Absolute Zero 2

<center> ## ABSOLUTE ZERO DARK THIRTY ### by Jon Farrar [[Begin|1]]</center>

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--- [[Back to Page 1|1]] (link: "Jump to Chapter")[Jump to Chapter [[1|5]] | [[2|21]] | [[3|39]] | [[4|55]] | [[5|70]] | [[6|87]] | [[7|102]] | [[8|113]] | [[9|125]] | [[10|141]] | [[11|155]] | [[Epilogue|162]]] Absolute Zero Dark Thirty © 2017-(current-date:) Jon "the Red" Farrar (link:"Cross Town Public Library")[(open-url: "https://crosstownpubliclibrary.neocities.org/")] | (link:"jontheredrc.itch.io")[(open-url: "https://jontheredrc.itch.io/")]

Nicole flopped onto the couch, barely summoning the energy to reach for the remote and turn the TV on. Her energy did not extend to operating the buttons, however, and the channel remained exactly where it was. Images flashed onto the screen for her to ignore, accompanied by sounds she didn't parse. Not even the entrance of her perpetually perky girlfriend Sonya could urge her into any sort of action. “Hey Nicole!” the lanky redhead cheered, her words tumbling from her mouth as quickly as ever. “Wanna spar?” Nicole slowly shook her head. “The past month with you has been pretty great,” she admitted, “but it's been the same old thing every single day. Wake up, eat, spar, eat, maybe make out, eat, TV, sleep. I like it, but it gets so boring after awhile.” She even found herself missing her parents sometimes; now that she lived with Sonya, there weren't even fights to break up the monotony of everyday life. “You rich people are so boring.” “Sorry, Nicole!” Sonya wrapped her hands around one of Nicole's; both of them had rough skin ravaged by combat, but they didn't seem to mind. “We're just safe! The town, too!” Nicole threw the TV remote against the other end of the couch. “That's just it. Everything's so safe. It's not like a month ago, when we were fighting on the streets and saving the city and—“ “And the death?” Sonya interrupted. “And the slaves?” “Exactly!” When Sonya gave her a dirty look, Nicole was quick to explain herself. “OK, yeah, those were terrible things, but we fought to stop them! We ended a problem the city didn't even know it had by doing what we love. It's that sort of fulfillment that we don't get anymore.” As she cracked her knuckles, she added, “And despite what I tell my therapist, I still feel my best when I'm breaking bones. It's what I grew up with, OK?” Sonya shrugged and darted out the door, snaking through the house on superhuman legs that managed to keep a slim and sexy profile despite being packed with power. She returned a minute or so later with a smile on her face. “Let's skip the sparring!” Nicole ran her fingers through her hair, bouncing the wavy brown locks as she flicked her hand forward. “And do what, exactly?” “The aquarium!” [[Next|2]]

“The aquarium?” Nicole mumbled to the turtle ensconced within a nearby tank. She'd have complained directly to Sonya, but Sonya never stood still long enough to hear any complaints. “What are we, six? This sucks even more than staying home and sparring.” The turtle began to take notice of Nicole's hand draped into the tank. She groaned and turned her attention to a nearby plaque detailing the history of the species. “Unlike most animals, the leatherback sea turtle underwent few changes at the hands of Agent Venom,” she slowly read aloud before losing interest. She remembered the name “Agent Venom” vaguely from history class, having had something to do with an apocalypse, and slightly more fully from Mr. Lee's plans, though she didn't remember what he used it for. Even in this place, she was only reminded of the adventures she had enjoyed a month ago. Her reverie was quickly shattered by a rush of wind attempting to shove her into the turtle's tank. As she glanced behind her, she saw people spilling out onto the pavement, including one old woman grasping desperately for her purse, only for a punk with a leather outfit and a ratty blond mullet to flow right by and snatch the purse from the ground. “Gotcha!” he snarled, his eyes set on a nearby balcony overlooking the river. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn't expecting Nicole to get in his way. “The hell are you doing?” she asked, a sadistic smile spreading across her face in anticipation of a fight. “I'm trying to learn about turtles over here.” “Blow me!” The ruffian let out a shout and shoved his hands toward Nicole, thumping her in the chest with a blast of air and causing her to double back. Her heels were up against the guard rail; without that rail, she might have careened right over the balcony. “Get outta the way before I move you myself!” Nicole shook her head and chuckled as she concentrated on her hands, watching the latent air and water around her condense and freeze along her arms and legs. The punk responded with another blast of wind that moved Nicole absolutely nowhere, due to the additional weight and stability rooting her in place. “You're messing up my hair, guy.” [[Previous|1]] | [[Next|3]]

The punk threw a desperate punch aimed straight at Nicole's face, a clumsy swing obviously not used to anyone resisting it. It was a swing she had seen a lot in her days of dealing with high school bullies. Her love for fisticuffs had taught her to tell a lot about her opponents just by how they fought. “Shut up!” the purse-snatcher shrieked as a fierce whirlwind spun around his fist. When it slammed into Nicole, she felt a second impact follow his punch as the wind smacked into her. Such a punch likely would have proven devastating if it had been thrown with any actual skill. As it was, however, Nicole could only laugh. “Done yet? Wanna see a real punch?” She wound up for a devastating haymaker, only for the punk to shove himself out of harm's way with another gust of wind. Nodding in approval, she complimented the evasive maneuver. “And here I thought this was going to be boring. Stick around and show me a good time, will you?” The thief scoffed and raised his fists into a haphazard fighting stance. “You're crazy!” With a gust of wind pointed at the ground, he blasted himself into the air, his leather jacket billowing open and catching the wind to make an escape unfettered by the lay of the land. “I ain't stickin' around!” “Sure you are!” Sonya's voice shouted as her powerful legs pushed her off of the ground, taking her high enough to pull the thief out of the sky. As she shoved him into the concrete and sat atop him, she added, “Hi Nicole! What'd he do?” “Yeah, hey,” she muttered, a little disappointed to have her girlfriend finish the battle for her. “He was trying to steal some old lady's purse.” “Oh, that jerk!” Sonya punctuated her sentence with a quick punch to his chin. “He fight well?” Nicole shook her head. “He kept trying to run away. I hate it when they do that.” “What a bore.” Sonya lifted the thief off of the ground and tossed him over the balcony, letting him use his wind power to skirt away across the surface of the water empty-handed. “Get lost, punk!” she shouted across the river. [[Previous|2]] | [[Next|4]]

Nicole shook her hands free of the ice and placed them on the guard rail, watching the ruffian flee. “I know," she told Sonya. "Even when a thing like this happens, we just end up fighting some jerk who can't fight for real. It's just not the same as it was a month ago, when we were fighting that Lee jerk, and...” “What, Nicole?” Nicole turned away from the balcony to see Sonya's head tilted in confusion. “...and I just had a brilliant idea,” she sneered. Sonya rolled her eyes. “Crap, again?” she groaned. Nicole punched her girlfriend in the shoulder. “Shut up, this one's actually really good! Remember how that Lee jerk got away like this guy just did, when we broke up his stupid operation? The one where he was doing the, uh, the stuff?” Sonya sighed, impatient at having to explain Lee's plot to Nicole again. “Making us robot slaves?” “Superpowered robot slaves, yeah! It's all coming back to me.” Nicole nodded and waved her hands erratically in front of her. “Whatever. Anyway, he's a powerful guy with powerful friends, isn't he? We have to be ready to kick his ass when he comes back.” “If he comes back?” Sonya shot back, heavily stressing the first word of her question. Nicole scoffed. “A guy like him? Of course he'll be back. He's probably plotting revenge and all that dumb crap right now. If he's got a day to make his comeback picked out, we have to be ready to fuck up his day. We can get the whole gang back together...Steven, Keno, Sam, Cla—“ “No we can't!” Sonya interjected. “Steven's hurt! Forever!” Nicole shook her head. “Oh, that's right, Steven's crippled from all those bullets he took the last time we got in a fight. Everyone else is fine, though, right?” “They won't join us for that! Keno's with his brother! Sam and Claire are gone!” Nicole stared at Sonya incredulously. “Gone where? Oh, whatever. Fine, we don't need them! We'll just...find someone else! We'll start a whole new group and ring them up as soon as we catch word of anything fishy.” Sonya jabbed a thumb toward the river, the ruffian's escape route. “Someone else? Like that guy?” “Come on, you think I'm gonna be caught dead with some weak little punk like that?” Nicole sneered. “No, only the best of the best get to roll with us!” Nicole ran over to the leatherback turtle tank and blew the creature a kiss. “You...thanks for being you. It got your little plaque there to keep my mind on what's really important...violence! Yeah. I'm pretty pumped about this. Sonya, what say we ditch the aquarium here and get started on this right away?” “But my parents,” Sonya reasoned. Nicole shook her head and moved toward the stairs to return to an indoor area. “Your parents let us go wherever in the aquarium here by ourselves. They know how much ass we kick. Just tell them to go home without us so we can get started on our little talent search.” [[Previous|3]] | [[Next|5]]

## Chapter 1 “...I know the plan,” the young man growled impatiently from the back seat of the getaway car. “Take care of everyone up front...I'll get us through the door. It's only locked on the outside.” “If you insist, Ghost,” came the reply from the front seat as everyone present pulled on ski masks. “You sound like you want to cut to the chase.” Ghost nodded and donned a mask of his own, then exited the car with the rest of his companions. “Let's get our money and go.” The four of them filed into the bank, one of them issuing a sigh to prepare his nerves for the coming trial. They slipped in as far as they could before being seen, forcing them to play their hand and draw their guns. “Everybody get down!” the leader of the pack growled, putting on a fierce, gravelly voice to further frighten the people present. “This is a bank robbery! I want everyone on the ground, now!” Ghost was relieved to see everyone comply with his ally's request, not out of some desire to see them live, but because it made the process go by quicker. With no one standing in his way, he was free to make his way to the vault and get to work. Much to his compatriot's chagrin, he removed his gloves and laid his bare hands on the door, concentrating heavily as his powers did their thing. With a devilish smirk barely visible through his ski mask, he walked through the vault door as if it wasn't even there. From the inside of the vault, it was a cinch to get the door open; it was designed to prevent anyone from getting accidentally locked in. Despite his phasing powers, the door had to be open, for the money would not come with him were he to phase back. He already felt lucky having figured out how to keep his clothes. “Alright...!” one of his companions cheered, offering a high-five. Ghost replied by ripping the burlap sack from the man's other hand, eager to finish the robbery in progress. Before long, the money was tucked away in their care; no one in the bank had dared to step up and try to stop them. As Ghost waded through the hostages toward the exit, he realized that this was his doing. The whole plan would be nullified without him, since being able to rob the bank at all hinged on his ability to walk right through the bank's primary means of security. The ego trip was enough to stretch a thin, prideful sneer across his lips. [[Previous|4]] | [[Next|6]]

“Alright, alright,” Nicole said as she dodged a flying knee attack from Sonya, “so yesterday's search was a total bust. So what, you're gonna give up on it now?” Sonya gasped as an icy fist streaked toward her face, taking hold of it and using it as a lever to throw Nicole over her shoulder, an attack that would've caught anyone else off-guard. Nicole, having fought Sonya so often already, knew what she'd been reeled into and rolled to her feet. “I just might!” Sonya blurted, her rapid-fire sentences now matched by the flurry of kicks she pounded into Nicole's guard. “It bored me!” Nicole rolled her eyes and concentrated, replenishing the ice coating her arms about as quickly as Sonya's superhuman legs could smash through it. “We just went about it the wrong way. Maybe it was naive to just wander the streets expecting to see fresh meat, but where else are we gonna look?” Nicole threw Sonya off-balance with a sudden shoulder charge, an advantage that wore off just before her follow-up haymaker landed. “What are we gonna do," she continued, "put an ad in the newspaper? If you can figure out a way to write it that doesn't make us look like whores, maybe I'll let you try it.” Sonya giggled and lashed out with elbow strikes, the fastest attack she had, in order to keep Nicole from keeping all the fight's momentum for herself. “Oh yeah, you're right!” she giggled. “'Two hothead girls...need big, strong boys!' But yeah, the search...” Sonya paused mid-sentence to leap over a berserk charge, landing on the other side of Nicole. “...maybe the news?” Nicole sighed and launched a crystalline turn punch, barely missing Sonya. The young tree behind the redhead was not so lucky, as shards of ice and wood erupted from under Nicole's powerful fist. “The news is boring!” she groaned. “And we have to get through the other stories...a food drive won't help us beat Miste—“ “Nicole Marie Ellery!” a shrill voice shrieked from overhead. The girls looked up to see Sonya's mother shaking her fist out the window. “That's the third tree on our property that you've shattered! We can't just keep uprooting the poor things, you know...and we can't let them stay, either! Our property looks so horrendous when you do that!” [[Previous|5]] | [[Next|7]]

Nicole's shoulders drooped under the weight of sheer annoyance at the sensibilities of Sonya's wealthy mother. When the two girls had first met, Nicole would never have guessed that Sonya came from such a background. Either way, the lifestyle clashed with her own upbringing in a trailer park on the other side of town. “The tree looks fine, lady!" Nicole said. "Look, if it's that big a deal, Sonya and I will take care of it!” This deal stopped Sonya's mother from taking the curlers out of her hair. “Well, fine," she replied. "Know the number to the landscaper?” Nicole shook her head. “Quit your bellyaching, lady. We've got this!” “So rude...!” With that, Sonya's mother disappeared back into the house. “Nicole, that's Mom!” Sonya scolded her crass companion. “Be respectful!” Nicole gave a derisive laugh to the idea and turned her attention to the tree she had blasted in half. In motion, her glacial fists easily rivaled Sonya's devastating leg muscle strength, but Sonya was much more careful not to break her family's possessions. “Whatever,” Nicole groaned as she grabbed the top half of the tree and dragged it behind the house to deal with later. “Maybe we'll get lucky and find some kid out there with a power to help us uproot this tree. Then we won't have to pay that landscaper guy a thing.” Sonya nodded; her face contorted into a skeptical look, but she seemed willing to go along with Nicole's plan nonetheless. “We'll take a look!” she compromised. As they quietly urged the front door open, Sonya's parents could be heard having a discussion of their own in another room. “...such a ruffian!” Sonya's mother cawed. “Did you see she smashed another one of our prize crabapple trees? Just as it was starting to mature, too!” “Christine, I'm the one that planted those things,” Sonya's father shot back. “I'm the one that did all the work, and if Nicole ruined it...hell, I don't even care! She's still adjusting to life around here. If that means a few dead trees, we'll just plant more once she's better.” “It's getting harder and harder to explain her to the other women...why, if it weren't for Sonya, I'd have her out of here already!” “The hell you would, woman! She reminds me of me when I was her age! Except for the ice and all.” [[Previous|6]] | [[Next|8]]

Nicole groaned and made her way to the television. With her own parents, she at least got to be a part of the fights that erupted regularly. Here, Sonya's parents kept their arguments to themselves and assumed no one else heard them. Nicole was happy to grant their wish and turn up the volume on the TV to drown them out. The news channel's little newsflash ditty blared, grabbing her attention by the shoulders and giving it a vigorous shake. “Residents of River City are urged to be careful out there,” a pudgy woman nervously reported, “as a string of violent robberies has overtaken the town. Thankfully, no one was injured earlier today as a group of four masked men overtook the bank.” The TV replaced the anxious anchor with slow pans around the Gold Rings Bank, now bedazzled with police tape and flashing red and blue lights. “Strangest of all, however," the reporter continued, "are the eyewitness reports of one of the men actually passing directly through the door! This odd ability was apparently what allowed the men to bypass most of the bank's security measures and make off with their ill-gotten loot.” Nicole muted the television and stared at Sonya. “You thinking what I'm thinking?” she asked, feeling quite pleased with herself. Sonya shook her head. “I'm thinking apologies!” she pleaded. “To Mom and Dad for the tree!” Nicole dismissed Sonya's concerns with a derisive scoff. “We'll apologize by making this guy fix the tree situation for us! That's how I apologize...'sorry' doesn't mean a thing unless I show I'm actually willing to make things right!” “But Mom expects—“ Nicole grabbed Sonya by the hand and yanked her back to the front door. “We can worry about her later. For now, we have to get to the crime scene of that bank robbery and find that kid that walked through the wall!” The one thing Nicole liked about where Sonya lived was that it was uphill from the city. Getting downtown was as easy as laying a thick layer of ice on the road ahead of her. She enjoyed the rush of sledding down on her stomach, hurtling past panicked cars and pedestrians as she sent herself careening toward the bank she'd seen on the news. She glanced over her shoulder, relieved to see Sonya sprinting after her, keeping pace with powerful strides. [[Previous|7]] | [[Next|9]]

The police were less than happy at the rapid approach the girls made, greeting their arrival with guns and shouts. “Get out of here, you two!” one of the officers barked through a thick mustache. “Can't you see that this is a crime scene? Don't spoil the investigation!” True to his word, the scene behind him was separated from the rest of River City by a cavalcade of yellow tape and a frothing sea of men and women in uniform, trying to piece together the day's events and the identities of the robbers. The sun hung high in the air above it all, pouring its light onto the street in front of a luxurious-looking building that showed no signs of the morning's crimes. No windows were broken, and there were no bloodstains to clean. The only real clues pointing to any sort of crime were the shaken witnesses sobbing their stories to attentive police officers. Nicole and Sonya nodded, ducking away from the mustachioed policeman in order to enter a huddle and do some brainstorming. “So what, do I just knock him out?” Nicole mumbled. “No, you can't!” Sonya chided her. “He's a cop!” Nicole let out a disappointed sigh. “Yeah, being fugitives would make things harder, huh? But we can't let them keep all the clues to themselves! How are we supposed to find him if the police run off with all the leads?” “Where there's anger and shouting, there's Nicole,” a gentle female voice said from behind Nicole. She spun around on her heels to face a police officer wearing a weary smile beneath her curly blond hair. “And Sonya, too. How are you girls?” “We're great, thanks!” Sonya answered as she snapped off a joyful salute. “You, Heather?” Heather winced. “While you're here, it might be a little better to call me Officer Storm so people don't get the idea that we're quite so buddy-buddy. Speaking of which...” Heather took off her hat and scratched her hair. “...just what are you doing here?” [[Previous|8]] | [[Next|10]]

The girls let Heather lead them away from the crime scene before admitting their plan. “We want the guy who did this,” Nicole explained in a hushed tone. “The one that went through the wall.” “He a friend of yours?” Heather asked. Nicole laughed and glanced to Sonya, who seemed pretty willing to divulge the plan with Heather. After all, the woman had been with them when they fought Mr. Lee the first time, and it was one of her personal friends that Lee had filled with machines and turned into a slave. “Not yet, but don't you think passing through walls would be really useful if, say, we were going to hunt down Mr. Lee and finish the job we started a month or so ago?” Heather let out a long sigh. “As long as we're still speaking hypothetically here, aside from the assumptions that you can actually track him down when we can't...what do you want us to do, not investigate a bank robbery?” Nicole didn't think the RCPD was making any effort whatsoever to find Mr. Lee, but she kept quiet. “There's no way...” “No, by all means!” Sonya relented, glancing over Heather's shoulder to make sure none of the other cops were listening in. “Investigate! But so will we. And after that...we want the kid!” “I can only bend the rules so far,” Heather said. “At the end of the day, we still need four butts sitting in that jail cell.” “Except you won't because one of them can literally walk out whenever he wants!” Nicole groaned, rearing away from the conversation to fire a glob of saliva onto the sidewalk. “And I thought I was the stupid one...you can't keep that kid in jail the same way you do a normal criminal! Trust me, I know lots about bullies and their victims...” Sonya failed to fully stifle her giggle. “By being a bully?” she accused Nicole. Nicole responded to the allegation by punching Sonya in the shoulder. “Anyway...the only way to keep that kid under control is to terrify him. You cop types are alright, but nothing's scarier than me and Sonya here. If this kid's seen the news, he'll know who we are.” [[Previous|9]] | [[Next|11]]

Heather turned away from the girls and gazed into the sky, waiting for an answer to come to her. “Fine,” she eventually muttered, “but we don't know much. We found fingerprints on the door the kid walked through. That's all we know about this robbery.” Sonya cocked her head and grinned. “This robbery?” she parroted. “What of the rest?” Heather groaned, dodging a wave of water conjured from a nearby puddle. Someone had been just as anxious as Nicole to go rubbernecking around the crime scene, but they'd done it in a car. “I said too much,” she said. “Alright, so there's been a string of similar robberies lately...locked doors opened with no trace of the lock being picked or glass being shattered. Someone was getting inside people's houses with no clues as to how. I guess this means they're getting bolder.” Sonya nodded in understanding. “A pattern? So who's next?” “We don't know,” Heather admitted as she beckoned the girls into her street car. “I can stay in touch while we wait for the next hit, if there even is one. They walked away with a lot of money...if they're smart, they'll take it and run.” Nicole cracked her knuckles, leaking finely-ground ice out from between her hands. “If they were smart, they wouldn't be doing this crap in a place where you and I live,” she sneered. Heather shrugged and fired up the engine, her duty to the crime scene fulfilled. “Whatever. Let's just get you two to my place where we can talk a bit more freely.” [[Previous|10]] | [[Next|12]]

“'More freely'?” Nicole scoffed once the door to Heather's apartment swung shut. It was a simple living space, being no more than a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, but it seemed to be a cozy enough place for one person to live, especially one no-nonsense woman like Heather. The three of them sat around the folding table in her kitchen, since the alternatives were to park themselves on the floor or on the stack of mattresses in the corner serving as her bed. “Why are you so afraid of someone hearing you?” Heather sighed and got herself a drink of water from her faucet, calm in the face of its rattling. Nicole had never heard a faucet make a noise like that, but she assumed that meant it was about to explode or something. It must have shown on her face, because Heather was quick to point and laugh. “Not as afraid as you are of my faucet!” Heather didn't allow herself to grin and joke for long, however. “No, it's just that...before Mr. Lee turned my pal J into a robot...he had already planted a mole within our police force. He knew everything we knew before we learned it, because one of our boys at the precinct was telling him everything! He could easily be doing that again.” Heather motioned toward the faucet, but both girls refused her offer to get them some water. “I shouldn't be helping you,” she continued. “Mr. Lee is a dangerous man, and I shouldn't be encouraging you to go after him. I don't see it ending very well.” Nicole shrugged and reeled Sonya closer with an arm around her shoulder. “All the more reason for us to go, if you're going to be such a baby about it,” she teased. “Come on, lady, even I already thought that part through...that's why it'll be more than just Sonya and I. Us two could handle Lee and his robot guy on our own!” After giving Sonya a quick kiss on the cheek, she added, “We just need help getting to them.” [[Previous|11]] | [[Next|13]]

With a groan, Heather sat down in the only empty chair remaining at the table. “Nicole," the cop said, "I was more than happy to let you have your fight before, but that choice I made hospitalized Steven. A boy can't walk anymore after the gunshots he took, and it's all my fault.” Sonya rose to her feet, sending the chair crashing onto the floor behind her. “It's J's fault!” she snapped. “It's Lee's fault! Not your fault!” Nicole had also started to make a point, but had found herself drowned out by Sonya's outburst. Fortunately, her way of speaking in short bursts meant that Nicole didn't have long to wait to have her say. “All the more reason to hunt this guy down and finish the job,” Nicole insisted. “Letting him do what he wants means a lot more Stevens, right?” A dejected sigh forced its way through Heather's lips. “Just go home, alright? Leave me alone so I can think about this.” Nicole rose to her feet alongside Sonya and nodded. “Fine. Figure out if you'll be helping us or staying out of our way.” Once the door was closed behind them and they were out on the street, Sonya glanced over to Nicole. “The things you said there,” she gasped as the two of them held hands, “so much opinion!” Nicole replied with a bitter laugh. “I'm still in it mostly for the violence,” she admitted. “Really, though, would Heather have been happy with that response?” Nicole nodded toward the sky, bringing Sonya's attention to the sun as it sank out of view behind the horizon. “Come on, we better get back before the sun gets down. I know your parents would appreciate it.” [[Previous|12]] | [[Next|14]]

