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

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  “Yeah, it’s a little hot, but it has so much flavor, I’m loving it. I don’t even think I need the rice, to be honest.” Theo picks up the stone bowl and drinks the rest of his curry, burping loudly afterward. “That was delicious!”

  “Strange, this is the hottest Phall I’ve ever tasted, what exactly did you ask Sana for?”

  “I just asked for her favorite curry, she seemed shocked that I spoke even a little bit of Urdu.”

  “This must have been her lunch, there’s no way they can give this to any student who asks for curry, some kid could hurt themselves on this.”

  “What do you mean, ‘Hurt themselves’? I know this is hot, but it’s not dangerous.”

  “Watch this.” Dante grabs a couple of drops of the Phall on his spoon and lets them drip onto the pile of napkins in the middle of the table. For a second they just sit there, then they start to sizzle and eat through the napkins all the way down to the metal grate of the table.

  “Oh,” is all Theo can think to say. “I didn’t know.”

  “It’s all good, this stuff is tough to make a lot of, so this is probably all Sana has. I’ll have to let the head chef know. She can’t be giving this stuff out willy nilly.”

  Theo sits quietly while finishing off Dante’s pizza, a deal's a deal after all. Dante eventually finishes the Phall, though both Theo and Kat notice his eyes going a familiar red color from last night when he drinks the last of the bowl like Theo did a few minutes ago.

  Dex, Mab, and Maka watch this exchange in unabashed amusement, followed by horror after seeing the curry eat through the napkins.

  The class bell goes off, signaling the start of afternoon classes. The others say goodbye and head off to class, leaving Theo, Kat, and Dante at the table alone.

  “You guys ready for the start of the rest of our lives?” Dante asks; he’s obviously amped up about the coming independent study.

  “I guess,” Theo answers, confused about Dante’s behavior.

  “Ditto,” Kat says curtly.

  “You’re in for a treat, I promise.” Dante smiles, but Theo and Kat can’t get over the fact that his eyes are faintly glowing again.

  The trio splits up, each heading to their individual rooms to put their bags away. It might seem odd, but Independent Study has a “no phone and no bag" rule, probably because of the advanced tech that has come out of this program in the past. No one wants to be accused of stealing something like that.

  Theo and Dante are waiting together by the entrance to the Tenzi Wing, where all of the independent studies are held. Dante is as excited as Theo has ever seen him, practically vibrating.

  ‘What's up with Dante?’ he sends to Kat. ‘It's just another class, but we get to go at our own pace.’

  Kat bursts out laughing. 'Oh, well, that explains why you're not as excited as him. "Independent Study" is code for power training. I've been in it for years.’

  Theo groans audibly. 'Why didn't anyone tell me?'

  'Brigid was going to talk to you about it before you went to the lounge with Jolly. When he took over as your handler it became his job to let you know.'

  'I'm going to have to give him shit for that, I wish I could have prepared or something.' Theo's head drops.

  Dante pokes Theo in the chest gently. "You two haven't been a couple enough to develop a non-verbal language yet, what's with the silent convo?"

  Kat squeaks, and replies quickly, "What do you mean? We're just standing here with you, waiting for class, which we should really get going to."

  Theo just nods wordlessly, not wanting to aggravate his best friend.

  She drags Theo into the Tenzi Wing and directs them past the normal classrooms full of students working on normal projects, toward a section of the wall that's blank except for a mural of Professor Tenzi. Dante follows, his previously excited face falling as he watches Theo and Kat from behind.

  "What are you doing?" Dante asks, obviously annoyed, "the classrooms are over there." He points over to the classrooms that she dragged Theo past. "Also, you didn't answer my question, what's with the non-verbal conversation thing?"

  Kat reaches up toward the mural and her earrings glow. "Welcome back, Kat," a voice comes from behind the mural before it opens up, revealing a long modern-looking tunnel.

  "I'll let the instructors explain, frankly, even I don't know too much about this place and I've been coming since I was little." Kat strides into the tunnel with purpose.

