Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls]

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  ‘Well…’ Theo sends Kat an image of the board that Richter had filled out with all of his powers during training.

  “UNFAIR!” Kat explodes. ‘Sorry, I mean, I had to figure out my powers mostly on my own, though I guess Femme-Fatale did help a bit at the beginning. It looks like I can tell you now, I don’t sleep, like at all, unless I want to. The last time I did was on that bus trip back from the nut farm in Freshman year, I went to sleep on your shoulder,’ she blushes.

  ‘What should we do tonight? I don’t need to sleep until Friday,’ Theo smiles and leans over toward Kat, who is staring straight ahead. “Hey, Kat?” Theo says.

  “Yeah?” Kat replies, turning toward Theo.

  “I’ve wanted to do this since I was eight.” Theo pulls Kat in and kisses her on the lips.

  It was not a sibling kiss. It was an “I want to be more than friends” kind of kiss. Kat starts to pull away for a moment before melting into the kiss. Eventually, they break the kiss off, leaving them both out of breath.

  “So much for super endurance; that took it all out of me,” Theo jokes shyly. They start walking again, and he reaches out his hand for Kat to take hold of.

  “What took you so long?” Kat asks seriously and takes his hand. “I’ve been in love with you since we were nine. I thought you saw me as a sister and not as a girl, that’s why I started dating in middle school.”

  Theo stops walking and stares at Kat, she really was perfect, his picture of a perfect woman. Strong, kind, smart, and above all else… Kat. “I’m the biggest dumbass in history. I’m not even going to ask how many hints I missed.”

  “Good idea, it would take all night, and most of the morning.” Kat smiles and laughs. She tightens her grip on Theo’s hand like he might float away.

  “It’s not like we don’t have that kind of time, but I’m pretty sure I can think of something more fun to do than you pointing out how oblivious I’ve been since we were kids,” Theo says, reciprocating the tighter grip on Kat’s hand.

  “Nothing that would get Iris mad right?” Kat looks at Theo suspiciously.

  “Nope, nothing like that,” Theo replies lightly. “Wait for a second, get your mind out of the gutter. I’ve been waiting seven years to kiss you, I want to let things happen naturally. I was talking about watching old Cape movies, bonus points if they wear actual capes as part of their costume, or actually have a Cape in them.”

  “That sounds perfect.” Kat reaches up and kisses Theo on the cheek.

  Later that night, Theo and Kat are curled up on the couch under a big RSCU blanket, in the basement rec room of RAINBOW. They’re spending the night holding hands and laughing at the black and white movies playing on the TV on the wall opposite them. Currently the TV has an image of a much younger Gentle-Man fighting alongside Stromboli against an army of broccoli monsters.

  Theo wipes the tears from his eyes. “I haven’t laughed this hard in ages, I can’t believe that Gentle-Man and Stromboli agreed to do a movie where they were fighting broccoli monsters!” He grabs a handful of popcorn from the huge bowl in front of him and Kat. He tosses a piece in the air and catches it in his mouth.

  “The word around the Super scene is that Stromboli promised to cater GM’s wedding for free if he agreed to do the movie. The studio was going to scrap the movie entirely if GM was out. You know how good the food is at Stromboli’s, their pizza is on another level,” Kat rattles off, she had been expecting this question.

  “Their pasta, yes, it would be worth it for a wedding’s worth of that, but the Pizza? No thanks.” Theo holds up his hand with the fingers held about two inches apart, “Pizza should be at least this thick. Chicago is the only place that does it any justice.”

  “That old argument, Iris should never have taken you to Chicago for your fifth birthday, it wrecked your taste in pizza. You should know that St. Louis style is where it’s at, where’s your hometown pride?” Kat admonishes Theo playfully, pushing him in the shoulder gently. She grabs a handful of popcorn and starts eating it.

  Theo’s face gets serious for a second and Kat looks nervous before his face busts out into a grin. “I show my hometown pride by defending it from Cowls. Chicago makes better pizza, we have better Capes.”

  “In order, I agree about the Cowls, you’re wrong about the pizza, and I 100% agree that we have better Capes,” Kat gives Theo a peck on the cheek.