“This hill is way harder to go up than down,” Nicole complained as the couple entered the final leg of their trip home. “Why do you rich people always live on hills, anyway?” “I dunno!” Sonya admitted, having no issue whatsoever with the incline beneath her feet. “We just do?” Nicole chuckled and shrugged, content to have given the question a shot. “Guess I'll never know for sure...but that just means you won't hear the end of it, ei...” Nicole trailed off mid-sentence as a blur of motion tugged at her attention from the very corner of her vision. She let her head get pulled, her vision centering on where she'd spotted the movement in the first place. Her scrutiny was rewarded with nothing but the corner of a house and an empty black car. The house was certainly nice to look at, at least. Even in the darkness, she found the columns out front cool, what with the jagged silhouettes showing against the sky. Her view was eventually spoiled by a hand sliding in and out of her space. “Nicole?” Sonya said. “What's up?” A shrug rippled through Nicole's shoulders, throwing her hands into the air. “I dunno. I thought I saw someone by that house over there.” Sonya pressed her face against Nicole's, her gaze rolling along the path Nicole pointed to. “That car is weird.” Nicole turned to face her girlfriend, having seen nothing out of the ordinary herself. “What's so weird? It's just a car, right? All you rich types have at least three, right?” Sonya sighed and took hold of Nicole's head, pointing it to the other side of the house. “But why is it there? They have a garage!” The observation led to both girls flicking their eyes back and forth between the mystery sedan and the garage, until Nicole finally put two and two together. “Yeah, their garage is huge! I'm sure there's room for one more in there. Come on, Sonya, we're getting a closer look.” Nicole tugged on Sonya's arm to urge her into action. When her tugs were resisted, she simply kept at it until Sonya relented. [[Previous|13]] | [[Next|15]]

Soon, both of them found themselves slipping through the yard, an area that Sonya's neighbors kept in immaculate condition. Nicole caught her mind drifting back to the tree she'd demolished in her own yard. If this was the sort of yard everyone else had, a spray of debris would make Sonya's house stand out. Her experience with rich girls at school had made her believe that rich people loved standing out, but hated being different. “Yeah, look here,” Sonya whispered, her face pressed against one of the garage's side windows. “So much room...!” Nicole shoved her aside to take a look, and true to her word, the garage was a mess of tools and workbenches wrapped around a resting place for cars and boxes of miscellany, but there was still room for another car inside, possibly even two. “We're sure these people wouldn't just leave a car outside for whatever reason?” she asked. Sonya shook her head. “Not these people. They're scared of you!” Once she turned away to look for an open door or window, it took a minute for Nicole to join her in the search. Leaving the house to the whims of its intruder suddenly seemed awfully tempting to Nicole, but she knew Sonya would never let her live it down. She fogged up the garage window with a sigh and ran to catch up to her energetic girlfriend. Nicole had a little trouble seeing where she was going in the dark, but she found Sonya standing in a beam of light leaking from one of the upstairs windows before long. “What room is that?” she wondered aloud. Sonya put a finger to her lips, a demand for silence that would let her listen intently for clues. “I hear bath water,” she noted. “And that's about it.” Nicole made a move for the back door, but found her hand intercepted by Sonya's. She looked up to see a mix of confusion and disapproval on her girlfriend's face, to which she replied, “We can't just leave her in there, can we?” “But that's wrong too! We can't barge in!” Nicole's expression went blank in an effort to avoid choosing which emotion inside her would be the one on display. She found herself both agreeing and disagreeing with Sonya, being both excited to intercept a potential predator and willing to leave the owner of the house to their misfortune. She saw no way to get into a fight with the intruder without being helpful. Only after intense deliberation did she decide to split the difference with Sonya's help. “Then you can stay out here. Stay near the car in case whoever's in here decides to make a run for it. I'll be the one that barges in. You'll be fine.” Sonya shrugged. “Alright.” As she turned to take her post, she added, “Behave.” [[Previous|14]] | [[Next|16]]

Nicole grumbled incoherently in reply and locked her sight on the back door. With a deep breath, she flushed all doubts from her mind; she was determined to find whoever was in there and ruin their plans for the house and its owner. She let a sheath of ice form on her hand and crawl up her arm, and gave a short yell before running at the door full-tilt. Her force may have been excessive, considering that the door came right off of its hinges and slammed into the floor, laying dormant for her to trample over. Her eyes flicked back and forth around the darkness, attempting to glean some useful clue as to what was going on, but all she saw were vague shapes of house plants and furniture. Before long, however, her ears picked up screams coming from upstairs. “Hey, don't worry, lady!” Nicole announced as she barreled up the stairs, almost tripping herself by going too fast. “I'm here to help!” Her heroics were rewarded by a raging scowl on the face of a middle-aged woman clad in only a towel, her brown hair showing signs of graying from under a thick layer of shampoo lather. After a few more gasps and shouts, the woman tilted her head back, her mouth pulling itself into a small circle. “You!” she said through wrinkled lips. “You're that charlatan from next door! How dare you break into my house, you little crook!” A blast of air slammed into the floor, held down by the sudden drop in temperature Nicole caused as her hands were lost beneath a thick coat of ice. “What?!” she hollered in the woman's face. “I'm here to rescue you!” “Rescue me?” The woman scoffed and adjusted her towel. “From what, everything I own?” Nicole slapped her forehead in utter confusion and disgust. “No, that's whoever owns the black car parked outside your house?” This information prompted the woman to raise an eyebrow. “A black car...? I don't own any black cars...” “Oh, for...” Nicole let out a long groan. “Exactly!” Nicole returned to the stairwell, an array of steps clad in an opulent red carpet and flanked by a solid oak railing. “Just stay up here and holler if you see anyone.” With that, Nicole allowed ice to slick up her shoes and jumped onto the railing, using it to slide down the stairs much faster than she had climbed up them. “Now wait just a minute!” the woman bawled, but any words past that were lost on Nicole because she refused to wait. [[Previous|15]] | [[Next|17]]

She turned and watched as the front door was flung open by a group of shapes she couldn't make out from so far away. She found that problem easily solved by skating through the house on her still-icy feet, pushing herself along to allow her feet to glide along the hardwood floor of the massive foyer. “Nicole!” Sonya's voice called from outside. “Bad guys!” At the doorway, where the floor made a rough transition to the veranda, Nicole grunted and pushed herself into the air. She spun clear over the veranda and clubbed one of the bogeys in the back of the head with a thick layer of ice over her arm. “I know,” she said. As the shape she clobbered crumpled to the ground, two others dropped a large burlap sack they were carrying in favor of brandishing guns at her. The distraction proved sufficient for Sonya to sneak in a fierce flying knee attack that blasted both of them off their feet. “All better!” she cheered as she threw a fierce kick into the ribs of one of the grounded men, to make sure he stayed there. Nicole shook her head. “No,” she clarified, “not all better! This is only three people. I saw four!” Before long, a loud shriek issued from inside the house. “Nicole!” Sonya hollered, already sprinting to investigate. “Right!” With that, Nicole followed close behind Sonya. Their charge led to the woman of the house, standing in a bathrobe over her back door. “What did you do, you simpleton?” she howled, giving off another shriek. “You...my door! Why...?” Nicole gave the woman a shove and lifted the door off of the floor. “Just get down!” she ordered everyone, ducking behind the door and hoping for everyone else to follow suit. Soon afterward, a bullet ripped through the door, barely missing Nicole's shoulder. Now that she had a little breathing room, she could explain her actions to the scowling woman she had pushed off of the door. “I saw someone skulking around in there...I don't know how they got there, but they're armed and we need to stay out of sight as much as we can. They can't hit what they can't see, right?” “And if he gets close,” Sonya added as she ushered the frightened woman out the back door, “I'll bash his brains in!” [[Previous|16]] | [[Next|18]]

Nicole nodded and took up the rear of the convoy, keeping the lady between herself and Sonya to maximize her safety. This foolproof strategy was nonetheless spoiled when a face and arms emerged from the wall before her very eyes. Before she could parse what she was even seeing, an entire teenage boy had stepped out of the wall and scooped the lady into a full nelson. “This is...inefficient,” he growled as he restrained the woman in his grip. “We should be done here by now.” “Done robbing?” Sonya growled, afraid to take a step forward with a hostage in the mix. “We're sorry. Gotta go? You seem busy.” Her sarcasm regiment complete, Sonya stuck her tongue out at the aggressor. “Get real, jerk!” “Hmph.” The boy from the wall used his chin to point at the pile of men Nicole and Sonya had left near the front door. “They call me Ghost...they give me purpose. My skills are handsomely rewarded in their employ. I see no such gain coming from sparing this woman.” “How's this for gains?” Nicole growled, her fists heavy with ice. “You let the old hag go, and we don't kill your sorry ass. I don't even think the cops got called...you could probably be long gone by the time they show up.” Nicole watched Ghost's face as he contemplated the offer, or at least what she could see past the ski mask. His lips ground nervously against each other until finally, he shoved his hostage away. “...acceptable,” he agreed as she scampered back into her house, sobbing uncontrollably. The distance was easy for Nicole to cover, and before Ghost knew what was happening, she had thrown a glacial punch directly into his gut, making him retch and gasp for air as he fell to the ground. “Nicole!” Sonya said, her voice shaking with shock. “You lied?” “Of course I did,” Nicole replied as she planted her foot on Ghost's stomach, varying the pressure based on how much he tried to resist. “It got this guy under control, didn't it?” Nicole turned to Ghost, reaching down to rip off his ski mask. A cavalcade of gray hair poured out to greet Nicole, falling around thin and bony features protruding from beneath pale skin. “Listen," she continued, "it might be hard to trust what I'll say next, but I have a job for you that's way more rewarding than those small-time jokers you're messing around with. You just listen to what I have to say...and you're totally free to go after that. For real.” “...this is no position from which to argue,” Ghost admitted. Nicole smirked. “Smart man. Now that that lady's in her house, she's probably calling the cops. We have to get you away from here well before they show up, and I know just where to take you...” [[Previous|17]] | [[Next|19]]

Heather pulled open her door, clutching a blanket against her body as she let out a yawn. “Nicole, it's late,” she groaned. “Go home.” Nicole shook her head as Sonya brought Ghost into view. “No,” she said, “we need somewhere quiet to talk with our new friend.” Heather reached to rub her eyes, remembering at the last second that her hand was the only thing keeping her modest. In a panic, she snatched her blanket anew before it could fall. “What...I'm tired. I have no idea what you mean.” Nicole shoved her way into the apartment and closed the door once Sonya and Ghost were in. “I mean that I caught this guy walking through walls in order to rob my neighbor.” That fact managed to rouse Heather from her tired stupor. “And you brought him here?” she groaned. “Of course we brought him here!” Sonya said, easing Ghost into one of the chairs around the kitchen table. “Away from other cops!” “She's RCPD?” Ghost gasped in Heather's direction. He attempted to escape his chair, but Sonya kept him from standing up. Nicole nodded and placed her frigid hands on Ghost's shoulders, her eyes fixated on the ice crystals oozing outward onto his tight black shirt. “She's RCPD, but she's with Sonya and I.” “Not that I want to be,” Heather grumbled as she collapsed onto her bed. With a sigh, Nicole continued her offer. “She won't chase you unless we tell her to. Remember that when this conversation is over and you're a free man. Also, you might want to remember how much it hurt when I punched you in the gut.” Nicole paused to crack her knuckles for emphasis. “Do you recognize me at all?” “No,” Ghost spat unceremoniously in reply. “Well...a month ago, Sonya and I were on the news for a little while. Mr. Lee, the guy that gave us powers in the first place, was going to make us his robot slaves or something...I dunno. I'm still trying to grasp it. He had his goons all over the city, hunting down anyone that so much as looked like they might have powers.” Ghost nodded. “That, I do remember.” [[Previous|18]] | [[Next|20]]

Nicole reared away from him and delivered a round of applause. “Isn't that wonderful? Saves me the time it would take to tell you why it's so important that we hunt the guy down and finish him off for good. As lo ng as he's out there, he could still be...doing...robot slavery stuff.” “You coerced me just to request my aid in the fight against that man?” Ghost asked. He ran a hand through his hair and stuck his nose toward the ceiling. “Making the request in the first place would have been much faster, and led to the same result.” Nicole glanced over to Sonya. “That means he's in, right?” she asked. “With ample opportunity to rob the coffers of one so powerful and wealthy as Mr. Lee, I see no reason not to accept.” With a shrug, Nicole responded, “Just don't rob anyone else in the meantime, alright? We're not going to save you from arrest twice...actually, no, we're not going to spare your life twice.” To emphasize her point, she smashed an icy fist against the table, breaking it in half in the process. Heather groaned as she tossed and turned in her bed, settling on her side. “I don't even want to know what that noise was right now,” she growled. [[Previous|19]] | [[Next|21]]

## Chapter 2 *I am Ciel Letrush, and this is what happened today, on November 1, 441 PV.* Megaphones and loudspeakers screamed through the city streets. They were screaming my name. The people behind them wanted me back, to continue doing...whatever they were doing to me. I used to know their plans; I had them written down in this journal already. They...weren't happy to see that, so they tore all those pages out. That's what it says in the first intact page after a stack of torn-out pages, anyway. There was also someone else's handwriting inside the front cover of the journal that reads like a driver's license. “Ciel Letrush, age sixteen, five-foot-eight, black hair, slanted hazel eyes,” and it just keeps going on like that. My nostrils flare a bit over some of the phrasing, but it's probably too late to confront whoever did that after the facility blew up. ...no, I blew up the facility. The journal's kind of vague about it, but by the looks of it, there was something supplying power to the facility that I used my powers on, and things just sort of happened from there. I was just trying to disengage some electronic door locks, but judging from the journal and the roving gangs of paramilitary contractors shouting my name through the streets, I think I disengaged the whole place. Not that I'd miss it anyway. But I had the greatest idea today! While I was crouching in an alleyway, hiding from all those guys with all those guns, I noticed some roller-blades up against a trash can. They were in really shoddy shape, so I know why they were thrown away like that. But they seem to have held on for long enough, and fit on me just fine, too. They let me flee a lot faster than on foot...I wish I could remember where I found them, to thank their former owner. They really made me reexamine exactly what my powers even are. I used to think I was just teleporting short distances, but then a truck full of mercenaries just emptied out into one side of the alleyway. Desperate to escape, I took aim at a passing car visible in the other direction, and just...went for it. [[Previous|20]] | [[Next|22]]

My powers are hard to describe since I don't have a third-person account to cross-reference. I just focus my mind on a nearby object, and...suddenly, I'm right next to it. It always felt like teleportation to me. I had it mixed up until the roller-blades helped me notice all the momentum that carried through to their wheels. That passing car...I came upon it so quickly, and kept going...and once I got the hang of it, it was kind of fun! That extra speed came in handy when a pair of helicopters swooped down behind me! I definitely wasn't expecting that, but between them and the truck I had seen in the alleyway, I was starting to feel pretty trapped. My only option seemed to be the suspension bridge I could see looming dead ahead of me. While that seemed like an even worse place to be if they managed to corner me, it also put their entire squad into a bottleneck; they'd all be behind me. Armed with my new realization about my powers, I went for it. Machine gun fire raked the asphalt around my skates, so I jumped and aimed for a van that was fleeing the scene. In the blink of an eye, I was skating right off its roof and zipping off in front of it. I winced as I heard the wave of gunfire sweep over the van behind me. In a clearer state of mind, I probably would have predicted that those bloodthirsty monsters wouldn't let something like the presence of innocents stop them from shooting the place up if I wasn't so deathly afraid of being shot up. Tears started welling up in my eyes, a reaction I hated myself for having, because it was getting in the way of my escape. Shapes became wavy and indistinct through my tears. I would need clearer vision to use my powers. Wisps of black hair bobbed into my eyes from the sides. I cleared it all away with a flick of my head as I kept skating down the road. Incensed by my strategy, the four trucks that had failed to form a roadblock capable of stopping me joined the chase. I didn't dare look behind me to see how many were back there, and even if I was tempted, it was hard to take my eyes off the helicopter looming before me, and harder still to avert my gaze from the missiles it launched at the bridge, ripping it apart entirely. I managed to scrawl all this into you, my journal, before the mercenaries swarmed into the area, offering me a choice. They said they'd be willing to take me in alive, and even let me finish writing this. “You should remember what happens when you try to escape from us,” they said. I'm so glad they won't be able to see the next sentence, and journal, I feel bad for you for writing it. I'm jumping into the river and making my escape underwater; maybe my powers will still work down there. I'll be able to hide in the murky depths and resurface somewhere far away from these goons, where I can ditch my jumpsuit and just try to live a normal life. It's wishful thinking, I know, but even if I just smack into a rock and die, or drown, or they shoot me before I even hit the water, there's one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt. Letting them take me back to my former captors would be the worst-case scenario. It's been nice knowing you, journal, but now it's time to jump. The river's plenty deep, right? [[Previous|21]] | [[Next|23]]

“Why are we here?” Sonya wondered as River City's landmark bridge rose into view, jabbing its suspension cables high in the air to wave hello. “So far, to spar...” Nicole shrugged. “I still haven't gotten that tree cleaned up,” she said. “I don't want to mess anything else up, or else your mother might shoot me or something. She's still pretty mad over that.” Sonya's confused facial expression did not abate. “So we came here?” “What? I like it here.” Nicole spread her arms and stood with her back to the bridge. “I mean, just look at this place...” Sonya's eyes fell down, fixated on the barren, dusty terrain under her feet. “I am looking. It looks awful.” Nicole sighed. “OK, yeah, it doesn't look like much, but neither do I.” She gestured downward at her body, too stocky and muscular to fit with the standard of beauty most of the girls at school had held themselves to. “But that's what I like about it. It's plain. There's no crap in the way. I can see the bridge and the river without much to distract me...and besides, if you like other stuff so much, the vegetation is a lot thicker up there.” Nicole jabbed a finger along the course of the river, where heading inland yielded a forest of increasing thickness. “What," she scoffed, "you think sparring up there would be better?” “We're fine in the open!” Sonya shouted, already sprinting along the riverbank. “Let's train in a tight spot!” “Fine,” Nicole grumbled, not feeling eager to knock over more trees. She figured that if a situation really called for precision and finesse, she would leave it to Sonya; she thought the entire point of teamwork was to save her from doing things she wasn't so good at. Nicole's reverie apparently lasted long enough for Sonya to sprint up the river and back down. “Nicole, help me!” she gasped, already making a second trip up along the riverbank. “There's a girl here...in the river!” [[Previous|22]] | [[Next|24]]

Nicole gasped and kept close to Sonya as she ducked into the forest, weaving through trees and jumping over bushes. “Jeez, how far in is this girl?" she asked. "I want to get to the sparring.” “We can't spar now!” Sonya said, not the least bit out of breath. She peeled away her street clothes mid-sprint, ditching her jeans and T-shirt to reveal a sports bra and boxing shorts. “We have to help!” With that, Sonya put her arms over her head, turning herself into a torpedo as she rocketed through the river, fighting the current to reach a figure who had been draped across a rock by the flowing water. Her black hair wiggled in the current as her body lay there, curled up tightly. “Nicole, help me out!” Nicole stood on the riverbank, getting the leverage to lift the young lady that Sonya couldn't manage in the deep water. Afterward, she had to offer a hand to Sonya herself because the lay of the land made it difficult for anyone to hoist even themselves out of the river. “Who do you think she is?” Nicole wondered, particularly mystified by the girl's sky blue jumpsuit. “Check her for stuff!” Sonya replied, easing the girl before her out of her curled-up position. “She have ID?” Nicole gasped and shot her hand toward the girl's chest. Sonya gave her a dirty look, but the suspicion abated when her hands patted a rectangular shape protruding from the girl's shirt. “She's got something here...” After a little more rummaging, she revealed the rectangular shape to be some sort of book. “Look, Sonya, if you're gonna give me that look, I can reach up your shirt later. Let's read her book first.” Nicole cracked open the book to a random page and started to read aloud. “'I am Ciel Letrush, and this is what happened today, on November 1, 441 PV.' Well, now we have a name, at least. Come on, our house is too far away...we better get her to Heather's. She might know who this Ciel is.” [[Previous|23]] | [[Next|25]]

“There you two are,” Heather said, having been boxed in against the front door of her apartment complex by Nicole and Sonya. “When are you two replacing my table?” “Later,” Nicole growled, shifting the limp body of Ciel into view. When she saw the body, Heather rolled her eyes. “Who did you bring to my house this time? You didn't do this to her, did you?” Sonya shook her head. “She was in the river!” she explained. “We pulled her out and stuff!” “Without knowing how she got there in the first place, or if she's even still alive?” Heather sighed. “No...it's great that you two tried to help and all, but don't you think we should get her to the hospital? I'm a police officer, not a miracle worker.” “Fine,” Nicole agreed, “but you ought to read this kid's diary. I was thumbing through it, and apparently she's had, like, an army chasing her or something. It's neat stuff, even if some of the words are a little big for me.” “Nicole, that's her life!” Sonya chided, wagging a finger in Nicole's face as everyone pitched in to ease Ciel into the car. “Not some old novel! Be more respectful!” “Well, sorry.” Nicole shook her head once Ciel had been draped across the back seat of Heather's car. “OK, now that we'll have some downtime, who wants to hear another entry out of this kid's diary? I skipped ahead to the last page...maybe if we go closer to the start, we can find out why an army hates her.” [[Previous|24]] | [[Next|26]]

*I am Ciel Letrush, and this is what happened today, on December 27, 440 PV.* Margaret! Her name's Margaret. I'm glad I wrote that note to go find her, because anything she told me before is gone from this journal now that the foremost pages have been torn away. All I had left to go on is “wavy brown hair”, “really important”, and “nice”, but it's OK. She came to find me about as soon as testing concluded and I was able to prove that my powers had not yet melted me into slag. You'd think they'd have all the results they needed by now. “Ciel,” Margaret greeted me. It was cordial, yet warm. “You must be confused about who you are and what you're doing here...” I shook my head. “I managed to write a few things down...though most of it was how mad I am.” This is about when I got a good glimpse at her name tag, because she took me into her arms and gave me a hug. She startled me half to death! Everyone else at PureTech had treated me with somewhere between ignorance and hatred, except for this lady whose good was done behind the scenes. Maybe they really didn't need more test results, and she just said they did. “I'm sorry. I tried to tell them not to tamper with it at all, maybe just remove what it was they didn't want you knowing, but...” There was something on my mind more important than anything that had happened over the past few days, or even the past few years. “Margaret...how did I get here?” Her response was to turn away from me, though not far enough; I managed to catch a glimpse of a tear rolling down her cheek. “Ciel...I don't know if I'm ready to tell you that, OK? It's just...” Just what? I wasn't going to press the lady any further, since she was already in tears, so I decided to try easing her into it a little. “How did you get here, then? You're such a nice lady, and I've got enough details to see that this whole thing is...pretty awful, actually.” [[Previous|25]] | [[Next|27]]

Margaret slid a card through a reader positioned just to the left of the door, closing it; my room was built so that I needed authorization not only to enter and leave the room, but also to get privacy during lights-out time. Some of the PureTech employees were fond of that punishment; just last night, they left the door open while I tried to get some sleep. I, uh, didn't get much sleep. Now that we were alone, Margaret could tell me a story. “I'm being coerced,” she began. “PureTech is a company with a lot of secrets, so it's kind of hard to quit, you know? But I've managed to keep secrets from them, too.” Margaret was taking a huge chance by being here for me, so I thought I might as well return the favor. “We can keep a secret together,” I assured her, “if you want.” And then, because I felt daring, a guess: “Am I your daughter?” Margaret laughed softly, holding me against her chest as she did so. “No, Ciel. We don't look very much alike, I'm afraid! That's a shame, too, because you're very pretty. But I do have a son...” “Does he work here?” Margaret shook her head. “I...abandoned him to work here.” I gasped, my hands wrapping around Margaret's leg as I leaned close to her. “You what? But that was your son...what happened to him?” “I don't know. I'm ashamed of the entire thing, Ciel, so please...this isn't even a matter of hiding information from PureTech anymore. Just don't tell anyone. I...I was on a business trip in downtown River City when I met a rather handsome man...our jobs would only let us have one night together, so we made sure to do everything we could that night. I ended up pregnant from the encounter...it was something I never should have done, but impulse pushed me along! I knew I couldn't have a child, either, or else PureTech might take him from me. I'd heard stories from other scientists, and the horror they felt when they realized that their next experiment was someone they babysat...and I knew of one man who left his young adult daughter behind to protect her from this place, so I...I copied his idea.” [[Previous|26]] | [[Next|28]]

I had to have been mistaken! My journal had identified Margaret as a nice woman, and yet all these things were coming to light. The way she talked to me, though, and held me...I wanted to believe that over her words. And I didn't know what to think of Margaret, so belief was all I had. Perhaps it was this doubt that let me ask her, “You didn't just leave a baby behind, did you?” “No,” she replied, much to my relief. I wanted to believe in her; I wanted an ally in this awful facility. “I made sure the child was safe with someone I knew I could trust. I explained everything to an old friend, a kind man named Geoff, and left little Gregory to stay with him. Ciel...may I ask you something?” I nodded, and Margaret took a deep breath. “I know you want to leave this place someday," she told me. "If you do...go to Cross Town, and find Geoff and Gregory. Hopefully you can find a way to tell me they're alright. They might be hiding under a different last name.” “Why can't you go?” I asked, even though I thought I knew the answer. “PureTech would know, and all this work I've done to hide them would be useless.” Yep, called it. “I know you want to escape this place someday, Ciel, and if you manage to slip under the radar and lay low, perhaps you can find the boy I left behind...no. He must be a young man by now. Then you can tell him what I can't...you can tell him that I love him. And...and tell him I'm sorry, that I only wanted to protect him.” “You won't stop me if I try to escape?” “If it were up to me, I would've just let you go already.” [[Previous|27]] | [[Next|29]]

