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

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.

  Jin gets up and darts over to Lady Brooklyn, hoping to find her breathing, she isn’t. A hole in her outfit right where her heart would be shows that she is much too far gone, even for Jin’s power.

  “Jinlong, are you okay?” the same familiar tone asks.

  Jin turns to face his grandmother. “No Meg, I’m not ‘okay’. I killed someone today for the first time. The worst part is that she was already disabled.” He crumples to his knees, remorse and horror written clearly on his face.

  Meg, covered in pearlescent scales, floats over to Jin before settling next to him on the floor, her hand on his shoulder. “You’re a good boy, did you know that? Even though she was an enemy combatant, you still mourn her. Though you were wrong about one thing.”

  “What’s that?” Jin spits.

  Meg wills her mask away, revealing her full face to Jin. “She wasn’t disabled. From the moment you put her on the floor, she was pumping every ounce of energy she had into the big fellow over there. That much energy transferred that quickly likely would have killed her anyway, but she was mad with how much she hated you.”

  “What are you saying? She wasn’t knocked out?”

  “No my dear, she was the reason the big one was able to steal powers as strong as yours. You might say she was the most dangerous person in the fight, even on the ground like that.”

  “She’s right you know,” Nightmare says from behind Jin. She walks up and slaps him in the face, as hard as she can. “When you blew up the room the ward broke, at that point I could feel the hatred rolling off of her, she was doing her best to make sure you died here. You almost did!”

  Nightmare slumps into Jin with her arms around him, sobbing, “You almost died.” She keeps hitting him in the chest, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough for him to know she’s not okay with how things went down.

  “Don’t you ever, say goodbye to me like that again. If you do, we’re done, you hear me with your super hearing? One more time and we’re over. I can’t deal with that again...I just can’t.”

  Jin is taken aback. “I promise, never again.” He pulls Nightmare into a big hug, she keeps crying but more gently now.

  While Nightmare sobs in his arms, Jin looks over at Meg. “How did you know we needed help?”

  Meg smiles a little. "That's a bit of a long story."

  "Also, how do you know who we are already?" Jin asks as he hugs Nightmare protectively.

  "That’s just one part of that same long story, but it looks like we have time to talk. Let's go somewhere a little more—" Meg indicates the destroyed room around her. "—intact."

  Meg stands waiting for Jin and Nightmare as a mousy man appears behind her with a poof. "Skip, this is my grandson and his girlfriend, you are to answer to them as you do to me. Am I clear?"

  Without hesitation Skip answers. "Yes mistress, where would you like me to take us? The weather at your Bordeaux chateau is exquisite this time of year."

  "Does that agree with you two?" Meg asks Jin and Nightmare.

  'As long as we're together, I don't care where we are,' Nightmare sends weakly. ‘Don’t worry about the Cowls, I called the FSA, they’ll be picking up Broom Guy and everyone in here.’

  Jin stands, carrying Nightmare up in his arms. "That's fine Meg, let's see what I've been missing out on all these years."

  With a cold look, Meg turns to Skip. "Bordeaux sounds perfect, have the usual cleaners take care of this place. Offer the usual incentives for speedy repair."

  "Yes mistress," Skip says before Theo stops him from snapping his fingers.

  “On second thought, we need to pick someone up, let me make a phone call,” Theo doesn’t wait for Meg to answer. “JEN, call Mom.”

  “Calling Iris Specton,” JEN replies.

  Theo’s ruby pendant gives off a calming warmth and Theo smiles a bit before starting to speak. “Hey, Mom, I’ve got a bit of a story to tell you, can I bring a guest over to talk for a minute?”

  Chapter 60: Artillerist, Controller, Haka, and Inferno

  “I can’t believe Theo and Kat ditched us this weekend! What about our Labor Day tradition?” Dex rants while sitting at the breakfast table with Mab, Maka, and Dante.

  Dante’s face is blank. “It’s not much of a tradition, we only started it last year. Plus, it’s only a round robin Cape Clash tournament, we do those all Summer.” The only thing betraying his annoyance is how he stabs his breakfast ham aggressively.

