Artifex

Tales of Millennium

The days following Manny’s encounter with Raven were a whirlwind of emotions. Never had any other vigilante known his identity out of costume. He’d been careful about it for all these years, but one slip-up had exposed him. Luckily, it was only to Aurora…

Aurora. Manny still couldn’t believe he had hurt someone whom he had literally saved not long before. He felt terrible about leaving her the way he did. Blind and injured…

Is that how we're taking care of things now, Manny?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became with himself. He’d never in his life hurt a friend like that...but was she a friend? The only connection they really had was the rescue. But that wasn’t true, either. He had been playing cat and mouse with Raven for a while, sparing her from capture, not knowing that later on, she would be gifting him with cookies. Wrapping his head around the fact that little blind, bashful Aurora and the daring, cunning Raven Tale were one in the same had started to make his head hurt. It wasn’t often that Manny got in this state, but when he did, his only solace was music.

Walking up to the door, he lightly caressed the doorknob as if it was something very precious or sacred. He gently inserted his key and entered the studio. Closing and locking the door, he paused for a moment after pocketing the key. This was a place of both joyful memories and solemn reverence. The music studio was previously owned by his mentor and best friend whom had passed a few years prior. Her family had left it to Manny with the promise of keeping it up and he had honored that oath quite faithfully. The place was immaculate despite its lack of use and became a safe haven for Manny whenever he needed a place to get away.

Music studio

He selected a guitar from the nearby rack and made his way to the chair in front the control panel. Setting the guitar down, he queued up a familiar track to play through the speakers. It was his mentor’s half of one of several guitar duets that they had recorded together for fun. Sitting back in his chair, he silently played along with the track as a few unexpected tears rolled down his cheek.

-----

After a few hours of hanging out in the studio, Manny decided to visit the local music cafe that he frequented. He was still in the music mood and this was the perfect spot to satisfy any music lover’s need. When he walked in, he was greeted by an old friend who also happened to work there.

“Manny! How are you, bud?”

“I’m just fine, Dave. How ‘bout you?”

“Ah, same old, same old around here...you know how it is...in fact, it’s great that you showed up. The entertainment’s been a bit lackluster tonight...could use a touch of Manny, if you know what I mean.”

“Really? I haven’t even sat down.”

“C’mon, I can see it in your eyes, dude. You know you want to play something.”

Manny rolled his eyes but couldn’t get the grin off of his face. “Just get me a drink, alright.”

He made his way to the edge of the stage and signaled to the house band that he was going to join them in their next set. They actually seemed pretty excited to see him as it had been a while since he was convinced to take the stage. When they finished the current set, Manny hopped on stage and greeted the band.

“Good to see ya, Manny. Finally felt like playing with us again?”

“You know it’s always a pleasure. I’m thinkin’ a nice jam session is in order.”

The band smiled and nodded in agreement as Manny grabbed a guitar and stepped up to the mic.

“Evening, everyone...I hope you’re enjoying yourselves. We’re just gonna cook up a little something if you don’t mind...”

Wearing a laid-back smile, he stepped back from the mic and started jamming with the band.

Tales of Millennium

The desperate pleading of Raven was hard for Omega to hear but he had to stay his ground and bring her to justice. He gritted his teeth and steeled his heart against the cries of anguish now flooding his ears. And if her desperation wasn’t enough, there was a nice dose of whimpering and mewling coming from what was now a headless horse. The motorcycle appearance seemed to be a veil shrouding the true form of the beast. As perplexing as the whole thing was, Omega didn’t let himself break his hold on the summon. He remained neutral, and, as the sirens grew nearer, he closed his eyes in anticipation of the end of the madness. That is until…

"Manny, please!"

Omega’s eyes snapped open and instantly the same desperation had found him as well. His heart began to race and his breathing became quick and labored. His gaze shot over to the fallen super as a look of utter confusion arrested his features.

Wha…? How…? Wait…

He now recognized that voice. How could he have not seen it before? The height similarity alone could have given it away. But he had no reason to think that Raven Tale was blind...but she was blind, because Raven Tale was…

“Aurora...?”

