Third Arc 3.7
- Location
- PA
Hymn of Harmony
or Melody of Escalation
Third Arc 3.7
-March 10, 2011-
-Winslow-
Yesterday had been chaotic, but fun. Poor Emma was sulking that she missed her day with Mouse Protector, but she would still get a chance. Probably a lot of chances since the veteran cape was now stationed in Brockton Bay. I rubbed her back reassuringly as we approached the high school. My thoughts turned to what had already happened here, but then a hand grabbed my shoulder. Emma pulled me off to one side.
"Taylor stop that. Your melody keeps distorting. I know you don't like this place, but get a grip." She spoke in a low and intense tone. I blinked owlishly at her. "Think about Danny, think about Lisa, think about Cocona, think about me." She stared in my eyes, "Think of Sonata. Do you want her to ever see your melody warped? Just remember all of us. What can Winslow even do to you?"
Sudden tears came to me as Emma brought it all home. I couldn't even tell now if the confrontations I've had with the staff were because of legitimate grievances or was I projecting? Madison had approached without me realizing and stood with Emma to screen me. Given our relative height difference it was cute and made me giggle.
"I don't know what the tears were for, but are you okay?" She asked. Emma sent her a look of gratitude.
"Chill girl...it's okay." Aisha's hand was on my back. I actually missed her approach too.
The tears were slowing and I choked back the rest of my crying. A tissue was passed to me and I made myself presentable. I had been warned before. Reyvateils experience emotions differently than humans. Our highs were really high and our lows were really low. I was holding a grudge against Winslow. Emma knew exactly what to say to get my head out of my ass.
"Let's go. We don't want to be late, right?" Emma asked and we went into school together.
Without my resentment filter I was seeing the school as it was. The teachers had, in fact, gotten better. The PRT had spoken to them and they had cleaned up their act significantly. I think that they were demonized by my belief in their hypocrisy. It took a government organization to make them act like responsible adults. The problem with that thought was now staring me in the face. Of course they catered to Sophia. The reason was painfully obvious even if it wasn't right.
The gangs were growing restless again. Sophia may have been one person at this school, but she was vicious enough to keep open warfare out of the halls. She wasn't just physical with me, but compared to my treatment? She was downright brutal to skinheads, ABB, and drug pushers alike. It wasn't a utopia with her, but it was safer. Now they were starting to realize the power vacuum that had been left behind. Having to hide behind a teenage girl would be galling, but a cape was palatable.
No wonder the teachers had, in fact, started to resent me. I was asleep on the job and making demands of them. That was a sobering thought, and now that my thoughts weren't chasing their tails, it was humbling. Emma and I needed to talk to Aisha about this. There were three parahumans in school after all. I considered seeing if the Undersiders wanted to help, but wasn't sure how that would be received.
-Midday: Roof-
Aisha, Emma, and myself were sitting on the roof during lunch. It had taken some doing, but I was now certain of my thoughts. My feelings were slightly out of whack, but the pep talk/dressing down Emma gave me kept me on an even footing.
"Just give it a minute. Someone else is coming." Aisha said. We had mentioned to her that we were planning on taking back the school, but would discuss more at lunch. She was now dropping this on us.
"Who?" I asked. Emma was looking about warily. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Emma's own feelings were a bit distorted. She was far better than she was, but sometimes she would almost take on a bird of prey mentality. Dropping bombs on her tended to have that effect.
"Just...forgive me, alright? You told me what you wanted to do and I thought...what the hell?" She shrugged her shoulders. Aisha wasn't stupid and I trusted her judgment. When she wasn't planning a prank on us. A new melody was approaching up the stairs. One I recognized. Emma perked up and dropped from her alert stance. She looked at me carefully and I just rubbed my forehead. Yeah, okay, that made sense. The door didn't open as a figure ghosted through.
"Man you let it get bad out there." Sophia said as she threw back her hood. Anyone who knew her would not have expected the pink hoodie or white jogging pants. She had gone so far to the opposite end of her normal look it worked as great camouflage. Emma almost tackled her to the ground like an affectionate barnacle.
"My head has been up my ass for months over this place. I wonder why my feelings about Winslow were so skewed?" The words came out with less bite than even I expected. Her melody felt calmer. Warmer. There was still a wild edge to it, but more like a hunting cat than what she was before.
"There's a lotta that goin' around." Aisha said with a smirk. Sophia ruffled her hair and got a swat in return. I wanted to say that does not compute, but Aisha's melody was not only relaxed it was also accepting of her.
