FourtyTwo

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Thursday
14:00
Gaggles Carnival

Sparks and Stars

Lightning Girl

@cosmiccowgirl

Fumbling forwards, Lightning Girl was getting more and more on them, and she couldn't even find the car batteries behind the stalls to charge on. There were more and more, gathering beyond the claw machine, where she had taken one clown out, but seemingly, endless more were coming.

And here to finish the job. Sophie readied herself. This would go as bad as last time. She'd have to try and draw them in and....

Suddenly, they weren't going to do that.

The crash of Blackstar's black energy threw even Lightning Girl back onto her ass, as she fumbled back up, having felt the jolt of power run through her from the nearby machine that discharged power into her that she had been sucking on, at a greater rate.

There she was. Blackstar. Christ. She looked just as rough if not worse.

But she was doing something she never thought.

A level of violence she never had seen her co-worker do. It was like she had done this dance before, because clown after clown fell, hacked apart, by the void itself.

The dark energy blades poked from arms, and Blackstar suddenly decapitated someone in plain view moving on Sophie, the clown's lifeless corpse falling like a chicken without a head into a dusty pile next to Lightning Girl, as she walked forwards and over the body having nothing to add, yelping a little in movement, the wound sealing a little more, leaving skin at the side of her costume that looked like one massive lichtenberg scar a stain of black, until it reinforced more, like any scar. It hurt though. Shit, it felt like her muscle cords were actually split a little, so it felt like she'd pulled a muscle, hard.

Lightning Girl leaned against the post of the stall, as Blackstar came over, panicked, scared. frightened. Her eyes white, her costume bloodied and dirty, the fuzz of her dark energy alien.

Not quite as alien as maybe someone else maybe, would have imagined. Sophie's power came from the the void too. From which one, she wasn't sure, but somewhere, it felt like kin.

Blackstar's voice interrupted Lightning Girl's blurred vision and gave focus in a moment she snapped back into realising who and what she was. And what she needed to be right now.

"Do-- Do you still have comms?" Her voice sounded strained as she turned slightly, addressing Lightning Girl. She was breathing heavy, wobbling a little, and not fully turning her head -- as if she was purposely avoiding looking directly at the other heroine with her eyes smoking light through her mask. She was on the verge of going supernova again, and she knew looking too closely and seeing how exactly LG was hurt would send her chasing down clowns with a vengeance, when that wasn't what she needed to be focusing on.

More than that, she'd caught a glimpse of Lightning Girl's half-shredded mask. She was scared to see what expression might be on the other heroine's face if she looked. "Mine broke. There's -- tunnels. Lots of tunnels. Under us."

Sophie nodded to the comments, knowing Blackstar had fear. Plenty in her. But wasn't ready to make words. Not yet. The blur coming back as she let Blackstar get it out, while maybe she was still lucid. She was terrified to look at her face. But fumbled some words out anyway.

"Blackstar. Fuck. You're hurt. And you...thanks." Sophie said, totally oblivious it seemed to her own condition, groaning with pain as she walked across, realising that there was just one Alaine. She hadn't duplicated. That was good. She was slurred a little, adjusting her comms, hearing the other bits of anarchy going down across the carnival. Nodding, letting the overflow carry as she put hand to ear, somehow still there, luckily on the other side of her head to where she'd been hit, hard.

The revelation was accompanied by a stiff jerk of one cosmically-bladed hand, the tip of the blade indicating the ground beneath them. "Goggles or whoever went... under. I tried to follow him but there were too many ways to go. I lost him. I--"

Blackstar's strained voice, slightly deeper than normal and far less friendly, finally cracked a little. "I don't know what to do."

Blackstar hadn't said that, Alaine had. She hadn't meant to show that hand. She didn't want to do it. She'd just massacred a bunch of clowns in a decisively brutal way, severed limbs scattered among the bodies and gore spilling out of sliced-through, half-cauterized heads. She didn't want to do it. But she'd had to. She didn't know what else to do.

Fumbling across, Lightning Girl felt her own mask peel uncomfortably where the carbon had broken. To break carbon meant the force must have been strong enough to sever steel.

Sophie pushed it forwards up her head and uselessly threw it and the rubber strap to the floor, revealing a hurt Sophie Speight. Not that it mattered. To Sophie, it wasn't anything. From one eye to none covered by carbon, it was just a distraction. An expression of pain, not of pretty heroine, just one of dust, blood and a cut that still sat on the side of her head.

Games people played. A pretense that was worth nothing. Alaine looked scared, terrified, and more than that, possessed. Sophie had seen clips of Blackstar at work, from social media from what Hat Trick had gathered given the highway chase and the social media work, but never, ever anything like that. Nothing at all. Holy shit. She went through them like they were confetti. But she had been wounded. Blood had poured from her nose. Maybe not a stab wound, but she was battered too.

Sophie knew Alaine didn't want to look. She hoped discarding any pretence of image may have helped, that and the fact it was really hurting now she was out of fighting.

She had no other choice. From the moment she saw her come into that gym, showed her where to go, Sophie knew she had to look after Blackstar. Make sure she would come through this.

Even if she herself couldn't, she had to do this. Had to be brave. Be a big girl, and make sure she would come through this. Lightning Girl was so stupid, thinking she could do this alone. But Sophie had her to look after. And she could help. But not if she was scared. Frightened. Her fear felt like it jolted into her fingerless and cut up gloves, static loose but pulsing, planting to spot.

Sophie, or Lightning Girl, whatever she was, rested her hands against Alaine's shoulders and leaned forwards given her height was at least eight inches taller, leaving the kinds of marks that came from drying blood, watching behind, her unmasked eyes burning with a discolored grey. The expression wasn't of horror, but the kind of reassurance, that she had to push everything into.

Blackstar may not have wanted to see Lightning Girl's expression. But she would see the woman behind them.

"Listen to me, Blackstar. We're gonna get through this. We don't have any choice, we're the best shot at saving people right now...you did what you had to. I've got comms. I'll raise the team. We're doing fine. We're...." She spluttered with confidence at first, before coughing blood to the side and trying to avoid her suit, from the mix of that red stuff still in her mouth and from her battered nose, Lightning Girl, Sophie, whatever it was now, looking back again, almost in embrace. In spite of the action suggesting her words weren't fine. She reiterated it, hands against shoulders, leaning on Blackstar a little for weight.

"Okay, maybe not quite fine. But we're enough. We're gonna find those tunnels and I'm.....we're going to turn Gaggles into vapourware. Take a breather, and look at me, Blackstar. We're gonna be okay. Take a deep breath. We need to keep going, and we need to protect them. Find the team. Save the day. We can do this. You can do this. Yeah? You can. You saved my arse there. You're golden." She knew Blackstar didn't want to look. And maybe knowing Blackstar had every single right to believe Lightning Girl was in a worse state.

But Sophie was stubborn. And Blackstar was new to this. So she couldn't project any doubt. Any weakness. That wasn't her. That wasn't the woman that wore this costume. She had to do the right thing. Even if it felt wrong, strength was all Blackstar needed right now, whatever the shorter of the two women had to bear, she had to bring.

She had to give Blackstar some hope. Some trust. Knowing that in the moment Blackstar must have felt horrified to do that level of violence, there was no judgement.

"There's more coming. Take a moment. Stay close, together, we'll stop them." Sophie grit her teeth, pushing up from her shoulders and facing the new threat, cape fluttering a little into Blackstar before it picked a better direction to not get in the way.

More clowns had arrived. Lightning Girl looked to Blackstar, moving aside, standing tall, looking on, focussing on the information first, before the clowns would bear down.

"Team, there's some tunnels we might be able to find. Sending a ping where Blackstar was earlier. Might be a way down.." Lightning Girl added with a blur in her vision returning before it focussed, watching as they all saw her as her hair blew in the gust of wind in the high atmosphere, Lightning Girl's mask off, revealing, rather strangely, little at all. A white haired woman that was pretty behind it was guessable from the jawline and nose.

Sophie looked to Alaine, then back at the clowns, as one of them tapped a baseball bat into a wooden stall with a double tap, grinning, giggling.

"Two for one....and I thought Lightning Bitch didn't have a pretty face. Shame we can't see Starfucker's because we all would love to.....oh, the shame. Well, we're gonna make you look hella ugly when you girls ain't gonna put up a fight. Prepare to die. We'll be smiling." He cackled with an evil, almost minor-villain grin, as Lightning Girl didn't go with the option of throwing electricity like last time, the other clowns emerging in view that had decided to come back and finish the job. Not yet. She assessed. Took her time. Injury made her think more even though her head was a minefield.

They were better clowns than creative writers, Sophie mused internally though. Outside a putting stand? Really? That was the best?

She had nothing to say. Nothing but a slate-like stare, protective of Blackstar, even though she had no right to be. She was hurt worse, the red of the bandage and her pain making her nearly turn her vision into a blur, wanting to yell and curl up rather than move and put pressure on the pain.

Murder is wrong, Sophie. But it isn't if they are going to kill you and Blackstar first, then everyone else here. They've already tried, and they are trying again. And they don't deserve to be the bastards that put you in the ground. They need to do better.

This isn't how it ends.

Soundtrack: Dead Sara- Weatherman

No, she instead decided if they were going to fight dirty, she was going to, morals as tested as they were went out of the window when she was gonna die and she'd already killed half a dozen clowns already. That meant putting away the fact this was a crowd control kinda situation.

It meant embracing the fact they were picking on a hurt lioness, pale white pigment-lost hair bloodied by her own and other red. It meant using the other power Sophie had.

Pulling weights in.

Pushing out with legs.

Power that made her stronger.

They weren't finishing the job. And she still had power. Still had fight. Just had to find that next gear.

The nearby putter at the mini-golf game between her and the clown was an easy target to go for. As the clown charged, voltage spread into the metal mini-golf stick, and Sophie didn't need to clear the move- as she under-swung the metal putt forwards to hold him back and dodged the bat.

And swung.

And cleaved his head almost into two with a swing across as he tried to go for a swing of his bat overhead, a viscera of spray emerging as she then threw it at another clown moving towards Blackstar handle first like a javelin, pinning them to a wooden stand before she bolted a stun of electricity that made them shudder, then a third one who tried to leap her, getting an elbow into the stomach, and a hard pull of his head into her knee, bouncing off with a trail of blood, walking forwards over bodies now from the mess she'd made.

Sophie was hobbling after that spike of adrenaline, feeling the pain run through her side, the healing stopping in there when she used her powers and coming from her ribs and stomach, looking at the lifeless corpse before her, and the other clown spasming on the ground.

"Three for one. At least get our names right, scumbags." She cursed, the nice, pleasant image now gone entirely. She had a good one liner in her now, potentially, that she could make at least, as the tension burned through her, the putting club through the clown's stomach illustrating she had a bit of power still on her even without pushing too hard. Now when she had all the adrenaline and zero filters left, maybe a more basal protector had come out.

Without a mask, who was this? Sophie Speight, Lightning Girl, or someone else that stopped seeming like she was fighting here. Embracing the fact that she had no choices left. Learning a lesson quickly.

Sophie looked to Blackstar, supporting where she could with the other clowns chasing, bolting electricity where dark energy didn't help, helping her clear the group. They were fighting together.

Sophie was countering as another clown ran in with a swing on Blackstar with a hatchet and nearly landed a lucky shot where Sophie managed to swing a baseball bat to defend and push him away with the long side of it, before flipping the bat to narrow point smashing his windpipe in with the loose end like a pointed stick, using that distraction to then kick him with an almost sparta-like kick across Blackstar's vision into a barrel where he fell in ass first and made a satisfying *bonk* against a wooden stall as the barrel followed his trajectory of falling over.

Sophie exhaled hard, wiping her brow, clearing the stray strands of hair that were in her face, panting hard, holding side a little and continuing to hobble. She was discharging a hell of a lot to fight them, and her bioelectricity in her body was in deficit, but when clowns were charging, she was throwing herself at it. She looked to Blackstar, a confident nod, in spite of the lack of mask now. It changed nothing. It felt like there wasn't any point hiding right now. Not for the moment.

"Let's go find the others. Regroup and get to this tunnel you found. And find Gaggles." Sophie added, her comms spluttering as she adjusted it a little.

"Team, me and Blackstar are grouped up, by the big Helter Skelter. We've found a way to find Gaggles. We need to stop this before we keep climbing higher..." She uttered, trying to get words back, keeping it on open transmit for Blackstar to call anything out via Sophie.

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

James Speight

Sitting up at the desk, the alert came through as James sat up, seeing the message flare in his screen.

And his jaw dropped as he saw the trackers move in a way he hadn't ever seen before.

Wait.

What the hell?

---

Thursday
13:55
Gaggles Carnival

Altitude Adjustment

Lightning Girl

"What the hell!" Lightning Girl yelled, dropping to the floor from floating up, watching as the balloons caught and suddenly, they were sent soaring, at a rate of knots.

"Okay, what the fuck, how are they doing that!?" That wasn't very heroine of her to call out into comms and almost to herself, more than anything. But she had no words, she would normally be at least a more straight, PG version, yet here, there was nothing. Blackstar was on the way over to replace them at the Ferris Wheel, but since the balloons were up, the clowns had emerged ready to club anyone here to bits.

And in that chaos, Lightning Girl had lost her fellow heroine, running around herself trying to shepherd civilians, who looked terrified. She had to be confident. She had to be a beacon. The light. Order in chaos. No matter what was going on in her ear....

"Team, give a sit rep!" James's voice would be yelled into everyone's ears, as the light-grey suited heroine looked to the various bundles of helium balloons that seemed to have peeled up the earth, pavement, and rides around and below, yoinking a slice of California into the sky. And higher, and higher, second by second. The voice of Giggles came into sound, as Lightning Girl just stared, watching as horizon became bluer, and bluer.

"Entire carnival is being carried up by balloons! Shit, main clown just made a tannoy..." Lightning Girl called, James interrupting his sister, having heard it on the open system of LG's earpiece.

"Yeah, I heard, all of you.....find him and get it back down, and protect civies at all costs! Work something out, we'll try and get some resources to you!" James yelled into comms, the dispatcher trying to hide his own disbelief. Trying to at least steer the team, at least point them vaguely to something. He had zero idea of how insane this was. He could guess, from the first report he got, so all he had to do was run on the pure adrenaline in him, and just bark. React. Do something. But what the fuck was there to do? He wasn't trained for this. Nobody was. This was serious.

Soundtrack: Wolf Alice - Fluffy

The carnival music faded, as did any other noise, and static. Only one focus threw out into her mind. No more posturing or posing for photos. Not even survival. Just making sure she was there to put any bastard down that even tried anything, first.

Fostering children and parents away, LG could feel the ice begin to build in her hair from the cold of altitude, as she realised she had at least the ability to run where others couldn't. She could see Eclipse getting massed. And could do nothing because on the other side, there were kids and parents.

She could just send a few bolts the way of the clowns going after Eclipse, which would give him a bit of respite to push back, run or make a decision not to get his face kicked in, but it did mean Lightning Girl was making herself literally the lit up beacon that all the clowns would mass on.

Eclipse might now have a moment as she nodded to him, power fizzling around in her hands, thinking about it all, having to run before she could shout anything to him. Working together was one thing, but Eclipse wasn't catching too many hands, but the clowns were clearly coming for her.

The thought disgusted her of what they were doing.

Children. Hurting fucking children. That was beyond evil. That was a kind of cartoonishly fucked up, sinister level of shit that almost built her up, and as a bunch of clowns came towards her, she was no longer for show. Turning a glowing shade of white, the electricity danced through her veins, and now, she had every reason to go all in. She wasn't here for being pretty. She had to fight to save them. Any semblence of a plan was off table. She wasn't thinking logically, Sophie was just going to hurt anyone who she came across with a weapon in their hands that was coming after anyone innocent.

And the clowns that had cornered the group of teenagers earlier, were first.

She was throwing bolts at them, not set to stun anymore, but set to basically burn through. She glowed white, as another clown dived onto her, as she rolled holding them close before shoving them towards her legs, before kicking hard with both and bolting them into void at the edge of the carnival where a gap existed between ground with a massive burn opening up between their shoulder and body, watching as they screamed into the abyss. It burned hard inside her, as she sat back up, clambering, feeling her power run unbridled. A group of children and their parents watched on, as LG got back up and stood between them and another group of clowns. She wiped her sweat from her mouth, no longer here for show.

"Get to safety! Go, now!" She screamed, her lungs feeling the cold catch, but her power pulsing, screaming, racing past. More clowns were coming over. They'd seen her and immediately decided they'd cut her off if she was going to get in their way.

And she was in their way.

She protected the cluster of three families like a mother bear would her children, standing as tall, vivid as she could, putting two fingers to eyes and out to the clowns that had now started to gather at the sight of their friend being sent into the abyss, as if to make a message. Run.

They did not. They were bursting into run against her with hammers and knives in hand as she threw bolts, charging forwards herself.

LG hadn't exactly been subtle, perhaps a more intelligent move would be to back away. But it gave a distraction as behind her, the families and their kids had ran away, at least, towards somewhere else where they wouldn't be hunted, and Lightning Girl could go through two of the clowns with a punch and a shove, catching sight of another gaggle of them, running forwards, realising they were honing in on her. Maybe she could trap them! That would be a good idea. Find somewhere, a room, something to lock them into, or at least, collar them away.

"Team, I'm pulling a lot of clowns on me! Find Giggles, or Gaggles, whatever his name is, I'll sort these smiley twats out!" She ran, not wasting power on flight, not that it would help, nor would it. Gaggles hadn't gotten her name right, so in her panic, she wasn't remembering either She had thought about going for balloons herself, but didn't know if it would affect the bit of land picked up. What would be worse than simply dropping the entire thing like an anvil with a carnival attached to it, would be the fact the team, and civies would fall with it. Then it was roulette.

So instead, her choice was if she was saving civies, she was going to take as many of them down with her as she could. She was going to draw them to her, and so far, that plan was working, running around a set of stalls, a bunch of clowns in pursuit. She kept up the pace, footsteps growing in number behind her.

Perhaps it was the way she came across sounded like she was ready for this. Sophie hadn't woken up thinking to herself this was it. This was the end. But being a heroine meant knowing that every day could be her last. Danger, risk, putting herself on the line. And in that moment, she had to grit her teeth. Better her than innocent people.

But all of it came to mind. All the unsaid things. All the things she wished she'd told Blackstar. Who she really was. Why she was hyper for a moment then back to earth now.

And a part of her wish she told Eclipse that in that moment yesterday, he made her feel whole.

And that she wished she had seen it all coming. This was too good to be true. Too much. And she had a responsibility to see that. And she'd fucking abandoned any pretence. Was this on her? Surely not?

Paranoia had to die. There wasn't any time for it.

Because right now, she was ready. Mentally checked into the hotel of hurt. To go to the end, fight whatever it would take, do whatever was required. Rip the bastard's skull off his body, for doing this. Gaggles was going down. But the other clowns would want to kill her first.

In her attempts to corral off clowns to her and escort kids and parents away, she hadn't drawn much power since zapping a bunch of the clowns back. And with the grid disconnected, no power was left in anything else to leech from. Not enough to deal with the crowd of clowns she'd led to herself. She hadn't trapped them. She'd brought them to her, and she was caught in her own trap, none of the stalls or rooms having locks on them. Her attempt to at least pin some of them in had now gone to shit, and movement when this thing was climbing was going to be tricky to manage, especially considering her energy levels.

So, this was it. A last stand. Or at least, it would seem like it.

She was surrounded. Absolutely at stupid odds. She could do this if she could leech power. Maybe run and then come back, and she'd go through them like bowling pins, with enough force to deal with a massed group.

But she had no choice but to stand and fight given if she didn't, more families and civilians on the other side would be next. The rest of the team would have to deal with this, given they were on the other side of the avenue she was in, flanked by a hot dog stand and a popcorn machine. She had to stand with what she had, and right now, Sophie realised that with the knives, mallets and other circus ware they carried, she was going to maybe die to a bunch of fucking clowns. Not unless she fought like her life depended on it.

It would be easy to be a coward. It would be easy to run. But that wasn't what she was. There was enough pulsating power inside her screaming at her that in spite of everything, this was it.

So she put that in words.

"I never liked clowns anyway, so come on then.....joke's on you if you think you're all gonna live!"

She screamed the one liner, almost a banshee like yell, incinerating one clown who dared step forwards in retort who was howling with laughter thinking she didn't mean it, turning him into ozone, literally where he stood ash falling out. But Sophie was realising that it was like shooting the only round she had in the chamber.

Joke was on her.

The others charged, and she hit another with a tazer-punch and sent them flying into a stall, but not before she was flanked, and got punched in the face by another clown, getting mobbed as she almost comically sent two flying off her with a shock from her body, getting hit hard again in the face and ribs by another who then smashed a rubber mallet into her head, the blood pouring in her mouth and making her shove, but ultimately, overwhelming her.

It was never going to work. The odds were poor. And while even without power she would be a good fighter, against multiple assailants, with less and less energy, she was going to get absolutely swarmed.

The other clowns chasing after the rest of the team had left Lightning Girl behind as the blood began to sink, and she could only protect her face, trying to jolt out any power. A knife hit her in the side, and she could feel the blade cut into abdomen, before being pulled out, to push again before she jolted it away with a static shock, and screamed. Feeling blood pour.

This really was it. But she had to find something. Something inside her.

She pushed one clown away, and wrestled another into ground, getting kicked by another onto her back again, the idea of a fight not typical with this little power. It felt like she was down to nothing, at least, she was down to almost her emergency battery internally, the kind that was zapped almost entirely out.

LG felt like she should have been so much better at this, but she wasn't. She had nothing. Just a bloody obstruction skipped without her power. All the other clowns were hunting the other heroes, skipping the Lightning Girl-sized sleeping policeman, and while she might have drawn them away for a little while, it wasn't anywhere near enough time, nor a proper trap. The civilians might have had more time to hide, but the rest of the A-Team did not.

She was lucky enough the clowns had thought Sophie was good as dead once her head had been hit, and well, if it was someone normal, maybe that would be true, as she zapped one more clown that thought he was coming into finish the job, Sophie crawling and jolting his foot, reverse tackling him and punching him square unconscious when he was in the dust with her. She huffed, exhaling hard, blood pissing hard, as she held one hand against side, another against ground, dragging herself along it.

---

Thursday
13:59
SDN Claremont

Excrement to Blades

James had moved out from his desk, and ran to the window, putting hands against glass, looking high, high into the sky. Nearly at airliner level. Kat ran across, also looking up, sighing, shaking her head, peering. She'd seen all sorts of insane shit, but nothing this brazen. Not on her turf.

"Fucking told Parks, don't let a bunch of clowns run a funfair for free. Your heroes on this?" Kat asked, as James nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat as he kept the headset muted, over his ears, hearing Lightning Girl get hit.

Sophie.

And he had to nod.

"Yeah, they're working on getting it down. Told them to focus on civilians, and to find a way to get it back to earth." James couldn't make words. His mouth went dry, but he had to say something, bark it out, the adrenaline spiking in him. There was a lot of danger, a lot of risk, but hearing her get hurt, hearing them in danger, and seeing a fucking massive lump of earth in the sky, held up by balloons beyond eyesight, a teeny brown and white streak in the blue sky.

Kat nodded, looking out, the buzzing in her pocket making it clear she was not exactly here to talk to James and reassure him. She just wanted answers, because every second counted. They had jobs to do. Kat had to say the obvious, and let James at least know what was going to happen next.

"Good. Jesus Christ. They're not taking hostages, we've got no demands. They're gonna kill 'em, James. Whatever it takes to keep civies safe, you hear....I'll get other branches to get any flying heroes out to pull civies out, but we're not gonna get them there till ten minutes, at least. Hold on, gotta get this call....keep me updated." She moved away from the scene, and already had about five calls going to her, direct.

Kat had realised it soon enough. This would be a mass casualty event. A lot of people were going to die, if the balloons and land continued to climb. Getting civilians safe was the only priority. The team would have to figure out Gaggle, and whatever his suicide pact of a plan was.

For all the insanity that was up there, down in the office was the trauma of James watching, and sitting on the fact that today, a Thursday of all days, might be the day he wished he hadn't come into work. Or even in this entire thing.

He wasn't the one getting punched in the face today. But part of dispatching was the lack of control. His heroes had to play the call to this, because he had no idea of what to advise. No cameras to patch into. Nothing.

And right now, he had none because he could hear the team get torn up, and he was going to watch. He'd dealt with fatalities at work before. Heroes died. It happened, it was the worst of the worst days, but this, this was something else. He'd had to deal with multiple casualty events, even terrorism, but what always stuck with him was the screaming. It was hearing someone die on the other end of the phone. It was hearing horror.

And even worse, it was hearing it to the only person that in his life, he'd realised had mattered right now. Given him somewhere to stay.

