This is it, the day she died. I wonder why I don’t remember it? I obviously didn’t care about her even then, actually, I think I cared more about her after. I couldn’t remember how terrible she’d been to me. Pitiful.
Twitch is up on the power line a block away, ready to zip in along the powerlines. He touches the side of his head and Kat can hear a voice coming from Steel Scorpion’s helmet.
“All right, they’re two minutes out, get everything ready. We only get one shot at this,” Twitch’s voice lacks the confidence from the other day, replacing it is a voice riddled with nerves and anxiety.
“It’s been ready for five minutes already, stop worrying. I just have to toss the box in front of the van, it will do the rest. I shouldn’t even have to go down there,” she laughs, “Dracula is paying good money for his flunky back, I’m surprised…”
Dracula? Really? That Cowl needs to get a more original name.
Twitch cuts her off, “Don’t say that name, he goes by Mr. Sanguine now. He choked me out for using that name the one time I met him. I still don’t know how he even knew this would be happening today. His network is enormous, but I guess that comes with being 500 years old, you get to know some people.”
Twitch looks scared, that’s not normal for him. He’s usually got that cocky asshole vibe going on so hard that there’s no other emotions showing. Even if “Mr. Sanguine” is powerful, so is Twitch. He can fight most Capes and Cowls to at least a standstill.
“Mr. Sanguine? Isn’t that a bit on the nose for someone as old and smart as him? If I was still with Emilio I would let him know, he’s been friends with him for years. I’m surprised he’s deciding to go by a pseudonym now, everyone thinks he’s a hoax with that name, it’s the perfect cover.”
Shit, he might actually be Dracula. Why haven’t I heard about him from Brigid? She’s been going over Cowls of note at least once a week with me for the past ten years. I’ll have to ask her.
Twitch shrugs, though only Kat sees that as Steel Scorpion is looking at the oncoming convoy, “With great power comes a lot of not giving a fuck I guess. All right, it’s game time! I’ll take care of the normies.”
The convoy consists of four black SUVs that Kat recognizes as the old FSA models before everything went electric. In addition, there is an armored truck with six wheels that are sagging from the amount of armor on the vehicle. Finally, there is a sleek black Mercedes van, reinforced with silver and purple bands along the side, there’s no mistaking the Gentle-Van.
Twitch reaches down and touches the powerline, his body starts to glow an iridescent purple. After 15 seconds or so he starts to slide down the powerline, his body glowing brighter as he does so. About 20 feet or so before Steel Scorpion’s position, he jumps down to the street in front of the convoy and unleashes hell upon them.
Twitch takes a combat stance, one foot forward, the other back, and unleashes a massive chain lightning attack on the convoy. “Thunder who bitches?! I’m the greatest lightning Super the world has ever known!”
He’s comparing himself to Thunder? He really is cracked.
The chain lightning rips through the black SUVs like a hot knife through butter, the agents inside don’t even get to make a move before the vehicles start sparking and explode.
“Woooh, I love the smell of ozone in the morning!” Twitch stands triumphant in the center of the road, no longer in danger of being run over by the convoy. The SUVs are blocking the path of the armored truck and Gentle-Van, or they would be if the armored truck wasn’t accelerating toward the rear quarter of the SUV in its way.
Twitch says quietly through his earwig, “I’d appreciate it if you’d stop admiring my handiwork and do your damn job! Those other two are insulated too much for my lightning to do anything to them.”
“Got it you big whiner, package incoming.” Steel Scorpion picks the box up with her tail and throws it directly onto the hood of the speeding armored truck, it lands and sticks magnetically with the words facing the windshield.
She waits a moment. “Well, that was anticlimactic. The trigger should have gone off as it landed…” She looks over to where the box was sitting and notices a small plunger with a magnet on it sitting on the ground. “Shit!” she screams at Twitch. “This is why I needed more of the stuff, my gadgets don’t work right without it anymore!”
“I don’t give a fuck! Stop that damn thing!”
“Greedy bastard.” She vaults over the edge of the three story roof, hooks her tail on the powerline, and lands on the armored truck’s hood. “I’ll just do it myself.”
