It has been a month since the fall of the heroes. Since the massive, coordinated attack, now called Doomsday by the media, superhuman activity has diminished. The heroes that weren’t killed or captured have been laying low. Even the super villains have kept out of sight in fear of being next. In the meantime, a kind of uneasy peace has settled on most of the world, and no one can shake the feeling that they are living in the eye of the storm.
On the morning of April 5th, 2031, in the rundown slums of Boston, Valerie Tepes is woken by the sounds of angry shouts from beneath her bedroom. Her bedroom is barely lit from the small window in her safehouse bedroom. The light outside is dull and gray, and she can hear the patter of rainfall on the glass. She can make out some of the conversation. It sounds like her father is arguing with someone over the phone about money. It was always about money, even more so since Doomsday. Her family was deep in super crime, but their usual strategy involved capturing superhumans so that Siphon could replicate their powers. Something that becomes much harder when all the superhumans go into hiding. As such, Valerie hadn’t had much work in the last month, and her parents income had slowed to a trickle.
In a neighborhood not so far away, Baxter Bellinger is woken by similar angry voices, though these are in a familiar Japanese tongue and accompanied by hard knocking at his bedroom door. The same gray daylight pours in through the small cracks of the blinds. He can feel the humidity from the dreary weather in the air of his room.
John Graves is looking over the last bits of a presentation in his small, studio apartment. About a week ago, John had been talking with one of his professors. The teacher was impressed with his work and wanted him to give a small lecture to a group of high school students in an extremely high-level science program. The kind of program that most doctors would struggle with. John, being fairly advanced himself, was the perfect choice to give a guest lecture, according to the professor. Despite the lecture taking place on a weekend, John was assured that these students were very hard working and dedicated to the program.
Samuel Adams is woken with a start as his mother starts banging on his door. ”You’re not going to sleep all day,” she says. ”Your dad needs help cleaning the garage. Lickety split.” She gives his door one last bump before heading to other parts of the house.
Gwen Jones is awoken by her unusually mundane alarm clock. In a house of mystical talismans to fulfill any number of chores and jobs, the electronic device could be considered a bit of an oddity. The first thing to greet her was her family picture. The last family picture before the disappearance of her mother. It depicted her, her mom, and her dad waving at the viewer. They seemed to be talking among themselves, but there was no sound.
Tyler Davidson is woken up by his fiancé’s alarm clock in the one bedroom apartment he shared with her near their university campus. She was dressing in a basic red polo and jeans for her shift at the university bookstore. “What do you want to do after my shift?” she asks. ”I was thinking we could order pizza from Mario’s and find a movie on Netflix.”
Samuel yawned and slowly sat up. He had been up late doing a spring when it was dark and he didn't think anyone could see him. The idea of spending the day slowly cleaning out the garage when he could do it so much more swiftly if he dared to use his abilities hurt, but he was not ready to share what he could do yet. Not even with his parents.
Samuel tugged on his clothes and headed towards the kitchen to grab some pop tarts before starting the chores.
John sighs and smiles as he wonders how he let Professor Smithy talk him into this unpaid assignment. The young scientist shrugs knowing full well that he was unable to resist the opportunity to help shape a tiny fragment of the next generation of potential scientists if only in a small way.
With his presentation finally complete he spends a few moments flipping through his dog eared copy of the Faulty Cauldron. While he remembers the entire text perfectly from memory he enjoys the strange look and feel of this ancient work. Running out of time he stands up and grabs a sports jacket from his closet in an attempt to look presentable. Feeling inside his pockets he feels the strange weight of multiple ampules, pills and potions. He does not recall putting them in there. Somehow they are always with him whenever he leaves his apartment (as if by magic). John grabs his briefcase which incidentally contains his superhero outfit as well as he heads to his lecture.
Valerie groans as she peeks through her window at the gray, unpleasant weather. Going out in the rain meant she'd either have to cover up or get soaked to the bone. Either way, it was less likely that a stray pedestrian would get handsy with her -- giving the groper a bad day and Valerie a snack. It was the easiest way to get fed and it felt good dishing out some karmic justice.