"Laugh it up." Sophia said while gently pushing Emma back and staring her in the eyes, "Calm down. We need your head with us. Not your heart." The redhead pouted, but settled down. Sophia caught the surprise in my look. "She's a lot like Rachel. Just higher functioning." Her vocabulary had improved, but I blame Lisa for that. When in doubt? Blame Lisa.
"Where do we start?" I asked her. The looks of surprise I got made me roll my eyes, "What? She knows more about this then I do. I'm done shooting myself in the foot."
"They're gatherin' to psyche themselves up. I broke up a few of their gatherings in costume and kept up the pressure at school. You will probably have to fight them here too." Her melody hitched slightly, but there was no change of tone as she said, "You know my tactics. Better than Emma does." Remorse, apologetic, but won't apologize. I just nodded my head and let the issue lie. Relief.
"If we go in costume and break them up it will get back to the PRT. Director Piggot has eased up a lot, but she would flip over this." Emma pointed out. We had earned a lot of goodwill with the Director.
"Yeah let's not give Piggy a stroke. That's why Aisha called me in." She crossed her arms in a manner I recognized, "I can handle that part." Emma's clothes suddenly changed to a black kimono top with black pants and black sandals. Her hair turned black and her eyes were hazel. The outfit called to mind the Disgaea Kunoichi, but not as fetishy.
"I can render my assistance." Her voice had changed to something softer. I arched an eyebrow as my costume program didn't provide that level of customization. That was all Emma.
"Okay that's cool. How can I get one?" Aisha asked teasingly. Emma reverted back with a grin. Even Sophia looked interested.
"It's not available to everyone." Emma said. She looked in my direction. The fact that I didn't immediately shake my head no encouraged her, but she dropped it.
"I don't have a problem with Emma helping you." Not a major problem. My gut clenched briefly at the thought of Emma getting in trouble, but it eased. She could take care of herself. "Just...don't hesitate to use your claws if you need them." I said to Emma. She nodded seriously.
"They'll get together tonight and will keep gathering until they're ready. We can hit the three groups tonight. Just don't expect to get much sleep." Sophia warned.
"I need maybe three to four hours of sleep max. I'm not as bad as Taylor. She doesn't need sleep at all." Emma smiled at me and I rolled my eyes. It was good to hear the plans being made.
"And I can help by scouting things out." Aisha said. Ah there's the Metal Gear Solid theme. Sophia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"We'll talk about that. Emma? You know where to meet me. Taylor? Keep an eye on Madison today. For some reason the skinheads are gunning for her." Sophia said.
"She saved me from them. Tina doesn't like her either and she's an E88 whore." Aisha spat.
"Just be careful." With that the brightly dressed dark vigilante headed out.
"Let's get back to lunch." Emma said. We didn't have much time left to eat. When we arrived at the cafeteria it was with relief that we saw Madison. She was looking irritable, but not harmed. Her eyes locked onto us and she waved us over.
"There you are. What were you up to?" She asked, but her irritability made it a demand. I winced as a quick look around told me all I needed to know. It was the calm before the storm. The student body as a whole was tense, but were making up for it by exaggerated behavior. Lots of laughing, horsing around, and general "teen" behavior. The only exceptions were the pushers, the ABB, and the skinheads. They were casting shifty eyes at each other. A worrying number of those gazes were on us and Madison.
"Sorry Mads." Emma pet her hair soothingly, "We were held up." She glanced at me. It wasn't fair to keep Madison in the dark. Everything she had already dealt with and we were keeping this from her. She deserved to know that there were capes watching her back.
"Let's eat outside. Come on." I said and gathered my lunch. Madison was finished and just followed us out. Her melody was confused, hesitant, but feeling safer with us here. The hostile melodies were readying themselves. Anticipation. Desire. Blood lust. Wait...blood lust? Emma's eyes had taken on that peculiar caste they had when preparing for a fight at that note in the melody. She was my barometer for how bad something was. If she was almost revealing her eyes then something had her on edge.
Aisha, sensing the mood, stayed with Madison. She was doing something peculiar like partly there and partly not there. Madison knew she was there, but she had become somehow unremarkable. There was a slight strain in her melody. Innovation, accomplishment, pride, draining. Madison's melody had become alarmed as we moved to a more secluded spot. We were meaning to talk, but several someones were following us. None of them were Tina.
"So this where you fuckin' dykes go all the time?" An obnoxious voice called out to us. No other melodies around. I turned to look at them with Emma barely restrained on my other side. Aisha had vanished completely and Madison had plastered herself to the wall. She was completely terrified. There were six guys. There were a few from the upper grades with the one that spoke looking like he was out of school.
"Damn...at least this part will be fun." Another said as he flicked out a knife. Shit. Madison's fear was spiking. The others were pulling out weapons. The Metal Gear Solid theme was playing full blast just moments before a punk at the back of the group collapsed after a loud zap. The chaos started.