  Dex frowns. “It’s not just Cape Clash, we also play board games after we get done with that. I get your point though. Does anyone have a better idea for how we should spend the long weekend?”

  The sound of metal on glass grates on everyone’s ears, followed by the clatter of silverware to the table. Maka sits up with bright brown eyes, her usual braids condensed into one large braid down the center of her back. “I’ve got something fun we can do, all of us are in Independent Study this year correct?”

  The rest of the table share glances before nodding. “What does that have to do with anything?” Mab asks.

  “Trust me, I’ve got an idea that should be a blast. Everyone, grab your gear, your real stuff not your training gear, and meet me on the roof in 15 minutes.”

  With some hesitation, the group agrees to meet on the roof in 30 minutes, because Mab claims that she needs a few extra minutes to get ready.

  ___

  Half an hour later Inferno stands alone on the roof.

  “Typical, no one else showed up. How gullible am I?” He mutters under his breath. “I guess I could just go flying, maybe that will improve my mood?”

  Before Inferno can blast off the roof a giant eagle swoops down toward him very quickly. Inferno generates a scarlet ball of flame, but before he can do anything with it the giant eagle morphs into a familiar form, Haka. She lands five feet from Inferno, who lets the ball of flame dissipate. “Haka, it’s an honor to meet you.”

  Haka is a 7’ tall tan skinned woman in a tight red tubetop with a piupiu skirt, she has close cropped brunette braids that are pinned against her head. She is a relatively new Cape on the Riverside City scene, having only been active for the last year or so.

  Her powerset is that of a shapeshifter, she can turn into any animal she has seen, including fantasy animals like a giant eagle, she can also take on individual attributes of those animals without shifting. She is the third Cape to bear the name Haka since Riverside City was founded, the two others are still active, but only in emergency situations, her predecessors go by Grand Haka and Elder Haka now.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Inferno.” Haka winks at him with a grin that stretches across her entire face. Her brown eyes sparkle mischievously in the sunlight.

  Why does she look so familiar? Those eyes…

  “Maka?!” Inferno gasps.

  Before Inferno gets a chance to say anything else, Haka reaches out her hand like a striking viper and covers his mouth.

  “What part of secret identity in RSCA do you not remember from training? If we get found out by the normal students, we can’t do our training in school anymore,” Haka asks seriously. “The cafeteria roof is open, so anyone on one of the higher floors with open windows that open into that space could have heard you.”

  After he recovers from the shock of how fast Haka stopped him from talking, Inferno waves her hand away from his face. “Sorry about that, I was just so surprised. You don’t really look like you except for your eyes.”

  “Shapeshifting will do that, it makes for a really easy secret identity.” Haka grins. “Where are the others?”

  Inferno frowns. “I’ve been waiting up here for a few minutes, they’re not here yet.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong Inferno, I've been standing behind this entrance while I watched your exchange with Haka there,” says a vaguely robotic voice. A short suit of cobalt blue advanced combat armor walks from around the roof entrance.

  “The name’s Artill
erist. I take it you’re who I was here to meet? Controller will be up in a minute, she’s putting on the bracers I made for her,” he says.

  Artillerist’s armor is cobalt blue and covers Dex’s entire body without gaps. It provides him increased strength, flight, firepower in the form of a large array of laser weapons and explosives. He is not a known Cape at this time, as he is still in training.

  “I take it that we talked about this meeting, Artillerist?” Inferno asks.

  A slightly bemused robotic voice answers directly into Inferno and Haka’s earpieces, “We did, I always have my armor in my bag, gotta love Claw Nanotech, especially with my powerset. The weapons are all Allano Munitions though, Claw’s way behind on offence, but they kill it on defense. I took the liberty of merging our comm channels while you stared at my armor.”

  “Nice job,” Haka sends through a subvocal mic she wears hidden in her traditional Hawaiian necklace.

  The door to the roof gently opens, revealing a woman dressed in dark green leather with silver bracers.

  “Nice job, Artillerist. I appreciate you patching me in before I got up here, now I don’t have to ask who everyone is.” Controller’s voice is smooth, almost seductively so.