Been the reason he was here. He looked after her. No matter what. He told Dad, he would do that. And her gift and what he'd done would lead to her dying, but right now, he had to at least try and keep a brave face. Shit, she'd taken worse, been shot, taken knives, been pretty badly hurt, but even so, being mobbed was worst case. It was how you killed a hero if you had enough guts.

He was going to hear Sophie bleed over his headset, and he couldn't do shit. He couldn't help. He ran back to his desk, and checked on vitals. Peeling it up. Heart rate was very, very all over the place. He had to key in lots to adjust the map, sighing. Going to private.

"Lightning Girl, can you hear me?"

Static.

He tried again. Hands turning pink in his fist.

He had heard her hurting. Her comms channel had been left open to him, privately.

"Sophie, your vitals are all over the place, you okay?"

She yelped, exhaling hard, wiping blood from all over her side. Her hair was even covered in dirt and blood, and what was once a white-silver heroine was replaced by grit and horror. A few clowns around her were clambering up, but they were jolting, from who she'd basically given free heart attacks to, the others palpitations, the others realising it wasn't worth fucking with Lightning Girl if she pushed power to them.

"Yeah......I'll be fine. I've been better....fuck." She spluttered, peeling more power, starting to be able to walk a bit better now, hurt, but back into fight.

British understatement.

---

Her opponents fought dirtier than Sophie did. They had tried going for hands, eyes, anything. She'd blocked, but knives, well, even if she could deflect, it took one lucky hit and that was what they had on her. She had done what she could. But realised it may still not have been anywhere near enough.

Sophie limped upwards, barely sucking power from a nearby ATM, wiping the blood from her face, realising her cowl had a massive crack along the side from where she'd been hit revealing half of her face, her cloak covered in blood from where her side had been stabbed and she'd taken a fairly nasty gash to the side of the head to her cowl strap, the earlier joke about head injuries with Asteroid now coming vivid.

She was struggling, and while she could operate in high altitude significantly better than some of the team, a hurt Lightning Girl was a wounded lion, and at altitude, not healing as well as normal. She was hazy, coughing out blood and feeling the hurt in her ribs, and her side, pulling her hand away revealing a river of blood. Fuck.

Lucky it didn't go through any major organs given her metabolism had kept the blade from going in, but that just meant it was more of a slash, lacerating across her hip to her ribs. The knife wound was really stunting her movement, and it made her lean up against a wall, exhaling hard, keeping pressure into it.

She was meant to be a pillar of strength. And right now, she wasn't anything, she was hurting, groaning with pain, the feeling in her shooting second by second, not helped by her body's attempts trying to heal faster. She was fucking stupid, and hurt, realising she could have probably run, or at least, think through what was going on. Take time. Get the fuck out of dodge so you can save more people, Sophie. Not die and let it happen anyway, you fucking idiot.

Self loathing is not helping, Soph. We need to heal up.

All she could do to that thought was peel one of her bloody hands into her hip pack, and messily, peel out a bleed kit- one that she had to self administer now, given it had knocked her from the fight. Normally it would be for other victims of injuries, but for her, this was what was gonna stop her from being a bloody mess. Tons and tons of clotting agent, followed up by a packed bandage, that would at least help the haemostatic dressing and clotting material stick. This wasn't her first time being hurt, shot, stabbed. But it was her first time getting absolutely brawled by a group and she was a haze.

She would have normally been able to take them. Or at least, plan. But all manner of shit was wrong when altitude, civies, and mass casualties were on the line. She had to tell the team that....

"Team, there's a whole load of clowns headed towards the....christ, I'm seeing double....." She mumbled, jamming her hand into a broken claw machine, nothing but residuals left from when they had taken on electricity earlier. She drew power, and her vision went very vivid, blurred at edges, but as she stood, feeling her body and metabolism work, she was not herself. The power made her stronger, but the pain still hurt.

It was like pouring alcohol on an open wound. She screamed, like a cat that had been stepped on, the power helping heal, but not fast enough. Not at altitude. Not when there were that many open wounds. Painkillers wouldn't even do anything, she had to tank this out, and keep going, and later, deal with whatever consequences came.

This wasn't Lightning Girl that could hurl bolts, take hits, she was down to the equivalent of a phone on its battery saving mode. With a cracked screen. But she had no less left to give, as she tried to find other heroes, knowing Eclipse had gotten out of a fight, Blackstar had tried to catch the lead of Giggles (now revealed to be Gaggle), and the others? Damn, where were they?

If they found her, they wouldn't find the stalwart of the team, but they'd find a hurt, bloodied heroine that while bringing back her power, and now fending off other hurt clowns with a simple taze that knocked them out, knowing that she hadn't bought time for them. How she was still going was hard to say, but as another clown came into view, she let him swing first, catching arm as she coiled around and twisting it and bolting him hard into ground with a long, gruelling taze, before standing, cape a little torn and red. If they didn't, she had clowns to slowly, surely piece through.

[Roll- Combat / Int Fail, 5d10, Only 2/5 Success]

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Round 17 of Formula AG
Saturday 4th November, 2094
Qualifying Day
Bonneville Salt Flats AG Race Circuit, Utah, FAS
Federated American States AGP

1800 Mountain Time

The ship burned through the corner into the late afternoon, the dust thrown into the air in the heat of the late afternoon, revealing the expanse of the salt flat, and the mountains kilometers away that were somehow, a part of one of the largest circuits of the year. Well, everything was bigger in America, as they said....

Because after that first MAG banked corner after the start straight, was among the longest straights in Formula AG. A huge, massive straight continued direct towards Volcano Peak, off the salt flats, a few kinks keeping pilots from just keeping it pinned, mostly to avoid rocks and structures put up in the way. The surface was not tarmac, so salt and dust sprayed from ships down the straight, effectively, turning into an ELS and speed storm. The clamber out into dust changed surface to a loose metal, so as not to destroy the primeval red rocks, and the ascent did not reduce speed. A solid 25 seconds at top speed meant ships could propel themselves beyond

At Volcano Peak, the corner followed up into one ridge with an overlook down onto the salt flat and festival below, a spectacular glass hairpin basically forcing ships to brake through a signed right left kink that would kill off the majority of speed, before the glass towered into the heavens, a gentle jolt of the ship right bringing the ship down with gravity. And then back down the other spine, a hard left and right into a deep canyon between two rock faces, making it feel more like Luna than it was Earth, but there were no chicanes, just a slow right turn that went flat out to the festival, as fast as the approach here.

And near to the main festival site, the large metallic structures, reused from Dolomites and Hawaii were used to create a tight final complex- a right-left that clambered up at the end of the second massive straight, before going left into an inverted corkscrew and then spat back out into level below the track just used, with two fiendishly hard hairpins, one super tight right one, followed with another one that was looser on a massive glass bank that spectators could watch ships at, before speeding back out into the distance onto the main start straight

A track of few corners, but absolute speed and ELS, which helped ships peak out on the straights, was key. There was no clipping here- batteries got a significant charge in the stadium section, which meant that when they were thrown out of the first corner after the start straight, "Lightning Bolt Straight" got its name from the whine of electrical power being discharged.

In these rounds, running a ship platform that was adjusted for speed was advisable- particularly at Bonneville and Wadi Rum, which demanded the highest load on sped. Aero was slimmed down to nearly nothing, and here, ships went fast. At high speed, the ship would judder as the forces keeping it pinned to the ground fought those that wanted the entire thing to take flight and peel away from ground- creating the strange sensation of an inverted judder. It felt like the ground was not below, but above, as ships couldn't just be fast, but had to try not to peel off ground and lose the effect of the AG generator. A low setting on an AG unit though, risked bottoming out the ship in the last section- so it was an impossible setup game, working to try and find what worked and that was the reason for why the ships weren't in a perfect two-by-two, according to performance.

The times posted kept on getting shorter, and shorter, but once Ava Villarosa posted a time like what she had, it felt fairly obvious of the runners left, nobody else had a chance.

Qualifying Results for Federated American States

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn…

---

Healing Salt

Inside the Carrera Condor pit, the cheering rocked the inflated tent, the metrics showing it off quite for what it was. A hell of an achievement to keep up the pressure on the other teams, from their poor position, to this feel-good story.

In the Delta Hyper room, Ava sat there with arms folded, a smile finally cracking under her steely gaze. In addition was the new addition of the Estrella Galicia sponsor a blue bloom on her shoulder, as deftly negotiated (or at least, shoved onto) Leon's plate by the boss's friends.

"I guess it's hard to answer that question. Bea.....Beatrix pushed me, in every sense. Pushed me to work smarter. I was obsessed with VO2 max, data, quantitively improving. And in our game, it always is numbers.....but sometimes....it's about what's up here. Beyond the neural link. She.....focuses on that. Making the most out of the ship. And it's why she was faster. Less noise, all signal. So I guess I learned from that a lot. Just feel the ship rather than try and read too much into the numbers. We may not see eye to eye.....but sometimes you need that to find an edge." Ava replied, smiling, knowing that taking P1 was a hell of a stint for the Chilean driver- long since considered a number two, but having her moment of flowering in the salt flat.

---

Recovery Drive

Nora rested hands on knees, her hair coloured into a poly-colour red-yellow pearlecent, something as punk as she could have. Queen of the Wasteland was the theme, and Southern Cross had absolutely embraced the apocalypse theme. The navy blue was represented a boiler-suit like costume, with gold zips and red patches across it, with sponsors who had kindly, accepted their logos be covered in dust and dirt (aesthetically, of course). Dirtying their pilots suits seemed a little odd, but then again, Nora Kelly was The Interior's former champion, and if anyone knew what living in the sand and desert was like, in automotive counterculture that came with far more edge than this, it would be her.

"It's hard. Being compared to Amy that early....and what's at stake. The entire team wants to win the Constructors, but more than anything, a Driver's win would be everything I guess anyone dreams of. Just need to get the points and close the gap."

"Do you think the injury changed your chances?"

"I dunno.....it was terrifying. But I think therapy made me realise I needed to use it like fuel. It's impossible me being on the grid. All of the talk. All the hurt. But knowing I have a chance keeps me going. So anything's possible, and I know how to make the most out of that ship. Use it like fuel for the fire. Just made me fight harder." Nora turned her prosthetic hand, clenching her fist shut.

---

Stakes

Sitting in the chair, a rather unusual sight. Jinwoo. Zygon's Principal.

"So I mean, we knew it was coming. Carrera are hunting us down. Not like we had much choice in development."

"Are the rumours true that Zygon are looking to change the management structure, due to this year's mixed performances?"

"We still have the rest of the season to go. We have a solid platform to work with, and our design choices have been.....rectified. And we will perform better next year."

"And what if you don't?"

"I think I answered that question."

An ominous threat. Jinwoo didn't want to show the pressure, but, Delta Hyper had a hell of a pick sometimes of who it got in for interviews. As if it was working the secret thread of narrative itself, and well, catching the zeitgeist of what people talked about when it came down to teams.

---

Delta Hyper Interviews

The interviews continued, this time, back outside in the dusk light, lit up with lasers in the background at the festival, albeit away enough via some sound-proof glass to make sure the audience didn't hear the sound of rave music.

"Bea, P3 today in Qualifying, and Carrera are looking like the team to beat. How are you going to manage fighting at the front, if it comes to it?"

"Kais, a stellar effort to push to P4, and it looks like you're not letting up on chasing after P4 in the Drivers Championship. It looks like three teams have the rule of the roost in America- how did you feel out there today?"

"Paul, we knew that Valkyrie weren't going to light the times up at Bonneville, but it must still feel frustrating to be down in 12th. What's your plan for tomorrow?"

"Trix, feels like Nordic Call's lack of speed is making things a little harder, but it seems like in the race you're playing with some new ELS settings. How does that feel?"

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Thursday
13:03
SDN Claremont

Carnival Run

Lightning Girl

(Collab with @SonnetNSunbeam)

"Asteroid, you want a lift to the carnival? I ain't pooled with you yet."

When she offers her hand, he keeps his glove on and nods. “Yeah- it’ll probably take four times as long to jump there based on recent experience.” He laughs a bit, and tilts his head in Blackstar’s direction. The motion is jerky, like someone who is used to the weight of a helmet. *

Lightning Girl beamed a white enameled smile back and nodded to him, noting Blackstar too, guessing the same as anyone did here they were a thing. Of course, the others now thought that of her and Eclipse…

And headed onto the balcony, into the blazing sunshine, the white seemed to pop on the heroine's tall, yet almost stereotypical silhouette. Asteroid was shorter than her, not by much, mind.

“At least you can leap really far. That's pretty cool. No licence needed. What a loophole….” She remarked nonchalantly with a cool tail off, flicking her cape back over, eyeing him up. All white kept her cool in the sun, but the costume was not made for this heat. She was as ever, energetic and trying to put that energy to bring a friendly, outward self.

“Okay, given Blackstar has eyes for you and you're basically Pam and Jim, and yes, I am aware of all the rumours….bridal may not be the best way to carry you. I find peeled under arm works best. Are you comfortable with that?” She asked, hand in rubber gloves, presented as she got ready to carry him. She was being a tease. More awkward, really. She felt awkward.

“Okay, maybe not that far. Like Leslie and Ben. From Parks and Rec? Ahh, okay, I'll stop. I'm awful! I mean you're probably friends cos of all the cosmic stuff and…yeah I've dug myself a hole.” She was still talkative, as she let Asteroid come close, as she adjusted her mask. “But honestly, good to head out with you. We haven't been dispatched together yet, which is craaaazy.” The energy from her was palpable, which did make sense. She had electricity pulsing from her feet, and with barely a push, she'd be skybound.

Jet’s heart skips a beat at the first comment. He’s sure he just ceases to exist for a quarter of a second. Pam and Jim from the Office? Was he that obvious? Who is he kidding, he’s that obvious. And a romantic. But he was trying to keep that tied up in his closet at home.

As Lightning Girl talks herself down to Parks and Rec and to ‘all the cosmic stuff’, he’s kind of spiraling in his head. He respects Lightning Girl- so playing it off- feels like lying. Maybe he hadn’t committed to anything yet- sure. But Blackstar? There was something about her. “Uh-.” He tries. “Blackstar is somebody special- I think, and I kind of need to keep this job.” An awkward laugh is forced out of his lungs. He’s glad to be hiding his blush beneath his mask.

Lightening Girl’s face turned to a shit eating grin, as she gave a nudge and zapped him gently with her elbow, as little as one could. “Oh I'm totally running into HR, they'll totally…..nah just fucking with you.” She giggled, pulling him in close and arm around, no electricity bar her resonant static, turned close, lips to ear.

Jet jumps at the zap and rubs the point of contact. His pulse races before realizing she’s joking- then all the air in his lungs bursts from his chest. A joke! Okay! “You got me.” He laughs lifting his arms.

“I'm no snitch, Asteroid. It's fine. Most beautiful things start slow, and you're right, she's a good egg. Just take your time and remember, she's new to this. Anyway…..right. Where were we?” She said, tightening her grip into his arm, wrapping him under her right arm and with barely a step, pushing up, and into the cloudless sky, white hair and cape pluming.

Once safely in the air, he continues- “Technically I’m new too- I’ve only been here a few months. But yeah- I’ll be respectful, I’ve been out of the dating scene for quite a while anyway.” It’s having a hero, one that he respects a lot, that’s pressing the information out like a juicer.

So it’s easy to stumble into the next part. LG already has a hold on him- how much more vulnerable can he get? “She’s just- so nice to be around- and the ring of green in her eyes is just-.” That’s when his mouth falls open, shocked at himself. Oh- it’s worse than he thought. He coughs. “Okay- yeah that’s- that’s going to be an issue.”

All of the thoughts in his head seem to tumble out. He chews on a thumb through the fabric of his mask and glove. Fuck calling Rey, he was going to jump to his house after work directly. This couldn’t wait.

Lightning Girl wasn’t sure where he was going, but well, all the awkwardness of earlier seemed to metabolise into something else.

“Hey, what’s between you two is between you. I’m not gonna ask.” She replied, cape fluttering as she turned, not going as fast as she could, so as not to terrify the living crap out of him.
“I mean when you talk about her like that, you are making me wanna ask, I suppose. You are falling for her aren’t you. Though……you saw into her eyes? She was comfortable enough to take her mask off around you? Okay, that’s……fuck. Uhhh, she likes you then, Asteroid. And she’s more shy than Felix when I saw him this morning.” Sophie chuckled, shaking her head, taking another turn, taking a scenic route to where they were going. It wasn’t that much further after all, and she wanted to keep her electricity to hand. “Know the feeling too well. It’s like what I remember having goosebumps. So….yeah. My lips are sealed.“ She smiled, a polite, cute one, as she sped up a little.

Lightning Girl’s surprise almost pushes Jet into a panic over Blackstar potentially liking him. She barely knows him- there’s no way. “Thanks, I owe you one.” After that Jet redirects the conversation. “Thanks for your help with getting Felix settled by the way. That was cool of you. Hopefully James was okay with it?”

“Those paws are just so tiny.” He says it with a weird kind of reverence. Jet’s only recently discovered what it’s like to have a pet so he’s losing his mind with how cute animals are right now. “I got a fish named Ducky recently- that’s the only pet I’ve had before.” He’s proud of keeping it alive for the few months since he started at SDN.

Sophie laughed, barely scraping over the cloud in the sky, the moisture wicking both.

“Yeah, James is okay with Felix, for sure. I know him. He’s stubborn but he eventually relents over stuff like that. That tabby is so cute, like, when you brought him in…..yeah how could we not keep him.“ She started, stopping, trying to get her bearings. “Right, where were we? Sorry. I took the scenic route” Lightning Girl adjusted, struggling to believe Asteroid had a pet fish. They were above Claremont to the north, in the mountains, Lightning Girl distracted by conversation despite the speed they took.

“Didn’t take you for an animal person, Asteroid. A pet fish too…..okay, that’s where the fish food reference came from. Thought you had some insane craving.” Sophie chuckled, clambering up a bit more.

They’re cruising along in the sky and the sun being out is a much different experience while flying. Before he knows it, he’s day dreaming about Alaine pulling him through the sky. Memories twisted into vignettes of a drunken haze. He’s mortified at his brain fixating on a woman he literally just met. He wonders if his powers would hold out at a height this high. “I actually kind of want to try falling at this height. But I don’t have my helmet- so that’s a bad idea.”

Memories of his old uniform. The villain one- black boots- red bottoms. Black zip up jacket that came together at the side rather than down the front middle. Most of all, his black full coverage motorcycle helmet. “I actually used to wear a motorcycle helmet when I ran with the other crowd.” He trips through this part, suddenly feeling awkward for mentioning his time as a villain to a hero.

“Before I figured it out, I’d fall and hit my head all the time. Not sure if that’s a problem you have when learning to fly?” He asks.

Sophie chuckled, shaking her head. “I fell in a canal when I first tried it. I leapt up, had nowhere near as much power as I thought I needed, and fell to earth from about five storeys high and thought I broke every bone in my body. It takes a lot of focus. Now it’s just second nature. I just think about the limb I want all the static to pour out of and it reacts, static pours and I don’t electrocute the people I carry…so long as you’re insulated when I carry you. Less the head injuries that worry me, I seem to…..well, I’ve taken some hits that a fast metabolising body seems to take more time to heal.” Lightning Girl rambled, answering that question with the depth she hoped would put that one away. “I reckon you would be fine. I mean, small window to get it right, but…..practice I guess may make perfect. That was not a suggestion for you to do it. Please don’t do what Madcap did. Fuck that gave me a scare the first…..anyway. I can’t imagine you with a motorbike helmet on ... .menacing as it would be I suppose…” She cut herself off, as she looked at him, still cradled tight against her arm.

“Sorry, I’m rambling. How about you? How did you get your powers if you don’t mind me asking? And how did you end up being a Phoenix? You seem more hero than villain to me. No offense. Or at least, I hope it doesn’t come off that way.” Lightning Girl asked, letting Asteroid reply as they flew along. Lightning Girl was polite, sometimes to the chase, but never one to not talk something up.

“I got my powers in 10th grade. No idea where they came from, they were a real surprise to me. That was my first physics class though.” He trails off in thought for a second before continuing- “It took me 10 years to really get the hang of them.” Busting jewelry out of cases without having to physically touch anything was a really great villain power. Crushed glass under his boots, glass-break alarms ringing hugely in his ears. The gold chain he wore to the bar last night came from that break in.

“Damn. Yeah….you definitely learn that normal forces don’t….sorry, carry on, you were saying about mastering it?” She replied, letting him go on.

“Yeah- I spent the first 5 years in prison for nearly killing my tennis opponent. I tried to move small stuff while I was there. Then the next 4 running with villains is where I started figuring it out, and the last 4 in prison before the SDN popped in.” A weight settles on him as he speaks. “I was just looking to feed myself and that’s a slope more slippery than you'd expect.” He gets a little more quiet after that. His mention of SDN was soft, an appreciation for the phoenix program.

“Fuck. That’s….rough. You spent a lot of time behind bars. Like…..shit. I can’t believe how much.” The response was not one Lightning Girl expected. It was strange to pivot from mastering to him nearly killing someone with a tennis ball. A black sort of humour, but, it wasn’t intended at all. Shit…..ah well!

Turning a little, the lights and the display of the carnival were ahead, even in daylight, a tiny glow. “Sorry to hear it. But, you’re here now. It’s….good you have an opportunity. And it sounds like you’re doing well with the team, so, hopefully it’s a new leaf. I find it’s best to focus on the future. Past’s the past. You’re with us and you are good at what you do, Asteroid.” Lightning Girl was not always the brightest, but she was a ray of hope, at least, she tried to portray herself as that.

She gave a beaming smile to him, and while Lightning Girl was not perhaps infatuated with him, platonically, there was this warmth and buzz to her that would make him certainly feel like there was a part of her that cared. A big part of that was being filled with electricity, that heightened everything she was, to an nth degree, but it felt sincere. It felt like it made her more grateful for never being in prison, never going down that path, being good.

Asteroid smiles- surprised by the compliment. “Just gotta make sure the past wants to stay in the past.” He mumbles that bit to himself before more loudly clarifying. “Honestly- LG? Is LG okay? That means a lot coming from a bonafide superhero like yourself.” His voice takes on a teasing tone at ‘bonafide superhero’. “You’ve definitely been an influence on me getting my shit together. They put you, Brainbook, Blonde Blazer, and Quickdraw in all the promotional material for the Phoenix Program.”

Lightning Girl giggled, nodding. “No problem, Asteroid….that’s gonna power me and my ego all day! Bona-fide superhero…..you are trying to make me blush. I’d almost think you were trying to chat me up if you weren’t talking about…..yeah. And the promo material, yeah I…..still can’t believe that happened. She is amazing, by the way. Like every story you’ve heard about Blazer, believe me, it’s true, she’s endlessly sweet. I didn’t actually meet Quickdraw for the shoots but I did see him the other night and he is everything you think he is too. They say don’t meet your heroes, well, definitely do…..” She stopped herself, catching her breath, it suddenly sinking all in. Holy shit. Yeah, that happened. That face of hers on a billboard. The photo shoot. Oh, yeah, of course. Quickdraw.

“And LG is fine. I can’t believe I ended up with a name this long either. But what you see is what you get…..girl who spews lightning. Woman would be more…..I dunno, more age appropriate now? Corporate? Not sure.” She chuckled, blushing a little, catching her bearings, thinking about his comment. “But yeah. Anytime. It’s not easy doing this but you’ll be one too. That’s up to you.” She didn’t have words of inspiration like earlier, but, she put the ball back in his court, with something small at least.

“Man that was a crazy night of work…..and the drinks….” She reflected, thinking back to all of it. Quickdraw, the night at the bar….Tsunami…..and the chaotic dispatches between them.

“Yeah- I’m not a light weight by any means but I was certainly at my line.” Clearing his throat for a second, he decides against telling LG that Blackstar flew him home that night. “But- yeah about Tsunami- do I need to sync up with Eclipse on how to get rid of her or?” Jet’s tone is very clearly joking, and he’s ready to back down at the first sign of LG being uncomfortable. “I mean- you probably can take care of it yourself. I just assume he and I could make it happen, with a- more practiced hand?” Damn- weren’t they just talking about how he was a superhero now? He had a lot of doors to close behind him still it seems.

Lightning Girl shook her head, gently on approach into the carnival. Her reply felt uncertain, the first time maybe Asteroid would notice it. The usually bubbly, confident, assured, almost totally set heroine didn’t completely have it all together in that moment.

“Oh yeah, that. Uhh….you don’t have to. I get it’s…..honestly, it’s fine, and I suppose I needed to calm down. I guess I overreacted when James got hit. He used to dispatch me back in London. If he hadn’t have moved, I’d probably put myself in prison if I did what I did next. Or worse.” She covered for the fact that he was actually her brother, which meant it wasn’t a lie, not really, but, not quite the entire truth. And she wasn’t the best liar, but, she was good enough to be economical with what she said. She let Asteroid sit on the fact he thought he was a villain trying to turn page, more than what she was trying to cover. Another small, white lie to add, but one that greased any wheel of any human truth.