Nicole growled at the difficulty of sleeping on the cot the hospital had provided; it was small to begin with, but the fact that Sonya was trying to share it with her made it even worse. The hospital itself was also a terrible place to sleep in general, since white noise filled the room and illumination was dim, as opposed to being absent. The hardest part for Nicole, however, was the temperature of the room. The staff kept Ciel's room so warm, it reminded Nicole of when her powers first developed. Her parents had responded to her rapid decline in body temperature by cranking the thermostat, and the cloying heat had left Nicole in a condition reminiscent of a coma. Sonya and her family were very accommodating of that quirk, and she had gotten used to that luxury. Too used to it, if staying by Ciel's side, where she was the one being accommodated for, was such a big shock. A bigger shock came, however, when Ciel suddenly sat up straight in her bed, screaming her head off. Nicole fell out of the cot, scrambling to get up and take Ciel by the shoulders to comfort her. “Easy, Ciel!” Nicole said, staring into the girl's almond-shaped eyes. “Who's Ciel?” Ciel replied, much to Nicole's confusion. “And who are you? Where am I?” Nicole groaned. “What do you mean, 'Who's Ciel'? You're Ciel! That's what this book says, anyway.” Even before Nicole could finish holding up the diary, Ciel snatched it away and cracked it open, her eyes flicking rapidly along the pages. “I wrote this...?” Nicole's brutal honesty prevented her from doing much else but shrugging. “Probably. My girlfriend and I found you in the river holding it. We got you to the hospital as fast as we could.” “Hospital?” Ciel scrambled to sit up straighter, retreating from Nicole as much as she could, and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Is that where I am?” she gasped from behind her knees. Nicole could see where this conversation was going and what it needed; it was time to apply her theories on teamwork to the situation. “Sonya!” she hollered. “This girl's all scared and sad and stuff. Talk it out of her.” [[Previous|28]] | [[Next|30]]

Sonya nodded and sprang from the cot, taking Nicole's place with Ciel. Meanwhile, Nicole moved to intercept the doctor rushing into the room. “I heard the screaming from outside,” he announced through a surgical mask. “What's happening in here?” Nicole jabbed a finger toward the bed. “That girl from the river woke up,” she explained, “and other than not remembering anything about herself, she's fine.” The doctor's shoulders sagged as a sigh pushed against his mask. “Sounds like retrograde amnesia.” Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Retrowhat?” “Certain injuries or diseases can prevent a person from remembering anything from before the onset...before that thing happened. She may also have anterograde amnesia...she probably won't be able to remember anything that happens now, either.” “We're going to have to go through all this every time she wakes up?” Nicole groaned. “I lead a busy life, doc. I can't put up with that. How long will it take to fix it?” The doctor shook his head. “It's not something that can just be 'fixed'. Ciel will likely struggle with amnesia for the rest of her life. Don't think there's too much to struggle with here, though...if she has anterograde amnesia, she might never really remember who you are, but she can still retain basic tasks. She won't need help going to the bathroom or anything like that.” Nicole deflated as a long sigh of relief pushed itself through her lips. “So she won't forget how to fight, huh? That's good.” The doctor nodded. “I...yes, I suppose that would be information she could retain. And wherever she came from, someone was at least decent enough to give her a journal. Judging by some of the entries, her amnesia predates falling into the river. When you and your friend have calmed her down, encourage her to continue using the journal to store long-term memories.” [[Previous|29]] | [[Next|31]]

“Gee, doc, you make it sound easy,” Nicole scoffed, looking over as Sonya held up a mirror for Ciel to look into. She only caught bits of the conversation, but it seemed as if Sonya was showing Ciel the rote physical description in the front of the book and comparing it to the frightened girl, showing her how she matched up to the Ciel described in the book. The doctor let out a small chuckle. “Well, it sort of is,” he said. “She's doing pretty well besides the amnesia. Any trauma that could give her amnesia would show itself in other ways, but...anyway, you can take her home whenever you like. In fact, if you leave now, my shift is ending soon...I could drive you myself, and your policewoman friend can get back to her business.” “What?” Ciel gasped from the bed. “You're taking me away?” “Only to somewhere nicer than this,” Nicole assured her. “Mind if we read another journal entry on the way there?” “Another...?” Ciel growled and pushed herself to her feet. “You mean you've been reading my journal without asking? How discourteous...!” “Dis-what?” Nicole didn't manage to ask before Ciel had suddenly crossed the room and punched her in the gut. Ciel took a step back, eyes wide and hands shaking. “Oh...my apologies! I didn't mean to...I just got so angry when I learned you were snooping through my memories, I...” Ciel's groveling was cut short by raucous laughter from Nicole. “That was awesome!” she said as she wobbled back onto her feet. “So those are your powers, huh? It's one thing to read about that, but to see it happen...listen, girl, forget the journal. On the way home, I've got a story for you...know anything about the Lee Corporation?” When Ciel shook her head, Nicole gave her a smirk. “You will soon enough.” [[Previous|30]] | [[Next|32]]

“This Lee Corporation seems just as terrible as the PureTech people described in my journal,” Ciel said as the road sloped up beneath the doctor's car. Nicole nodded. "I know it's not vengeance on the same punks that kept you hostage or whatever,” she bemoaned, “but trust me, it'll feel good anyway. My therapist says there's better ways to release anger, but none of them work.” Before Ciel could give her answer, the car came to a halt in front of Sonya's house. “This is the place, right?” the doctor confirmed, a question met with everyone exiting the car wordlessly. “Um...I left the hospital's number in Ciel's journal, if anything changes.” With that, the doctor sped off into the morning sun. Soon, however, Sonya's mother was dashing through the front door to take his place. “Where were you?” she screeched. “And who's this?” “Mom, this is Ciel!” Sonya said, pulling Ciel in close with an arm wrapped around her shoulder. “She almost drowned! She has amnesia!” Christine stomped her foot and stared intensely at Sonya. “And you were thinking you'd just drag yet another child to live with us?” The intense dismay on display caused Sonya to take a step back. “I—“ “Nicole here is already enough of a pain!” Christine spun on her heels to bury a finger in Nicole's chest. “You...it wasn't enough to ruin my house, was it? One of the neighbors told me all about how you trashed her house, and your friend, the thief!” Whereas Sonya was one to defer to her mother's rage, Nicole was having none of it. “I what?” she said as she grabbed Christine's hand, ice forming around her fingers. “I saved that woman from four thieves! Four! They were definitely not anyone I knew.” Christine began to shriek in agony and withdraw her hand from Nicole's frigid grasp. “I grabbed one to scare the crap outta him!" Nicole continued. "You know he could walk through walls, right? I couldn't just let the cops take him to jail, or he'd get out the exact same way he got into that lady's house!” [[Previous|31]] | [[Next|33]]

“I dunno, that sounds pretty smart, actually,” Sonya's father admitted as he threw open the front door. “Too smart for you to have thought of...Sonya, you put her up to that?” It was a rude thing to say, but Henry had always been rude, and Nicole actually identified with it a little. At the very least, his honesty was a welcome reprieve from all the saving face and biting tongues that usually happened atop the hill. “I think we came up with that one together," Nicole said. "Specifically scaring him is something I would've cooked up.” Henry didn't actually seem to care, however; he was moving toward Ciel, already appraising her with a hand caressing his five-o'clock shadow. “And you...what's with those clothes?” Nicole hadn't even noticed that Ciel's jumpsuit had been replaced by the hospital staff, though she didn't exactly consider the baggy beige outfit they had loaned her to be much of an improvement. “They were donated to the hospital,” she explained. “I own nothing else.” Henry shrugged. “Sonya's taller than you, but maybe some older clothes of hers fit better than that. Come on, Sonya, get her inside and take this commotion out of the street.” For once, everyone present had something they could all agree on. As they filed into the entrance hall of Sonya's enormous house, Nicole yawned and stretched her arms. “Well, I slept like crap in that hospital cot,” she complained. “I'm going to get some rest in my real bed.” Sonya grabbed Nicole's hand and shook her head. “Help me with Ciel!” she begged. “Help her feel at home!” Usually, there was nothing Nicole could do to resist those big, pleading green eyes looking right into hers, but there was a first time for everything. “Can't you do it? I barely slept.” “And don't forget the tree you demolished!” Christine cawed at them as they walked. A growl threw itself from Nicole's lungs. “Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it eventually. After I get some rest.” [[Previous|32]] | [[Next|34]]

A loud knocking on Nicole's door shocked her from her rest. “Mom needs us!” Sonya's voice hollered through the door. Nicole lazily rolled herself over to face the door. “Is it about Ciel?” she groaned. “It sure is! She can't stay!” Nicole grabbed one of the pillows under her head and used it to help cover her ears. “Why not? There's plenty of room here, isn't there?” A loud impact smashed into the other side of the door. “Just get up! Come downstairs!” Nicole stared at the door and let out a long, fierce growl, but she eventually threw on her sparring clothes just to see what was going on; the baggy white T-shirt and black cutoff jeans allowed her maximum mobility without baring herself to the extent Sonya did in her sparring outfit. With every heavy step she took toward the staircase, the floor complained just as much as she did, groaning loudly underneath her. She got halfway down the stairs before she noticed the three men dressed in strange, angular garb bunched around the front door, brandishing guns at Sonya's parents, their color scheme reminiscent of the jumpsuit Ciel was wearing when she was found in the river. “...she's here,” she caught one of them saying. “All we want is Letrush.” The floor was fed up with everyone, not just Nicole; its creaks alerted her to Sonya coming down the stairs behind her. “You see now?” she whispered into Nicole's ear. “I do,” Nicole moaned sadistically. “I see a great chance to start a fight.” “Not right off!” Sonya shoved her way in front of Nicole and began approaching the situation. “Follow me...!” A call to suppress her violent urges was not something Nicole wanted to hear, but Sonya seemed to have a plan to nullify the advantage the guns would grant these invaders. [[Previous|33]] | [[Next|35]]

Sonya sidled up to the altercation calmly, scooping up a nearby watering can. She used her body to shove her parents aside and make room for Nicole to step in. “Hello there!” she said to the gunmen. “Something wrong?” All three men turned their attention to Sonya. “We're looking for a girl about your age named Ciel Letrush," one of them replied. "If she's here, can you bring her to the front door, please?” Sonya's hand traveled to her chin, faking deep thought. “Letrush? Don't know her.” Sonya had them listening to her. That was just the opening Nicole needed to nail the nearest soldier with a glacial sucker punch. Between the force and the surprise, he was out the door and onto his back. Meanwhile, two quick elbow strikes whizzed out from Sonya, striking the remaining soldiers in the upper arms before they could open fire. As she moved one of the men outside with a push kick to the pelvis, Nicole threw all her weight at the other target, body checking him across the path of the other guy to make them trip over each other. As they slammed into the ground, the first soldier shook off his stunned state and took aim with his rifle. When Sonya handed Nicole the water jug, she knew exactly what to do with it. Her powers turned the water into a thick chunk of ice that absorbed the bulk of the incoming bullet's force. While this kept them from getting shot, the impact still jarred through Nicole's shoulders. She knew she'd have to sleep it off later. A look of surprise crossed the soldier's face as his bullet proved worthless. His hesitation gave Nicole the time she needed to grab hold of the barrel of the gun. The soldier threw the gun aside and took Nicole off her feet with a sweep kick. She thought he'd just wait and see what she was up to, and had let her guard down. He made it to his feet first, soon joined by the other two soldiers who had also chosen to ditch their guns in favor of a martial art style Nicole had never seen before. “Interesting...!” she said as she pushed herself to her feet, watching the three soldiers raise their open hands about to shoulder level. She went to throw a punch at one of them, but her target stepped forward and wrapped an arm around hers, locking her in place while he aimed his other arm and cracked an elbow against Nicole's cheek. She could already taste blood trickling through her mouth, but that only got her more excited. [[Previous|34]] | [[Next|36]]

“Sonya!" Nicole said, still reeling a bit from the latest impact. "These guys know what they're doing...looks like they like that mooey thing you like!” As she stole a glance at Sonya, she could already tell she had misidentified their style. They stood at an angle, but Sonya stood facing them more directly. “It's called muay thai!" she corrected. "And no, they don't...” The mention of Sonya's fighting style seemed to give the soldiers pause. Nicole had never seen Sonya's techniques, not even on TV. She'd been told the story once, but she couldn't remember it at a time like this. Her time and focus were already occupied with watching Sonya take a step forward and lash out with a high spinning kick. One unlucky soldier tried to block the incoming blow, but Sonya's advance meant the attack approached from an angle he couldn't cover, and his neck was left to suffer. As the impact staggered him, a chance opened up for Sonya to plunge an elbow into the back of his head, spiking him into the dirt. Nicole slicked her fists with a fresh coat of ice and threw herself into the fray. She couldn't let Sonya have all the fun. The fact that she caught her prey off-guard was a little insulting, but she had to admit that it did get her into grappling range easily enough. Once she had him, though, he patience quickly waned, and she settled for a headbutt. She was fairly accustomed to the sensation, and was therefore able to work through it. Her target, on the other hand, couldn't stand straight. It left her plenty of time to build up ice on her right hand. The frost weighed her arm down and ruined the lawn as it dragged through the grass behind her, but she was perfectly fine with that. “Here comes the finale!” she announced as she moved her arm in a slow circle, alerting her target in the process. It didn't matter, though; the decision he made to attempt to guard the massive downard blow was a poor one. [[Previous|35]] | [[Next|37]]

Her fight finished, Nicole checked on the scuffle between Sonya and the remaining soldier, a far more technical display of physical prowess than the frigid beatdown Nicole had delivered. She had turned in time to see Sonya sidestep and lean her upper body away from a quick punch. Sonya's counterpunch was solid, but was still halted by the soldier's hands. The respect Nicole had for Sonya kept her from stepping in on the fight, but cheering her girlfriend on was still permissible. “Come on!” she shouted. “You have powers he doesn't!” Sonya nodded and paused to grin at Nicole. “Oh yeah!” she shouted as she jumped back from her opponent in a hurry. As he moved in to close the gap, one of Sonya's feet raised over her head, only for the heel to come swinging down when the enemy was in range. The move was telegraphed enough for him to sidestep it, but he seemed to be taken by surprise when Sonya used the momentum of her axe kick to perform a frontflip, allowing her to quickly launch a second attack that caught him in the arm. The brunt of the impact fell to the ground, causing a spray of dirt to erupt around Sonya's heel, and leaving her just off her element enough for the soldier to step in and make his moves. Sonya attempted to reenter her fighting stance, but the soldier pushed her arms down and wrapped his hands behind her neck. He'd managed to wrap up her guard, pulling her down as his knee came up into her abdomen. A scream ripped its way free from Sonya as her enemy stepped to the side a bit, pushing her weight against his leg to send her rolling into the dirt. “Stop!” a voice shouted from the front door. All the eyes in the yard that were still open locked on to Ciel, standing next to the house and waving her arms. [[Previous|36]] | [[Next|38]]

“Nicole, Sonya," Ciel said, standing over the fight, "please...these men have proven the verisimilitude of my journal. There's no need for any further altercation for my sake.” Upon meeting Nicole's confused glare, she sighed and added, “That means 'stop fighting'.” A shrug rippled through Nicole's shoulders as her eyebrows fell into an angry position. “So what, that means you give up?” she spat. “We got 'em all but one!” Ciel responded by jumping into the air and performing a quick frontflip, sticking her leg out right before her powers took over. In the blink of an eye, her foot went from being stuck in the air to burying itself in the soldier's chest, shattering his sternum and leaving him in the dirt with his allies. “Give up?” Ciel scoffed as she ground her heel into the intruder's chest, ensuring maximum internal damage. “You misunderstand. But I do feel a certain release when I get violent like this, true to your word. Payback, I suppose, for all the people they've brought suffering upon.” Sonya seemed distressed by Ciel's delight in bringing harm to another human being, but Nicole barely noticed through her own elation. “Now you're speaking my language...!” she said through a wide smile. “So, remember anything I told you about Mr. Lee? Now there's a guy who's brought suffering upon a whole lot of people!” Ciel sighed and averted her gaze. “Was that yesterday? You may have to enlighten me a second time.” Nicole shook her head and ran over to help Sonya to her feet. “Later. Right now, that fight has me in a pretty good mood, and I just remembered a promise I made to Sonya on the day we found you that I have to make good on.” “A promise?” Sonya repeated. It didn't take long for Nicole to jog the redhead's memory. A single hand sneaking up the bottom of her shirt and resting on her bare stomach did the trick. Sonya let out a pleasured gasp and pushed Nicole's hand away, her face starting to turn red. “Oh yeah...that one. Not here...Ciel...!” Nicole had completely forgotten about her. [[Previous|37]] | [[Next|39]]

## Chapter 3 “Finally, a string of crimes closer to the water!” Vincent muttered to himself as he pushed himself through the crisp blue waters of the bay. “Today's the day I can finally strut my stuff and prove myself to be a hero among the likes of Grizz or Nicole!” Visions of news reports danced in his head as his excellent breast stroke sent him hurtling through the waves. THey strung him along with memories of witnessing a thief rise from the streets to make changes in nearby Cross Town, and watching live footage of Nicole's tumultuous battle with Mr. Lee and his cyborg enforcer on the news. With those decisive victories on his mind, he soon found himself imagining what the networks would be saying about him if he were to make his mark on history. His ego was hard to keep afloat, however, and he found himself coughing up saltwater before long. Having learned his lesson, focus returned to him and whipped his swimming form back into shape. Warehouses scrolled past his peripheral vision, part of a vital component to River City's success. Their worn metal walls contained goods imported from all over, collected by means of one of the first harbors created after the chemical weapon Agent Venom had ravaged the world so long ago. The sea had played a major role in making River City the sprawling metropolis it was today. “And now that legacy is in peril!” Vincent blurted as he made his way through the water. He had no idea if he had said anything else aloud; his focus was on the two men on the dock above him, in case they had heard him. From his angle, it was hard to tell if they were supposed to be there or not. They might have had something to do with the cargo robberies, but his hero career would be over in an instant if he pulled innocent dock workers into the waves. He decided to keep himself hidden until he knew more. His wish was soon granted, as the two shapes began to converse with one another. [[Previous|38]] | [[Next|40]]

“...think we'll be robbed like those other shipments?” “Nah. We ain't waitin' on much 'round 'ere.” “I guess. No robber is going to want foreign spices or anything like that. I just don't wanna be another statistic, man...!” “Boy, ain't no one gonna be no statistic. Now shut up. Boat's comin' in.” True to their word, an enormous silhouette was pushing its way through the fog from the opposite direction from which Vincent had approached. Its arrival accompanied by a blaring horn shouting a warning to everyone present. The waves it kicked up threatened to flush Vincent out of his hiding spot. Little did those waves know just who they were trying to push around. The water was where Vincent felt most at home, even before the chemical spill had granted him the ability to breathe underwater. Saltwater still screwed him up pretty badly, but he was getting better at dealing with it. The boat came to a halt at the docks, a buoyant behemoth of steel content to sit at the edge of a pier while workers climbed aboard and carried its goods into the rusty warehouses nearby. As time dragged on, Vincent tired of hearing the workers clamber back and forth, completely free from any threat. What he craved was action, and what he got was absolute boredom. [[Previous|39]] | [[Next|41]]

Sonya's house was a fairly open design, all the better to let sound travel through its halls and ruin Nicole's sleep. She was settled against Sonya's chest, where she had fallen asleep mid-movie the night before. Her girlfriend splayed her limbs all over the couch in an almost comical state of relaxation. Nicole was still too drowsy to realize just what had made the noise, but it didn't seem like it wanted to stop, so she rolled off of Sonya and pushed herself to her feet. The noise blasted its way through the house again, and only then did she realize that it was someone knocking at the door. “Crap,” she muttered, sad to have to peel herself away from Sonya. The knocking continued as Nicole plodded through the house on sluggish legs, and she ultimately wrenched open the front door to find Heather and Ciel standing there waiting for her. “Which one are you?” Ciel asked, swirling her fingers in thought. “Hm, stocky in stature and dour in demeanor...Nicole, correct?” Silence fell over the proceedings while the gears in Nicole's head turned, slowly grinding out a reminder that Ciel would have to relearn who was who every single day. Whatever Ciel had just said to her, though, she couldn't figure out. “Uh, I'm Nicole,” she spat. “So what's the problem?” Ciel recoiled in shock. “Problem...?” “Sorry...usually people only come knocking when I've screwed something up. You two coming in or what?” “Hey, careful,” Heather admonished as she stepped through the front door. “You almost sounded like you actually have a shred of tact and manners in you.” Nicole laughed and closed the door behind Ciel. “I'm glad you know better. You never did tell me why you're here.” “Payback, mostly.” Heather tossed a newspaper at Nicole and waited patiently for her to read the headline on display. “We at the precinct don't have the manpower to post guards at the waterfront to protect the boats coming in from the robberies that've been happening lately.” Nicole crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And you're telling me this because there's a superpowered kid on the loose?” she hoped aloud. [[Previous|40]] | [[Next|42]]

“No,” Heather said, “I'm not telling you this because supers are involved. You owe me for letting Ghost walk, looking after Ciel, breaking my kitchen table, and convincing your neighbor not to press charges on you for the damage her house went through when those robbers came for her.” “Heather?” Sonya's voice called from the top of the stairs. “That you?” A quick slide down the banister later, her suspicions were confirmed. “It is! Hi there!” “Yeah, she comes bearing work!” Nicole groaned. “Apparently the fact that we're being hunted by some rich guy and his robot slave is really bringing her down.” She was pretty sure that the police officer was the one least inconvenienced by the state of affairs, though she had to admit that she bore full responsibility for the state of the kitchen table. “Still, if hanging by the docks means we're in for a fight, I'm pretty OK with it. If only everyone let us pay our way in punches!” Sonya chuckled and raised her leg into a muay thai stance. “We'd own River City!” “And," Ciel chimed in, "if the situation at hand involves brutish criminals asserting unwelcome dominance over innocent workers, I wish to aid them.” She made no move to pose alongside the others. Nicole shrugged. She was fine with the job no matter what it entailed, as long as she had someone to beat to a pulp. “I guess it might end up being good practice for when we crack down on Mr. Lee,” she mumbled. “Just make sure to leave some for me! Sonya's mom is still on my ass about the tree in the front yard I shattered, and it's really stressing me out.” “Then just clean up the tree!” Sonya pleaded to deaf ears. [[Previous|41]] | [[Next|43]]

“Anyway," Nicole said, gesturing to the newspaper Heather brought, "we'll handle everything, as usual. Just tell us where to go and when.” Heather rolled her eyes and snatched the newspaper from Nicole, unfolding it to reveal another piece of paper bearing a map of the city. “Every red dot on this map has been the site of a waterfront robbery,” she explained as she dragged her finger in circles around the bay. “We've had varied reports on the number, descriptions, and methods of the assailants, so be ready for anything.” “Including super-teens?” Sonya hoped, taking elbow swings at the air. “We need more super-teens!” “I have no idea who's behind this. They might be more crazy kids for your gang, and they might just be boring ordinary thieves.” Heather shrugged and stepped back toward the door. “You're on the job tonight. I'm leaving Ciel with you two until sunrise...I need a vacation.” A look of suspicion was etched on Ciel's face as her gaze hopped back and forth between the front door and Nicole. “Strange,” she finally muttered, pacing back and forth in the entryway. “My journal contains such glowing reviews for the two of you, and yet her opinion seems to be vastly different.” Nicole shook her head. “Hey, beats me,” she shot back. “She seemed pretty OK with us when we were bringing Mr. Lee down before. She's had a month since then to get a stick up her ass, I guess. Look, we've got more pressing matters to attend to...we've got a whole day to figure out.” "This is more pressing than the waterfront robberies?" Ciel scratched her head. "I'll have to make better note of your work ethic this time." "Nicole...!" Sonya hissed. Whatever her problem was, she shrugged it off. [[Previous|42]] | [[Next|44]]