Instead of going out, she flopped back down on the bed and started scrolling through her phone, trying to ignore the voices coming from below. Her father's muffled argument didn't help her mood.
She couldn't believe they were holed up in this dive. Her parents were notoriously bad with money. When the money was rolling in, they lived large. Penthouse suites, luxury automobiles, house servants, the works. The Tepes lacked for nothing and every whim was met.
It's stunning that it didn't last a month.
She still had a closet full of designer clothes, but they drew too much attention in this part of town. So she was stuck with rotating through the same jeans, tights, and tops that she'd been wearing for the last week and a half.
Valerie was hungry enough that she decided to brave the crummy weather. She threw on a light jacket that would get soaked eventually. Maybe someone on the streets would see her and offer to walk along side her with an umbrella. She didn't plan on draining just anyone who got close -- only those who used their supposed kindness as an excuse to creep on her.
It wasn't ideal, but without the steady jobs she'd have to get creative in order to stay fed and stay alive. Doomsday sucked.
"Dad! I'm going out!" she called and headed down to the street without waiting for acknowledgment or permission.
Siphon stepped out into the rain-drenched street and started walking.
When Samuel gets downstairs, his mother is busy cleaning the kitchen. She has her phone playing the morning news. Currently, they have a story running about a car accident that has severely backed up a nearby highway. ”People are going to have to get used to waiting around again,” his dad says from the table. He’s sitting at the table with his morning coffee. When Samuel comes into the kitchen, the dad addresses him. ”You’ve been burning the midnight oil quite, a bit lately. Your schoolwork isn’t suffering right?”
The high school is just outside Boston’s city limits. The name given to John is the Redding’s School for Gifted Minds. It’s a well renowned private school dating back to the colonial era. The rumors around the school are that it offers secret classes to the especially talented students, but aside from the occasional scholarship student, most of the enrolled teenagers are the typical silver spoon rich kids.
The campus is an odd mix of old brick and mortar buildings where the classes are held surrounded by state-of-the-art modern dormitories. After signing into the main hall, one of the secretaries leads him to the library and finally to a conference room on the second floor. It is decorated with a long table and cushioned chairs all fashioned out of polished oak. Of the dozen or so chairs in the room, only seven are occupied by students of various ages. Most are probably close to eighteen, but a couple could be sophomores or freshman. At the head of the table, John sees a display screen connected to a sleek computer tucked away in the corner.
It was colder than she thought it would be, maybe low forties at best. Valerie contemplated going back inside for something warmer but thought better of it. Being cold was better than being harassed. It didn’t take long for the water to soak through her jeans and sneakers, though. Keeping herself from shivering through sheer willpower, she wandered through the streets of the slums. Hardly anyone else was outside, and no one talked to her. With no real destination in mind, she got lost in her own thoughts until she heard a familiar shout. “Hey Val, what are you doing out in this weather?” The voice came from a man called Akira. He owns a small Asian food restaurant. He’s been generally friendly with Valerie and has let her eat at his store after closing just so she didn’t have to go home. The restaurant isn’t open this time of day, but he invites her in anyway to get out of the rain.
John introduces himself and delivers a brief lecture on the importance of collaboration between scientists and how our present day discoveries are only possible due to the foundational work set down by previous generations. He then breaks the class into three groups to allow them to work together on a series of scientific problems. He leaves them alone for a while and then circulates among the different teams to field any questions or observations that they may have.
Samuel replies to his dad as he walks over to the cabinet to grab some pop tarts. "I finished all my homework before I went out. A lot of the classes are doing some review as we gear up for testing." Samuel looks over at the tv and considers the accident to see if there is something that would benefit from him doing a quick "bathroom" run. But with the news watching it he dismisses the idea for now and plops down in the chair to eat his breakfast as he says, "How much of the garage are you wanting to clean up?"
Valerie tried very hard not to shiver uncontrollably as the cold leached into her bones. The hunger gnawed at her as she patrolled the mostly empty streets, hoping for a chance encounter with some creep that would justify a small drain. Nothing that would render him unconscious, just enough to take the edge off her hunger.
No one presented themselves as a viable target before Mr. Akira called out to her from his store. She groaned inwardly. He was too nice to drain, but he'd probably offer her some food. Food that wouldn't sate her and would do unpleasant things as it worked its way through her atrophied digestive system.
