Cloudy Skies 11.l
Saturday, July 9
Lacey walked into the kitchen to let the bags of groceries slide off her arms. That done, she stumbled over to the couch and flopped down with a sigh. Living on the top floor of an apartment building sucked, and having to go shopping after a late shift only then to carry everything up the stairs because the elevator was busted – again! – made it all that much worse.
"Bad shift?"
She looked up to find a pair of amber eyes glimmering from a dark corner of the room, the eyes coming closer until Samantha was in view. The woman was no longer in her typical charcoal pant suit and instead had changed into pajamas and a faded T-shirt that Lacey distinctly remembered being one of Annette's favorites back when she was alive. It was a good thing the two were about the same size, as it probably saved Danny and Taylor a nice chunk of change so they didn't have to buy too many new clothes for her.
"Not bad, exactly," she sighed, pulling a pillow over her eyes and forehead. "Long. Boring. You know, same shit different day."
"I can understand that." A small weight landed on her stomach, and she looked down to find a raccoon staring back at her. «
I have an idea on how to make you feel better. Come on. We're heading out on the town.»
"I wasn't a club girl when I was in college, and definitely not now that I'm working and married."
«
I wasn't talking about clubbing,» Samantha replied with exasperation audible in her thoughts. «
We're heading out so you can take your powers for a spin.»
She let the pillow fall from her face. "I'm not interested in looking for a fight. That was part of my deal with Taylor."
«
Who said we had to get in a fight? I meant using magic just for the sake of magic. Do you know what Taylor's favorite spell is?» Lacey shook her head. «
Flight. Not because it's a fast way to get to a crime scene, but just because she loves to fly. Give magic a chance, and you might find something you find equally enjoyable.»
Searching the raccoon's face for any signs of a lie was pointless, but she did it anyway before dropping her head back on the arm of the couch. "Okay, okay. I'll give it a try."
«
That's the spirit! Let me change real quick, and we'll get out of here.»
Samantha jumped over the back of the couch, and Lacey listened to her scamper up the stairs. It wasn't as if she did not know what her spells were; she had gone through what was already loaded onto her Boost Device. Her issue was more that none of the three looked like they were much in the way of
fun.
A couple of minutes later, it was human footsteps that came down the stairs, and she sat up to find Samantha still in the t-shirt but now paired with shorts and a pair of sneakers. What was strange was that she had something else in her hands. "Figured I might as well give this to you now," Samantha said. "It's a drone Tim cooked up for you. He wanted to make sure you had protection if you ever went out in your Barrier Jacket by yourself, so he said he was going to build you a guardian angel."
The other woman held out the drone so Lacey could better see it. It looked like a star off a Christmas tree almost, all gleaming white metal with golden trimming, but the arms of the star were swept backwards away from the glass lens in the middle of the body. "What does it do?"
"Apparently it can project a shield to protect you, and it also has a laser to push back anyone who gets too close. I, uh, don't know for sure how
strong it'll push people back, but Tim made it sound like it wouldn't be a light nudge," added Samantha with a shrug. "You don't have to worry about plugging it in, either. Dragon adapted some solar panels so it can recharge itself."
"That would be more impressive if I knew how to use it," she could not help but say.
Samantha fiddled with something in the back between the arms, and a few flecks of light moved up and down the gold of the arms while the disc in the middle flashed on and off. "There you go. Now you just need to pair it with your Device, and it's all set."
"Signal acquired," whispered what sounded like a trio of voices at once, and Lacey looked down at the ring she now wore on her right hand. The chip of pale amethyst on the band flashed in time with the words.
"Drone controls downloaded. Ready to serve."
"Thanks, Ascii," she muttered sarcastically. Even her Device was conspiring against her now, it seemed.
"Gratitude accepted."
Samantha covered her mouth, but not before the first hints of a chuckle could escape. "Let's just go," she said after a moment to regain her composure and set the drone on the table.
The Guardian Beast's teleportation deposited them on a flat rooftop, and Lacey looked around to discover that there was nothing she recognized in terms of landmarks. "Where are we?"
"A part of town I scouted out earlier today. I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now," Samantha admitted. The other woman was reaching down to touch her toes and turning her torso back and forth, almost as if she was limbering up before a run. "Ready for this?"
"Might as well be." It was not as if she could get herself home, she realized. She had no idea where she was, and Samantha was the only one of the two of them who could teleport.
"Then let's go." Samantha took a couple of steps backwards, then she sprinted toward the edge of the building and jumped. There was a sixteen-foot gap or so between the building Lacey was on and the next, but the Guardian Beast landed several feet further than the edge and had to take another two or three steps to slow back down. "Well?" she called back. "What are you waiting for!"
