Not quite able to keep his amusement off of his face, Kaoru responded back. "Oh, I wasn't pretending not to know what the riding crop was for. Merely questioning the consistency with the outfit. I would have thought that surely something like a bullwhip would match better, would it not?" He was enjoying the light-hearted banter after a second day in a row of possibly almost dying. Plus it wasn't like it really meant anything. Chloe tried to pull this sort of thing with him all the time; it didn't mean she was actually interested in it, let alone interested in doing that with him.
He started to move a little into the water, trying to adjust to the temperature before he had to decide if the shirt really was going or not. "Well, if they do, you can just throw back at them that it's because you can't be on a team with people you don't trust. I bet that'd shut them up."
He smiled as she agreed to help show him some things. There was admittedly a small part of him that was hoping for that whole 'No, you're standing wrong. Here let me show you' trope move. He was smart, so he could probably arrange it. She'd know of course. But somehow he didn't really think she'd mind. Maybe he could also get her to teach him some fighting skills. Those sparring scenes in fanfics had always seemed so...charged. He was skeptical that that's how it would actually go -- after all, you were throwing punches and kicks at each other -- but he was interested in at least trying it.
Completely in his own mind, he barely even noticed what he was doing until he was up to his waist in water. A sudden wave of embarrassment washed over him. Gritting his teeth he tried to distract himself by quickly pulling off his shirt, tossing it back to dry land, and diving into the water. It would hopefully serve to obfuscate his body and wipe the most likely dopey look on his face off.
Bronwyn gives an honest smile for the first time since she left the penthouse. "Well I don't know about that. Bending metal into shape is kind of a hobby of mine after all. Wait, did you know I smithed up all Bran's armor and..." Her eyes drifted up towards the sky as she mentally backtracked, "Yeah. Sorry, getting out of juggle-y mode with Bran-stuff..."
"But yeah, more Triakosia around can't be good. Competent, organized bad guys are pretty much the worst, and locking them up isn't really an easy fix when they've got a lot of people who will work to break them out...
"I guess some of them would probably want to be free like you, but uh, just so you know. They said that their bosses had, uh, put bombs in them. So we'll have to figure that out first."
Alexis' footsteps stop for a moment, their face twisted in an expression of horror. "They did WHAT?" They hold a hand up to their mouth, trembling briefly. "No, that's not right. It's against the rules. They can't do that!"
Alexis reached out to grab onto Bronwyn's hand. "My memory is still not great. But I know that kind of method is something that was never done. No one was ever coerced to obey! That's so wrong!" They squeezed tightly with their free hand, anger and disbelief humming off of their skin.
"...It can't be all of them. Some can't be controlled like that. Some will want to stay because they enjoy it there. And...Wrath..." They gasp, letting Bronwyn go. "...my partner. Wrath will want to stay." They flinch as if something came close to striking them. "...Wrath loves it there. More than anyone. Wrath should be enough to stop anyone from trying to leave. They would only have to point Wrath at a deserter, and...it..."
Alexis clams up, crossing their arms with their elbows tucked against their palms. "...I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Alexandra chuckles as Kay joins in the banter. It feels good. Well, properly, it would be a anthame, but I figured knives might be a little much for your first time. she works the "You" in there to watch kays brain try to process that. After a second, she mercifully laughs
I was thinking of that regardless. B lied to me. Shay helped, Alexis still sympathises with the Triakosia. not a bad idea... But I will miss you guys, even with all this s!!$e. she shakes her head, and slides into the water, enjoying the brisk temperature.
Hours later, at Casa Wingblade
Alexandra walks in with a duffel bag over her shoulder, wearing a button-down and jeans, hair down. she takes off the domino as she enters. Ping Wing and Bron and whoever else is in. she says. I have some stuff to tell them. I also have some stuff for you, files I kept independent of you. no offense, but you did get hacked a couple times... she says, taking several terabyte hard drives and stacking them on the counter. labeled "Historic", "Active" "Villainous" "Allies" "Suspected" "Countermeasures" and "Miscellaneous"
They find her sitting at the table, slamming back a quadruple espresso. Hi, guys. I think we need to talk. she says Let's start with B. How long was that going on? How many people knew? Were you ever going to tell me and Kay, or was that going to be a lie as long as we worked together.
"You've got to be kidding me!!" Shayera shouts when she gets the ping from Abacus that Alexandra was back at her penthouse. She paces a bit, muttering to herself about how she flew all this way to Monument Park just for Alexandra to be back at her place.
Good. Mad is good. Be angry. That'll keep it -- NNNNGGGGHHH! -- at... bay... She immediately regrets pulling off the pendant, falling to her knees for a moment before putting her wings to work. Her anger is gone in seconds, leaving nothing but pain.