“Why'd we have to come all the way to Cross Town?” Nicole groaned. Last time she had made the trip across city limits, it was to lose a fight and give up on allies of hers on the way to her first encounter with Mr. Lee. They ended up rejoining the team, but it still soured her opinion of the sleepy settlement on the other side of the river. At the very least, she had the benefit of Sonya's parents driving her there for the day. “What could Ciel possibly want that's not in River City?” Sonya turned around and spread her arms out, gesturing toward a dingy-looking building brazenly labeled the “Cross Town Mall”. For someone looking for reasons to hate Cross Town, a mall with two shops in it seemed like reason enough for Nicole. “Sporting goods!” Sonya answered, already running inside. “Roller skates!” Ciel nodded and held up her journal, her eyes wide with hope. “Sonya has agreed to help me acquire some skates,” she said, “as per my journal entries. They apparently go well with my powers.” “It sounds cool!” Sonya was already pushing her way into the store, anxious to see Ciel's powers on wheels. “And clever!” “I'd have never thought of it,” Nicole admitted, last in line to enter the store. A cloud of overwhelming plastic scent was waiting for her on the other side of the door, though it was quickly lost on her as she felt the telltale signs of a soothing air conditioner keeping the store nice and cool. “Then again, I don't think of much.” Her mind was mostly on the air conditioner, but she was lucid enough to see the massive array of shelves stretching out before her, as well as the minefield of racks and buckets full of things like sticks and balls. “There's a lot here...it'll take so long to find those skates!” Nicole was pretty happy for that fact; the air outside wasn't particularly hot, but she was sensitive to heat in the wake of gaining her powers. Sonya didn't seem to mind the wait either; it gave her the first real chance to talk with Ciel while Nicole struggled with the logistics of getting to know an amnesiac. “What do you like?” Sonya asked as the three of them milled about the store. “You know, hobbies...?” Ciel shook her head. “I've never had much time for hobbies,” she sighed. “Perhaps these skates will entertain me in the downtime I seem to suddenly have.” “Of course, they're fun!” Sonya bent over a little to pat her superhuman legs. “Not for me, though. I just break 'em!” [[Previous|43]] | [[Next|45]]

A pall of jealousy took over Nicole's face as Ciel took a knee to examine Sonya's legs for herself. Her fingers felt and squeezed around in search of muscles. “They feel much stronger than they look.” Sonya seemed unsure of how to react, but ultimately decided to shake off the situation with a nervous laugh. “You think that's cool? See 'em at work!” Excitement nearly got the better of Sonya, but she was able to stop herself just before she split a display rack in half with a roundhouse kick. Nicole caught the eyes of the cashier, a bored and bespectacled young man, clad in a loose-fitting beanie, glaring at Sonya from over his book. It was a relief to see him avoid making a big deal out of the situation, or worse, trying to sell them something they weren't after. “Well, I can wait," Sonya continued. "They work tonight!” Ciel chuckled as the three of them finally chanced upon the roller skates, haphazardly hung by their laces to a metal ring at chest level. “We'll all be working tonight," Ciel pointed out. "I just hope to be able to keep up with the two of you...my journal here has a lot of good things to say about your combat prowess.” One by one, the skates were taken into Ciel's hands and turned around every which way before being allowed to fall back to where they were. “I'm not particularly enthused by the color selection.” “Then get white ones! We'll spray paint 'em!” “Spray paint...?” A shrug rippled through Nicole's shoulders. “It's paint that you spray,” she said. From the looks she got, she guessed that they'd taken it a lot harder than she'd meant. “We could probably find it in River City.” “I'll have ample opportunity to experience River City,” Ciel disputed. “Now that we're in Cross Town, we may as well enjoy it.” “Like hell you will.” Nicole crossed her arms and turned away from Ciel. “It's basically just River City, but everyone is poorer. Even the poor people.” [[Previous|44]] | [[Next|46]]

As badly as Nicole had performed in school, she knew just enough about history to know that River City was much better off than Cross Town, information that really stuck with her since she had grown up in some of the worst real estate River City had to offer. Her previous trip to Cross Town had brought her before the living quarters of a local hero from when he was still a lowly thief. As badly as she may have had it, she never had to sleep on a disgusting old mattress someone had discarded into the rain. “Actually," Nicole said, now that her mind was on it, "the only thing really worth seeing here is the old asylum, and the guy that brought it down.” “Great idea!” Sonya agreed, her eyes glued to Ciel's feet as the two of them tried to find a skate that fit. “After this...and the paint!” Nicole was getting increasingly defiant to that idea. After spending a month with Sonya all to herself, she was finding it awfully hard to share her. Then again, Sonya was the first person she'd ever had a romantic relationship with. “I dunno, I'm just feeling...anxious.” Sonya nodded and came over to Nicole's side, pulling her into a soothing embrace. Sonya's legs were where the super-strength lied, but her arms were still plenty powerful, enough so to give some great hugs. “You wanna go...? But she needs stuff...and friendship, too! We should help her!” “Still,” she whispered into Sonya's ear. “I just feel like I need to go take a walk, right now.” Nicole felt Sonya's lips on her cheek. “The asylum...we can meet there.” “Thanks, Sonya. I...” Nicole trailed off as she pushed herself out of Sonya's hug and looked toward the door. “I'm sorry.” [[Previous|45]] | [[Next|47]]

The Cross Town Asylum had brought more than its share of problems to the area in its heyday. Even though the building itself had been torn down, its dizzying array of stone steps remained, clawing their way into thin air as part of some obtuse symbol of progress. It was those steps that Nicole had climbed, her gaze listing lazily into a forested area. The trees waved hello to her in the breeze, but she was having none of it. Her mind was too busy trying to wrap itself around the reaction she had toward Ciel. Nicole certainly saw nothing wrong with her, and was glad for Sonya and herself to have a new friend, but something about seeing her cozy up to Sonya made her mad. In the back of her head, she knew that it was a problem she couldn't solve by just punching Ciel. With all one of her usual approaches unavailable, Nicole felt lost. “...the hell you doin' way up there?” a vaguely familiar voice asked from directly underneath her. “Enjoyin' the view?” His eyes were dim and blue, staring through a mess of unkempt black hair that fell all around his head. He stood in the sunlight, his lean frame standing straight with purpose. A wide smile crossed Nicole's face as she walked off the top step and into the air, throwing her downward momentum into a roll once she hit the ground. “I was just talking about you,” she greeted him. “You're just the man I wanted to see, Grizz.” She was definitely pleased to find herself face to face with Cross Town's hero again. Grizz laughed and pushed a chunk of hair away from one of his eyes. “Everyone says that. I'm surprised you ain't gettin' the same response. No news crews knockin' down your door? No shows callin' in for interviews?” “None of that. Then again, it's only been a month. Besides, things weren't so clear-cut like when you were stabbing evil scientists who were out to dissect your girlfriend just because of her fox ears. We were a little more covert...but only a little.” Nicole took a step toward Grizz and cracked her knuckles. “I think you guys got the short end of the stick. Everyone here grew animal parts, while we got superpowers over in River City.” [[Previous|46]] | [[Next|48]]

“I dunno," Grizz said, "Alyce looks good with that tail and them ears. I don't think she'd trade 'em for some kinda power.” Grizz's eyes darted to Nicole's hands as they started to glisten with ice. “I'm guessin' you've got a little somethin' to be fed up with too. I could use a good workout...!” That was all the warning the hero of Cross Town gave before he blasted Nicole in the gut with a fierce punch. She had no time to block or dodge; all she could do was control her breathing, using a quick exhalation to reduce the effectiveness of the blow. As her gaze traveled along Grizz's arm to his shocked expression, she couldn't help but laugh. “I've been hit way harder than that without even flinching, you know,” she chuckled as she grabbed his wrist and held his arm down, keeping it out of the way of a punch to the jaw. "You can't be rid of me that easily!" Grizz struggled in her grip for a little while before getting a similar lock in, pulling Nicole close in order to sink a few knee strikes into her. “That why you're here?” he asked as the two of them broke their lock, the advantage having vanished. "Someone lookin' to be rid of ya?" “I don't know..." Nicole opened up Grizz's guard with a few quick jabs, letting him block high just in time for a left cross to swing into his side. “You ever been jealous before?” “Nah.” As dirty as Nicole fought sometimes, Grizz had her beat. One of his hands shot straight for her hair, pulling her into a headbutt with a raucous shout. She had been through plenty of headbutts before, letting her resist the attack well enough to stay on her toes. His post-headbutt haymaker soon found itself interrupted by a quick smack to the chin. Shaking off the blow, he asked again, “That why you're here?” “Yeah,” she admitted as she lunged in for a grapple, continuing the conversation as the two of them wrestled for control, trying to out-muscle each other in hopes of a solid lock or throw. “My girlfriend is having the moves put on her by a new friend of ours.” “She like 'em? You puttin' better moves on her?” “I freaked out and I walked out on them.” “Hardly a good idea. How long you dated her?” “A month.” “A month?! An' you're like this already?” “Come on, she's my first...no one's ever cared about me like she has.” [[Previous|47]] | [[Next|49]]

“An' you think she can't still care?" Grizz asked. At this point, he had given up on outmuscling Nicole, and instead whipped her around, smashing her against the steps. "Just 'cause there's another lady around? She ain't breakin' up with you just 'cause there's a new friend. Some time, you can have for the three of ya, and some time, just you an' the girl.” Nicole responded by grabbing Grizz's shoulder and swinging him into the stairwell right back. “That's true,” she admitted as she sank a fist into the base of his spine. “I just...her hands were all over Sonya's leg!” “So?” Grizz spat, alongside a dribble of blood. “Where have you stuck your hands lately?” The fight continued in silence for a little while, moving away from the stairs as Grizz sent Nicole doubling back with fierce blows against her guard. After half a minute or so, he pushed her away to give himself room for a laughing fit. “I knew it...! Whoa, you been real busy this past month, huh?” Nicole moved in to sock him while he had his jollies at her expense, but her huge fists were too slow to reach his face before his guard did. “Alright, I get it! You proved your point already. If her hands end up going where mine have, then we'll have a problem.” Grizz nodded behind his guard, ducking in past a punch to land one of his own. “Your girl teach you how to fight, too? You dish it and take it way better than you used to.” Grizz had placed himself too close; Nicole took the opportunity to drop an elbow on the back of his neck. “You're hiding something,” she accused him as she clobbered the top of his skull. “You came here for the same reason I did.” A well-placed punch to the stomach forced Grizz's sigh to rush away from his lips. “Please...if y'all was jealous a month into your romance, you won't know a thing 'bout Alyce an' me.” “Try me,” Nicole growled, spreading her arms wide, inviting Grizz to unload his problems and his punches on her. [[Previous|48]] | [[Next|50]]

As he approached, however, she swung her arms down on his attacks and turned them downward, opening him up for a hook from each hand. “I been real busy...an' she's been real pregnant. She used to push me to visit friends an' help folks...but now she gets all pissed when I do.” Nicole stopped where she was, her eyes narrowing and her head shaking rapidly as it craned toward Grizz. His last sentence had struck her as so completely idiotic that she left herself open to a jab right in the teeth. “What did you just tell me, then? Can't you just balance your time?” Grizz nodded and swung his leg right into Nicole's, knocking her off-balance and sending her sprawling into the dirt. “Well...she ain't too good at tellin' me just what she's after lately. An' I gotta make the place safe since she's got a baby on the way an' all!” A growl pushed its way out of her as she took his leg in her hands and pulled him to the dirt, pulling herself atop him in order to pound away at his face. “Safe from me? No! Your girlfriend is pregnant and you're out here doing nothing! Even I'm not that dumb...! No.” Nicole rose to her feet and kicked Grizz in the ribs. “This fight's done. You're going home right now. You're apologizing to Alyce for being an idiot.” Her hands closed around the collar of his shirt, lifting him clear off the ground. “Get outta here. Go home and be a family man.” “A family man...?” Grizz repeated, getting his legs under him. “I was nervous enough with the one I already got...but he came to us a little grown already.” A gust of wind got trapped in his hair, shoving it every which way. “I couldn't mess him up too much, but this one? We gonna have to start fresh. There's so much to screw up.” Nicole scoffed and crossed her arms. “I've never seen the point in worrying about crap that hasn't happened. All you have to do is—“ A streak of color buzzed past Nicole, taking the rest of her sentence with it as it barreled into Grizz. He hit the ground hard, rolling through the dirt until his back slammed into a tree. “Wow,” Ciel's voice mused as she fell to the ground on all fours, staring up at Nicole's battered face. In return, the look on Ciel's own face betrayed that her landing didn't quite go as planned. “He sure did a number on you. Everything still functional, Nicole?” [[Previous|49]] | [[Next|51]]

Nicole groaned and thrust her hands toward Grizz as he wobbled to his feet. “Everything's functioning except your brain!” she shouted at Ciel. “See him? The guy you blasted through the dust? This is the guy I was telling you about...in the place I was telling you about! Tell Grizz you're sorry, will you?” Ciel shook her head. “But...” “But nothing! We were both itching for a fight, and we got it! He busted my nose, bruised my head, and scraped my arms! You have no idea how good that feels to me! Ciel...say you're sorry right now.” Nicole cracked her knuckles, spritzing out a dash of ice crystals with each flick of her wrists. Ciel shrugged and turned to her victim, his eyes still wide in shock and wonder over the powers she used to assault him. “Grizz, was it? My sincerest apologies. I've heard good things from these two.” Grizz initiated a handshake with one hand, while the other gripped a conspicuous footprint on his chest. “Wish I could say the same,” he replied. “Where's the other one? Nicole said what's-her-name came too...the leggy one?” “Sonya's still looking for the right color paint for my new roller skates.” Ciel's head turned toward Nicole. “It's you who I came to apologize to. You seemed to be doing splendidly in the sporting goods store for awhile...I can only assume I must have done something to offend you. The journal warned me about that.” “Did it now?” Nicole asked through a chuckle. “Well, whatever had me worried, I punched it out. No worries.” Grizz nodded. “That why y'all came all this way?” he scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “Good. I hate bein' called a hero an' havin' people follow me around. Oh, speakin' of which, them girls y'all left here? Y'all should've warned me the watery one was all obsessed with me...” Grizz turned away from the group and wrapped his arms around himself, shuddering. “...ain't right. Met her once, ain't gone back since.” Nicole took a playful swing at Grizz's shoulder. “Come on, Claire's not that bad. Actually, where'd they run off to? I think maybe Ciel here ought to talk to Claire and Sam.” “No clue.” [[Previous|50]] | [[Next|52]]

Before Nicole could press the issue, Grizz had already swung a leg over his motorcycle parked in the street. It was a twisted mass of scrap metal and garish color, but the engine roared to life just fine underneath its rough exterior. “Now, if you'll excuse me," Grizz said, nearly drowned out by the engine, "I gotta get back to my girl, see?” With that, the bike kicked up a plume of dust, and it unfurled into a thin brown sheet that covered his exit. Ciel stared through the dust for a minute, head tilted sideways under the weight of confusion. “That was the guy you were talking about earlier? He doesn't seem like much.” “He kinda isn't,” Nicole admitted with a shrug. “But you don't have have to be all that much to do good. I mean, look at me...!” “True.” Nicole froze in her tracks, spinning on her heels to face Ciel and grab her collar. “What? You weren't supposed to agree with that!” After a few more seconds of staring and growling, Nicole pushed Ciel away and let out a deep laugh, a laugh that Ciel nervously joined. ~ That night, the tranquil silence of the River City docks was shattered by the sound of the pavement, growling under the turning of roller skate wheels. “Nothing over there!” Ciel shouted as she whipped past Nicole, her bright blue skates standing out against the dark colors of the waterfront. Sonya let out a loud grunt from the opposite direction, using her super legs to leap through the air and land next to Nicole. “All clear!” she confirmed. “I don't get it,” Nicole growled, scratching her chin. “There were supposed to be boats...thieves...fighting...! Where is everyone?” Sonya began to bounce on her feet anxiously. “Not sure! It's weird!” Nicole froze over her fist and let out a yell as she plunged it into a wall, sending shards everywhere. “It's terrible, is what it is! I was looking forward to a robbery!” [[Previous|51]] | [[Next|53]]

Suddenly, the tranquil seas exploded next to them, riled into action by a young man leaping onto the pier. “I've heard enough!” he shouted, his short black hair dripping onto the crude metal claws he gripped in his hands. His lean build stood strong with conviction, and his brown eyes had a fiery gleam to them as he approached the girls. “I've finally found you, brigands!” Nicole could do nothing but stare in shock. The man's entrance was surprising enough, but she hadn't expected to find him to be so stupid. “What...?” The young man belted out a quick spin, flinging droplets of saltwater everywhere before coming to a sudden halt, his finger pointing at Nicole. “I heard everything! You're looking forward to robbery, you say? I'm looking forward to being the hero this city needs! Your days are numbered, thieves, for tonight you face the Riptide!” Nicole's reaction to these allegations was a simple shrug. “Sonya, what's this guy talking about?” “No clue, Nicole!” came the reply as Sonya coiled herself into a fighting pose just in case. Riptide's jaw dropped. “Wait,” he said, “did you just say 'Nicole'? As in Nicole Ellery, from the news?” The strong, purposeful posture holding him up began to falter. Nicole nodded as her fists began to freeze over. “Yeah,” she groaned, “and you're making my head hurt. Get lost, kid.” “I can't believe you've stooped to robbery...don't you realize how important these docks are t—“ Nicole pushed the remainder of Riptide's sentence out of him with a fist to the stomach. “We came here to stop the robberies, you idiot.” He tried to scramble to his feet, but Nicole rooted him in place with her foot, sinking her weight down onto his gut. “Quit playing pretend...you're no hero.” [[Previous|52]] | [[Next|54]]

Riptide gazed up at Nicole with sullen eyes, struggling with Nicole's foot. “I...” “You went down in one punch, twerp,” Nicole said. As she ground her heel into his stomach, she added, “And you talk too much. Trust me, it can wait...especially for you. I don't see you knocking anyone out or killing anyone.” Nicole paused to run a hand through her hair, dragging beads of moisture out of her wavy brown locks. “Try not to tell anyone your name until after you win...don't let them know who to laugh at if you lose...or, let's face it, when you lose.” “There's no need for such belligerence,” Ciel admonished Nicole, skating her way over to Riptide's fallen form. “The poor boy was just doing his best to help.” Nicole responded to the fresh perspective by stomping on Riptide's ribs. “Whatever 'belligerence' means...it doesn't matter. He's the one that needs help.” She stopped for a moment to grab Riptide's arms and drag him to the very edge of the pier. “Swim on home, loser.” With that, she turned her back to him, content to let him escape at his own pace. “That was mean,” Sonya moaned, a pained expression marring her pretty face. “Way too harsh.” Nicole started to walk, leaving Riptide alone on the pier; when she approached the other girls, they followed behind her in a triangular formation. “You have to be firm with guys like that,” she growled. “He'll be back to prove me wrong any day now.” “How can you be so sure?” Ciel debated, using her powers to zip in front of Nicole and demand an answer. Nicole let out a short laugh. “You might know all the big words, but I've been around a lot more people than you have. So, another time around the pier? I'm about ready to give up on this job. We'll go over the place one more time, and then we're done. I want to get some sleep.” [[Previous|53]] | [[Next|55]]

## Chapter 4 All eyes were on the limousine as it pulled up to the hotel, fitting snugly in place among the red carpet and screaming crowd of admirers. A flimsy rope barricade and a cabal of security guards were the only thing keeping the carpet clear for when the door swung open, revealing a pair of young men clad in black vests over white pinstripe shirts. The first one out of the car was a blond-haired young man striding up to the hotel like he owned the place, showing off his black slacks with every step and sporting a confident grin under his green visor. “Hot Streak's in the house, baby!” he shouted to his captive audience as he spread his arms wide. After he had made his entrance, his redhead companion was next to exit the limo, attentive to his fans as well. “Hello!” he said as he put his powers to use, forming the latent dust and particulates in the air into a sphere to toss skyward and detonate. The throng of fans only got wilder as the explosion rattled the windows of the hotel and subtly pushed against the crowd, making them want to push through the barricade even more. “Hey, Blowout, quit showing off!” With a laugh, Hot Streak pushed open the front door of the hotel and added, “There's gonna be plenty of time for that later! We've come a long way...I wanna take a nap before we have to show up at the grand opening tomorrow.” “Fine.” Blowout shrugged and jogged to catch up with Hot Streak, following him up to their room on the second floor. “Why?” Hot Streak barged into the suite and immediately departed to the window, slipping a cigarette into his lips and leaning out the window. One hand held the cigarette in place while the other moved underneath it, and a snap of his fingers produced a bright flame. “Because,” he replied, pausing for a long drag, “this 'casino' stuff is really starting to catch on, and we've got fans all over the place just waiting for us to put on a show. Ever since we started shooting fire...that's got even more of them lining up! So of course when River City decided to open a new casino, they came right to us to get people pumped for it.” “Smart.” Hot Streak laughed and blew smoke into the air of River City. “Damn straight it's smart! Maybe we'll find some nice broads around here, too.” The two men had themselves a nice chuckle over that suggestion. “For now, we better just take it easy.” [[Previous|54]] | [[Next|56]]

“Good morning!” Sonya hollered right into Nicole's ear. Nicole groaned. The two of them had come home from their waterside sting late enough to avoid Sonya's parents in both going to bed and waking up. It had given them ample opportunity to share a bed wearing nothing but their underwear. After fuming at Ciel the day before, it was most certainly a welcome occasion. How Sonya managed to put up with her frigid skin, she would never know, but she was grateful for it all the same. “Guh...do we have to wake up...?” Nicole's grumbling and sluggish movement put up a stark contrast to Sonya's chipper attitude. “We sure do! Today's big!” Nicole could barely manage to even think of asking why before a newspaper landed on her face. Another groan rolled out of her inert body as she gave some thought to reaching for the paper, but she ultimately decided to remain still. “Unless you've got a fight lined up for me, I want to go back to bed. You didn't get dressed yet, did you?” “It is a fight!” Sonya exclaimed through a giggle. “A good one, too!” Before long, Nicole was sitting upright and tearing through the newspaper in search of clues. “'Bat Burglar of Cross Town Still at Large'? Sonya, that's not—“ Sonya snatched the paper out of Nicole's hands and laughed. “Not that!” After turning the paper around in her hands a few times, she gave it back. “This one!” Nicole's gaze rolled down Sonya's arm to the article she had her finger jabbed into. “'River City Casino to Celebrate Grand Opening with Celebrities from Afar'? Why should we care?” “Their powers!” Sonya attempted to read the pages before her, but her surging excitement didn't allow her to make any significant headway into the article. Frustrated, she threw her hands in the air and shouted, “They burn stuff! Shoot fire!” “Sounds useful,” Nicole agreed, nodding her head. A cold draft shoved its way into the room through an open window, teasing her bare skin and leaving her feeling soothed. “So we're totally crashing their party, aren't we? That's how this crap tends to flow. Can we go down there right now and show them who's boss?” Sonya shook her head, wincing slightly. “Tonight, though...!” she added to her nonverbal refutation. “Shall we spar?” [[Previous|55]] | [[Next|57]]

Nicole opened her mouth to reply, but was swiftly interrupted by a knocking at the door behind her. “Hey, just a minute!” she shouted as she and Sonya desperately tugged on some clothing before the person on the other side of the door got fed up with waiting. They got into their sparring uniforms easily enough, but couldn't locate the rest of their clothes in time to beat the door creaking behind them. Nicole snapped her head around, glaring at Ciel standing cluelessly in the doorway. “I told you we'd be just a minute!” Nicole moaned, shaking a fistful of t-shirt in Ciel's face. “Oh,” Ciel said, “my apologies. I...just had questions, and I heard people in here, so...” Nicole rolled her eyes and leaned against the open door. “So what's your beef, huh?” Another chilly breeze shoved its way through the room as Ciel tapped her temple with her index finger. “Violent, mouthy...you must be Nicole. My journal has much to say about you and...Sonya. Back there, that's Sonya, correct?” “You bet!” came the reply from behind Nicole. “Yes.” Ciel nodded and left her gaze at her feet, struggling with her next question. “And...where might I find the lavatory?” “The wha...?” both girls muttered in confusion. Their confusion seemed to bring Ciel pain, and her hands fled to her abdomen. “You know...the, um, the restroom, the—“ Sonya slapped her forehead and laughed as she stepped forward. “The bathroom?” she clarified, grabbing Ciel's hand and already making a run for it. “Follow me!” “Not so fast...!” The rest of her dissent faded from Nicole's hearing as the two of them sprinted farther away, giving her time to get properly dressed. She didn't mind walking around in her sparring outfit, but she was reasonably attuned to what was probably coming next. She barely remembered having towed Ciel home with her and Sonya, but she realized that it meant that the two of them were going to have to bring the amnesiac back to Heather's place before long. Still, she managed to formulate the beginnings of an idea by the time Sonya had dashed back into the room. “Maybe she should spar with us.” “A three-way fight?” Sonya clarified. Her hair bounced around her as she shook her head. “It wouldn't work.” Nicole laughed. “Of course a three-way wouldn't work. How about four?” [[Previous|56]] | [[Next|58]]

