"Uhn..." He jumps back a bit, more in reflex than anything. Late reflex, that is. Would have been great if he could have reacted a tiny bit earlier and avoid the whole thing. Too late now, as the water had already gotten through his underwear and was reaching his balls.
"It is... ok, ok." He looks at the girl, trying to turn the surprise in his face into a smile. She did not do this on purpose, of course, so no point in making her feel worse. He looks at her friend as well, but pays her no mind. Even if he knew her name.
"I..." he takes the napkins just as Archibald arrived. "We are wey past bonjour hours, Archie." What he really wanted to do right now was to shove the napkins inside his underwear. But not in front of that girl. So he bends forward on the tip of his toes and tries to use the napkins on the outside. Sure he could just make an illusion to hide the mark, but he could not trick his own wet groin. "And we were having e... moment here."
A smile back to the girl. "So, you were very close to tird bese me. I tink we can start with introducions first? I'm Guillaume, or Gui for short." In the future, if he actually is able to become a full hero and others start to have files about him, under 'weaknesses', Gui was sure the words "cute girls" would be there. For sure.
"Sporty, so nothing too crazy," Chloe manages to get out to her best friend before she suddenly launches herself at...at...
Well, this was what it meant to be your ride or die. Although she was baboozled too long by the arrival of the other boy to really take flight like she wanted to do.
And Gui definitely looked right at her. She turned her face away, trying to avoid looking at this disastrous scenario unfolding. Maybe he didn't recognize her? Possibly? It was long odds, for sure.
...nope. Can't leave it to chance!
A twist of her hand like turning a knob backwards. And suddenly, everything shifts back five seconds to the past, before she turned around.
Chloe gets up and starts heading away from the table and Beebee, wishing she could back her best friend up but knowing this was for the best. She would make it up later with crepes and Pokémon booster packs.
Sam's quick research into the Halcyon Prep bell tower informs her that the school was founded by Horatio C. Walden, who had the bell tower built before anything else. The bell was also religiously rung every morning at 6 am because of his philosophy that students should "rise early to learn all day." The morning ringing was ended only a year and a half ago after student and parent complaints.
A sudden time stutter rolls events back a few seconds, so that when Gui glances toward the girl sitting across from the one who spilled the drink was already up and busing her tray.
The other girl was blinking at the space where her friend had been, and then realizes she was being spoken to. "Oh, um, heh. I'm Basma Badawi. Or Beebee for short." She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sorry again. I'll get out of your way so your friend can help you out," she says, gesturing to Archie.
Harper Bradley enters Max's room holding her ever-present tablet. "Good afternoon, Ms. Lopez. It's good to have you back in Halcyon. Your return has given you an eighteen percent bump in followers, so we need to capitalize on that. The bridge fight was a bust, since it turned out to be a simulation. Worse, you missed out on the real fight with the computer program.
"You need some more action, or at least interesting happenings. I'm watching the news feeds, but it's been quiet so I'm looking elsewhere. There's been recent speculation that the meteor shower from last month is the sign of an evil entity returning. I'm digging through the archives for more information on that. Maybe you could talk with some of your other magic friends about it? Or get in on the mystery angel? There's quite a bit of buzz around her," Harper suggests. "At the very least, did you wish to resume your studies in Halcyon Prep? I've reached out to admissions and have secured your return if you want."
A regular flock of pigeons hang around the campus, despite the school's best efforts to keep them away. Lunch time always draw more of the birds, hoping to scavenge a meal from morsels dropped from the students' trays.
As Andromeda starts to head back to her next round of classes, she sees the pigeons take off and fly up to take roost in the safety of the roofs and sills of the campus buildings. She catches a lone pigeon -- no, a dove -- fly in where the flock had left. Before she can do anything further, the dove suddenly grows and shifts into a pale, white-haired woman! She is unclothed, but her body appears smooth and unfinished like she was shaped out of white clay or marble and the sculptor hadn't bothered to add fine details except in her face, which is hauntingly beautiful with large, dark eyes. She wears a locket on a chain around her neck, and most alarmingly, she carries a large, high-powered handgun!
She strides through the students heading to class and reacting to her appearance with gasps and shock! The woman finally stops to stand in front of Archie! "Drug peddler," she says in a solemn voice, "I'll mourn for you."
She takes aim and fires!
What do you do?!?
Andromeda doesn't hesitate. New mission, self-directed: No one dies. Especially not boys who share their tacos. Secondary objective: Don't expose any identities.
Trying to maintain a fig leaf over her actions, Andromeda doesn't project a bastion of force over Phalanx, instead flinging herself into the amber glow of Hostile Subject: Mourning Dove.
Chloe was about to leave the cafeteria when she heard the sudden shocking gasps from the cafeteria. She turns around to look on in horror as a woman aims a gun at Archie. Reactively, she slows down her tempo and takes a moment to see that Angelica is rushing over to defend.
She was not expecting something like this today. She's in her civilian guise. She needs to do a change before she can get involved.
At least it was quick enough to activate her ring, become Chroknight in the girls' bathroom, then slip out the window to arrive at the cafeteria from another angle. But that was still more time for things to go wrong...
A gunshot. Sam's head shoots up from the tablet, the sound distinct as anything. Quickly she rushes to where she heard it. "Gunshot on campus... triangulating..." the voice of Station speaks into the earbud Indarius and DD would be wearing, followed quickly by the coordinates.
The gunshot rings out, but the bullet is deflected by Andromeda's timely intervention. Shouts and screams instantly follow as students turn and run away from the gun-toting revenant. One scream is loudest, though, as a spatter of red shows that a bystander was hit by the ricochet!
Gui sees the girl who just got him wet, Beebee, clutch her arm as she cries out in shock and pain!
Chloe dashes out of the way with the tide of students trying to flee so she can quickly change into her heroic alter ego. Statian quickly gets the coordinates of the threat and relays them to her teammates who aren't currently on campus.
All the while in the tumult and panic, the pale woman stands serene and mournful as she takes another step and lines up another shot at Archie!
What do you do??
NO BEEBEE
When Chroknight arrives on scene, they take in the chaos. Take in Beebee clutching her arm and thr red seeping into her shirt. And Chloe gets angry as she focuses on the woman in white and runs straight at her!
"Are you insane, lady, shooting up in a school?! That's the last thing anyone needs in this city!" Chroknight shouts as they get in close. They don't know how to properly dissemble a gun, but jamming up the slide piece at the top seems good enough to disable it. She seems almost fused to it, like it can't be taken from her grip. But increasing their tempo to punch the Dove hard enough for her to fly back onto one of the tables gave them breathing room to speak to the others.