Her rare illness had her drawing less than twenty percent of the energy from food that a normal person can. It left her constantly sick and weak. The procedure that saved her life let her draw energy from people, at the cost of now getting less than one percent from the food she ate. And the gas, bloating and cramps that real food caused her now was just too much to even bother.
She didn't eat for pleasure, though Mr. Akira had guilted her into eating a bowl of ramen a few times.
She looks up and down the street for one last hope she could find a meal she preferred. Seeing nothing, she turns and heads toward the small restaurant.
Her bottom jaw chattered as she shook the excess water from her jacket just outside the door. She pauses and wrings out her straight, black hair and then steps across the threshold. "Sorry, I'm dripping everywhere," she says through blue lips. "You're not even open yet. I'll be fine. I was just about to go home, anyway," she lies.
Baxter jumps at the sudden intrusion into his peaceful headspace. Which at this particular time was sleep. "I--is it Wednesday?" He asks with bleary eyes, tossing off the comforter and patting around a wooden crate serving as an end table in a vain search for some unfound article. Finally he looks over, squinting, and grumbles something nonverbal as he sits up. "Where's my--Stickmaster, have you seen my watch?" The stick bug in the dimly-lit terrarium in the corner crawls along aimlessly, but says nothing.
Lazily he gets up and pulls the blinds, gray sunlight weakly illuminating the room around him. He surveys the world through his little window with tired eyes and dreamlike thoughts. However, this brief moment of reverie is shattered by the return of that which woke him up: the neighbors up in arms once again. "Alright-ALRIGHT, okay, I'm--" He throws on his duster, hardly presentable but at least a bit more decent than his old A-shirt and the snowman boxers he got himself for Christmas one year. Unbolting the door, a 3-step process for a man who values his privacy, he swings it open and answers, "I'm up. Where's the fire my dudes?"
Even with her alarm clock still blaring, Gwen lingered on the magically moving photo of her family for what felt like an eternity. It had only been a month since her mother die- disappeared along with the other heroes on Doomsday but a part of her still felt guilty for despairing about it. She was hardly the only one out there suffering now that so many heroes were gone but... well...
Gwen kissed the photo and put it back on her nightstand with almost religious reverence and solemnity. "I miss you mom."
With that emotional taxing moment done, Gwen got ready to face day. Her magic would have made her daily ritual done and over in a literal snap but she decided to do such trivial things the mundane a while back.
And so, she took her shower, dried herself, and put on some clothes. She didn't put on anything particularly out there in terms of style. Just her usual retro-sixties attire, with her trusty black headband keeping short platinum locks in nice bob.
When Gwen was finally ready, she headed downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat. Her family home was... eccentric to say the least, being a large gothic manor on the edge of town overlooking a lonely hill that few people rather bothered to look at or even notice despite just how creepy it looked. Indeed, it was almost as if they made to not notice it by magic...
After eating her toast and eggs she was on the verge of leaving only for her very tired looking dad to finally come down the stairs. When he saw it was if a light had suddenly been lit behind his violet eyes. "Honey! How's my little witchling doing this wondrously dreary day?" He asked with without a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Gwen blushed. Her dad truly was a product of the old ways for better or for worse. She still loved him though. "Ready to endure Hydades's torrent and bask in Jupiter's gloom, dad."
"That's the spirit. Gods willing we'll have rain for the whole week and if not... well, I suppose a little more rain won't hurt the mortals that badly, eh?" He said with an playful smile.
"Dad..." She wanted to sound mildly serious in that moment despite knowing her father was most likely kidding but a small guilty smile managed to break through all the same.
Her father put up his hands in mock defensiveness. "I kid, I kid. I know it be would Hades for your mundane friends. Learned that lesson the last time. Gods. Your mother was so... was so..." He stopped talking and looked tired all over again.
Without even missing a beat, Gwen moved towards her father and gave him a hug. They didn't say anything for a few seconds before Gwen finally broke the silence. "I miss her too, dad. So much."
"I do too, dear. I do too. I'll find her in time. My scrys will find something. I promise," he said declared with a rare seriousness.
