Chapter 20 - Making Moves

Azel and the others had gathered in the Mirage Bar yet again the following Monday. Everyone sat around a table with uncertain looks on their faces. All eyes were on Nadine, who had stressed the importance of the meeting earlier.

"Well, loves," she began, "just last evening I was approached by a detective from Ruskol who was looking into Azel's shows."

Azel sighed. "Spirits… I guess that means the lead really did come from the two of us…"

"Worse, I'm sure they have an idea of who you are now. I apologize, I had to tell him about your orders to appear cooperative."

"I get it. You did what you had to do. I think I can manage…"

Mead wrapped her arms around Azel. "They're not gonna try and arrest Azel, are they? It wasn't enough for that, right?"

"It should be fine, love. All they should know is that Azel placed orders with me. Why, I didn't even say his first name, just to be sure!"

"On top of that, I got someone to scrub the citizen registry a few days ago, so they can't trace him by his last name either." Percy added. "They also went to the trouble of clearing records of the Dry Vein from all of our profiles, so we should be okay on that end, too."

Azel gave Percy a smile. "Thanks, that's a load off my mind…"

"You should still probably avoid any police from now on, though. Pretty sure they still know what you look like from that old lead."

Fen shook his head. "Damn, this is gettin' pretty rough… Didja learn anythin' from tha guy yerself, 'Dine?"

"Well, Fen, I did manage to get a couple of names. Eira Barlow, the one who tipped them off, and Marlon Banks, his own name."

"So, do we know anything about those names? Barlow's one of your customers, right?" Lucia asked.

"True, though if I remember right, her husband may be the more important one…" Nadine looked over at Percy. "Do either of those names ring a bell, love?"

"Hm, let me think about that…" Percy paused for a moment. "Ah, that's right. Eira Barlow, her husband would be James Barlow, the CRPD's resident Lieutenant. And as for Banks, he's one of the CRPD's police detectives, and a close friend of the Lieutenant besides that."

"James, yes I think Eira said something about him… Ah, I remember now! She once told me her husband suffers from flashbacks involving power users."

"Hold on, I think I remember something about that." Percy paused yet again. "Yeah, if I'm remembering right, he was one of the survivors of the Stadium Massacre twenty years ago."

"The Stadium Massacre… Is that why they followed that lead? A grudge against power users?"

"That would make sense," Lucia said. "If Lieutenant Barlow still has trauma from the event that got powers banned, he'd probably hate to have any power users sneaking around the district he calls home."

Azel paled, and his tail started rattling. "So this isn't something they're just going to drop then… Damn it…"

"Azel… We can still do something about this, right?"

"Honestly, Mead? Short of taking the Lieutenant and any of his friends on the force out of the picture, I don't see how Azel's going to get out of this."

"Whoa, hang tha fuck on, Percy! Yer not sayin' we're gonna have ta kill em', are ya?"

Percy pushed himself back in his chair. "Spirits, no! Too risky, and that would probably get us in even more trouble. No, I think I can figure something out, but in the meantime, Azel, you should probably just keep laying low for now."

"Don't worry, love," Nadine said. "We can figure something out, together. You do still have plenty of people who can help."

Azel's tail slowed down. "Y-yeah, you're right. Maybe someone else in Radiant Ring? Something like this must have happened at least once before…"

"Hm, yes, I believe the founders would be able to help with that. They have their ways of handling the Ring's problems, and it would be good for you to get to know them anyway."

Mead blinked. "The founders, they're Nico's parents! We were gonna see one of their shows soon, right?"

"I could bring it up with Nico in a couple of days, maybe he can get them to put a plan together for Azel!"

"Yeah, great idea, Lucia! An' 'Dine can ask 'em directly too!"

Percy smiled. "And while you're working on that, I can pull some strings with the Marks, see if we can't get a good contingency plan figured out, just in case."

Azel took a look around the room. He cracked a smile as his tail's rattling came to a stop.

"Thanks, everyone. I'm sorry I have to drag you all into this."

Mead hugged Azel tightly. "It's okay, Azel! You know we're all here for you!"

"We're in this together, right? Ever since we first met in the Hall of Records, you've been someone worth sticking with."