"Someone get Miss Bawadi out of here and to an ambulance, right now. Go!" Chroknight shouts, raising their fists in a defensive stance against the shooter.
Sam's eyes see the bleeding girl, all the running and cowering others. Protocol is clear as well as logic. They had to be gotten away. With her threads tucked away the red head drops to the ground, her tablet in her lap and taps away with all her fingers with the speed of a true nerd girl.
The many intercoms in the area as well as everyone's phones, suddenly start an alert "There is an emergency on campus. Everyone should avoid the area <Detail of where given>, return to your dorms, to the student center, or the nearest storm shelter. In an orderly fashion."
No one was listening, which made a tiny explosion of frustration POP in her mind. "How do I get them to listen?" she said flatly in her coms, open to any on the team. People are a mystery to her still, no matter how much research she pours into it. Quantum mechanics is easy, People is a nightmare.
She contemplates increasing the volume when waiting to see if anyone answers her.
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A freezing portal opens above the school and Indarius comes diving through, quickly assessing the situation. To see several students, he clocks, Andromeda, Archie, and Chroknight, one student was huddled on the ground nearby, and another was in front of Archie.
"Out of the courtyard, go go!"
He shouts with a magically enhanced voice. Afterwards he swoops down and lands hard near the situation.
"Chroknight, take her down. I'll work on evac."
He turns to BeeBee and spreads his wings wide to give her as much cover from the shooter as possible.
His hands come down to craddle the injured teen behind his protective wings. "It's okay I've got you, we have to move. Can you stand? Walk?"
Sam blinks slowly as the people start to listen to the dramatic entrance and the charisma of the impressive dragon man. Where they were ignoring her logical commands to get away.
Her emotions, always muted, pop again, then sink down into a dark helplessness, she quickly smoothers and hides away.
Everything happened so fast. He eyes Mourning Dove, then Archie. BANG. Screams. Then Beebee. She was close to him and for a moment he is lost realizing that that bullet could have very easily ricocheted towards him instead. It could have hit her heart instead of the arm as well. He was watching them.
Gui darts towards the girl as the others arrive. "Hey, it is going to be all right... I got you Beebee." He crouches besides her, getting ready to princess carry her. "Keep your arm pressured. I will find you an ambulance."
Drug Peddler. Not just that, a killer.
Was supposed to be Archie's last thought. Those words stunned him, maybe he deserved this. So he didn't act. The gun goes off, Archie waits for something to happen. A second goes by, he looks up to see that Andromeda had saved him. Archie takes a step back and gathers his bearings.
Meanwhile, Chroknight shows up to assist by preventing her from shooting him again.
Archie takes a deep breath.
"Motherfu-" he grunts as he pulls out a baseball bat from the air and attempts to bring it across her face.
The floor beneath Andromeda cracks against her sheath as she stands up quickly from her tackle. Her jaw is set, eyes slightly unfocused as she lays into the spectre with force-shrouded fists that impacted with far more than human strength. The amber outline of the shooter kept her attention, but she knew all too well who the biggest threat she had to restrain was.
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Statian's clear, concise instructions help lead dozens of students away from the crisis while Indarius's imposing presence prevent the wild panic that the gunshots normally would create in such a situation.
As the courtyard empties, the other heroes put their efforts into bringing Mourning Dove down, though the vigilante is far tougher than her slim frame would indicate!
Chroknight appears on scene, incensed about the hurt bystander being escorted away by Guillaume. In her blur created by slowing down time, she finds she cannot pull the gun from Mourning Dove's death grip. She tries to jam the gun instead to prevent her counterattack.
Phalanx sets aside his guilt and shame from Mourning Dove's attack and his unexpected salvation, calling forth a baseball bat and swinging it hard at her! In the last moment, the revenant puts up her arm to block the swing, heedless of her own health as bones break from the impact! Mourning Dove looks him in the eyes again, though she speaks as if addressing all her attackers. "I hear the souls screaming in the pain of addiction and loss; your souls cry out too. I must quiet them -- and mourn for you," she says as she admits to wrongful action.
Then the telekinetic might of Andromeda slams into the revenant, sending her caroming through the double doors to the cafeteria and crashing into the kitchen! A crushed set of tables and a shattered drink station is pushed aside as Mourning Dove stands up. The porcelain white of her body is red-streaked and her non-gun arm hangs at an odd angle, but she tilts her head in a marionette's pose and bites down on her gun and jerks it forward to rack its slide! She then dives behind the serving line, firing wildly to pin them down!
If I'd been there, I could have protected Beebee...
Guilt and anger fill Chloe up as she races forward, holding up Chroknight's arms and feeling the heavy impact on their gauntlets as they get closer to the Dove.
"You think it's fine to kill a dumb kid who fell into a bad life right when he's finally getting out? Shoot an innocent girl because you demand retribution instead of restoration?" Chroknight shouts at the Dove. "You know how much damage you've caused to every person on this campus by pulling that trigger!? I guess it doesn't matter if you ruin lives as long as you shoot your target..."
Hitting her wasn't stopping her, and Chloe didn't want to wreck the cafeteria too much. Hopefully this Dove would listen to them...
With the bystanders gone, Statian concentrates on what she does best. Analyzing the situation. The cameras in the area become hers, all the various sensors from the physics department, that high powered telescopic one the professor points out his window on accident all the time which is really watching people walk... Sam's matrix suggest destroying the data collection from that one later.
"A stability analysis was performed on the cafeteria last semester as civil engineering senior project, and did not rate high." she informs her teammates, suggesting caution in their fisticuffs.
Andromeda doesn't even pause, bullets disintegrating or ricocheting off her Sheath as she flings herself down the hall after the Dove. A bow wave of air pressure knocks the revenant off balance and then Andromeda smashes into her like a falling star, flinging up a hand in a gesture of rage to pin Mourning Dove against a wall with a column of force!
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Indarius hands off Beebee as the other student works to flee. Still not catching who it is, then he flinches as the side of the cafeteria erupts with the force of Mourning Dove being thrown through it by Andromeda. He almost turns to scowl and berate her, but not the time or place.