Wiping away a stray tear, Gwen bobbed her head. "I know, dad."
And with that said, the witch girl broke the hug and got her bag. She gave her father one last wave before she headed to school with her heart heavy and head protected by an arcane shield that dispelled the rain.
The student work is going along well. John steps in here and there to offer advice or answer questions. Some of these students are working on things he only seen in his graduate studies.
Amid a conversation with a group about the functions of quantum loops, John hears heavy footsteps outside of the room. Based on the sounds, he can tell that nine people are rushing up the stairwell on the other side of the hall. They are wearing combat boots. In addition, they seem to be emitting a rhythmic chirping. He can tell that the sound is too high pitched for anyone else to hear. It reminds him of an old radio signal or some kind of sonar.
”I was thinking that we should get rid of those junk electronics that I never get around to fixing. I’ve heard that private school in New Salem is buying them up. The students there will probably get more use out of them than me. Also, fishing season is coming up so I need to check the gear.”
”You should also see if you can get rid of any of that hunting gear,” Samuel’s mom chimes. ”You never go anymore.”
”Anything can happen,” his dad says. The conversation about his old hunting gear never gets farther than that. He picks up the rest of his coffee. ”Come on, Sam,” he says quietly. ”Before your mother decides to try and make me get rid of anything else.”
”I can’t let you walk home in this,” Akira says. ”You’ll wind up with pneumonia or something. Come in, dry off, and I’ll have one of my delivery guys take you home.” While Akira has generally been nice, some of his delivery drivers can be a bit creepy around her. She had a few snacks out of them, at least.
When Baxter opens the door, he is berated by a hysteric Japanese woman. He hardly understands anything she says, but he does see she is holding a plate covered by a large bowl. Something inside the bowl is trying to push the trap off and escape. It doesn’t take long to realize that one of his experiments escaped the garage.
Trying to get through both normal and magical studies has been tricky, and Gwen has to spend a lot longer on her schoolwork than other girls her age, but she worked hard and got it done. Her parents had been generous with her education and sent her to a private school called Redding’s School for Gifted Minds, the only school in the area with a combined curriculum. It was for this reason that she found herself at the private school library on a Saturday. There were a couple of students in there with her.
Suddenly, two individuals burst through the library door, brandishing rifles at the students. Their bodies are covered with outdated military gear, but they are wearing fancy helmets that cover their heads completely. The other students in the room freeze when the intruders tell them all the get on their feet
Valerie smiles. She tries to keep it from appearing predatory, though that's what she feels like. She doubts Mr. Akira would notice anyway.
She pulls off her jacket and steps further into the restaurant, following him toward the kitchen where the heat of the cooktops would warm her up faster. "Thank you," she says to him.
"How's Ashiko?" she asks, making conversation while she warms up.
John is suitably impressed with the students thinking that Professor Smithy was absolutely correct in his assessment of their abilities and interest.
As John hears the sounds of trouble in the distance he knows that he must respond immediately.
"Excellent work so far. I am impressed. I have to step out for a few minutes but keep working in the meanwhile."
John Graves steps out finding an opportune corner or closet to disappear into and emerge as Doctor Night. Using a combination of his superior senses, mobility and blending he attempts to catch up with the would be trouble makers and (if possible) avoid detection by anyone else.
Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the two assailants burst through the library door. One moment Gwen was deep within one of her readings trying her best not to think about her missing mother and in the next loud noises and even louder orders and soon screams seemed to became her whole world.
Despite the sudden shock Gwen refused to let fear paralyze her. As chaos consumed the library she quietly moved away from her seat towards a nearby bookcase where she whispered an incarnation that soon overwhelmed her in a flash of magical light.
Magical Girl had come on to the scene!
Baxter focuses for a few moments, trying to gauge size, strength, and aggression of the threat.
Size: small
Strength: moderate; dangerous
Aggression: high
Yep, that's his neighbor alright. And she looks pretty upset.
"Hey, no problemo, c'est bien, chill out lady. These things won't hurt you, unless you make them angry." He reassures as he reaches for the plate and bowl, which suddenly jerk around in the woman's grip as the creature inside tries to break out. "Oh you really made it angry." He ovserves, drawing back and looking for a tool or something to assist him.