“And Tsunami I guess hates my guts because I hit her with electricity when she was chasing a perp that I tried to stun. And water scatters voltage. So……yeah. It wasn’t my intent but I guess she wanted to see if she could fuck my career over. Any infraction, Asteroid, and I don’t get suspended, I possibly get deported, if you can’t tell from my accent, I’m not a local. And while I miss home, I like LA a lot more than Manchester.” Lightning Girl opened up a void she hadn’t expected to, the stakes of it all completely sinking in as she said it out loud. “SDN paid me to come here and I guess I couldn’t say no to the dream of being a hero in LA so I guess she used that against me. Even pissed she knew what she was doing..” She replied, sighing, the wind taken from her sails. She was open about that. She was a corporate heroine, no doubt about it, it was just what people like her with powers that she had would do. What was the alternative? Work for the local electricity distribution board? In a world that had a few heroes in it, it made sense that those with powers, used them for some sort of good. At least, where they could.

“Heroes don’t start fights, they end them, Asteroid. Or some cliche like that. It’s fine. Honestly.” She smiled, brushing it off as best as she could, wanting to gently move the topic away.

“Anyway…..how did you get your name, Asteroid?”

Sensing that she wasn’t going further- and having way more information than he already knew what to do with- he pivoted as well. “Uh, marketing?” He laughs a bit. “Somebody said that when I jumped I looked like a meteor shooting through the sky- but then somebody said ‘meat-eater’ I knew that wasn’t going to cut it, kids, ya know.” He’d had a nightmare about a bunch of teenagers making jokes at his expense. That was technically before he’d been let out of jail. Asteroid felt much more refined to him somehow. “I don’t know who threw Asteroid in the ring, but that felt right almost immediately.”

Lightning Girl chuckling would have sent a small pulse into him, like a cat purring blended with an electric fence, in her embrace, that close making her absolutely light up.
“Meat-eat-or……okay, there’s so many ways that joke goes!” She paused herself, clearing her throat, the white-haired, grey suited heroine getting back to being serious. “Asteroid seems way better. Gravity powers, black suit, yeah, that feels right. Dammit marketing are good. Most of the time. 80% of the time they get it right 100% of the time.” She giggled, a little less tension in her body than before.

“I will say- they do tend to skew towards Girl over Woman for some reason.” He thinks pointedly about Invisigirl from the original Phoenix Program. “Glad to hear it lands- I feel out of place without my helmet, but the gold embellishments kind of make up for it.” Feeling the warmth of her electricity he lets it carry him into just being himself- “These suits are really high quality- I have to admit I was worried they were going to outfit us in trash materials, but SDN really cares about how our suits work for us.” He points under his arm, knowing damn well from their position that LG can’t really see. “Like the breathable material here under the arms is just such a good touch.”

As the carnival comes into view, Jet’s struck by how nice LG really, actually is. One-on-one even more than in a group setting. He thought it was at least some part a show for the team- but no. LG was just- a really nice gal. “Next time we go to the bar, you and I should definitely do some karaoke.” It comes out before he can stop himself, but he can’t help hoping that maybe they could be friends in some capacity.

Maybe Rey was really rubbing off on him- trying to make friends- how about that.

Lightning Girl did not have breathable material on hers. But then again, her suit was pre-SDN. Ballistic cordura meant her suit could take an awful lot of punishment, and giving her suit’s material a feeling of a soft, yet almost Hessian-like abrasive feel, a design made to last and magnify the silvery-like light grey. It meant that she was glad she had absolutely dosed herself in deodorant before the shift started, but also, stank of white-hot ozone rather than giving any impression to Asteroid that she didn’t have that luxury of his.

It was one thing they did spend money on. Dispatch computers, offices that didn’t have leaks? Ehh, mileage varied. She kept quiet on that, listening to him comment about karaoke.

“Well, maybe with a few more strong, hero-grade IPAs in me I might just sing like a songbird. Who knows. We’re almost there. I may have taken the scenic route. But, we’re still gonna beat the others, and, as far as I can tell, we were scheduled for 1:30…..James knows the others will be late if we weren’t sent straight away.” She giggled, teasingly, appreciating Asteroid’s demeanour.

He was an ex-villain, but clearly, he wanted to move past what he’d gone through. That many years in prison? Holy shit, how was he not in a cartel, or some white supremacist after everything? She thought about all the documentaries her and James watched, it was…..harrowing. That many years in the clink and he still managed to be this normal. She wasn’t sure how he had done it…..even as a super, in a containment like that, keeping his sanity was an achievement and while she hadn’t really said it out loud, that aspect almost impressed her the most. He was functional for someone who had missed the prime of his life behind bars, and spent everything up to now causing harm, rather than help. And here he was, adapting to it like it was everyday. Sophie had a quiet respect for that. An admiration, and she was glad he was on their side because it would be so easy to give in for him and be bad, or even worse, resentful. Perhaps just knowing he was still human, still able to show his feelings, emote, be normal, that was something more important, almost more than his powers. No wonder Blackstar liked him. Sophie of course, had her eyes on someone else but in a strange, roundabout way, being Blackstar’s introduction to SDN and her port of call, felt it was nice to know Asteroid really was the real thing.

Jet cheered lightly at the acceptance, his track record for getting friends drunk at bars being what it was. “I’ll hold you to that.”

When they approach the ground, he taps on LG’s arm and attempts a sort of moon walk to the ground. He’s falling so quickly that it’s off time, and he stumbles to his feet haphazardly. “Thank you- that was much faster.” He stretches a bit, touches his toes, and looks around to take in the scenery.

Lightning Girl seems to elegantly drop down, as a few people point and the crowd gathers, Sophie of course, taller than most and pride of place, hands to hips in a classic, typical superhero pose. He takes her lead, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.

“No worries, Asteroid! Now….we need to look good for cameras. People love a hero.”

A small crowd began to grow, as Lightning Girl waved, casually among the carnival street walking along, as ever, approachable and her usual pillar of strength, waving, black gloves on, the “safeties” to her power.

---

Thursday
13:20
Dispatch Corner
SDN Claremont

Rubber Stamp

James Speight

@Auragreedia

The shadowy figure scared James and the cat, who meeped, with paperwork in hand, vanishing away. That was fucking weird.

"Christ." James simply retorted, as he flicked back onto his paperwork.

He was getting alarmingly used to demons like that. He was gonna dissociate from reality at this rate, but, that was why he kept drinking tea. A Earl Grey a day kept the cosmic horror away.

He had to think about what Valerie had said. He waved to Matt as he walked on by with his mop and his bucket, spewing slush onto a nearby desk, holding back a chuckle as the sweet smelling ice was mopped up from the vinyl floor where carpet ran out. There was opportunity, but shit, she was terrifying. Would it be different? Really? Valerie would have to pull on some serious strings. SDN just didn't work that way, he reminded himself.

Flicking through papers to distract from that thought, his phone rang, as he connected it through to his headset, leaning back. The number was unknown, but then again, most were on his phone due to the sheer volume of calls he had to deal with. He had to put on his best SDN voice, even though, he wasn't really an SDN person.

"Hello, SDN Claremont, James speaking?"

"Hey, it's Officer Hayle, from Claremont PD. Is that James, James Speight, dispatcher by the way?" She asked, the voice relatively young, James had to guess she was not often a phoning officer, not an emergency dispatcher, she sounded operational. On the ground.

"Oh, hey. What can I do you for?" The fear hit James. Police. Fuck. Who on his team had gotten something wrong? That badly? SDN were insured, so had they killed someone in cold blood? Had paperwork not hit? Was James on the cuff?

"We've got something that we think we need to talk through with you. You're not in trouble." The voice reassured, realising maybe too late it had to.

James let the sweat go, breathing out, playing it cool.

This was fine. He wasn't going to prison. Where he was probably going to get assaulted by at least two dozen villains on day one if they even remotely knew his line of work.

"Oh, right. Uhhh, sure, over the phone or...."

"No, is it....is it okay if we come by tomorrow morning? We had a few bits of follow up about a few villains we have in custody, I know we're meant to wait to next week for all the paperwork, but we did have some enquiries we hope you could help us with." She asked, as James took his pen and paper, scrolling through his laptop to his side, checking dates.

"Uhhhh.....yeah, we can do that. Does 11:30 work?" He replied, scrambling his Mont Blanc pen and clicking it on, scribbling over some old meeting notes with it. You didn't say no to the police. Not when they were your top contract you held.

"Yeah. Sounds good. We gotta go, but yeah, see you tomor..." The line went dead. James sighed when the disconnect sounded, as he put it aside, headset off.

What was going on? Earpiece back in. Okay, at least the song was good. And funny, in a way.....oh, fate had a funny way of hitting shuffle.

Soundtrack: The Smiths- What Difference Does It Make?

He had a mountain of work to do, as he looked to his side, and started taking folders and going through dispatch reports. A lot for Claremont PD, some for the city, some for insurers. All for him to fill in, because Kat needed help. She was rather busy on calls all day, so, James was more or less, left to it.

With the gentle hum of a soundtrack, he clicked the pen twice, off and on, and started scribbling. Normally admin would do this, but, best he does one of these rounds of Dispatch Logs. He's already done the rest of the work he had to do this morning, so he may as well use the chargeable time he has to be busy. He knew no other mode.

Bit by bit, filling it all through. The hand getting cut off. The door getting damaged. The car registration.....god this was fucking mundane.

The dulcet tones of The Smiths weren't helping. But he just felt in that mood.

More paperwork. The ceramics theft. The specific one that was saved. The chess club. Okay, borderline waste of time, but they were subs and.....yeah.

Classic 80s music wasn't stopping his existential error. And as the clock crept forwards, it wasn't like some people imagined. He wasn't bored, hoping the hours were gonna go.

It was that they did. They vanished, no sooner had he gone from one massive batch of paperwork which he cleared like a fucking ninja with a sword through bamboo, to another, time had just leapt forwards.

And that caught him by surprise when he could see his face as the paperwork pile was put on a cart to his left.

He looked at the black mirror of his laptop, that had since gone into standby, and pondered his life over.

What was he doing? He stopped, and for a moment, actually took a moment. He walked through the office, at faces, people he didn't actually know. He hadn't introduced himself to them. In his relatively business casual clothing, he was just an anomaly.

A means to an end.

A person they called to fight fires.

Maybe Kat would find someone, just like Valerie asked. And Valerie would find him something else. Or Max and Sarah, the two fairly high level Directors within the firm, who worked in San Jose and New York respectively. The former was a former tech bro, worked at Google, Amazon once upon a time, while the latter actually had a career as Lamplight, a light-based power before choosing a retirement just like Kat.

God, it was so fucking easy for them. He knew they hated powers, but, they could retire. This was retirement for them. Doing good out there and being all powered, meant you could at least put your powers in some good here, and go at 50%. For him, he was at 90% most of the time. Walking through that office, filling his cup of tea with the kettle going clink, teabag in, pack of Bourbon biscuits nobody wanted in his hand, put back on his desk, this was it.

This was life.

His heroes were all dealing with trauma, or horror, or some other shit, and here he was, trying to get a permanent job not being a fixer, but at least, doing something. His phone would every now and then, talk about that startup Valerie mentioned. They tried to get him last month, but, they went with "a different direction". So for now, this was it.

He reflected on a lot of it. He hadn't been totally honest to Sophie either. He was here because he felt alone. Fuck, he felt isolated, and going home was......an option, but was it? Really? SDN UK was at least civil, but the chance to progress was dead, and there was a long line of directors, and ex-heroes who would cart him out of a window. How did you compete with someone with an IQ of 180? How did you compete with someone who could read your fucking mind? How could you do any of it?

It was better paid here, by an astonishing margin, and ultimately, SDN here had much bigger problems. That came with the territory. It was hard to be a villain when you had a free healthcare system, James joked to someone before he shut the fuck up before he would get beaten to a pulp by a guy with the power of a carnival strongman.

Oh yeah, they were at one. No messages or alerts. Good so far. Trackers were all there.

James almost felt alone in his thoughts, back at his desk, ticking boxes, crossing Ts and checking Is, sipping tea to remove thought like any good Brit might do. But he was in them too soon. Yeah. Heroes, they had it all. Maybe the Phoenix Programme, he felt truly sorry for them, but could he entirely? He'd booted people off, they were former murderers, carjackers, drug dealers, thugs, some of them simply pure fuckheads who hurt people and were now convinced it was in their best interest to avoid becoming a statistic in a prison system.

He did good by them. He had to, James wasn't exactly gonna bitchslap Payback no less he wanted to get attacked. She was doing what he would do in her shoes, but all that hate wasn't gonna disappear. And he had no control when he could tell them it was all done. They were just here like lackeys to the corporate system, here to earn a buck and then.....

Yeah, that black mirror in his laptop was looking a lot like it. What was he doing?

He hadn't met anyone. He was alone, constantly on the move, enjoying life when he had it but he wasn't settled. The money could have bought him a house with a serious deposit, but what was a house gonna do? Was it gonna fill a hole in his heart and head? This could all fall to shit tomorrow and he'd be on the next flight home. Or Sophie would carry him there. His own ego couldn't let go, but then again, he literally had no choice because he was on an SDN-provided visa. He kept his independent status, nominally, and sure, he'd consulted to local authorities, states, government, police, on hero management and interface. But SDN got the lion's share, and they sent him wherever it was they needed him.

It meant he was just the same as them. And maybe it was why he guessed, Payback understood him in that moment, or at least, was willing to accept it beyond all heroics. She was the one that stuck in his memory. Madcap, oh, he was just cooked. Guy was in need of padded walls and a straightjacket, and somehow, James wondered if that had already been tried with no success. The others, they just had flaws, even his sister, that much he still knew from working with her, but it was dawning on him that she was just trying to make it meet until she could figure it out herself. She couldn't return to herself. She had this and not much else.

Fuck. It was strange, going through her and Asteroid's report of dealing with Pyress, given Eclipse hadn't done well. It was a decent fight. David versus Goliath stuff. Damn. Prison taught them how to fight literal fire with another, he thought to himself, as he went to the last bit of the form relating to Blackstar.

And there she was. She was cold, almost detached, but with the team, she was chirpy. Friendly even. Like she found home. James had something on her dossier, but not the full story. Some random guy had put her into touch with SDN, was it.....Jake, Jack? John? Someone, it was a weird one, but she was trained, competent as hell, for someone that fresh. She understood the game. And it was part of what he loved. Seeing someone like that get turned into a real trooper, he didn't just like turning the bad into good, but good into great. She had the image down, the feeling, all of it. A part of him hoped she'd melt, but as Felix woke, after being terrified of the shadow from earlier and mawed at his ankle, James brought him up, smiling, the kitten gleeful in his hands.

"God. You're enjoying the easy life. Can't say you don't deserve it." James chuckled, giving a gentle stroke, as the kitten gently purred, the teeny bit of cat food on his desk getting poured into Felix's bowl, as he popped him down, being extra careful not to run over his tail. Good on you, Asteroid, he thought to himself. Guy was an enigma to James, much as maybe Sophie had thought- he was far too polished, yet somehow, maybe that was just who he was. Some people kept their sanity in prison, but Asteroid must have had good people. Just best not to repeat old mistakes, and James knew that came from having plenty of distractions.

Another stamp into papers with a signature following, and the pile was clear. He sighed, just ending that train of thought about heroism. He was just a regular, everyday, average motherfucker with a Honda Civic and no discernible hobbies at 33, outside of walking aimlessly in the LA Canyons. He wasn't even some non-supe who had a suit of armour, or nanites, or the superpower that Technocrat had of being a grifting, tech-savvy, billionaire with more money than the Pope and Mormonism's equivalent rolled into one. Nah, he had none of it. And Feno got to be mindless, almost if he didn't have to think on any of it. Nor did Madcap. Eclipse? Eclipse was just someone he felt sorry for, it was hard to reason with a junkie, not one who knew he would be back on the sauce. Not that James was comfortable with the proposition he had.

And Sophie? He didn't know. She told him about Hollywood. That gala. And something about Quickdraw. But she seemed to go quiet. Was she trying to make a network in? Good for her, but.....a part of him hoped it was what she was looking for.

He finished up the next sheet from the smaller pile (his personal one), and sighed. Valerie was terrifying, but it would be worth it, he told himself. It would be. It had to be, or else, no doubt he'd be back in New York next week when some shit went down there for Sarah, or he'd be up in the Bay Area when Max decided he wanted to bring in another company SDN were eying up. For now, he had heroes that he had to manage, and so long as he did that, he could consider retiring early, or maybe, maybe, just doing something else when he had brain capacity for it. He could probably just get in at SDN at some mid level position, like Kat had, but....was that really enough? Or something more to plan for?

Right now, he had none come to mind. He just had to slog on through.

---

Thursday
13:31
Giggle's Carnival
Claremont

Fun and Games

Lightning Girl

Soundtrack: Jungle- Heavy, California

At the carnival, Lightning Girl (LG) smiled, as she held onto the teenager's phone, putting finger to charging point.

"Okay, so watch this!" She says, and with it, the phone magically ratcheted up in battery, as he grinned in excitement, Sophie using her other hand to pass it back to him before she tazed some 12 year old, smiling as his parents smiled, LG giving nothing but a grin and her usual self, posing for a final photo with the kid's mother, before waving goodbye, catching plenty of attention in the main "walkway" of the carnival.

A group of college-age girls wave as she finishes, one of them approaching. Even with the name fuck up, which Lightning Girl was very, very annoyed about inside, her identity was well known enough. She'd been round the block in marketing, other posters, billboards, that she was established here.

Enough that she wondered if any move in future would be a big no-no from the higher ups. She would absolutely fuck up that entire campaign. So when the college girls saw her, it was instantly recognisable despite anything else.

"Oh hey, you're the hero that saved us from Brick Frog and got us out of the dorms! Oh my god, can we get a photo with you?" One asked, as LG nodded, smiling with a grin as she nodded back.

"Yeah, of course!" Lightning Girl replied, as one of the others joked.

"I can't believe how many bricks he had!"

"Me neither! But you're the real heroes, you held him off that long!" She replied candidly, as the selfie flashed, catching Sophie with her white hair. And she meant that, given they didn't have powers, it was respectable. Brick Frog was one she'd hoped she would dispatch faster, or at least, hoped would have listened to reason, but he got a nasty scar for his trouble.

There's an air that she seems to be giving off. With a walk through the carnival, she waved to anyone and everyone she came across, for a moment, letting the rest of the team do their thing. The sunshine was out in full force, and she, felt, alive.

Not a single cloud in the sky, and she was absolutely pinned in attention. Sophie wouldn't like this, but with current, all inhibition left. All that part of her that was socially awkward, instead, it just happened. She was just excitable. Happy. Nothing at all like the girl crying on a roof, because she fed on the social electricity that came through let alone the current in her veins.

Even if Sophie was burning like nothing, she could feel it even past her hair in her scalp, but nothing those rose-coloured cheeks plastered in SPF50 could hold onto for another hour, including the bit of her neck to her collar where the yellow stitching met a yellow and black bumblebee from home, as well as an SDN print on the side of her collar, the same that sat on her yellow hip-pack that was a little to her side at the moment. Sophie was a walking fucking billboard for SDN, as Lightning Girl, because she literally had her face on them too. Was this what Hollywood was like? They were there for show, and right now, she was here, not putting herself to her paces in truly hitting back as a hero. She almost liked it when she did. It felt tangible, real, but then again, this was a part of it. The reward for all the grit.

But, you had to start somewhere. And she could tolerate it more than most because after all, it was a reward. It was why she had an Instagram, as she snapped a picture of herself in front of a horse carousel, posing for camera, right between the gawks she got as a super-influencer would kick in from crowd, because she had more stuff to do. More business cards to give out, strangely, to dads and mums that were concerned, to just posing for cameras, in varying poses. From classic hero poses to goofy ones, she embraced it all.

She wasn't reserved, she didn't mind spotlight, but so long as she had power thrumming in her mind, in her veins, pulsing her heart like he wanted to rip out of her ribcage. She waved to a few more people, posed for selfies, and generally kept an eye on goings on. But nothing was. This was an easy gig. It was a bunch of kids and some clowns that were obviously, terrifying, but who the fuck over 12....in fact, under, didn't find clowns remotely terrifying? The only reassurance that Lightning Girl had about herself was that she had never been in a fight she couldn't win.

That was the problem. She stopped playing football as a kid because she became too.....well, when she got tackled, players literally recoiled off her. And that was a problem. It upset the applecart, and it isolated her. Made her literally unplayable. Alone.

Being told she was special, something extraordinary. Was she? There were plenty of heroes that were too. And in a world that seemed to look up to them, like a pillar of strength, vigilantes turned corporate, they were a slice of something that people wished they could have protecting them. Being made alone, together didn't help, it just reinforced she was this now. But in a strange way, little fazed her. Apart from doors. Or water. Or a lack of current. Or just a realisation that she was playing at something bigger than herself that she couldn't let die.

It was why she backed herself now. With enough power, she could fly all the way home. See Greenland and the giant ice floes, crash for energy in Quebec at a gigantic hydroelectric scheme, then fly across the Great Plains, stopping to grab juice at the Hoover Dam before one last run home. If she could do that, why not do this. Why not dream even higher....why not her?

But Lightning Girl was thinking that white-haired, white and grey suited heroine that stood taller and more magnificent, from the look of a chrome mirror she caught, yeah, being told that and then living it was strange. It was like she had to. Physiology wise, she'd been shot, lasered, beaten the crap out of, fallen from height, all of it. And it didn't kill her quick. It should have, she remembered a few times waking up in hospital, but the wounds healed. The scars, that ran just below the collar of her neck that she felt with her fingers, never, ever healed. They stayed. She just needed enough energy and anything in her way became doable. Fixable.

And she was here. Why was she at a carnival, not in Hollywood? Wasn't that the original contract? Not even Long Beach? Santa Monica?

Why was she thinking that? No, you're here to have fun, Sophie. You are literally paid to be here and just make stuff happen. And it's still the dream. Go play a....ah, that one.

Buzzwire!

Okay. That one, that one was easy. Giant handheld wire, with a giant loop. The guy explaining it took her through it, and was one of the few who hadn't understood Lightning Girl's party trick.

"So, you've gotta move the wire up and down and get to here, without it going buzz."

Lightning Girl realised rather quickly, ah. The static from the field was interfering with her. She wanted to try something.

She felt a bit naughty, but, she saw the giant monkey sitting there looking at her, and realised, she was about to maybe veer into anti-hero. The right thing to do, Lightning Girl, would be not to cheat. It would be to play fair.

Nahhhh, fuck it. A thought of static and as she held the giant stick in her left hand, she felt with her right the EMP-like effect start to build, like a really, really, strong EM that would be completely the opposite to the polarity of whatever Payback had. She didn't need to use it, but, she'd shorted a room or two with it, killing every light through an effect that wasn't like a magnet, but killing their influence by drawing them into her. She was suckering, and pushing power out of her hand, and she kept it incognito, her ungloved right kept right by her hip.

The vendor looked confused, as he looked at his lighting playing up, a light dying as she swooped through. No buzz, no noise, and she had played mostly fair, but she wasn't certain she'd kept it off. The metal rod got to the end, and she popped it down, letting go with her right, smiling at the vendor, expectant.

That was very naughty. But, how did they know? How could you prove it? And also, James would LOVE this thing.

One giant cuddly monkey over shoulder, and Lightning Girl had begun her rampage of a collection of cuddly toys.

A ball throw wasn't going to fall to her, though there was no way through that kinda scam, and she was a little too eager, which wasn't great when it needed finesse to sink the shots in. She chatted to more people, and gave out more business cards, posed for more photos, and carried on being that presence.

But the Test Your Strength, with a giant iron and a big bell at the top, well, that was not one she could mess up. She conspired with the vendor, seeing his pile of Polar Bears was a bit high. And after a few kids had a go, she tried to make a big effort of it, theatric as ever, lugging the massive rubber mallet, to a crowd of kids that had failed to get it halfway. And she swung it as gently as she thought she could, aware that when she pulled down, the power pushed into her right hand would turn that thing into an anvil.

And it did. The mallet sent the iron dinging with a shrill, Sophie seeing it was still there and stuck. "Ah." She put a hand out to the vendor and stepped up, cape fluttering as she yoinked it out of the stuck position at the top, to lots of applause.

This rampage wasn't over.

And she spotted an immediate villain.

Tin Can Alley.

Oh. That one. That fucking scam. She remembered it as a 12 year old.

And she cried not being sure why it didn't work.