Manny’s first instinct -- which was to bolt -- was overridden by his obligation to help this girl that he now knew was as far from a villain as you could get. He could see that he hurt her pretty bad and he surely couldn’t leave her for the authorities now.

He normalized the gravity holding both Aurora and her summon and rushed to gently scoop her up from the ground. Floating both her book and her summon behind him, he hurriedly carried her to a safe spot within the nearest warehouse. After setting her down, he froze for a second and his heart broke a little.

“I…”

His mind was still racing. He had no idea how to perceive what had just occurred and he needed to get away and clear his head. He didn’t really want to leave her like this, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her right now, either. Reluctantly, he departed from the scene, making sure not to alert the cops to her whereabouts and hoping that Aurora would be able to recover from what he had just done.

Tales of Millennium

Omega sat perched on the wall of an older building, still as a gargoyle. With his arms folded, he contemplated, yet again, the sudden disappearance of Raven Tale. Just when he had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and finally admit that she was one of the good guys, Raven had suddenly vanished from the streets. Of course it was common for vigilantes to have nights off. It wasn’t like they were employees or anything -- and Omega didn’t come out every night, but to be gone for more than a week usually meant that something bad had happened to you or that you were up to something. If it happened to be the former, the media would have gone crazy and Raven’s bird face would be plastered all over the news. Since no reports of any kind had been released about the super’s demise or capture, Omega concluded that the girl was up to no good. The next time he saw Raven Tale, the games would be over and he would make sure she was caught before any of her plans came to pass.

As the night went on, he patrolled the rooftops as usual, punishing a few back alley criminals, foiling a break-in or two, and even shutting down a gang fight. All the while, he was keeping an ear out for that telltale signal. It seemed like another Raven-less night would pass until the familiar cacophony of sirens and a motorcycle engine met his ears.

Welcome back, Raven…

The sound wasn’t too far off and it had been proven time and time again that the police wouldn’t catch her on their own. Without hesitation, Omega sprung into action like a hunter who had just spotted his prey. Driven by gravitational force, he swiftly made his way to the chase -- or to what would’ve been a chase if the MCPD wasn’t so incapable -- and set his sights on the summoner. He took a significant amount of caution on his approach, as he was much more serious about catching his target and wanted to get the jump on her...and did he ever.

He launched himself from the roof of a warehouse to land directly in the path of the motorcycle. Immediately upon landing, Omega increased the gravity under the motorcycle so suddenly, that it was brought to almost a dead stop. Since Raven wasn’t holding on, she was forcefully launched forward into the air, flying right past Omega. Without so much as a flinch, he reached out his hand in the summoner’s direction and stopped her in mid-flight before she could go any further. After the jarring halt, he let her float in midair for a few seconds before letting her drop. Once she was on the ground, he pinned her down as well.

Still unmoving, Omega then addressed Raven with a cold, severe tone. Any and all signs of wittiness and clemency were absent from his voice.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Tales of Millennium

Nice job, Manny...had to show off…

Manny was usually careful about not letting his powers show since they were pretty easy to hide, but it seemed this time he’d been so careless that even a blind person could see it...literally. When he’d gone into ‘rescue mode’, he’d tossed aside the fact that he wasn’t in costume. In an attempt to not raise any more suspicion, he tried to keep his composure and manage a casual tone, even though his heart was pounding in his chest. After a slight pause, which may have been a little too long, he carefully answered.

“Super strength? Not exactly...I just work out a lot...could’ve been adrenaline...I’ve heard that people can lift cars when they have enough adrenaline flowing through them.”

It seemed like a bit of a stretch, but he hoped it was believable enough to satisfy her curiosity. She seemed pretty innocent and harmless, but Manny didn’t actually know if he could trust her with something so personal. There weren’t a whole lot of people outside his family that knew of his powers, and since he was a vigilante, the knowledge of such things was that much more precious and guarded.

“And as far as helping you...not a problem. I’m just lucky I was around.”

Tales of Millennium

“Thanks again for helping us out on this project, son,” said Richard as he and Manny made their way to Richard’s truck.