"Uh... Uh..." He stammers awkwardly before reaching once again and snagging the plate, bowl, and escaped specimen. "Okay no worries, this little guy is going back home." quickly he makes for the stairs towards the garage, trying not to loose the beastie on his precarious impromptu journey.
Samuel heads out to the garage and starts in moving out the electric equipment. When his dad's back is turned he occasionally speeds up as he goes through the boxes pulling out what they won't need again with his back blocking his swiftly moving hands. "So did you see the game last night?" he asks his dad as he hears him sifting around the fishing poles that always manage to get connected.
Tyler rolls over and silences the alarm, pausing a moment to watch Jessica get ready for work and admiring the way the light hits her hair as she brushes her teeth.
"Sounds good, babe. What time are you off?"
He throws off the covers and sits up, looking around the floor to find the nearest pair of sweatpants. Pulling those on, he heads the kitchen to brew some coffee.
”She’s doing good,” Ashiko says. ”She’s taking a special course at that fancy school in New Salem. How are your parents?” While Ashiko is cleaning the store, his gets a text, but when he checks the phone, his face goes white. ”If you’ll excuse me Val, I need to go. One of the drivers will be here shortly.”
Doctor Night sees a group of nine people dressed in black. They are led by one distinguished from the others by a golden skull mask. They hold a scythe at their side. The leader gestures towards the followers where they start shouting at the students doing weekend work. Two of the followers start to approach the classroom with the students he had been visiting.
The intruders don’t see Gwen slip behind the bookcase or transform. They start to order the other students out of the room. She sees scared faces on the kids as they slowly head for the door.
Baxter is able to disentangle himself from the tenants. He puts his little creature away, but before he can do anything else, his phone rings. Not his normal extermination line, no, this was the line for the Bug Hunter.
”Yeah. The Patriots new quarterback needs some breaking in. I just wish the super division hadn’t been cancelled. Those were some fun games to watch.”
While you guys are working, Samuel’s mother shouts from the kitchen. ”Sam!John! Come look at this.”
Jessica puts some of the coffee in a travel mug and kisses him good bye before heading off. With his fiancé gone, Tyler is able to check his phone for news and sees a hostage situation has arisen at a nearby private high school.
Sam freezes as he was moving quickly to divide out what was in a box and slowly puts it down as he turns and moves to see what his mom is talking about. "Maybe we are not going to be able to do this today after all." Sam says with a slight tinge of hope in his voice.
”She’s doing good,” Ashiko says. ”She’s taking a special course at that fancy school in New Salem. How are your parents?” While Ashiko is cleaning the store, his gets a text, but when he checks the phone, his face goes white. ”If you’ll excuse me Val, I need to go. One of the drivers will be here shortly.”
"They're --" she's about to answer, but Mr. Akira is suddenly focused on something else. "-- good..."
She nods, though it strikes her as odd that he'd be leaving her alone in the place. She retrieves her jacket and then moves quietly after Mr. Akira to see where he's going.
Baxter pats down his duster until he finds his flip phone, then does the wrist flick and puts it to his ear. "Yello." He says casually, standing in his garage in underwear and a long coat, scratching his head and yawning. "Oh wait. I mean uh, Bug Hunter, what's your emergency?" He looks around for a chair, but currently it has boxes on it. So he resumes standing in the open.
Doctor Night attempts to use his invisibility to get the drop on the two followers headed to his classroom.
Used as he is to his natural camouflage, Doctor Night doesn't realize until the intrudets point their rifles at him that the strange headgear they're wearing is some kind of radio imaging emitter. One of them shouts at him to put his hands up and get up against the wall.
The leader of the intruders hears the order and turns to see what is going on. The golden skull mask must contain a more refined version of the radar gear the henchman are wearing. It walks towards you, stopping about 10ft away. Their black eyes look directly into yours, though you can't see anything past them. Your enhanced senses pick up a click, like a metal bar falling into place. No doubt they have some kind of concealed weapon readied incase you try to make any sudden movements. "Well, well, well. It looks like there are some heroes left, after all. Truly, I'm impressed." The voice is masked by a voice changer.