“You know we have a gym at the precinct, right?” Heather asked as she and Sonya touched gloves, audible even over the heavy traffic passing by on the nearby bridge. The trees around them were desperate to cling to the leaves they had left, but their persistence was nothing to the blustery conditions moving through River City that day. “A gym, sure!” Sonya laughed as she reared into her fighting stance. “But not me!” Heather let a chuckle loose so it could float away on the breeze. “Fair enough. Ready?” Sonya nodded, and soon the two of them were entangled in combat. Satisfied with their strife, Nicole turned to Ciel, who was watching with a hand near her mouth. “You and Sonya undertake this ordeal every single day?” she said. Nicole nodded. “Almost every day,” she corrected. “Sonya already had a pretty strenuous routine before I moved in, and I just sorta glued myself to it.” Ciel began wandering absentmindedly toward the sparkling waters of the bay, staring up at the bridge as she passed underneath it. “And what was your exercise routine like before then?” “Beating up everyone at school!” Nicole laughed and flexed her arm, putting her right bicep on display. “The football players did all the exercising, and when I punched out their girlfriends, or maybe the cheerleaders, they'd come to the rescue and give me a much fairer fight!” “Oh.” Ciel winced and turned her head away from Nicole, preferring to gaze at a red leaf as it tumbled off of one of the trees and into the water. “None of this is relevant to my plight...I was hoping to acquire a strategy of my own. If you require my assistance for the altercation with Mr. L—“ “The alter-what?” Nicole asked, gripping her head. An impatient sigh was soon floating between the two young women. “Um...the altercation...the fight.” [[Previous|57]] | [[Next|59]]

Nicole perked right up, snapping her fingers in epiphany. “Oh, a fight!" she said. "So what about us fighting Mr. Lee?” “Just that I would need to be in peak physical condition,” Ciel elaborated, grabbing the fallen leaf from the water and holding it aloft in her palm, to watch it twist and play in the wind. “I should have my own exercise regimen, so that I can be as capable as possible.” With a shrug, Nicole replied, “Well, I'm not sure what to tell you. Why don't you ask Heather about it later, and fight me now?” Ciel nodded and dropped to her knees, reaching into a bag to fetch her roller skates. “I'm quite steady on these already...it was slightly surprising! Perhaps I have more experience on these than I can remember...or...you know.” “Yeah, yeah...” Nicole held her hands aloft in a gust of wind, reveling in the chill, and only realizing at the last moment that freezing up her fists for a sparring session with Ciel would not go over well. “...can we start fighting yet?” Ciel responded by homing in on Nicole with her powers, gliding effortlessly along the ground through a stack of dead leaves to attempt a sneaky punch to the gut. Nicole was more than ready, however, and while the attack landed on its mark, Ciel's momentum had nowhere to go either, causing her to roll backwards. Thinking quickly, Ciel lashed out with a roundhouse kick, letting herself be wheeled away from any chance of a counterattack. Once she had recovered herself, she braked herself to a stop and allowed Nicole to approach. With a fierce grunt, Nicole dashed in with her head ducked low, sliding into place to throw an uppercut right into Ciel's chin. The punch threw Ciel into the dirt. As she moved in for another decisive strike, Ciel planted her hands into the dust and swung her outstretched leg in an arc, bringing Nicole off-balance and onto her back. With both girls grounded, they both had to slowly rise to their feet, negating any advantage either of them could have possibly had otherwise. Now, the battle essentially started anew, albeit with Nicole shorter of breath and Ciel a bit dazed from the respective attacks they endured. [[Previous|58]] | [[Next|60]]

Nicole was first to lash out this time, moving forward with a powerful stride as her fingers interlocked over her head and swung downward in a vicious arc. Ciel replied by turning her entire body around, using her powers to zoom over to a nearby tree and swing herself around it. Nicole was ready for her; her posture at the end of her deadly swing was just right to get her shoulder in position. She dug her feet into the ground and kept her shoulder pointed at Ciel, ready to bump her skyward as she swooped in. As she lunged, however, Ciel threw herself into a frontflip, leaping clean over Nicole with her legs tucked in against her chest. She came in for a clean landing and threw herself sideways, letting her skates toss dirt into the wind as she ground to a stop. “This is dumb,” Nicole groaned, throwing her fists at Ciel, only for the amnesiac to hustle backwards on swift skating motions. “You're just...I like to actually land more hits than this!” Ciel chuckled as she kept back-dashing with the aid of her skates. “If I refrain from being struck,” she teased, “I cannot lose!” Nicole unleashed a battle cry and lashed out, moving double-time to preempt Ciel's dodge and swing a fierce right cross into her face. Ciel responded by stepping forward, twisting her body around, and shoving her foot upward, catching Nicole under the chin. However painful the strike was, it left Ciel's back turned, letting Nicole club her in the head with her elbow. As Nicole jerked her neck around, a series of cracking sounds ensued. “Done yet?” Nicole's gloating was quickly disrupted by a skate rising up between her legs, causing her to double over in pain and bend her legs together as pain rippled out through her midsection. “I have you now!” Ciel exclaimed as she scrabbled to her feet and wheeled around to face her opponent. With a quick yelp, she crouched down low and zipped in close using her powers, aiming to run her skates along Nicole's face with a fierce backflipping kick. Nicole managed to track Ciel's movements and predict this course of action, however, and took a step back as the first of Ciel's feet swung upwards. With a quick step forward, she moved in before Ciel's other leg came up, and got her arm in between Ciel's thighs, reaching up to stabilize her prey with a stranglehold. [[Previous|59]] | [[Next|61]]

“I think this means you lose,” she laughed as she brought her arm swinging downward, causing Ciel to crash into the dirt on her back. Ciel made no move to dispute this ruling, content to lay on the ground dazed, with her limbs splayed outward. Nicole took the chance to to stand over her foe and dispense some advice. “You've got style, kid. Maybe a little too much style.” “Elaborate,” Ciel said, still laying there. Nicole shrugged and took another good look at Ciel, whose subtle curves fit well against the slopes and leaves of the ground underfoot. She looked so comfy, in fact, that Nicole couldn't help but copy her. She made herself a spot in the leaves to lay in. “A lot of those flips and kicks look really cool, but you have to be ready for the other guy to hit you back.” Nicole paused to watch the clouds mill about overhead, barely visible through the hazy gray of the November skies. “And I'm sorry, but I was still pretty ready to hit you back even after your low blow.” “I...how...how are you not fatigued?” Ciel gasped, tossing and turning in her leafy accommodations. “Even after all that...” “All that what?” Nicole scoffed, sliding her hands behind her head. “I just stood there while you skated around like a moron getting yourself all tired.” A pair of hands slammed into the leaves by Nicole's head, carrying Officer Heather Storm past in a backflip handspring. “You two done already?” she gasped, bending her body to the side to narrowly avoid Sonya's flying knee strike. Nicole chuckled and sat up to nod, with a few leaves tangled in her hair to rise up with her. “I already won.” “Of course you did!” Sonya noted as she stepped forward and swung her other foot in low, catching Heather off-guard enough to follow it up with a vicious elbow strike to the face. “You swing so hard!” [[Previous|60]] | [[Next|62]]

Ciel wobbled to her feet and idly wandered to a nearby parking lot, more confident to move around on her skates there. “Neither of them are about to let such a thunderous strike through their guard,” she deduced. “They ought to,” Nicole scoffed, unsure of who to mill about near. “I'm getting bored.” “Then you ought to come lend your assistance.” Ciel was reduced to a blur as she sped past Nicole using her powers, turning herself around as she leaned over to grab her bag. Before long, she was back in the lot, standing in an empty spot brandishing a can of spray paint in each hand. She took in a deep sigh and closed her eyes, concentrating on the empty spot, then exploded in a flurry of activity. Paint burst out onto the side of the bridge in front of her, and she twisted and turned her body to fine-tune her aim as Nicole stood by, fascinated by the ritual. Before long, Ciel gave herself a weak push backwards, letting momentum carry her far enough away to give Nicole a place to stand and look at the completed image for herself. “Do you recognize this emblem?” Nicole shrugged and stood where Ciel had done the bulk of her painting from, careful to keep her distance since the paint was still wet. Before her lied a stark black-and-white image of a stylized P whose tail came down to form a sword. The coloration and skill that went into it seemed to jump out from the gray of the concrete. “It looks cool,” she noted, “but this is the first I've seen of it.” Ciel deflated as she let out a long sigh, her shoulders drooping inside her light blue blouse. “I thought not. I found it in my journal a few times, and...it's strange, but I feel as if I truly recognize it. One in my state should never have such a familiarity with anything...” “Hey, if it's that big a deal, you ought to ask Heather about it. She's the cop.” With a reassuring hand on Ciel's shoulder, Nicole added, “But you know...I've never seen anyone crap out art like that. I mean, you just went at it, and it...it looks wicked!” “You think so?” Ciel murmured sheepishly, moving to hide her art from Nicole's prying eyes. Nicole nodded and shoved Ciel out of the way. “Sure!” she guffawed. “Don't worry...being 'wicked' is a good thing! You should do more paintings with those spray cans...you're really good at it!” With her art on display, Ciel could only turn herself away, hiding the rosy pallor spreading through her cheeks. “Why...thank you...Nicole.” “Whatever.” Nicole turned to check on the progress of the fight between Sonya and Heather, and groaned loudly when she saw none. “For fu—still?!” [[Previous|61]] | [[Next|63]]

The shimmering lights of the city were on full display as Nicole and Sonya strode through the streets. Two large spotlights waved them over, their beams raking at the cloudy night sky. “Who are these guys, anyway?” Nicole grumbled to drown out the complaints of her aching feet. “River City sure is nuts for them.” “Hot Streak and Blowout!” Sonya replied, walking backwards in front of Nicole and still keeping the same pace. “Foreign magicians! Like illusions, tricks...they're into that stuff! Then they got powers!” The explanation barely reached Nicole, since it had to push through a haze of jealousy to reach her ears. This time, she was busy of Sonya's powers; her super-legs were making Nicole's look super-tired in comparison. “Tricks, powers, and the cash to throw a party this big? Lee's got all that, so why not us?” Sonya answered with a wide grin, putting a missing tooth conspicuously on display. “'cause we haven't won yet!” A frigid wind snaked its way between the buildings of the city, blasting through Nicole's clothes. It did wonders to soothe her tired body, but even with a second wind, she was no match for Sonya's energy. “How are you so chipper when you were the one sparring with Heather for so long?” “Stamina, of course!” Sonya replied with a laugh as the wind tugged at her hair. She held a hand to her mouth and seemed to brace herself against the laughter, but her hair swayed into a curtsy without her. “It's so important!” “Well, how'd you get so much of it?” Nicole raised her arms into the wind, lifting her hair with them to better feel the chill against her spine. “It's got to be way easier to stay energized when you have super-powered legs to move around on all the time.” Sonya laughed off the accusation and spun around on her heels, in an effort to be more attentive to the other people on the sidewalk. “Hiking also helps!” A scoff pushed its way through Nicole's lips before she even realized what she was saying. “I haven't seen you go hiking once!” “Not since Mr. Lee,” Sonya admitted, her cheerful disposition fuzzing out for a split-second. “Had to fight instead...! Fighting is fun, too!” [[Previous|62]] | [[Next|64]]

The duo rounded a corner, putting the location of the festivities on full display. River City had pulled out all the stops to bring in tourists with the new casino, going all-out with the fantasy barbarian theme. The building was flanked by statues of exotic trees and savage beasts, all longing to cross the circular road to reach a sword-shaped fountain. “They must've moved this crap in pretty recently,” Nicole said. She recognized the building due to its vague proximity to her old home, but they'd kept it under wraps and left it alone for so long. These renovations had only happened recently, and the hustle it would've taken wasn't lost on her. “Where'd they get the money for all this?” “Mr. Lee leaving?” Sonya guessed, expending all of her desire to contemplate the situation. “Come on, Nicole!” With that, she suddenly made a run for it, making a beeline for the Zephyr's Grace Casino. “Hey, not so fast...!” Nicole let out a groan as she realized that Sonya wasn't about to slow down for her, and tried her best to run and keep up. On her ordinary legs, however, her speed simply didn't match up to Sonya's superhuman sprint. She knew of one way to boost her speed, but she absolutely hated it. That, and Sonya was the one that had shown her the technique in the first place. With a grunt, she threw herself forward through the air, stretching out her arms and letting loose with her ice powers as she landed on her stomach. She sledded down the sidewalk on a thick sheet of ice. She was grateful for the break it gave her legs, in exchange for only a small fraction of her speed. At least, until she bowled into a stranger; she lost a lot of speed as she slammed into his shins and knocked him over. Nicole pushed herself to her feet, too eager to keep up with Sonya to stop and help the guy up. Soon, the two girls were standing at the edge of a rabid crowd, packed tight around the roads around the Ax. “So how do we get through these jerks?” Nicole growled, angry that there were too many onlookers present for even her to plow through. “Put on a show!” Sonya replied. “Like Hot Streak would!” Nicole opened her mouth to ask what that even meant, but the crowd's murmurs shot up to a deafening roar before she could form words around her question. A flash of light tugged on the corner of her vision, making her turn to face a flamboyant parade float launching pyrotechnics from its main deck. Upon closer inspection, however, she noted that the dazzling display wasn't from any fireworks, but directly from the two young men standing atop the float. “That must be them...Sonya, what kind of show are we talking here?” [[Previous|63]] | [[Next|65]]

Sonya nudged Nicole's shoulder and pointed, bringing attention to the men in black suits flanking the parade float on foot, keeping the road clear of screaming fans, pushing them back or outright forcing them off the premises depending on the dissenters' determination. “That kind of show!” Sonya coiled up her legs and leapt through the crowd, her high velocity knocking them aside and instantly attracting attention from the security guards. Their attempts to repel her, however, were met with push kicks and other evasive action. She did everything she could to minimize the damage she dealt to them as she made her way to the float. “Hey there, you two!” she shouted up at Hot Streak and Blowout as she stood on one foot and stuck her other out, holding the float in place with nothing but her powerful legs. Nicole took that as her cue to rush through the crowd herself, being much less careful about the well-being of people around her. With her shoulder lowered, she charged into the fray, bowling through pedestrian and security guard alike to reach Sonya's side. “We gotta talk!” she called out. Hot Streak strode up to the front of the float, taking his sweet time. He could've started walking as soon as Sonya started beating up his guards, at that rate. “Why, hello, ladies!” he greeted them, smiling wide as he pushed a thumb against his visor. “Do I know you?” Sonya jumped up onto the float in a single bound, surprising everyone present. “You're from away...so of course not!” As the two of them yammered back and forth, Nicole sighed, having to play catch-up to Sonya's powers yet again. Fortunately, there were some neon geometries up front, cool patterns that gave her something to shimmy up. As she scrabbled up the last step, all eyes fell on her as she swung a leg up onto the float and rose to her feet. “Finally,” she growled to herself. “So yeah, we finally found you!” Blowout turned his head, raking his gaze up and down Nicole's body as she reveled in a cool breeze. “Babes?” he asked his companion. “I'll say!” Hot Streak answered, his eyes all over Sonya. “Just look at those legs...!” [[Previous|64]] | [[Next|66]]

Incensed, Sonya hurried to get ready for a real fight. Normally, she would've torn away her clothes before slumping into her ready stance. Nicole could understand why she didn't. "We're here to talk...not to flirt, guys!" Hot Streak laughed and shook his head, running a hand along Sonya's cheek. “We can talk all night, if you want...” Sonya replied to his advances by planting her foot between his legs for her push kick. Normally, she aimed that attack higher. Putting her force so low could really only serve one purpose, and Nicole wished Sonya hadn't beaten her to it. “We're talking now! My name's Sonya! And that's Nicole!” “Nicole?” Blowout repeated. “I know!” Hot Streak said as he raced over to Nicole, who he must have mistaken for someone less likely to ravage his groin. “Blowout, these are the broads from the news! So what do you celebrities want with us celebrities?” A confused murmur arose from the crowd below, though their exact words were lost on Nicole's ears. “We want you to join our gang,” she spat, at least wise enough to avoid talking too much about her desire to smash Mr. Lee into dust out in the open. She knew just enough to realize that she didn't know who might be listening. Hot Streak rubbed his chin in contemplation, pacing back and forth across the deck of the float. “Well, from what I saw on the reports, I like your style...but I already have a fan club. Why not join mine?” Nicole scoffed, already freezing her fists in anticipation of what she saw coming next. “Because Sonya and I are in charge of this city! Besides, it's not like we need you all the time. Just...we need to reserve your help for a da—” “Now wait just a minute!” Hot Streak threw his hands in the air, blasting the sky with twin columns of flame. “You break up my party to shovel these demands on me, your friend here stomps my bits like she's putting out a fire, you give me all these demands, and neither one of you are putting out? Man, this town is bankrupt...!” Blowout shrugged, moving in to intercept the bad vibes shooting back and forth. “Leave?” he suggested. "Yeah, but first we gotta teach these broads a lesson...the house always wins." [[Previous|65]] | [[Next|67]]

Hot Streak reached into his shirt, pulling out a handful of playing cards. They soon caught fire in his grasp, all the better to throw them at Nicole and Sonya in a wide spray. Embers from the flaming cards danced in the wind as the girls evaded the attack, taking advantage of gaps in the spread. The effort left Nicole distracted, however. She didn't notice Hot Streak's sleight of hand until it was too late. Another card had slipped out from his sleeve and landed a direct hit on her. As she struggled to extinguish the flame that hungered for her shirt, Blowout threw a small sphere in her general direction, an unassuming marble used in some casino game or another. The fact that it exploded upon impact with the float only surprised her even more, leaving her bowled over at the edge of the platform. Both of them were ganging up on Nicole, which would've been a great idea if Sonya weren't there. Hot Streak paid for his mistake as a vicious step kick blasted into his cheek. As he reeled from the impact, Sonya lunged in with a series of alternating elbow strikes, swinging upwards until she finished moving in, then switching to downward arcs to force Hot Streak and his guard away. She relented to let Hot Streak bring his body upright, but only so she could leap into the air and smash his shoulder between her elbow and knee. As he cried out in pain, Sonya took another quick step, this one in Nicole's direction to help her up. “Are you OK?” she asked, not waiting for an answer to dart back into the fray. “Just fine,” Nicole growled to empty air as she set her sights on Blowout. She let him brandish another metallic sphere and watched as his powers imbued it with concussive force, then stepped in to drive a frozen elbow into his arm. A pained yelp tore from his lips as he dropped the makeshift bomb, causing it to explode at their feet. Nicole ended up sprawled out on the float again, while Blowoout was hurled onto the car behind it. The difference in fall heights allowed Nicole to recover first, even giving her time to formulate the idea that she should plunge a fist downward into his chest. Her arm collected plenty of latent moisture in the air to freeze as she leapt from the float, coating it in a huge chunk of ice. WIth it, she crushed nothing but car, Blowout having rolled off of the car just in time to avoid the strike. “You can't run!” [[Previous|66]] | [[Next|68]]

As Nicole chased Blowout along the road, the edges of her vision picked up on security guards, doing their very best to keep the general populace out of the way of the brawl. She gave herself a silent pat on the back for cowing them into staying away from the fight itself, then moved back into the chase with renewed vigor. By the time she did so, however, Blowout had disappeared around the other side of the float. By the time Nicole rounded the corner after him, he was a total no-show. She was content to take a seat on the edge of the fountain for a bit. As long as Blowout was gone, she could watch Sonya grapple with Hot Streak up on the paradae float. Some nearby guards seemed to think about coming after her, but were ultimately smart enough not to. Hot Streak's combustible card tricks were useless at close range. He switched his strategy to punches and kicks, with fire erupting from every one. Sonya was undeterred by the pyrotechnics, and chose to block the attacks as she would any other. She seemed more concerned when he dragged a flaming sweep kick along the surface of the float, starting a more persistent fire. The walls of flames his feet left kept her from landing any solid hits, while he darted in and out of the flames with impunity. Such treachery left Nicole unable to handle herself any longer, and she flung an icy fist into the front of the float. It was a surprisingly lightweight thing, and buckled enough to distract both Sonya and Hot Streak. She shook it off first, however, and the advantage allowed her time to leap through the fire and wrap an arm around Hot Streak's chest. She threw herself off the float and took him with her. Sonya absorbed the fall in her superpowered legs. Hot Streak thanked her for her help by trying to punch her in the face. She dropped him, and his fist fell with him. By the time his back hit the pavement, Sonya had already sprinted halfway to Nicole. Nicole couldn't get a word out to question Sonya before she was swept up in a tight hug. “You're very cold,” Sonya whispered as her body leaned against Nicole's. “It feels so good.” The reverie was cut short as an explosion of force slammed into Nicole's back, causing both her and Sonya to tumble to the ground. “Suckers,” Blowout sneered from behind them. Hot Streak climbed down from the float to stand by the fallen duo and gloat. “So," he said with a laugh, "it's you that's joining me, right?” [[Previous|67]] | [[Next|69]]

Hot Streak's legs bowed under him, lowering his face down by Nicole and Sonya on the ground. “I admit, it was a pretty intense fight, but—“ Nicole lunged at Hot Streak, eager to shut him up. The two of them spilled onto the pavement not too far away. He lay there dazed a bit while she moved to straddle him. There, he was helpless before an onslaught of icy fists. He attempted to intervene with his own fire, but that only melted the ice. It did nothing to stop Nicole's meaty fists from pummeling his face. “You might want to...furl,” she growled, trying her hardest to remember the terminology. “Wait, no, fold. It's fold, right? Yeah, do that thing where you give up.” "We can go back and forth like this all day," Hot Streak replied. It seemed like a total lie, pinned as he was under Nicole. "If you wanna lose your teeth, then sure." Nicole held up a fist, and ice crawled along her knuckles anew. She could feel her arm muscles tighten and bulge in anticipation of more sweet, sweet violence. "All I'm asking is, you go about your business, I call you up in a month or so, we fight together as allies, and we never see each other again." Nicole's other hand bunched up Hot Streak's shirt and reeled his head off the ground, just a little bit closer and a little more still as she lined up a knockout punch. "And if you say no, I split your stupid face open and leave you here. Maybe one of your groupies will flip you over so you don't choke on your own blood." Hot Streak shook his head as best he could, given Nicole's grip. "Alright, already," he caved. "You don't have to lay on the performance so thick...you sound more psychotic than tough." "What performance?" When Hot Streak opened his mouth to answer, Nicole took the hand gripping him and used it to slam him back down onto the pavement. [[Previous|68]] | [[Next|70]]

## Chapter 5 Randolph strode into the abandoned warehouse that his colleagues had taken over, a confident smile stretched across his face behind long locks of flat silver hair. The party had started without him, but he was in no rush to make an appearance; he was confident that the real fun would wait for him. He was glad to finally be in his element, after spending so much time in River City with nowhere to party. His high hopes for the grand opening of a local casino had been dashed when the party was broken up by a couple teenage girls, but his friends were quick to arrive from out of town with the equipment and music he truly desired. The deep bass of the music rattled the windows and shook through his feet, just the way he liked it. “Finally...!” he gasped as he threw himself into the waterfront dive, excited to join the crowd already present. Both he and his powers flourished under the brightly colored spotlights waving around the dance floor, and soon most of the eyes in the room were on him, for the skin his pants and t-shirt left exposed had begun to glow with the colors of the lights that had struck it. Some of the other dancers in the room were waving around glowsticks in time with the music, but Randolph quickly proved to be his own glowstick. His own luminescence eventually settled on a stark white after taking in so many colors, which only separated him further from the rest of the crowd. Even before developing his powers, he was used to being the center of attention, but now his smooth moves were impossible to not notice, unlike the gunshots drowned out by the music. “Wait, gunshots?” Randolph cried out to himself as he glanced around in a panic. All around him, chaos and agonized screams quickly filled the room, as people milled about on the dance floor, unsure whether to cower in the corners of the room or take a chance darting past the gun-wielding thugs standing in the doorway. Randolph knew his choice well enough; the crowd made it much easier to approach the doorway, allowing him plenty of time to plot his escape. As one of the thugs aimed a gun square at him, he knew his cover was blown, but he had made it close enough to take action. With a short grunt, the light collected by his skin poured out of him all at once, flooding the room in blinding white light. While Randolph was ready for the occurrence, his assailants were not. Their response was to open fire into the room randomly, but he wasn't about to stick around long enough to figure out if anyone was injured. It pained him to leave the scene of the crime, but without help, he stood no chance against the armed thugs. As he ran, however, his mind traveled back to the thought of the girls crashing the casino party, and a new plan began to unfold. [[Previous|69]] | [[Next|71]]