“It doesn’t feel like ‘help’ when you have me on the payroll…”

“Don’t I always tell you that you aren’t gonna be doing all this dangerous work for free?”

“I’ve done more dangerous things than operate a cherry picker.”

“Exactly...and what do you get for that? Nothing.”

“I don’t help people to ‘get’ anything from it, Dad...look I know where this is going, and it’s really not the time or place. You know that.”

“Alright,” Richard sighed in surrender. “You riding back with me, or…?”

Manny grinned and gave his dad a pat on the shoulder. As he walked around to the other side of the truck, he spotted Aurora and her dog.

“Actually...I’ll catch up.”

Richard looked to see who or what had caught Manny’s attention.

“Isn’t that the rider you helped?”

“Yeah. I never got a chance to see how she was doing.”

“Oh...do all your rescues have a follow-up?” Richard said with an assuming smirk. Manny’s expression dropped as he gave his dad a ‘whatever’ expression. “Well, have fun, hero.”

“How original…” Manny rolled his eyes and shook his head as Richard slid into the driver’s seat. Richard started the truck and gave Manny a small wave before driving off, then Manny turned to walk in Aurora’s direction. He wasn’t quite sure how to approach a blind person, so he proceeded with a bit of caution. Even from a distance, she looked rather preoccupied and visibly nervous. He wondered if she even wanted to be bothered, but since he was already walking toward her, he decided to press on.

“Um...hey, Aurora...never got to thank you for the cookies...”

Tales of Millennium

“...I suppose a thank you is in order so you have my thanks and nothing else."

As the woman walked away, Manny had some mixed feelings about the brief encounter. Of course, he was appreciative of the thanks, but the severe manner in which she delivered the message diminished the sincerity. The thanks was more than enough, though the woman spoke as if he was expecting some sort of reward or extra praise. He didn’t dwell on it too long before getting back to his job.

After a few hours of work, Manny and a few other crew members took a short break.

“Comin’ right along here, aren’t we?” commented one of the workers.

“Yeah, man, we’re moving pretty quick,” another chimed in, wiping sweat from his brow and taking a swig from his water bottle.

“We might be done sooner than expected at this rate,” Manny said, examining the progress. ”Of course, we all know it’s because I showed up.”

“Get over yourself, Mop Top.”

“You know, you fit right in around here with that horseshoe you got going on.”

The other crew members let out a laugh, one of them giving Manny a fist bump. As the laughter subsided, the worker facing Manny nodded in the direction behind him. Manny and the crew turned to see the blind rider and her seeing-eye dog approaching.

“Hang on, guys.”

Manny noticed immediately how much better she looked when she hadn’t just been in a minor crisis. Her hair was pure white, her skin wasn’t covered in grime and blood -- and was actually quite pale, and she had less of a mortified expression. He did notice that she still had a bit of a limp, so her leg must have taken a bigger hit than he thought. Armed with his usual friendly tone, he approached the young rider.

“Hey, Aur-”

His greeting was cut off as she quickly placed a package in his hands and awkwardly sped off in the other direction. A confused look washed over his face before fading into a sympathetic grin.

“Well, someone’s a bit shy…”

Looking down at his gift, he could already smell the inviting aromas of the cookies. Lifting the still-warm package to his nose, he gave the treats a proper inhale and gave a blissful smile. He noticed a note slid underneath the ribbon and pulled it out to examine it. The childlike handwriting of “Thank you” lead him to believe that she wrote it herself, and he was pretty impressed.

Not only can she ride a horse blind, but she also knows how to write...that’s kind of amazing...but I wonder why she ran off…

Manny walked back over to the crew with gift in hand munching on a cookie.

“Whatcha got there, buddy?”

“Just a little ‘thank you’ gift from the girl I rescued from that mess,” Manny said nodding toward the site.

“Wait, so there really was someone trapped under all that? And you got her out?”

“Did you think it was a joke or something?”

“How about spreading the wealth, hero,” a crewman suggested with his hand out.

Manny clutched the cookies close to his body. “Sorry, gentlemen...to the victor goes the spoils.”