He sees the blur that is Chroknight blitzing towards Mourning Dove who's already gotten back into a firing position even with her twisted arm. More shots ring out as he opens a small distance portal and dashed through. Chroknight could handle themselves, probably, but Atchie didn't have any armored shell or super durability, maybe a plate carrier, regardless it was too delicate a situation when he was the obvious weak link here. Intercepting any potential bullets aimed towards the squishy ex-villian with the scintillating barrier protecting Indy's membranous wings spread wide.
"Don't lose focus Chro, can't risk fighting where there are civillians. When she's armed. Eject the mag. If you get a chance." he barked through comms.
"We need to get you somewhere safe."
Archie startles backwards in surprise as a massive scaly wing shields him from an onslaught of bullets. Thankful for the save otherwise he would be out of the fight, but he's not gonna let him know that.
"I can handle myself you oversized lizard." Archie says to Indy.
He drops the broken handle of his baseball bat and begins pulling long thick pieces of kevlar and steel to form a full body riot shield.
"Come get some!" he yells as he charges at the assassin.
Shield at the ready to block bullets, he ducks from around the wing and heads right at the pinned Mourning Dove. Taking advantage of her inability to move.
Archie then pulls out a double barrel shotgun and levels it at her face.
"Drop the gun." he commands.
Beebee keeps her hand tight on her wound as Gui escorts her and makes sure she's not trampled by the rest of the students rushing to safety. She keeps looking back where the fighting is still happening, eyes getting wider with concern after every gunshot.
"I-- I'm all right. And we shouldn't be going this way! What if-- what if they need help?"
Mourning Dove's hail of bullets are abruptly halted by Andromeda's wave of telekinetic force, which smashes through the lunch line and sends her deep into the kitchen where prep stations are thrown aside or crumpled underneath the mental energy. Blood spatters from her battered body when it finally hits the industrial refrigerator taking up the entire back end of the kitchen, denting its walls and causing an exhalation of frigid air.
Chroknights efforts to eat at the homicidal vigilante go unheeded, but her defiant and murderous gaze deeply unnerves the young hero.
Statian views the scene through the camera feeds located in the cafeteria and kitchen areas even as a handful blink out from damage due to the waves of errant telekinetic force. From her perspective, the savage beatdown that Mourning Dove is taking seems to be effective at ending the fight quickly because even though she's taking more punishment than a mundane human she appears to lack true superhuman resistances. Expanding her analyses to what could be in the most danger, she comes to the reasonable conclusion that a gun-toting vigilante appearing on the Halcyon Prep campus with the intent to murder a student will likely force the school's governing board to reevaluate its currently open acceptance of students with extraordinary abilities!
Phalanx steps clear of Indarius's protective wing and approaches the pinned Mourning Dove, generating a groovy firearm of his own! Her once-beautiful face is streaked with blood and grime while her teeth are bared in a rictus grin. She strains against the telekinetic force defiantly, biting out a strained, "No," in answer to his demand to drop her gun. Then she leans her head forward to put her forehead against the double barrels of the shotgun leveled at her, never once taking her eyes off the ex-villain. She glares at him, daring him to pull the trigger, veering towards drastic and terrible action!
What do you do?!?
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Sweat drips down Archies brow, his knees feel weak.
"Why cant I pull the trigger. She tried to kill me, like twice!" Self doubt rips through his head. Mere seconds ago she had a gun levelled at his head. She didn't hesitate. Why is he?
Archie scoffs about month ago he would already have been walking away from a bloody stump blowing smoke from the barrel of his gun. That how he lived then what changed? Why is he different? Why hasn't he pulled the trigger?
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why cant I do it." He thinks, thoughts racing through his head.
He risks a quick look around at his new allies, his teammates, his new friends. Why not pull the trigger? Archie steels his nerves. Because he's trying to be better.
"I can't undo what I've done, but I can sure as hell try to make up for it." He says through gritted teeth at the assassin. Archie reaches into his back pocket and withdrawals a pair of handcuffs.
Keeping the shotgun levelled just in case, Archie takes a step back and grins at the Mourning Dove. "I am placing you under arrest by the order and authority of the f&%$ing dragon behind me and a bald sentient wrecking ball. Please cooperate."
"I can see you are very breve, but you clearly are not bullet proof." He says, keeping helping her towards the street. "Besides, dey are heroes... if we stay dere, dey will have to protect us and fight at de same time." Despite his words, he does look back a couple times, worried. "We are helping by not being on deir way."
Beebee pauses at Gui's words, but the concern on her face grows as the gunfire ceases. Sirens take the place, getting louder and louder as first responders get closer to the campus.
"Do we-- Should we go check on them? It's gone quiet."
Mourning Dove relents and allows the handcuffs to be put on. Her face never changes from her mix of tortured sorrow and hate. Her one arm hangs limp from its shattered forearm while her other refuses to relax its death grip on the pistol.
As the young heroes start to take control of the scene and the supervillain they just beat, the distinctive smell of natural gas reaches their noses!
What do you do??
The girl was bleeding and the sirens were getting closer. She should be relieved to be away from the gunfire... But she wasn't? Why?
"I will... you..." He goes, she stays? As if she would. Chances are she would then go back on her own. He wanted to argue, but then there was the whole thing about free will. Sigh.
"You are very stubborn, are not you?" He says, frowning. Then smiling. "Fine, we go check on dem, but you stay by my side de whole time, deal? If dere is trouble, I will grab you and carry you to de ambulance like e sack of potetoes."
There is a hiss across cameras that makes the red head's alarm rise in her head. Quickly she works her pad "There is a gas leak." she pulls up the schematics of the building, connecting it with locations with shut out points. Sending the schematics to Chroknight, with a red blinking light. "This is the closet"
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What's that smell?
Chloe was on the side by the wall watching everything (and keeping her distance from the very scary Mourning Dove) when the sulfurous scent gets to her. That was definitely gas...how bad would it get?
The sudden arrival of information on her HUD was freaky because A. Chloe didn't know she had a HUD in Chroknight's helmet until now and B. Somehow Statian had access to Chroknight's systems without her knowledge. She pushed aside her fears to focus on the immediate problem - how to stop an explosion?
She casts her sight towards the future to determine just that.
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Indarius feels a pang of ire at Archie calling him an overgrown lizard and then a deep pit in his stomach as he charges up to Mourning dove with a firearm. Both disobeying his orders from the day before and threatening topotentially kill a villain.
"Archie no!" he starts as he begins to move towards the group. His chest tightens as the situation unfolds, but relaxes ever so slightly when Phalanx pulls out the handcuffs. Good, so long as Dove doesn't do anything rash this'll all calm down.