  Iris’ voice comes from behind the couch, “Well, that explains the giggling I heard all the way from my office. Theodore, Katrina, anything you’d like to tell me?”

  Theo jumps up off of the couch. “We weren’t doing anything!” The popcorn scatters all over the floor when the blanket catches on the edge of it. “Crap! I’ll get the broom.”

  When Theo goes to start moving around the couch Iris holds up her hand. “Wait right there mister, what was going on here?” Her voice is more cheerful than angry and when Theo and Kat look at her, she’s smiling.

  Kat gets up from the couch, being careful to not crush any popcorn under her feet, “It turns out that neither of us needs much sleep, so we decided to watch a Cape movie marathon. Do you want to watch it with us? I remember you only need an hour or so each night of sleep.” Kat picks up the empty popcorn bowl and starts loading it back up with her psychokinesis, handfuls at a time.

  Iris frowns, “That’s not what I meant Katrina and you know it. You know that I’m fair if you’re honest with me. Now, I’ll give you one more chance to tell me what’s going on, you have 30 seconds,” she crosses her arms.

  ‘Tell her,’ Theo sends Kat, ‘We can’t keep this a secret for long, this place is too small and we know everyone too well.’

  Kat holds Theo’s hand, “We’re dating.” Theo nods alongside Kat.

  “Thank you, I appreciate your honesty,” Iris responds, a smile on her face. She whispers conspiratorially, “Did you know that one of my lights makes a zone of truth?”

  Theo and Kat share a look and shake their heads.

  “Good, if my own kids don’t know, then hopefully no one else does either. I’m glad you didn’t make me use it on you, I’d hate to do that, I’ve been told it is distinctly unpleasant.” Iris walks around and then waves her hand at the couch, “Sit.”

  Theo sits down on the couch, dragging Kat down with him. At this point, Kat has finished picking up the popcorn with her powers, she uses her powers to move the bowl over to the garbage in the corner and dumps it out. She sets the bowl back on the table in front of her and Theo.

  “Thanks, Kitty, I appreciate you picking up after Teddy here,” Iris looks at both Theo and Kat with such love and adoration in her eyes that they can’t miss it, tears streak through her makeup.

  “What’s wrong Mom?” Theo asks, “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you immediately, but we were just getting used to the idea ourselves, we only realized that we liked each other after…what happened tonight,” he starts explaining and then cuts himself off, Kat squeezes his hand.

  “Nothing’s wrong sweetheart, I’m just so glad you two finally figured it out. I’ve been raising you for your whole life Teddy, and I’ve never seen you look at anyone like you do Kitty here,” her dulcet tone cutting straight to Theo’s heart like a surgeon’s scalpel. Theo wipes away the tears in his eyes with his free hand.

  “Kitty, this has been your home since you were three years old, your mother had just died in the crossfire between Femme-Fatale and Twitch. I remember how you came in crying for her, it broke my heart then and it still does. Did you know that no matter what I did I couldn’t get you to stop crying, toys, holding you, sweets? None of those worked. I bet you don’t remember what it was that eventually did it,” Iris wipes her eyes free of tears.

  Kat looks at Iris in confusion, “I don’t remember, what was it?” She crushes Theo’s hand in hers, or she would have if he didn’t have super strength.

  “Sweety, you’re doing the same thing right now. Holding Teddy’s hand has always calmed you down, even when you don’t think about it,
you always reach out for him when you’re in pain or worried about something. Not just that, you look for him when you’re excited too! That’s rare...” Iris bursts into tears, “Oh Brandon, why did you have to leave?” She whimpers.

  Theo reaches out and pulls Iris between him and Kat for a group hug, without letting go of Kat’s hand. Kat cries, holding back her head and sobbing into the air, she isn’t used to being emotional like this. Theo hugs both of them tightly, “I’ll always be there for both of you,” he promises, his eyes full of unshed tears as he clings to the two people he loves most in the world.

  I’d die for either of them. No questions asked.

