It's more than I had to offer, anyway. "Okay. But can we maybe take it a little slower?" She gives me a look, but I don't back down. "They're probably already...laying low. Or something. So we're not in any kind of rush, right?"
"Ugh...fine. Yeah. You're right." She crosses her arms, the lifts up again. "I'm gonna go look around, see if I can figure out which direction we're going."
"Alright. Let me know what you find."
She goes straight up, before drifting off to one side; I watch her go, then shake my head and move to have a look at the bank.
It's a mess. The entrance is closed off with yellow tape, the front windows covered in tarps. The street out front is pretty torn up; Victoria mentioned another 'big monster thing' that was working with the Undersiders, so there was that, and whatever Hellhound's dogs brought to bear…
Villains. How many people could have been hurt, here? How much money was this going to cost the city to fix? Money that wasn't going toward other things. That was the problem, wasn't it? So much time and energy spent patching up the latest mess that there was nothing left to actually solve anything.
I turn away, loosen my white-knuckle grip on my bat, and move to the spot where the dogs must have landed. Or jumped from. There are...they must be claw-marks, dug into the surface. And, actually...I move back to the edge, and the more shallow grooves there.
As I step off, I turn to face the building's side, and yep, there are gouges there too. I get my feet back under me beside the first set of marks, just thinking it through. They could jump, obviously, but they could also climb. So they weren't quite as limited as far as movement went. Not exactly a helpful observation, since it didn't actually narrow our search, but it was good to know, at least…
"Hey!" I look up, see Glory Girl waving from a few dozen feet up. "Over here!"
Right. Guess we've found our trail.
With one last glance toward the bank, I disappear after her.
xxxxxxxxxx
We finally slow down around lunch. Equal parts hunger and having exhausted whatever 'lead' we'd gotten by retracing the Undersiders' steps. Personally, I hadn't been expecting much there; Hellhounds dogs weren't alwaysgiants that could carry people across the city. And they obviously weren't stupid. They weren't going to leave a nice trail to their hideout or anything…
Glory Girl, of course, is a bit more upset about the whole thing.
"It's pissing me off, you know? I mean, these guys, this is what they do, because they know they can't even take on the Wards in a straight fight, you know? And that was with help. They're cowards, y'know?"
I mutter something noncommittal into my burger. Better to just let her get it out of her system than to start an argument. Although…"Did you find anything out about who those other Capes were?"
She looks a bit sullen, then, reaching for her drink and just chewing on the straw for a minute. "Yeah. They're some out-of-town group. 'The Travelers', or something." That's another group I'll need to look into, then. "Why the hell they were teaming up with these assholes, though, I got no idea...jeeze, as if there weren't enough villains in Brockton Bay…"
"Yeah."
Quiet. I eat my lunch, she eats hers, it's all very companionable. Would be better if we weren't both so wound up over this crap.
"...your sister come home, yet?"
She flinches. That'd be a 'no'. "Not yet."
Well. As far as conversation starters go, that was probably one of the worse ones I could have chosen. This is why I don't have any friends. Well...that, and the bullying. Because who could forget that?
More silence. I finish my burger and wad the wrapper up, stuffing it in the takeout bag to throw away later.
"You settle on a name, yet?"
She's much better at this than I am. Obviously. "No." And not for lack of trying. I can't even settle on a single theme, let alone a name I actually like…
She smirks. "Gonna just settle on Crow, then?"
"No."
"Aww, c'mon. It's kinda growin' on me."
"Well it's not growing on me." I make sure to really scowl at her, and her smirk turns into a smile as she laughs. "I'll figure something out."
"Before someone else sticks you with something you'll hate."
"That's the idea."
She shakes her head and settles again. Much more relaxed. "Yeah, well. Whatever. Maybe once you finally get that in order, you can work on fixing that mess you call a costume."
I roll my eyes, manage a smug smile of my own. "I do have some money to spend, now."
It takes her a second, but then her eyes widen, and her smile goes sharp. "Ha! Yes. We get you set up quick enough, then you can start kicking villain ass in style, and it'll be because they footed the bill."
"There's some irony for you."
"Yeah, that's it. 'Irony'. 'S perfect." She nods, then gathers up what little is left of her food and shoves it in the bag with the rest of the trash. "Right now, though, we've got some bank-robbers to track down."
Yeah. Right. This. I sigh, and stand. "Yeah, okay. But I need to keep an eye on the time; I need to be back home before my dad is."