Emma strode right up to the biggest guy who took a swing at her with brass knuckles. She gripped his wrist, twisted his arm upward, and punched him in the stomach twice. He collapsed to his knees puking up his lunch.
I was standing back to guard Madison when the knife wielder charged me. My stance was loose as I stepped forward and drove both fists into his chest, bypassing his knife entirely, before snapping my hand down to pinch the nerve in his wrist. The knife fell harmlessly to the ground. He was too busy trying to ease the pressure in his chest.
One of the punks fell howling as a loud zap was heard from somewhere around his crotch. Aisha was choosing her targets wisely. The two she dropped had chain and baton respectively. Madison's melody was leveling out. Hard to be afraid when four were down and there only two left. Emma fell on the second to last with a flurry of punches that drove him to the ground.
"Taylor!" Madison suddenly screamed and her melody twisted sharply. I spun in time to see the last punk about to reach me. The only problem with that was Madison was swinging her backpack for his head. There was a sound like a hammer striking a coconut and he was down.
"Well guys this didn't work out so well for you." I said conversationally, "I see this going one of two ways. You keep this up, keep losing, and eventually the whole school knows a bunch of stupid skinheads can't even beat four little girls. The other way is that you back the fuck off, get your education, and do stupid shit on your own time. Seriously there really is only one way to go if you want to keep your rep." Wow if looks could kill I would be dead. "Come on girls." We walked away from them.
"That was so cool. That was seriously cool. Way to go Madison." Aisha was beaming. Madison was clutching her bag to her chest and trying to get her breathing under control.
"Did I kill him?" She sounded sick. His melody was messed up, but head trauma did that.
"No...he's alive. Probably will have a splitting headache, but he's alive." I assured her. "There was something we wanted to talk to you about though..." The talk went better than I thought. Aisha took Madison to the parking lot after school to wait for her brother. Emma and I had an important event to get to.
-PRT HQ: Aria's Lab-
I was surprised at the turnout. I thought it would just be the Wards who showed up, but the Protectorate had shown up as well. Even the Director was in my lab to watch. The general feeling I was hearing was excitement. The Harmony was complex and weaved through the area. Piggot's melody was steadily shifting. Months ago it was a jangled and terrified mess. It was no longer so frightened. It was coming out of it's cage and smoothing out.
Mouse Protector's melody was weaving into the Harmony well, but she was always a mixer. Armsmaster was even feeling relaxed. There was one guest that I was disappointed about. Dragon was nowhere to be found. She said she would be here, but the terminal was silent. I could tell Armsmaster was disappointed too.
It was five minutes until Sonata was with us. The buzzer on the lab door went off and I was surprised at the melody on the other side. The melody was bright and cheerful with a distinct synthesizer sound. Dragon was here? Physically here? I quickly hit the button to open the door and the famous Tinker walked into the room.
She was wearing a slimmed down version of a dragon suit. The helmet was easily identifiable, but the contours of the armor showed that there was actually a person in there. The helmet hissed and opened with brown hair spilling out from the confines. Her hazel eyes were warm and the black domino mask did nothing to detract from her looks.
"I'm sorry for being late." She said. I beamed and hugged her. She hugged me back even with the armor. Dragon laughed, "Let me get out of this." She disengaged the armor and it unfolded like my ELMA armor before transforming into a dragon the size of one of my units. "Forgive me for borrowing the design." I answered by hugging her again. She was wearing a black bodysuit with kevlar and impact armored portions. It did nothing to hide her well sculpted figure. A sharp hiss of released pressure caused my attention to shift. The pod was opening!
I hurried over to the pod as the excitement increased. The opaque surface of the lid slowly rose and I felt my impatience growing. Laying inside was Sonata. My creation. My daughter. She was slender bodied wearing a black bathing suit style bodysuit. Her hair was pure black with maroon eyes. The hair and eyes could change color to disguise her. She was staring up at me with an intensely curious look. I smiled at her and she smiled in response. Her melody was beautiful. Like harps, violins, and my flute mingling together.
"You...are my mother." She said with a happy smile. She sat up inside the pod and I picked her up. Her height was 5'2" so I was only a couple inches taller, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
"Everyone...meet Sonata." She looked about shyly before engaging the color change functions leaving her with white hair and bright green eyes. "It's okay. They're friendly." I assured her as I set her down. She was a little wobbly, but got her balance mostly.
"Hello. I look forward to working with all of you." She said sweetly and bowed with her hands clasped in front of her. Apparently she had been surfing the internet and found the standard Japanese greeting. That broke the ice and the others started to approach her. She held my hand tightly, but gradually started to relax.
