The Forsberg Christmas Gala was the event of the year, every year. It was always held at the Grant Hotel, the fanciest place in the city, right in the heart of Downtown. Anyone who was anyone in Brockton had to be there if they wanted to be taken seriously. That meant paying hundreds of dollars on a ticket with "most of the proceeds going to charity", and spending who knows how much more on an outfit.
It was the closest equivalent to Hell on Earth I could think of.
The hotel's ballroom wasn't necessarily packed, but it was full. The air was full of the murmurs of the rich, occasionally cut with a louder laugh or the clink of drinks. Wealthy businessmen bragged to each other about their earnings. Trophy wives showed off their jewelry or gossiped with each other. Or, they all just stared at us.
I fidgeted with the material of my dress, glaring over at where the Protectorate was. They didn't need to wear any special outfits outside their normal costumes, due to their secret identities needing to be protected and their "brand needing to be upheld". Since New Wave was all public, that meant 'fancying' up.
We all had formal versions of our costumes made for events like this. The same colors and iconography, but in the form of a fancy dress or suit. The men of the family and Carol all got to wear the suits. Everyone else wore a dress. That meant I was wearing a dress.
Vicky said I looked good and Wendy said I looked great when Vicky sent her a picture of us. I thought it made me look like a bloody Q-tip.
The worst part was knowing just how expensive it was. It made every movement nerve-wracking. The one good thing about this party was the food and it was hard to enjoy it when you were terrified of getting your outfit dirty.
Carefully as I could manage, I reached out to my appetizer. They called it hor d'oeuvres but normal people just called it a damn appetizer. Picking a piece of cheese speared onto a toothpick, I extricated it from the table and back to my mouth.
When were they going to get to the damn actual dinner already?
A hand reached out to snatch an appetizer from my plate, a pretzel wrapped around a tiny sausage. Vicky gave me a mischievous grin as she ate it.
"Really Vicky?" Her plate wasn't empty, it was just free of everything meat and cheese.
"The pretzels are the best." Her grin didn't let up under my glare.
"That's why I got them."
"I'll get you more later."
I just sighed, not feeling the energy necessary to argue with her.
One of the better parts of her dress was the short sleeves, meaning she didn't need to worry about getting them dirty. I would have loved short sleeves. But no, my costume had long sleeves, so my dress had to have long sleeves too.
It meant I couldn't even snatch food away from her in return.
"Say ah?" She picked up one of her olive skewers and wiggled it in my direction.
"Vicky, no." I tried to wave the skewer away as she got it closer to my face.
"Say ah." She didn't stop trying to pawn her olives off on me, giggling the entire time.
"Carol's gonna get mad." A grumble escaped me as I took the skewer from her before she could notice.
The odds were that Carol wouldn't have noticed. She and Sarah had been busy since we'd gotten here. Various sponsors and donors wanted to talk to the two about… something. PR events probably. Photoshoots, contracts, and more patrols in the area of their businesses or their homes.
Vicky smiled like the sun as I slid the olive off the skewer with my teeth. It felt like my heart skipped a beat. Closing my eyes, I bit down. The olive was green; firm, tangy, and bitter. It was a good distraction, slowly chewing away on it.
"I still can't believe you like those." I slowly opened one eye as Vicky mocked gagging a little.
"Not all of us can have bad taste." The corner of my mouth quirked up as she made a show of being offended.
"If you have such good taste, I should just take all of your hor d'oeuvres, and leave you with the olives you love so much." She snaked her hand towards my plate again and I stabbed out with the olive skewer.
It didn't do anything to her forcefield, but it made her laugh and pull her hand back. A small smile crept onto my face despite myself. I had missed this. The little moments where my damn crush didn't rear its ugly head. Just the moments where she was my sister.
The smile fell as I saw Dean slide into the seat beside her. He gave me an apologetic look, as she turned around to look at him.
"Can you believe that Amy thinks I have bad taste Dean?" She didn't skip a beat, continuing with the mock offense.
"Well…" Dean made a show of thinking for a moment. "You do like Hawaiian pizza."
"Sweet with savory is a classic combination!" She crossed her arms and looked at me. "Amy, tell him."
"For once I agree with Dean." I rolled my eyes at her. "Besides, you know I like pizza bianca best."
"What's wrong with Supreme?" We both turned to give Dean a deadpan expression.
"He's got the worst taste?" Vicky directed the question at me.
"Agreed." I nodded, smirking a little at Dean as he just sighed exasperatedly.
It served him right after he interrupted the nice moment Vicky and I were having. She shifted her chair closer to him, reaching out to hold his hand as she giggled. Jealousy flared in my gut and I smothered it with prejudice.