“Thanks for finally getting rid of that tree,” Sonya's mother grunted across the dinner table. “After how long it took, I'm surprised you took such good care of the ashes.” “Yeah, well,” Nicole began, pushing her words through a mouthful of mashed potatoes, “ashes are a lot easier to deal with than some big tree.” As her hands made a greedy lunge across the table in search of seconds, she added, “Oh, and Sonya found us a much better place to spar in the future, so your other trees ought to be safe.” “'bout time,” Sonya's father said, pausing to guzzle down a glass of water. “You gonna do anything about the neighbor? She still thinks it's your fault her place is all messed up.” Sonya threw her hands into the air, incredulous at the news. “But we saved her!” she groaned. “From thievery! From murderers!” “If that ain't enough to get her to shut up, she never will,” Nicole added, letting her sentence run free despite the meat and potatoes she was shoveling down. “We've been keeping our distance for awhile now, and she's still holding a grudge?” Christine shook her head. “That's why she thinks you're guilty,” she said. “Like you ran into the city to lay low.” A loud clatter filled the room as Nicole's utensils hit the edges of her plate. “There's a police officer that can vouch for at least a few of those days! If we were guilty, would we hang around a cop?” “Tried it,” Henry said as he rose to his feet, finished packing away thirds. “I told her about that. She thinks that one must be a crooked cop. She's been on the force for how long?” “She was involved in a fighting tournament they had on TV awhile back, and they must've loved her to pick her to be on that job.” Given the backgrounds of everyone in the room, she was confident that she was the one that knew the most about the televised tournament. “I never saw her matches, but I hear she managed to reach the semifinals.” Henry shrugged. “Can't be too bad, then.” [[Previous|70]] | [[Next|72]]

A knock at the door rustled everyone in the dining room, but Nicole was quick to push herself to her feet and take point. “I'll get it,” she informed everyone. “And if it's that neighbor, she'll get hers.” Nicole stormed out of the room, ice already creeping along her arms. With a deep breath, she threw the door open, and got halfway into her fighting stance before she recognized the form of Officer Heather Storm standing in the doorway. Nicole gave a sheepish laugh and smacked her arms into the sides of the doorway, shattering the ice. “You look ready for a fight,” Heather noted. Nicole shrugged. “I thought you were someone else, OK? What's your problem today?” “My problem is that you're terrible with patrols. You never found anyone down by the water, but they found more victims easily enough.” “What's that got to do with me?” Heather stepped to the side, revealing a tall young man with silvery hair standing behind her, his eyes wide and desperate. “The sole survivor asked for you specifically. Well...he asked for 'the two young women that started the brawl at the casino grand opening', and who else would've done a thing like that?” Heather leaned in to whisper additional information into Nicole's ear. “That, and he escaped using his powers.” “Powers?” Nicole blurted just a little too loudly. “Don't you worry, Nicole and Sonya are on the case!” “We're on the what?” Sonya's voice called out from the dining room. [[Previous|71]] | [[Next|73]]

“Strange,” Ciel said as she lazily skated along behind the girls on the way to the scene of the crime. “Nothing I read about the two of you in my journal implies any sort of detective skills.” Nicole let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Good,” she joked, “I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea, even if you'd forget about it by tomorrow.” “Focus, kids,” Heather admonished them as she stepped up to the warehouse where the crime had taken place. “This isn't a pretty sight. I had to pull a lot of strings, but we're the first ones on the scene...no one's taken any evidence or cleaned up the mess.” True to the policewoman's promise, the door swung open to reveal the gruesome aftermath of the slaughter from the night before. “There's no bodies here,” Randolph noted, his finger tracing along a trail of blood leading away from the front door. “They must have moved them. The trail is thickest here, so it must have started there...but...what for? They seemed to revel in the shooting, in the death...” “Who knows?” Heather led the group further inside, scanning the area with a flashlight despite the decent lighting already flooding the area. “Just keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, alright?” The team gave a simultaneous nod and fanned out through the warehouse, eager to locate whatever clues they could. While Ciel followed Heather's light around the premises, Nicole and Sonya had the pleasure of being guided by Randolph and his light powers. “I hope the jerks that did this can be brought to justice,” he mumbled as his arms waved around, emitting a soft glow. [[Previous|72]] | [[Next|74]]

Nicole scoffed, her attention being tugged away from examining the wall that many a bullet had torn through. “Jerks?” she parroted. “You can't be serious. They're way worse than that.” When Randolph gasped and took a step back from her harsh correction, she let out a sigh and turned her gaze back to the wall. “Whatever. So was all this stuff always in here? I'm kinda wondering if I missed this place this whole time or what.” “No. My friends from out of town brought the dance equipment. Until a few days ago, there wasn't anything in here except a bunch of heavy crates.” With a forlorn chuckle, Randolph added, “If only I'd actually bothered to come help move them.” “Wait, what?” Heather gasped, dashing over with her flashlight pointed squarely at Randolph. “Where did these crates go? Do you know where they got moved to?” Randolph's gaze fell to the floor. “No...I never stopped by until all the work was finished. If only I hadn't been so lazy.” “Don't blame yourself!” Sonya assured the young man, clapping a fierce hand down on his shoulder to console him. “How would you know...?” “I guess...” Randolph shrugged the hand off of his shoulder and turned back to the task at hand. “I'll feel a lot better if we can do something about this.” Sonya chuckled and nodded heartily. “That's how we felt! Nicole and I!” Sonya went on to share the story of Mr. Lee with Randolph, in her trademark machine-gun bursts of short sentences. It was the longest Nicole had ever heard Sonya speak at once, and it was easy to figure out why; trying to piece together a coherent narrative a few syllables at a time was not an easy task for her. The energy was all there, but perhaps so much so that the words themselves came out in short bursts, probably the moment they came to Sonya's mind. Randolph's facial expression made it clear that he was having trouble piecing things together, too. “Um...OK,” he offered weakly at the end of Sonya's tale. “I'll take your word for it.” [[Previous|73]] | [[Next|75]]

“That's good, Randolph!” Sonya said, even as her attention tilted back toward the crime scene investigation. “Just remember...we're here to help!” “Wha...?” Nicole muttered, barely having caught what Sonya was saying, certainly not well enough to provide a decent reply. “Yeah, we're right here.” Her mind was occupied with the floor, content to search the area for clues and leaving the wall to Sonya. Before long, however, she figured she had something. “Hey, is this a thing?” Once the others ran to her side, she stood up straight and used her hands to gesture to the anomaly. “Randolph said the thin end of the blood trails is where they dragged the bodies, right? But look...there's a bunch of trails that move to this spot and then...nothing.” Nicole took a couple steps forward, into a spot completely untouched by the gore covering the floor. “See, there's a big spot right here where it's totally clean. It's like they all went here and then vanished.” “Impossible!” Sonya noted, nonetheless enraptured by what Nicole had found. “They can't vanish...!” Nicole raised her hands and took a couple confrontational steps toward her girlfriend. “Then where did they go? All the trails go in, and they don't come out.” “Calm down, Nicole!” Sonya raised a leg, halting Nicole's advance with her foot. “We'll find the truth!” “We better do it soon,” Heather said over the ruckus raised by her rapping a baton against the walls. “We're already a day behind, and if the sun goes down, we're only going to end up losing more time.” Randolph nodded and removed his footwear, letting his bare feet ooze light onto the surrounding floor despite his obvious inability to stomach walking over the bloodstains. “Then we better make some progress fast,” he spat. “It's all I can do for them now.” “Then let's do it.” Heather continued scouring the wall, whacking it with her baton every few yards. When she noticed Nicole's confused glare, she outlined her strategy. “If the criminals have been using this as a base for awhile, odds are they have something hidden somewhere. Perps will stick things inside walls or modify their cars to make secret compartments, so why not a whole warehouse?” [[Previous|74]] | [[Next|76]]

Nicole's frustrations peaked; she was fed up with her allies not paying the clue she found the proper amount of attention. With a fierce yell, she smashed her fist into the floor she'd gone through such lengths to find, only for the entire area around her to collapse. The paneling brought in to serve as a dance floor gave way, as did the concrete directly beneath it. The collapse left Nicole to drop a couple feet into an area beneath the warehouse floor, an area now serving as a mass grave for the victims of the shootout. Nicole shot a quick scream up out of the pit, hastily grabbing the edge and following her scream back to the dance floor. “I found where the bodies went,” she gasped. Later, the group reconvened outside in the moonlight, and let the River City Police Department handle things from there. “I'm with you, Randolph," Heather assured him, "I really want to find the sickos responsible...” “What do we do?” Sonya asked, swaying in place holding her fighting stance. “We have no clues!” Nicole shook her head. “We know some people got killed,” she said. “We don't know who they are, what they look like, why they came here, how they got here or left...” In a rage, she grabbed Randolph by the collar. “...we might have more to work on if you didn't puss out!” The water behind Nicole erupted, causing her to drop Randolph and turn to investigate. Before long, a humanoid form fell to the dock, and the water fell away to reveal the young man that Nicole had previously thrashed here. “Riptide on the scene!” he shouted. Her reaction was to start running toward the guy, her fists glaciating rapidly in the humid air. “Do you just hang out in the water like that all the time?” Riptide spun on his heels as he spoke, finishing his pirouette with a flourish of his trademark claws. “I patrol the seas, and my abilities have yet improved!” Eager to prove his point, he strode toward Nicole's menacing figure. “Behold my revamped claws, the very hands of justice!” True to his word, the shabby spines that once hung from his fists were replaced with fine steel talons made specifically for the task. [[Previous|75]] | [[Next|77]]

Riptide's approach made it that much easier for Nicole to take a swing for his face, but she found her outburst held back by the new claws. It still took Riptide two hands to repel one of hers, but it was far better than she expected of him, so she relented. “Can't you go play pretend somewhere else? We're trying to deal with a murder mystery.” “Murder? In my area? Preposterous!” After a long pause, he added, “Well, unless it occurred just last night...um...in which case, the eyes of truth were out looking for ways to increase in power.” Nicole gave him a dirty look before launching into an explanation of what had happened, filling him in on the details of the mass execution that Randolph had so narrowly escaped. “See now why this is way too big for you?” she growled. “No case is too big or too small; all are swept up by...the Ript—“ While Riptide may have been ready for Nicole's fist as he just stood there, his showy gestures left him unprepared for a sucker punch to the gut. “Look, if you manage to bring down even one criminal, I'll have been completely wrong about you.” With a disgusted sigh, she pushed on him with her foot, shoving him back into the sea. When she turned back to face her colleagues, she was met with derisive stares. “What?” she groaned. “That's what I did to him last time, and look! He got new claws.” “But still, Nicole...!” Sonya whined, rolling her eyes. “He can help us! He can keep watch!” Nicole scoffed. “He'll do that whether we ask or not.” With one last shrug, she was completely done thinking about Riptide. “So what do we do now?” “There's not much we can do,” Heather admitted, staring over her shoulder at the scene of the crime as her colleagues scoured the area for more clues. “Maybe one of the boys will find some usable fingerprints or bullets we can trace back to a certain gun, but I doubt it. I didn't see anything like that laying around...these guys were thorough. I'm surprised they didn't mop up the blood.” [[Previous|76]] | [[Next|78]]

“They had to have known I escaped,” Randolph said as his gaze reached for the stars. “I blinded them with a great pulse of light. They must be aware that the first thing I'd do is find someone to help me track them down.” “...so they're covering their tracks. Damn...!” Heather hunched over slightly and balled her fists, keeping her anger inside as best she could. “How can we stop this from happening again?” “By being there!” Sonya answered, her voice dripping with anticipation. “Where will they go? Do we know that? Randolph, do you?” Randolph turned away from the sky, dropping into a state of deep thought. “I don't think any of them mentioned a destination,” he groaned into his hand as it stroked his chin. “They just...barged in...and opened fire...and then...” Randolph's head snapped upright as he let out a sudden gasp. “Wait. Where's the van?” “The...van?” Nicole parroted, more curtly than she had intended to; she felt a great surge of relief as the case got closer to solving. Randolph nodded. “My friends...it takes a lot to turn everywhere they go into a dance floor, so they bring their equipment around town in a van that's red in the front and black in the back! They'd have never come to River City without it!” “Thank goodness,” Heather sighed. “That's much easier to track. Ciel, think your artistic skills are up for making a mockup of this van?” Despite Ciel's confident nod, Randolph was quick to bring up another point of contention. “And what if the fiends come for me?” Heather let out a quick chuckle. “They'll have to get through Nicole and Sonya first, I'm sure.” Glaring at Nicole, she added, “They'll do that whether we ask or not.” [[Previous|77]] | [[Next|79]]

“I hate this plan,” Sonya admitted as she pulled aside the panels covering the warehouse pit. “Will this plan work? I hope it works.” Nicole nodded down the hole and turned toward Randolph, standing around in the emptiness of the warehouse and letting the soft glow of the moon soak his skin. “Yeah,” she said as she clapped a hand on Randolph's shoulder to get his attention, “you sure you wanna do this? I mean, we'll stick with you anywhere. You don't have to—“ “No,” Randolph interrupted her, grabbing her hand with his and pushing it away from his shirtless skin. “This is now or never. If the killers come back to the scene of the crime, we'll be ready for them. If they don't come, or if we're not here...I imagine we'll have missed our chance forever.” “I'm sure Heather would spare some police firepower if you wanted it.” Randolph shook his head. “I think they'd be scared off. If they see me, they'll stick around and seek revenge for my flashy escape.” Nicole shrugged and pulled a large crate down on its side, walking into it without having to duck even a little. “Well, once they show up, we'll be waiting for them.” As Randolph stared at her pulling up the crate lid to obscure herself, she added, “Don't worry! We've done this sort of thing before. Even I can handle waiting for a signal.” The last thing she saw before the box swung shut was Randolph giving her a shrug and walking to a point closer to Sonya's hiding spot. As time melted away in the unforgiving darkness of the crate, Nicole started to second-guess her ability to handle the task. Seconds turned to minutes, maybe even hours; she had no frame of reference and nobody to confer with. The isolation of the box put the dark of the night to shame, and Nicole didn't even feel at ease enough to pace back and forth, lest she smack her face directly into the side of the box or something of the sort. She could have entertained herself with punching the crate, were she not worried about making too much noise or just plain breaking it open. As bad as she felt in her hiding spot, Sonya was the one waiting where they had kept all the bodies, and while people had been by earlier to pick them up for identification and autopsy, just the thought of crawling into that same hole made Nicole cringe. “Well, well,” a snide voice called from somewhere outside the box. “Look who we have here...if it isn't the bright guy from before. Some idea you had, running off like that.” [[Previous|78]] | [[Next|80]]

“Looks like you found me,” Randolph spat back, doing his best to fake some bravado toward someone he must have recognized, by the sound of it. “Or was it me that found you? Perhaps to make you pay for what you did to my friends?” “Grow up, kid. Don't hold grudges...you'll live longer!” “I'm fine with the alternative, as long as I take you with me.” “You've been watching too many movies. OK, fellas, show this kid what the real world is like!” Nicole expected the sounds of gunshots to fill the room, but what she heard instead was a chorus of screams. She was pretty sure that meant that Randolph's light powers had blinded his assailants, sure enough to take a step forward and throw a glacial haymaker into the darkness, smashing through the wooden crate and making her entrance amid a dazzling explosion of splinters and ice chunks. Sonya must have caught the cue as well, since the panels hiding the gap in the floor exploded outward, breaking against the ceiling as she pounced out of the hole with a smile. “It's about time!” she gasped. “I hated that! So cold and dark...!” “Well, come on!” Nicole shouted. “They're fleeing out into the open...let's go get 'em!” Sonya's powerful legs brought her to the door far before Nicole could get there, but the voices that ensued fell on both their ears. “Cheese it!” the voice Nicole had heard earlier was shouting. “It's a setup! Take the stuff and go!” When Nicole rounded the corner of the doorway, the moonlight revealed a van matching the description Randolph had once given, its contents being unloaded into a small boat floating in the water. Upon spotting Nicole and Sonya charging their way, the fellows near the back of the van started picking up the pace, moving fast in hopes of unloading their cargo before it was too late. [[Previous|79]] | [[Next|81]]

Sonya's powers being what they were, however, the “too late” that the perps were so worried about was upon them. This was a time heralded not by a chime, but by a flying knee, a pained grunt, and a splash. Eager to have her own cut of the fun, Nicole dashed in as icy winds swirled around her fist, blasting the closest brigand with a fierce straight punch to the sternum. The attacks had to abate, however, as the criminals aboard the boat were firing their guns at the proceedings. Sonya was quick to leap and dash behind the van, with Nicole rolling in close behind. “They've got us pinned!” Nicole groaned, eager to enact more violence, but not so eager to stay in the line of fire. “I don't think we can close the gap before those guys put some bullets into us...what do we do?” Sonya looked over her shoulder, searching desperately for an answer. “Can Randolph help?” she asked, despite not spotting him. Nicole shook her head. “We left him in the dust, and he'd get shot before he could reach the van! Besides, I don't think they'll fall for his light show tricks twice.” “They must be stopped!” Sonya paused her sentence to grab the foe Nicole had punched, drag him along the ground, and smash her elbow into his forehead; his head bounced him off the pavement, knocking him unconscious. “But they have guns!” “If we run out there, we end up dead or like Steven...” As much as it hurt Nicole to let the crooks go, she was willing to let it happen if she had to, if it meant avoiding death or paralysis. “We can't go down here...we still have Mr. Lee to deal with!” As logical as the decision was, it still hurt to make, especially as the sound of laughter echoed across the empty bay. “See ya, suckers!” one of the criminals called out over the sound of the boat's engine. Before long, their watercraft sputtered to life, intent on carrying its passengers and cargo into open waters. [[Previous|80]] | [[Next|82]]

Nicole and Sonya shifted around the van, making sure to keep it between them and the boat so as to preserve the cover they'd found, but also keeping their eyes peeked around the edge to watch the boat shrink off into the distance. What they didn't expect to see, however, was a great geyser of water explode from the chilly depths. The boat reeled at the sight, turning away from the turbulent seas as best it could. Above all the noise rising from the scene, a voice rang out, clear and confident. “You fiends dare set sail on the waters of justice?” It didn't take long for Nicole to recognize the voice, and her palm soon met her forehead in an expression of exasperation. “Him again?” she groaned. “Some Riptide...they'll rip him to shreds!” Even so, she found morbid curiosity taking over, and crept out of her cover to sneak along the wharf. Sonya followed close by, intent on hearing the goings-on a little better. The waterspout fell away, revealing Riptide miraculously standing upon the waters, a clawed hand outstretched toward the boat. “You will cease your activities and turn in your contraband, or you will know what it means to be punished for your crimes!” “Eat me!” one of the men aboard the boat shouted, before opening fire. Riptide slipped back into the water, since the bullets flew through the air at such devastating speed, but they could not swim nearly so well. On the other hand, the water was precisely where Riptide was at his fastest, creating a bigger wake than the boat had as he zipped past the gunshots of his assailants. “Was he always this fast?” Nicole asked, stunned by the events unfolding before her. As maneuverable as the criminals' speedboat was, it paled in comparison to Riptide's insane agility in the water, leaving them utterly unable to stop him from using his claws to tamper with their motor. Panic overtook the boat as it sputtered to a stop and stranded the criminals aboard it in the middle of the bay. Their state of mind only made their efforts to shoot Riptide even more hopeless, and their aim was certainly not helped by his retreat. As his wake created a line through the water, Nicole eventually got the hint; he was headed straight for her and Sonya. [[Previous|81]] | [[Next|83]]

A burst of water followed Riptide closely as he made the enormous leap to stand among the girls, frontflipping through the air and sea before landing on his feet. “Do you still doubt me?” he asked, raising a triumphant claw to be level with his head. Nicole grumbled inaudibly in reply, having been thoroughly shown up by Riptide's exploits. She expected to be proven wrong, but what she had seen went beyond that. “You hustled me, didn't you, you little prick?” she growled, raising an icy fist. “You could do this all along, and you just didn't...!” “I shall answer your question only when you have summoned the police to apprehend these scoundrels...and possibly a news reporter so all may know the wrath of the Riptide!” As he spoke his own name, a wave crashed against the concrete platform the three of them stood on, spraying water in the air in time with his gesture of pointing a finger into the air. “Did you do that?” Sonya asked, pointing past him to the dramatic spray that had issued in time with his showmanship. “I think you did!” Riptide turned his face away from the girls slightly. “My power has increased dramatically since last we met!” “Like hell it has!” a familiar voice frothed from the water. “The kid's feedin' ya a line an' ya know it!” As the three of them ran to the edge to peer down in search of the source of the voice, a watery tendril reached up toward them. They scattered as it rose to their height, allowing it to touch down at a spot on the concrete and begin to take a definite shape, like reversed footage of a scarf unraveling. The tendril retreated into the water, leaving a feminine shape standing before them with a heart-like sphere visible through the seawater. “Though is it good seein' y'all again.” “Claire, eh?” Nicole gasped, not expecting to see her here of all places after a month or so of separation. “I haven't seen you since the Lee Corporation thing! How's it been? I see you're better at holding your form together!” [[Previous|82]] | [[Next|84]]

“Bein' some kinda water ball monster thing ain't easy," Claire said, "but no matter what you are, bein' with that Sam girl is boring...!” Nicole had always wondered how the same chemical spill that gave her ice powers and Sonya super-legs had had such a drastic effect on Claire's entire physiology, but she always hesitated to ask any questions. “Maybe she can hang back in Cross Town where nothing ever happens, but that ain't me!” “Ha!” Riptide scoffed, jabbing a claw into Claire's liquid chest. “Who's spreading falsehoods now? This is all a ploy to get famous along with me to get the attention of Grizz the Great!” “You have always wanted into his pants,” Nicole agreed through a chuckle, though her laughter came mostly from imagining how Grizz would react to hearing what Riptide had called him. The female body Claire had cobbled together out of the water of the bay began to ditch its humanoid trappings; she let out angry grunts as she sculpted her left arm to be wider and flatter, making a paddle to smack Nicole in the side of the head with. “Hey, what's the big idea, huh?” she boiled. “Y'all's just gonna buy the lies this kid's puttin' out there?” “Uh, hey, you guys...!” Sonya shouted, stepping in the middle of everyone else and pointing out into the water. “What about them? The criminals?” [[Previous|83]] | [[Next|85]]

“I'm glad you went out there to handle it, kid,” Nicole admitted as she watched police officers remove the packages from the criminals' boat, bringing them back to their own vessels. “I can't stand being out on the water like that. I get seasick just standing on a floating dock.” Riptide shook his head and gestured wildly, each movement a signal for Claire to make him look that much more dramatic by shifting water behind him. “I have a name, and it is not 'Kid'!” he protested. “I am the Riptide, come to deliver justice to the seas a—“ Randolph silenced him with a wave of his hand. “I'm certainly thankful for what you did,” he said as he offered a handshake, his hand glowing under the pale moonlight. “Once the law carries out its way, I can consider my friends avenged.” Riptide nodded and stuck his hand out, gasping in surprise when Randolph pulled him closer for a hug. Releasing his grip on the watery warrior, he added, “Nicole, Sonya, Officer Storm...we couldn't have done it without you, either.” With that, Randolph turned to walk away. “Wait!” Nicole gasped, stepping forward to grab his shoulder. “Now that we've helped you...want to help us? We're out to bring the fight to Mr. Lee for what he did to us people that came down with superpowers.” A brief chuckle rose into the air, clinging to the vapor pouring from Randolph's mouth. “No thank you. I've had enough fighting and violence for one lifetime. You heard what those thugs said...you ought to take it easy on the grudges. You'll live longer.” Nicole took a step back, shocked and incensed by Randolph's answer. “What? But...that's how this works, isn't it? We just helped you through the toughest time of your life...you owe us, Randolph! You owe us...!” “I owe you gratitude, a debt I've already paid in full.” Randolph moved to the van the criminals had stolen, and wrenched open the driver's side door to lean out of the seat while he spoke. “Your cause seems admirable enough, but I was never one for a fight. If you need to throw a party once you come back from your mission, that's more my thing.” Nicole growled and began running toward the van, but Sonya, always quicker on her feet, sprinted and put herself in the way, halting Nicole's advance with a warm embrace. “Just let him go,” she cooed into Nicole's ear. “We'll be alright.” [[Previous|84]] | [[Next|86]]

“But Sonya...!” Nicole said, thrashing around a bit within Sonya's arms. “After all that we went through...” Sonya nodded, resting her cheek against Nicole's. “After all that...he still wants out. But that's his choice. Meanwhile, Riptide...!” Nicole gasped and pushed herself away from Sonya, moving back to the edge where Riptide and Heather stood, still bickering about fame and PR issues. “You!” she shouted, grabbing Riptide by the hair and yanking him aside. “You're with us, aren't you? To see justice served against Mr. Lee or whatever?” “Justice?” Riptide gasped, claws at the ready. “Where?” “Somewhere in the future. We're out to cream the guy that enslaved and murdered people like you and me. You say you saw me on the news? We never finished that job. Want to help us?” Nicole turned to face Heather, grinning maliciously as she added, “And rack up some screen time on the evening news?” “The...the...the evening news?” Nicole put a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh as she replied, “Of course! The cameras might even catch you and I working together, getting it done. You can tell the press what you did to these guys tonight...or you can show the entire world what you'll do to Lee's goons.” Nicole turned back to see Riptide practically salivating at the thought. “Then all would know the fury of the Riptide!” he shrieked, fidgeting gleefully like a little kid. “Very well...when you need me, come find me, and the Riptide shall—“ “And bring Claire, too!” Sonya interrupted, leaving Riptide visibly shaken. “It's been a month! I've missed her so!” [[Previous|85]] | [[Next|87]]