The crewman waved Manny off and shook his head. “That’s okay...I’ll just find my own damsel-in-distress.”

“Good luck with that. Alright, guys...back to the grind.”

Manny tied the package back up and stuck it in the pocket of his work vest, creating an awkward bulge. He glanced back in the direction which Aurora had scampered off and wondered if he’d have a chance to actually talk to her.

Tales of Millennium

Richard McClain had to respect the professionalism with which Sarah Lorell handled her business, but personally, she rubbed him the wrong way right off the bat. He couldn’t really understand the need to be so...abrasive. He himself could certainly be candid at times, but he conducted his business in a much more pleasant manner. The way she spoke to his workers was very near insulting, yet he brushed it off and remained polite and professional with his client.

“We’re just going to need you to make sure your staff stays clear of the area. I'll head to the office to take care of the paperwork in a moment. We’ll have things patched up in no time, Mrs. Lorell.”

He gave the woman a nod and an earnest smile and turned toward his crew.

“Alright, gentlemen, let’s clear the debris and get the cherry pickers in here...carefully, please.”

Manny walked over to his father and gave him a pat on the back. Though, he didn’t officially consider himself an employee of his father’s company -- despite being on the payroll -- Manny liked to ‘help his father out’ when he had the time. The site where he had rescued Aurora seemed to have not been disturbed much save for the removal of the horse.

“So, how long you think this’ll take?”

“Few days, tops...glad you could come along, son,” Richard said, donning his hard hat. “You said a girl walked away from this?”

“With minor injuries. The horse, however, wasn’t so lucky.”

“So it seems...” Richard glanced at the red patches and streaks still in the sand. Shaking his head, he spoke to Manny in a slightly lowered voice. “Just help keep things ‘stable’, you know what I mean? These Lorells don’t seem like the type to want to deal with liability claims.”

“Gotcha, boss,” Manny said grinning and nodding in recognition. He put on his own hard hat and set to work helping the crew.

Tales of Millennium

Manny was used to rescuing people as Omega but hadn’t done it that much out-of-costume. The outpouring of gratitude from the groom was a bit unexpected. He watched as Aurora was being treated and was, again, pleased he had been able to come to her aid. Who knows what would’ve happened to her leg if she had been pinned down like that for an extended period of time. He still felt bad for her loss of the horse.

As the commotion ensued, Manny noticed the blond woman who was giving orders and wondered why she never came to check on Aurora. Surely, if she was the boss or whatever, she would care about the riders, right? It was a bit confusing to him. Here he was, a perfect stranger, and he was pretty concerned, meanwhile she never gave Aurora a second thought.

"If you want to come back at all, your welcome to, I just...I wish I could do something more for you. Cause you have no idea how grateful we are."

“Oh, don’t worry about all that. I’m just glad I was around to help. Thankfully, it wasn’t any worse than it was.” Manny gave a smile and shook the groom’s hand. “I guess I’ll be back around to see how things are going if I get a chance...sorry about the horse, though, for what it's worth.” He took his leave and headed home to get some rest.

Tales of Millennium

He was impressed at her resolve considering the current situation. She apparently looked much worse off than she actually was as she didn't claim to have any serious injuries. Walking around to where the rider's leg was pinned, Manny braced himself to lift the horse. He could feel the significant drop in body temperature compared to a few minutes ago and a tiny bit more grief hit his heart. Slowly, he raised the heavy weight of the animal off of the girl’s leg.

“Think you’ll be able to move yourself with your good arm?”

“Yeah…”

Carefully Aurora began to feel around the saddle, biting her lip she began to push herself away from Sweet Tea. Blood rushing through her veins that have been stilled almost too long causing pins and needles to run down her entire leg.
She didn’t want to know what her leg looked like under the riding pants. With unsteady movements she began to try and stand. Though like a newborn she simply fell back, her leg refusing to give her the support she needs right away. “Shit….”
Taking a few deep breaths she tried again. Her muscles screaming in protest while her joints gave a sickening crack at the movement. Yet she stood, a great deal of effort it took but she was still able to stand. Stand to her full height in fact, for her head did not even brush the lowest beam. “There a way out….?”