"Heh, are you sure I haven't just corrupted you into saying that? You did say my first show was kind of shady, after all!"

Lucia blushed as everyone shared a laugh at Azel's comment.

"Aw, Azel, come on! I said I was joking about that!"

"And now it's you who's getting flustered at my jokes! Fair's fair, right?"

Lucia paused, then let out a laugh. "Ha, I guess you're right!"

Fen stretched out as he laughed. "Ah, there's tha mood we needed! No more fuckin' gloom when even noodle boy's crackin' jokes!"

"Well, I couldn't just leave things on a sour note after all! We can get through this, I'm sure of it."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So, now that that's all kind of figured out, what's the plan for today?"

Mead spoke up. "Maybe we could work on learning our powers! I still haven't really gotten the hang of mine yet…"

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan! An' if we end up facin' down police or shock troopers, it would be good ta have that kinda thing figured out! Hell, I bet yer power'd be great fer takin' 'em out without a fight!"

"Yeah! How great would it be if we managed to get away, and all they could say about it was they were too drunk to catch us!"

After another round of laughter at Mead's joke, the group started clearing space in the bar to prepare for training.

—

With their preparations completed, the group split into two to handle Lucia and Mead's training separately. Mead took the side of the bar closer to the stage, with Azel and Nadine helping to teach her, while Lucia and Fen took the other side to continue sparring. Percy had left after the space was cleared, to "get started figuring things out with the Marks."

On their side of the bar, Mead stood onstage preparing herself mentally, while Azel and Nadine watched her from offstage.

"Okay, so how should I get started with this?" Mead asked.

"Hm, I'm thinking since your power seems to come out of your body, you could focus on trying to make it come out from specific parts, to figure out how to control it better."

"Is that even a thing I can do though, Azel? It comes out as smoke, so how would I even control that?"

Nadine smiled. "It's all a matter of focus, love. When I first discovered my power, it was… very hard to control, to say the least. But with time, I learned how to focus it properly, and now…"

Nadine activated her power, manifesting a translucent ribbon that began to float over her head like a second halo.

"It's practically second nature! I have no doubt you can do the same, even with a power like yours!"

"Right. It helps to try and get a feel for where your power is active, and try to focus on influencing it. Well, that's how my power works, anyway."

"Okay, so I focus, and get a better feel for it! Um, you might want to stand back, I don't know if I'll be able to control it…"

Azel got up onstage, gave Mead a hug, and smiled. "If it does go out of control, don't worry. You can just focus on canceling it out like last time. I trust you."

Mead smiled. "Okay, Azel. Right. I can do this!"

With a whirr of energy, Mead activated her power. As the green halo over her head increased in brightness, white smoke began to gather around her. She took a short breath and started to focus. In a short time, the smoke started to gather more around her lower body.

"Hey, I think I'm doing it!"

As she spoke, Mead's halo started glowing brighter, and more smoke started blanketing the floor of the bar. Before it could pour over into Lucia and Fen's half, Mead gasped and canceled her power out.

"Phew, got a little carried away there! Well, at least I kept it low this time!"

"Hey, that was pretty good!"

"It really was, love! And you say you were controlling it to stay low?"

"It's what I was thinking about, yeah! Azel, I was thinking about how it messed with your head and I didn't want that to happen again, so I focused on trying to keep it low so no one could breathe it in!"

"So that's how you did it? Can't really complain about the results, but the last time I breathed your power in, it really wasn't too bad."

"Oh, Azel! You're just saying that because you ended up kissing me the first time!"

Azel moved up to Mead and gave her a kiss. "And now, too. Something nice to think about whenever you want to try keeping the smoke low."

Mead blushed. "Azel… If you keep kissing me like that, I'm gonna end up mastering my power just so you keep doing it!"

"And I'll be happy to. It's as much a reward for me too, after all!"

Nadine laughed. "Well, that's certainly a way to get someone to learn their power! Now, Mead, love, if I can suggest another thing to train you on…"

The three of them continued through Mead's training like this over the following hours, with Mead winning even more kisses from Azel as the time went on.

—

As Mead was learning how to control her power, Lucia was making progress learning hers with Fen. With her halo glowing vibrantly over her head, Lucia was dodging Fen's incoming attacks with relative ease.