He sniffed the air, smelt odd, not like the usual combat smells either, Statian cropped up with a gas leak and pipe shut off good, she was thinking ahead of him and reacting well too.
"Chrono, shut off valve. Fast as possible, go, everyone else, we've gotta clear the area." He pointed at Mourning Dove. "Her too."
He began to move towards where he'd seen the students go as chroknight and the others began to move.
Beginning to charge up in case the worst happened.
"Come on, we'll go around," Beebee says taking a left turn. "They were in the cafeteria, so we can sneak in through the kitchen entrance and stay out of their way." Still clutching her red-streaked arm, the defiant girl leads Gui to the service entrance.
Meanwhile, Chroknight doesn't see any open flames currently, so as long as nothing ignites the gas there won't be an explosion. The best way to keep it from happening is to cut off the gas and get some air moving through the kitchen so the gas dissipates faster. Fortunately, Statian just gave her the coordinates to do part one of the plan.
Indarius charges up his powers as he directs Chroknight -- the fastest -- to cut off the gas while making sure that Mourning Dove is contained.
Chroknight rushes out of the kitchen and around to the exterior of the building where the outside maintenance closet holds the valves to the gas line. As they race around the corner, Chroknight sees Gui and Beebee!
Beebee sways and stumbles up against Gui. "Whoa. Woozy all of a sudden..." She doesn't look good!
What do you do?!?
Beebee! What is she-
Chroknight needed to shut off the gas here. The closet is there, but Beebee's collapsed against Gui - what the hell was he doing here with her?!
"What part of get her to an ambulance did you not understand?!" Chroknight shouts at Gui angrily as they pull open the door. It would be fine - shut off the gas, get Beebee and rush her to the ambulance themself. Chloe could do that easily.
But if she bleeds out because I'm wasting my time here...
She can't do it. She has to take care of Beebee first.
Chroknight turns and surges forward to scoop Beebee up in their arms. "I trusted you to care for her. I won't make that mistake again," They tell Gui, before racing off while trying to slow Beebee's time so she wouldn't start to stroke or seizure or whatever was wrong with her (Did Mourning Dove's bullets have poison?)
No, she races towards the sound of the sirens to get to the nearest ambulance, ripping past bystanders and gawkers. It takes ten seconds to travel across two blocks to stop in front of an ambulance - and rewind just a second to avoid them swerving and hitting a parked car.
"Gunshot wound. She's bleeding badly. Help her," Chroknight says, hoping the others would be able to handle things without them.
"Hey... will you listen now?" He asks as she stumbles against him. "Come, I..." Gui was in the process of picking her up when Chroknight rushes in shouting.
The ambulances weren't there yet. She'd not listen. She was worried and wanted to return. What could he do? He wasn't as fast or as strong as some of the others. Should he just have ignored her? Excuses and justifications. Gui remains silent and somewhat shocked as Chroknight takes Beebee away.
One thing was wanting to be a hero and helping others. Another was actually being able to do it, or having the nerves. So he stands there, lost and looking at nothing for a while before letting out a long sigh. If you don't believe in yourself, no one will. Merde.
His clothes become white and his tattoos form like colorful cubist birds, red being the most common color... or were they bleeding?
Another deep sigh and Aquarelle rushes around the building to help with whatever he can.
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Indarius dashes around the corner that he'd seen a few of the students escape towards with the hallways being too narrow to fly in, he was likited to running, he'd appologize to the school about the claw marks gouged into the floor later.
He spots a familiar too white hoodie. "Aquarelle! Good of you to show up, why didn't you tell me."
He only slows his approach but doesn't stop. "Place is filling with gas, Chroknight's getting the emergency shut off, but we need to evacuate the students and faculty just in case. You probably passed them on the way."
He get's by the illusionist, "Comeon we have to hurry, maybe split up and cover more ground."
"I was already here, but as e civilian. Was helping with de evacuation. But are right, I should have let you know."
Pointing back, he adds. "Chroknight took e wounded girl to en embulence now, so de gas must have been shut off already." She was very fast and efficient, and if the same could be said about him, Beebee would have been safer.
"Right, evacuacion..." He looks around and then into the sky, trying to concentrate and make colorful arrows, warnings about the gas leak and signs to better guide everyone.
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Indy nods but keeps moving past Aquarelle, "Well let's get these people moving, start searching for anyone that hasn't evacuated yet."
He grabs his comm as he continues towards where he'd seen people last. Something weird sense in his neck didn't feel quite right.
"Chroknight, you got the gas valve right? You should have reported it in so we know we're clear. Before taking off, but good instincts to help someone in critical condition."
Samantha stares at her feeds in confusion. "Chroknight. The gas... you need to turn off the gas." she sees the hero leave. Saving one, leaving another, and endangering so many. Her mind falls over itself, flooding itself with information that would explain that.
"No. The gas is not off." and then Sam is running toward the shutoff value, tablet held tight under her arm, and trying to calculate when she would have to start holding her breath.
The EMT crew all hop out of the ambulance and get Beebee onto a stretcher with practiced efficiency. They quickly identify the wound and apply a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding while they work on getting her stabilized.
It's a tense few minutes as they determine that the bullet had nicked a blood vessel which caused the unexpected hemorrhaging, requiring her to get a blood transfusion. Eventually, one of the EMTs informs Chroknight that she's stable, but they need to rush her to an ER for surgery.
Moments later, the ambulance screams off leaving the Janus in the street.
Large illusions of flashing warning signs lead the last remaining students away from the danger area. Heading in the opposite direction, though, is Statian rushing to the maintenance closet to shut off the natural gas line!
Meanwhile, as Andromeda and Phalanx are securing Mourning Dove, the concentration of the gas gets too strong to be ignored.
Sam runs. She might be an academic, happy to spend all her time in developing theories, but her father had always insisted on she stay fit. Which is helping here.
But she knows the gas will be a problem. So on the first whiff, she calculates the distance to the closet, her speed, her lung capacity (annoyingly she does not have an accurate measure of this), shaving off several seconds for variables outside the known, then holds her breath when she decides she will have enough breath in her lungs.
The door is locked. Her matrix says this is the right time to swear, but her mind ignores it since it would waste air. Instead her threads comes out and attacks the door in all possible ways. Picking the lock, unscrewing the hinges, dismantling the knob, and four seconds later the door is in pieces.
Her lungs are SCREAMING, but all is left it the shutoff value, bright red, caution sign, her hands grabs it and turns... and it turns, with ease, very well oiled and then the gas is off.