  Theo and Kat eventually settle back onto the couch, this time with Iris between them. They spend the rest of the night, from 10:30 until around 5:00 a.m., watching bad Cape movies. Together they reach a consensus, “Capes vs Broccoli Men” is the worst Cape movie of all time, followed closely by “Revenge of the Casino Boat part 6: Hoodwinked Again”.

  Chapter 24: Aftermath

  Eventually, Theo and Kat separate and head to their own rooms, a little after 5 a.m. Kat heads up to the second floor, which is the girls’ floor at RAINBOW. A sign with bold lettering stating: “NO BOYS ALLOWED” is on the wall of the landing heading upstairs.

  Kat’s door is painted black with chalkboard paint, on it is “Kat” written in flowing cursive pink letters. When she opens her room the first thing you see is the heavy punching bag set up on a large tripod in the middle of the floor, it dominates the room. Kat looks at it and chuckles.

  I guess I don’t need to work out today.

  She settles down on the futon couch set up along one wall. She fusses about how the pillows are set up, making sure the large black pillows are behind the smaller red pillows, and in the middle is a large magenta pillow with “Magenta” stitched across the corner in black thread.

  Magenta, Victoria Bell, is an open-identity Cape from the Bronze Age of Capes in Riverside City, 1990-2005. She is known for her mental powers, telepathy, psychokinesis, and mind-reading, just like Kat. She is also known for her work as Director of Psychology at the Allano Medical Center in the heart of The Spires. She is a world-renowned psychologist and people come from around the world to seek out her services.

  Kat wants to be the next Magenta. She has the same powers, maybe even stronger, and the desire to become even half as great as Magenta is what makes her train so hard. She stares at that pillow, then at the poster on the opposite wall, above her bed. The poster shows Magenta in her full, namesake magenta, Suit while fighting Necro.

  Necro is a mad scientist Cowl, he likes to inject dead bodies with nano-machines, creating cyber-zombies he uses to commit his crimes. Even other Cowls hate this guy, he is the only Cowl whose peers will turn him into the authorities. Before becoming a Cowl, Necro was known as Norm Smalton, a coroner working for the Riverside City morgue.

  This information came out a few years ago when he published an autobiographical documentary on YouTube. Despite the efforts of the authorities, it remains there to this day.

  Kat spends almost an hour agonizing about her time with Theo tonight.

  I can’t believe he kissed me...I can’t believe I kissed him back! I’ve wanted to kiss him for so long, but was too afraid to make the first move. He’s my best friend, what if this wrecks that? I can’t lose him.

  What about Dante? I know he’s had a crush on me forever, how is he going to react to this?

  She clutches handfuls of her hair, curls into a ball on the couch, and yells into the Magenta pillow. She stays like that for half an hour or so before hauling herself up to her feet.

  “The only way out is through,” she mumbles under her breath as she starts searching through her closet for her school uniform.

  School is going to be interesting this year.

  After leaving Kat by the stairs around 5 a.m., Theo heads to his room in the corner of the first floor, closest to the emergency exit at the end of the hall. His wooden door has a bunch of panda stickers that the littles put all over it, he didn’t have the heart to take them down. Above the stickers is a black metal plaque with “THEO” punched out of it in Chisel Point block lettering, tying into his love of architecture and engineering.

  Theo opens his door, steps in, and closes it behind him. He looks around, taking in the full-sized bed in the corner.

  I won't need that as much anymore will I?

  He also sees his messy stack of video games. Theo is a big fan of RPG’s, especially those that let you make a Cape and save the city.

  “This room feels like it’s from another life,” Theo ponders quietly. He looks over at the bean bag couch he saved up all of his chore, birthday, and Christmas money for.

  I can still see Kat, Dante, and I sitting on it, playing Cape Clash.

  Cape Clash is a multiplayer fighting game where you pick a Cape, Cowl, or Hood and fight it out on a random cityscape.

  Come to think of it, my main character used to be Riptide. I just met his mom, The Wave, on the night I Awakened. What a small world.

  He flops down on the bean bag couch and just sits there for a moment.

  This is the happiest I’ve ever been, Kat and I are a couple! I just got powers and they're not lame ones like that one guy I met who just glowed in the dark!