She rises slowly, but she puts herself in the air. Stop. Open your eyes. You gotta-- okay right direction. Just... go... damn headwind... She lets loose a scream that doesn't help, then screams again. How did I do this last night? Is it worse? What's wrong with me?
She doesn't make it to her penthouse, and has to use the skyrail trick to get back to the Tower District before again removing the pendant. She takes off with a whimper and forces herself to climb. Not... going... to use... the lift, she repeats again and again as she spots her skyscraper and the impossible height. Tears stream from her eyes as the agony assails her. Almost... almost...
==================
Wingblade slams into the railing running along her balcony. She grips it desperately, almost pitching backwards and falling. Panting, she rolls halfway onto the solid surface and with trembling hands puts the pendant back on.
For a few breaths, she just stays still and enjoys not being in agony. Then she slides all the way under the railing and rises to her feet.
Shayera enters her apartment and is slammed by the scent of roasted coffee beans. "Hey, there. No, no. Help yourself," she says to Alexandra with a smirk, nodding at the espresso in her hand.
Shayera's smirk fades instantly. "A lie? A lie? It's Bronwyn's secret identity. That's like... the biggest rule! Secret identities are to be protected!
"Bronwyn's choice to keep it secret was her right. And you have no right to be insulted if she decided to keep it from you."
Alexandra eyes Shayera coldly. Yes. A lie. An intentional mistruth you and she told me some dozens of times. she says In fact, Abbers, would you kindly give the definition of that word to Wingblade here. It seems she's forgotten it.
the mechanichal voice stirs. The Oxford english dictionary defines Lie as "(of a person or animal) be in or assume a horizon-"
second definition, Abbers! How in the hell is that the first. Alexandra shouts.
"An intentionally false statement." the curt mechanical voice replies. it almost sounded amused.
Yeah. Intentionally false, like "Bronwyn works for Bran" or "Bronwyn is only kind of a member of the team" or "We're a team". she's on her feets now
Oh, but that's fine. It was her secret identity. Nevermind that those are for protecting us from villains. But whatever, Guess I was under suspicion of becoming one of those. I've had the same feelings about teammates, so whatever, fine her words come out fast, like a faucet on a smidge too much, or a video going an 1.1 speed But, it protected her loved ones from retribution. well, except CAMILA she emphasises the word as she spits it at Wingblade Or... oh, what was the name of her little cousin, the one Mercykiller traumatised? and the other three who the Defenders saved from a kidnapping. But, he, at least Alexandra didn't know!
Kaoru froze as his brain suddenly stalled. It seemed to bounce between the mix of embarrassment and nervousness of "But we've only kissed! We can't skip straight to sex!" and the streak of fear that accompanied "Knives?!?" The rapid back and forth caused neither thought to progress very far before the other asserted its demand for his attention. He finally managed to pull out of the stall when Alexandra laughed, though that wasn't quite enough to dismiss the slightly sick feeling in his gut.
"Can't work with people you don't trust. They'll understand that. They'll probably get defensive about it, but they'll understand." Bonus points for it hurting them in the process. He almost hoped he was there to watch. But then he'd have to be there. So instead he just savored the thought a moment before ducking underwater to swim back and forth a little.
The water felt good. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed swimming. The muted soundscape of being underwater that made everything feel distant and unimportant. The near-weightlessness and feeling of floating. He used to sit at the bottom of the pool, refusing to come up until his lungs burned and he was an inch away from inhaling water to douse the fire. Only then would he surface again to refill his lungs and repeat the process. Between that and all his vocal lessons, he was getting pretty good at holding his breath.
He dove deeper, lightly running a finger along the bottom of one of Alexandra's exposed feet as he swam underneath her and surfaced on the other side, grinning. "So, what are you going to do with all your new found free time?"
Wingblade's gaze turns deadly. Her voice is low and full of menace. "Camila and Lucas weren't targeted for retribution. You should know that. So you are deliberately using them to attack me."
She steps closer, invading Silver Shadow's personal space. "And I don't appreciate that," she hisses.
She folds her arms, daring Shadow to strike her first. "I should've known you'd be butthurt over so petty a thing as a secret identity. Everything in your family's history says that you wouldn't be a team player. You invade privacy. You ignore conventions. You can't even acknowledge that Bronwyn saved your life last night!
"Nooo, let's whine about Bronwyn's secret identity! Like we all had a private laugh behind your back, ha-ha, we're keeping something from the great detective! Are you REALLY that full of yourself?!?"