Then someone got the idea to take pictures. All of the Wards, Protectorate, Dragon, and the Director in one large picture. I was going to get it framed and put up in lab. The party atmosphere also included cake and ice cream. We didn't eat too much since we still had to head home for dinner with Dad. He couldn't be left out of this. Director Piggot caught my eye and gestured for me to follow her. Sonata moved from hugging my arm to hugging Emma's.
"Was there something you needed?" I asked her once we were reasonably alone. She gazed at me for several long moments.
"Granspear will be joining the Wards within the week and will need a weapon to channel her ability through." She started off with business. For most this would put them off, but I could hear her melody. She was someone that had to ease herself into anything resembling sentimentality, "The approval has been granted for her to continue to stay with you." We figured that would happen. Foster families for orphaned capes were very scarce. She looked over at Sonata.
"Do you honestly see her as your daughter?" She asked. I nodded without hesitation. "It's hard to believe that she's a medical test subject." We watched Sonata swat away Clockblocker as he played with her hair was a very human reaction. "Just remember what you told me." She abruptly moved off.
The party in my lab was going to have to continue without us. Dad was waiting outside and Cocona was at home. Emma and I said our goodbyes while Sonata smiled shyly. She wanted the Aria t-shirt from the shop and we put her in jeans and sneakers. The Armsmaster coat was a sweet gesture from the man himself. The fact that it was from a rogue named Parian, who did cape styled fashions, was nice.
"Did you have a good time?" I asked her. She nodded firmly.
"I did. They were really nice. They made beautiful music together." Her smile was easy to understand. She'd been a complete hit. The talk about "beautiful music" made me curious.
"She's such a cuddlebug." Emma cooed and Sonata blushed, but didn't refuse the sudden hug. The redhead's melody was burbling with happy feelings. I couldn't blame her at all. We headed outside and there was Dad's truck. "Danny needs to get an SUV or something. There's too many of us."
"We'll find a way to fit." I assured her. Emma took the initiative and just hopped in the bed of the truck. She covered herself with the tarp leaving her head out. Sonata slid into the truck beside Dad and I climbed in as well. She hugged him. He smiled softly.
"Does she have another name beside Sonata?" He asked. I smiled at him softly.
"Her name is Annette."
-Side B-
-Later that Night-
Emma knew she was running late as she practically flew towards her destination. The currently dark haired girl threw herself through the air before landing easily on the rooftop. Her goal was the water tank as she skidded to a halt.
"What kept ya?" Shadow Stalker asked as she stepped out.
"Sorry. I had to slip out after everyone was asleep." She replied. The party at home had gone on overlong. It would have probably continued if Sonata hadn't started yawning. So cute!
"Focus. Think with your head." Stalker brought her back. "We're in luck. The gang leaders are planning on having a meeting at the downtown basketball court." To call them gang leaders was a joke. Their real bosses were capes, but they ran things in the schools. It wasn't only Winslow they screwed with.
"Did you invite Imp?" Despedia asked. The Mission Impossible theme was easy to spot. Her range was nowhere near Aria's, but those she was around long enough became easy to find. Stalker groaned.
"Get out here. Man, Grue is gonna have my ass." She muttered.
"From what I've seen you might like that." Imp said as she appeared. Her costume looked like a feminine version of Grue. Instead of the helmet, however, there was a horned mask that left her mouth exposed. Shadow Stalker's melody was aggravated and resigned.
"Whatever. You just do as we say, got it?" She said and continued to stare until Imp nodded. Despedia giggled which didn't help matters.
"We hit them hard and fast. Give them no chance to regroup. Imp? Pick your targets carefully. Em? Have fun. If a few go flying who cares? Just don't mangle anyone." Shadow Stalker's orders were clear and concise. Despedia found a certain perverse amusement in noting the similarity in Stalker and Aria's command styles.
Emma put Shadow Stalker on her back and picked up Imp before taking off at a fast clip. If they weren't trying for stealth the smaller girl probably would have been cheering. Surprisingly Stalker wasn't enjoying their "flight" as she bounced from roof to roof. The basketball court was up ahead and they slowed their approach.
The sight down below would be intimidating. There were between thirty and forty people down below. Shadow Stalker was already heading down the fire escape by using her Breaker state. Imp was long gone. Emma looked at the focal point of the gathering. The toughest guys were in the center. She took a few steps back from the edge before running forward at top speed and throwing herself off the roof. Her momentum carried her in a high arc that ended with her landing in the midst of the gathered punks.
"What the fuck!?" "Is that a cape!?" "Shit!" "Cape!" The jumbled cries were panicked. One shouted at her, "What are you doin' here!?" Emma grinned ferally.