## Chapter 6 Armand watched in fascination as a contingent of police cars sped down Main Street in the dead of the night, making their way toward the waterfront. “I wonder what the rush is?” he mumbled to himself as the wind they kicked up threatened to push his jacket off of him. Balling the cloth up in his fists, he hugged the coat around himself and kept walking, eager to get home before his parents noticed his absence. As he walked, the conversation already played in his head, preparing himself for the possibility of being caught. Prone to worrying as they were, he was still inclined to tell them the truth, that he'd merely had trouble sleeping and taken a walk around town to calm himself. He expected them to worry about the possibility that he might be injured, only to be silenced as he explained the state of his physiology to them to what felt like it would be the millionth time. A strange scraping noise pulled him out of his train of thought, sending him tumbling through reality until he finally locked eyes on the source of the noise. “Just a girl on roller skates,” he muttered as he adjusted his wide-brimmed hat. Just as he turned to face away from her and continue his walk, however, she skidded to a halt in the middle of an empty alleyway. Confused and curious, Armand watched on as she hoisted a spray can of paint and opened fire upon the wall. In the light of the moon, her body twisted and turned as she laid layers of paint on the wall before her, juggling cans of multiple colors to get her art just right. Overcome by wonder, Armand turned away from his path and stepped into the alleyway, moving behind the young woman as her picture took shape. Standing on the wall before her, ringed with stark black outlines, were two men and a woman dressed in light blue; the men had the woman on her stomach, with one heavy-duty boot in her back and two guns pointed at her head. With such violent imagery being plastered on the building before them, Armand could keep silent no longer. “Excuse me,” he said as he pushed a thumb into the brim of his hat, “but what is this...?” The young lady gasped and dropped her cans, spinning around to face Armand with wide, frightened eyes. “Who are you?” she gasped. “Where am I?” “You don't know...?” Armand shook his head, careful to keep his hat in place. “This is River City. I'm not from here, but I can try to show you to—“ In the blink of an eye, the young woman was no longer standing in front of him, having somehow zipped away from him and fallen off the edge of the sidewalk. [[Previous|86]] | [[Next|88]]

The strange woman groaned as she shook off her impact with the road, though her recovery was taking longer than she had time for it to. Armand gasped as the unmistakable sound of an incoming car filled the air, confirmed by the headlights raking the woman's prone form. A quick calculation in his head confirmed that there was no way the car could stop in time at the speed it was going, though it left him with time to formulate but one plan. “I've got you!” he shouted as he dashed into the street, letting his duster fall away from the thick leathery plates protruding his back and arms. Free from his hat, his ears were free to poke upward, similar in shape to those of a rabbit but much smaller. He stepped into the street as quickly as his bulky frame allowed and turned his back to the car, stretching his arms outward in anticipation of the impact. The force of the car nearly bowled him over, but otherwise he felt absolutely nothing as the metal of the car twisted against his body. Armand heard the windows blow out behind him, but dared not turn his head and expose an area of himself not protected by his natural armor. “You...!” the woman gasped as Armand stood before her, the area now dark in the wake of the accident. “You saved me!” Armand nodded and turned to the wreck behind him, spotting a frightened young driver behind the wheel. “You really ought to drive slower,” he cautioned the driver as he pulled the poor man through the window. His arms bore the brunt of the broken glass, not suffering so much as a single scratch as he rescued the driver. Suspending the driver in the air with one arm, Armand added, “For tonight, you're lucky you buckled up.” [[Previous|87]] | [[Next|89]]

Nicole took a tentative step toward the bay, looking back toward Sonya. “You really think this will work?” she asked as the chilly waters licked her bare feet invitingly. “I think it will!” Sonya confirmed, pausing to slam her upper leg into a tree. A wide, goofy grin crossed her face as the venerable old tree snapped beneath the power of her strike. “Just try it out! You can swim, right?” Nicole's face wrinkled up, seemingly moving in vain to cover up an incoming confession. “No...” Sonya apparently hadn't noticed Nicole flailing impotently in the water Claire had pulled around them back when they were assaulting the Lee Corporation building, but that at least raised the possibility that no one else had, either. As embarrassing as Nicole felt the event would be, Sonya was at least kind enough to shrug it off. “Then don't go far!” “Yeah...I guess even the shallow water will work for this.” Nicole stepped away from the water and took a deep breath, looking down as she let her powers run wild, drastically chilling the air around her. Clouds of condensing water cloaked her every step, but several steps later, she felt no moisture on her feet. The step she had taken away from the water was fairly small, leaving a triumphant grin to spread across her face as she realized she had frozen the water underfoot. “Sonya...I think it's working!” She had frozen water beneath her before, but only to create a slippery surface, and on those times, her hands were much closer to the ground. Freezing water underfoot while standing up was much harder, but she was managing to find some success. “I'm doing it...!” Nicole dared not turn around, but the sound she heard behind her matched the snapping of the tree that she had witnessed. “That's great, Nicole!” Sonya said from the beach. “You look so great!” Nicole's steps were slow and uncertain, but they were dry and they brought her further along the frozen surface of the lake all the same. “If only we'd done this sooner...I could've gone after that one boat myse—“ Her sentence fell away just as she did, her steps having carried her onto ice too thin to support her weight. [[Previous|88]] | [[Next|90]]

The frigid chill of the water stuck to Nicole's sparring clothes as her water-walking trick failed her. While she enjoyed the frigid feeling against her skin, she knew Sonya wouldn't be so happy with it. “Ugh...good thing I only got out to waist depth.” “But that's no good! That's not useful!” Sonya shrugged as Nicole stomped onto the shore, pulling her into an embrace despite the moisture. “I can walk there! And without ice!” “Thanks for the pep talk,” Nicole groaned, standing still in Sonya's arms with her own limp at her sides. “Oh, I feel tons better now.” Sonya chuckled and shook her head, hugging Nicole closer. “It was cool, though! Work on it more!” Before Nicole could give the situation any more thought, a streak of color whipped through the trees and stopped behind Sonya, revealing Ciel's light frame. “So the journal was right,” she mumbled. “You two! You wouldn't happen to know a Nicole and Sonya, would you?” “That would be us!” Sonya rested her head against Nicole's and smiled. “So how are you?” Ciel shrugged, slowly skating her way over to the couple. “Not too bad...there are many facets of my life that require relearning, but it's going well. One of those things...is the team you two are putting together, or so the journal says. I met another person who may be of interest to your gang.” The word “gang” shoved its way into Nicole's ears and instantly had her attention. “What, another recruit?” she asked. “Where?” “That, I did not transcribe.” Ciel's shoulders drooped as she shook her head. “I can, however, share the notes I did take.” With the aid of her powers, she was instantly standing next to Nicole and Sonya, journal in hand. The girls looked on as Ciel's finger guided them to points of interest in her most recent journal entry. There, they found quite a bit of facts all at once, but through the tale of sleepwalking and spray paint, there were mentions of a stout young man who apparently took a car crash to the back, without budging or feeling pain. “I had a note in here saying that you were the ones to talk to about a person like this.” Sonya nodded excitedly. “You bet we are!” she exclaimed through a wide grin. “Where is this guy?” Ciel shrugged. “It's not as if I would remember. I recommend finding him yourself. I have an agenda for today too, you know. I can show you where I last saw him later, if you like.” “Fine,” Nicole balked, “but you left enough room in your schedule for my fist, didn't you? Let's go a round before you disappear on us.” [[Previous|89]] | [[Next|91]]

“But this is the same grocery store my parents shopped at,” Nicole whined, her voice thick with confusion as the doors opened themselves for Sonya's parents. “You guys are too rich to be stopping here, aren't you?” Sonya laughed and shrugged. “It's cheaper here!” she blurted. Nicole rolled her eyes. “Well, duh, that's why my family went here...but I fail to see why your folks would come.” “'cause it's cheaper!” Already fed up with the circular nature of the conversation, Nicole gave up and dug the money out of her pocket. “You guys never have the fruit pastries I'm into...I'm gonna go stock up since you guys don't.” Sonya gasped and ran in front of Nicole, halting her advance to the proper aisle. “You eat those things? They're bad for you! And they're so gross!” “Says you,” Nicole scoffed as she swept Sonya aside with her mighty arm. “I've been dying to bite down on one of those...gotta get me some cherry pastries!” Despite the stern look on Sonya's face, she allowed Nicole to pass unhindered, choosing instead to follow her parents around the store. “If all else fails, meet us at the car,” Henry ordered as he took hold of his shopping cart and took off. Nicole gave no reply; she was too busy scampering off to the section of the store where she would find her precious junk food. It didn't take her long to zero in on the far side of one of the rear aisles, where these foods awaited her in large numbers. Her parents had used them as bribes when she was little; any concerns or complaints could be instantly silenced by just one pastry. As she looked down at the selection of snacks, she even found herself missing her parents a little. Whatever the Lee Corporation had done with them, she had never seen them since she dared fight back against her oppressor. She had never held them in high regard, but they were hers, a unique property that she would never find in Sonya's parents, no matter how much patience and money they gave her. There were times that Nicole had wanted her parents out of her life, but that should have been her choice and not Mr. Lee's. “Are you deaf?” a hoarse female voice bellowed from the other end of the aisle. “I said get down!” [[Previous|90]] | [[Next|92]]

Nicole barely had to move her head before her peripheral vision picked up on the source of the voice, a tall figure keeping all her features hidden under a black sweatshirt and ski mask. The moment the submachine gun swung into view, the woman's intentions were clear, as was Nicole's next move. The assailant seemed confident that she would be able to stride up to Nicole and plant a gun in her temple, but that plan relied on her not landing a knee-buckling sucker punch. “Get lost,” Nicole said as she turned her head back toward the snack cakes. “I only have the money for a week's worth of these. I gotta concentrate.” The would-be robber attempted to reply, but it came out as a pained groan. Still, it must have been some sort of sass, because it was accompanied by her reaching for her gun. Nicole shook her head. “What did I just tell you?” she snarled, blasting the perp's arm with a fierce stomp. She could feel the bones shattering underfoot, but otherwise noticed nothing, since her eyes were still on the snacks. Thinking nothing of the encounter, she filled her arms with a bevy of tiny boxes, already planning the next seven days in her head. “Chocolate in the morning,” she mumbled to herself, “cherry in the evening, and apple whenever I get the chance.” Her plans complete, she made strides toward the checkout lanes, but quickly halted her advance when she spotted the cashiers being held at gunpoint. Before long, she even took notice of the fact that they were dressed the same way as the gunner she'd incapacitated earlier. She found herself wondering if Sonya had run into anyone of the sort; if she had, they must have been no match for her either. Not a trace of worry clouded Nicole's mind, only a vague sense of excitement at the chance for a fight. Gently lowering the pastries to the ground to free her hands, she was already evaluating her opponents. Their builds were hard to see, but rarely did she have a problem with a gun-wielding opponent once she disarmed them. “This'll be easy...but it'll feel good.” “No!” a new voice intoned from a different aisle, firm and brave in the face of the enemy. “I won't back down...!” [[Previous|91]] | [[Next|93]]

“You asked for it!” came the reply, almost getting cut off by the distinct thunderclap of a gunshot. Nicole thought the worst of what she'd heard, at least until a shocked gasp broke the silence. “How'd you take that?” “What, a few lousy bullets?” The conversation ended there, surprising Nicole out of her intent listening with the racket raised by a body being thrown into a few shelves of canned goods. She'd heard the noise in a TV show, but this was the first she'd heard it in real life. Whoever the mystery hero was, he had attracted the attention of the other gunmen at the checkout lanes, causing all but one of them to abandon the cashiers in favor of opening fire into the aisle, likely to the same effect as before. True to Nicole's intuition, the hero simply laughed off the assault after a quick, incoherent mumble. “That still won't work!” he said as he finally stepped into her view, tossing his shirt aside to reveal a stocky and broad-shouldered physique. It took her awhile to identify the strange mottled skin that appeared to cover his back, but she knew she had seen something similar somewhere before. “By the way, we're gonna need a clean-up on Aisle Four...one of your friends thought he could take me on.” His taunts worked wonders, causing the robbers to rush his position, only to be flattened by his meaty fists. The last of them, however, found himself a different approach. “One more step and this cashier loses her brains!” he shouted as he pulled a cashier over the checkout counter and laid his pistol under her chin. She struggled to break free from his grasp, but he kept her close with just one arm around the base of her neck. The stocky fighter winced and halted his advance. “We don't want anyone getting hurt here, do we...? Come on, don't do anything you'll regret.” “Ha! Take your own advice.” [[Previous|92]] | [[Next|94]]

From there, the store descended into silence, as panicked onlookers still knelt on the floor, watching the tense standoff taking place. Nicole could feel the restlessness building up inside her, but getting into a fight wasn't worth getting an innocent bystander killed, so she, too, held her ground. “You!” the gunman snapped, turning his attention to Nicole. “I see you, girl! Come out with your hands up!” Nicole let out a low growl, but ultimately did as she was told. The gunman pointed toward the husky young man with his chin, and she nodded and slowly walked to his side. “You're pretty good,” she whispered in his ear. “Did you take out one of these guys too?” he asked, trying hard to keep turned toward the gunman. “Yeah. It was easy.” “Yeah...” Nicole could see his shoulders shaking subtly as he tried his hardest to stifle a laugh. “...Mom told me not to get in trouble, but come on...I'm a Cross and I have powers. What can these guys do?” Nicole stood up straight upon hearing the good news. “That so? We need to talk after this.” “Shut up!” the gunman shouted, jerking his arm upward and jabbing his gun deeper into the cashier's chin, eliciting a quiet whimper from her. The gunman had more to say, but Nicole's attention was yanked away from him by a quick flash of movement on the corner of her vision. She kept watching him, doing her best to keep from betraying the movement's presence to him, but her mind was not on the words coming out of his mouth. “Go time!” Sonya's voice sounded from the other side of a carefully-stacked soda display. [[Previous|93]] | [[Next|95]]

Different varieties of soda were stacked together to create a colorful display. For most people, getting from this display over to the hostage-taker would have taken a few seconds, and very likely would have elicited a response from him. But then, Sonya wasn't most people. Despite the sodas being stacked taller than Nicole, Sonya leapt them in a single bound, and came in for a landing right where she was needed most. As she came down toward the gunman, her weight shifted forward, throwing her into a frontflip that added extra momentum to her heel as it blasted into his skull. His body crumpled to the floor, releasing his hostage, who took the chance to get as far away as she possibly could. Meanwhile, Sonya engaged in some fancy footwork, catching her foot inside the robber's collar and yanking him off the floor with a jerk of her leg. From there, it was much easier for Sonya to crack his ribs with her other knee. As he fell to the floor a second time, Sonya gasped. “Oh, hi, Nicole!” she cheered as the limp body stopped obscuring the couple from one another's eyesight. “Sonya, that was awesome!” Nicole answered back, moving in to close the gap and embrace her girlfriend. “I wasn't sure what we were gonna do...!” With a laugh, Sonya shoved a thumb into her chest and said, “Well, I did it! So who's your friend?” The girls' eyes all fell on the stocky young man, who shrank away from the attention a little. “Well, I'm Armand,” he replied. “Pleasure meeting the two of y—“ “Armand Van Cristoph!” a female voice called from the aisle he had burst from. “I told you not to get involved in these sorts of things! You could've been hurt!” Armand shook his head. “Crap...that's my mom. I'm in it deep now...! Well, until next time!” As he turned and sprinted back down the aisle, Nicole heard snippets of conversation aimed at his mother. “What was I to do, stand there and let them have their way? Mom, you know nothing gets through my armadillo shell...” As he left, Nicole and Sonya shared a knowing glance. “You think so too?” Sonya asked. Nicole nodded. “Yep,” she replied. “We have to cut the umbilical cord before that guy joins our team...” [[Previous|94]] | [[Next|96]]

A cold wind howled through the empty streets, providing Nicole with a soothing chill as she navigated River City by the moonlight. Gasping in relief at the sight of a streetlight, she scoured the note Ciel had given her, doing her best to compare her progress to the directions written on the paper. “Why'd she come out all this way?” she asked herself as she ran a hand through her hair, moving it out of her way. “She should've painted this dumb thing closer to home.” Nicole looked up to see a restaurant called the Master Onion, now boarded up and closed for good. “Oh, that's right here...I'm almost there.” Sure enough, Nicole counted to the third alleyway past the restaurant and turned to look down it, finding Ciel standing there staring at the wall. It was not a blank wall, but Nicole couldn't see exactly what was painted there. Her move to get a better look caught Ciel's eye, and despite the initial apprehensiveness she saw, Ciel seemed willing to talk. “I found a journal on my pillow,” the amnesiac explained, “containing instructions to make my way to this mural. It also made mention of a note I left for another young woman...that would be you?” Her last few words came out as a question more than a statement. In the face of that uncertainty, Nicole shrugged. She had uncertainty of her own; most of Ciel's words had gone right over her head. “I think so,” she mumbled, fishing out the note she had followed here to show to Ciel. Ciel's eyes raked over the note, eliciting a slow nod of approval. “This is most assuredly my handwriting. I suppose the journal was accurate...so all those other things must be true as well...including this.” Ciel motioned upwards to the wall, revealing a large picture of two men menacing a woman. “This...? What, was this in your journal too? I...yeah, there's a picture here.” [[Previous|95]] | [[Next|97]]

“Not the picture itself," Ciel said curtly. Perhaps Nicole's assessment of the obvious had irked her. "My journal informed me that this actually happened somewhere.” Ciel turned away from the mural, choosing to stare at the pavement instead. “This woman existed, acted as my confidant, stood against the miscreants that once called themselves my masters.” Once again, the bulk of Ciel's words flew right over Nicole's head, but the emotion in them did not. “Hey, look," she began, "if guys like that were hanging around too, it's a good thing you got out of there, right? But...what about her? Did she get away?” Ciel shook her head, causing Nicole to step back in a bit of shock. “Nothing implies that she survived my escape." Ciel eyed the mural in silence, shuffling about on her roller skates in an effort to stay still. “In fact, it would surprise me if anyone did.” “Oh,” Nicole mumbled bluntly, unsure of what to say next. “So...who was she, anyway?” Ciel pulled her journal out of her pocket and held it up in front of her, swinging her eyes back and forth between the words and the wall. “According to my journal, her name was Margaret Burton.” Nicole shrugged. “Margaret, huh? Sounds like a real nice lady.” Her eyes fell upon Ciel, who seemed to be on the verge of tears in the wake of the dark reminder on the wall before them; despite the chill she gave off, she decided to move in to embrace Ciel. “Hey...whatever happens, she's in your memories...like, the journal kind, not the ones in your head that you keep losing.” Nicole sighed and shook her head, despondent over her poor choice of words. She was eager to shift the conversation around a little to dodge her slip-up. “I know how you feel, though...Mr. Lee's goons took my parents.” Ciel nodded. “I read something amounting to that,” she confirmed, her voice more academic than empathetic. “But you hardly seem perturbed." [[Previous|96]] | [[Next|98]]

“Sure, I hated them!" Nicole said. "But they were mine!” Nicole's hands quickly balled into fists, though she had trouble discerning how much it was influenced by memories of her parents, versus her usual rage toward Mr. Lee. “My parents got me to where I am. They taught me right from wrong...usually by being wrong, but still!” Tightening her embrace around Ciel, she added, “Margaret got under your skin too, even if you don't remember it.” Ciel let out a brief chuckle as her hands moved around to Nicole's shoulders. “Under my skin...? I doubt you chose your words accurately.” “Duh...! Words are hard!” Nicole laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, though, Ciel...Margaret was there for you. In a way, she'll be there forever. You're who you are and where you are because of her.” Despite the smile tugging at Ciel's lips, her tone refused to change. “The problem is that I cannot thank her...I cannot seek more guidance or love from her. She was there for me, but now...” Nicole shook her head and gave Ciel a squeeze. “But now you get to do your own thing. She got you far enough to pick up the slack. You're a hell of a girl, Ciel. She did good.” Nicole took a step back, leaning against the violent mural. “Better than my parents did, huh?” A laugh forced its way out of Ciel's chest, filling the chilly night sky. “They brought you far enough to find your own way as well,” she confirmed. “The magnitude of their...” When she noticed Nicole's eyes glazing over in response to the larger words, she could only laugh again. “They did less work.” Nicole gasped and nodded, glad to have Ciel work around her limited vocabulary. “Yeah, I guess I ain't so high-maintenance, huh? I don't need my hand held by chumps like them!” Nicole couldn't keep her mood up forever, however. “I just wish they were...you know, somewhere. Even if it's just to tell them they suck and I don't need them anymore...there's no closure.” [[Previous|97]] | [[Next|99]]

“You do understand, then.” Ciel nodded, pointing her chin toward the mural. “Memories are wonderful," she said, "but their efficacy is rather minimal...um...they can only do so much.” Nicole stomped her foot onto the pavement. “Well, you're tough and smart," she said. "I get wanting more, but you've got enough.” Ciel idly skated to the end of the alleyway, looking up at the moon. “Fair enough. Nicole, you have my thanks. You are quite the sweetheart under that rough exterior of yours.” Nicole simply stared back at her, still putting the words together. In response, Ciel laughed and skated out of sight, presumably going back to bed as Nicole wished to do. With her eyes on the mural, she stepped away to take her leave. Her retreat didn't last long, however, as she soon found herself tumbling backwards and landing on her rear end. “Hey...!” she shouted, her eyes snapping forward and her hands balling into fists. “Sorry,” a voice groaned as he stuck out a large hand to help Nicole to her feet. When she refused his assistance and pushed herself upright, she saw who she'd run into. It was the guy from the grocery store; Nicole had to flip through a few names in her head before she finally remembered, he was Armand. “I didn't mean to...but you really ought to watch where you're going, especially at this hour.” A thin layer of ice began forming, cementing Nicole's hands into fists. “Speaking of which, why are you here? You stalking me, big guy?” Armand put his hands to his stomach and belted out a deep laugh. “No, no! If you must know...have you seen a cute little lady on roller skates around here?” “Oh, for...” Nicole swallowed the rest of her sentence, knowing well that if she admitted to knowing Ciel, Armand would never stop asking questions. “...no. I was just out for a walk.” Only after a brief moment of silence did she remember what she had to say to him. “You know, just thinking about this awesome mission to protect the city that I'm working on.” “A lady like you, on such an important mission?” Armand shrugged his meaty shoulders. “Well, after seeing you and that other girl in the grocery store earlier...I'm all ears...!” [[Previous|98]] | [[Next|100]]

It was Nicole's turn to laugh, the ice around her knuckles growing thicker still. “So you don't watch the news, huh?” she asked. Then, Nicole threw her entire upper body into a twisting motion, coming back around with her fist at the ready to swing a fierce punch downward into Armand's chest. As he reeled over, her fingers quickly interlocked and turned her arms into one large hammer of ice for her to swing upwards into his chin. She kept up the tempo of her blows, sinking a fist into his chest and quickly moving it upward in a fierce uppercut, then giving a quick spin to add force to a stinging backhand across the face. The strike had enough strength behind it to keep Armand off-guard as she quickly froze a huge chunk of ice around her hand, only to shatter it in a deadly uppercut. After Armand fell to the ground, Nicole dug her foot into his chest. “Turns out I'm not much of a lady,” she taunted him as particulates from her fist wafted through the air around her. Armand replied with a pained laugh, his hands weakly attempting to minimize the pressure her foot exerted. “You're lucky you caught me from the front,” he added. “None of that would have done a thing if I'd just managed to get my back turned to you.” Nicole nodded. “Yeah, I know. That's why I'm even talking to you about the mission in the first place. I want you and your big bulletproof back to stop an even bigger crook than those guys from before." "Then why'd you'd knock me on my back like this?" "...it's in my nature." Armand shook his head as he slowly pushed his bulky frame upright. “There's no way my mother would let me go on such a mission...she's strict, but she means well. I'm a cross and I have powers, so I'm doubly at risk with all the bigots out there. Not all of me is invincible...clearly.” Nicole slapped her forehead in exasperation. “Tell her to get bent anyway! If you're double-gifted, you could beat her easily!” [[Previous|99]] | [[Next|101]]