Kat follows her closely, floating down without the use of her powers.
She slams the manual override on the top of the box and the armored truck starts to fall apart, but so do all of the other vehicles within 100 yards, excluding the Gentle-Van, which now has its side door open, exposing Femme-Fatale in her black and red suit.
Within seconds, the armored truck is a batch of parts, only the box held within the back of the truck remains intact, it was obviously shielded by something.
Femme-Fatale hops out of the Gentle-Van and runs toward Steel Scorpion, electric knuckles exposed, but sputtering.
Unbeknownst to her mother, Little Katrina has floated herself up to get a better view of the fight, she clutches her unicorn stuffy. She ends up about 50 feet above the fight, just watching.
Femme-Fatale and Steel Scorpion begin exchanging blows, Femme-Fatale focuses on hitting the joints on Steel Scorpion’s tail, trying to disable it. Steel Scorpion is a whirling, cackling, maelstrom of metal.
In the space of 30 seconds, Steel scorpion has attacked Femme-Fatale at least 45 times with her arm stingers or tail. The ground around Femme-Fatale is beginning to become dangerous terrain, having been destroyed by Steel Scorpion’s tail attacks.
“Don’t try and ‘suggest me’ to do anything you hag, this helmet blocks out even my husband's powers, let alone yours. I’ll kill you myself you craggy bitch!”
Femme-Fatale changes tactics, putting herself between Steel Scorpion and the metal box. “Thanks for letting me know, I was splitting my focus trying to do that and fight you. Now I can just take you apart physically.”
She whirls toward Steel Scorpion. “Wrong convoy, wrong time. Idiot.” She strikes her so many times in a few moments that Steel Scorpion’s tail goes limp and falls off.
“That was my favorite tail! I’ll kill you traitor!” She starts shooting green beams wildly from her visor, missing Femme-Fatale completely, but narrowly missing Little Katrina and Twitch.
Femme-Fatale was a Cowl before she fell in love with Gentle-Man, how were she and my mother connected? Maybe Femme-Fatale worked with my grandmother or something before going Cape?
“Sorry sweet cheeks, you’re a great lay, but I need Wolfman free and Femme-Fatale out of the picture, nothing personal.”
Little Katrina sees Twitch winding up another attack and reads his thoughts, she knows he is going to kill both of them, Mommy and the lady she’s fighting, so she does her best. She dives down between Steel Scorpion and Femme-Fatale and expands a psychic bubble around each of them, hers and Femme-Fatale’s are too close together so they end up as one big bubble, which is probably why both of them are alive today.
I can’t do that, can I? Wait a second, Femme-Fatale and I are in the same bubble...
The last thing Marseilles Navarro ever hears is her daughter screaming, “Mommy!”
The purple lightning bolt strikes the bubbles and they hold for a second before Steel Scorpion’s bubble pops and Little Katrina and Femme-Fatale’s shared bubble shoots off toward the Gentle-Van at a violent speed.
Gentle-Man expertly places the Gentle-Van where the bubble is headed and catches them in the waiting open doorway. Without any hesitation, he spins the Gentle-Van around, and calls in backup. He leaves his seat, letting the Gentle-Van drive itself and checks on his wife and Little Katrina, when he sees they’re both alive he heaves a sigh of relief and holds the sobbing form o
f Little Katrina.
___
Kat wakes up in the strong arms of Theo with tear filled eyes. For a moment she panics, then figures out where she is and goes limp in his arms, sobbing.
He holds her tight, stroking her head, and whispers to her about how much he loves her and that everything is going to be okay.
Cinder sits on her couch next to the pair, gives Theo a small smile, and then nods her head.
With a small smile of his own, Theo gently lifts off of the couch and floats out the door of Cinder’s home and into the one he shares with Kat, demonstrating remarkable control of his thrust based flight. He takes her to the couch where she continues to sob.
“I could have saved her too,” she sobs, “if I’d just been better at using my powers…” Kat’s sobs continue to wrack her body.