"Heh, looks like yer really gettin' tha hang a this!" Fen said, aiming a punch for her chest.

Lucia dodged with only a few inches of clearance. "Phew, yeah, I think it's even mostly been my power, too!"

She struck out with a punch of her own, which Fen managed to block.

"Nice strong punch there! Kinda easy ta see comin', but hey, not too bad!"

He feinted with another punch before switching to a kick. Lucia anticipated the feint and responded by grabbing Fen's leg and forcing him off balance, causing him to fall. He quickly got back on his feet and dusted himself off.

"Oof, been some time since I got punished like that!"

"Thanks, but I probably couldn't have done it without my power telling me about that feint, really!"

"Still pretty damn good, though!" Fen said with a smile. "Hey, Lucia, once we get yer power down, I could teach ya how ta fight a lot better!"

"Without my power, you mean? Yeah, I think that could be fun to learn! Maybe I could even try learning how to use a weapon…"

"Aw, fuck yeah! I could set ya up with somethin' nice, what kinda weapon are ya thinkin' a learnin'?"

Lucia shrugged. "Well, it's just a thought for now, I'm not even sure what kind of weapon would be right for me."

"Eh, we can figure it out in time! Hell, now that ya brought it up, I think it's about time we try somethin' a little different!"

Fen activated his power. In a matter of moments, a bundle he had off to the side came unfurled and a number of short staves floated over to circle around him. One floated over to Lucia, which she grabbed and held in both hands.

"Been wantin' ta try this out fer a bit, now! Yer gettin' pretty good with yer power, so I'm gonna start usin' mine ta help train ya! Gonna be a lot more ta watch out fer goin' forward! An' ya can even get a bit of weapon trainin' in, usin' that staff ta help ya block!"

"Okay, I think I can keep up with that…"

Fen smiled. "I know ya can, Lucia! Yer damn good at this, ya know! Alright, now let's get back ta trainin'!"

The two of them started getting back into the swing of training, with Lucia now taking extra care to avoid hits from Fen's floating staves as well as his usual attacks. Occasionally, she would raise her own staff to block one that Fen launched at her with his power, while moving to avoid an attack from him at the same time.

As time went on, Lucia's movements became more fluid, and her dodges and blocks became more subtle.

"This… this feels great!" Lucia said with a smile as she continued dodging. "Why did they have to go and ban stuff like this, anyway?"

"Right?" Fen nodded, throwing out more attacks as he did. "Really gets tha blood pumpin', doesn't it? But ya get one little incident, an' suddenly ya got people spoutin' shit like, 'Weapons are uncivilized!' an' 'Powers kill!' Like that's all they're good fer!"

"But you've never felt like that?"

"Nope, not once! Helps that when I was a kid, I ended up meetin' a guy who taught me weapons an' powers could be so much more than all that!"

Lucia ducked slightly to dodge an incoming staff. "Is that why you're in Radiant Ring? The right mentor at the right time?"

"Well, tha old man wasn't in tha Ring himself, but he set me right when I had nowhere ta go. Tha Ring came after that! But that's a story we should save fer when we're not swingin' at each other! Somethin' Azel an' Mead should get ta hear, too!"

"Alright, I guess we should drop it for now, then. You've got me curious, though!"

"Trust me," Fen said, "it's a much better story ta hear sittin' down! Fer now, just keep yer guard up, I'm not gonna go easy on ya!"

"Heh, I wouldn't expect you to!"

Fen and Lucia continued to spar using their powers, attacking, blocking, and dodging each other all the while. Occasionally, the two of them would have more short chats in the middle of the action, which they kept up over the following hours.

—

While Mead and Lucia continued learning how to use their powers, Percy occupied himself with handling business with Scinter's Mark and the Dry Vein. His main body focused on putting a plan together with his fellow smugglers, while his duplicate headed out of the Mirage looking for Petru. In time, he found him looking over the brewing vats in one of the cellar's off tunnels.

Percy greeted Petru with a wave. "Hey, boss. Just got back from talking with the gang in the Mirage."

"Really? Wish I could've been there to hear it myself, but you know how it is keeping the legal side of this place running."