"My dad was hoping for a chance to talk to you." Dean gave me a look, and I didn't bother hiding my expression. He'd know what I was feeling either way. "Wouldn't tell me why, just wanted me to ask if you'd go over so he could say it himself."
"Oh, um…" She glanced over at me, the obvious question written on her face.
"Go." It sucked not having anyone, but I couldn't hog Vicky all night. "I'll survive by myself for a bit. Go hang out with your boyfriend and his family."
"I'll bring back some more hor d'oeuvres for you!" She floated out of her chair rather than stand normally, using her flight to make it easier to get out.
Dean gave me one last look as he walked off, still holding Vicky's hand, and a thought clicked into place. Was he staring so much because of the Park? Dammit, it hadn't even occurred to me. I let out a quiet groan and leaned back in the chair, hand on my face.
It came away with makeup on it. I forgot I was wearing a lot more make-up than normal. Grumbling, I wiped it onto one of the fancy silk napkins. My other hand dug into my purse to pull out my phone.
Carol might get mad that I was on my phone, but it wasn't like anyone was trying to talk to me. A few people had come over to say thanks for healing them or someone they knew, but that was all done. I was on the bottom of the proverbial totem pole for capes people wanted to meet. Healers weren't as cool.
It gave me time to do some more digging. Wendy didn't have many details about her grandpa to go off, but I had to try. It'd been easy to cross off some of the initial guesses. ABB and Empire wouldn't have used emails and phone calls, they weren't that careful. They'd have spray-painted something on her garage.
Getting PHO open on my phone was easy, as I got back to digging through old posts. People who asked for help and what to do when being extorted for money by gangs or parahumans. It was way more common than I expected. Even in Brockton, there were spots neither the ABB nor the Empire laid claim to, where indie villains could stake a claim and extort people.
It didn't match up with any of them though. Phone calls from unknown numbers and emails from throwaway accounts were just too… mundane. Either these weren't capes threatening her or they were way smarter than the average independent. That worried me, a lot.
A smarter cape meant an experienced cape. What were the odds that I'd be able to beat a smarter cape? My gear was better but I knew I wasn't that good at fighting. It was something I'd work on, but that would take weeks if not months. Would I win a fight, if I could even find them? That didn't even get to the other option.
Like, what the hell was I supposed to do about mundane criminals? They'd just threaten her until they decided enough was enough and did something. There wouldn't be a person to track down, no trail to follow, just a call in the night that someone had firebombed her house or kidnapped her? Or worse?
I scrolled through a thread and then stopped, re-reading a post. No, it didn't fit, it had been a physical letter. Was there even going to be something that matched what happened with Wendy? It was an inherited debt, a situation that wasn't normal, it was just…
My phone buzzed as Wendy's name popped up with the call notification.
I was on my feet instantly, already walking towards the door as I swiped to open the call. Wendy knew I was at the Gala tonight, she knew I was going to be busy. That meant that if she was calling, something had happened. There was an emergency.
"Wendy. What's wrong?" I hissed into the phone, trying to avoid attention from the crowd.
"Amy!" The voice that screamed through the speaker made sure that didn't work. Several people nearby looked at me. I hurried faster towards the ballroom doors.
"Madison?" A chill ran down my spine. If Madison was calling me from Wendy's phone, did that mean…
She started babbling, way too fast for me to understand more than a word out of five. My fingers came up to pinch the bridge managing to get out the doors. The hallway was empty as I started towards the doors.
"Madison. Stop. Breath." If she didn't stop babbling I was going to strangle her. "What happened?"
"Emma and Wendy were kidnapped!" I missed a step and stumbled as I heard that, everything else fading as I focused entirely on the call. "We were at the Boardwalk with Sophia and some enforcers said they thought we were shoplifting and we had to follow them and then they attacked us and they almost got me and Sophia but we got away but they got stabbed Emma and Wendy with these syringes and put them in a van and drove off and-"
"Madison, slow down!" I yelled at her through the phone, using my free hand to haul up my dress. It was getting in the way. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know! South?" She yelled back, sounding on the verge of tears. "Sophia told me to call you and said you needed to contact someone named Shadow-Cat. Then she just vanished, I think she's trying to chase them on foot or something?"
"Shadow-Cat?" It took a second for it to click. "You sure she said Shadow-Cat?"
"Yes! Yes, I'm sure." Madison sobbed out, finally starting to cry. "Sh-She made sure I knew three things before she left. Amy Dallon, Wendy's Phone, Shadow-Cat."