"We're taking back the night."
or Melody of Escalation
Third Arc 3.7
-March 10, 2011-
-Winslow-
Yesterday had been chaotic, but fun. Poor Emma was sulking that she missed her day with Mouse Protector, but she would still get a chance. Probably a lot of chances since the veteran cape was now stationed in Brockton Bay. I rubbed her back reassuringly as we approached the high school. My thoughts turned to what had already happened here, but then a hand grabbed my shoulder. Emma pulled me off to one side.
"Taylor stop that. Your melody keeps distorting. I know you don't like this place, but get a grip." She spoke in a low and intense tone. I blinked owlishly at her. "Think about Danny, think about Lisa, think about Cocona, think about me." She stared in my eyes, "Think of Sonata. Do you want her to ever see your melody warped? Just remember all of us. What can Winslow even do to you?"
Sudden tears came to me as Emma brought it all home. I couldn't even tell now if the confrontations I've had with the staff were because of legitimate grievances or was I projecting? Madison had approached without me realizing and stood with Emma to screen me. Given our relative height difference it was cute and made me giggle.
"I don't know what the tears were for, but are you okay?" She asked. Emma sent her a look of gratitude.
"Chill girl...it's okay." Aisha's hand was on my back. I actually missed her approach too.
The tears were slowing and I choked back the rest of my crying. A tissue was passed to me and I made myself presentable. I had been warned before. Reyvateils experience emotions differently than humans. Our highs were really high and our lows were really low. I was holding a grudge against Winslow. Emma knew exactly what to say to get my head out of my ass.
"Let's go. We don't want to be late, right?" Emma asked and we went into school together.
Without my resentment filter I was seeing the school as it was. The teachers had, in fact, gotten better. The PRT had spoken to them and they had cleaned up their act significantly. I think that they were demonized by my belief in their hypocrisy. It took a government organization to make them act like responsible adults. The problem with that thought was now staring me in the face. Of course they catered to Sophia. The reason was painfully obvious even if it wasn't right.
The gangs were growing restless again. Sophia may have been one person at this school, but she was vicious enough to keep open warfare out of the halls. She wasn't just physical with me, but compared to my treatment? She was downright brutal to skinheads, ABB, and drug pushers alike. It wasn't a utopia with her, but it was safer. Now they were starting to realize the power vacuum that had been left behind. Having to hide behind a teenage girl would be galling, but a cape was palatable.
No wonder the teachers had, in fact, started to resent me. I was asleep on the job and making demands of them. That was a sobering thought, and now that my thoughts weren't chasing their tails, it was humbling. Emma and I needed to talk to Aisha about this. There were three parahumans in school after all. I considered seeing if the Undersiders wanted to help, but wasn't sure how that would be received.
-Midday: Roof-
Aisha, Emma, and myself were sitting on the roof during lunch. It had taken some doing, but I was now certain of my thoughts. My feelings were slightly out of whack, but the pep talk/dressing down Emma gave me kept me on an even footing.
"Just give it a minute. Someone else is coming." Aisha said. We had mentioned to her that we were planning on taking back the school, but would discuss more at lunch. She was now dropping this on us.
"Who?" I asked. Emma was looking about warily. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Emma's own feelings were a bit distorted. She was far better than she was, but sometimes she would almost take on a bird of prey mentality. Dropping bombs on her tended to have that effect.
"Just...forgive me, alright? You told me what you wanted to do and I thought...what the hell?" She shrugged her shoulders. Aisha wasn't stupid and I trusted her judgment. When she wasn't planning a prank on us. A new melody was approaching up the stairs. One I recognized. Emma perked up and dropped from her alert stance. She looked at me carefully and I just rubbed my forehead. Yeah, okay, that made sense. The door didn't open as a figure ghosted through.
"Man you let it get bad out there." Sophia said as she threw back her hood. Anyone who knew her would not have expected the pink hoodie or white jogging pants. She had gone so far to the opposite end of her normal look it worked as great camouflage. Emma almost tackled her to the ground like an affectionate barnacle.
"My head has been up my ass for months over this place. I wonder why my feelings about Winslow were so skewed?" The words came out with less bite than even I expected. Her melody felt calmer. Warmer. There was still a wild edge to it, but more like a hunting cat than what she was before.
"There's a lotta that goin' around." Aisha said with a smirk. Sophia ruffled her hair and got a swat in return. I wanted to say that does not compute, but Aisha's melody was not only relaxed it was also accepting of her.
"Laugh it up." Sophia said while gently pushing Emma back and staring her in the eyes, "Calm down. We need your head with us. Not your heart." The redhead pouted, but settled down. Sophia caught the surprise in my look. "She's a lot like Rachel. Just higher functioning." Her vocabulary had improved, but I blame Lisa for that. When in doubt? Blame Lisa.