I don't want to hurt them. Alexandra says, even as her power buzzes in the background, saying But, hurting them is the easiest way for you. for them too.
she almost kicks out as she feels her feet being tickled, but restrains herself. she does, however, splash Kay as he surfaces. but his question takes her to thinking. I don't know. Maybe see how far I can get in AP courses with my power, and not having Heroing take up all my time. God, I'll need to pick a career now... she is lost in though as possibility swirls around her... was it too late to go back to risking an early death?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Casa Wingblade~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, yes. Not technically retribution. Just because they were suitable candidates for possession. Which Balor thought they were because Bronwyn was possessed. Yeah, very different. her voice is dry, but her eyes... less so. she takes a step back.
And I bring them up because they're an example of the consequences of Lying to teammates. If you're feeling guilty, that's only because... Because we should have caught this. Maybe we would have. she seems to lose steam halfway through. but she steels herself.
And yeah, Bad teammate? Doesn't play well with others? Unconventional... if only someone had warned you. Oh, wait, someone did. Me! she takes the communicator out of her ear and puts it on the table, the words "North Star" still engraved into it. The day you gave that to me, a few months ago. I told you I didn't like commitments, that I worked Best alone. I told you and B the same thing on the Night of the Movie theatre! but no, you to saw fit to shanghai us into this. You signed up for this s#!%. AndI was always honest with you two. I was honest when I was dating Kay. I was honest when I had powers, after a little mental breakdo- F++#, ew, I kissed B. Just realised that.
Anyway, the biggest lie I ever told you was the 15 minutes I failed to mention that B was missing, probably because of some interaction between her powers, which I didn't know about, and the magician's talet, and I only did it to compartmentalise while I fixed that with Hex. And you were still pissed. It's almost like being Lied to sucks! and you and B have been doing it as long as this f!~*ing mistake of a team has existed!
Wingblade gives the earbud a long look, then pinches her brow. "Bronwyn's secret wasn't mine to share," she says, her voice sounding ragged. "And she didn't have to tell you. She is *allowed* to keep her private life private."
She looks up at Alexandra with red-rimmed eyes. "And you know I didn't force you into this team. Whip strong-armed you after you went and pulled off that stupid heist at the SCA! Remember that, and how I covered for you?
"In fact, have I ever been a s+&@ty teammate to you? When have I ever not tried to be your friend in all this?" She picks up the earbud and waves it in Alexandra's face. "Are you telling me you're done? Was it *soooo* bad working together that you're out of here? Because-- fine! Great! I'm sure you'll do great by yourself!"
Shayera sets her jaw, but her lip trembles and it's evident she's pretty hurt.
Alexandra blinks back tears as Wing Tears into her. This is wht you wanted. She'll take the bait. the bussing in her head says, as another part calmly reminds Alexandra that Wingblade is correct.
Alexandra slaps the hand waving the communicator in her face. You know what, Yeah! she says, as if the idea has just occurred to her. Why bother with a team that doesn't even trust me! Why bother pretending we're anything but the repository for those kids in Halcyon who can't be normal! Why bother trying to- Words leave Alexandra here, and she storms toward the elevator, all but sightless.
Shayera's jaw drops when Alexandra heads to the elevator. "Wait. I didn't--" she starts, but ultimately decides to let her go. She was attacked, she attacked back, and nothing good would come while they were still so emotionally raw from last night.
Instead, she ponders her next move. Does she want me to beg her to come back? Stay with the team? What team do we have, now, anyway? Kay's not going to stick around without Alexandra. So just me, Bron and Alexis, most like. The Wonder Twins and Bent-Wing.
Not feeling especially cheerful, Shayera decides to take a shower and put on some comfy jammies. She wasn't sure if Bronwyn and Alexis got Alexandra's ping, so they may or may not show up. Assuming Alexis even wanted to come by her apartment, since the Triakosia know about it.
It's my day off; I'm going to Do Nothing.
Alexandra rides the elevator down, leaving behind the duffel bag of files and gadgets fro Kay and Wing... She wait unti she's out of the lobby, and far enough she knows she's off wing's Cameras, before she bursts into tears.
Kaoru grinned and splashed Alexandra back. "Well, if they're dicks about it, let me know, and I'll come try to cheer you up."
He spent some more time splashing about and enjoying both the water and the time spent with Alexandra. It was a welcome change from heavier thoughts. He wasn't quite able to shake off the feeling of being indecent without a shirt on though. It was a niggling little worm crawling at the corner of his consciousness. It was eased a bit by having his torso submerged in water up to his neck, but he still felt a little like he was in one of those dreams where you were just running around naked and couldn't find clothes or a door that locked properly. You need to get used to it. Even if it's temporary. This is how you can be a proper boyfriend to her. At least for a couple of months.