"Yeah, sure. We can break, get some rest, and meet up again tonight."
That...wasn't what I'd meant. But…"Sounds like a plan."
"Awesome. Let's go!"
I wish I had that sort of energy.
xxxxxxxxxx
The afternoon wasn't...very productive. The most exciting thing that happened was a mugging we came across by accident. But once that was taken care of, it was nothing but wandering around and sort of vaguely hoping we'd spot them.
At least, that had been Glory Girl's plan. I really wish I'd asked about that before we spent hours on a wild goose chase.
I'd declared a break, at that point. A good thing, too, because I'd just barely gotten settled back home when dad walked in the door. I watch him move around downstairs. Could tell, from the way he slumped at the kitchen table, that it hadn't been a good day at the docks.
Not many good days though, were there? My mind goes back to the mess outside the bank. What it represents…
Dad's outside my door. I close my eyes and relax, and listen to him as he looks in...breathe. I'm asleep. Nothing to worry about.
The door closes. I sigh, and press the heels of my hands into my eyes until I see stars.
He's back in the kitchen. Probably going to be up for awhile. But...I can't bring myself to actually sleep.
So I spend a few hours like that. Being quiet. Watching the ceiling. Watching dad fix food, and agonize over paperwork, and finally, finally, go to bed, himself.
It's quiet in the house, so I move slowly. Dress. Secure my mask, my bat, my good luck charm (which stillsounds stupid, even in my head). This time, instead of running off to the meeting immediately, I text Victoria on the phone she'd forced on me.
'Ready to go.'
I'm half a mile away from home when it buzzes at me.
'Finaly. meetup same place new idea.'
Got something to look forward to then, I guess…
The sun just set, but it's dark enough for everything to look different. I don't much mind it, though. And it's not exactly hard to find my destination, considering it's the only rooftop anywhere near here with a superhero hanging around on it. Probably. Maybe…
"Hey."
She jumps a foot in the air and stays there, whirling to face me. I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have appeared behind her…
"Holy crap, don't do that! What's wrong with you?"
I consider her for a second, scuff a heel. "You...do know you're invulnerable, right? That's a part of your power?" She scowls. I smirk. "So, what's your 'new idea'?"
She holds the glare for another few seconds, then rolls her eyes and drops again. "Okay, so I was thinking earlier, just wandering around was pretty useless. So we need to, y'know, organize." Alright. That definitely sounds better than wandering aimlessly. "So I was thinking we could work out, like, a grid-search or something."
…
"Do you...have you ever actually tried to find villains like this, before?"
She flies up and punches me in the shoulder. "No. Now shut up and help me figure this out." A pause. "Please."
Well, she did say 'please'. I rub my shoulder, wince, and try to offer something useful. "Okay. Well...we searched around the docks earlier, right? So...we'll do a more thorough search downtown, maybe. Keep high, keep an eye out...hope for the best, I guess." Which is...overly optimistic. "You...know we're probably not gonna find anything, right?"
"...yeah, maybe." She pulls a face. "But somebody's gonna find them, right? And I want to be first."
Right. Because apparently they really pissed her off. And threatened her sister...I guess I'd be just as pissed, if somebody had taken my dad hostage. "I guess that makes sense." A moment of awkward silence, and I shoulder my bat. "So, let's go?"
She grins.
xxxxxxxxxx
Two muggings, a drug deal, and one straight-up beating broken up, and we finally move into some more familiar territory. A patrol, rather than a manhunt. I don't mind it, and I think Glory Girl is a little more relaxed now that she's had a chance to blow off some steam.
"So, favorite moment?"
I consider, padding along the roof's edge. "I think...my second week out. There was this guy trying to break into a car, so I teleported inside and shouted at him through the window." It...really had seemed like a completely reasonable idea at the time. "He almost knocked himself out trying to run away."
She laughs, and darts across the street. I follow, and keep walking while she does a quick sweep from higher up.
Nothing, since she's not flying off to deal with it. I guess that's a good thing?
She's back, then, and looking thoughtful. "I think...one of my favorites is the time, like, five guys just surrendered the second I showed up." She grins. "That was a pretty cool day. Went out and treated myself to ice-cream, too."
Heh. "Reward for a job well done, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. You've gotta take care of yourself first, y'know? Otherwise, what's the point, right?"
"Saving people?"
"Besides that, I mean." She huffed. "You know what I mean. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, then you're doing something wrong, yeah?"