In a rare moment of pure, almost cold vengeance, she was out to end a 17 year streak of getting her ass handed to her by some funfair stall holder in Wythenshawe. She felt bad about earlier. But she was gonna make her young self right.

Walking up to the tin can knockdown, a bunch of them were throwing balls and trying to knock over tins, sometimes missing entirely, sometimes it hitting and the tins barely moving, as they were weighted heavily. She knew this trick. They glued one down, really tight. Then they went to the other so they won the part prize, rather than the gigantic cuddly bear that sat on the wall. The person behind the stall looked almost a little bemused by her presence, as she looked in, some kids not doing so well.

"Hey, mind if I give this a go? I can show them it works, yeah?" She was toying with him. Oh, that thing was going.

She could see they hadn't prepared for this eventuality. He looked scared.

But he couldn't say no to LG, could he? It would make a scene. Otherwise, she might just zap them over.

It was a rare moment where instead of her powers, she picked up the baseball, and with an overarm throw, sent the ball flying, tried not to put too much effort into it.

And proceeded to send the ball through the tin and the entire pyramid, smashing all apart off with everything else, putting fist to mouth as the ball smacked through canvas and bounced through the other side, to the other through-route.

"Oops. But we know it works now, don't we?" LG chirped looking to the children that had failed at it, picking up the next ball, and this time, not throwing it with as much force. Which meant it stopped at the back tent wall, and obliterated the middle, with the last pyramid getting the same treatment. The guy would no longer be able to glue it down, not at least with the same adhesion as a day-old tin to table with Gorilla Glue That was now blasted into smithereens.

The owner realised the kids would probably realise what was going on if he protested too much, so played along, and with it, a gigantic teddy bear was in her hands, as she looked to one of the kids in awe, passing it down to the one who had just been unsuccessful. She who was over the moon, and ran to her parents, beaming and absolutely over excited, as LG waved, giving a nod before adding it to the her spare left hand.

She was dual-wielding a monkey, a polar bear, and.....before realising she also got the other prize for 2/3. A giant panda bear. She juggled a bit, and that went into right hand, and the monkey over her shoulder.

More pictures followed and they would contain LG smiling at audience with kids, parents, teenagers, and other carnival goers, with her new 'friends' that spanned the cuddly animal kingdom.

Aww. Okay. There was one person she needed to get this to. She could see her just down the way.

One certain black and white hero. Princess would have also been perfect, but, Blackstar just happened to be there.

But first, important stuff.

Very.

"Can I get two cotton candies please?" The vendor nodded to Lightning Girl as she shuffled forwards in the queue, others talking about her and trying not to stand on her cape in the long grass, getting stomped down by people moving forwards.

Elevator hold music played in Sophie's head as the two sticks were filled up. One dip, another dip. Perfect. She had to now, somehow swing two cotton candy sticks into one hand, which meant that Lightning Girl was now three cuddly toys deep and two cotton candies heavier than before, which flying did jack fucking shit to help, as she walked across with a monkey's foot nearly in her way, approaching Alaine.

No more distractions, time to actually go catch up with another person.

"Cotton candy?" She asked the black-suited, white masked hero, offering out a spare stick, and then, with a spare hand, offering out the panda to Blackstar.

"My new 'friend' reminds me of you with that mask. All yours......I think I shouldn't play funfair games, Blackstar. I'm beginning to think I am a little bit overpowered compared to the last time I was at a funfair when I was like, 12. Or carnival. Sorry, forgot it's different over here!" She giggled with her usual Britishisms, a sarcastic little jab about Blackstar's mask and the Panda's eye patches, but she meant well, standing close to her with a watchful eye on the funfair, a smile back to Blackstar. She was lovely. Shy, maybe a bit brooding, but she seemed to be getting used to this bit by bit.

"This is nice. Makes a nice change from being on the beat. And I mean, worst crime that is being committed is people getting scammed out of money by vendors. This one's for James. Cos.....he's big monkey behind a desk. And the bear is for......actually, where is Hat Trick? I hope he hasn't fought one of these. Big Canadian. Hah. Don't worry, I gave away any other cuddly toys I came into touch with, and Petey the Polar Bear may still find a home!" She pointed up at the Polar Bear on her shoulder, just casually the size of her head and shoulder being lugged around. Maybe a bit of an awkward sweeping statement, but being talkative, she didn't exactly go chill. But still, the thought was what counted, she reasoned, and well, she could guess it would be a better prop in her hand than her overloaded soft toy collection she currently wielded.

Of which she was unashamed to have a small one at home. A giant crochet llama that she'd worked on for like, six months among other crochet animals. Ah yeah, Blackstar.

Without that bottom half of her mask, Blackstar was certainly pretty, so it made sense Asteroid would naturally pick her out. And so far, James had nothing but good things to say about her performance. Even if Blackstar seemed a little less than enthused back, but of course the team weren't going to be at their boss. Sophie was biased, she had to admit that herself, it would take time. But she could at least look after the newbies of the team, and so, from what she gathered of Asteroid's intent, she knew that Blackstar would be safe, and would be okay if anything happened there. She didn't want to of course ask what Blackstar's story was nor anything to do with Asteroid, even the bits he gleaned from the gravity based hero. Nothing about what was going on, why she was so secretive, so all she could do was make her feel comfortable and like Asteroid, make her look forwards to the future.

"How are you getting on? Do you want to...."

Another group of kids ran over before she could even finish that sentence.

"Oh wow, it's Lightning Woman! And Darkstar!" They shrilled, as Lightning Girl had to bend down from her height, kneeling down, a grin on her face.

"Hello! Actually we're.....oh it's okay. Want to take a photo?" She smiled, cape nearly at contact as she stood up, standing beside Blackstar, grinning for a photo, that classic, iconic look, gloves off to give sparks, which Blackstar would feel gently in her shoulder, the sparks lighting them both up under the ferris wheel.

Lightning Girl is absolutely making the most of the carnival. She is loving every second.

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

SPEED //// GREASER //// PUNK

The faces of fans. Almost like a blur of them like pixels in screen. The murmur of noise.

It felt like a it was blurring, crowd noise picking up, the sound of an airhorn being used, one such thing that seemed to make Bonneville feel more like a riot, rather than a normal race.

And cutting to a black background, revealing different people. Sitting. The camera peeling in on the pixels to reveal people.

"Why?"

A yellow and black t-shirt wearing Valkyrie fan, with a traditional Saxon helmet, with a nose-protecting element to it, and holographic lenses inbetween the eye sockets, the Germanic accent seeping through.

"The whine. The noise. The sound. It's....just crazy."

A jump cut.

A Maori, her olive skin mixed with Tatau, and braided coral and blue hair.

"The speed. It's nearly impossible."

A black and white facepainted Carrera fan, with a stripe of rainbow down her neck going to their arms, and neck painted as if she was playing at being Bea.

"The stories. The underdogs. The unexpected."

The purple faced fan, with his two limbs both matching in colour, wrapped in Nordic Call's colours.

"Tension. Fighting for anything we can get."

A blonde fan, screaming as the shot cut, wearing her white-shirted Silver Apex polo, back to her neutral face.

"The best of the best. Fighting over tenths."

An orange and blue split, with ginger hair and beard, an MMR fan.

"It's home turf. We're in Utah, baby." A massive grin forming, the sound of an AG ship roaring into life as the screen flipped, revealing a pink sunset, and a screaming MMR ship sending salt and water flying on a flooded part of the Salt Lake, the distant SLC with lasers visible even from here, and the massive "Construct" that made up the twisty section near the fanzone for all to see.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Seventeen: Mustang Alley

---

Friday 3rd November, 2094
21C
Mustang Camp
Bonneville Salt Flats
1925 Mountain Time (FAS)

Festival of Speed

Soundtrack: John Summit & Hayla - Shiver

The chaos of Bonneville was a different breed.

"Welcome to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, Federated American States. We're here for Round 17 of the Formula AG championship, and we're at the home of Anti-Gravity, where it was in fact, developed in the late 2060s. Bonneville is a speed track, but the 'Complex' offers a handling challenge, right in front of the fans, as does the mountain to the north west of the circuit, flanked by two incredible opportunities for speed. This is a circuit stepped in history, and as the temperatures drop towards the end of the season in the Northern Hemisphere, we head to the flats for the fastest circuits of the year."

Walking around, Aurora was in the thick of the festival as the drone followed, the crowd looked like they weren't from 2094, not even 2024, but rather, from 1964. It had a "greaser" vibe, and everything seemed almost themed. At Mustang Camp, so nicknamed due to a race organiser religiously turning up in a 2004 Ford Mustang every single year up until about 2091, it had eclipsed the horse and followed the automotive trend instead.

"Bonneville has long since held strong in the hearts of anyone who loves speed, and here, the long-running Anti-Gravity Festival celebrates the history of going fast. Much like Burning Man, or Boomtown, the theme of the Formula AG-supporting festival brings together everyone who loves the pursuit of racing." Aurora seemed rather casual, even for her look, she was wearing UV-like ink on her skin and cutting around the festival, you could see that it was unhinged.

It was like Mad Max had been hurled at Cyberpunk. Death Metal was blasting from a mechanised spider, which was picking up performers in the actual crowd, so as to add to the spectacle. Another stage had neurofunk blasting, hooked up into what looked like a giant lighthouse with lasers and beams that looked like they also were emitting people into the back of the tent behind it, making it seem like an ocean beyond just the salt they trod on.



This felt like, despite the deafening blows of health and safety, like it was performative art at its finest.

"The Legacy of Speed" The festival tagline was dotted, and the artwork, the feeling, was all at its height. From food to vendors to people, to cars, to anything, anything here was legacy. Memory that wasn't a museum piece. But literally, like a cosplay, played out.

When you entered into the festival, it felt like you were a living, breathing organism that felt like an extension of a crazy town in the middle of salt flats, combined with a speed festival. Everything from late 19th century museum pieces to mid 20th century muscle, even some early 21st century Fords and Corvettes had been kept, as well as plenty of exotica and rat-modded boxes that represented the best of anyone with a shed, budget and a dream. From old F1 cars to tubular designs, even AG craft that had been modded for pure, absolute, straight line speed. With a pulse engine and enough of a dream, you could smack the sound barrier at the far end of the strip in Bonneville, and the exclusion zone was the only reason anyone visiting would have eardrums that would work.

It wasn't a car show, more like automotive exhibitionism, and the same could be said of the people, all of whom were absolutely showing off who they were, what they were, from augments that were inspired by Formula AG pilots new and old, to temporary tatttoos, eye prints, dyed and bleached hair, team merch, and so on. It was strange that a FIAR approved sport, one so close to being formal and at the big time, even allowed this. But the fact the theme was almost 1960s meant that all of it seemed even weirder, like neon strip lighting and retrofuturism seemed dominant, like someone had even stapled Fallout-vibes into this, it felt odd. At Silverstone, it still felt like basic bitch shit, but here, this felt somehow, authentic, and truly, weird.

The answer? Bonneville was run differently. As the home of anti-gravity, with a pioneering flight almost 25 years prior on the same salt flats undertaken by a research conglomerate, a different promoter ran the event here and therefore, made it their own. While corporatism bleached in at the sides, trying to gentrify the festival, and to some extent, succeeding at kicking out The Interior and seedier elements, it felt like it was still at its core, a bit punk.

=

Moving through the festival on site, Aurora headed up into the Delta Hyper section, a black temporary polymer structure that had a rooftop area for the pilots, equipped with a bar but more importantly, chairs for interview.

"But we're not just here for a festival. We're here for a race."

There sat Bea, Nora, Paul, Bellatrix, Kais and Han, all groomed, all representing their teams, and their journey as rookies so far. They could join in the festival vibes, if they of course, fancied it- their team gear was likely to remain the same in ship but likely to have a little something different if marketing could capture the zeitgeist.

"Hello, and welcome! Here in Bonneville, how have you found it so far?" She asked them all, knowing they all must have found the middle of a salt flat on the Nevada border to be different to the other places they'd been so far, and with Practice complete on the complex MAG-enabled track that then went up the mountain behind them off the salt flat before coming back down, they were all enjoying the sunset that was coming in the horizon.

"So, with the season coming to an end. We thought to ourselves we'd let you do the talking to the audience, and here in Bonneville, we're in a place stepped in history within AG, and the wider land speed record community. So, what's your favourite part of the legacy of speed? I believe you each had a hand in a few short films and will show us what that relationship is?"

With it, each pilot had their own short, two and a half minute section to perhaps demonstrate a little of what their journey was. Their experience of speed. Why they were here. And what their relationship to it, narrated by the pilots themselves.

A favourite car, place, time, experience, moment, anything. It was up to them. But all of it was the reason they were the pilot they were. It was an exposition, made to their memory, made from what they had done. Even just Formula AG this season, all of their ups and downs, the highlights.

Their moment up to here. It was theirs, each film an independent, different slice, and they could cut it however they wanted.

---

After the films played, a different set of interviews were taking place.

"I suppose what is the legacy I'd leave? I'm honestly, still thinking about it a lot. I love AG, this stuff, it's incredible, such highs, and lows. But it feels like I've left a legacy of high performance, contributing to Valkyrie's position, and I think it's the right time. I had one last dance and I'm getting older. Time to move onto pastures new. And you never know. I haven't totally made my mind up." Dorian winked at the camera, with a grin.

"So, I guess from that point of view, I'm still here to win things. I guess I would have never said that at the start of the year. But I believe I can. It's just a matter of pushing hard. And I think I can do that, even against the best, I have that to live up to." Jen smiled back to camera, Silver Apex having added a bit more chrome to their suits this weekend, as if that was anything to honour the theme here.

"It's a shame the season didn't work as well, but hey, things happen. And the move to Valkyrie is exciting. It's a new challenge. While a lot of fans may not vibe with the Euros, all I'm saying is, hear them out, they've got an American principal and he knows his stuff. So I'll let the Wedgers figure it out." Max joked, knowing the unfortunate name that his fans had gotten, and the online shitshow that had prevailed.

"It was a bumpy ride but yeah, 100% on Zygon. Lot of rumours going on, and I think a lot of people were talking out of their arse when they said I'd leave. I committed to Zygon because I thought they might go to the top, and we have a package that is paying dividends. No fast journey up, but I feel I've settled. So can't complain, just wanna get on with it." Cassie replied, a smile on her face, aware that Bea might not like that, but, PR demanded it.

"It's hard to say. I mean, I could still be Champion, and I have to believe that anything could go wrong ahead of me. But Nora seems more likely. So I'll help her as much as I can, as much as I can help myself." Harrison casually smiled, grinning, hiding the acres of screaming pain of "another year missed" behind him.

"She is interesting. I......think Bellatrix has been lucky. But she earns her luck." Astrid astutely pointed, knowing that her new team-mate was not one to throw any shade at, not after her performance in the sims versus Bjorn.

"There's definitely a platform to build on. And while we didn't pick up the pace as much as I thought we would....well, next year is going to be an exciting one and you'll see plenty more from us at NOVA." Florence smiled, the elder of the two NOVA Racing members knowing it was literally her own stake in the line, to get the job done.

And there she was again. Helena Starcross. A surprise appearance. But one last comment to add.

"It's quite the difference to normal F1. People said it would never work. Well, they never said that Henry Ford would be successful in beating horses, with machines that were unreliable, noisy.....and yet look at us now, it seems hard to say where we're going, doesn't it?" Helena chuckled, her commentary having a big gap since Monaco, but then again, there were enough personalities around the sport hogging the limelight.

Tactical Breach Wizards: Fireteam Hex (Military, Modern, Fantasy, Action-Thriller)

Day 2: 06:25:01
Polavian Standard Vodka Distillery,
Novy Jork,
Capital Province,
Republic of Polavia

Ahead the control room. Movement inside. He waits on Felix, "Windows and doors...we can try a dynamic entry, one of us take a window the other shoulders the door?" Below the shield soldiers. Silas leans over the gantry points down and peppers some of the shield-men below with the big 23mm, 6 guage shotgun, "I want to get very drunk after all this is over!" He growls, then readies back up on the door, dodging fire from below.

Felix nodded, as close to a growl as he could muster.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!"

Felix turned, the ginger-haired soldier turning into a lion as he led on that movement and immedately lept onto the gantry and around through window. Silas might have expected he would crawl into position, but with a lion, it took a lot less.

As Silas would take the door, Felix was already chewing on the arm of someone, before releasing and no longer playing with his food, taking a solid bite of the man's neck, before shifting out and spitting a massive lump out of hs

"Urgh." Felix added, looking to the SCADA controls of the production line.

"Oh. We should stop this." Felix added, kicking aside the half-neckless guy in the way on the console, and keying in the controls for the machinery, finding the override, and the stop button for the whole production. No longer were empty glass bottles being poured vodka into from the gigantic distillery tank, with a gigantic press working to seal and complete the lid, nor was a label being printed and slapped onto the side of each, nor was the export labelling either being made. It all halted, and on the other side, down below, the bottles stopped moving.

---

With Rowan melting shields and Borys literally appearing out of them, short work was made out of the PSA shield goons. Borys was on the wrong side, acid melted their cover, and Oksana could basically spray into them like they were at a target range. Even with 9mm, she could tear through, yelling swears as she dumped an entire mag into two of them, acid on shield and Borys with a baseball bat (and collecting bullets) working to clear them out.

It was getting messy, as a goon fell in glass and the clink was loud, followed by the fire alarm.

Rowan gave an evil cackle as she let loose with another potion. “Don’t tell me how to witch! If I wanted rules I would go to church!”

Rowan winced as she heard a PSA guard fall into a conveyor belt full of bottles with the loud crash of glass accompanying the now blaring fire alarm. “That was not my fault, Borys!”

"Glassed his ass, Rowan!" Roxie called, liking her new Western friend a lot. She was good fun, and if they weren't killing people, Roxie had a feeling that Rowan would be a great time to get really, really drunk with. An agent of chaos, creating that from order.

Another magazine, and a couple more flanking PSA troops didn't last long either as Roxie held the flank, firing down from one gantry to the others while Rowan and Borys pulled shenanigans.

It didn't take long to clear them up, and with a few more bursts, Oksana had slung her PP-19 in exchange for an AKS-74U, scavenging a few mags off the last dead PSA goon that she managed to get a flank on, literally seeing that he was moving from cover to cover before he had.

Make do, and mend.

Moving through the production line, the catwalks and the metal walkways were beginning to end as they were headed towards the start of the process. Towards where the visitor centre was, and the massive pile of sugar cane and rye grains sat in a remarkably clean arrangement before they would be loaded into the distilling units. Vodka was often made of many, many different things, but Polavian Standard was a classic, vintage, bespoke product that didn't fuck around with cherry, or flavours- that was left to the mixologists that played with them in bars. A vodka that was world-renowned for being exceptional in quality, so having a firefight in their production line was surreal to anyone who had ever sent a shot down their gullet.

It was there that Felix headed down a metal stairset, 417 held at cant as Oksana met him, the two fireteams reunited once more, the production heading towards massive distilling vats, and what looked like a observation point.

"Looks like we have a window of time to leave." Felix suggested, as Oksana pointed forwards to the tour centre's viewpoint.

"Yes. A window. Idiot." She replied, pointing at said window, at the end of the gantry, with a small gap between it. Picking up a nearby vodka bottle left off the start of the production line, she threw it, smashing it to bits. That was their portal out of the factory complex, and instead of going down into the loading warehouse, a chance to escape through a visitor centre.

"Window open." Oksana dryly smiled, the only thing she had left now, in her arsenal apart from some dead goon's pinewood-furnished AK and the ability to see a few seconds into people's bad decisions, was sarcasm.

"Fine." Felix sighed with a certain sigh, just absolutely fucking done, looking at Borys with a look of "don't say anything, you prick", as with it, they could move through this bit of the factory where visitors could actually look in.

With a leap forwards, Felix clambered up the side of the railing and leapt into the window, trying to avoid shards of glass, offering a hand to Oksana who lept next, the two covering the others as they came inside, and The Story of Vodka was now a part of what they had seemingly entered.

Felix didn't really have time for education, but he did think it was about time they got the hell out of here.

---

The team moving forwards, they were now in half-factory, half museum, from old casks to the factory line still being a door away. From one of those lines, a group of hostiles emerged, forcing the team into cover. Felix ducking behind at least a 100 year old distillery tank, Oksana behind a metal conveyor, bullets flew as the PSA militants swore at the group.

Which was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Upswing killing a whole group into a gas grenade made a scene, suddenly eliminating the threat that the team was facing, all of them dropping dead in a haze of purple, with a armoured up, ex-spy walking through in a shimmery, hazy sort of look.

The group, and Upswing were suddenly at odds when the pink-purple-punk like smoke cleared, revealing the brooding looking, ex DSR Intelligence looking figure. He wasn't dressed up like Felix, a soldier, nor Oksana, part-bush, all seer. In the tour centre, they weren't friends, even if the enemy of their enemy seemed to be a convenient help.

Oksana looked with steely eyes, her AKS-74 raised still, knowing he had Craft. With something like that, and a gas mask on killing PSA, he wasn't here for a shot of vodka with the lads and lasses of the team.

"You're not with them. Who are you?" She noted, keeping a rifle pointed direct at him, the closest to him. She would see all of it coming. She'd be faster than him if he tried something. Or at least, whatever illusion of him he projected. Felix was nicer.

"Holy shit. Cal." Felix chuckled, his own rifle high. "Been a while. Given you're not invisible. I guess you're not here to kill us?" Felix added, pointing the 417 down, the capabilities of Upswing maybe not known by the entire team, beyond rumour, but known by Felix. As a Team Lead, he'd know other people, particularly casters in Reactor. And Upswing was one such character. He kept hand to rifle, ready anyway....

Until the far end of the room suddenly was opened up by the sound of the rocket propelled grenade, blowing apart the entire wall, as concrete and wood crumbled, revealing another figure that nobody expected deciding to interrupt this little arrangement.

As the Adidas wearing, dark-eyed Warlock, her boots clattering on concrete, stepping over a few bodies, a few other balaclava-wearing mooks next to her, AKS-74Us raised, was in view. She barked at her own people, let alone the team likely wondering who to shoot.

"Comrades, weapons down." She simply announced, walking forwards, looking at them. "You interrupted a business meeting. I will interrupt yours. Including you, Borys Skala. Alcohol poisoning hasn't gotten you yet."

"Didn't know it was business." Felix replied, Upswing between them in crossfire, all parties holding guns at each other. She knew Borys. That was already a bad sign. Guns at each other was worse.

Like some really fucked up Mexican Standoff.

"Well, causing me so much trouble seems to make it mine." She had the sound of a haggrid old woman, despite the fact that beyond the shade of the hood, she looked Borys's age too.

Felix kept his rifle raised, almost a growl coming from his throat. Oksana realised this was a three way standoff. Them, Upswing, whoever this woman was.

Until Oksana piped up. Looks like she knew her too.

"Yelenka. You honestly think he'll pay?" Oksana asked, recognising her. Yelena Strulovich. Former PSA Lieutenant. All round bitch. Last Oksana heard, she was dead, but then again, Polavia seemed to be killing any of those rumours of late.

"Are you being paid? And you hired Borys?" Yelena replied, as if she was almost asking the whole team.

Oksana sighed, shaking her head.

"No! But, I'm trying very hard to survive and you are not helping! Fuck, you think we want this?" She replied, with a Slavic dryness to it, almost something that could be funny that could be taken seriously, but was just pure, dry sarcasm.

There was almost a quiet in the standoff, Oksana taking a moment to break that silence.

"You and your.....dogs should get out of the way. Whatever the fuck you're planning, we don't care. We just want to get the fuck out of here and leave." Oksana replied, hinting she knew something. Felix looked to her, wondering why Oksana, not him, was taking the lead. But she knew him, so fuck it, why not.

"I don't think you can. You killed a lot of my men. And your lion killed Olygarkov. He was a good man." Yelenka replied, the black robe Adidas like a dryrobe, a bandolier and a kevlar vest on, in Adidas print. She had black hair, and looked not pretty, but like she also had an alcohol problem too.

"He was an asshole! Dude was more corrupt than a necromancer bringing back loan sharks!" Oksana yelled back, the scene at the village reinforcing just what the rumours confirmed. A yes-man who was willing to commit to some seriously questionable shit. Who was eaten by Felix. Not a bad outcome, all things considered. Which Yelena seemed to agree with.

"Okay, he was a greedy asshole, but it doesn't change the fact your cat went through him like a kielbasa! So give him and Rowan over and we'll be done!" Yelenka yelled back, revealing almost a bit of her face as she stepped in light, the exhibit she was standing next to funnily enough, a history of Polavian drinking culture.

"No chance."

"Enough. I'm done with your shit. And whoever....you are. You came for Rowan Morgana too....and brought her to me. I want her first. If you won't give her up, I'll take her in pieces." Yelenka replied, putting hand away from rifle, and to air, looking at Upshot and Borys in particular.