Sam drops to the ground as low as she can to find any clean air. A second later a message appears on the group chat
Statian: Gas Off
Chloe knows there's nothing more that she can do, but knowing that her quick action to get Beebee to an ambulance saved her life brings her relief. It's only after the ambulance has rolled away that she realizes that she's being spoken to on the comms her suit has integrated. She was really that worried, huh?
"Chroknight here. There was a medical emergency. It's dealt with for now. I have to go," They reply as they return to campus. It's a quick stop in an alley to transform back into her civilian gear as she heads up to the crowd of evacuated students while calling her dad and leaving him a voicemail.
"Hey dad. Letting you know there was a small super scare at school today. I wanted you to know I'm fine, it looks like some heroes managed to descalate the situation. I love you, talk to you later."
Hopefully Andromeda would be okay with that raincheck on getting clothes for her. She would need to head to the hospital after making sure that her cover wasn't yet blown. At least the rest of the team seemed to have figured out how to shut off the gas leak.
...She didn't know how to express how much she was pissed off at Gui though without giving away the whole game. She wanted to hit him so hard right now! But that wasn't going to make it right. She checks the bus schedule and gets ready to head to the hospital as soon as they're let out for the day.
Officials arrive and take control of the scene, closing the campus until the gas has enough time to fully dissipate. Police also arrive with containment units to take custody of Mourning Dove.
As a result of the super villain attack, Halcyon Prep announces an emergency closing for a week while its kitchen is repaired and the attack is investigated. Hal-Prep students find themselves logging in to classes through online portals from home while the campus remains closed.
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At the end of every session, choose one:
• Grow closer to the team. Explain
who made you feel welcome; give
Influence to that character and clear
a condition or mark potential.
• Grow into your own image of yourself.
Explain how you see yourself and why;
shift one Label up and another down.
• Grow away from the team. Explain why
you feel detached. Take Influence over
you away from another character.
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Late in the day as things are starting to wind down, Percy paces back and forth in his room in Unity Station. Unsure why he'd been putting it off all day but something finally snaps and he grabs his communicator and flicks it open to send a text to Shin.
Percy-
Percy: Hey, you free? I need some advice.
Percy: About this new team.
Shin-
Oh hey! Been a minute. Sure, can you swing by the roof of the dorms?
Percy-
Percy: Yeah for sure, give me a bit today was rough so gonna fly over instead of taking the quick route.
With that Percy closes and reclips the comm before heading out of his room, passing by the living area of the base and pausing to fondly recall the old team not so long ago sitting there enjoying some movies before everyone went their separate ways. No time to dawdle though as he hurried out of the station and into the early night sky towards Hal-prep Dorms.
Shin-
"Think fast!"
A white sphere flies towards Percy from the ground!
Percy -
Thanks to his great eyesight Indy was able to pick out Shin on the ground long before he actually got there. The white sphere however and it's quick approach played hell on his instincts and he raised both arms to guard himself only for it to plink off and fall back to the ground under him
"Oh.. didn't realize you were working on your pitching arm.." Swooping down to retrieve the ball he landed and walked over to Shin.
Shin-
"I'm not. But there's a lot of good exercise in playing catch," Shin says as he goes to pick the ball up. He gets a good grip on it, turning to Indarius. He's let his hair grow out, and he looks less tired.
"Also good for physical therapy to keep the joint active after the dislocation. I'm never starting for the Hierarchs but I could pitch in some community game." He tosses the ball to Percy. "So, new team? Tell me about them."
Percy-
"Well it's good to hear that you're healing well enough even though you won't start your pro league career anytime soon."
Indarius takes a good look at Shin for a bit and cocks his head a bit. "You look... weird with longer hair."
He laughs lightly, as if he had any room to tell someone they looked weird. "As for the team where do I start. Started off good, I managed to get one ground rule on the table before things went sideways. Ya know work as a team we can't be doing any lone wolf stuff. Then Nimbus showed up and interrupted, we all took a not so quite planned trip into the Alliances ready room thing, fought a simulated Magmordius battle. That was mostly okay, Phalanx one of the new guys decided an anti-armor sniper rifle was a good idea with panicking civilians. Andromeda later said it was hardly a deadly weapon given in our weight class which isn't the point. But I wasn't about to start an internal debate in front of the other team."
He lists off on his sharp claws a few more items. "Aquarelle is both helpful and antagonistic to my leadership. When we figured out about the trick of getting us in the danger room under false pretenses we were all upset. I tried to reason that I should have been told so that we could have planned an actual exercise instead of just lying to the team. Cause you know real reactions to deadly scenarios are valuable to get a sense of how a team operates, but how you go about it can still be messed up. Empyrean is an idol even to digital citizens and I fear it's gonna bring some weird religious folks to viewing our team, especially since Diva's back on." He begins to pace at this point "Statian and Chroknight are fine mostly, Stat's rogue AI almost made a huge mess of the training room after we got out of the Mag fight, it's an extra clingy nanny of some sort. Chroknight had to run off right after we got back to Unity. And I couldn't help hut think back to Femtite running off or finding excuse to avoid team meetings and hard talks. Then I was reminded that yeah they're all still in school. While I'm free for a while till I get my college courses going which is later in the year. Oh right Digits didn't exactly not follow orders but was real slow on the uptake for rescue the people. Andromeda went full Praetoria and started to smash the monster instead of diverting it, which I guess is technically still accomplishing the goal. I need to come up with team building exercises, still establish the ground rules, hero solo while they're in class, get the team all on the same page..."
He finally stops stamping his foot on the ground weakly as he turned to look at Shin only to realize he'd run a frosty rut into the ground. "How the hell did you manage the stress?"
Shin-
"Smoking. Sex. Knowing that I couldn't make Whip look bad after giving her apprentice a team to manage." Shin says. "Set yourself some goals. Work to accomplish them. And then do whatever relaxes you because if you don't you'll end up killing someone."
Percy-
"Yeaaaaaah and we all know how well the killing part went last time. Think I'll pass on the smoking and sex though, and only person I can try to not make look bad is myself. But I mean, let's be honest with college coming up I don't know if I'll be able to do triple time heroing, school, leading, maybe shadowing someone for like on the job stuff I dunno."
Indy looks like he's attempting to relax and be more confident with things, but there's something still gnawing at him.
"Empyrean said some stuff and I think it all basically boiled down to, sure today was a wash, but tomorrow we can try again. That sort of how you felt somedays?"