With her quitting, this might mean more time for date nights. Though perhaps less exciting dates than the whole breaking into the SCA thing. Not that that had been a date. But he had read adrenaline was good for dates. Maybe he could bust out some horror moves? And pray that they didn't make him scream like a little girl. Horror was admittedly not his genre unless there was a strong comedy or satirical element. Or zombies because at that point it was more supernatural than horror.
After heading home and changing, he left again. He still had some errands to run and this was probably as good of a time as any to do them. First stop was some kind of electrical tower at the edge of town.
She'd respected Alexis's wish for privacy. Not like I can't imagine what Wrath would do. The broad strokes at least...
Unfortunately, with pings sending them racing all over Halcyon- On foot too! -They were a little late. She checked her phone. Okay, more than a little, sheesh.
The duffle bag in the elevator was more than a little concerning though, and as soon as the doors closed she flashed Gae-Dearg out to its full size. "Hey Abacus?"I actually hope it's hooked back up in here, "Did you see who left this bag? 'Cause I don't think it's definitely a bomb, but there's some powerful magic auras inside it."
Abacus's voice sounds through the speakers in the elevator. "Miss Walker left it behind when she left the premises twelve minutes ago."
Inside the apartment, Shayera is curled up in her oversized chair at the main Abacus console. She's asleep.
Alexis was anxious, but their mind was definitely elsewhere as they followed Bronwyn. They didn't even seem to realize that they were heading to the penthouse until they had entered the building itself, perking up and looking around nervously. They fidgeted, before quickly hopping into the elevator with Bronwyn.
"...They might be in recovery after last night. I don't think they would strike now," They said quietly, before Bronwyn asked about the duffel. They looked down at it in concern, but if it was a bomb, they were fairly certain it was too late to escape now anyways. But hearing that Alexandra had left it made Alexis just more confused.
When they finally reached the top floor, they peeked in carefully, not in a hurry to put themselves in potential harm's way. But Shayera's sleeping form was a bit surprising. "...She must be exhausted," They mention to Bronwyn. "Should we let her sleep?"
Shayera bolts up. "Oh! Hey," she says before her eyes even fall on Alexis and Bronwyn. She looks down at her fuzzy pajamas and shrugs with a grin. "Day off. Decided to take it easy."
Her expression darkens immediately, as she remembers. "Guys, um, I think Alexandra just quit on us. She was all insulted because of Bronwyn's secret identity -- which I explained to her was fine! I mean, that's a huge rule for superheroes! We protect secret identities if we know them, and if we don't, we don't pry! I don't know why Alexandra was so insulted!
"Anyway, we argued. She left. Said that she couldn't be a part of a team that didn't trust her."
Bronwyn was quiet. What Shayera was saying made sense... It was how she'd reacted when Bronwyn had had to tell her that Bran was really her. And Alexandra was a total B about it... Like what was that thing in the locker room?! And I told her what she **needed** to know just... "Do you think she's really going? Would it help if I apologized?" Is she just mad my Bran voice fooled her? Or like, feeling double awkward 'cause when she was cheating on Kaoru, she kinda kissed a girl?
[i]She probably left a bug or something in the duffle, shouldn't say anything that I don't want her to hear.
"Do you know why she left this behind? It's got some kinda magic in it, but I haven't looked to see what it is yet."
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Shayera frowns when she sees the backpack. Shaking her head, she points over to a stack of hard drives on her kitchen counter. "Alexandra left those, too."
She gets up out of her chair and moves over to the counter. Picking one up, then another and looking at the labels, she says, "'Historic,' 'Villainous,' 'Countermeasures'... these are her data files." She looks straight at Bronwyn, eyes wide as the realization hits her. "She had these with her when she came over. She was planning to quit."
Alexis looked concerned, pulling off their glasses and taking their hood down. Their striking replication of Bronwyn's features was uncanny when next to the genuine article. "Um...why would she want to quit?" They asked. "Is it something to do with what happened last night? I thought that she wasn't hurt too bad..."
Then they thought about Kaoru. "Will Kaoru quit too? Doesn't that mean we're all that's left of the team now?" It seemed like far too little. Not enough manpower to go around. At least they had the backing of the adult heroes still.
"...should we tell Whippoorwill what's happened?" They ask Shayera.
Alexandra texts Kaoru from Herrells, where she is trying to keep it together, after cleaning herself up some. she realised she should between eyeing internships... The Halcyon aquarium was hiring, and she wondered if her powers worked on cetaceans...
>Hey, ust told wingblade... it was messy, but that's for the best. Don't be too mad at us.
>You'll probably get a text or something from her soon. maybe Bron too.
Shayera tosses the files in her hand back on the stack and shakes her head. "I don't know why she'd want to quit. Maybe she got spooked because of the sickness, maybe she's just done with all the SCA bullsh*. Maybe she's being honest and really was offended that Bron kept her secret identity from her."
