Orbit pun
Special thanks to my lovely co-author and wife,
@hellgodsrus, without whom I would never would have been able to take part in creating half my fics, and our girlfriend
@SolarFlare for being awesome and also betaing! Also special thanks Prime Betas
@Tamahori and
@32nd_freeze and
@Ganurath for being betas and feeding me validation and feedback between updates!
Enjoy!
Suns and Moons
-.-.-
Lindsay was jolted awake by the sound of an explosion in the distance. Her first thoughts were
I hope that wasn't Eden, followed by
soft hair in my face who's hair is this? and
wait, Eden's in the other direction - Oh yeah. Marissa. It was a date. She smiled, tucking the other girl's hair back behind her ear.
...Well, It's the Bay. One explosion, didn't sound like gunshots. Dad must've come through here and put the blanket on us, so he's safe. I can probably just go back to sleep. She leaned over, snuggling back in.
Her pillow snuggled back, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "Noh… don' goh…" she murmured, before snoring once and falling back into silence.
"Not going anywhere. Don't worry." Lindsay gave Marissa a gentle squeeze, getting comfortable again.
Officially best day yet. Nothing went wrong.
SKRRREECH - the sound of twisting metal and crunching concrete, floor shaking them both awake.
"Myers!
MYERS!"
"Fuck!" Lindsay dove off the couch and scrambled over to the window, peeking through the blinds.
Sorry, Marissa...
In the street was a rotating set of above five or six huge lumps of road and building. And in the middle of them, in a hoodie, hair wild, and totally unmasked… was Tammi.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-" Running up the stairs, yanking open the hall closet, tossing the blankets out of the way to reveal Grandpa Myers' legacy he'd brought home from the war, box of shells underneath, spilling half of them due to shaking hands. Five rounds in the magazine, work the pump, load one more, shove extra shells in her pocket.
Good thing Dad took me to the range all those times...
"
Lindsay! Fucking - fucking
say something are you
in there you colossal - you fucking - " A screech of frustration from outside, echoed by the twisting sound of metal tearing in two.
Lindsay took the stairs back down two at a time.
"What's - what's going on?" Marissa was on her feet and looking panicked.
"Call the fucking PRT, it's Rune! No costume shit, so I've gotta stall her." Putting on her best war face, she unlocked the deadbolt.
"Rune? Why is she - who is she and why is she here?"
"Telekinetic Nazi, who we can now
confirm figured out my identity somehow, and I have no fucking idea."
"
Nazi?"
"Welcome to Brockton Bay. Call the PRT, tell them to hurry up before I shoot the bitch. Or she crushes me with a car." Running on pure adrenaline, Lindsay flashed a grin and yanked the door open, before stepping out with the shotgun leveled at the cape. "Fuck off; some of us are trying to
sleep!"
"Lindsay." Rune sagged, and her payload sagged with her before she straightened up. "What the
fuck!"
"Oh no,
you don't get to say that! You're not the one interrupting the ONE day I've had in the past week where something bad hasn't happened! And attacking my house for some fucking reason! What, did one of the undercover skinheads at Arcadia tip you off?" Her knuckles were white on the smooth wood of the stock, finger only just not touching the trigger. "Well you can tell them the Myers aren't fucking around! My Grandpa Bill killed enough of you in France to prove that!"
"I didn't - I haven't told
anyone about you, you paranoid delusional dyke fuckhead." Tammi's hands were clutching her head. "But you told someone about
me, you - you - I'm not attacking!" A chunk of concrete orbited past her head in a wide ellipsis, smashing a streetlight.
"Oh, well you're certainly well armed for not attacking! And I didn't tell anyone
shit! I'm a cape geek, I know the rules!
YOU were the one going to the Society meetings! Scoping out target lists, figuring out when you could find someone to play 'smear the queer' with?"
Please be calling the PRT Marissa… PRT, for once, please show up on time.
"I didn't! I - I did at
first because of
course I did, but I
wasn't doing that any more!"
"Right, and I'm supposed to take the Nazi who shows up ready to crush my house at her word. If you want to
prove you're not trying to kill me, try landing and putting all your rocks down." Gritting her teeth, Lindsay gestured downwards with the barrel a couple times. "I know you could fucking kill me with a thought, so maybe equalize the situation a bit!"
… Where the fuck is Dad? Is he just sleeping like a log again? He
had slept through that one hailstorm a few years back.
"I'm not disarming after you killed Brad!" But a few of the smaller pieces of rock - and one massive, rebar studded piece of building - skittered off down the street. "I'm not here to - you told
everyone who I was, Myers. You
have to have, it's the only thing that makes sense."
"Who the fuck is Brad, and how the fuck am I supposed to have killed him? I'm a skinny geek, and this is the only weapon I even have access to! And it's kind of hard to conceal if I
did go Nazi hunting, which I haven't, because I'm not fucking suicidal!"
What the fuck.. Is Brad Hookwolf? "I haven't even checked PHO since like noon because I was on a
fucking date! I haven't had the
time to tell anyone about you, even if I
wanted to put my family at risk, which I fucking don't!"
"You're - " Her voice dropped. "You're Flare, alright? I
know. I didn't tell anyone, but I know, okay!"