And with it, she seemed to summon what seemed to be a pack of ghost dogs, before Felix lined fire at her, before Yelenka dived into cover and her goons sprayed fire down range.

"You're that kind of warlock! Pizdets!" Oksana yelled, watching as Yelenka was out of Felix's view and it was clear she seemed to have the craft that allowed her to pull in a set stray ghost dogs and to blink her way into cover. Even Oksana was struggling to keep up with her, but it was clear she couldn't move forwards. Fucking warlocks.

Felix was not having much fun either. A cat person against dogs wasn't ideal, but, it was what it was.

The warlock flanked, and whilst she was not alone, she retreated, letting her goons and her dogs do the work. They weren't beautiful, nice pets, they looked like rabid strays, the kind of dogs that she was terrified of as kids. Dogs had different connotations in Polavia- rather than the cute pets of the DSR and Liboli, they were often left to their own devices and no doubt Yelenka had some trauma associated with one, as roving bands of strays were not friendly to people. Not exactly the most pleasant of memories, but nobody with Craft ever did.

Sometimes, Oksana wondered how the fuck you got your craft, but that thought was arrested by her having to unload half a magazine into a ghoulish looking mutt that ran up the steps around a factory display to her, she didn't want to know, but it was what it was.

"Shit, Felix, plan?!" Oksana barked, laying out one of the men as she moved

"Fuck knows, we need to leave! Now! Upswing, you with us, or you here to kill Rowan? There's a queue for all of us, make your call now if you're gonna do it, cos I'm so fucking done with this shithole! No offense, Borys!" Felix yelled, spraying rounds down range, pulling Upswing into cover from where he'd been, looking the DSR native in the eyes, his wild, lion like eyes coming back out, as Oksana kept up suppressing fire.

"There's an emergency exit there, Felix how many dogs is she sending at us?!" Oksana yelled back, the dog barking as she felt felt her inner animal lover was being tortured right now. This was awful! How the fuck did someone have a craft this bad? This was like, worse than any nightmare he was in, even as a feline shapeshifter himself, what on earth was fucking wrong with Yelena?

The team had a chance to take out the rabid dogs, the goons being sent by Yelena, but she was taunting them the entire way. The dogs were of course, phasing out the moment a cast hit them, but the damage felt very lethal.

"Feast on them! They're nothing but food!" She cackled, as suddenly, the museum of vodka was turned into a warzone. With cover in place, Felix used a copycat to deceive one of the ghoulish dogs, but there were far too many. This was not an easy fight at all, not unless someone had a creative idea, or at the least, someone took the initiative to get them the hell out of here.

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Tuesday
21:01
The Cowl Inn
Downtown Claremont

Earth to Sky

(Collab with @Pragia12)

It was dark out now, Fenom was not the best at parties, but the conversation with his lookalike cutout was a highlight of the night. It was always good to find people who could relate to him, and while some would say that he had the personality of cardboard, he thought that he had far more interesting things to say.

Things were winding down as he looked through the window. Alcohol didn’t really have any impact on his superhuman physiology, but the expectation was to drink, so he did. The bright orange of a mango daiquiri reminded him of his tropical island vacation weekend.
___

And the last beer was finished, Lightning Girl waved goodbye to Blackstar and Asteroid. Oh, they were a thing. It wasn't like how maybe they thought her and Eclipse were. No, it was so obvious. It was basically there, and well, as Lightning Girl leaned against the bar, she watched as Asteroid stumbled and Blackstar held onto him, leading him home, before leaping up into the sky.

As she also headed out, she was nearly the last one left, seeing Feno also following her out, having enjoyed a fruitful mango daiquiri, from a time well spent. Feno. Jeez, the guy was a lovely character, and while he had even less about him than Phenomaman did about how people worked, he was nothing but the model hero, if you stripped away perhaps some of the human factor.

A smile cracked on her face, before the drizzle picked up.

“See you tomorrow, Pheno. I’m gonna go enjoy the stars a little bit. You probably travel faster, don’t you?” She said, a little blue after all of what happened earlier and now everyone was gone, putting hand over face to stop the rain from soaking her chin that almost had a static look to it, soaking her more and more as she stood outside, the grey and white hero illuminated by the blue lamplight of neon and streetlighting. She zipped up her little hip pack with her phone away, and cowl attached to face.

Fenom took up most of the doorway, looking up for a moment and considering “Yeah, but it’s harder to know where you’re going when you’re faster.” he says simply. “It would still take a couple days to get there.” he seemed unconvinced she could get to the stars for the night.

Lightning Girl laughed, broken from her little routine, smiling, the man pure innocence. Holy shit. He was just like that. And while every hero looked up to Phenomaman, well….the pre-breakup one, Feno just seemed like a copy that reminded her of the old times.

She wanted to go into the sky away from this, even after it was all said and done. But, Feno was right.

“Then maybe come with me. Maybe slow down. I’ll show you what I enjoy seeing.” Lightning Girl said, sparks flying from her hands, gesturing for him to follow.

Fenom’s brow would raise, it was all too easy for him to say “What is it?” he’d offer as he leaves the entryway, effortlessly floating up a few feet above the cars.

Lightning Girl smiled, looking up at the gaps in cloud. “I like trying to get some perspective. Looking on the city from afar. I can’t go as high as you I’m afraid. My lungs would give out.” She replied, knowing Feno might not fully understand perspective. Of the sentimentality of it all.

If only he knew what lungs were in any way that mattered “Then how do you go to the stars?” he seemed sympathetic, if a bit confused.

Lightning Girl realized maybe he hadn’t quite understood. Nothing like a little bit of awkwardness, but given the day’s events, she was hardly one to talk.

“Not uhh…literally. More just within the atmosphere. The bit I can breathe in. Not sure what would happen to me actually, if I went into space. Never tried.” She noted, putting a hand out to Feno before he offered. “I’d rather not find out tonight though. I wouldn’t be able to work tomorrow if I died because I can’t breathe. Maybe.” Okay, she was broken herself, laughing, at the entire evening’s antics and looking back up again. “Right. I’m not enjoying this rain much….ready?”

He seemed unphased, but his grip was measured when he took her hand, he did know how to manage his strength to some degree. “We will need to try sometime, I breathe alright up there, but as you wish!” he says, a small smile on his face, he thought she was being playful.

There was a gnawing thought in her head. Why ask him to join? Well, as she leapt up, and just clambered, and clambered, and clambered, she felt like that wasn’t the point. Fuck it. May as well not be completely alone on the commute home.

Lightning Girl punched through cloud, and kept going, and going, the static burning behind her into darkness illuminated by starlight outside of the light pollution, the ozone and vapour fading the higher she climbed, as she didn't stop, knowing Feno had no challenge at all keeping up.

She didn’t stop. Maybe she was trying to leave the planet. She felt like if she had earlier, she would have given how she felt. And she hadn’t been kidding to Feno either, she had no idea of what her body would do beyond the atmosphere. Cosmic -derived powers maybe did something to that end? Who knew.

She kept going, and going….

Until it felt cold enough for her to, and the urge stopped. The energy felt steady state. Any more and she'd run out of anything to hold her. This would be nothing to Feno, who was elegant, poised, able to fly into the planets and stars without much thought. But to her, this was everything. And high in the skies, far above clouds and earth, was a certain kind of quiet.

And she could just hold. Stay static, barely thinking, able to enjoy it all for a moment without pushing to hard from her hands and feet. The oxygen was thin. She had no idea how high she was, her watch seemed to freeze with all the water she'd accumulated, turning to ice as she felt the shiver be reacted to by her heart palpitating, like what Eclipse had experienced.

She breathed out, metabolising the air that felt barely 10% of what it was below, and taking a photo of how small LA looked from this high, from between the clouds. It was like a distant dot, the way an airliner might look down, but even further.

A quiet, lonely moment. Yet one not left totally alone.

Lightning Girl was quiet, almost unnervingly so, and Feno was like a spectre holding her hand. She supposed he didn’t have as much of a need for noise, he had almost the same serenity as he was in the thick of the bar.

Lightning Girl looked right and sighed, looking back on it all, wondering how to put it to him. He was innocent. Almost incapable of understanding it at all. Emotions, feelings, all of it. It all came so easy. And yet he almost didn’t know what came on the other side.

“Why do you call me Sparky, Feno?” She interrupted those thoughts with a question, realising she genuinely had never asked it. Never had really come out to query him over it.

He was the only one to call her that, after all. His shrug didn’t help much “You’re sparky.” he said simply “Names are hard to remember.” he never really used names with anyone, even aliases didn’t stick.

She chuckled, smiling as she shook her head, nodding. “I suppose they are.” She replied, as she flicked off her mask, keeping it in hand, knowing Feno wouldn’t remember. Or share. She remembered looking over James’s shoulder once upon a time and well, Feno was an experiment. A product, but, he was still sort of flesh and bone but all charm. And that he wouldn’t give her away. Neither her work self…..or this.

“Well…..I’m Sophie. Behind that mask at least.” She said, knowing even Eclipse didn’t know from earlier, and that was probably for the best. She didn’t know him that well, nor Feno, but the latter at least might not remember. But, she felt in some weird way, up this far, looking from almost 100,000 feet above sea level, like showing her face and name to someone who couldn’t quite share. The cowl was icy, and her hair seemed to follow it, even if given how insanely thin oxygen was up here, it wasn’t affecting her speech.

Of all people, given that knowledge she had, Feno probably wouldn’t spill the beans, she hoped.

“Though…..don’t say that over the comms. That one is me. Sparky is…..well, someone I suppose I play at. I suppose that’s what I wanted you to see.” She chuckled, smiling to him, a co-worker, someone after her two more beers, she was now more tipsy and open toward.

Fenom’s expression would soften some. He understood the significance, but the glassiness in those eyes didn’t really go away. “Sophie.” he started, before stopping himself, something was itching at the back of his mind with a brief flinch “Why play at someone when you can be someone?” he asked, it was, as always, so painfully simple to him. “Is Sparky a bad thing to be?”

Sophie dwelled on that question longer than she would like. Longer than she would want to, by a lot more than her usual self.

“Most of the time I love it. But….sometimes it isn’t easy.” She left the sentence unsaid, thinking to herself about earlier. And all of it. She’d already had one intimate chat for a night. She wasn’t sure how much she could handle another. “I guess it’s part of work. Separating the human me from this.” She replied, sincere, looking over to his gaze, the alien clone the last person she wondered she would be pouring her heart out to. Like Madcap, but hey, at least he….knew some boundaries? Maybe? “It’s important to have boundaries. Like how you went to Hawaii. Enjoyed the sunshine and melon buffets. But it’s not so simple for me.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Okay, even when it looks like it is. Fine. But you’re also adjusting.”

“Its a good thing to be Phenomaman.” he said flatly, almost rotely. There wasn’t nothing going on back there in his mutton-chopped head. To him, it was that simple. “Boundaries get in the way too much.” he said, the last boundary he had an issue with was punched through without much issue.

Sophie chuckled, finding him almost a bit more endearing than Madcap. Okay, sure, maybe didn’t quite understand, but, she had to at least respect that he was still learning certain things. Things that maybe most hadn’t fully understood, and had the grace to know when to maybe not go insane on people.

“Yeah……I mean, I kicked in a door today and failed. You opened up a car. What is a boundary if not…..fixable by heroes.” She shook her head and chuckled, looking out on the distant lights of the city far, far below, the white haired heroine fixing her cowl back on, glad to have a little bit of a deep talk to enjoy this with.

“Well, a door is more of a boundary than a car. Maybe heroes are worse at dealing with boundaries.” It was almost annoying how glib he seemed to be, but Fenom wasn’t one to really know the wisdom of his own words.

Sophie could at least see it, but hey, he was learning that. Or at least, beginning to pick things up, but, well, he did drop a dime like that. She was sure he would pick up more as more time was spent about, as Lightning Girl looked back at the sight of it all, thinking on that in the relatively dry atmosphere out of clouds.

“Yeah. Maybe.” She was perhaps being a little too indirect, at least, by his standard, as she let go of his hand, realising she had to adjust herself to stay up, as Feno was naturally a lot more powerful.

“Shit, sorry! You are…..a lot better at this…..flying thing than I am.” She said, staticing back up to his level, holding passively, wiping the ice from her watch, trying to get it to work again. Fenom was more of a static fixture in the stars, holding himself still. “I might need to head back. Home is that way. Where is home for you, Feno?”

“I live at SDN, have a room in the basement.” he says simply, not seeming to think much of it. “They don’t want me in my own apartment.” It seemed pretty obvious to her why, but to him it was a mystery.

The gears turned for Lightning Girl, realising she hadn’t quite understood it before but it now had become fairly simple. Yeah, that tracked. Damn. This felt a bit morally weird. A hero that was…..well, she had no idea how Feno was here. Almost part of her felt like she wanted to ask, but she felt like that was a conversation for another time. It had been too heavy tonight, and well, she was sure they’d catch up again. The night was getting late and she was feeling the electricity in her body begin to fade a little, dripping away from the transformer she’d earlier peeled power from.

“Ahh, that was your door near the gym. I always wondered. I suppose in LA, it’s cheaper rates than whatever I pay for.” She joked, inside her not wanting to probably state any of the obvious. He laughed with her, seemed to understand it on some level. God (or James) knew how he managed his money, or more likely who managed it for him.

“It is easy to get to work.” he says with a grin. “And I can go where I want.” he explained, they trusted him enough, or more likely they couldn’t really stop him.

Lightning Girl laughed, nodding, getting that. “And the gym is next door. That is a good point. Maybe I’ll have to move closer.” She replied, pointing out in the far distance, just behind a cloud, into what seemed like the middle of nowhere, where her house was, or at least, was beyond a blur this high up at the very edge of LA.

“Because commuting sorta sucks. But, could be worse!” She grinned, sighing as she drifted away, looking over her shoulder, white hair blustering a bit, reflecting on everything. Falling for Quickdraw at the club. The failed dispatch. Tsunami punching James, and her nearly killing Tsunami over it. And then talking to Eclipse. Now this. It felt like a blur.

Probably a sign she needed a bit more power, or at least, to turn off the switch at the plug for this version of her. “I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for joining me.” She smiled, hands to strap as she gently tightened it.He remained up there, looking down to her with a nod “See you tomorrow.” he repeated, his gaze drifting to the city as she fell from the heavens.

She cracked a final smile back to Fenomaman, before tumbling down, her watch-linked phone app giving her a rough direction of where to face and where to fall. It didn't take much energy, and with the mask back on, she closed her eyes, and let go from her hands and feet, and fell. With her arms and legs put out in a tracking position, she could cover the distance, and fall gracefully, her cape fluttering, falling like a dart towards earth. Towards home, no power needed. She could save that to break her fall.

It was time to get some sleep and hope tomorrow would be a better day.

---

Thursday
12:15
Claremont SDN, Claremont

Return to Work

With the taxi dropping him off, James wondered on in, backpack on, waving to Samson as he wondered towards the lift. With a ping, the lift carried him up as he sipped hard from his thermos, drinking coffee, reluctantly, this time at least something Sophie brought home from the UK. Italian coffee. It hit like crack.

Ding.

The doors opened, as James had headed in, early as usual, where Kat was waiting for him as she chatted to Martha, dressed in her usual business attire, white and black striped shirt with black trousers, turning and smiling, the Branch Director cheerful as ever. Cynical she was, sure, sarcastic, but that meant James and her worked well together. It wasn't some scary relationship, given James didn't see her as a "boss", but someone who let him do his work and in turn, happened to luck out with him staying here to look after her A-Team.

So having him back from his day off, recovering from being punched in the face was of course, a pleasure.

"Hey, James. Damn. Didn't ruin your face completely then." Kat joked, as James nodded, both of them shaking hands, the story not quite out as to what specifically happened, but Kat knowing enough. Shapeshifters always did. James didn't lie, but damn, did he make sure the story didn't gain traction.

"Yeah. It's healing better than I thought. I wanted back in rather than feeling sorry. Alan's pills helped." James replied, as Kat smiled, nodding, out here because there was another eason.

"Good, good.....listen, hate to drop this on you on short notice, but Valerie is coming over.

"Oh, fuck."

"She's fine. Listen. We go way back. She's coming over as a favour to me."

"Right?"

"And I may have hurt her feelings in the budget in the process of keeping you. I'll handle it. I wouldn't have you otherwise."

"Well, thanks Kat. Appreciate it. I didn't want to get on her bad side....."

"Yeah, well, you deliver results and I ain't got anyone else. Look sharp."

The team would hear the elevator ding, and what appeared to be a black haired, black and silver business suit wearing, Viking queen of a woman emerge. She looked like she fought bears and won. A luxury, designer leather bag around her side, and she stank of Espresso coffee, vanilla and Chanel, almost to a point where it felt like you could taste the rose and caffeine. She was literally overwhelming every single sense, even taste, given how strong that perfume was.

Valerie Halliday was the Regional Director for SDN's operations in Los Angeles, and a thousand years of being alive, killing literally everyone from Danish people, Greenlandic people, indigenous tribes from coast to coast of North America, the French, Spanish, Mexicans, English, Americans, Germans, Cubans had finally mellowed out into a woman that now seemed about aged into her 40s and about past her bloodlust, with an Americanised accent that stuck.

She seemed to almost shake a loose table as she walked. The joke about legs stopping traffic seemed to die because it looked like Valerie could kick anyone in the office into orbit. It was likely she had.

Kat shapeshifted up, her entire body growing as she hugged the Regional Director, something James found weird. Shit, didn't know they knew each other that well.

"Val, good to have you in. Valerie, this is James Speight, are you...."

"We've met."

"We've met." Valerie answered, looking to Kat as the Claremont Director shrank, back to normal size. James did know her. James knew her well. "Good to see you, Kat. It seems like you are enjoying retirement. I was always surprised you picked Claremont, but hey. A quiet life is respectable." Valerie added, it indicating just how menacing she was given her own form not shifting down. No, she continued to dominate, as every single head and eye would be turned, heels clacking on carpet.

The three walked through the office, and headed immediately to a meeting room.

Ms Halliday had plenty on her hands, and a buzz of her BlackBerry looking phone gave James and Kat respite, but only for a few minutes.

---

Thursday
12:35
Rooftop
Claremont SDN

Another Rooftop

Soundtrack: ABBA- SOS

Lightning Girl's commute in the post-storm, blazing sunshine was one she could smell all that post-rain petrichor in.

A song from James's playlist, that she was playfully singing along to. A white-haired girl and ABBA were a match made in basic bitch heaven.

Especially when she had more juice than a block party in her for the way in.

An easy day before had made it at least easier to deal with her literal up and down of emotions, and James reporting he was okay made her at least rest easier last night. He was back on the mend, back in work even, given every day he didn't work was a day unpaid.

She was unsure why he still lived at hers. A hotel, anywhere else, surely it would be within range? Maybe he just liked company. She didn't know her own brother entirely, but had to guess at least that from how he had been looking, his priorities were work, and keeping everything turning. Classic him. Fucking workaholic.

But then again, so was she, because it was a gloriously lovely sunny day in Thursday in the City of Angels, or rather, the City of Trees and PhDs. Flying low, she could inhale all the pine trees, and it was beautiful. It was the small things really.

And there it was. Work. The usual timing, as the song began to cut, and she noticed a grey-armoured figure on the roof.

She set down by Eclipse.

She floated on electricity, standing upright, before falling down, sitting down right by him.

"This is my schtick. You saw me on the roof thinking you could do it. Admit it. You're a little envious." She chuckled, giving him a little nudge, looking out at the city streets below, people going about their day, knowing that if they were subscribers, they were one phone call away from a hero coming to save their day.

She dipped her hand into his Cheetos packet and chewed away, wiping the dust off her gloves, giving a chef's kiss, smiling back.

"Yum. Thanks. And....cheers for the other night. I wasn't all myself. But, you probably saved me from doing something really stupid." She retorted, smiling to him, looking out. "I appreciate that. Very heroic of you. Bet you fucking hate it, don't you. You wanna be nothing but shadowy rather than that. You would fit in perfectly in Manchester with all of how grey it is and people don't talk as much as me." She poked through his armour almost with that, knowing she'd seen another side to him. Another side that maybe he hadn't quite yet gotten to. Lightning Girl enjoyed the view of the midday sun, cape fluttering a little, bouncing off his suit, as she yawned and clambered up, realising it was about that time.

Not coffee time. Electricity time.

"Best you stay back for a second...just need a top up." She walked across the roof, and with a leap, across to the adjacent block, finding the transformer she usually threw herself against. And in a manner that Eclipse would probably find disturbing, she put her hands to both ends, and was spat away, feet above it, being physically shaken like a cocktail in a bartender's hands.

And Lightning Girl took on power. A power that seemed to pick her up off her feet, and she seemed to almost pulsate, turn white-hot, before releasing, and letting go, dropping onto the floor, her eyes paled out, before the semblance of any colour and grey returned with her pupils back in.

"Better. Sorry. Flying takes it out of me." She replied clicking her neck. She didn't hide what she was. Not after a flight like that. She needed a stab of power. Eclipse had to deal with withdrawals. So did she, but at least they didn't hook her. Maybe they had more in common than they liked to admit, she thought to herself, as she looked to him before walking down, foot up on a grate, cape fluttering in breeze, cowl on, silhouette near perfect. If you had to frame a grey-suited, heroine that filled the suit she had with power and poise, it would be it from Eclipse's point of view.

"I appreciate what you said you'd be willing to do. You don't have to do that for me.....but....thanks. See you at work." Sophie almost appreciated him a little, he was more than what that faceplated helmet would ever allow. What she was was someone vulnerable. Someone who needed help. And as a heroine, well, she couldn't help herself. But she had other things to do, and a work that required saving people.

She dropped down and seemed to take no fall damage, going in before Blackstar met Eclipse on the roof, making sure she was as ever, on time. No gym today, just a bit of pre-work admin.

---

Thursday
12:38
Meeting Room
Claremont SDN

SLACK: RD Meeting

The meeting room was dominated, as Valerie finally put the phone down across from Kat and James who sat at the opposite end of the long meeting table, her jaw bouncing, scowling almost. Even in spite of distance, Valerie made it look like she sat across from them. Fucking hell, she was one batch of steroids from looking like the fucking Hulk.

"Fucking, maggots." Valerie seemed almost, as she leaned in, sitting down in the chair at the end, still enormous despite however. She was still angry after her call.

"Kat, why are we paying this grifter so much money? He don't have eight arms, he can't be that good, so why is he on my budget? Even if Max and Sarah talk good...."

"His numbers are impressive. About the only thing I have holding the Phoenix Programme locally together. And I told Payroll to put him to Central, not East. We talked about this." Kat stated, breathing out. "I told corporate we need him, and Max agreed it. Right now, I cannot hire any dispatchers worth a damn. You gave me that at least, otherwise we look like those jerks in Pasadena." Kat was blunt, and defensive of James, all things considered, stuff he appreciated. Kat was ex-Special Forces, Detachment Delta, from what James understood. As capable with a gun as she was in shapeshifting. Someone who killed people in cold blood, but right now, knew how to tame that to not be overbearing. Especially not in front of her boss, and it seemed, a close work colleague. Defending James was certainly principle she was a good egg.

Valerie, ehh, not so much keen.

"Well, and I appreciate you understand being in the room, James, but, this is a lot of money and it's on my fucking pile right now. Kat, you know he ain't cheap. At least we need him on something......else." Valerie almost barked, as James spoke up.

"Look, if you're committing long term because you need dispatch services, I'm sure I can disc..."

Valerie stared daggers at him, as she put hands to table, not needing much force to spill tea all over his shirt.

"I ain't interested. The other dispatchers find out what I'm paying you, you're gonna get so much worse than a broken nose, that's the fucking point." Valerie retorted, before looking to Kat.

"Well, look at the numbers first. He makes us way more P&L than we had even with Riley. We're doing miracles, so all I'm saying is, take the hit in your budget and you get results that offset the problem." Kat reminded Valerie, the warrior queen not exactly flexing a ton of intellect, but enough to at least listen to someone she had respect and time for.

Whipping to her suit jacket and a pair of extremely expensive designer reading glasses were on. She took the paperwork, and silently, ominously, went through them, before putting them down, listening to Kat, talk away.

"And, he is temporary, so yeah, we all agree, it isn't gonna last because James has better things to do. I'll get him to train the next dispatcher when I get someone who ain't gonna fail assessments....but I ain't got much. Not with this ratio of Phoenix Programme, which, I may remind you, you sent here because Pasadena and DTLA turned up their noses at.....and Madcap. We need to talk about him."

"Fine. Are you happy your P&L looks this good?" Valerie asked, as James did not dare reply. Fuck me. She needed one hard look and she'd break his nose again.

"We happy." Kat chuckled, Valerie cracking a smile at the Pulp Fiction reference, as she breathed out, sighing as Valerie leaned back into her chair.