She crosses her apartment until she is standing before the pair that look nearly identical. "K's had one foot out the door already, and I got the sense that the only reason he stuck around as long as he had was because of Alexandra. With her gone... I don't know what he'll do. But I'd bet he's gone too.
"I'll definitely have to tell Whippoorwill," she says as she leans forward and gives the area around the duffel bag a sniff. "Oh! That's Bran! Or, what's left of him. Thanks, Alexandra, for leaving a severed head in my elevator."
Alexis looked slightly ill at the prospect of a severed head. They stepped away from the duffel and took a seat on the couch for now. "...I want to keep being a hero. But I don't think that I can do it alone. On my own...I hurt a lot of people yesterday. They were bad people, but I should have been able to deal with them without hurting them so bad. Kaoru was right, I'm not careful enough around those who aren't as strong as me," They admitted.
"Do you think that there's a way for me to learn how to fight without hurting people?" They ask Shayera. "I need to be better if I want to stay a hero. And...I think it would also be really bad if people saw me with this face breaking someone's arm," They added.
Shayera's expression darkens for a moment when Alexis talks about hurting people last night. She forces her own remorse aside as she focuses on the superstrong girl. "I understand. Well, what do you think if we sparred? You don't have to worry about hurting me, and you can work on pulling your punches when fighting someone who's not super tough. It can be, like, a regular thing."
"That..." They looked at Bronwyn for a moment. "...I don't think that would be a good idea. Bronwyn said your wing is hurt, and it can't heal properly...oh, right."
They unzipped the hoodie, pulling it down to look at their bandaged arm. "I should take car of this too..." They scowled in frustration. "There's too many things to worry about at once. I hate it, I feel like it's all weighing me down. Why can't problems happen one at a time?" They sulked a little.
"Anyways, I should cut off the part of me that's not healing right. Can Abacus do that?"
Shayera glares at Bronwyn for a moment, looking betrayed. "I can fight you fine." she says through clenched teeth. "I don't need my wings for a sparring match! And they're not-- whatever."
Glowering, she grabs Alexis's good arm and pulls her toward the medical bay which she has opening up with some verbal commands in Chinese. "We'll have Abacus take a look at it. If we need to laser off the bad part, Abacus can do that. Or I can cut it out."
Bronwyn took on a studiously blank expression when Alexis talked about breaking arms as her. Not like it would be exactly the first time, but their point is good anyways, and it's not like that's a rep I need spreading any further.
"...Wait Bran's head?! Why would she even keep that?!" She unzipped the bag, nose wrinkled against a rotting smell that thankfully didn't come.
Bran's closed eyes looked back up at her and she couldn't suppress a shudder. "Okay, I'm glad he's still... intact, but he definitely wasn't sparkly like that when Camila was yelling at him in the car." She zipped it back shut. "I should give that a better look with Cassie or M- with uh, one of Bran's other acolytes. I mean not "other," just... You know." She winced, "I know I'm out, but that doesn't mean other people don't get to keep their secrets."
She caught Shayera's glare with equanimity. "Sparring might be a good idea. A workout might be good for both of you, and I bet it'll go better than the last time with me. I mean, let's face it you've got a lot more experience learning to hold back."
On the chair in the medical bay, Alexis allowed the devices to do their work. Hopefully it would be a lot less painful than cutting off what amounted to the 'infected' portion of their arm on their own. They leaned back and looked at the ceiling, concentrating on talking to avoid looking at what was being done.
"Maybe we should get a proper case for Bran's head? Um, if that's all right. I don't know what you should do about that," They said. Something about a severed head stimulated something in their head. They didn't want to think about it if they could. "But after I get this dealt with, I think we can spar. As long as you don't go easy on me."
They pressed their fingers against their thumbs as they felt the pain as they glue was removed and the blood started to flow freely again, as a slow trickle. It was a strange feeling, to bleed without the wound closing for them on its own. "I need to be able to beat someone willing to kill me without hurting them. It will be hard to do."
Shayera studies the wound critically while pulling out her surgical tools. "I should be able to give you some pointers. Granted, I don't have super strength, but I know a thing or two about turning lethal attacks into, well, non-lethal. It's all about precision."
She takes up a scalpel with practiced ease. She puts her free hand on Alexis's shoulder. "I practice this stuff all the time. I give myself a big cut and try to stitch it up before it heals on its own. So I'm going to just cut around this here at the edges and see if it heals." Before she begins, she pulls out an IV. "Here's some novocaine. I find it takes some of the edge off if I keep it flowing. A single shot probably won't do anything for you, just like me."
She hands the IV to Alexis to let them use it if they want. Then she starts operating.