"I can't make that jump!" Lacey slowly walked over to the edge and looked down. That wasn't even an alley; it was wide enough for two cars!
"Sure you can!" She looked up to find Samantha bouncing lightly in place. "People make jumps longer than this in the Olympics all the time, and they're regular humans. You aren't anymore. Templates come with physical enhancements. Tim got strength. You have
speed, and that's all you need to make jumps like this."
Lacey gave her a doubtful look, but Samantha just whistled in the night. She would not be of any help. Another look down at the gap, and she walked away to the far end of the building. If she fell to her death her, she was going to haunt Samantha until the end of time. Bending down, she braced her foot against the lip of the roof like she had seen runners do and took several deep breaths. A push, and she was off.
She knew as soon as she jumped that she wasn't going to make it.
A hand reached out when she made it to the other building, and she grabbed on an instant before her stomach hit the edge of the roof. "You need to watch where you put your feet," Samantha warned her as she pulled Lacey up. "Until you get more comfortable making jumps like this, you want to push off from the edge of the roof right before you jump. Better to give yourself some wiggle room when you land, you know?"
"I'll keep it in mind for next time," she panted, trying to catch her breath after it had been shoved out of her by her rough landing. "Let's head back now."
Samantha gave her an unimpressed look. It was worth a shot. The woman waited until she was standing upright again before poking her in the shoulder. "You're it."
"I'm what—?"
The Guardian Beast was already running away and jumping to another building.
"You sneaky, dirty animal," Lacey grunted. Nothing to do for it now, she supposed, except chase the other woman down.
Samantha lead her on a merry chase from rooftop to rooftop. A few times she started getting close, but Samantha always looked backwards with that damnable grin and poured on a little extra speed just long enough to regain a safe lead. The more that happened, the more complicated the path became, with her having to jump over air conditioning units and roll under duct work. It was not until she grabbed onto an overhead pipe to swing across a gap that she realized she was actually laughing. When was the last time she had let herself have fun like this, she asked herself. She had gotten so comfortable in her rut of daily drudgery that she had not even noticed.
"Told you you'd enjoy it!" cheered a voice from up ahead.
Unfortunately, her stamina was more or less on its last legs. She came to a stop in the middle of an empty roof and leaned over to catch her breath in great pants. She was a cashier at a department store; she wasn't nearly in as good of shape as Samantha, who went out and got into fights all day. There was no way she could catch up like this, but she was sure that Samantha would not consider this game of tag over until she had been touched at least once.
«
Suggestion, madam,» her Device said in her head. «
Running not option. Hide.»
"Do you think that would work? I thought I couldn't use spells without transforming."
«
Transformation not essential. Can not be in standby form.» The ring on her hand flashed, and a bracelet of purple beads replaced it. It was a chorus of voices that spoke now. «
Full capabilities ready. Desire Cover activation?»
"Sure. It's the only chance we have of touching her."
From her perspective, it looked like a web of brightly violet strings spreading over her clothing, but she knew after showing it to Kurt and watching herself in the mirror that to anyone else she was fading into total transparency. Asclepius – Taylor had suggest the name for her Device, though she still was not sure what it meant – had assured her at one point that she was invisible to cameras as well as eyesight, but that was all it was. She was still there, so it was not as if bullets would go through her the way they would if she were smoke or something, and she could still be heard if she talked.
Still, invisibility was nothing to sneeze at.
Lacey did her best to keep her breathing as quiet as possible and waited. A minute passed, and Samantha came back into sight. "Lacey!" the Guardian Beast called out, looking for all the world like someone looking for their lost pet. "Lacey! Where are you?!"
The other woman was walking her way now, but she would not come by close enough for Lacey to reach out and touch her. Carefully she turned to her right so she was still facing Samantha.
Even for all her caution, her feet scraped a little on the rooftop.
Samantha stopped in her tracks and turned her way. The look of confusion was obvious on her face, and she tilted her head back and took two sniffs of the air.
The game was up. Lacey sprinted towards the Guardian Beast, uncaring of the noise, and slapped the back of an outstretched hand. The contact was enough to break her invisibility, or perhaps Asclepius decided it was best Samantha realize it was not an actually attack, but either way she gave Samantha a cheeky smile. "Now
you're it."
The woman just laughed, and it must have been infectious because Lacey could not help but join in.
"You look worn out," Samantha said once they had their giggle fit under control. "Let's head back so you can…" She trailed off, and one ear flicked to the side. "Huh."
"What is it?" asked Lacey.
"I don't know."