  "Well, she's your girlfriend. After you." Dante waves to indicate that Theo should go next.

  "How generous of you." Theo steps up to the mural and feels himself being scanned. It feels just like the FSA scanners.

  "Welcome, Teddy," comes the voice from the tunnel.

  Dammit, Mom…

  "Theo, please," he says exasperatedly before stepping into the tunnel and lengthening his stride to catch up with Kat.

  "Noted. Welcome, Theo."

  Dante steps up to the tunnel entrance.

  "Welcome, Dante."

  Dante rushes to catch up with his friends.

  The metal and marble tunnel extends out farther than should be possible within the constraints of the RSCA campus.

  “This feels like RSCU, the marble matches perfectly,” Theo says as he walks along.

  Kat looks at him strangely. “It’s not called the Tenzi wing for nothing; she designed this area.”

  'I can't feel my connection to the Earth, where are we?' Theo asks Kat, he feels a bit naked without the comforting feeling of the Earth beneath him.

  Kat leads Theo and Dante down the tunnel toward a purple metal doorway crackling with energy.

  "All questions can wait for your instructors, I'll see you both after training." Kat steps through the purple doorway and disappears. Theo and Dante both gasp.

  "That was a bit brusque… Well, she wouldn't lead us to our deaths right?" Theo says, worry evident in his voice.

  Dante pushes up next to Theo. "Agreed… She's never given me any reason to doubt her. You?"

  "Nope."

  "Let's do this then," Theo and Dante say in unison. They step through the doorway side by side, just like they’ve spent their whole lives, half a step apart.

  Each of them feels like they’re falling as the world grows dark. Theo and Dante yell out in terror, Kat just laughs at their reaction.

  Chapter 31: Independent Study, RSCA Style

  Kat opens her eyes and finds herself in a white room with a raised metal platform beneath her feet. A metal guardrail is surrounding her platform and there is a metal door in the wall opposite her.

  The FSA basement, I wish they would let me go somewhere more exciting for training some time... I better perk up though, Brigid said there was a new trainer coming in today.

  Kat touches a button under the lip of the guard rail, which lowers down into the floor over the next 10 or so seconds. Kat steps from the platform, dropping two feet down toward the tile floor, and grabs her training uniform from the drawer built into the platform. The uniform is black with a few lines of silver, red, and blue. She shrugs off her school uniform, folds it, and puts it into the drawer. The drawer locks with her fingerprint.

  Kat stands in the privacy of the teleportation chamber in her sheer black sports bra and black cheekster panties. She stretches a bit before pulling on the full bodysuit and mask.

  I hate the training outfits they decided on for interrogations, I feel like a criminal in this thing.

  Despite her not liking the outfit, it did hide her identity admirably, it even had an extra inch of sole thickness to shift the prisoner’s impression of her height.

  After getting ready and starting to feel a bit more comfortable in her training outfit, Kat walks over to the door and slams her fist against it twice. The sound of mag-locks releasing is audible. Kat opens the door to find a surprise on the other side of the door, her handler Brigid is there, but she isn’t alone like usual.

  Magenta stands behind Brigid, looking disinterested. When Kat
steps out of the room she snorts. Brigid shoots a glare back at Magenta before addressing Kat. “Trainee, I will not be directly supervising you today, you’ll be on your own for the interrogation. Do you understand what that means?” She looks at Kat, her eyes darting back toward Magenta.

  “I understand, Ma’am,” Kat replies, starting to sweat under her black bodysuit, she feels the suit trigger a cooling sensation at that,

  That’s pretty neat, despite the circumstances.

  Kat can’t help but look toward Magenta, who looks like she couldn’t think of anywhere else that would be worse to spend an afternoon in. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Magenta, I’m a big fan of yours,” she holds out her hand to shake.

  Magenta looks at Kat’s hand like it was a foreign object and does not return the offer of a handshake. “Let's get this over with, I promised to watch you work, not babysit you in the hallway. The prisoner is down the hall in Room C.” Magenta walks down the hall toward C2 which is the viewing room for Interrogation Room C.