Bronwyn winces when Shayera describes her practice methods. "Geez, oranges weren't good enough?"
"Precision's good for when you're trying to stab someone non-fatally, but for super strength I gotta say I've gotten pretty far with the whole 'airbag-special.' If you hit a lot of area all at once, it's a much more pleasant, survivable experience for everyone." She smirked, "Not that Shayera's got a lot of area to hit!"
Shayera smirks back at Bronwyn and smacks her backside.
"Alexis, you also need to make sure to pull your punches. That's not something I really have to do, but I'll give you plenty of practice. The trick will be to keep your strikes fast without putting all your strength behind it."
"...Pulling punches and hitting large areas," Alexis considers the advice, wincing as they inject the novocaine IV into their arm. The numbing was good, and it didn't hurt when Shayera got to carving out the cursed part of their arm. Now they had to wait and see if it would heal on it's own now, or if would reform the same wound.
"...Should we recruit more members?" They ask while waiting for their flesh to start to reform. "People who have powers and aren't villains, people our age who might want to do good? I feel like...we're too concentrated now. We don't have the right tools for different missions. We could use someone as stealthy as Alexandra, but since she's gone, is there anyone else?"
Shayera keeps working, but puts part of her mind at work on Alexis's questions. "Yeah, we're pretty punchy, what's left of us. Strength, strength, fighting and regen. My sisters would add shadow 'porting and technopathy, but I don't think they're interested in forming a team with us. Ideally, we could use some energy blasts, telepathy or magic use."
She takes a step back after carving away all the cursed flesh to see what happens. "Whip might have some suggestions. But I dunno. I haven't been watching for new candidates for the Junior Defenders. If that's even who we are at this point."
Alexis flexed their fingers to stimulate blood flow, looking at the new crater carved from their arm and watching as it started to grow back. They looked concerned as the healing started to slow until it shaped the original wound from the cursed spear. It wasn't bleeding anymore, a scab forming along its edges. "That is strange," They admitted, furrowing their brow.
"It's still there, but it's healing like...like that part of me doesn't heal the same as the rest of me anymore?" They looked at Bronwyn. The implications of this seemed big to them. It also scared them a great deal.
"I think that I will be okay. If you still want to spar," They said, trying to push that fear away and ignore it for now. "I need the practice. It's better to do something while waiting to hear from Kaoru."
Shayera frowns as she watches the healing slow. "Maybe... your body just needs a little bit of time. You know. To remember that it's supposed to heal fast." She gives them a smile that she hoped was encouraging. At the very least, some light sparring would get all their minds off of everything else.
"Sure. Let's-- Oh, Kaoru... has anybody called him? Since Alexandra...?" Shayera sighs, not sure if she'd be the one to reach out to him, but not really sure if Alexis or Bronwyn would be any better.
She instructs Abacus to open a line to Kaoru. "Hey, uh, so, you might have heard that Alexandra is um, quitting the team. Which, well, she has her reasons. But I just wanted to let you know that I still think of you as our leader, and you can still... be on the team? Dammit. Look, I don't know what to say here, but I don't want to assume anything. I understand if you want to quit too, but I'm not trying to push you out or anything like that. We could still use you. Okay?"
=============
Shayera instructs Abacus to close up the med bay, leaving a nice empty space on her first floor that can be used as a makeshift dojo. She changes out of her jammies and into a simple workout outfit.
"All right. You're going to try to hit me, but not too hard. I'll let you know if it's too much for a normal person. Though if you lay me out and it takes a few moments for me to recover, you'll know too," she chuckles.
She stays light on her feet, ducking and weaving, but also providing opportunities for Alexis to get a strike in, since the goal was not to fully avoid their attacks.
"Okay. I will try to pull my punches." Alexis took a moment to go and get some of their workout gear on from when they first came to live in the penthouse, seeing as they needed something to wear for the exercise. It fit well enough for them, though the subtle differences between them and Bronwyn were more apparent with less layers. Alexis' regenerated body seemed more idealized of Bronwyn than accurate.
They let out a breath, and then came after Shayera, before throwing a punching, trying to just knock the wind out of her instead of break her ribs with the blow, while sweeping low with their leg to try and take her off her feet as well.
This felt good to them. Focusing on a single purpose and goal and putting their whole being into implementing it. Working on improving themselves instead of being mired in their fears. They let themselves stay honed in on the practice, striking and working on blows that would bruise and not break.
Sweating and flushed, Alexis kept at it, trying to judge the right amount of force to put into a punch - then opting to go with an open palm strike instead. Better for controlling themselves, though they were beginning to be fearful of the slightest slip up that might send them stumbling back to square one.