"I fucking
wish. I'm just a fucking cape geek who wishes she had power so she'd be a bit less of a loser and took up free running to try to feel better about herself! My brother died in a fucking gang skirmish. If I could have fucking powers, I
would already, and I'd be using them to kick your ass!"
Nice. Just out me to the whole street, why don't you? As if this wasn't suspicious enough already. "What, did you assume that I'm her just because we're both gay?
Do we all look the same to you?" Lindsay shivered, finger shifted closer to the trigger.
"No! No it's - we fought that one time and - it's the only thing that makes sense, okay?"
"
Fighting over pizza toppings does not
make me a fucking cape!" Lindsay's eyes flicked left and right, praying for any sign of green and white flashing lights, listening for the howl of sirens.
Why won't she get the fucking hint that I'm not going to unmask to the whole street?
"Then how did you know that
I was Rune?!"
"I didn't
know, but I had a sneaking suspicion which you confirmed when you showed up here! Only teenage cape in the Empire, oddly uncomfortable whenever any of us started talking about Nazis, dipped out as soon as people mentioned Rune being in fights. General consensus was that you knew someone! I don't go digging into this kind of stuff because
it gets people killed!" The barrel started to shake again. Lindsay glared at it until it stilled.
"But - but - " She was clutching her head again. "Then how - who - I don't
understand!"
"
I don't fucking know!" Lindsay glanced around again, not sure whether to regret all the times she'd shit-talked the PRT's response time, or feel vindicated.
...Dad is definitely getting teased over sleeping through this
though.
"Eden - they have to have been the ones to tell the press and PRT about - about everyone, and Flare - it's the only thing that really makes sense. If you're Flare and knew and told them."
"Do you
seriously think Lillith's the kind of person who'd put her people at risk? By doing that? She's already got enough issues from Nazis without bringing identities or the PRT into things! And who the fuck else am I supposed to know besides you, and how the fuck would I even find out? Do you seriously think I pay that much attention to generic white guys?"
"She's the only one who makes sense to - I just don't -
I don't know what to do, okay?!"
"Well, you could have I don't know, ridden a bike! Or taken the bus! Or anything that doesn't involve attracting massive amounts of attention to my house that'll make people want to kill me! Because you seriously don't think you weren't followed?" Lindsay glared up at the cape.
"I meant
about everyone knowing I'm Rune! Or about - about the fact that my parents and - you having been the one to do it made
sense! It makes sense, okay? It's the only thing that does! I won't be angry - I - I'm not angry, I know - I know th-that it might seem like I've tried to um - hurt you before or say insulting things or - "
"Noooooooo… The giant storm of rocks doesn't make you seem threatening at
all."
...Damnit shotgun stop shaking. More staring. "Just say what you're gonna say before the brownshirts show up to try to kill me, I shoot back, and me and my dad both get lynched or something. It's a bit late for apologies."
...Well fuck. ...is this it? ...Maybe they'd let dad go if I surrendered?
"I am saying it! I'm saying I don't know - I don't know
why you'd join Eden or - or tell them about me, or how they could know about the others - if it was them - I just…" She threw a look over her shoulder. "
Fuck."
And here they came. Lindsay swung around, aiming towards the sound of engines. "That's because I didn't join Eden unless you count the cheapest tickets I could get. Because
I'm not a cape. But there's no way
they'll buy that. I hope it was worth it, Tammi."
She shrunk back, debris still whirling around her, as the trucks slowly pulled out and the gang members got out. No other capes, but given
Rune was there in civilian clothes, it was hard to tell. The driver - a man with a kind of glossy brown mullet and a heavy jacket - hopped out and frowned at both Lindsay and Tammi.
"Hell, girl, the fuck you run off here for? You gave us all a scare doing that." His hand was large and oppressive on Tammi's shoulder. His gaze flicked to the shotgun, then round at the rubble. "... we going to have a problem, Miss? I'm sorry she woke you up like this."
"Someone starts tearing up my neighbourhood in the middle of the night, kinda understandable I panicked. She goes home, I can go home, we can forget this whole thing ever happened."
Nice. Smooth. They might actually buy it.
One of the women in the bed of the truck frowned. "...why did you come here, Tam? And with the firepower?"
Tammi didn't say anything, just looked at me, then at the man next to her, her mouth falling open, and then shutting again. The gang members around the trucks looked at me, at her. Saying nothing, but Lindsay could feel the tension ratcheting up.
"Speak up, girl."
Tammi's rocks were vibrating. Her mouth opened again -
The sound of the door behind me. "I called - "
Shit. Alibi, Alibi… hah. Sleepover. "Okay, your mom can drop the textbook off in the morning, we can keep studying for that online test thing. But
I'm a little busy right now." The last escaped Lindsay's mouth through gritted teeth.
But the man was already advancing forward from beside Tammi, hand moving behind him to something in his waistband -
Bang. The recoil thudded into her shoulder like one of Kurt's light punches from when he decided she should know how to defend herself, and sound was replaced by a high whine. "
Get inside!" She couldn't even really hear herself. The smoking shell spun down and away to the side, pump sliding back forward as Lindsay dove for cover behind the hood of her dad's truck.
A moment's calm as the man crumpled to the ground. Then the storm descended.