Theo looks down at his favorite person, his light, his life, and sees her in anguish. It breaks his heart to see someone so dear to him so obviously broken. Something from deep within his chest aches. It feels like an intelligent force that wants to flow out and flow around Kat.
What’s this feeling? I don’t ever remember something like this happening. Then again, I’ve had my powers for less than a week in the real world. What could it be? It doesn’t feel like Earth, it’s too sinuous. It’s too gentle for Fire, though it’s closer to that than Earth.
The writhing within Theo surges out of his chest, taking his breath with it. The force reaches out toward Kat before snapping back into Theo’s form.
That looked like a dragon, like the images from my training with Richter and Cinder. Could this be the ancestral memory and other thing that Richter wouldn’t tell me about?
Kat’s sobbing intensifies to the point that she’s no longer breathing and her sobs turn into a hacking cough.
I’ve got to do something. I hope this thing is friendly.
The next time the force surges in Theo’s chest, he goes with it, allowing the force to easily flow out and enter Kat’s body. The tail of the dragon remains within Theo, the silverish white energy connects the two of them.
Kat’s coughing almost immediately subsides and her breathing settles into the slow pattern of sleep.
Wow, that must have taken a lot out of her, she doesn’t sleep at all as far as I know.
Theo is suddenly enveloped in a wave of the same energy and falls into a deep sleep. He slumps back, still cradling Kat in his arms.
Chapter 43: Meg
Theo wakes up with Kat held in his arms, they are sitting on a leather couch across from a woman in a black and gold cheongsam, a traditional Chinese tight dress. Her face is round and full of life. Her smile spreads from ear to ear, her hazel eyes sparkle with joy, and her hair is in a black topknot.
“Ah, it’s wonderful to see you dear, I’m surprised you made it here so early. Usually it takes at least three elements to even become aware of how to access your ancestral memories. You not only did that, but you even unlocked them, that usually takes at least four elements.
You bring honor to our family Theodore.”
Theo looks down at Kat, who is still sleeping.
“The force within my chest reached out to Kat, then connected us. I passed out and ended up here.”
“That explains why she’s here, when I saw this day coming, it was just us. No matter, my spirit fragment wouldn’t have reached out to her if she wasn’t worthy of being part of the family,” the woman reaches down to the table and gently grasps a cup of steaming tea.
“When did the tea show up?”
“One of the benefits of being a spirit fragment, your world is completely under your control, still terrible, but made less so by this small mercy. It’s not all bad, otherwise I may not have had the opportunity to meet you so soon.”
Theo’s mind races.
She said OUR family, who is she? Spirit fragment? Oh, I’m getting some answers, NOW.
“Ask me anything, I’ll tell you anything I can,” the woman smiles and sips her tea, “you’re welcome to the tea, it’s made just the way you like it.”
Theo shakes his head, “I have a lot of questions.”
She smiles, “I have a lot of answers Theo, that is what you like to be called. Yes?.”
Theo’s face colors a bit, “You have me at a bit of a disadvantage, you know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
“You can either call me Po Po or Meg, whichever you feel more comfortable with.
Po Po? Doesn’t that mean…
“You’re my grandmother?” Theo asks, his heart in his throat.
Meg smiles, “Yes, that’s how my soul fragment ended up in you. Your mother was dying, so I put a bit of my spirit in her unborn son, to keep you safe.” Her face clouds, obviously remembering something painful.
Theo reels, his heart shaken at that bombshell, he looks down at Kat and then back at his newfound grandmother. “I’d feel more comfortable if Kat was awake, can you help me with her?”
With a laugh that sounds a bit like bells, Meg waves her hand and a small white lotus flower made of energy appears above Kat’s forehead. It settles on Kat and a wave of white energy pulses through her.
She awakens with a gasp, “Where are we and who is she?” Kat huddles closer to Theo after taking a panicked look around the room.
Meg speaks up before Theo can get his thoughts together, “I’m Theodore’s maternal grandmother and you’re inside the soul fragment that I left inside him while his mother was still pregnant with him. Sorry for the backwards order, but it wouldn’t have made sense if I answered it the other way. Either call me Meg or Po Po, I’m not picky.”