"Where do we start?" I asked her. The looks of surprise I got made me roll my eyes, "What? She knows more about this then I do. I'm done shooting myself in the foot."
"They're gatherin' to psyche themselves up. I broke up a few of their gatherings in costume and kept up the pressure at school. You will probably have to fight them here too." Her melody hitched slightly, but there was no change of tone as she said, "You know my tactics. Better than Emma does." Remorse, apologetic, but won't apologize. I just nodded my head and let the issue lie. Relief.
"If we go in costume and break them up it will get back to the PRT. Director Piggot has eased up a lot, but she would flip over this." Emma pointed out. We had earned a lot of goodwill with the Director.
"Yeah let's not give Piggy a stroke. That's why Aisha called me in." She crossed her arms in a manner I recognized, "I can handle that part." Emma's clothes suddenly changed to a black kimono top with black pants and black sandals. Her hair turned black and her eyes were hazel. The outfit called to mind the Disgaea Kunoichi, but not as fetishy.
"I can render my assistance." Her voice had changed to something softer. I arched an eyebrow as my costume program didn't provide that level of customization. That was all Emma.
"Okay that's cool. How can I get one?" Aisha asked teasingly. Emma reverted back with a grin. Even Sophia looked interested.
"It's not available to everyone." Emma said. She looked in my direction. The fact that I didn't immediately shake my head no encouraged her, but she dropped it.
"I don't have a problem with Emma helping you." Not a major problem. My gut clenched briefly at the thought of Emma getting in trouble, but it eased. She could take care of herself. "Just...don't hesitate to use your claws if you need them." I said to Emma. She nodded seriously.
"They'll get together tonight and will keep gathering until they're ready. We can hit the three groups tonight. Just don't expect to get much sleep." Sophia warned.
"I need maybe three to four hours of sleep max. I'm not as bad as Taylor. She doesn't need sleep at all." Emma smiled at me and I rolled my eyes. It was good to hear the plans being made.
"And I can help by scouting things out." Aisha said. Ah there's the Metal Gear Solid theme. Sophia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"We'll talk about that. Emma? You know where to meet me. Taylor? Keep an eye on Madison today. For some reason the skinheads are gunning for her." Sophia said.
"She saved me from them. Tina doesn't like her either and she's an E88 whore." Aisha spat.
"Just be careful." With that the brightly dressed dark vigilante headed out.
"Let's get back to lunch." Emma said. We didn't have much time left to eat. When we arrived at the cafeteria it was with relief that we saw Madison. She was looking irritable, but not harmed. Her eyes locked onto us and she waved us over.
"There you are. What were you up to?" She asked, but her irritability made it a demand. I winced as a quick look around told me all I needed to know. It was the calm before the storm. The student body as a whole was tense, but were making up for it by exaggerated behavior. Lots of laughing, horsing around, and general "teen" behavior. The only exceptions were the pushers, the ABB, and the skinheads. They were casting shifty eyes at each other. A worrying number of those gazes were on us and Madison.
"Sorry Mads." Emma pet her hair soothingly, "We were held up." She glanced at me. It wasn't fair to keep Madison in the dark. Everything she had already dealt with and we were keeping this from her. She deserved to know that there were capes watching her back.
"Let's eat outside. Come on." I said and gathered my lunch. Madison was finished and just followed us out. Her melody was confused, hesitant, but feeling safer with us here. The hostile melodies were readying themselves. Anticipation. Desire. Blood lust. Wait...blood lust? Emma's eyes had taken on that peculiar caste they had when preparing for a fight at that note in the melody. She was my barometer for how bad something was. If she was almost revealing her eyes then something had her on edge.
Aisha, sensing the mood, stayed with Madison. She was doing something peculiar like partly there and partly not there. Madison knew she was there, but she had become somehow unremarkable. There was a slight strain in her melody. Innovation, accomplishment, pride, draining. Madison's melody had become alarmed as we moved to a more secluded spot. We were meaning to talk, but several someones were following us. None of them were Tina.
"So this where you fuckin' dykes go all the time?" An obnoxious voice called out to us. No other melodies around. I turned to look at them with Emma barely restrained on my other side. Aisha had vanished completely and Madison had plastered herself to the wall. She was completely terrified. There were six guys. There were a few from the upper grades with the one that spoke looking like he was out of school.
"Damn...at least this part will be fun." Another said as he flicked out a knife. Shit. Madison's fear was spiking. The others were pulling out weapons. The Metal Gear Solid theme was playing full blast just moments before a punk at the back of the group collapsed after a loud zap. The chaos started.