'It' turned out to be a fight that was happening a few alleys away. Four men carrying knives and pipes made up one side. The other was a single individual in a faintly reflective scarlet bodysuit and a metal helmet. What kicked everything off was not absolutely clear, but the black woman curled up in a ball and pressed up against one of the walls of the alley narrowed down the options significantly.
Lacey looked to the side to find Samantha watching her. "We don't have to get involved. This guy looks like he has is under control." A clang from below made them look down to find that the cape had been shoved against a nearby dumpster and was doing his best to block the punches one of the other men was throwing. "Well. Mostly."
Her hands clenched. She didn't
want to get into fights like this! It was the entire reason she had accepted her Device and then done nothing with it other than a few Internet searches on her break. But if she walked away from something right in front of her… wasn't that the same thing as saying she was okay with this happening?
"I'm not a fighter," she whispered.
"Madam," replied her Device,
"Infinite Enhancement not designated for combat. Spells harass, heal, escape, empower allies."
She did not have anything to do the first two, but the last? She grimaced as she took a few steps away from the edge. Samantha moved as though to follow, but she held up a hand. "If I'm going to do this, I suppose I should do it right. Ascii? Suit me up."
Light flashed once, and she found herself in the weird robe and pants combination that made up her Barrier Jacket. She had honestly expected to find herself in a void being stripped and dressed one article of clothing at a time again, but this was much better. Maybe that prolonged process was just an initial set up step or something.
Walking back to the edge, she reached out with both hands, palms toward the presumed hero. She knew she looked stupid, but she was not sure how else to do this. "Strike Boost."
A triangular diagram just like Taylor's appeared beneath her feet and started rotating. The man exchanging punches with the hero suddenly flew several feet away to land flat on his back, knocked out cold. The hero, in turn, looked down at the glow that surrounded his hands and feet in understandable surprise.
"I'll be right back," Samantha assured her before jumping off the roof. Both her feet slammed into the back of one of the men who had been walking back towards their victim. When he face-planted into the street, Samantha jumped and spun to smash the heel of her foot into the face of another man. The unknown hero took advantage of the distraction to run at the last man and throw a leaping kick into his chest.
Silence filled the alleyway once all the bodies had stopped falling, broken only by the hoarse choking sobs from the woman on the ground.
"Thanks for the assist," the hero said, throwing Samantha a sloppy salute. "I didn't expect to run into this many guys at once."
"Not a problem. I'm Samantha," she told him as she stepped on the head of the guy she was still standing on top of to offer a handshake.
"Call me Jujak."
"What the hell is a jujak?" Lacey asked out loud.
"Jujak. Mythological entity in Korean folklore. Also called Vermillion Bird, protective spirit described in multiple mythologies of that region."
Vermillion Bird? It would explain his red outfit, she supposed. Asclepius's voice caught Jujak's attention, and he looked up to see her peering down at him. She waved at him for lack of anything better to do, and he returned the gesture.
"I didn't realize you guys patrolled this area," Jujak said, looking back to Samantha.
"We don't normally. We were actually just out on a run when we heard a commotion and came to check it out."
"If you ever want to 'go on a run' in this area again, you're more than welcome. Especially if you're going to save my bacon again like you just did," he said with a faint laugh.
Jujak volunteered to take the responsibility of getting the men's victims to the police, and Samantha flew back up to meet her. "I know you didn't want to get involved in a fight like this," she told Lacey, "but you did well."
"I didn't do much. One spell, that's it."
Samantha shook her head. "One spell that swung things back to the good guys' side. That's more than not much."
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," she admitted to Samantha as well as herself. "It isn't something I want to spend all my time doing, but I am glad I could help out a little."
"A little is fine. Remember the wise words of Edmund Burke:
'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing'. As long as we do
something to help our fellow man, that's what matters."
"Guardian Angel drone" added to Key Items.
That is Lacey's interlude. You have two things to vote for, first up being
If you're curious about why Guardian Beast suddenly showed up, it's because Aerial Combat is limited to mages of B-rank and above (which she isn't yet), but that doesn't keep her from creating a Guardian Beast. The compromise is this: you can buy the GB ritual before Aerial Combat, but you cannot progress further down that skill branch until both spells are learned.
The other vote is for what she will do this week. She only gets one activity because she still has a full-time job she has to work. Also, check up on THE RULES about additional characters and the whole penalty on activities thing.
- Go on patrol, by herself or with somebody else
- Introduce herself to the Protectorate as an independent
- Cape name
- What spell she says is her main power
- Explore her powers in the real world (non-combat)
- Train in a simulation
- Avoid cape-stuff and just work like normal
- Write-in (subject to my approval)
Take 24 HOURS to discuss the matter. It probably won't take that long, but whatever.