Shin-
"Not in the slightest." Shin throws the ball to Percy. "I carried every mistake with me. I went to therapy to talk out the things that I couldn't to the rest of you that would affect my ability to lead. And every mistake I tried to learn something from so I didn't repeat it in the future."
He looks to the sky. "...why are you doing this, Percy? Seriously, I get Max. It's a step in the right career path for her. You're trying to focus on your studies too. You don't have to keep wearing the cape. Or at least, you don't have to lead the team."
Percy-
Wilting a bit as Shin says he's never felt like his efforts for the day were wasted he watches the ball. Without a glove he uses the vast membrane of his wing to catch the ball instead, tenderly plucking it afterwards and tossing it back.
"I'm.." He falters after tossing the ball having thought he had an answer ready, but finding himself lacking. It takes a toss or two before his mind gets on track.
"I'm the one with experience, so it'd be wrong to let them try alone. As for why do everything..."
Running one hand over his muzzle and back through his head quills he sighed. "Look, I feel like Dr. Infinity entrusted this whole thing to me with the book. Maybe it hasn't gone as he'd originally planned, or maybe that wasn't the plan at all. But I feel like if there's anyone who's gonna be a bridge, or guardian of both the Mundane and the Fantastical then it sort of falls on me as a being of both worlds. That means I'll need leadership skills, but I also need to be able to survive in modern society and pursue my goals. Because if I can't be as good as him then I'll feel like I've failed him and myself."
Shin-
"Wow. You're putting all this pressure on yourself that I honestly don't think you need to be doing," Shin says as he grabs the ball. "Like, trying to live up to someone else's standards is a trap. Especially if they're not even present to care. You set your own goalposts, Percy, in manageable amounts. Don't race the whole marathon."
Percy-
"It's not like he told me that's what he wanted before he disappeared Shin. So is that really living up to someone else's standards?" He asks getting ready to catch the ball again.
Shin-
"Then there's two choices - either find out what he would do, or do what you think is personally right," Shin notes, throwing the ball high - it would go off of the roof without interference.
"...experience is also not the only thing that qualifies you for leadership. Sometimes, you'll be in a position where you'll make a choice that not everyone is going to be happy with and end up angering others. But choices like that have to be made. Sometimes, it's just cold calculus."
Percy-
Indy, having already prepped himself to spring for the ball and so all he had to do was add a powerful set of take-off wingbeats to launch up to catch the ball. He slowly let himself down to the roof again.
"I've been trying to make the right calls on that whole situation, I think things should work in harmony so I'd like to do my best to get people as ready as possible for dealing with magical beings. It's just hard to know how to large scale."
He held the ball up preparing to throw it back to shin. "For what it's worth I'm already looking at who'd make a good replacement."
Shin-
"Well don't overspecialize, Indy. Sounds like you've already made this group a couple of enemies rescuing that Andy girl," Shin notes. "And there will always be problems. Not everyone on your team is going to come to you with them. If you don't actively get involved and keep an eye on them, they'll grow out of your ability to treat them. So...don't do that."
Percy-
He threw the ball back at Shin at that, "Yeah... I remember how it went with us." He sighed looking up at the washed out night sky, "I'll do what I can, but I think so long as I can actually get the meeting in tomorrow it'll all start to work out pretty well. I mean with the Alliance gone we've all got to pull extra duty right."
Returning to Shin he smirked, "So how's things with Val and school?"
Indarius-
Indarius didn't know the park that Caio had told them about well enough to open a portal straight there. So he did the next best thing as a shimmering portal opened one to the Doane Observatory for him and his companions (if they chose to tag along)
"Alright gps says it should be that way so it's gonna be a short flight."
With that he took off west towards the park
Devil Diva-
DD steps through the portal to join Indarius. "Sounds good, except I'm the only one without wings. Gimme a lift, big guy?" she asks the dragon.
Indarius-
Thinking about it Indy nods then shifts into his true form once again, crouching down so that Dee could get either on his neck or upper shoulders towards the base of his neck. "Yeah sure hop on, mind the fin spikes though."
Devil Diva-
Carefully clambering onto Indy's back, Max wraps her arms around his muscular neck. "Alright, let's go!"
Indarius-
With that settled Indy takes off towards the park. "You do know the wolf isn't part of Caio anymore right?"
Empyrean-
Empyrean follows along, her own wings lifting her ably into the sky to follow Indarius at a reasonable distance.
Caio-
As usual, Caio is wearing very plain clothes and hoodie, his arms are covered. Caio isn't specially tall, but seems athletic. His wavy hair is a bit longer than Percy and Max were used to and he now kept a very short beard. While not specially handsome, he kept his rustic charm.
The bench he had chosen to sit was somewhat isolated in a way that he could hide himself by a nearby tree, which was something important considering the three visitors would draw a lot of attention.
"Hey Percy! Max! I missed you guys!" He then turns to Empyrean. "And you are new. I'm Caio, a former member of the team. Nice to meet you." It was very obvious that he was pretty curious about her.
Indarius-
Upon landing Indy knelt to let Max down, before shifting to his humanoid form showing off the new armor and everything. "Hey Caio good to see you. Hope things have been good here." He motioned to Empyrean, "This is Empyrean, she's a.. maybe maybe not angel, figured maybe Mat could give us at least a little idea on that, see if she's familiar or something."
Empyrean-
Empyrean inclines her head to Caio and her wings flutter slightly.
"I was rescued from magical captivity in a recent operation, and now I am here to help. My instinct is to say that I am... an angelic entity tasked with aiding people, but I have only fragmentary memories, so I have no means to verify this."
Caio-
"It has been very nice, but I do not live here in Chicago." He replies to Percy, still looking at Empyrean. "My bond with Matariel isn't really about talking... much more like feelings and impulses."
"For a while, I've been researching about cosmic entities and I do not recall reading about 'new' entities being created. Like, ever." He explains. "Some entities raise or fall, which could redefine them, but a new entity?"
"Do you feel it would be possible for you to have forgotten who you are, Empyrean?"
Empyrean-
"Certainly. Also, I do not know for how long I was imprisoned. It is possible that I was imprisoned for a very long time."
Caio-
"Being imprisoned is very common for entities like yourself and Matariel who were create eons ago. At the dawn of humanity, humans needed help and you roamed the lands to do just that, each with a purpose and in many cases these primitive humans regarded you as Gods and Goddesses."
"As an example, some texts refer to Matariel as the 'Rain of God', while others as the 'God of Rain'." He shrugs. "But it is important to point that all of these texts are biased."
