[x] Because I'm going to be Oriole."
[x] No
You sigh, settle back on your heels, cross your arms. "I don't care if I get hit by a truck every day for the rest of my life," you tell Dissent. "I'm going to be Oriole. And Blackbird after that. That's worth...anything."
Dissent chuckles, a low and drawn out noise that comes from deep within the back of her throat. "Take someone else's name," she says, "put on someone else's face."
You grimace, the expression hidden by your mask. Maybe it was too much to hope that tonight would mark a turning point in your relationship. For all she proved tonight – her determination, her ferocity, her mettle – she is still the girl you had to rescue from jail earlier this evening. The girl who, for some reason you can't even begin to explain, has been given everything you've worked for your entire life. The girl who would take the opportunity to be Oriole and spit on it.
"Don't need your approval, remember?" You ask her, quiet. "This is who I am."
"We're not...all one thing," Dissent says. She opens her eyes, just enough that she can lift a finger and poke your chest without missing. "There's a you...in there...who wants to be...you." She smiles. "You just...gotta...let you."
*
You spend the next three days locked in your room.
Technically, of course, you're allowed to come and go as you please, even after the sun has gone down. But Augur makes it very clear that you're not about to go engage in vigilantism until you've properly recovered from the myriad beatings and bruises you've suffered on the job. Augur is difficult to argue with even when she isn't locking your gear and suit away behind several different remote-controlled mag-locks, and so your next three days are split between physical therapy and your computer, compiling notes on your most recent case.
Thomas continues to be absent. You can tell Augur doesn't want to talk about it, but also that she feels bad that she isn't – she chimes in from the building's various speakers far more often than she does normally, and usually with only the flimsiest excuses for conversation.
"I saw Breakneck in the news again," she says one day, entirely out of the blue. You are sitting in an ice bath, letting numbness bring sweet relief to aching muscles, and you slide a few inches deeper as she continues to talk. "You two are friends, aren't you?"
"As if you don't know?" You ask. "I know you see all my emails. Jury's still out on if you read them."
"Well I have to give you some privacy." A few errant clacks of the keyboard. "You know she's close to the sound barrier."
You nod – then realize you're unsure whether this room has any cameras. Augur says nothing, though she could be playing her cards close to the chest. "I know. I've been following." You know Breakneck better as Melissa, a child hyperactive in the way that only a speedster can be, running laps around fancy parties not meant for children at a hundred miles per hour. It's almost unbelievable to think of her as she is now, a young woman about to be the tenth meta-human to run faster than the speed of sound.
"You should get her something," Augur says. "For when she does."
"Oh. I...maybe."
A silence, stretched too long and thin to be comfortable. Finally, "Wyatt, when was the last time you talked to any of them."
You debate pretending to not know what she's talking about, but that would only drag out the conversation you know is coming. She means the Honolulu team – she means the friends you left behind to return to New York City. "I've been busy recently."
"I know." Augur exhales, heavy enough that you can hear it over the speakers. "It's important that you keep in touch with them, Wyatt."
"Why? Because they'll be big shots in the Cavalry soon?" You ask. "Or because their parents already are?"
"Because they're your friends," Augur says.
You take a deep breath, the chill and numbness cutting through your careful concentration like a knife. "It's not like I've disappeared forever," you say. "I told them I'd be back as soon as I…" you trail off rather than say it.
Become Oriole. It had seemed so much closer when you had gotten on that plane.
There is no way Augur misses the implication – but she doesn't say anything about it, and you love her for it. Instead she clicks her tongue in a noise you've come to identify as half resignation, half apology. "Well, I'm sure they'd still love to hear from you," she says. "Just, think about it? For me."
You smile slightly. "Sure. Only for you though."
"That's all I can ask, Wyatt."
*
Finally, on the fourth day after you and Charlotte's run-in with the KMA, Augur calls you up to the aerie.
[] Radical Noise
Isaiah, callsign Ronin, started his superheroic career as a masked vigilante on the New York City Streets. Now, he's a member of the Family – but his gaze has not strayed far from his former neighborhood on the opposite side of the island. Isaiah has linked a string of riots in the industrial quarter with a local punk band, and he wants your help in making sure nobody gets hurt.
[] Family That Preys Together
Kennedy, callsign Macaw, is protege to Solitaire – a Family member who could've charitably been called "extended" before the massacre forced the survivors to close ranks. You've worked with Kennedy before, albeit briefly, but you've never known her to ask for backup. Now she is – in a diamond heist she believes related to a Kick smuggling operation.
[] 20K Leagues Under the Supercomputer
Madeline, callsign Plumage, is a socialite from Europe that you really only know by reputation. Since arriving in New York she's been content to do most of her crimefighting from behind a computer, but it seems she's finally being called into action – to fix America's only true Artificial Intelligence before it's too late.
{} You shifted Dissent's labels: +Superior, -Danger
{} Your labels shifted: +Superior; -Savior
{} Dissent now has Influence over you.
{} You are no longer Insecure
{} Dissent and Augur have been added to Personnel Files
{} It's been a little over a week since I last gave you the option to pick a micro-arc, and some of the characters have been reworked a bit within that time - Veronica now being Madeline as the most obvious example.