  Kat stares at Magenta, who is already walking away. She turns to ask Brigid a question, only to see her waving her down, she continues doing that until Magenta enters C2, then she speaks up. “I’m sorry for Magenta, she’s so busy and I begged her to come down here for you. I called in quite a few favors to make this happen. I wish she was being nicer, but you can’t change someone that much!”

  Kat stares at Brigid openmouthed, “You’re telling me that this is how she usually is? A cold, uncaring, bitch?” Kat shakes her head like she’s trying to erase that knowledge from her memory.

  “In order of your questions/statements, yes this is normal for her. She is cold, uncaring, and can be a right bitch if she’s bored. The problem is that nothing seems to interest her anymore. She’s been like this since her wife died. That’s neither here nor there though, she’s going to watch you work and give you pointers afterward, so do your best!” Brigid gives Kat a big hug before ushering Kat over to interrogation room C.

  Kat smiles at Brigid, who returns the smile before following Magenta into C2. Kat grabs the tablet from the holder next to the door. She unlocks it with an iris scan, immediately she is surprised at the subject staring back at her from a mugshot, Spitfire. She pages through the available information.

  I guess I’ll have a bit of an edge on this, Slapshot is just mentioned as a known accomplice, no significant other to be seen.

  Kat braces herself physically and psyches herself mentally up before opening the door. You can do this!

  ___

  Why did that hurt so much? Dante opens his eyes and rubs his head, he’s lying flat on his back. He sits up and takes in the scene around him. He’s in the FSA training facility based on all of the FSA logos on everything, it looks to be the officer’s training room his dad had mentioned so many times. Weights, mirrors, huge treadmills, and every other form of exercise equipment can be found here.

  A note is on the bench nearby, Dante stands up, shaking himself off as he does so. He sighs when he sees the handwriting on the note.

  Son,

  Go to the locker room across the way and change into the provided suit, come back in here before 1:30 to begin your real training.

  Dad

  Dante groans and tosses the note in the nearest garbage.

  Great, another training session with dad, though it does sound promising that he mentioned “Real Training.” Maybe I’ll get to actually blast something with my flames for once, I’m getting tired of making fireballs only to let them dissipate over time.

  Dante rushes into the locker room, grabs the black full bodysuit, dumps his clothes in the provided basket, and slips into the bodysuit. The suit is actually surprisingly comfortable. He tries a small normal flame and runs it over the arm of the bodysuit discovering that the suit is at least very resistant to fire.

  Dante exits the shower room to find all of the equipment gone, just the bench where the note was found is still there. Paul Anton, AKA Hellion, AKA Dante’s dad is sitting on the bench waiting for Dante to come back out. He stands up when he sees Dante all suited up.

  “Ready to enter the big leagues sport?” Hellion asks Dante with a large grin on his face. “I’ve got a pretty intense training session planned for today, I know you wanted to stretch your powers, that’s why you went out last night. We can’t have that anymore, but if you get better control, I’ll consider letting you patrol with me sometime.”

  Dante is standing in stunned silence, unsure of how to respond to his dad’s offer. He wants to be a Cape more than anything, but he doesn’t think that he has anything to learn from the old-timer in front of him. Finally, he collects himself enough to respond, “Training sounds good, what do you have planned?”

  Hellion’s grin grows, “This time, I’m going to have you attack me with everything you have, fire, darkness, or super strength, I can take anything you can dish out.” He settles into a boxer's ready stance.

  I’ll show you what you can and can’t handle!

  Dante looks at his dad with a cocky expression, “You’re going to regret that Old Man.” He immediately starts working on a refined black flame to throw at his dad, working his hands back and forth furiously…

  ___

  Why is the sun so low on the horizon? Theo asks himself as he surveys his surroundings, he’s in a small white room with high windows and a bench opposite the door. The bench has a note sitting on it.

  Theo,

  Get dressed in your Suit and come out, I’ve got a situation for you to handle.