Kat releases Theo and slides to sit beside him, instead of on him. “What proof do we have that you are who you say?”
When she sees Theo’s look of concern Kat glares at him, ‘I can’t get a read off of her, she’s a steel wall in front of my psychic powers. Either she’s a very powerful psychic, which would be terrifying, or she’s not real, which might be worse.’
‘All you had to do was ask nicely dear. I’m not one to let another intrude in my thoughts, even those of a spirit fragment like this, but I’ll make an exception for you,’ Meg’s voice cuts into both Theo and Kat’s minds, the feeling is like flower petals flowing over your face. It’s pleasant and comforting, not rough at all.
Kat gasps. “I didn’t let you in, how did you get in my mind? I’ve had the best mentalists, powered and otherwise, try and get into my head for years. None of them got close, but you slipped in without any obvious effort.” She mentally throws up more walls and doors, trying to protect herself mentally. She does the same for Theo simultaneously, just like she always has.
“That explains the psychic constructs covering his mind. I didn’t think he would have run into one of us Minds yet, though they could have been left by his mother. Never underestimate a wounded dragon, they’ll surprise you.” Meg’s face falls at the mention of Theo’s mother again, shadows fill her eyes before she shakes them away.
Kat grinds her teeth a bit then catches herself, “If you can see me putting them up, they do no good against you.” She lets the constructs fall and slumps against Theo, obviously uncomfortable with being mentally unshielded.
“Dear Kat, I hope it’s okay that I’m calling you that. How about this, I’ll take down my mind palace and let you poke around a bit. That should alleviate your fears a bit, right?” Meg’s face scrunches a second and then she sighs, “I’m the only one in here, I’m still not sure why I keep those up. It must just be a habit, I hope the me out in the real world keeps it up though, it’s dangerous out there!”
Kat peeks at Meg’s mind and sees the same mental wall, but this time there’s a large open gate and the stones of the wall are pulling themselves down one step at a time.
“You actually did it. From the looks of that defense, it must have taken you years to build up. You didn’t just let me in behind your walls, you tore them down to show you weren’t going to trap me inside. I’m sorry Po Po, I’ll leave you y
our privacy, that’s enough for me. I’d love it if you could show me how to do that sometime though, layered defenses like that are tough to get right,” Kat sits up and smiles at Meg.
“Am I good to keep asking her questions now Kat?”
“Of course, she means us no harm, at this point if she did, I could shut her whole nervous system down in seconds. She gave me that much access.” Kat nods at Meg, who nods back.
“Mildly disturbing, but I’ll work with it. You mentioned my mother, what was her name? What was she like? I love Mom, but I’d like to get to know my own flesh and blood,” Theo sits on the edge of the couch, leaning in for whatever Meg might say.
“Her name was Lizzy and I miss her every day.”
Chapter 44: Lizzy
“Lizzy was a free spirit, most of us Minds are, nothing could ever keep her in one place. She roamed around the world helping people, not as a Cape, but as a healer. With our ability to share our Draconic Regeneration and her mental powers, with few exceptions, only death could stop her from helping someone in need. That’s actually what got her poisoned, but she never regretted healing that girl.” Meg’s eyes fill with tears until they start streaming down her face.
“She was in North Korea, we’ve had a few family members who lived there over the last few thousand years, doing work with an outfit not unlike Doctors Without Borders, though they were less public about where they were going to be. She always liked going to the most dangerous places, she was damn near indestructible after all.
I’d like to preface this with the fact that she let me see her memories, so this is as close to hearing it first hand as is possible now. She was going to help at an all-girls school where some idiot Cowl decided it would be a good idea to burn it down. You know, to keep the same misogynistic legacy of women as housewives and breeding mares,” she spits at that.
“She found the Cowl who did it, he didn’t walk away, I promise you, your mother saw to that. I think she broke both of his femurs and all the bones in his arms, then left him on the steps of the courthouse at super speed. She didn’t bother slowing down too much, it was definitely a satisfying crunching noise, but I digress.
Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls] Page 22