What are you going to do?
When Samuel returns to the main house, the news broadcast his mother was watching shows a video of a school bus parked on the curb in front of a three-story brick building. The sign on the front says Redding School Library. He recognizes the name as a private school nearby. The newscaster says a silent alarm was triggered by security when they lost contact with the building. Several people also witnessed a group of armed men entering the building. As of now, there hasn’t been contact with anyone inside.
”I thought these days were past us,” Sam’s dad says. ”I hope the police are able to handle these guys. It’s not too far here either. I hope this doesn’t happen at your school, Sam.”
Mr. Akira heads to his old station wagon in a small, parking lot near the restaurant. He doesn’t see Valerie following him.
When Baxter answers the phone, he is greeted by a robotic voice. He can tell the person is using a device on his line to mask his identity. ”Hello, Bug Hunter. I have some work for you. Although I do realize it is outside your normal wheelhouse. Turn on the channel 9 news.”
Doctor Night decides to get the skinny on exactly what is going on here in the school before the inevitable showdown occurs. He knows that is practically impossible for your typical villain not to blab about his plans given half a chance.
"Curious thing holding up a few rich kids on a weekend. Surely this cannot be the extent of your big plans with all the big-time heroes on a permanent hiatus?"
He snickers at their outrageous costumes but is intrigued by the technology behind their helmets which as he suspected was able to defeat his camouflaged state.
"What should I call you. Gold Skull?"
Mr. Akira heads to his old station wagon in a small, parking lot near the restaurant. He doesn’t see Valerie following him.
Valerie scowls at the weather as she hangs back, out of sight. It wasn't like she'd be able to sneak into his car without being seen, so she just had to shrug and assume that Mr. Akira would be okay in whatever business had caused him to leave so suddenly.
She doesn't head back inside. She leans against the wall and slides down, huddled underneath the small awning over the rear entrance to the restaurant. Feeling the cold burn of a body craving life force, she decides to wait for one of the delivery drivers to show up.
”Gold Skull,” the figure repeats as if testing it out. ”I like that. You may call me Gold Skull. Believe it or not, this is a one time thing. Get the parents to pay out for their kids safety, and get the hell out of dodge. Stay out of our way, and we can make this go as easy as possible. We’ve all ready tripped the alarm. Soon, the negotiators will be here, then we can get those rich a#$&++#s to pay out.
As some of the men start returning to the hallway with students in tow, Gold Skull gives one of them a key card without taking his eyes of of you. ”There’s a large conference room on the third floor. It’s where the school executives meet. There is only one way in or out. Take the students up there and secure them.” The person with the key card nods and heads to the elevators with the kids.
As Valerie waits for a meal to show up, her phone rings. The caller ID says it’s her mother.
"Yeah Mom?" Valerie answers.
"Hey man, my wheelhouse is wherever the house, uh... needs wheels." Baxter replies awkwardly as he suddenly becomes aware of his lack of pants. "Okay yeah one sec."
Hurrying back upstairs, past the still-agitated neighbor lady, Baxter juggles the phone as he attempts to lock the door, grab the remote, flip on the news, and dance his way into some pants. It all goes surprisingly well.
"Woah..." He says audibly in disbelief. "They make kids go to school on a Saturday?" Adjusting the phone he continues to watch. "Okay, so like, that's some bad stuff. But isn't that what the cops are for? I mean, unless you know something the news isn't saying."
Samuel backs out of the room as his parents watch the show. Once he is out of the house he changes and zips off to the school as fast as he can.
"Valerie! Where did you go? Don't you realize we have work? Stop being lazy and get back here now! I don't want to hear your excuses! Just do it!" She hangs up without listening a word you say. Almost immediately after that, one of the delivery drivers show up. He's one of the more obnoxious people Mr. Ashiko has hired. All bravado and spiked tips. He barely pulls in front of the restaurant before hitting on Valerie.
The voice on the phone replies, "the news doesn't know that the leader is trained in this kind of thing. To them, he's just an unknown with no experience or exposure. But he's a class six intellect, one of the smartest people on the planet that hasn't been taken off the board. If the police are left to their own devices, they'll walk into a death zone."