“Yeah...here…”

Manny offered his arm to the girl, now very noticeably short, seeing that she had some trouble standing. He imagined her leg was recovering from being held down under the mass of the horse and she might be dizzy from the small head injury she appeared to have gotten. He carefully guided her out of the mess of debris.

“Maybe we should sit you down for a sec...”

Carefully feeling through the air, Aurora found her hand grasping an arm. No surprise it was more muscular than some, whoever he was had strength that of a super….
The thought drifting through her mind. She leaned on him as one would a cane. Limping through debriee till she finally felt the open wind that threatened to knock her over.

The offer for rest was indeed a sweet one. Nodding her head, she moved in the direction of a bench. Goliath at her feet in a heartbeat, his whines and sniffing bringing a bittersweet smile to her face. “I’m okay boy…..”
Yeah...she was okay, yet she couldn’t help but slowly turn her head in the direction of the arena. Sweet Tea….how horrid she must look, how scared she must have been that she could not even move….
“Th-”

“Aurora!” A frantic cry sounding through the path ways, she could hear the crunching of gravel under one’s boots. The panting breath and skidding moves showing all signs of worry. “Oh my god! Aurora, I heard the roof collapse, I-I’ll call an ambulance. Is the filly okay?”

At the mention of the filly, Aurora allowed her head to hang. A new set of tears falling from her eyes, and marring the crimson that painted her face. The Groom that found them began to step back, his own face falling at the news. “I’ll be right back….you, you helped her right? Can you stay with her, keep her awake?”

Manny nodded to the groom as he went to call for help. He turned to the girl and once again donned his comforting tone.

“I’m glad I was able to get to you in time...um, my name’s Manny.”

He gave her a smile, even though he knew she couldn’t see it, hoping in some way she could maybe ‘feel’ it.

Tales of Millennium

"We're here! Please, my horse is stuck!"

Oh, good...a response is good…

As Manny got closer to the site of the collapse, the figures of the horse and its rider became clearer. The rider was a young female who seemed to be trapped under the horse...but the horse wasn’t in as good of a position. Even from far away, he could see the animal probably wouldn’t make it. It had taken most if not all of the debris and was pretty much crushed. The weight of all that on the girl could not be favorable and he wondered what injuries she had sustained. He slid to a halt as soon as he reached the wreckage.

Holy…

The scene was not pretty...not at all anything he was expecting to see today. The girl cradled the small horse in her arm. The other arm seeming to hang limp at her side. And the horse was a mangled mess...and it looked rather young. Poor thing didn’t even get to live a full life. The girl’s face was streaked with blood, dirt, and tears. Manny’s heart broke at the sad sight.

But there was no time for sadness, he had to act. He knelt down and placed his hand on the young filly. She was still warm, but lifeless. She didn’t make it very long after the collapse. He looked up at the girl and spoke as gently and urgently as he could.

“Hey, I’m gonna get you out, but I need to move all this heavy stuff first, alright?”

Manny appeared to have inhuman strength as he quickly began moving broken wood beams and heavy slabs of roofing carefully to the side which would have taken a few men to lift. He noticed some of the beams were a bit rotted and weak, and the pressure of the wind must have taken its toll on them. They were lucky more of the roof didn’t come down. The wind howled through the large hole above, though not as loudly as it had a few minutes prior. It seemed the wind was dying down a bit -- at least enough to where the hole wouldn’t get any larger. When it came time to move the horse, he swallowed hard. He couldn’t imagine how the girl must feel about what happened to the little filly. He knelt down to speak to her again, this time realizing that she hadn’t opened her eyes. He thought at first it was because she was crying, but now he saw she was keeping them deliberately closed. He immediately thought back to the red vest on the dog...seeing-eye dog…

She’s blind…she didn’t even see it coming...

It was one of the most heartbreaking things Manny had seen in awhile. Choosing his words carefully, he spoke to the rider once again.

“I, um, got your horse free, so now it’s your turn, okay?”