Stalwart-
Just then, the sky rumbles with ominous thunder. The early spring is still bitterly cold in the Windy City, which is absolutely living up to its name in this instant. While Indarius is not disturbed by the biting wind, Max's long wavy hair blows sensuously and Empyrean's feathered wings ruffle and catch in the wind.
The sky darkens almost immediately. Another flash of lightning arcs amongst the roiling, purple-black clouds. The air smells of rain.
Empyrean-
Empyrean says, "This seems sudden."
Indarius-
Percy looks up and gives a long sniff of the air, before looking at Caio. "Really doesn't care about the flashy entrances I guess. Suppose pomp and circumstance can be written off your list Empyrean."
Caio-
Caio looks up towards the sky, a bit lost. "Matariel is... close. Very close, and agitated." He then looks back at Empyrean and Max. "Not really sure because of who."
Devil Diva-
"Caio!" Max squeals excitedly upon seeing her former teammate. She rushes over to give him a strong hug. "I've missed you, too. We've got to catch up proper one of these days when we have more time."
The wind and thunder gives her pause. "Can you tell him we mean no harm? We're all friends here."
Caio-
"Doesn't really work that way... Matariel has a 'right until proven wrong' attitude." That was a bother, yes, but he got used to it. "But let me try to reach him anyway."
Caio takes a hip flask and pours the content on the stone, forming a puddle. Hovering his hand on top of it, soon an old sword emerges, all rusted and dull. He grabs the sword and then holds it in both hands, closing his eyes but looking up into the skies.
Indarius-
"Well let's all hope that he doesn't see either of them as an issue." He looks to Emp, "And maybe we can even get you some sort of answer, or at least a direction as to your origins."
Stalwart-
Caio's efforts to pull the sword are not as smooth as he'd done it countless times before. It caught, like there was something jagged that snagged on the place where the sword remained when it wasn't in his hands.
When it finally clears the puddle, another flash of lightning throws hard shadows against the bluish light and the sword slips from Caio's hand, disappearing into the water without a splash!
Indarius-
Percy watches as Caio has to practically fight with the sword until he drops it back into the puddle.
"Huh? Lover's quarrel?"
Caio-
"Don't really know... he has never done this before." He sighs. What a bother. "Don't feel I can give you guys the answers you were looking right now, but I'll do some researches, ask the Corps, and so on."
Indarius-
Percy's muzzle shifts this way and that uncomfortably, but he ultimately just shrugs once he realizes he can't make the facial expression he actually wants.
"Well damn, guess it is what it is yeah? Let me know if you do find anything though. I'm sure Empy here would like answers as much as us."
Folding his arms he looked to the two women he'd brought along, then to Caio. "Well regardless I don't think we should waste the trip, anything fun to do around here? I remember reading about a sushi burrito place that sounded pretty good."
Caio-
"Sorry." He says, sad for not being able to help.
"Since I got rid of the Wolf, I haven't eaten a sushi burrito. Before I wanted quantity for sure, but now I'm more into small portions like hand rolls and stuff." He answers. "But we can certainly try."
Looking back at the still puddle of water, he adds. "How about you go ahead of me, like take a tourist walk through the Riverwalk and I'll meet you there? Perhaps I can reach Matariel when I'm alone."
Stalwart-
As Caio looks down at the puddle of rainwater he created, the ground soaks up the moisture until it's just a damp spot on the earth.
The clouds seem to lose their potency almost immediately and the sky brightens.
Empyrean-
"So... where should I go? I do not think I can have a 'sushi burrito' without causing a disturbance."
Indarius-
"You're with Diva and I Empyrean, i doubt there's any way we could get anywhere without incident."
He looks up then at Caio, "And I have a feeling we aren't getting a talk session with Matariel about our maybe angel care questions."
Caio-
It takes almost an hour for Caio to enter the restaurant. He doesn't go for their table, though, and instead picks up an order to go. He discreetly gestures for the others as he leaves.
They find him on a side street, sitting on the curb and eating his sushi. "Sorry not to stay with you inside, but your profiles are too hot for me. Can't really draw attention to myself just in case."
"So, from what I could sense from Matariel, his reaction was because of you, Empyrean." He says, keeping a healthy distance just in case. "I'm not sure how much I can help you, but I can at least explain some things to you, ok?"
"Entities like Matariel and Violet and her sisters," he starts, pointing to Max, "need a bond to stay in our world. There was a time when this was not the case, but that was a while ago. We are talking about the dawn of humanity, the Old Testment and other analogous texts of different religions."
"Matariel is bound to his sword. Violet is bound to Max. That is the rule." He says, looking at her. "But what about you? You also need to be bonded to something or someone... so if you do not know what I'm talking about, that would be a good place to start."
"From what I understood, Matariel's harsh reaction was more like in the line of... jurisdiction? Not sure that is the word, but the idea is that he doesn't want to interfere with you, Empyrean."
Indarius-
Percy grabs the three sushi burritos, left on his own platter. "Alright I think it's about time we head back." He says as he uses that as a means to facilitate their leaving with slightly less obvious intent.
Before stepping out alongside Caio, and making himself look busy to cast the portal back to Halcyon along the chilling eastern side of the city overlooking the great lake of Michigan. His food floats in a small hemi-spherical translucent tray next to him as he scrawls nothings into the air to make the act seem plausible. Waiting for the other two to finish their conversation and be ready to head back.
Empyrean-
Empyrean nods to Caio's explanation. "I am not a place-god or a culture-god, so perhaps the means in which I connect with the world is different. I do not have a specific object of reverence or a designated holy site. Indeed, I am not supposed to be an object of worship after all," she says. "But I have a Purpose, and that purpose calls me to help people. It might be that there is a specific time and place and event for which I am destined, but if so, it has not been revealed to me."
"I suspect that Matariel is telling us that it is up to us to discern my role, that we are entities with our own spheres of influence and that we must tend to our own spheres lest the overlap cause friction. It may well be that there is some person or focal point that is the why of my presence here, but that will only be revealed with time."
"Thank you for trying!"
Percy-
With their trip to Chicago concluded and not necessarily any closer to finding out the true origins of Empyrean the group travels back to Halcyon for the rest of the evening.
"Alright everyone, rest up we've got a lot to talk about at the next team meeting and I've got to get things settled before then."
Empyrean
"Thank you for trying to help. I'll see if I can find anything out on my own... and I look forward to spending time with the rest of the team tomorrow."