"Yeah… Thing is, you might not have to worry about that soon enough…"

Petru frowned. "That's… not the kind of thing I wanted to hear, Percy. How bad is it?"

"Well, you see…"

Percy started explaining the situation to Petru. With each new detail, the mood between them darkened, and Percy was thankful that his work with the Marks at the same time was at least going smoother. Once he finished his explanation, Petru spoke up.

"So. That's how it is, huh? Barlow's in charge at the CRPD, and he's not the kind of person to just drop a powers case? So much for hoping that would work…"

Percy nodded grimly. "Eventually, even with the Marks' protection, and even with Radiant Ring helping, the police are probably going to find this place. And when they do…"

Petru slammed a fist into a nearby wall. "Damn it… I… I know it's Azel and his show they're after, and I wish it was as simple as that… But I'm the one who put him up to it in the first place, I can't just force all the blame on him. I should've known something like this would end up happening…"

"Take it easy, boss. It's a lot to go through. At least you have the benefit of knowing ahead of time. Spirits know I could've used that back when I was just a kid out breaking the law on my own. Before I could even react, everything came crashing down…"

"Well, I'm no kid, Percy, but this is still so damn much to take in… The Dry Vein, everything I've ever worked for… And the cops and the CCA are just going to take all of that away…"

Percy put a hand on Petru's shoulder. "Maybe not everything. I can get stuff set up with the Marks, help you land on your feet after all of this. You, Azel, maybe even Mead and Lucia. I'll put in a good word for all of you. Least I can do, to be honest."

Petru laughed ruefully. "Never too late to join the Marks, huh? Might be my only option now…"

"Hey, we play our cards right, and you may not even have to! With the right groundwork, I can set you up with a new place, identity, whatever you need to keep living your life. And with Azel being set up with the Ring, you might not even have to worry about the law coming down on you ever again!"

"You'd really do all that? Damn, Percy, I don't know what to say…"

"You don't need to say anything, boss. I've lived through the worst of what we're about to face, and I know I can't just sit back and let that happen to any of you."

Percy paused as Petru wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

"You're a good man, Percy. If even half the people in Anduruna were like you…"

Percy chuckled. "Honestly, boss? I'm doing all this to keep that number low. That kind of suffering isn't what Anduruna needs right now."

Petru let Percy out of the hug. "Well, I should probably get back to work now. You go ahead and take care of things with the Marks. If there's anything I can do to help you out, you just let me know!"

"Heh, will do, boss! And don't worry, I'll get things sorted out with the Marks!"

With that, Percy headed out of the shaft. Once he was sure no one could see him, he canceled his power out, causing his second body to fade away and his attention to return fully to his planning with the Marks.

"Okay," he announced as his halo faded out of existence, "that should be everything taken care of with the Dry Vein and the Mirage. Now, let's get back to our plans going forward. We'll probably have to drop the Dry Vein as a front, but the mine's still pretty big…"

Percy continued to talk with his fellow smugglers about the coming problems, and plans began to take shape between them. As they did, he thought to himself about his friends back in the Dry Vein area of the mine.

It'll probably be a bumpy ride from now until the Dry Vein gets hit, but at least we're making progress toward avoiding the worst of it. Petru, Azel, everyone… I'm not about to let the CCA destroy your lives like they did mine…

—

As night fell, Percy and Petru eventually joined up with the rest of the group in the Mirage. With everyone gathered, and the mood considerably lighter compared to the morning, Mead and Lucia were ready to report their progress in learning their powers.

Mead was the first to speak up. "Percy, Mister Laurent! Look what I can do now!"

Mead activated her power, and her halo flared into existence over her head. With a quick flutter of her wings, a wave of smoke began to pour out from them, spiraling overhead rather than congealing in a singular cloud.

After a moment, the smoke stopped pouring from her wings and began to center itself in a dense mass, which floated down into her arms once it was about the size of her head.

Petru stared at the ball of smoke as Mead started tossing it between all of her arms. "Well now, that certainly is something!"

"That looks a lot better than what I heard your first time was like, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I can focus my power so much better now! Azel and Nadine helped me figure all that out!"

"I came up with the idea, but the teaching was mostly Azel to be honest," Nadine admitted. "Once Mead got that little trick figured out, they ended up making out for quite some time as a reward!"