Brisk arrives on the scene just as the first of the police cars roll into the parking lot. "Excuse me, sir, but we're going to need you to clear the area," he says as his men start to round up the students outside. Most of kids are resisting and trying to get a good view of the action. Their insistence to watch only increases when they notice that a masked figure has arrived. As you turn to face the officer addressing you, he notices the mask, and seems surprised. "Oh! I didn't realize there were any of you left in the area. I appreciate the assistance. I've got no idea what we're up against." Giving the area a cursory scan, Brisk notices no one watching any of the entrances. There is just the school bus the intruders arrived in parked directly in front of the main entrance.
Baxter pauses at this revelation, now wearing a dull grey "life is hard, eat more candy" graphic tee with all but one arm through. "Oh crackers, that sounds serious." He finishes pulling his shirt on and switches phone hands as he roots around for his gear. "Okay, so go knock out some bad guys? I mean, it'll be weird cuz they don't have six legs, y'know, or more..." He thinks back to that giant centipede in the sewers and a little shiver runs up his spine. "But yeah, I got it."
Finally he pulls out his shiny iridescent green form-fitting armor. He runs a hand over the smooth chitin plating. "I hope this can stop bullets."
"Fine! Geez!" Valerie says into her phone despite her mother already having hung up. Though her mention of work piqued her interest.
She tucks away her phone as she jumps into the delivery driver's vehicle. "Thanks. Just got a call from my mom wanting me home," she says to the creep.
Fully aware her wet clothes are clinging tight against her skin, Valerie folds her arms and crosses her legs and endures the sideways glances from the driver. She doesn't accept his offer to "warm up" by scooting over and snuggling up close to him. She was hungry enough she didn't want to risk prolonged contact with him. Awful as he was, she didn't want to deprive Mr. Akira of a driver for the rest of the week.
Instead, Valerie waits for her safehouse to come into view. "Thanks for the ride," she mutters and moves to get out with a block still to go. Predictably, he grabs her arm to keep her in the vehicle a little longer.
Bingo.
"You okay? You look like you need some rest," Valerie says as the guy seems suddenly out of breath and pale. She hops out and walks briskly back to her place, feeling better despite the cold and rain.
Brisk speeds around the building looking for all the ways in and out. He looks up as he is going to see if there are any open windows further up on the building.
While Brisk is scanning the exterior of the library, he sees an old work van pull up to the crime scene. Out steps a man in bug-themed armor. The police approach him. "Hello, Bug. Since when do you work human jobs?" the lieutenant on the scene asks him, with just a hint of smugness.
"I don't feel too good." the driver says. "I'll catch you later." He drives off quickly.
Valerie heads inside where see is greeted by her parents disapproving looks at her soaking wet clothes. They are joined by a figure in blue, samurai armor. She recognizes him as the Sapphire Samurai. Once a member of a premier superhero team, the Millennium Knights, he is the prime suspect in the murders of the other team members. "The famous Siphon," he says. His voice is smooth as oil with an underlying, predatory confidence. "I've heard some interesting things about you. Is it true that you can copy the powers of anyone?"
Brisk zips over to where Bug Hunter is and stops to look over the new arrival. "Hello. Brisk says as he looks him over.
Siphon puts her hands on her hips and smirks. The sudden jolt of adrenaline from seeing the gleaming blue armor of the Sapphire Samurai thankfully suppressing her shivering. Sure, she was soaked and cold, but she could still project a confident appearance despite her parents' disapproving stares.
"That's right. You need for me to take someone's powers out for a spin?"
Baxter casually salutes the badge and responds in his usual chill manner, "Hey man, new horizons and all that." Suddenly some whiz kid came zipping up like he'd had too many Red Bulls. "Uh... hey dude." Baxter added to the new arrival.
"Listen, I've gotta go handle a problem you guys aren't ready to tangle with, you feel me? You guys get all the kids to safety, and I'll handle the bug--er, bad guys. Deal?" He really didn't need any dead kids or dead cops on the news, especially in the same frame as him. Hopefully they'd all just play along.
And, you know, hopefully he didn't get himself killed along the way.