"Madison." My shoulder hit a door as I kept jogging through the hotel. She just sobbed. "Madison listen to me!"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Have you called the police yet?" Maybe they could catch this van before they left the city.
"N-No." Of fucking course she hadn't. I cursed and practically heard her flinch. "Sophia me to call you right away! This happened like five minutes ago!"
"Call them now!" Of course, Sophia wouldn't try the police. "I'm gonna go after them, but maybe the police can beat us both to the punch."
"O-Okay." Madison sniffled, and she hung up.
I burst through the doors into the hotel's courtyard, panting ice vapor. The cold felt good compared to the sudden heat that engulfed me. How the fuck was I going to catch up? The bus? That was stupid. Why hadn't I gotten my driver's license?
"Amy!" I jumped as Vicky called out my name, turning to find her rushing out the door. Carol was just behind her. "What's going on? Dean noticed you panic."
Of course, fucking Dean was keeping an eye on me. Wait, I needed a way to catch up, Vicky could fly, she could fly fast, that'd work. It'd just mean I'd have to tell her about Sequoia. Admit to the lie.
"Wendy was kidnapped." It was an easy choice to make. Vicky and Carol's eyes both widened, and they shared a look. "Someone's tracking her, but they're going to need backup."
"Who's tracking her?" Carol's eyes hardened, as she dug into her pocket for her phone.
"Shadow-Stalker." Vicky turned to stare at me as Carol texted something into her phone.
"How the Hell do you know Shadow-Stalker? Why does she have your phone number?" Shit, I couldn't out Sophia.
"Madison called me with Wendy's phone, Shadow-Stalker told her to. Got a number from her." Vicky started to ask more questions, but then Carol cut her off.
"Have the police been notified?" I gave a nod and she inhaled through her nose. "Odds are they're not going to get there in time. Too many of them are tied up here and if these are professionals, they'd be prepared for that."
"If I go now, I might be able to catch up." Vicky looked at Carol and she nodded.
"Your costumes are in the trunk. Get changed, quickly. Mark's on his way, we'll be following right behind you." Wait she had packed our costumes? Wait, she was planning on helping?
"What about the Gala?" The words burst out before I could stop them, causing them to look at me.
"What about it?" Vicky just looked confused.
"Isn't it important? Like, won't all the sponsors and donors get mad if we just leave?"
"Sarah can handle them. If they get angry at us for doing our jobs, they can rot in Hell." We both looked at Carol like she'd grown a second head.
"I didn't, you… You're helping?" I couldn't wrap my mind around it. Carol should insist on leaving it to the police or trying to take this more slowly.
"Amy." Carol looked at me. For some reason, I could tell she was really looking at me. "We're heroes."
It felt like a jolt of lightning raced through me. That was that. I set my face and nodded, grabbing Vicky's arm. She yelped in surprise as I started physically dragging her towards the car.
"Keep me updated on your location!" Carol called as she hurried back into the Hotel, probably to get Mark moving faster.
Vicky mentally caught up as we got to the car and opened the trunk. We both changed as quickly as we could, keeping an eye out that no one was watching us. Normally I'd have been distracted by Vicky's everything, but not now.
I grabbed my phone and pulled open PHO, letting Vicky scoop me up into a princess carry and take off into the cold winter sky.
PHO Direct Messages:
Hello
SilentSequoia Shadow_Cat
SilentSequoia: Today at 5:36 PM
Where the hell are you?
"Which way are we going?" Vicky stopped mid-air, the city spread below us in the dying light.
"Boardwalk, that's where they were kidnapped! Probably heading south!" I jabbed a finger and we took off.
She wasn't holding back. The already cold air suddenly felt freezing as it whipped past. It took the breath from my lungs, and I huddled in closer to Vicky, squinting to read against the wind to read my phone.
Shadow_Cat: Today at 5:38 PM
On van, south, coast.
"The crazy bitch." It took me reading it a second time to understand what she meant.
"What?" Vicky yelled, slowing down a little to hear me over the wind.
"Just keep going south, follow the coast!" I yelled back at her, she nodded and sped off again, the city a blur underneath us. Forcing myself to look up, the coast was getting closer by the second. I scanned the roads, trying to spot Stalker and the van, despite knowing at this distance it'd be impossible.
We should have had more time. More chances to figure out who was going after her. To protect her from this. It was stupid to think that. It'd been weeks since her parents found out, of course, they'd do something about it. Kidnapping Wendy and Emma just made sense, forcing both parents to pay out.
I glanced down at my phone, all I could do was wait. Either Vicky would catch up or they'd stop and Stalker would tell us. There wasn't anything else I could do, not until we landed. My grip tightened.
Hang on Wendy.
I'm coming.