Emma strode right up to the biggest guy who took a swing at her with brass knuckles. She gripped his wrist, twisted his arm upward, and punched him in the stomach twice. He collapsed to his knees puking up his lunch.
I was standing back to guard Madison when the knife wielder charged me. My stance was loose as I stepped forward and drove both fists into his chest, bypassing his knife entirely, before snapping my hand down to pinch the nerve in his wrist. The knife fell harmlessly to the ground. He was too busy trying to ease the pressure in his chest.
One of the punks fell howling as a loud zap was heard from somewhere around his crotch. Aisha was choosing her targets wisely. The two she dropped had chain and baton respectively. Madison's melody was leveling out. Hard to be afraid when four were down and there only two left. Emma fell on the second to last with a flurry of punches that drove him to the ground.
"Taylor!" Madison suddenly screamed and her melody twisted sharply. I spun in time to see the last punk about to reach me. The only problem with that was Madison was swinging her backpack for his head. There was a sound like a hammer striking a coconut and he was down.
"Well guys this didn't work out so well for you." I said conversationally, "I see this going one of two ways. You keep this up, keep losing, and eventually the whole school knows a bunch of stupid skinheads can't even beat four little girls. The other way is that you back the fuck off, get your education, and do stupid shit on your own time. Seriously there really is only one way to go if you want to keep your rep." Wow if looks could kill I would be dead. "Come on girls." We walked away from them.
"That was so cool. That was seriously cool. Way to go Madison." Aisha was beaming. Madison was clutching her bag to her chest and trying to get her breathing under control.
"Did I kill him?" She sounded sick. His melody was messed up, but head trauma did that.
"No...he's alive. Probably will have a splitting headache, but he's alive." I assured her. "There was something we wanted to talk to you about though..." The talk went better than I thought. Aisha took Madison to the parking lot after school to wait for her brother. Emma and I had an important event to get to.
-PRT HQ: Aria's Lab-
I was surprised at the turnout. I thought it would just be the Wards who showed up, but the Protectorate had shown up as well. Even the Director was in my lab to watch. The general feeling I was hearing was excitement. The Harmony was complex and weaved through the area. Piggot's melody was steadily shifting. Months ago it was a jangled and terrified mess. It was no longer so frightened. It was coming out of it's cage and smoothing out.
Mouse Protector's melody was weaving into the Harmony well, but she was always a mixer. Armsmaster was even feeling relaxed. There was one guest that I was disappointed about. Dragon was nowhere to be found. She said she would be here, but the terminal was silent. I could tell Armsmaster was disappointed too.
It was five minutes until Sonata was with us. The buzzer on the lab door went off and I was surprised at the melody on the other side. The melody was bright and cheerful with a distinct synthesizer sound. Dragon was here? Physically here? I quickly hit the button to open the door and the famous Tinker walked into the room.
She was wearing a slimmed down version of a dragon suit. The helmet was easily identifiable, but the contours of the armor showed that there was actually a person in there. The helmet hissed and opened with brown hair spilling out from the confines. Her hazel eyes were warm and the black domino mask did nothing to detract from her looks.
"I'm sorry for being late." She said. I beamed and hugged her. She hugged me back even with the armor. Dragon laughed, "Let me get out of this." She disengaged the armor and it unfolded like my ELMA armor before transforming into a dragon the size of one of my units. "Forgive me for borrowing the design." I answered by hugging her again. She was wearing a black bodysuit with kevlar and impact armored portions. It did nothing to hide her well sculpted figure. A sharp hiss of released pressure caused my attention to shift. The pod was opening!
I hurried over to the pod as the excitement increased. The opaque surface of the lid slowly rose and I felt my impatience growing. Laying inside was Sonata. My creation. My daughter. She was slender bodied wearing a black bathing suit style bodysuit. Her hair was pure black with maroon eyes. The hair and eyes could change color to disguise her. She was staring up at me with an intensely curious look. I smiled at her and she smiled in response. Her melody was beautiful. Like harps, violins, and my flute mingling together.
"You...are my mother." She said with a happy smile. She sat up inside the pod and I picked her up. Her height was 5'2" so I was only a couple inches taller, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
"Everyone...meet Sonata." She looked about shyly before engaging the color change functions leaving her with white hair and bright green eyes. "It's okay. They're friendly." I assured her as I set her down. She was a little wobbly, but got her balance mostly.
"Hello. I look forward to working with all of you." She said sweetly and bowed with her hands clasped in front of her. Apparently she had been surfing the internet and found the standard Japanese greeting. That broke the ice and the others started to approach her. She held my hand tightly, but gradually started to relax.