I shake my head, pause as I reach the next corner. "Sounds about right." I can't imagine ever...not enjoying my powers, or helping people, but I guess...maybe it's not the same for other people. I don't know…
A sharp snap draws my attention, and Glory Girl drifts up a few feet as something crackles. "The hell?"
"Check it out?"
"You know it." She takes off, and I hit the next rooftop over to set myself up for a longer 'jump'. The noise isn't hard to follow, but it cuts out quickly, so I'm not sure...ah. There's Glory Girl, waving for my attention. When I hold up my bat in answer, she points down. Not another roof; street level. Alright then.
I'm on the sidewalk a few seconds later, and she comes in to land beside me, casting a wary glance over her shoulder. "There's some transformers back here. I thought I spotted someone, but it might have been my imagination."
That noise...electricity? "Do we call somebody? If someone's out here screwing with the power…"
"Yeah, maybe. Think we should take a look, just in case?"
I'm a little hesitant, but it's probably a good idea. "Yeah. Sure, let's check it out."
"Alright, lemme give you a lift." I look at her for a second, and she rolls her eyes. "It'll be quicker. Now c'mon." Right. Just going to let her carry me.
It's not comfortable. I am very glad to get my feet back under me, even with a barbed-wire topped fence and humming, dangerous machines all around me. Glory Girl smirks at me, as I straighten out my sweatshirt, and I offer the best glare I can. She just sticks her tongue out, the taps beneath her eyes and waves toward me.
I snort, and enhance my vision as I look around. Nobody seems to be hanging around, except for a couple of people in the buildings on either side of the lot. "Nobody around."
"Well, I guess that's something, then." She settles on the ground and cracks her neck. "I'd have hated to have to fight in here, you know? High-voltage isn't anybody's-whoa!"
There's another crackle, and I turn, get a glimpse at something bright and-
PAIN.
I can't move. I can't breathe. Someone is screaming. I don't think it's me. I don't think.
I-
"-have hated to have to fight in-hey, what's wro-"
I dive at her, and my only thought is away. We hit something solid and hard and I shakeand behind us there's a deafening noise. Thunder. Lightning. Electricity...I can feel myself seizing up, shaking, and when Glory Girl pushes me off of her I can't even catch myself.
"What the f...holy shit, Tay...Cro...fuck, whatever! What's wrong!?"
I taste blood. Probably because I'm biting my lip. It...really hurts. But it's real pain. I can feel it, now. Not the burning, blinding pain from before. I can focus on it. Think. And, slowly, I stop shaking. Mostly. Enough that I can free my lip and sit myself up...catch my breath. Stop panicking. "What...did you…?" No, she wouldn't be wondering what was wrong if she'd seen...seen.
Had I just seen the future?
"The…" I wince, spit out a mouthful of blood, and shake my head to try and clear it. "The transformers were...they blew up."
"No shit they blew up!" She hisses, looking around until she spots the plume of dark smoke rising up...we're on the roof I'd been on, before I went down to the street. We're here because...because I wanted us away from that. Away from the explosion that I'd known was coming. "Holy shit, that could've been us…"
"It was." It was. I saw it. I felt it...the pain…"It was us." Until it wasn't. Because I...took us away.
What the hell is…
I feel something pull, like one of my powers, only stronger. And instead of my hand, it's focused at my back. For a few, long seconds, I puzzle that out. But then I make the connection.
"What do you mean 'it was us'?"
A good luck charm. Holy shit, that's...I reach back, just to feelit, still sitting there. That's...that's one hell of a 'good luck charm'...
"What's wrong? Seriously, you're freaking me out here. Did you hit your head or something?"
Right...right, Victoria. "I'm...no. No, I didn't." Can I stand? It...seems like it. "...I lost my bat."
She barks out a laugh, pulling on my arm to keep me steady. "I'll buy you a new one. God, that could have been bad. Who the hell…" Her smile fades quickly, as she looks around again. I follow her gaze...oh. Right. No lights. Because...no electricity. "Shit. Somebody blew that place up, didn't they? This is...this is bad." She looks at me again. "Hey, sit back down, okay? I need to make a call. Just catch your breath, or something."
Now that I think about it, that's pretty good advice...I slump down again, draw my legs up so I can rest my head on my knees.
That's the second time in...what? Three days? Four? That I nearly died.
In this case...I think I did.
There's another boom, in the distance, and I hear Victoria curse.
I guess the night's not over yet.