"It was pretty great, t-the trick I mean. I'm just glad I could help you learn it."

Mead canceled her power out and hugged Azel. "Hey, you know you loved the making out too, Azel!"

Azel smiled and shifted to return the hug. "Heh, can't say you're wrong about that!"

"Well, moving on to our other pair of lovers…" Nadine said, glancing over at Lucia and Fen.

Fen blushed. "L-lovers? 'Dine, what're ya… I mean, yeah, Lucia's great and all, but…"

"We have been getting pretty close sparring after all," Lucia said. "It's not really out of the question, is it?"

"I, well, am I really tha kinda guy ya'd wanna be with though? I'm pretty sure ya could do a lot better than me…"

"Hey, Fen. You're not that bad! And to be honest, you're pretty great to talk with!"

Fen blushed harder in response. "I, well I guess if yer serious, we could give it a try…"

The two of them moved in closer to each other, then paused as they realized something.

"Heh, kinda weird fer us ta try an' kiss now that I think about it!"

"Yeah, I guess my beak makes it pretty awkward! Hold on, let me try something."

Lucia nuzzled Fen's face with her beak. Once she finished, Fen gave her a kiss on the cheek in return.

"That works, I guess! Kinda feels good when ya rub up against me like that…"

Lucia smiled. "It's the best I could think of, really. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks. Your kiss was nice, too!"

"Spirits, everyone's falling in love down here…" Petru said, shaking his head. "You two aren't about to go making any last minute business deals now, are you?"

Everyone started laughing.

"I hope not, I don't think either of us really have as much business sense as Mead or Azel!"

"Yeah, no offense, but you two don't seem like the types for that at all!" Mead laughed, then paused. "Hang on, Azel's making jokes about Lucia, and now Nadine's teasing Fen about being in love? Did I miss something, or did everything get flipped around today?"

"No, I think if everything was flipped, it would be you teasing Fen," Azel said with a laugh of his own.

Fen waved his hands in front of himself, clearly holding back his own laughter. "Alright, alright, we're gettin' way too carried away here! We were talkin' about how Lucia's been doin' learnin' her power, right? I think she's been makin' some real progress!"

Lucia nodded. "Yeah, when I really get focused on things, I can get a great idea of how everything's going to happen before it does! Fen and I even started working on a new sparring routine!"

"The one with the staves, right?" Percy asked. "I was wondering when that new bundle was going to be opened up…"

"Yeah, I kinda made ya watch over it fer a while, now, didn't I? Worth tha wait though, that was tha most fun I had fightin' in a while!"

"Heh, I really enjoyed it too!"

Fen and Lucia looked at each other and smiled warmly.

"You know, this is nice," Azel spoke up. "I really don't want to lose what we have here."

Mead nodded. "Yeah! We can't just let the law get in the way of all this!"

"I know what you mean, don't worry." Percy said. "We'll figure everything out with the police investigation. I've already started laying the groundwork with the Marks on my end."

"Plus, there's still Radiant Ring, love," Nadine noted. "The founders will be sure to figure something out to help you, once they know about your problem."

"Yeah, just trust tha Rossis, they've always been great at handlin' tha Ring's problems!"

"Their show should be ready soon enough. Until then, you just have to be careful."

"Alright," Azel said with a nod. "Just have to hold out for now. A few more days like this couldn't hurt either…"

Mead snuggled up to Azel. "I'll say! A few more days learning my power with you sounds like the best thing I could ask for!"

"A few more days…" Lucia thought aloud. "I wonder just what Nico and his parents have been working on for us…"

"Well, whatever it is, it's going to be worth the wait, I can tell you that much." Percy said. "But until then, we should talk about planning ahead of the investigation right now. Not to bring the mood down, but it'll be important to get everything in order going forward."

"No, you're right, we can't really hide from it forever. And the sooner we get everything figured out, the more time we'll have to enjoy before whatever comes next."

"That's a good way to think about it, Azel! Now, here's what I'm thinking we can do…"

Percy began to lay out a plan with the group, and everyone focused their attention on him. As the night went on, their minds all started echoing with the same sentiment.

No matter what happens, we'll get through this…