Wingblade shakes off a hit that had her seeing stars. "Woof. Okay, that'd put someone down, sure," she says a little drunkenly, "but I saw it coming a mile away. You're going to have to speed up."
She starts to make it harder for Alexis to hit her, speeding up her reaction times to force them to throw faster punches and kicks. After she evades a flurry of punches and kicks, she tries to goad them into moving faster. "Come on! It won't matter how soft you throw a punch if you never connect! Let's go!"
After a while -- and after Shayera has taken numerous hits of varying strength -- Alexis is throwing quick strikes that shouldn't do any lasting damage but should put down anyone short of a prizefighter.
"Phew! Looking much better! We'll keep doing that a few hours each day until it becomes second nature to you." Shayera compliments while grabbing up a towel and wiping off the sheen of sweat that had touched her face and shoulders.
Her eyes suddenly go wide as she remembers something. "Oh! Can't do it Thursday, though. I've got a photo shoot with Halcyon Teen after school." She says it nonchalantly, but quietly frowns and touches the charm around her neck.
Winding down from their sparring, Alexis felt a little more confident in their ability to gauge their strength. At least enough to avoid causing permanent harm to the average person. Though some of Wingblade's encouragements pushed them to hit just a little harder on her than was necessary. The anger never seemed to fully go away in the background of their mind.
"Mmm..." Alexis' mind started to spin now that the training was over. There were things left unsaid, things which they hadn't yet shared with Shayera. Focusing on just one was harder than they thought, but they went with the one they thought would be the least confusing for her.
"I don't think that I'm a girl or a boy, even when my body is one or the other," Alexis said, a non sequitor crashing over Shayera explaining Thursday was booked for her. "Things didn't feel right in my former body. This one feels off too, but I don't know why yet."
They fidgeted as they finished toweling off. "...Sorry. Just something on my mind."
Shayera looks up from her charm and listens to Alexis intently. She grabs a couple bottles of water and hands one to them. Clunking the bottles together like they were a couple of beers, she twists the top off hers and takes a long drink. "Look, Alexis, I tried to help you feel better before, and I don't know if I did any good. But... remember that's your power. You'd have died if you didn't have it. So, it's a good thing. Mostly. I'm sorry you don't feel... comfortable."
She leans back as an idea strikes her. "You know, maybe we're looking at this wrong. We're thinking about your power as being some kind of death-response. But maybe it's not, really. Maybe you're some kind of shapeshifter. Sure it's only been triggered after massive trauma, but does it really have to be? Maybe you can work on controlling it, and not only after a major injury." She gives Alexis an encouraging smile and hopefully something to think about.
She finishes her water and steps out of the practice area. She pauses for a second and takes off her pendant, causing her wings to reappear. She stretches them out like they were living appendages and takes a few test flaps. Then with a shudder she puts the pendant quickly back on. She stands there for a moment, more out of breath than she had been during the sparring session.
Bronwyn hung back while she watched Alexis spar with her girlfriend, a quiet frown forming unnoticed on her face when Alexis stripped down to some of her Hornets togs. Oh that's just unfair. Those are like, "300" abs, and I'm **sure** they're not doing the work for them either. She watched Alexis's footwork, their stance, how quickly they learned from Shayera's maneuvers and how effortlessly they picked up new techniques, and her frown deepened.
"I need to step up my game..." Ugh, they also don't have my back-mole.
***
Bronwyn glared at Shayera, cutting in "I mean, maybe they're a shapeshifter, but that doesn't... I mean I was a shapeshifter, kind of and I'm all girl, you know? So if Alexis-" she redirected herself to talk to Alexis instead of about them, "Sorry, if you feel like that, it doesn't have to be because of your powers. You're not the only one who feels that way."
***
"...Hey Shayera. I was thinking. I'm meeting Mary-Beth down at my forge. I should really get going on the new armor, and she had a few ideas to cut down on maintenance... Could I get a ride? Since your wing's feeling better?"
Bronwyn glared at Shayera, cutting in "I mean, maybe they're a shapeshifter, but that doesn't... I mean I was a shapeshifter, kind of and I'm all girl, you know? So if Alexis-" she redirected herself to talk to Alexis instead of about them, "Sorry, if you feel like that, it doesn't have to be because of your powers. You're not the only one who feels that way."
Shayera throws up her hands in a deflecting gesture. [b]"It was just an idea! That maybe the reason you're feeling off is that you've got a true form, and that's just an instinctive part of your power? And I may be way off. Probably am."
***
"...Hey Shayera. I was thinking. I'm meeting Mary-Beth down at my forge. I should really get going on the new armor, and she had a few ideas to cut down on maintenance... Could I get a ride? Since your wing's feeling better?"
Shayera gives Bronwyn a long, strained look. "It's not." Her voice cracks.