  The only downside to these past couple days is what happened with Dante a few hours ago, God has it only been a few hours? It feels like a week has passed.

  Theo pulls out his phone, an older model of the Allano Tech aPhone that he got for his 15th birthday. It didn't have all of the new fancy features, but it still had face recognition. He lines the phone up in front of him and it unlocks, his wallpaper is a picture of him, Kat, and Dante standing with Diamondback at Hero-Con in Chicago last year.

  We must have waited in line for over an hour waiting to meet him.

  Diamondback is the director of the Midwest region of the FSA, but he still goes around on the street helping people. He represents Theo's image of the ideal hero; strong, but still approachable to normal people. He was a part of the team who saved the world a few years ago too, though not much is known about how he was involved.

  Theo lay there daydreaming about romantic and heroic exploits he and Kat could get into together. Going to Paris and exploring The Eiffel Tower one week and then taking down War, Leader of the Agents of War, at Diamondback's side, fighting back the Agents to expose War himself. It was a pretty great daydream. Just as he was relaxing and feeling great about his future prospects, the image of Inferno/Dante pops into his mind.

  I wonder how Dante is doing? How is Mr. Anton taking his son going off the deep end like that? If I didn't throw myself in front of Slapshot and Spitfire, he would have killed them.

  Killing a Cowl isn't what a Cape does, they capture and attempt to rehabilitate them, Hoods are the ones who kill Cowls if they go out of line.

  "Screw it, I'm calling him," Theo says quietly to himself before calling Dante, Theo knew that he usually got up at five for a morning workout anyway.

  The phone rings four times before someone picks it up on the last ring.

  "Hey Dante, how are you man?" Theo asks with a false cheery tone.

  "Ah, Theodore, I was wondering when you'd call," says a voice that sounds a bit like Dante's, but not exactly.

  "Mr. Anton?" Theo asks, raising an eyebrow.

  "The very same. I trust you and Katrina got home safely?" Mr. Anton replies.

  "We did sir," Theo says respectfully, "Where's Dante? I wanted to see how he was doing."

  "Dante is currently dealing with his personal demons, he's been sleeping since I picked him up, he hasn't so much as stirred."

  "Are you sure he's okay? Does he need medical attention or healing? I can heal him if he needs it," Theo hurriedly replies, worried about his buddy Dante, despite his time as Inferno.

  "I appreciate your concern, he should be fine before school this morning, I had a vitals scan done a few minutes ago," Mr. Anton says matter o
f factly.

  "All right, sir, if you say so," Theo meekly replies.

  "Don't forget your uniform tomorrow, Dante wouldn't stop talking about how you nor Katrina had yours on during his speech."

  "Will do sir."

  "Have a nice first day at school Theodore."

  "Have a nice day sir," Theo hangs up the phone.

  CRAP, I forgot all about getting new uniforms, I'm not a 3x anymore!

  Chapter 25: Arianna

  Theo goes and takes a shower, it’s about 5:45 when he gets in there, he’s done around 6. A small line of boys has formed outside the bathroom. Theo waves at them and then heads down the hall toward the kitchen in an undershirt and a pair of basketball shorts, clutching the hanger with his uniform draped over it.

  Theo steels himself, before deciding that he should probably head over to the breakfast table, there's only one person he knows who would be able to help him with his uniform before school, Arianna.

  Arianna is one of Theo’s younger siblings, one of the kids who grew up at RAINBOW. She’s about 4’ tall with a small braid of black hair. Her powers manifested late last year. She was always a fan of sewing, she won’t even touch clothes that she didn’t make after she made her first dress. When her powers manifested she gained four spider-esque limbs that she can control and sew with faster than a sewing machine.

  She uses the fine silk that the limbs generate as thread. Those legs come out of her back and they fold up relatively small, but she still wears a sweater most of the time to cover them up if she’s going to be going out. At home, she takes off the sweater and uses those extra legs just like a normal person would use hands or feet.

  He arrives in the kitchen to find Arianna working on what looks like a dress, it's laid out over half of the huge kitchen table. She’s wearing the dress version of the RSCA uniform, with an 8th-grade pin on it.