End of Session 1 - Grow into your own image of yourself
Back on his civilian colors, Gui sits alone on the curb, looking at the police officers and firemen moving around but not actually paying much attention. Lost and wondering if this life is actually for him and if he has what it takes to be even considered a hero.
The chemical ratio of hydrocarbons to oxygen is just enough that Sam is able to keep consciousness, allowing her to crawl slowly out of the utility cabinet.
She finds a wall and leans up against it, her butt still on the ground. She reviews the video's off the event, writing quick scripts to capture key moments to collect in a report, typing out suggestions, including charts even.
Then attaches the report to the group chat... which her matrix informs her is a not a good idea so instead she sends Indarius an email with the report
Statian:
Communication update
Negative: Chroknight did not alert the team about choosing a different priority created the potential of a statistically greater catastrophe than a single death.
The report brings up an image of the cafeteria, highlighting the area of blast damage if it had exploded, as well as flashing yellow for the location of every person in that area. Blue dots points where electrical damage might have produced a spark.
The feed changes to the battle focusing on Phalanx. Using melee weapons, restraining from firing, choosing handcuffs.
Positive: Leadership's talk with Phalanx about using deadly force has had the intended effect.
Then the report continues with pages after pages of statistical analysis.
Visiting Beebee every day in the hospital was going to be Chloe's routine until she got out of there. She however did need to make sure to do her damn best to avoid Gui when he showed up. Was he guilty for not pushing to get Beebee help when it was needed? She didn't know.
Her dad was worked up about the whole event, Chloe had to grin and bear it and just nod when he started up about how heroes had put his family in danger again where they should have been safe. That it was pure luck the damage was isolated and that the whole campus could have been destroyed. She did her best to bite her tongue and gently change the subject to the store and the plans to open a second location he had been working on all year. That would help ease things over.
As for band practice, that was a synch to do when you could condense an hour's worth of practice in a minute on the drums. Keeping up on homework was also breezy with her powers, though she didn't think of it as cheating - it literally felt like she was extending her day, and it came at the cost of becoming tired much earlier and sleeping longer, which really cut into her temporal gains. At least it meant that in a crunch time she wouldn't fall behind.
The team, though...Chloe was aware that Chroknight dropped the ball. But she'd be damned if she apologized for saving her best friend, especially if they were gonna point the finger at her alter ego for something that hadn't caused a gas explosion anyways. For the moment, she just let herself be Chroknight sparingly, a couple patrols in the mornings and a couple after dinner when dad left to cover evening hours at the store. It was the best way to help clear her head.
|
|
As the incident wraps up and authorities take over Indarius moves to quickly intercept the team before they head on their own ways again.
"What a mess..." He huffs on approach. "Andromeda, good job subdueing Dove, but we'll have to work on collateral, you saved lots of people. We were also lucky there weren't amy in the cafeteria to get hurt. Good job."
He turns to the small girl, "Making moves to evacuate everyone, and keeping us informed with the building plans. Hopefully next time we can avoid having to scramble at the end, I'll need to talk with Chro about that. Not to say saving one person isn't our goal, but she should have informed us of the change in plans. Good job."
Indy places a hand on his shoulder, "The flashy signs were exactly what we needed to get people to evacuate quickly. Quick thinking and an excellent use of your powers, glad you could get on scene so quick too. Good job."
Finally he turn to Phalanx and approaches him. "Your methods were... harsh, I still don't approve of the firearms, but." He sweeps the smaller boy up into a hug, the scales not so bad, the armor he wears on the other hand quite abrasive. "I'm so proud of you for not pulling the trigger, that's a huge step Phalanx." He puts him down, "You'll have to get me a list of any other individuals that might want a piece of you, so we can try to prevent this from happening again."
He steps back and looks over the entire team present, "You all did well, get some rest, food, a few good breaths. Halcyon doesn't sleep for long."
Andromeda sees Statian's message about the gas being off with a quiet sigh of relief. Still, it's not until the all clear is given that she leaves her post, body tensed and ready to shield everything she could.
It's in that tension that Indarius provides his commentary.
"Andromeda, good job subduing Dove, but we'll have to work on collateral, you saved lots of people. We were also lucky there weren't any in the cafeteria to get hurt. Good job."
"The world is fragile. I didn't hit her harder than I needed to, but she was a Threat. She would have killed Phalanx. I didn't kill her; I didn't break the school. This mission was a success, and you don't get to tell me different then say Good job. You can debrief me later if you want, but you're very obviously a superhero, and I'm at school. I'm meeting a friend here later, and you shouldn't be here and a dragon when I do."
***
My Phone: chloe are you still coming question mark
My Phone: did you already go home
***
Andromeda has a week that's horribly silent. Distance learning is familiar, but already unwelcome. There's not enough space in her room, in her base anymore. School was horrible, but at least it was new, and she could see Chloe again, she could watch Gui...
My Phone: chloe are you still coming question mark
My Phone: did you already go home
Chloe: Sorry it's been crazy
Chloe: Beebee, my friend was the girl who got shotChloe: Can we postpone for later? I'm sure school will be closed for a bit
Chloe: Are you doing okay?
Oh. I wanted to go shopping with her. And if she finds out I prioritized Phalanx over Beebee, then she'll be mad. Even though I didn't know that was Beebee. And I was trying to stop anyone from getting shot.
Chloe Parker my young: Are you doing okay?
My Phone: yes I didn't get hurt
My Phone: I heard that the girl Bebe went to the hospital but she's supposed to be ok
My Phone: Is that right
My Phone: I hope your friend is okay
Archie took his leave from the school, he had a meeting.
While rolling down the street smoking a cigarette blaring some music. Archie began to grin. He was feeling good, he did it! He was a little bit more of a hero than he was when he woke up this morning. He knew that making amends was going to take time, he wasn't going to make up for all his mistakes with one moment of action. It did Archie some good to know he might actually be able to turn himself around.
He pauses, flicks his cigarette to the ground and looks up to the sky. It's gonna get better, he thinks.
Growing into a new image of yourself
Raise Superior and Lower Freak
Chloe: It was scary. I heard she passed out from blood loss
Chloe: She's alive though. I hope you can meet her soon
Chloe: I'm upset but keeping busy so I don't dwell on it
Chloe: Do you want to meet later this week for shopping?
***
Phalanx gets a message from Chroknight in the evening.
Chroknight: You did the right thing today.
Chroknight: That won't be the last time your past comes back for you.
Chroknight: I hope next time you make sure no one gets hurt.