  Controller’s armor is a nanotech suit that has been programmed to look like leather, she uses her technopathy to organize it to look like she wants it to. In her Controller persona, Mab’s usual shyness and social anxiety disappear, leaving her highly competent and confident. The bracers provided by Dex/Artillerist provide a forcefield, as well as a stunning and lethal suite of attacks.

  Controller sidles up to Artillerist and rests her head on his shoulder, “You did well.”

  Inferno stands shocked at Controller’s demeanor for a moment before turning back to Haka. “Well, I think we’re all here, what’s the plan?”

  Haka grins. “Well, as a newly minted Class 2 Cape with the FSA, I can now take trainees on training exercises as long as we don’t leave RSC. Why don’t we go on patrol and see what kind of trouble we can find?”

  The group all grin at each other for a moment, Inferno speaks up, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s patrol!”

  Chapter 61: Arcanatrix

  The world warps around Theo, Kat, Meg, and Skip for a moment before they are deposited in Iris’ office.

  Meg and Skip stride away from the massive circular rug they were deposited on with no issue, Jin and Nightmare aren't as lucky. Jin lands on one foot and starts toppling over as he lands, Nightmare, feeling herself falling, forms a bubble and settles easily onto the carpet. Jin bounces off of the bubble and ends up on his butt, physically unharmed, but ego bruised.

  "I go by Theo," Jin says as he let's his scales fade. He gets up and dusts himself off before taking a long look around the room. It’s the same office he grew up getting scolded in. It’s home.

  Kat gets up at the same time and let's her scales fade as well. "I'm only Katrina when I'm in trouble at school. Call me Kat or nothing."

  A small laugh escapes Meg. "My apologies, Theo, Kat, are you hungry? I know most Children eat quite well after a mission."

  “Is it really your place to offer my kids food in my house?” Iris’ voice sounds from the now open doorway. Theo looks toward the door and sees Iris in her full glory as the Cape known as Spectrum. Her right hand is coated in her red light, which can be used as a heat ray of sorts. Her left hand has blue light, which is a freeze ray. Combined, they cause quite an explosive combination. Her eyes glow orange, which can be used to stop anyone she focuses on in their tracks.

  Theo and Kat exchange a glance before he grins. "Hi, Mom, we could eat."

  Iris banishes her powers with a cough. “Did you have to bring them into my office directly? I was waiting at the front door!” She shakes her head in mock disgust. “What kind of example does my messy office give your guests?”

  Skip remains silent and Meg just smiles. “When you’re as old as I am, you learn to appreciate a “lived in” space. You should see my New York apartment, I have so many knick knacks that my cleaning lady threatened to quit!”

  With gleaming eyes, Iris smiles. “Her, I like. I’ll grab you guys some food. Grab whatever seats you can find in the kitchen, I’ll rustle something up for you guys.”

  It wasn’t fancy, but there was a lot of food and it was very tasty. While Theo and Kat eat, Meg watches on, just smiling and eating off of a plate of fruit, Iris does the same. When they finish eating, Kat releases a large burp which gets the group all laughing. Not to be outdone, Theo unleashes an even bigger burp, releasing a bit of fire at the same time and almost singing the curtains over the sink.

  "My bad." Theo sheepishly looks over at a smiling Meg.

  Meg waves her hand dismissively. "Please, you could burn this place to the ground and I'd still be happy to have you two here."

  “It’s not your house, of course you’d say that. Teddy, Kitty, manners!” Iris barks.

  “Excuse me,” they reply in unison.

  “Better,” Iris beams.

  Sighing in relief, Theo settles into the comfortable seat across from the breakfast bar.

  Kat gasps as she finishes her stack of chocolate drizzled Belgian waffles. "These are ridiculously good, where did they come from?"

  Iris glows. "There's a restaurant in New Milan called Antoine's. A first generation Belgian American moved into town and founded it after he made some money working as a plumber. He makes them from scratch, I thought it would be nice for our guests to try some of my favorite food in the city.

  “I regret not giving him the seed money he asked for to this day.” Meg smiles wanly. “He had no experience, I should have taken a chance on him.”