"Madcap ain't my fuck to give. He's a liability. But out here, he can't fuck up too hard because the DoJ told us it's gonna cost them too much to keep him down. Anyway. That wasn't the reason for my visit. This asspit of LA is so fucking far from DTLA that a quake there ain't even making it here, but I am noticing an uptick in performance beyond Prince fucking Harry, Andrew, Charles, Charming whatever the fuck, and you, Kat, are achieving." Valerie gave a significant tongue in cheek, but seemed to also be a little serious.

"Team's performing well." James replied, pointing to the very obvious. Hoping Kat would jump in. She didn't. Valerie was on it, leaning forwards and mocking. Valerie was rough, rough as a Viking shieldmaiden could be, with zero chill for anyone.

"'Team's performing well' yeah, no shit. Kat hires good people and you send those pricks out to do the dirty work, and they haven't yet fucked up completely. You ain't personally doing it. No offense, you ain't got powers, biggest thing you've moved out of the way's a suitcase." Valerie added, not letting James take any shine off of Kat's achievement. James nodded to Kat, the latter knowing it was a team effort, but, Valerie was ruthless. That dig at moving around as a consultant was particularly brutal.

Kat took the lead. "Thank you. Powers or not, we're acheiving it. But you know that anyway, so, what did you want?" Kat replied, sipping down more coffee, Valerie leaning across. She liked Kat. A fellow warrior. Different. But, Kat knew the meaning of hurt. Of making people suffer. Kat was perhaps kinder, warmer, nicer in her retirement, but Valerie, had a literal millennium of breaking people into tiny pieces and was only just about starting to relish in maybe not doing that. Corporately though, maybe she had a millennium of it to go.

"I thought I'd just.....swing on by. See a friend. And because everything seems addicted to going to shit in this world, I need some wins.....I came here thinking you'd be able to make some time to show off your success, Kat. And more importantly, give some higher ups need some good news. The kind that the A-Team......and James have made. The SDN DTLA-Hollywood Gala is on tomorrow evening." Valerie started, slurping down the rest of her Espresso, reluctant, but at least admitting it.

She was cold, icy, shitty, but she wasn't a total bitch. You didn't get to Regional Director without making enemies, but it paid dividends to have friends. It wasn't worth putting people on hills to die on, just, a usual ribbing to send a reminder.

"And I need some heroes who ain't a bunch of miserable pricks, including some Phoenix Programme heroes who aren't gonna go feral when I put them in a suit. Not some shiny, fucking nerds from San Fran, or 'community payback' bullshit from Compton who foam at the mouth when they see celebrities. No. No, I want normal heroes from a real fucking place where real fucking people live, to put in front of the Governor of California, and next to DTLA, A-Listers and Hollywood, so he keeps paying us instead of those bastard nerds, at that motherfucking, ass-eating start up from San Diego. I want heroes who will attend and not cause any problems. Can we do that?" Valerie finished, a reply confidently in turn coming from Kat.

"We can do that." It was assured. Kat didn't have any reason, James nodding.

Valerie nodded. "Good. James, if any single one of your team screw up, I will break every bone in their body, then your body....personally. Like I did to Torsten the Black when he tried to date my sister without telling me and I blood eagled him. I cannot understate how important this is. It's a a meet and greet, you show up, you say hi, you look good for cameras, leave. I can't understate this, we nearly had to close Burbank because the bean counters are scared we're gonna start losing public contracts with local government. We lose that, we're donzo in LA. Gimme something I can work with." Valerie did not fuck around.

Holy shit. What pressure was she under? It meant that Kat had to be dealing with this all of the time, but, clearly they were friendly.

The money aspect always got to people. But James knew he was right. He was talked to like shit, but, James knew that Valerie paid him unquestioningly, just wanted value.

"Understood." James replied.

"Excellent. Get this right, Kat here gets to warm up to the idea of an Assistant Regional Director while she cashes checks, and you, you actually might get a job in SDN that doesn't involve sending Madcrap an' Astrabastard to go wipe some fucking toddler's ass. I want an excuse to make you permanent so my financial line don't look so shitty paying money out of SDN. And I like it when my P&L looks crispy. Fuckers in San Jose are so smug...." The Regional Director was not exactly someone who despite her formal looks, spoke with the highest of formality. James had something to throw back.

"It isn't you, but SDN haven't found the right role yet. It's why I'm independent. I've heard it before. When is this happening? What next? No offense, Valerie. It's been said to me a lot. Every Regional Director. Every time. Ends the same. I end up picking up that big heavy suitcase you talk about and walking away." James put it back to her. He didn't like her badmouthing the team, but then again, he was mortal, she was also, a Regional Director and looked like a thousand years of rage were behind her, replaced by corporate retirement. But, James told it how it was. Valerie might run through him, and he was scared. But he was anything if lacking fact that he knew how these things played out.

Valerie's fist almost curled, as James held his line, Valerie breaking in before he added anything?

"Oh, you ever feel bad about what you do? Milking me good when you're helping heroes?" Valerie asked, as Kat wished in that moment, James shut the fuck up. He should have learned from having his face punched. But as a consultant, he was the jester in the room. Able to tell it as it was. Not just suck up profusely. They paid for results, not for sycophants. James could tell just who Valerie was.

He didn't have a superpower. He just knew how sometimes, you had to play a situation. Valerie didn't want weakness. She wanted warriors. Fighters.

A Scandinavian level of directness.

"I spent the last year running around saving SDN about twenty times what you pay me. Look, let's get down to brass tacks, yeah? Half the computers are running like absolute shit, half of the offices' dilap surveys showing half the place is falling to bits means there's gonna be big moves ahead, which means a shit-ton of logistics for some of the heroes we want to onboard, and to do that, cost cutting isn't gonna help, we need to get investment, and we do that by getting customer retention up. Phoenix Programme means you save money because you aren't paying half of them a living wage, and it takes one really big fuck up, at any branch, and the authorities kill any contracts we have with them in it." James stopped for breath.

"I'm here to try and paper any crack that you have, so yeah, I'm working as hard as I can to keep things afloat like I'm inside this thing with as much on the line as you have, because you're right. You could kick me to the kerb and be done with it. Had that happen to me on Tuesday. I don't even get to sit down and have a normal life because I'm fighting wherever you have the worst fire, East Coast, West Coast. You pay me to be a fixer, so I'm fixing whatever it is. So I don't see it as milking you. This is all I have." James half rambled, putting his words back to Valerie, and putting emphasis on it.

Fuck..

It wasn't his first time. But with Valerie, he knew she would only understand direct, straight, no bullshit.

Even so, fuck, that was a bit much. But he meant it. He actually did. This was all he had. The life outside being this....workaholic, it didn't exist.

Valerie laughed, looking at Kat, leaning back as she almost had a twink in her eye. Damn, okay, this is why Kat kept him around. Holy shit, that was funny, and well, bless him, for someone that took a punch to the face from a hero, well, he was a tryer. A fair point, but, she wouldn't have done that if she was in his place. But Valerie, well, she'd entertain that. Fine, let it roll.

"He's funny. I like how brave he is for someone a bit more......mortal." Valerie chuckled, looking over. "Sure. Chief Growth Officer position just opened up and I'm expecting to be promoted. Who's to say I can't change things, given you seem to....have a track record in developing heroes. They couldn't. Now I could. I need people I can trust....who also ain't gouging the shit out of me, so, maybe let's change your tune.....if this goes well. But as for dispatching fucking heroes, you better give me Grade fucking A. Or I'll ask Snakebite to get some Python to eat your dick." Everyone laughed, as the point was made, but in a humerous way.

Before Valerie cleared her throat. Holy shit, she was scary. Jesus. She looked like she could go cage fight Feno, and look classy doing it.

"I mean that. Punch Up's got nothing on Snakebite's anacondas gobbling up your dick if I tell him to. Make sure it don't fuck up." The room turned to shadow again.

Valerie stood as if to break that all, and with it, took the door. "James, me and Kat need to talk. If you would leave." James took the hint.

Walking towards, the brute of a Regional Director sat again, and the voices continued, as he sheepishly made his way over to the break room, breathing out heavy, brushing the sweat from his forehead.

"Who's that?" Lightning Girl asked, sitting at a table and sipping down tea, ready to go, all geared up with her pack in front of her.

"Regional Director. Love of fuck. We need to tidy up, it looks like a shithole." James called, putting cups and mugs away, as Lightning Girl helped at least to try and make tidy, glancing.

"Wait. Shieldmaiden? Oh damn, yeah, she is way bigger than the poster....." Lightning Girl looked back to James, even herself, feeling a little intimidated. Shit. It wasn't often someone scared her, but, Valerie had that effect. It was why she was a Regional Director, and not some heroine being deployed anymore.

When you were immortal, you tended to give less of a shit about people's feelings when they would die by your hand, or simply be outlasted. She wasn't terrifying like Princess, nor perhaps as potent as Fenomaman was. But, she was by most standards, the blend of intellect, charm, vigor and sheer corporatism that moved gears when people like James and Kat couldn't.

Even with what they did tidying, it wasn't fast enough. Valerie hadn't spent long talking to Kat, her steps clacking. On the way out, Valerie craned her neck into the break room, looking around at the state of it, James and Lightning Girl mixed up with clean up.

And Madcap. She didn't have words, as she shot daggers at James, for uncertain reasons. It was a break room. What was wrong with it? It was an unannounced visit. Not their responsibility.

Valerie would though.

It was that Regional Director stare, almost that "I'm mad, but mad disappointed, not angry" energy she had.

And she would cast a glance at every single one of the team. This was Claremont's A-Team?

A fine bunch. But Kat was always a light touch, looking at each hero in particular, thinking on their file. She always looked at fine print. Well, not finanical, but as a hero herself, she was always interested.

The black suited woman with brown hair, with her cowl on and her dark energy. Fear. The other black suited man, with stars on his suit and gravity. Escape. The shorter, armoured looking shadowy figure. Edgy. The obviously Canadian, ice hockey garb wearing Cree. The peacock. Phenomaman's parallel, towering imperfect. Impersonating. The casual looking redhead with her magnetism. Disillusioned. The almost black and white visage of the white-dress wearing shapeshifter. Lost. The muppet in a bug mask. Pretending. And the electricity wielding woman next to James.

More than a word.

She was in all of their heads. She knew every single one of their pain points. And she wasn't even James, she didn't know them like he did, she had this understating, unnerving ability.

The sort of person you would love to have on your side in a fight, because Valerie was like a brick wall against the bad. Who needed more than just good results. She needed a personal reason, after a thousand years, the names all faded when what mattered was those who stayed by her side when it mattered. But against anyone she didn't like, it was terror. Not cosmic, just, the kind that seemed slow and then fast burning. Not even that of the SDN corporate machine, just of a one-woman raid.

Valerie looked back to Kat and continued walking, their voices trailing as they left.

"Kat, we'll talk later, we'll discuss the quarter at the monthly managers...."

The lift doors opened, as James looked around at the assembled bunch, shaking his head. The ding indicating the lift was going down and the doors were shut.

"Regional Director. Don't." James said nothing, leaving them to it, wiping the sweat from his head, wondering just what the fuck he'd done.

---

Thursday
12:44
Dispatcher's Corner
Claremont SDN

An Unusual Shift

@Auragreedia

James returned to his desk, with Raul working away on getting it back up and running after some problems James called in. The IT technician proudly showed off his work, and it looked more Dia de la Muerte than a workstation. But it would do. He took on the advice, nodding in return, not letting himself get in the way. Raul needed simple replies, nothing more, because he had a to-do list on his Slack that was getting longer and longer.

Fucking hell. Work was a pain. But so was paying for food, Sophie's share of rent, and that all needed doing. He wasn't like Americans, work was work, it was a fucking job, but he was rather addicted to it. That made him more like the people in Claremont than he wanted to admit. Every now and then, leaving this behind, taking proper, real time for himself, came to mind. Instead of nearly being killed by Tsunami, and right now, having to tell Valerie what he thought. A suicidal way even by a shapeshifting boss of his right now to start the day, but oh well, James wasn't an ass-sucker. They didn't pay him to do that, not enough, he thought to himself.

Oh yeah, Raul. Right.

"Thanks. No worries mate, I'll not touch a thing if it keeps it online." James said in his usual northern English accent, Felix purring a little as he greeted Raul and James.

"Yeah, I.....I think I was left to look after the kitten. I'll keep it in mind about Samson's. Best the kitten doesn't get overexposed. Lots of people here who are terrifyingly big." James replied, as he sat down, the meowing from the bin below, picking up Felix as he looked confused, unsure, but, increasingly, comfy around Felix. Then Raul's comment about the carnival. Oh, yeah, right. That was today.

"Right. That sounds like a chilled day. I have got...." James looked right.....

At impressive pile of paperwork developed in his absence, before cutting back to Raul, standing adjacent to it.

"That to do. Thanks for passing it on. I'll let you know if there's any issues." James added, nodding as he looked back at Felix, letting Raul go and get on with his busy day of fixing other people's issues.

'Have you tried turning it off and on again'.

'Have you tried turning it off and on again'.

Whatever the spiritual equivalent of that was. Felix meeped and made it clear he wanted attention, James cutting his thoughts about Raul's busy day and cutting back to Felix's lack of any perspective.

To be a cat....

"Why? Why do I have to look after you? I mean...." James said, as the cat squeaked once more, curling in James's lap, as the Brit sighed.

"Ey. You didn't cause any trouble here did you?" A squeak was the only reply, as James gently stroked his teeny little head and body, the mackrel tabby beginning to grow on him, as he got the first bits of his papers together.

And on that note, Felix alerted him to the sound of the hero coming up from behind bit soon afetr, popping down the succulent and planter, letting her chat away and enjoy the little cat in James's hands.

@cosmiccowgirl

Blackstar had big sister energy all about her. James knew that because he was the older sibling.

"Aww. Thanks Blackstar, me too. I appreciate that a lot. Felix here will love those gifts, too. I'll start him slow on the catnip. He is a growing kitten. Best not hit him with the hard stuff yet." And Felix did love that indeed, purring as he pawed Blackstar, giving an meep, rather than a fully formed meow as of yet. It was amazing how things changed. James, without wanting to say it, was beginning to like his presence. He was a little rascal. Super sleepy, but also, just wanted company. He was a lap cat. Felix loved the little scratcher, and enjoyed Blackstar's scritches, before himself yawning and wanting to leave Felix's hands, going back to the basket, curling up in a way that was absolutely adorable. On her next note....

James yawned as he slid the right form across to Blackstar, giving a thumbs up as he turned in the chair, snapping back to reality as he did so.

"When a goon loses an appendage, you fill this one out. If they get killed, use the one on that pile there, and, I'll make sure we have someone from our Wellbeing team reach out. And I'll be here to talk too. Weirdly, it's shorter, as coroners tend to just want to know how to put down the mess they're about to walk into on their forms. We work in one hell of a fucked up business. But, it could be worse." James did not know at all about Blackstar, as he leaned back in the chair, spinning back.

"You could be me, Blackstar. With no fucking powers at all, a regional director that looks like she was about to run me through a meeting room wall, and some heroine that got promoted out of her capacity, punching me in the face. Anyway. Woe is me, and all that shit. We'll work through this paperwork together. Have a good shift out there. You're doing really well." James commented, a genuine compliment, given that he had nothing to lose. Nothing apart from at least making his team get out there and do some good even if he couldn't.

With it, James put his hand back up to the cat and gave Felix a fuzzy stroke, before putting the computer back on, letting Raul's magic do the trick. It held, and ran nicely, better than before, running on literal hopes and dreams of a cyber-spiritual pep talk. The packet of Fisherman's Friends, with the nice post it from Eclipse was a nice touch.

"Aww. You do have a heart after all." He opened the packet, and chewed on a lozenge, the menthol and eucalyptus giving his tongue something to do while he logged in.

The headset back over head, he watched as the team's profiles all clicked in, and their trackers came to life.

The SDN system was, as he described to Valerie, a pile of shit. But, it was make do and mend. No point crying over it.

"Afternoon, team, checking in as we're on the clock. Looks like you're headed off to a carnival. Not much for me to do today, because I have a ton of admin, so this one's your personal bottle episode. Be friendly. Polite. Nice. Show them why you're all heroes. And if you're not social....I don't know. Try and keep some families safe." James replied, sighing.

"Just don't be too weird. James, out."

---

@SonnetNSunbeam

Lightning Girl smiled, adjusting the headset in her ear, zapping out from the plug, watching Madcap watch the TV again, after all of that. It had been a quiet start. Tea sipped down, a packet of Bourbon Biscuits left on the table (chocolatey biscuits with a chocolate/cream centre to them), it was all rather quaint.

Madcap's suit being different was loud enough. He said it was weird, but hey, she wasn't asking questions. The costume was the last thing on her mind about him.

"Yeah, yeah." She looked to the group hearing James talk, the buzz coming through on her watch, as she looked across the room, seeing a certain black-costumed hero come through, as she shotgunned her tea and put it in the dishwasher, leaning against the countertop.

A powered up Lightning Girl was absolutely more social. She was glad she kept her trap shut around Valerie though. Holy shit.

"Asteroid, you want a lift to the carnival? I ain't pooled with you yet." She asked him, offering a hand, knowing while the gravity. "Don't go making yourself weigh loads. Or you are getting tazed." She smiled at him, the charming British heroine adjusting her cape, hearing that cue and the ping to her watch indicating it was go-time.

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

Tuesday
20:32
The Cowl Inn Taproom,
Downtown Claremont

A hum comes from deep in her chest, something orchestral. “There are many paths laid before us, we must merely pick one. Not to worry, nothing shall bar us from them all. Afterall, a path in the wood has no end just as it has no walls, the end is never…the end…” The words seem to linger, echo, her eyes tracking something not quite there as she mutters in and out of a plural reference to herself.

@Redking0380

James always wondered if she would ever stop being this airy. This....abstract? Was that how he would describe her? She was detached, almost as if she was alien to reality.

But also, an artist. Creative. That made sense.

"A gallery sounds like a good idea among all of it though. I had you down as an artist, you know. Not sure why, you just seem very creative." There. It was a normal statement back to the one she'd made, and the world would spin around. He liked her, really. Weird, sure, but dutiful. She didn't steal sandwiches. She didn't cause shit. She had a bad rap sheet, but she was weirdly, strangely, fine. The sort of character that was made of knives or grew tall,

”Honestly? Not really, no.” Well, was there? Fuck. Not massively. She gave a ‘it be how it be’ gesture with the hands, taking another sip of her Irish Coffee. ”Besides, if I go hiking in the desert I’m sure some fucking alarm will ring out or…something or another.”

@Thayr

"Oh yeah. Forgot you're on a tag. You're magnetic though, you'd fob that off." James added, sipping more pint down, grabbing a few more chips that were depleting, but left.

Myla. She was a weird creature. If someone thrived on pure spite, it usually meant they were pretty good at living. At pissing someone off. But he almost understood it, beyond that veneer of being annoyed. He'd feel the same. Surrounded by all these heroes, loud as anything. He was lucky he knew Sophie so well. And through it, everything he'd seen. Moulding himself around it.

He never wanted a power like it. It came with responsibility. A reality that Phoenix Programme had to come back to, that doing good was a lot more difficult than doing bad.

Myla in particular. She was here because the prison system sucked donkey balls, and well, a thief in prison was a dangerous thing.

"But you would get sunburnt. Like every ginger ever does. Even you're not immune to that." James chuckled, sipping beer as Thunderstruck was belted out, James leaning back against his chair, for a moment, relaxing. Switching off. Turning off that lever in his head that was always on.

Enjoy it while it lasts, he told himself.

It wasn't turning off completely.

///

@Auragreedia@SonnetNSunbeam@cosmiccowgirl

The signing made Lightning Girl belly laugh, as she giggled, hearing Madcap sing was nearly like nails on chalk but Asteroid had some pipes on him. Shit, he was nearly, nearly pulling this off. She sipped down more beer, feeling it gently thrum against her, as she heard them end, and absolutely didn’t miss what Madcap snuck in there.

Of course she wouldn’t. Her eyes snapped like a falcon catching a tiny sliver of rat in a wide brimmed grey eye, but she did nothing despite everything normally wanting her to tell him, purely, what the actual fuck. Bastard. Really? He knew? Well, it wasn’t exactly a secret, but…to come out with it now? Oh, you fuck.

*I was just beginning to think you were alright.*

And just like every loud American, he was two faced, unhinged, sure, but now, he was just so full of shit, so much of an asswipe, thinking he was…..special. Lightning Girl had her regrets. But they weren’t his to voice, not when she didn’t answer to him, but management. So for now, she had to almost hold it in. And did, turning her mouth towards beer as they ended, before clapping for praise.

“Hah, okay, that was amazing!” She called, amongst the ending of the song, the barlady sighing a little as she was realising she’d be losing her hearing at this rate of the Claremont team carried on hitting that karaoke machine.

She breathed out, putting hands against table, and tried, tried to relax, as James raised his eyebrows over at her, the two looking at each other for a moment, the glance saying a thousand things, because he knew what it meant.

This couldn’t get worse. For her, this was annoying, angry even, but for James, this was a pipebomb for morale. Not about his sister, no, she’d made her choices, and word would get out. Not here though. If they both got angry, then all of this was for nought. All of this good progress. Everything. It was finally actually turning a corner, and like fuck would he let anyone breach that peace. He had to be careful. Let this one play out, James said to himself mentally. And if he keeps pushing it, the others will probably tell him to calm down. He took a sip of his own beer, recoiling a tiny bit from the strength which being honest, was mad.

Lightning Girl breathed out on that note, and cleared the rest of her beer, as everyone sat back down, and for now, nobody was going up to sing, nobody really able to match that performance.

Madcap and Asteroid make their way back to the table, with the former acting none the wiser as he flashes a shit-eating grin at Lightning Girl. Still, there’s something fake to it, but with the top half of his face still covered with his bug-helmet, he’s hard to read.

A silence falls over the bar, no one else taking the chance to karaoke after the previous duo, the barkeep wiping a glass and occasionally checking in with the kitchen staff. It’s only when the bathroom doorknob begins to turn that everyone is on alert–the first thing to break the silence, and out of the bathroom comes…

“Wha’s all that noise?” An obviously drunk Tsunami, one of Lightning Girl’s old teammates, and one of the ones she zapped. Her hair is dishevelled, and she stumbles forward as she points a finger at Lightning Girl specifically. “... Fuck. You. You dumb, bitch! Like, why the fuck’re you here ruining my night?!”

Lightning Girl looked in horror. As if it couldn’t get worse. Madcap didn’t know her, did he? Or…..well, it had gone out on the Slack.

James realised she was in it. Fuck. She’d known. She had turned up. And she was causing a ruckus.

She had been unresponsive lately, but she recovered faster, clearly. And she was out of her face drunk. The single worst combo for a hero whose powers were manipulating water.

“And you brought new friends too,” she squints her eyes as she approaches the table, “a chick with worse hair than yours, some bug-eyed freak, a fuckin’ all black wearing punk that thinks, he’s like, cool or some shit with that cheesey shit on his suit! And, like, Phenomaman of all fuckin’ people! And don’t even get me started on the dorks in the back!”

“You zap me and Meta-man, and then you run off to some bar! Like, oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with you… you stupid, stupid–” Tsunami clenches her fists and any unfinished drinks have their liquid float upward slightly. The barkeep and the few customers shrink in disbelief, choosing to keep quiet. “Like, we weren’t even invited back and then Riley–that dumb fucking Riley—replaces us both with a bunch of… losers! Like, where the fuck is he?!”

James stepped forwards, before Lightning Girl had a chance to even defend herself, as he stood, sighing. “Hey hey, what the fuck! Nobody here is asking for anything to happen, alright!?” James replied, with a firm, authoritative voice, as he stood, Lightning Girl trying to find words of her own, as he put his hand out. “Calm down.. If you’re pissed about Lightning Girl, fine, but she got a disciplinary and went through the process. But right now, there’s a lot of civvies, and heroes who do not want any trouble because you can’t handle yourself. A lot of people who want a good time. So chill, let the beers go, and come sit down with us, or leave..” James was trying to roll for charisma, and maybe, with a more sober, reasonable member of the team, he might get somewhere.

“Who the fuck are you, like, LG’s boytoy or some shit?! Like, shut the fuck up, and stay out of this!” Tsunami shoves James to the side, still continuing her tirade against Lightning Girl. All the liquid of the table begins to spike upward as she comes closer. “I wanted a good time, but then this bitch steals my spotlight, steals my job, then she, like, runs away, and all me and Meta-man are left with is a half-assed, fake apology! Shut the fuck up about having a good time, and maybe teach that bitch how to handle herself on a dispatch next time!”

Madcap watches awkwardly from his corner, still pinned between Asteroid on the wall beside him. He glances at his glass of water and pokes at it as it floats out of his cup.