Then someone got the idea to take pictures. All of the Wards, Protectorate, Dragon, and the Director in one large picture. I was going to get it framed and put up in lab. The party atmosphere also included cake and ice cream. We didn't eat too much since we still had to head home for dinner with Dad. He couldn't be left out of this. Director Piggot caught my eye and gestured for me to follow her. Sonata moved from hugging my arm to hugging Emma's.
"Was there something you needed?" I asked her once we were reasonably alone. She gazed at me for several long moments.
"Granspear will be joining the Wards within the week and will need a weapon to channel her ability through." She started off with business. For most this would put them off, but I could hear her melody. She was someone that had to ease herself into anything resembling sentimentality, "The approval has been granted for her to continue to stay with you." We figured that would happen. Foster families for orphaned capes were very scarce. She looked over at Sonata.
"Do you honestly see her as your daughter?" She asked. I nodded without hesitation. "It's hard to believe that she's a medical test subject." We watched Sonata swat away Clockblocker as he played with her hair was a very human reaction. "Just remember what you told me." She abruptly moved off.
The party in my lab was going to have to continue without us. Dad was waiting outside and Cocona was at home. Emma and I said our goodbyes while Sonata smiled shyly. She wanted the Aria t-shirt from the shop and we put her in jeans and sneakers. The Armsmaster coat was a sweet gesture from the man himself. The fact that it was from a rogue named Parian, who did cape styled fashions, was nice.
"Did you have a good time?" I asked her. She nodded firmly.
"I did. They were really nice. They made beautiful music together." Her smile was easy to understand. She'd been a complete hit. The talk about "beautiful music" made me curious.
"She's such a cuddlebug." Emma cooed and Sonata blushed, but didn't refuse the sudden hug. The redhead's melody was burbling with happy feelings. I couldn't blame her at all. We headed outside and there was Dad's truck. "Danny needs to get an SUV or something. There's too many of us."
"We'll find a way to fit." I assured her. Emma took the initiative and just hopped in the bed of the truck. She covered herself with the tarp leaving her head out. Sonata slid into the truck beside Dad and I climbed in as well. She hugged him. He smiled softly.
"Does she have another name beside Sonata?" He asked. I smiled at him softly.
"Her name is Annette."
-Side B-
-Later that Night-
Emma knew she was running late as she practically flew towards her destination. The currently dark haired girl threw herself through the air before landing easily on the rooftop. Her goal was the water tank as she skidded to a halt.
"What kept ya?" Shadow Stalker asked as she stepped out.
"Sorry. I had to slip out after everyone was asleep." She replied. The party at home had gone on overlong. It would have probably continued if Sonata hadn't started yawning. So cute!
"Focus. Think with your head." Stalker brought her back. "We're in luck. The gang leaders are planning on having a meeting at the downtown basketball court." To call them gang leaders was a joke. Their real bosses were capes, but they ran things in the schools. It wasn't only Winslow they screwed with.
"Did you invite Imp?" Despedia asked. The Mission Impossible theme was easy to spot. Her range was nowhere near Aria's, but those she was around long enough became easy to find. Stalker groaned.
"Get out here. Man, Grue is gonna have my ass." She muttered.
"From what I've seen you might like that." Imp said as she appeared. Her costume looked like a feminine version of Grue. Instead of the helmet, however, there was a horned mask that left her mouth exposed. Shadow Stalker's melody was aggravated and resigned.
"Whatever. You just do as we say, got it?" She said and continued to stare until Imp nodded. Despedia giggled which didn't help matters.
"We hit them hard and fast. Give them no chance to regroup. Imp? Pick your targets carefully. Em? Have fun. If a few go flying who cares? Just don't mangle anyone." Shadow Stalker's orders were clear and concise. Despedia found a certain perverse amusement in noting the similarity in Stalker and Aria's command styles.
Emma put Shadow Stalker on her back and picked up Imp before taking off at a fast clip. If they weren't trying for stealth the smaller girl probably would have been cheering. Surprisingly Stalker wasn't enjoying their "flight" as she bounced from roof to roof. The basketball court was up ahead and they slowed their approach.
The sight down below would be intimidating. There were between thirty and forty people down below. Shadow Stalker was already heading down the fire escape by using her Breaker state. Imp was long gone. Emma looked at the focal point of the gathering. The toughest guys were in the center. She took a few steps back from the edge before running forward at top speed and throwing herself off the roof. Her momentum carried her in a high arc that ended with her landing in the midst of the gathered punks.
"What the fuck!?" "Is that a cape!?" "Shit!" "Cape!" The jumbled cries were panicked. One shouted at her, "What are you doin' here!?" Emma grinned ferally.
"We're taking back the night."