After another moment of silent eye contact, she nods. "Okay, yeah. Let me go get the harness." She turns and heads over to a storage chest near the balcony.
Bronwyn's sharp gaze softened. "You are such a doof. You don't have to fly me anywhere with your wing hurt. But could you please let me take a look at it? Like, a real look? I know you're made of super metal, but the whole point of smithing is getting stuff into shape that would normally be too hard or strong to do anything with by hand. Does Matrix or Abacus, I guess have the specs on them? Like, ductility, recrystallization temperature, all that stuff? I wouldn't say no to a full phase diagram if one's been worked up... Abruptly she realized that jargon might not be the most comforting bedside manner and added, "I'm not- I won't hurt your wing you know."
"You helped me with my wound. We should help you with what's bothering you," Alexis added, feeling...happy? Something about how Shayera responded to their confession made them feel good. A small part felt not great about her considering their powers to be shapeshifting. They held back on confronting her about that though, opting to help Bronwyn support her.
"Maybe I could try bending the parts back into place?" They suggested, looking at Bronwyn for an idea of whether that was a good option. "And it looks like it hurts you a lot. I didn't know you could feel them, since they're all metal. Maybe it'll be like when you snap a broken bone back into place?"
Shayera scowls for a second and a look of defiance flashes across her face, but her expression softens when Alexis chimes in.
"I feel them," she says, looking down at her pendant. "I don't know why no one thinks I don't. I mean, how else would I be able to move them?"
Shayera then says some commands in Chinese and Abacus flashes to life, showing extremely detailed schematics of her wings from varying angles. All manner of metallurgical data is listed -- though several questions remain about the exact nature of the metal. While the composition is primarily a steel alloy, electron microscope scans show a crystal latticework that more closely approximates the structure of muscle fibers, though the structures vary depending on the location. The pinfeathers, for example, are far more rigid, with hardness and strength ratings surpassing the highest industrial-grade steels.
She takes a couple deep breaths and takes off the pendant. A strangled cry escapes her throat before she can bite it back. Shayera hugs her shoulders tightly as she turns around so they can take a look at the wing with the single bent feather. "It-- it's not going away... It's so bad," she confesses, her entire body shaking.
She waits and lets Alexis and Bronwyn look at it while trying not to scream.
"Okay, okay." She reached up to gently stroke the undamaged feathers, avoiding the sharp edges with practiced ease. "Oh that's interesting. Most of your feathers are a lot more internally complex than I would have guessed. Probably why you have such control over them... Okay, this one's pretty straightforward though. Should still be fine."
Gently she reached up and replaced the charm.
"Lucky a mysterious, sexy benefactor recently let me restock on fuel, but this should be a pretty simple fix all told, so no other special gear's really needed. The only question is... how much heat do you feel through your wings? If I have to do this cold it'll take a long time, and we'll definitely have to rig some kind of brace so you aren't transferring that impact to the flesh and bone parts of your back, but otherwise we're probably talking a couple thousand degrees to get that feather plastic enough to work. Thankfully it looks like we shouldn't have a ductility issue to avoid, and it's far enough from your more flammable parts that we should be able to keep the temperature safely contained - as long as you're feeling safe with orangey-yellow."
The shudder of relief that went through Shayera's body when the charm was replaced was palpable.
She puts her head in her hands as she thinks about Bronwyn's suggestion about putting her wing essentially into a forge. "I dunno. I didn't use them against the lava monster. I caught a lot of Sunray's laser blasts on them, but a lot of the energy was reflected off. I did feel them heat up, but it never got uncomfortable."
She looks up at Bronwyn, face drawn and tight but trust evident in her eyes. "We won't know until we try, right?"
"...Ah." The idea came to Alexis after realizing it was just the single feather. They thought about suggesting it, but held off for now. They had a plan right now with the forge, so hopefully that would work out for Shayera.
"Um. When can you do that? How long until we can fix her wing?" They asked Bronwyn. "I don't think that she should be Wingblade until then. It must feel like..." They considered that kind of unbearable pain to think up an analogy that worked. "...Like if my finger was broken, but held in place so it wouldn't be able to heal back into place, even though my body was trying to put it back together. I would probably cut it off if I could to be free of the pain," They admitted.
Shayera tilts her head as she thinks about Alexis' analogy. "Huh. That... might be why it's still hurting." A sour look grows on her face. "Though that's a pretty crap weakness to have. Bend a feather and I'm in near debilitating pain. Though, I never thought my wings could be hurt before Ca-- Efnysien."
She nods and grabs a light jacket, stuffing her skyrail pass into one of the pockets. "Guess we're using public transport, since I could barely get myself to Northside and back. I ain't going to make it carrying you two."
She heads to the elevator.