Lightning Girl moved out of the way, and stood tall, taller than Tsunami, as James tried to keep the peace in between, a physical barrier, as she finally found the words. “I apologised, okay! I fucked up. I didn’t realise you were throwing water, and I’m sorry I cast. I made a mistake.” She said, breathing out a heavy breath, the energy feeling like it was shooting through her already as she almost trembled in her arm with electricity. “I didn’t mean it. But we had to act quickly and I didn’t know what to do. I tried to do what was best. So I’m sorry.” She said with almost a turn in her throat, exhaling hard.

She was threatening James. And well…..James had no powers. If Tsunami went all in even while drunk, he was as good as dead. Even if she didn’t use her powers and just wanted to prove a point, she was likely to hit harder, faster, and move quicker than James could react, if she got one blow on him.

And he was between them both. Sophie could take a hit. But James couldn’t. He was trying to do the right thing, but she fucking hated him when he did this. Trying to protect his bigger sister. Trying to put himself in danger. A natural instinct, but she could more than protect herself, right now, she could absolutely turn Tsunami into powder or shock her at least to back off, but not if he was in the way. Not if he was there. And in a way, she wondered, maybe that was what James was doing. Making her think too.

Protecting Sophie from Lightning Girl.

But more likely, he just wanted a peaceful resolution. James didn’t want this to go to shit and he wasn’t a hero, he was a consultant dispatcher with a lot on his mind. Tsunami needed to go, and if the team had questions, he could deal with it. But this was fucked. It couldn’t escalate and he reasoned, if it did, at least

James wanted to make words, but this time, Sophie was first. “But leave him out of this. He was going to see you in hospital but couldn’t find you. He’s looking after all of us and he wants to look after you. If you keep talking shit, we’ll throw you out of here. Me, and my friends. Come on, Tsunami. Think it through.” She added knowing that threat came from her lead, knowing that piece of information wasn’t divulged to the team, not yet at least, not because James had told her that last night. He was standing back up again, as she realised Tsunami was eyeing him down.

The barlady was powerless to help. This was far too small a place to have bouncers or someone to enforce the peace. They’d call SDN if they needed help dealing with trouble.

Right now, SDN were the trouble.

“I think you need to leave, Tsunami. Not here.” James said in one last ditch to try and attempt to make sure nobody would come to blows, as Lightning Girl stared, stared deep into Tsunami’s drunk and wild eyes, the power gently thrumming.

If she laid a finger on him, this time, she was sober enough to know that this time, she knew it would be no accident.

Tsunami scowls at Lightning Girl, face contorted in anger. She stays like that for what feels like minutes before a jet of water is sent at Lightning Girl’s face–and a punch thrown at James’s face–she tries to hold back on it, but with all that booze in her system? Yeah, fuck that, that was a full-powered punch from a super to a civie.

James was thrown on the floor and almost halfway across it with a perfect haymaker, as Lightning Girl sparked, arcing electricity, as it likely gave everybody who was splashed a static shock, which meant almost the entire team. The water brushed on her hair and cowl, as suddenly, static poured out of her feet, legs, hands, arms, hair, everything.

She looked at James, groaning on the floor, blood pouring from his nose, and her eyes turned grey and blank.

The noise of the bar’s music seemed to turn to nothing.

Every single fibre seeming to coalesce, brim, burn, turn red-hot.

The static bounced in her fingers, growling, almost shrieking.

So much so Lightning Girl seemed to gain another foot on Tsunami, gently lifting from wooden floor into air, and her hands almost turned a brilliant white. The electricity pulsed in fingers, to a point where nobody in the team would have ever seen it.

A rage, an incandescent feeling. She hadn’t seen how James was yet. It was almost instant.

Lightning Girl was almost entirely glowing now and sparking across her suited body, to a point where the lights inside the bar physically started to almost recoil and flicker, two bulbs smashing and blowing from the sheer amount she was stealing, without contact, and disrupting, as if her mind itself had decided to take control of the bar’s electricity supply for a second, rather than the right thing to do

The smell of ozone, the taste of cobalt in her mouth, and that fucking heroine that punched her brother was right there, drunk, and taunting.

The white haired, white caped, light grey-suited heroine had so much power that she would turn her into what happened when a rabbit touched an electricity pylon.

It was a look of pure, total, rage.

Words came heavy like tungsten..

“Nobody touches our dispatcher. Nobody hurts civvies. Last chance…..run. Or everything flashes before your eyes.”

Lightning Girl’s voice had dropped two octaves. Gone was the airy, polite, nice tone.

Instead it was just rage that even as she spoke, seemed to almost emit more ozone. It wasn’t bad breath, more like the power was leaking out of her jaw.

Someone who didn’t even need electricity given her musculature would have been enough to tear the fucking bitch limb from limb, let alone manifest her not existing anymore.

With power, it was terror.

At point blank, all she had to do was just release the sinews pulling her back from putting so much electricity through Tsunami that it would hurt them both, probably taze everyone else, but it would definitely, certainly, vapourise Tsunami into ash-like cinders. And both of them would know that. A final fuck you if she did it, proving Tsunami’s point.

Lightning Girl scaled, of course. And to fly, she needed plenty of power. Power that hadn’t left her body. Power that was being burnt like a kerosene fire, and all with one target, rendered in a blue costume that would fry in her water-based guise like steam.

James could have died. James could be dying. She didn’t fucking care. She could get deported for all it was worth.

Nobody laid a finger on her brother.

Someone would have to do something. Knocking into her and stopping her would likely come with a sizeable electric shock.

But James groaned, mumbling a “Wait….”, hoping, praying someone would do something. Even he hadn’t seen her like this, but the closest he remembered seeing, she did proceed to turn them into a pile of ash. It was a sex offender in Camden. It was the single most horrifying thing he’d ever seen her sister do. In a world of heroes, unspeakable horror existed, especially when his sister had the power of a small village crammed into six foot two of her body. Some deserved it. Right now, Lightning Girl did not deserve to lose everything over this. James wanted to beg her to stop. If last time was a mistake, this, this was Tsunami goading her to destroy herself.

And James was terrified.

And he’d get killed if he tried to stop her. He could only reason, and hope she saw him, on the floor, very, very dizzy, bleary and wiping the snot and blood from his broken nose.

… And a shadowy tendril coiling around Lightning Girl’s leg that stops her from escalating the encounter as Tsunami spits at James and storms out the bar. “Well, your new dispatcher is a bitch! Fuck you, fuck your new teammates, this is why you’re stuck in Claremont, and that’s why I’m getting transferred to Hollywood! Fuckin’ nobody!”

The bar door slams closed, but tension continues to linger in the air, the barkeep rises from behind the counter, making sure it is finally over, and the few civilians around breath an uneasy sigh of relief as they try to continue their night. The rest of A-Team, however, is likely not doing much better, especially considering James’s current condition; the mood is ruined.

Lightning Girl’s eyes stay on Tsunami like a hawk, as she says nothing, absolutely nothing, static in air, the tendrils around her legs making her want to swear, but ultimately, realising as James got to his feet despite being spat on, leaning against a chair, exhaling, wiping the crap off his lips and bloodied mouth.

When Tsunami was out of the door, Sophie breathed out, and released her energy back into herself, painfully, as it felt like suckering back in every worst pins and needles you could humanly imagine. The shadow would have likely given Eclipse a bit of a buzz, given just how much power was in her at that very moment.

Sophie looks at Eclipse, and rather than a look of rage, her eyes turn back to her usual grey self, silent, the world feeling like it turned upside down. She felt heavy getting up. Pushing up off the floor, she immediately went to James’s side, as he sat down, heavy, as he leant back.

“FUCK!” She yelled, exasperated, as he gave a thumbs up to her, putting hand to nose, stemming the bleeding a bit, as Sophie seemed almost out of energy, almost out. She was silent, almost completely so as she took her hip pack and immediately drew a tactical first aid kit, her usual, and leant James back, still shocking him a little as she did, trying to elevate his head and applying a disinfectant wipe, holding back all the tears. “Hold your head up, we’re gonna be alright….” She almost whimpered….

Sophie had to do something. Help. Her default setting. There was nothing normal about it. His nose was broke, and while his teeth were luckily all in order, he was bleeding a fair chunk because of said nose. A lot of disinfectant wipes, and she barely could make words, trying to help, heal, at least, fucking stem this. She breathed out as he mumbled something, the white noise coming back into focus, as the rest of the team no doubt looked on, at a bloody dispatcher and a hero that seemed to go from top of the world, crashing straight into the ocean floor.

Looking at him, she checked for any other hurt, his head had a bump but that was fine, and he hadn’t concussed himself. Okay, that was good. So much of her was screaming internally…..chase Tsunami. Fucking turn her to vapour. Turn her into steam.

*It’s not what he wants.*

She realised his nose was out of shape, and with it, put her hand to his nose and turned, and James screamed.

It had to be done. And the noise sent a shock into Sophie, as he twitched, his nose now no longer pouring blood, fixed but painful. Her instinct kicking in, overriding everything else inside her that wanted her to stop. No, she had to look after, protect, fix. No second thought. It was snap instant. He groaned, feeling that return and the pain subside.

“Argh……fuck that hurts! Jesus…..she…..she saw our Slack. Didn’t realise I hadn’t taken her off the list. I’ll be fine. Thanks.” James said, as Sophie exhaled hard cutting back to him after doing what she would do for anyone and having to come back into the reality that she was now doing the first aid she’d done for people who were hurt in incidents to her own brother, holding back tears, holding back the feeling that she wanted to crumble.

“Don’t do anything stupid….but fuck me that was…..stupid of her.” He groaned, hurting, not having much in the way of words outside of direct ones. James peeled up and held the wipe, his energy back after being winded, as she silently peeled away with hers feeling like it had pissed out of her into grounded floor and into the air as ozone, letting the barlady bring over a bag of ice and her first aid kit, wanting everything but to scream again. The lights flickered above her where she hadn’t blown the bulbs on the wall, as she looked to everyone on the team, shaking her head, her emotions physically controlling the electricity, her hair still staticky, her hands still trembling. Looking to Eclipse. Who had stopped her, in a moment where she would have gone ham. She was angry, but grateful. And to the team. Who had seen that.

“I’m so sorry. I…..I wished you didn’t have to see that……I promise, what happened was an accident, I really didn’t mean it. I didn’t……she……..could have killed him then. I…..fuck he……he means the world to me.” She spluttered, her voice meek, nothing like what it was before. It definitely didn’t sound like Lightning Girl. It definitely didn’t sound like the version of her about to turn Tsunami into an evaporated pool of flesh. It sounded like Sophie Speight, afraid, terrified, and so, so far from home. 5,250 miles from home. Halfway across the world to the antipode.

She was alone with no friends and the only feeling she had inside her was wondering if she was just going to hurt everyone she ever touched for him

“I…..I’m……I should leave.” She croaked, trying everything to hold back tears.

And failing.

James put the bag of ice to nose from the barlady as he fumbled up, a little disoriented, wanted her to stop, but it was no use as he put his hand up. Sophie moved to the door and the sound of her crumbling could be heard, as she didn’t want anyone to follow, because she felt like she was about to break. And they couldn’t see that. She wouldn’t want them to.

Madcap watches as Lightning Girl leaves, swirling his empty glass of water and continuing to eat as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Eclipse squeezes past Hat Trick, hands James a few napkins for his bloodied face, and walks out after Lightning Girl. He wipes sweat off his face, and sighs as he feels cool night’s air on his skin. What the fuck was he doing? What the fuck did he just watch? All these questions, and he still finds himself approaching Lightning Girl.

Sophie was in the alley next to the bar and saw him, not interested, trying to leap and with it, static pouring her up. She couldn’t even make out the words. She would hurt him. And the team. And everyone. Ruined a good night.

But it wasn’t enough to leap up and fly, in fact, all the energy in her was gone, and all control, too. She was arcing off every single metal fire escape on the big redbrick blocks as she rose almost at half speed, and suddenly, she fell as she rose above it, barely able to control herself clearing the brick but not soaring, instead falling, electricity sparking all over her and the puddles and water as she slammed into the roof of one of the buildings, crashing with a wash of electricity.

It hurt, but she’d put the rest into not hurting herself at least, so it was like falling down a few steps of stairs by the time she smacked into the concrete.

Sophie didn’t want anyone here in her mental state. She was a threat to anyone. Everyone. All she did was hurt. All she had done was threaten to hurt. Came so far from home and it was for nothing, because she couldn’t manage herself. She couldn’t deal with Tsunami properly. How could she protect James from hurt when she couldn’t protect James from herself? She hadn’t looked after him. He could have died and then what? Lose everything? She’d be like fucking them, a villain, no better. But she couldn’t do nothing. Lightning Girl always did something. And that was a paradox.

Sophie sobbed, crying out of control, and put her head in her hands, leaning back against a duct, almost a wail coming from her. Her tears pouring past her cowl’s eyeholes, static almost uncontrollable across her body, almost convulsing, her hands against her face to stop her from arcing against anything else.

“Tch.” Eclipse clicks his tongue, hurrying after her up the steps. He finds her sobbing by herself on the rooftop, and a quick glance at The Cowl Inn’s door tells him enough: no one else stepped out to check on her besides him. For now, at least.

He sits down beside her, still unsure of what to say, just leans his head back and stares up at the sky. Some stars dot the sky, the grey clouds and storm having cleared since they reached the bar, and when Tsunami had appeared. Right, the two heroes that he and Payback were supposed to replace. Somehow that turned into a whole team, then Tsunami just happened to show up and everything went backwards. It’s funny how A-Team grew since their first few dispatches.

She stares at Eclipse’s shadowy figure, almost out of breath from crying and her outburst, literal and powered, wondering why he’d followed. Why? Nothing logical was in her head. No thoughts made any sense. It almost didn’t matter, as she got herself composed, leaning away from the metal, peeling against bricks, realising.

“Fuck. I’m so sorry. So, so sorry…..” She added, wiping tears, breathing out a long hard breath, Sophie backing herself up, her cape all dirtied from the filth on the roof, as was her suit, looking back at him. “I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t stop apologising. Classic British. But it wasn’t the words of a hero.

“You know that…..fuck……James worked with me a lot back in the UK. He’s close. And when I saw that…..I couldn’t.” She cut herself off, as her emotions overtook, and electricity bounded off her fingers, as she put hand to face, stopping it. “I’m sorry. I need to focus to stop it going out of control. I’m a walking fucking battery, Eclipse! I….I’m just a fucking lightning bolt I have to hold together….and when she hurt him I nearly did so much worse, I can’t…I….I can’t do this!” She almost exclaimed loud but her voice seemed entirely cropped. Like an entire part of her had been deleted as the energy was all but gone.

She let a few tears shed, and exhaled, hands over face, pointed away, clearing the snot and ugly face she had away, sighing hard, out of her head, frankly, out of her body.

“Okay…breathe.” She said almost to herself, exhaling, tears still flowing, as it seemed like with one hard touch of a nearby aerial, the electricity seemed to cease.

She breathed in, her chest puffed out, as she brought herself into control, not wanting to cause any more hurt, before looking him in the eyes, and almost glancing past, not wanting entirely to show herself. The pretty white haired, model heroine, almost a cutting figure of the classic heroes with so much to give, was laid low.

“I don’t know why you bother. I’m…..” She said almost breathless, not wanting sympathy. Wondering if he was just here to laugh at her. She had no energy left to care.

“Let the shadows cover you and breathe. Tsunami would’ve deserved it anyway.” Eclipse listens to her outburst with closed eyes, brows furrowed. What the fuck would anyone say to this even? He doesn’t even know her… “She said she was going to Hollywood?”

Yeah, this’ll do amazingly for comfort. Not. But it’s not like he knew a better way.

Sophie looked at him, not sure if that would help, sighing. “At least she’s not here. I don’t know what I would have done if I saw her after she spat on him. I was….” She put her fingers out, indicating barely a hair’s width. “This close. It’s not worth it. I should do better.” She sighed, shaking her head, looking at Eclipse.

An ex-villain was her reassurance tonight. It had come to this. She didn’t quite know what to make of it. She felt lower than Eclipse. At least he sold drugs. At least he knew what he was. He was a villain who could make what he made, and was here because getting turned into a Pinata by Tex-Mex cartel members was not the top of anyone’s Valentine’s Day gift list.

Okay, her humour was coming back, that she had, looking back at him with that sick, laugh at a funeral thought in her mind, smiling half, gently back a little.

“How did she get into Hollywood….heroes should do better. I should too. But she was pissed out of her face….drunk as anything. Like she wanted to make one last point. Like bait. Knowing I’d be hopeless.” Sophie shook her head, sighing trying to make reason, moving up closer given her voice didn’t carry anymore, her suit rustling along the floor, as she exhaled, closer to him.

With a gentle push of her hand up, she peeled the cowl away, revealing a relatively human face for such a hero, one you could have extrapolated given the cowl went from nose to top of forehead and covered little, but there she was.

Sophie Speight.

Without a mask, she felt liberated, as she looked Eclipse in the eye, allowing her total, absolute vulnerability out. Drying tears against a soft, sunkissed, pale face, the mask’s pressure revealing itself. Sunburnt, pink in corners, given Sophie didn’t react well to sunlight, but fair.

Someone normal. For a body that felt superhuman, athletic, like some biathlete in white cordura, was someone who seemed pretty enough, perhaps enough to go without a mask. She’d gone against that for many reasons, but, like this, she was open. She reasoned it was the best way to be. The mask on, she could relish in that power. The mask off, she had responsibilities to turn off the circuit breakers. Sophie didn’t wield power. Someone else did, as she thought about it all.

“Guess she got her revenge in a way. I always wanted to go there….suppose she had friends in high places. But…..you guys are pretty fun. At least it was until then.” She added, sitting back against brick, not making much in words, slower, quieter, overall, less what he would see.

She brushed her hair back, containing all the static that had messed it up, wiping tears with her gloves, sighing. There was no reveal. Nothing to say about her showing face. It felt organic. Like there wasn’t anything left to hide. Not after that. Not how she was now. She didn’t feel like Lightning Girl right here. No point pretending. That was for her other half.

“Thanks.” She uttered from her soul, unable to think of much.

Eclipse finds himself stunned by her face for a moment when he goes to look back at her. Ah. She looked nice. Probably not what he should be thinking, but… fuck. He purses his lips, flicking a wrist upward and holding out a small blade for her to see.

”I’m not a hero, so I’ll…” He pauses awkwardly, the small blade reflecting a small bit of light. “I’ll take her down for you, give her a scar she’ll never forget. The shadows will answer for what she did.”

He was an assassin back then, and while his official title is that of a hero, he’s still a villain. And if it means he can do his allies a favor, then he’s fine with it. Get rid of someone who could potentially ruin Lightning Girl’s–A-team’s image–it’d be simple, really.

Would that make anything better, though?

Probably not.

Sophie chuckled, shrugging her shoulders, contacting the blade, resting her hand against his, pushing it down.

“No…..you’re a hero, Eclipse…you don’t have to. We can’t go to her level. You don’t need to do that.” She said, whimpering almost, swallowing the lump in her throat, as she realised her hand was still against his. Security. Almost the only thing she could hold onto.

She’d stopped him from relapsing hard. Paid attention with Cheetos at least. Listened. Lightning Girl had done that, because it was what she wanted to be, at least, try for that. He was a dealer and a user, a broken man, broken more, by a broken system. And right now, she needed someone, and of all people, it was him. Someone when she was broken. That was in his own way, nicely, yet a strange karma. The universe was weird, she thought to herself.

“Every part of me held back, I guess, to stop me from killing her. That is the hard part. Doing the right thing because it’s so easy to just let go. And it hurts a lot when I don’t. It’s agony, all that energy, nowhere to go. Nowhere to turn.” She said, sighing- near literal in what she said, his hand still there, the drizzle and rain over, the stars in the night sky beginning to emerge more and more, between the fast-moving clouds in the Claremont night sky, as she found the words. More confident. More sarcastic. More Sophie.

“I appreciate you offering to be a personal hitman for some random English woman in a city far from home. That is quite a lot of trust…..not sure what I do with that, Eclipse.” She softly chuckled, perhaps not realising maybe Eclipse was waiting for a bit more sarcasm. She moved closer to him, enjoying the security he gave, and he would feel just how weak she was compared to usual. Even her aura back in the office, it was projecting, loud, ozone, and right now, it felt like nothing. It felt like the inverse almost.

He freezes, just kind of sets the blade down, lets her rest against him. Is he supposed to do something here? Fuck if he knows, but it’s nice. “You’re my ally,” he pauses, hands awkwardly hovering over her back. “I’d have done it for the dispatcher too, should he have asked...”

“... Not for the bug one, though. And the fake Phenomaman.” He could keep going, really.

“Should Tsunami show her face again, I… won’t kill her,” he drags the ‘won’t’ out as he ponders what to say next, “I’ll stick a piece of gum on her suit.”

Big time hero walking around with gum stuck on them all day–that’s a good one, and an old trick he pulled back in Red Ring to fuck with some of his buddies. Then they did it to him, and he slashed up their cars and laced their shit. Good times.

But it’s probably different to embarrass yourself as a hero; too many eyes on you, documenting every move you make. One mistake, and your whole image is gone.

Sophie laughed, enjoying this side of things, and refreshingly, enjoying not having to put on some image for him. Actually showing at least some humanity. Well, the kind that wasn’t her show. Imagining that. Yeah. That would really be shitty for her. Try using water on that, bitch.

“Okay, yeah, we should do that to her…yeah. That would work. A bit less than putting her on ice.” She chuckled, sniffing with little energy as she cleared tears, exhaling hard, knees brought close, feeling his embrace around her back, as she returned it, bringing herself close into him, putting her head against his neck, embracing him fully, sniffing still, wanting to at least feel somewhat human again after all of this. Of all people, Eclipse. All people. God, she wasn’t sure how it came to this, but she was glad he had his back, the fact she was taller making it a difficult hug, but an embrace she needed.

He would feel just how much electricity pulsed inside of her. Sophie, even in this state, would feel like a heart that wanted to leap out of her skin and into him, an otherworldly energy that almost felt like hearing ringing in your ears, and he would almost certainly feel that anxiety, pressure and panic, as well as a small static shock that was no worse than touching a door after walking on a bit of carpet. The bioelectricity regenerated slow, but when she was like this, it was like a palpitation, like a heartbeat that was jumping up and down, like the two dwarves inside her heart were hitting hammers out of time.

“Thanks, Eclipse. I’d have your back any day too. I’d go nova for any of you. I’m glad you trust me.” She said, trying to force a smile, trying to force herself back to normal, as she leaned out, back against brick again, wiping the last of her tears from her ugly crying away, hand on cowl, still wanting a second to process this.

And she was quiet. Almost empty, taking in the clearing, dark yet light polluted skies.

Eclipse moves a hand over hers, a small recoil as he feels a slight static shock. Her hand is warm in his, and slowly, he moves her hand down and away from her cowl. No need to get that back on, he figures. It’d probably feel like shit wearing a damp cowl, and besides, she looks nicer this way.

Sophie smiled small back at him, and remained silent, staring at oblivion, letting her hand stay, exhaling hard, letting her emotions slowly, silently, crawl back to where they came from and stop overwhelming.

She was glad to have such a friend in a shadowy figure. She hoped the rest of the team would understand. And while Sophie didn’t wear armour, in Eclipse, for a moment, she found someone who she could see who could see what she really was. More than just some heroine in a costume. Someone clinging to this idea so hard, it almost ate her whole.

All she wanted to be, was part of a whole. Stop being an outsider. Feel in place.

And for that, she couldn’t say words, but she just wanted to enjoy that warm embrace after it all.

=====

Asteroid looks over at Blackstar a few moments after Eclipse leaves the building. He's not sure if that's the official end to whatever SDN sanctioned gathering this was supposed to be. “Think they left?” He keeps his voice low.

“...Maybe…” Blackstar was staring from James on the ground with a bloody face to the door Lightning Girl – and Eclipse – had just slipped out of, her glass still in her hand but no longer full. She’d tried to pre-empt getting her fake beer all over herself by casually lifting her cup up under the liquid when Tsunami started making it float all over the place. Unfortunately, she’d gotten distracted by the situation and had failed to catch the falling drink, which had ended up all over her front and lap.

Thank goodness for waterproof suits.

After a moment, Asteroid nudges her with his elbow, inviting her outside- “lets go see.” His skin is hot from contact and the booze.

Blackstar blinked, setting her glass down with a soft clink and giving Fenom a small “excuse me” as she slipped past him and out of the booth, following Asteroid. Her eye lingered on Madcap, too; she’d caught the weird end to the karaoke performance, which she’d been enjoying until that last bit, and she was more than a little confused.