  Jolly

  Theo wills his Suit to appear, revealing the golden scales that take Theo from being “Just Theo, TM” to “Jinlong, The Golden Dragon”. He marvels about how good he feels in his scales as he moves.

  I might just be getting used to them, but I feel better today!

  Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jin opens the door to a slightly cooler temperature than he was expecting. He exits the pod and finds himself in a circle of palm trees, underbrush blocking his view of the rest of his environment.

  Jolly is sitting up on top of the palm tree opposite his “Pod,” as he would come to refer to it. “Welcome to Maui!” he jokes as he hops down the tree like a silverback in a hurry. “Still sticking with the classic look? I can respect it, I stuck with it for a few years myself,” he waves his hands and a silver Suit like Jin’s gold one appears around Jolly’s frame, replacing his patterned underclothes. His leather duster flutters.

  “What do you mean ‘Sticking with the classic look’? I don’t get a choice, this is what appears when I go into a fight,” Jin shakes his head, “Not that I wouldn’t like to change this up, but I don’t know how.”

  Jolly waves his hands and his silver Suit disappears, leaving his leather duster fluttering again and his usual stylized silver suit underneath. “I only made a few changes to mine, mostly just changing the style, the plain silver wasn’t my cup of tea.” Jolly opens his duster revealing the patterns on his silver suit, a hexagonal grid instead of the scale pattern that Jin’s suit has.

  I’m going to need to work on something, maybe I’ll ask Arianna to help design the update?

  “Hold on a second, did you say Maui? I was just in Riverside City...how did I get here so fast? I’m guessing it has to do with that big white box I came out of?” Jin deduces quickly.

  Jolly grins, “Got it in one, that’s a teleportation pod, it acts as a target for anyone trying to teleport that knows it exists. The door you went through in the tunnel at RSCA is a large scale teleporter, it can take you to any of the pods like that one around the world, if you have the password that is.”

  “What’s the password for this one?” Jin asks innocently.

  “I’m not falling for that one, at least not this time, I’ll tell you the password after you handle this breakout. You see, there’s a Super containment facility built into the side of Haleakalā, the East Maui volcano. The natural energy flowing through there helps keep most of the Super’s powers
in check, they’re not in touch with the Earth like us so they can’t enjoy the benefits of the power flowing from the flaming mountain.”

  “So I’m here to take down some Cowls/Hoods and put them back into the containment facility?”

  “Yup, that’s the long and short of it, I’m just here to help if you can’t handle it,” Jolly laughs.

  If they knew what I do, they would be sending him in to save my ass, not the other way around.

  “Oh, and just FYI, the breakout was orchestrated by someone named ‘Crimson’, she sent in her enforcer, Titan. I know, not very original, but he came in with Krakatoa and busted the wall of the general population section of the facility, mostly small-timers are held there, should be a simple clean up op.”

  “Where do I start?”

  Jolly just points the way he was looking when Jin exited the pod. “Over there, it looks like the prisoners are rejecting the injections that Titan is offering. He’s a juicer.”

  Jin cocks his head. “Juicer?”

  “Juicers are normal people who use a version of a super serum that gives them powers, usually temporarily. There are those who end up with permanent effects from the treatment, but they’re very rare. Sometimes Supers with weaker powers try it as well, but it rarely goes well for them,” Jolly explains succinctly.

  “Powersets?” Jin inquires.

  “Titan is super strong and can fly. Krakatoa has heat and lava control, he can also produce lava from his hands if given the chance. It takes a while though.”

  “Let's get to it then,” Jin cracks his knuckles and then jumps up to the spot Jolly was sitting when he left the pod. He looks down and sees pure chaos in the jungle clearing below.

  ___

  Kat opens the steel door to find a bog-standard interrogation room. The only thing remarkable about the room is the brunette with the power dampening cuffs on. She sits in a metal chair and rests her elbows on the metal table.

  “New blood I see, here to interrogate the big scary Cowl. Please, I’ve dealt with mean girls all my life, you’ve got nothing on them,” Spitfire spits as Kat takes the seat opposite her.