  “You know Tony?” Iris asks.

  “For years, I stop in at least once a month for his famous leek and hock soup. He only makes a small batch, but I try and get it each time he makes it.”

  Iris frowns. “I only got to try it once and Jolly had to get me the bit I tried. Who are you?”

  Iris and Meg converse while Theo, Kat, and Skip finish their food.

  Theo’s head snaps over to catch Meg’s eyes. “By the way, you never explained how you knew we were in trouble, it probably wasn’t those four yahoos triggering your wards, they were there weeks before we got there.”

  Meg takes her napkin and dabs the corner of her mouth before setting it in her lap. “Ah yes, that. You see I know I left a soul fragment in you, and when you passed through the barrier around that property I was alerted that I had crossed the barrier. You have the only piece of me that would trigger that alarm, so I called Skip and headed in to see you as soon as possible.”

  “That makes a lot of sense.” Theo nods before smacking himself on the forehead. “Kat can you call in those Cowls at the villa? I completely forgot about them just now.”

  Kat pauses with her fork loaded just before her lips. “Already did, Brigid messaged that she was going personally to take care of them for us, we get credit obviously,” with that she takes a bite and sighs in pleasure.

  “Perfect as always.” Theo rubs Kat on the arm.

  Meg smiles. “Speaking of perfect, would you mind if I recovered my soul fragment now? Merging with it will speed along my getting to know you, as I’ve spoken to you at least once before. Plus, I’ve been working with 80% of my power for years, it’ll be nice to be back to full strength.”

  Theo nods. “Of course, though I have to thank you, I feel like you’ve protected me a couple of times, though I probably wouldn’t have noticed that at the time. What do you need me to do?”

  “I just need to stand behind you and place my hands on your back, I’ll pull the fragment back in and merge with it. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or so.” Meg polishes off her drink and sets her glass down on the table.

  A mischievous grin crosses Theo’s face. “I’m ready when you are, but after that I’m going to have a few more questions for you to answer honestly.”

  A familiar voice comes from the mudroom, “
That boy’s trickier than anyone gives credit, be careful what you promise.”

  Theo and Kat turn to look at the doorway and watch Professor Tenzi walk in to stand behind Meg with one hand on her shoulder.

  “Good morning Iris, you look well,” Professor Tenzi says.

  “Likewise, I’m sure. What brings you here this morning? Also, do you know Meg here?” Iris’ eyes glow orange a bit again.

  “I brought your Suit back dear, would you please go and try it on for me? I tried a new blend for the chestpiece. Oh, and Meg and I go back quite a ways. I’ve known her longer than you’ve been alive.” Professor Tenzi chuckles. “I’m going to need to borrow your office for a minute, is that okay, dear?”

  Iris looks like she wants to say no for a minute, but then she sighs, “Of course you can, you designed most of the features in there anyway. I’m going to go try on my Suit.”

  WIth that, Iris heads back to her bedroom. “Don’t break anything! You hear me?!”

  Theo, Kat, Meg, and Professor Tenzi smile and promise they won’t do anything of the sort.

  “Kat, Theo, you look well. I can tell you have questions, how about this? You leave poor Meg be after she takes in her soul fragment and I’ll answer any three questions you have honestly. She doesn’t know how hard it can be to merge souls, I do. Also, if I’m not on campus, call me Amara, Professor Tenzi feels so impersonal.” Amara smiles at the look of consternation on Theo and Kat’s faces.

  “Any three questions?” Kat asks, looking at Theo wide eyed.

  Amara nods. “Any three, from any time in my very long life. I’ll give you a free one if you agree, I’ll tell you how old I am, it should help you decide what questions to ask. You would only be the third group that I gave that information to.”

  Theo feels his ruby necklace burn hot, somehow he feels like it’s telling him to take the deal.

  “Deal, I’m ready whenever you are, as I said previously.”

  “Kat, please lead Meg to your bedroom, the more comfortable you are, the easier she’ll be able to help you. I need to talk to Theo before the procedure.” Amara smiles as Kat gets up to comply, “Thanks dear, we’ll be right over.”