But, in the meantime, the awkward confusion of the bar gave them a good opportunity to slip out, and she followed her coworker wordlessly as he led the way.

She was just glad she’d been able to keep her own head. Not knowing the rest of the team super well probably helped, otherwise she knew seeing Lightning Girl and James in a situation – as well as hearing the rest of the team insulted – would’ve made her… pretty upset, to put it lightly.

The door clinks and Asteroid holds it open at the top. Lightning Girl leaning against Eclipse was so far outside of his expectations that Asteroid freezes. A quiet “uhh”, escapes him, a telltale sign of mechanical failure in his brain. He looked up to Lightning Girl, and to see her so shaken up made him deeply uneasy.

Blackstar peeked past him, eyes widening behind the black lenses of her mask. Ooh. Was this Lightning Girl and Eclipse dynamic new or had that been a thing? It was only her first day, but the way Asteroid was acting made her think he hadn’t seen it coming either.

Sophie put the cowl on, seeing them both return, hand away as she didn't have the energy to hide.

“Hey. I kinda thought I'd run but I'm drained. Ended up here.” She chirped, still a little unsettled, both Blackstar and Asteroid now seeing her worst day at work. Maybe worse than the accident. They must have thought something was between them. That was the last of Sophie's care.

“It’s not what it looks like. But I guess I needed a moment and Eclipse found me before I…I don't know. What happened with her was…difficult. Something I wouldn't hide. A mistake. That I apologised for.” She sighed. Unusually lacking at the moment. “Sorry to ruin our night. Fuck. That was stupid.”

Blackstar’s expression softened. Even with her cowl back on, it was easy to tell Lightning Girl had been crying. She could feel instinct kicking in, big sister tendencies that never went dormant making her want to offer a ride home and a stop at a convenience store for ice cream.

“Hey, you didn’t ruin it,” she spoke up, moving to stand next to Asteroid and still lingering by the door. Big sister instincts were insisting on going to hug the other heroine, but Alaine didn’t feel like interrupting whatever closeness she and Eclipse were still sharing. “That other crazy lady ruined it. Or, well, I mean – no, yeah, she ruined it.” She shrugged.

Asteroid nods through Blackstar’s reassurance, chipping in his two cents “it was all on her.”

Besides, Blackstar thought. Wasn’t like she’d behaved any better last time she’d been threatened. At least LG hadn’t killed anyone.

Which was a good point. “You didn’t kill anybody,” Alaine offered, a little quieter than she meant to. Clearing her throat lightly, she went on, as if that was solely a placating observation, “Could’ve been a lot worse.” She wasn’t going to mention the small shock they’d all gotten thanks to the messy drinks. “And the way James shouted, sounded like you fixed his nose, too. So.”

Another small shrug, though this time she paired it with a smile that radiated big sister energy. Lightning Girl might’ve been older than her, but Alaine couldn’t kick the habit.

“Right?” She glanced at Asteroid, nudging his arm gently for a little backup.

Asteroid blinks when Blackstar does- “oh yeah, his nose will be right as rain soon.” A beat, when he feels he should say more- “Everybody makes mistakes, we’ve all- made mistakes. Sometimes, really big ones.” His mouth gets a little dry through the end of his statement. He shifts his gaze from LG to Blackstar- finding it somehow easier to look at her instead “my best friend always says that it’s what we learn after we make a mistake that matters. And- based on your reaction- I don’t think it’s you who needs to grow from that situation anymore.” The last bit is quiet.

Sophie nodded, giving little reply but a gentle acceptance. She couldn't of course, explain the full reason why. That almost made it worse. It looked like a mental breakdown she couldn't entirely show. A side of her even more secret than a mask. But she appreciated the love, that at least the team could understand how much she'd protect the team. A tazer would risk the last time she hit her by accident. A punch too messy. But doing nothing was a paradox.
“Thanks.”

The moment Blackstar and Asteroid arrive, Eclipse instinctually pulls Lightning Girl closer to himself before letting go. Seeing those two was a mood killer, but it was better than what happened at the bar. Frankly, he's had enough of sudden appearances–that was more of his thing, anyway. He stays quiet, just takes in the conversation as best he can, no point in intruding, he's already done his job.

And really, he can't understand why Lightning Girl is taking the blame here. Mistakes happen, Tsunami was a drunk piece of shit, who cares? She zapped two of her teammates however fucking long ago, it's not that big of a deal; most of the Phoenix Program members on A-Team have done far worse, including himself.

"Why are you two here?" Straight to the point. It's an honest question.

”Seems like the same reason as you,” It’s with that admission that Asteroid loops his arm through Blackstar’s. She nodded along in agreement. “I think we’re both just glad she’s not sitting out here alone.” He levels a smile at Blackstar, and lifts his other hand in a wave as he turns to pull them back into the bar.

”See you both inside?” On the way in he pulls Blackstar over to the bar, and orders another double tequila. If she doesn’t move her arm, he doesn’t either.

And she didn’t, more than content to leave her arm casually linked with Asteroid’s, her hand absent-mindedly playing with his sleeve as they head back inside to the bar, only turning to toss Lightning Girl a little wave of her own and a thumbs-up of encouragement.

And Lightning Girl returned that. “Yeah sure. One minute.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Eclipse watches the two leave the rooftop with furrowed brows. They definitely thought this was something else, didn’t they? He clicks his tongue. Fuck. Were Asteroid and Blackstar together too? Was everyone just happening to look for a romantic getaway on the rooftop after the worst bar fight he’s ever seen? Whatever… it’s not that big of a deal.

He looks back at Lightning Girl to see her next move. If she wants to leave, he’s leaving with her. If she wants to stay, then… he’s staying with her.

Sophie swallowed the lump in her stomach, and with a crawl, shoved her hand against an AC unit on the roof, and thrust her hands against a plug. Gently zapping in power, it was enough for her to at least feel alive again as she stood. Enough to fall off this building without going splat. Enough to be back to Lightning Girl.

“Let's go. I'm buying.” Lightning Girl said, standing as she adjusted her gloves, and with a gust of wind, the cape picked up as she stood before Eclipse. “Actually, you can teleport, can't you? I'll see you there.” She remarked, with a smile that seemed almost beyond just a courtesy, the switch complete, but she wasn't ever going to quite be the same. For someone crying minutes ago, walking towards an edge was a terrible idea, but she indicated her electricity was under control, a spray of white static bouncing off a vent, nodding to Eclipse before she gently, elegantly fell into the alley, and headed back to the bar.

---

Tuesday
20:54
The Cowl Inn Taproom,
Downtown Claremont

Soundtrack: Two Door Cinema Club- The World is Watching

And with Lightning Girl walking back in, James was still sat there, blood no longer pissing out of his nose as badly, but in plenty of hurt. While some melodic old indie played, as seemed to be the thread of this pub. Another glass of Intergalactic Witch was slid in front of him, as she sat next to him, looking his face over like the others had after Lightning Girl and others had left then returned back to the bar, the bag of ice still against his swollen face. He looked like shit. But not dead.

"You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Lightning Girl asked, as James drank down more beer.

"I liked having my fucking face in one place. Hospital isn't fixing this. I'll.....drown my sorrows." James retorted, sighing, as Sophie chuckled before his next comment. Stubborn. As ever. "Fucking nightmare. Are you.....okay?"

"Yeah. You?" Lightning Girl replied, the beer she had significantly stronger. A glass of 70% proof. An entire glass of vodka, with a flavour of pineapple. "Know the feeling getting my arse kicked." She added, James realising her sister had been crying. He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell her it was fine. Every part of him wanted to say something to comment back. He wanted to be formal, by the book, detailed. But read the room enough to know that was stupid, too far the other way.

"I'm fine. Fucking hell. Did you go far? Apart from that." He asked, not making much in the way of words.

"No. Not really. Needed a moment after it all." She was shorter in reply. Shit. She must have been very low on energy.

James could see it in her, as she drank more beer, and looked over at the rest, then back to him. a smile back on face, trying to break past it. "Water and electricity don't mix. Jesus she was drunk." James laughed at Sophie's response, as he sighed, looking around at the others, clambering out from his chair, heading to the restroom, but not before looking to the team first.

"Don't say a word about this to Kat, or anyone else in SDN. Tsunami happens to be a very, very senior government lawyer's daughter, in case you didn't know. We're professionals, so we don't make scenes. Especially not involving her when it could ruin her career, and therefore, yours as well. Much as I would want to do this formally....." James put to all of them, adjusting the icepack, his voice not carrying, just stating now.

"I think you all hate lawyers more than me, and given I'm the only one who got hurt, I'd rather keep my paperwork volume low. I'd also rather keep my sanity high, and most importantly, any bullshit to a minimum. Are we understood?" James looked across the team, likely not expecting James to take that approach, given he'd nearly been concussed and had his nose broken, maybe he could have lost teeth or straight up been sent to the shadow realm (in which Eclipse would be).

"Cool. One more beer's left on our tab for everyone." James added, heading off to the bathroom, Sophie knowing he must have struggled to come to that conclusion. The heroic thing to do would be to say something. Speak out. Report it. Lightning Girl was in the wrong too, she knew that much, but being goaded? Well, it seemed most had fallen on her side, or at least could understand.

Maybe they hadn't quite realised the relationship yet, given the fact maybe a taze would be easier. But when the white light decended, well, Sophie knew she'd protect him.

But it was a night out. Back to it again. And another round followed, as Lightning Girl carried it back to their table, and they went back to their evening.

The team continued to chat, and bit by bit, the bar emptied, and the energy felt like it died out. They all had a way to go. Lightning Girl called James a cab, and, on that note, the team finished their drinks and the conversation, and all got ready to go home. Home after a long, hard day's work, and a big clusterfuck at their social. The vibe had been sky high, and as Lightning Girl looked to Asteroid and Blackstar, taking both of their glasses, she gave a smile. A point of her finger and she jabbed power into each of their phones, one for the road, after a long day, before putting the glasses away. She felt buzzed, but in this moment, at least not remembering as much would make things easier.

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Round 16 of Formula AG
Sunday 22nd October, 2094
Race Day
Ballycastle Complex, Muller Cay, nr Australia
Great Barrier Reef AGP
1500 AEST

As the celebrations faded, the teams would wrap up, ships away, and getting ready to leave. Another successful weekend for some, another soul-searching session for others. Great Barrier Reef was always a showpiece, but up next, was the salt flats. From the salty ocean, to the salted earth.

---

Sunset at Sea

Dorian Hornfleur

Dorian sat looking at the state of the ship, beyond the glass of Valkyrie hospitality, emptied now on Sunday after the race.

"Another fucking engine. Putain de merde." Dorian simply commented to Anais, as she walked in, sitting on the beanbag next to him in Valkyrie's hospitality.

"It isn't the ending you thought it would be?"

"No. Feels like losing places." Dorian sighed, looking over at Paul's ship, wondering why his couldn't work.

"20 fucking years and it's always an engine failure...."

---

The Final Fifth

Sitting down in the sofa, Rory looked to Aurora, the familiar two staying professional in this late-season review.

"So, tell us, what did you think? Amy Stirling, dropping points?"

"I think we all were surprised. She's been so imperious in previous seasons. So unstoppable. But it's like she lost something. I can't even tell. It was like when Hamilton came away in 2022, or 2023. Just this spark seemed to fade. She could find seconds, but then she would lose all of them. It was hard to say."

"And what about the title race? Is it all to play for?" He was giving a wry smile with a chuckle, as the approaching mid-age commentator didn't want to be baited.

"If it's mathematically possible, anything can happen. Nora came back from the brink. People react differently to adversity. Pilots are incredibly resilient. The most mentally tough, physically capable, superhuman people alive. Take their augments, implants, everything away, and you're still left with someone who'll give everything for that feeling."

Cutting to Nora, as she walked through her garage, looking at data, looking at where she'd lost out to Bea. Wanting to never make that mistake.

"And what about the constructors battle for third and fifth? It seems like things are turning fast, who can say for sure where that will be?"

"Well, we all know Al-Saqr and Carerra prefer fast tracks. Their pilots are making the most out of ships that while fragile, are incredibly potent. It will be a showdown."

Ava helped the crew pack up alongside a biped that was helping carrying crates, looking to Leon, smiling, before looking across the box, looking to Bea, unsure if they'd ever fully mend the bridge. But when times were good, times were good.

"And while the constructors may be set, everyone has a point to prove."

---

Outro to Australia

"Well, that's all we have time for. We've had an amazing weekend here at Muller Cay, in the Great Barrier Reef, and we'll see you in Utah, for the FAS round of the Formula AGP season!"

And with it, the ending montage played out.

From the outside, as fish flew by, ships went through the tunnels, the sound a hollow, quiet turn, as the underwater camera drone followed one through a corner, before surfacing, catching ships exiting at the start straight, before pivoting back up to sky, sun, and a white-fade.

---

The teams would all head home. There were dilemmas to fix. Decisions.

From the first snow in Lulea, to the beginnings of the Southern Hemisphere summer in Buenos Aires, the chilly autumn vibes in Aachen, across to the usual sunshine of Abu Dhabi, all teams were getting ready for the last four races.

Engineers were busy.

Designers hard at work.

Liveries being reprinted.

The circus getting ready.

---

Post Humans

Being plugged in again.

Feeling it.

Seeing all of it.

Touching into the void.

She exhaled, looking through the clouded sandstorm, as it lifted, the rocks revealing an infinite red and yellow.

"The mortal coil holds us back. It has been a while." She said, the haircover revealing her almost polycolour locks, Layla looking beyond at the enormous horizon.

Wadi Rum. The desert of home. A place she wished she could race again. But not like this.

"Why are you here?" Layla asked, as the other figure sat, looking on at the sands.

"Because it takes everything. The perfect lap means sacrificing everything. And I thought you looked bored while they poked at you." Amy sarked back, brushing her white hair out of the way, inviting Layla to sit.

"It wasn't for the sake of humanity? For any of it?" Layla asked, as Amy shook her head. A resounding no.

"It's when you feel you are one with everything. It takes you away. It's the most human you can be. To find out what your limits are. And.....it's terrifying." She said, looking at sand, trickling with a feint sheen to it in the render. "And yet, infinite. You feel like you can touch the stars. You're scared but....able to go beyond anything."

"And you failed to think of anything larger. And lost points in races anyway for someone who's literally thinking you're playing transhumanism. You risk everything and deny it all. Why?"

"You are here, aren't you?" Amy asked, as Layla shook her head, looking at the sands, then back. Realising.

"You mean, you're here. I'm not in your head. This is my render. And you’re not a glitch." Layla replied, as Amy chuckled, shaking her head.

"How do you think this all happened?" Amy retorted, waving her hand at it all as Layla could see it all. "The entire pathing to here."

For Layla, it was unfurling. Unravelling, as she replied back. Seeing it clearly.

"You used them. Knowing it would end up coming to me. A social engineering trick.....because you needed them to do it, knowing everything about them. Knowing how they'd act. Knowing Ava's weakness. Knowing Bea would find you. Knowing Kais wouldn't help himself. Knowing you'd get to me. But you didn't expect the bump in Canada to force it to work faster." She replied, as Amy nodded.

"I didn't expect it to start killing me either."

"It's……neural remapping. Like when...."

"A neural link is damaged and strained, it creates new bonds to anything, like how a bird nests with anything it can capture. With no limits..."

"It replaces the mind with machine and extrapolates, turns generative. Until the mind starts to defeat itself because it can’t manage artificial." Layla replied, finishing her sentence. "We're not a hive mind. I know it because I sat on it for a while. It’s why I’m here. But you have a body to return to."

"Not quite. Well. You want one thing. I want another, but once you start interfacing, you know a machine usually gets to the same answers in a quantum computer, two places at once, yet the same. The machine is creeping inside you too now, isn't it, Layla? To be transhuman, you need to let it in." Amy stated what Layla knew to be plainly obvious, as the Jordanian replied.

"Sure. Yet I want to help humanity. I want to go to the stars, turn off, turn on, and save our species from the cradle we can escape. You want to win more races in a stupid series in which actual people don't deserve cheaters like you….like us. Like Jen. She shouldn't play with it….or are they wondering how they replace you?" Layla cut hard, knowing in this sense, sometimes it wasn’t the literal, maybe the physical too.

“Perhaps.” Amy remarked, knowing it was a valid point. But Amy had her own. “You say you want to be like sand down there. Yet you're trapped on this rock…..and here. You’re imaginative, but you’re stuck." Amy came back, as Layla looked on, even wondering what the fuck they meant.

"They've....respected my wishes. More than they can say for you. How many copies of you are there? Is that it, or are you just here trying to get me to find you a way home? Which are you, Amy? Or is it even Amy anymore?"

Amy had a rare crack, as she shook her head. "Enough to know that we’re both matter. We’re so much more the same." Amy took her hand, and well, Layla felt the cold.

And her wash away.

And as she looked out into the horizon, Layla started to understand more and more of how reality wasn't exactly a construct that mattered too much anymore.

Not like this.

---

"Kais."

The voice called.

"Kais." The voice called again. When Kais would wake up, he would see it in his vision.

Layla was there. And the feel against his shoulder would have felt real. But Layla was nothing but a hallucination. Dressed in an racing undersuit, augments all on display, like the last time Layla and Kais saw each other.

She was back.

From a holographic projector on one of Kais's devices, at least, trying to play at some physical presence.

"Not quite alive. But getting there. You look like you aren't sleeping as much lately." She replied, her voice garbling a little, before restoring.

---

The interviews took place at each HQ, a hologram of Aurora opposite the locally set up camera, set in an environment of the pilots choosing. They had creative control, but Aurora still led on questions.

First up, Bea, back in Buenos Aires.

"So a breakout first season for you, and it seems like you've become the number one pilot at Carrera. What does it feel like to have that responsibility, to lead and direct the team? You seem to back yourself to stay with the team when many other teams would have been interested, what do you think it is about Carrera that has made it so effective since you came in?"

Next, Bellatrix, in Lulea.

"An impressive start from you Trix! Many people would have not expected you to come into Formula AG, especially with the competitive field you were in, so what do you think it was that made it work so well for you?

Aachen, next, with Paul.

"Paul, it feels like you've hit your stride! With such consistency, how does it feel to be putting a team like Valkyrie so high up the grid? How do you feel about the future of the team, and in particular, the next steps with the 2095 chassis?"

Lastly, Kais, at Al-Saqr's HQ.

"Kais, it seems like watching you on track is always entertaining, and your honest, direct approach is gaining lots of fans, as a breath of fresh air in the sport. Hamid seems to take a different approach, and seems rather playful with crews and teams from what we can tell. Do you think there's a way for both styles in Formula AG?"

Tactical Breach Wizards: Fireteam Hex (Military, Modern, Fantasy, Action-Thriller)

Day 2: 06:19:51
Polavian Standard Vodka Distillery,
Novy Jork,
Capital Province,
Republic of Polavia

But with a grin he look at the holy glad ang, "well long time since I've seen one of those. Let's go." He tests the door now as Felix stacks beside him, "Clear..." and edges the door open enough that Felix and get the flashbang inside, "Let's make some noise yeah?"
[/quote]

Prepped up, Felix nodded, giving a silent, but simple response. "It's a crowd pleaser. Set. Upper team, moving in." Pin peeled, the knurled purple left his hand and bounced off the metal cabin wall, before settling, Felix making sure to shut the door and point his head away. Once, he'd been flipped with someone inside by catching the light. And well, that wouldn't be much for for either of them. The light flashed bright white and pink, like something from a certain film series when the ark was opened up in front of the bodies.

The men inside screamed, as all of them stumbled, one falling over, utterly confused where he was. Blind and literally flipped in position in the sorting cabin.

A Holy Flashbang had the effect of inverting positions, a classic Kalan trick that their Riot Priests would use.

So, the goons inside would be flipped, and it made Felix and Silas entering, with shotguns, basically able to shoot them like fish in a barrel.

Except two versions of Felix entered. One going right, another left. It was a mindfuck, inside a mindfuck. If he was a lion right now, this would be why Felix was disgustingly capable in getting through doors.

One, two, three, four.

By the time they were done, Felix having taken the two on the left with the Masterkey, the room was a much grimmer shade of red as the bottles now went by covered in blood, the Libolian flicking new buckshot into the shotgun, stepping over bodies, trying to PID them. "More PSA. Uniforms track with what they had ten years ago." Felix added, as more gunfire could be heard, not at them, but from below.

---

“Give it a minute, then tell me if shooting me in the chest works or not.”

"I'm a seer. Not someone who tells you the obvious, because right now, you're two, maybe three vodka bottles away from unable to organise a piss up here if you want to stay as a pointman." Roxie poked back, looking back to the other witch for ideas, rather than problems.

She listened to Rowan, seeing the witch try to seer herself. It wasn't as effective. It wasn't going to work. But, she was creative. That she had to say.

She grinned as she had a thought. “Well who said we had to use the door? What if we went through the wall instead of the door? I still have some acid left. They might notice that before we got through. I could freeze the wall and then channel a lightning bolt into the wall causing it to shatter inward.” She turned to Borys with a smile. “There might be some collateral damage though. You wouldn’t hold that against me, right?” She made a blow up motion with her hands to indicate shattered bottles.

Oksana's eyes rolled up into her head again, as she held onto the railing, before phasing back in.

"Okay, this is what I saw...."

--

The vision was clear. The frozen metal suddenly shattered as Borys charged through after the lightning bolt, shotgun man drawing fire onto him, as Roxie aimed for top of thorax, 9mm shredding the unarmoured neck of the Altyn-wearing nerd, the breach so unexpected that the PSA militants inside were drawn out, any fire on Borys, and luckily, that meaning Rowan and Oksana had clean ability to shred the others, with clean, tactical fire. Within seconds, bullet casings were on floor, as she shrugged.

"Huh. Just like I thought it would."

This wasn't a vision.

Reality played out rather nicely, the version of it Roxie could imagine at least, this particular breach, this particular version, perfect to inch.

As the chaos stopped, Oksana picked up the Saiga-12K, and threw it towards a pissed Borys, it bouncing off him given the knock, as she put hand to face. "I'm so fucking stupid." She said to herself, realising in every version of reality, Borys wasn't gonna see that coming. But she wasn't exactly seeing in that moment, she was too busy seeing something else.

They'd made noise and the fire alarm went off, and well, the machinery was at a halt.

---

"We've stirred the hornet's nest. Let's capitalise on shock and awe, we need to punch out of the distillery and find transport. Weapons hot." Felix called into comms, the breached room left behind, wanting to make progress. Sooner they got through, the better.

With it, Silas and Felix kept the high road, staying on the gantries as bullets flew, bottles smashing as Felix slid into cover, switched to the 417, icing a few more PSA militants that came in, regular fire working, as he bolted from point to point, still not feeling like he could switch. Nor wanted to. For now, at this range, a rifle was perfect. A lion was not fitting through those doors, after all.

Downstairs, Oksana's team had cleared out, and were now in the production area- the bottling plant's various conveyor belts, and more PSA militants were filling in area.

"Contacts front!" She called, as bullets smashed bottles, Oksana diving into cover and grabbing one, throwing it and using it as a nice distraction to get an enemy in cover covered in shards of glass, before aiming at their exposed leg, enough of an opening for her to relocate and reload, before waiting and picking them through the sheet metal. Clambering over the production line, Oksana found cover behind another machine panel, as the machines suddenly whirred back into life, the conveyor belts continuing.

"Ah, fuck! We need to shut it down, we can't cross safely.....ah fuck it." Roxie sighed, taking out another militant that moved in, wondering just what on earth they were doing here. She knew nothing on drugs, but why put psychoactive substances in these? There was no way they had anything ready based on the trains and looks of things, so it must have been a discussion. An armoured recon that was met by the force of a load of armed wizards and witches.

"Me and Silas are approaching a control room, we might be able to shut it down! We've got eyes on hostiles massing, they're bringing shields!" Felix called out, from on high, the gantries now being busy with hostiles, as they fought through the halogen illuminated factory, still headed towards the main element itself- the distillery, on the far side of the cabins and conveyors they were at.

Oksana saw that coming, and dodged as one of them sprayed at her with an SMG behind a tactical police shield, Oksana bareling into cover and firing at the legs, dropping the enemy into a killshot, before backing down, her vision getting absolutely shitty.

---

"Rowan, see if you can use your acid on the shield goons, blyat! Borys, if now was a time to get shitfaced, it would help!"

Oksana was disgusted by saying those words. But, for the latter, it as perfection.

---

Felix meanwhile, stuck close with Silas, the shapeshifter dumping mags and switching to one of his last three, aware he had to be careful, aware he couldn't be burning through this much. He switched to the Masterkey on turning a corner past a machine, blasting an enemy to the abdomen then head as he fell forwards, pushing him out of the way to get back into cover, as more gunfire rang out, Felix and Silas having to go through a conventional gunfight, but, Felix happy if Silas could pull something off here on the higher gantries.