Baxter flings open the back of his truck and for just a second the scene is almost awe-inspiring. Dull yellow interior lights wash over the middle-aged man in his old duster. Soon he spins around with goggles on his head, pushing back the front of his hair, and a gas mask slung around his neck. He pats himself down, apparently checking his pockets for something, then nods.
"We good?" He double checks before he gets going.
Brisk looks over the Bug Hunter and says, "We can do this together. How do you want to go in without being seen?"
"What? No, listen dude, you look pretty light on your feet. You get all the kids out. You're not gonna get seen. Me? Everybody's gonna see me. That's why they won't see you. Get it?"
Baxter starts to grab something else out of the truck, then thinks better of it. "I'll be cool, no worries. Just as long as you're doing the hero stuff so I can mix it up with those guys in there." He says with a little swirl of his hands. He offers a tentative thumbs up, hoping this eager beaver is all green lights.
The leader continues to focus on Doctor Night while giving orders to the henchmen. Two of them keep their weapons trained on the hero, while the other two move to restrain with him with zip ties. Of the other four, two are continuing to round up the hardworking students from the rest of the floor and two are taking the kids up the elevator to the isolated conference room.
Back at Valerie's home, Sapphire Samurai replies, "We'll get to that. For now, is there any place we can talk in private.?"
"There's no need for that," her mom says. "We're Valerie's parents. Anything you want to say to her you can..."
"Quiet." The samurai silences Valerie's mother with a single word. "When I care about the opinions of dead weight, I'll ask for them."
Valerie's mother can only respond in stunned shock. Her father looks like he's about to say something, but quickly changes his mind. With no further interruptions, he continues. "Lead the way, Siphon."
Brisk runs up the walls and zips around the building peeking into rooms to find the conference room that they are taking the students too.
Doctor Night has lost the element of surprise or more accurately has never actually obtained it. With the students as hostages it is simply too dangerous to engage the henchman or their leader at this time alone and without a plan. That being the case the good doctor has no intention of being taken captive either. So with a flick of his wrist a small capsule with a replica of a brick wall is released and grows tremendously to wall himself off from Gold Skull and his henchman and to aid in a speedy if undignified exit out of the room and the building.
Siphon tries to get a feel for Sapphire Samurai's intentions, but ultimately decides she's not going to trust him as far as she can throw him -- before she's drained any strength.
"Come on," she says with a jerk of her head toward the back of the safehouse. She was already soaked, so it mattered little to her to step out onto the back porch and into the narrow alley that ran behind the row of buildings. If he wanted to try something, he'd have a hard time maneuvering in that armor of his, to say nothing of swinging that katana.
Trying not to let on that she was already planning escape routes in her head, she makes light conversation as they move through the safehouse. "Not saying I didn't appreciate how you shut my mom and dad up, but they do handle the 'transactional' part of my services."
Once they reach the back, she puts her hands back on her hips and looks up at the former Millennium Knight. "So, what's the job?"
As Brisk runs across the exterior of the building, he doesn’t see any open windows or occupied conference room. He does see several vacant rooms with reading areas or computers, aisles of bookshelves, and empty hallways. At one point, he does see a hallway with five masked people, one of whom seems to be wearing a golden skull. Another room has a different masked person gesturing students out of a computer lab. Doctor Night sees a blur of motion across a window at the far end of the hallway, accompanied by a light patter of sound, and as he tries to shield his escape, the leader of the terrorists releases a blade from his suit.
The blade sticks into one of the appearing bricks, and the doctor is able to jump for safety.
Baxter gathers that the speedster is doing some kind of recon. [say]Maybe shoulda gotten his name...[/say] He muses to himself as he watches the impressive spectacle. For now, he waits to see where he goes in so he can follow. And of course make some noise.
Brisk slams through the window in the room where the kids are being ordered out by the masked man and sends a barrage of punches at the masked man to subdue him long enough to get the students out.
Doctor Night escapes into a classroom to access the situation. He has seen as least one other hero on the scene and he was hopeful that they would be able to coordinate a rescue attempt. At least that was his hope. However the consequences of Brisk's frontal attack may force him to reevaluate his battle plan.