Armand gasped and took a step back. “I could never...!" he said. "I actually love her, you know! I'm not going to stress her out by disobeying her so flagrantly.” “Flagra...huh?” In frustration, Nicole lashed out with a quick jab to Armand's stomach. “Why is everyone using all their big words tonight? Dude, if you're a pansy little mama's boy, just say it like that.” “Or I could not, because that's harsh.” Armand hugged himself a little to keep out the chill in the air. “Look, whoever you are, you're really starting to piss me off!” "Good! I wasn't letting you on the team without a fight!" "Okay, maybe not that—" Nicole landed a quick blow to Armand's chest before he could finish that sentence. For her, having him pissed off was the goal, the best she could hope for. If she could tear this young man down with her bare hands, and succeed where guns could not, it would be a massive boon to her ego, and a reliable release for her own stresses. But it wasn't just for fun; Armand needed to be tested, too. "H-hey!" Armand gasped as the impact still left him staggering. "Knock it off, will ya? How about you speak plainly and tell me what you're planning?" Nicole raised her fist and tightened it, crushing some of the ice along the inside of her hand. "The Lee Corporation tried to have people with powers, people like you and me, hunted down and used for experiments. My plan is to beat them to a pulp." Armand failed to fight back. Instead, when he regained his footing, he merely stood ready to turn his invincible leathery back to Nicole. "That's right...you...! I was at the protest at the Lee Corp building when that truck crashed..." Nicole laughed. Yes, she was there. So was a Lee Corp truck that had chased her and Sonya through the streets. She'd used her ice powers to set a trap for the speeding truck, and sent it hurtling into Lee's own skyscraper. Only after a little more reminiscing on the good times did she stop and remember, yes, there had been a crowd who'd taken to nonviolent protest—or, as Nicole thought of it, cowardly and ineffectual protest. "Well, how 'bout it? The way I see it, you have three choices right now. You can go home and cry to your momma. You can go hold up another sign no one will read." Armand had strayed out of Nicole's reach, so she settled for punching a nearby newspaper dispenser. Her icy fist slammed into the side of the machine, producing a deep dent and a terrible scraping of metal. "Or you can actually do something valuable." With that, Nicole began to walk away. She was sure Armand would make the right choice. That, or he wouldn't, and she'd never see him again. At this point, she didn't care much either way. [[Previous|100]] | [[Next|102]]

## Chapter 7 “What a haul that was, eh?” Twitch said, leaning over the table where the fruits of their latest robbery were being kept. “That lady was loaded!” Hemophile nodded, nursing the cut on his shoulder. “I surprised her most, ese!” he boasted, turning over an expensive bracelet in his hands. “You two ain't got shit for powers...!” Twitch rose to his feet in a hurry, knocking his chair away behind him. “Where'd you'd'a been without my powers, though? After she wasted the bullets in that little pistol on me...” “Like hell!” Hemophile followed suit, banging his fists on the table. “I'd have taken those bullets, same as I took that knife!” The argument continued onward, both voices raising and their fists ready for a confrontation. As tempers came to a head, Dyne sighed and rose from his chair. Rolling his eyes, he put his hands up in the air and slapped them down, one on the shoulder of each of his companions. “Serotonin,” he cooed, using his powers to pump the two of them full of calming chemicals. “If you two don't shut up, I'll fill you full of melatonin.” “Last time you did that, I fell asleep, fell forward, and broke my nose,” Hemophile said, too sedated to raise his voice. Dyne shook his head. “You should've thought of that before you made me tranquilize you.” With that, he exited the room through the window, leaving his partners to bicker and appraise the loot themselves as he stood on the fire escape. No matter how hard he tried, Dyne couldn't wipe the woman from his mind. Her screams echoed through his head; her horror-stricken face filled his vision whenever he closed his eyes. Worst of all, however, was the pictures they had found in the victim's purse. It was easier to mug people when Dyne forgot they were people, but it was harder to forget when those people had families they had to answer to. He found it tempting to curse the woman for daring to carry a picture of her daughter with her, but he knew deep down that it was a foolish thing to say; he knew it was his fault for snatching the purse and the picture along with it. Then again, he also knew that there was no other way to make so much money so quickly. Nearly every person they accosted had at least a day's wages on them, and any given robbery rarely lasted longer than an hour. Even split three ways, the income was too lucrative to give up. It kept them fed and clothed, happy and healthy, and with far more ease and chance of success than any of them had elsewhere. [[Previous|101]] | [[Next|103]]

A glance over his shoulder, however, vaporized all of Dyne's doubt. Back inside, he could see Twitch and Hemophile gripping opposite ends of a necklace, prepared to tug it back and forth like small children despite its fragility. The money had become an addiction to them, to the point where they would compete with their own allies over getting even a little more. “Ridiculous,” Dyne muttered to himself, glad to have the truth put on display for him to behold. The three of them needed a way out of their current life, but he knew it would take either a period of unbearable struggle or an absolute miracle to break away from the life they'd fallen into. “Hey boss,” Twitch growled at the window, grabbing Dyne's attention. “Who are those two broads down there?” Dyne peered down through the fire escape, spotting the redhead and the brunette striding through the alleyway below. “Who knows? Who cares?” Dyne blinked, and suddenly a third young woman was standing down there. “Wait, where was she before?” “Whatever.” Twitch's knuckles wrapped around the railing of the fire escape. “We gonna jump 'em or not?” Dyne shook his head. “Three on three. Too easy for someone to get away. Not worth it.” “With our powers?” Hemophile scoffed as he walked onto the fire escape. “It wouldn't be a problem, would it?” “Just keep watching.” Dyne crossed his arms and stood between his subordinates. As if on cue, the brunette and the redhead took several paces apart and dropped into fighting stances. In a few seconds more, the two of them lunged at each other, grunting with the exertion of battle as the air filled with a glittering substance Dyne couldn't identify from above. “You see? It would have been a problem.” Hemophile dug a shard of glass from his shirt pocket and held it to his arm. “So what, we let 'em go?” Dyne nodded. “Think you can handle those two?” he asked. “And the third girl, whatever she has up her sleeve? You're welcome to try, but your hospital bills are yours to pay.” [[Previous|102]] | [[Next|104]]

“Take this!” Nicole grunted as she braced herself, throwing a massive punch steeped in ice. Sonya raised her leg in front of her stomach and pushed her shin back against the blow, the impact staggering them both. Both of them recovered quickly, and they threw themselves back into the fray, staying defensive to probe the other for openings. Sonya stepped forward and let out a high spin kick, and Nicole saw her chance, quickly ducking backward and lunging forward with a body blow. Before she could press the advantage, however, Ciel zipped between the couple with her powers. “Hold it!” she ordered, her voice rapidly dropping to a hushed tone. “Don't look up. There are three individuals observing us from...” Ciel's eyes fell upon Nicole, and she let out a sigh. “...three men are on the fire escape, watching us, talking.” Sonya began to shift in place, and Ciel was quick to slap her on the wrist. “I said not to look up. Now...what to do? Do you think they're malici...err, are they enemies?” “Who cares?” Nicole growled, barely restraining the volume of her voice. “Do they want to brawl or not? You know I'd never turn down a good fight.” Sonya giggled and glanced up at the observers. “Why not ask them?” Before anyone could voice their dissent, Sonya coiled up her powerful legs and pushed herself skyward, vaulting up three stories to land on the fire escape alongside the young men. “Hi, I'm Sonya!” Nicole overheard from below. “You wanna fight?” The young man in the center of the group stepped forward, appearing to be some kind of leader. “How brash,” he groaned. “We're not here for street fights.” Sonya crossed her arms and shifted most of her weight onto her left leg. “Why are you here?” “None of your business.” “It just might be! You have powers?” “What's it to you?” “We need powers...good ones, that is!” “For what...?” Nicole's patience soon found itself completely drained. “Sonya, if they're not gonna fight, forget it,” she bellowed. “Get them down here, or get down here yourself. If they're not interested in fighting Mr. Lee, then don't try to convince them.” Sonya looked down at Nicole and shrugged, but ultimately decided to jump down to the alleyway. “Aw, they're no fun,” she sighed. “Come on, let's—“ [[Previous|103]] | [[Next|105]]

The rest of Sonya's sentence was drowned out by the howling of a fierce wind that filled the street behind Nicole. The noise caused her to turn around just in time to see a small car lose a fight with the wind, slowing to a stop and eventually being pushed backwards as its tires squealed under the effort. “What's this?” she shouted to Sonya at the top of her lungs. “I'll go see what's up!” Sonya cautiously crept out into the street, almost immediately buckling beneath the power of the wind. Her brow furrowed as she braced herself, holding her ground against the gale. “What's going on?” “You!” a vaguely familiar voice intoned as the wind died down. Nicole watched from the alleyway as a figure strode out to jab a finger into Sonya's chest. “I recognize you!” Sonya took a step back and pushed her assailant's hand downward. “I don't know you,” she told him. “Do you know me?” The mystery combatant shook his head and thrust his hands out, palms-first, summoning a sudden burst of air that made Sonya slide backwards across the sidewalk. “Nicole! Bring me Nicole!” “Me?” Nicole whispered to herself, stepping forward to get a better look at the challenger harassing Sonya. His ratty blond mullet whipped around wildly in all directions as the air around him swirled every which way, and as Nicole approached, he whipped his head to face her, his eyes unexpectedly lifeless. “What gives you the right to shove my girlfriend around like that?” Pausing to offer a hand for Sonya to hold, she added, “She can take care of herself, sure, but this sounds like a fight to me. I want in.” “I remember the pain and humiliation you put me through!” The assailant stomped his foot on the pavement, his outburst accompanied by a short squall. “I came for revenge!” Nicole stuck a finger in her ear to scrape out some of the stuff inside.. “Revenge for what? I humiliate people through pain almost every day...you'll have to be more specific.” Her answer went over poorly with the attacker, who gave her a wind-augmented shove; the ice on her arms weighed her down, and Sonya kept her held tight. “You don't remember? We battled at the aquarium...!” Nicole wracked her brain, genuinely attempting to remember what had happened that day, but came up short. “...nope. Sonya, you remember this guy?” Sonya shook her head. “There was a thief,” she balked. “He was a wimp. That's all I know!” “How dare you!” he shrieked, throwing a fierce punch at Nicole's stomach. With one hand still holding Sonya, she got her other hand down to block the impact, but found a lot more force behind the blow than she anticipated. The very air around her seemed to rebel against her, throwing her onto her backside. As he stepped over her, he added, “I'll make you regret having ever stood in my way!” [[Previous|104]] | [[Next|106]]

As the windy menace brought his fist down to land a decisive blow, a streak of color flashed across Nicole's sight, peeling him away with it. She rose to one knee, her eyes widening as she saw Ciel growling at him. “Sincerest apologies, Nicole,” Ciel said, “but you appeared to be poised to lose that bout!” Nicole groaned and wobbled to her feet, raising her arms in front of her to resist the force of the gusts filling the air. “Whatever,” she shouted over the whistling winds. “Seems like there's gonna be enough to go around.” The blustery bruiser let out another shout as he swiped an arm in Ciel's general direction, lifting her off of her feet with a monstrous gale. Ciel could do nothing about being tossed skyward, but her powers at least allowed her to adjust her landing. In a flash, she was back on her feet, making her way toward her assailant once more. As she skated her way past Nicole, he created another massive gust of wind, knocking both girls away. Nicole landed on her chest, robbing her of her breath; Ciel gracefully flipped her body around in the air and let her powers loose once she was close to the ground, throwing most of her momentum right into her skates. Nicole watched from her stomach as Ciel made a rapid approach and swung her foot out in a flying kick. The attacker was quick to respond, however, tossing her aside with another gust. “I can't make any impact!” she groaned as she skidded to a stop next to Nicole. “How can we persevere through that wind?” “By force,” Nicole gasped, clutching her chest as she rose to her feet. “Well, that's how I do everything, anyway.” Ciel rolled her eyes and skated straight toward the attacker, tensing herself up for the inevitable gale. When his arm came up to summon the squall, her eyes snapped to the left, and her powers brought her over to a streetlight on the sidewalk. She took hold with both hands and let the momentum swing her around the lamppost, using her powers again to home in right on her enemy's head. The whole experience happened in the blink of an eye, leaving her foot right in his temple before he could bring his arm back down. An odd screech filled the air as he tumbled to the ground under her foot. Ciel turned to smile at Nicole, but she found herself lifted skyward yet again; a spherical region of turbulence was brewing around him, levitating him into the air and tossing Ciel a few stories into the air. “Nicole!” she shrieked, reaching out into the air. Before Nicole knew it, she was getting bowled back over, Ciel's powers having brought the two of them together. “Oof...watch it,” she groaned, arching her back in pain. “Damn...we have to keep on him. How's he so strong?” [[Previous|105]] | [[Next|107]]

Ciel cartwheeled to her feet before helping Nicole stand beside her. “He bellowed and toppled, but he seems unharmed!" she noted. "How...?” Nicole weighed herself down, coating her hands in giant chunks of ice to stabilize herself as another blast of wind came their way. “Please," she said, "if Sonya can't break him in half, that's when I'll be worried.” “Yeah, I'm on it!” Sonya called out as she leapt into the air, hitting the ground running as fast as her super-powered legs would carry her. The wind proved to be a formidable obstacle for Sonya's sprint, leaving her in a stalemate as her legs worked hard to keep her right where she was. “Maybe I'm not!” Neither the wind nor Sonya's legs would relent, leaving things in a state of relative stillness as Nicole and Ciel looked on, feeling tense. “I can wait no longer,” Ciel groaned, moving to take up a position behind the windy assailant. While his powers halted Sonya's attempt, Ciel was able to drive another high-speed kick into him, bowling him over. Nicole watched her approach the downed target, then double back in shock. “Wait, he's—“ The man shoved himself skyward with a gust of wind, pushing the women back as he came back down on his feet. When he glared at Nicole, she could see the truth. The lifelessness she'd noted in his eyes was actually another Lee Corporation specialty. “Son of a...he's a cyborg!” she shouted. “Just like that J guy! So that means...” The windy warrior gave a cruel laugh. “That's right!” he sneered. “I made a new friend, and he gave me a little something extra to ensure my revenge!” “Guys, he's all full of Lee Corp cybernetics! Sonya, what did we do about J?” “Nothing, really!” Sonya said, jumping skyward to meet the man, only to be repelled by a burst of air. “He got away!” Nicole stopped to think for a moment, remembering the missile Sonya had turned back on their last cyborg opponent. “Oh yeah. Well, girls, let's just thrash him in the meantime.” “Your grand plan is to continue attacking?” Ciel asked, her inflection changing too little to convey the sarcasm therein. “What else am I good for? I need him down here, or me up there, so I can sink a fist into his idiot head.” “But how can we?” Sonya wondered, stretching her legs behind her back. “We can't reach him! The wind's too strong!” [[Previous|106]] | [[Next|108]]

After a moment of silence, save for the howling of the wind, Ciel spoke up. “Nicole has a point,” she said. “Perhaps I can force my way through the vortex.” After a glance around, she added, “Do you have any change?” Despite knowing nothing about Ciel's intentions, Nicole began to rummage through her pockets, holding out her findings. “I've got, like, 80 cents,” she replied. “Good enough.” Ciel snatched the money off of Nicole's hand and kept hold of it, facing toward the enemy. “This ought to do it. You two hang tight.” Sonya was willing to sit back and watch, but Nicole felt far more restless. She looked on, bored, as Ciel tensed up and jumped, her head locked on to her opponent. One of her hands came up and threw one of the coins upward, and she used her powers to propel herself toward it, passing by it to end up higher still. The robotic man saw Ciel's approach and dropped his defensive vortex, eager to halt Ciel's advance. He raised a hand to summon a more targeted gust of wind, but Ciel flicked a coin to the side and homed in on that, carrying her past it and onto a rooftop. “Why does she get to have all the fun?” Nicole growled under her breath, balling her fists as tightly as she could. Ciel skated to the edge of the rooftop and took a flying leap off of it, homing down to another coin and back up to catch her adversary from below, her foot smashing into his gut on her way toward the sky. Nicole watched her hang there for a moment as gravity caught up with her, only for her to willingly descend, homing in again to bury a foot in his back and push him toward the pavement. At the last moment, she transferred her momentum horizontally with another use of her powers, eventually coming to a stop and collapsing. “Ciel!” Sonya shouted, running to the amnesiac's aid. With the other two girls occupied, Nicole saw it as her chance to charge into the fray. Before the aeromancer could lift his body upright, she was already upon him, her fists ensconced in glaciers, delivering a hailstorm of fierce punches to the head. He moved to shoo her away with his winds, but she got an arm around his, letting him provide the velocity for a harsh slam. His prior storms had tossed most of the debris through windows and otherwise out of the way, giving her ample room to duck and dodge around the punches he attempted. He put his weight and his wind behind a fierce straight punch, but to Nicole, it was nothing but an opportunity. She stepped in quickly, ducking in and bringing the top of her skull against his chin. There were no bones to break, but it still sent him reeling enough for her to launch a similar punch, dislodging a chunk of electronics from his face and exposing some of the inner mechanisms. [[Previous|107]] | [[Next|109]]

Nicole wasted no time in reaching toward the newly-exposed weak point, figuring his brains had to be about the same place hers were. “Oh, you're rammed now!” she taunted, her icy fingers grasping into the wound. “That's what you think!” he retorted, wrapping his arms around Nicole. Before she could fight it, the two of them were already headed into the air. “You'll die with me! Then everyone will know who beat you!” “No they won't.” Nicole headbutted her captor and added, “No one will even know what your name is. You'll just be 'that wind guy', best case. Maybe the cops will dig up something, but not if you're already dead.” In reply, he let out a fierce shout and turned over in the air, pointing both their heads at the asphalt, and engaging in a deadly dive. Nicole watched the ground draw ever closer to her skull, only then wising up to his plan. She shifted her weight to orient the two of them in a less lethal direction, but the air was his domain, and her struggles were easily counterbalanced by more wind. “Your girls can tell the world, my name is—“ His diatribe was interrupted by Ciel's sudden appearance next to the two of them, her leg lashing directly at his face in a backflip. Half of his face tore right off from the force of the impact, leaving him even more vulnerable to the incoming concrete. Nicole was wowed by the display, but still worried about her own fate. “Nicole, you're nuts!” Sonya's voice rang out, as she used her superpowered legs to meet Nicole in the sky. “We said to wait!” Nicole felt Sonya's arms coming up beneath her, slowing her fall as gently as they could, turning her upright before the ground finally came to meet them. Despite Sonya's best efforts, it was still a nauseating sensation to come to such a stop. In between thoughts of vomiting, she wondered how Sonya and Ciel did it so regularly. “Why'd you do that?” “Couldn't let you two have all the fun!” Nicole snapped, leaning against a wall as she waited to regain her bearings. “He came for me, he said so himself, so I had to join in.” “I do not comprehend,” Ciel said plainly, checking her skates. “That's insufficient reason to risk your life so. Even by your logic, you want to pick your battles more carefully such that you'll get into more of them.” [[Previous|108]] | [[Next|110]]

Nicole let out a sharp gasp and got up in Ciel's face. “You shut up!" she said. "I'm not in the mood for any lectures, especially not from you!” “But she's kind of right,” Sonya cut in, pushing the young women apart. “You can be so rash.” Arguing with Ciel was fine, but Nicole didn't want to start yelling at Sonya. She couldn't discern whether that had more to do with leftover jealousy or genuine affection, so instead she vented her frustration in a more familiar way. “This guy!” Nicole brought an icy fist down on her defeated opponent, warping the metal. Her fists alternated in deliverance of her fury, beating out a meditative rhythm that resonated through her arms. Through this clarity, she was able to come up with an idea. “Wait, shouldn't we get this guy to Heather or someone?” “Yes,” Ciel agreed before Nicole could even finish laying out her plan. “Perhaps the electronics therein might provide some clues as to their origins, that may expose the headquarters from whence it came.” “Yeah, I was gonna say that...I think. Come on, someone get on a phone and get Heather in here.“ Ciel nodded and took to it instantly, taking whatever money she'd borrowed before and hadn't tossed to a nearby payphone. Nicole shrugged and took a seat on the curb to wait, and was surprised when Sonya came down nearby to give her a hug. “What's this about?” she asked. “It's about you,” Sonya replied, nuzzling into Nicole's shoulder. “You seem upset. I think it's me.” Nicole shrugged and got her arm around Sonya's back as the two of them sat together. “Maybe? I just thought this whole thing would be more fun and give us more together time that we can actually enjoy.” “Is that why we're here?” “No, there's more to it.” Nicole paused for awhile, enjoying the hug, as the two of them hadn't done much together as a couple of lovers in what felt to her like ages. She was intent on making this moment last, as one of the few nonviolent things she enjoyed. “This Lee guy's a real scumbag who ruined things for us, and for Ciel too, if that journal of hers has it right. And he's got a lot of fights to throw at me, so that's pretty fun. But speaking of Ciel...you remember how those other weirdos came for her? That's so like how Lee's weirdos came for me way back when...and he'd probably do it again if we let him.” [[Previous|109]] | [[Next|111]]

Sonya shrugged a little from inside the embrace. “Will no one else stop Mr. Lee?” she asked. “Obviously not," Nicole said. Sonya sounded forlorn at the prospect, but Nicole couldn't fathom why. After all, it meant more fighting. "People with things to lose get pretty afraid of losing them, so that's where I come in.” Sonya let out a sigh and slumped against Nicole, leaving the two of them silent until Ciel finally came back. “We'll have someone arrive to claim the body soon,” Ciel announced. “Heather warned us the police may be coming, but her driver should get here first. She vouches by this man's speed. He may also be of assistance extracting data.” “So what, we just wait?” Nicole asked. Ciel gave her a nod, and the three of them sat down together, staring at the robot that they had defeated together. After a few minutes, sirens began to fill the air, and Sonya got to her feet and moved toward the body. “We should hide him!” she said, grabbing for his legs to drag him by. “If the cops see...they might take him!” Nicole stood up to help Sonya move the body faster, but a strange engine noise caught her attention and broke her concentration. She knew it from somewhere, but couldn't place the memory until she saw an unmistakable color scheme on an approaching motorcycle. “Oh, okay,” she muttered to herself. The bike came to a quick stop in front of the girls, and the driver dismounted and shook his hair out of his face. “Hey again, kids,” he greeted the three of them. “Of course it's you guys.” This driver, on the other hand, was more of a shock. Nicole had found herself at the center of many a current event lately, but she'd seen relatively little of this man and his motorcycle since she'd visited his hometown. He didn't seem the type to get himself involved unless he absolutely had to, but then, he was tougher than he looked. Nicole had experienced that firsthand. Beneath his grease-stained exterior lied the heart of a fighter. "You're late, Grizz," she taunted him. [[Previous|110]] | [[Next|112]]

“Hi again, Grizz!” Sonya shot back. “It's always us!” Grizz chuckled. “Ain't it ever." Nicole and friends had beseeched him for help before. He was from River City's sister city, Cross Town, and he once fought the authorities there on a matter of civil rights. Nicole's friends had hoped for guidance in their own struggles against the Lee Corporation, but in the end, Nicole had no need for his guidance after all, only for her fists. All the same, it was nice to see Grizz again. "So," he said, "this guy in the hole, then?” “The very same.” “Got it.” Grizz leaned over and draped the scrap metal of a man over his shoulder, moving back to his bike. “Where to with this guy?” Before anyone could answer, a gunshot rang out through the road, the bullet digging its way through, but fortunately not penetrating, the scrapped machine. The four of them scrambled for cover, ditching the body in the street. Nicole looked all over for the source of the gunshot, but Ciel was first to spot the gunman. “There, on the rooftop!” she shouted. However, it wasn't long before the gunman was on the streets with them, a familiar face in tan armor. “That's J!” Nicole barked. “Him again...” “Failure,” J said, ignoring her for the body. His arm swiveled around, retreating his hand into his body and revealing a nozzle arm. A gout of flame burst forth from the arm, spraying hot death all over the mech's chassis. Through even the horror of watching the few organic components start to melt, Nicole's brain managed to squeeze out a single question. “Why's he doing this?” she whispered, doing her best to stay hidden. After a few minutes, J simply turned off his flamethrower and rose into the sky, jetting away over the rooftops. Having seen that display, Grizz moved his attention back to his motorcycle. “Whoa, you didn't tell me things were gonna get this crazy,” he complained as he aimed for an alleyway and started his engine. “Look, I'm gettin' outta here before the cops get here, see? Alyce ain't gonna be too happy if I get caught up in this.” “Whoever he is, he has the right idea,” Ciel added. “We should leave too, and regroup another time.” She continued to speak as she laced up her skates. “I wrote down nothing of him, but much of this J character you two have mentioned. If he is as powerful as you say, this may mean that Mr. Lee is panicking. We may have to make our move soon.” [[Previous|111]] | [[Next|113]]

## Chapter 8 “Alright, kids,” Heather began, standing before Nicole and her posse. “Let's go over what we've learned.” Everyone was present in Sonya's garage, listening intently to Heather as she stood in front of them all in her street clothes. “I'll start from the top, because I doubt Nicole even remembers everything that has brought us to—“ “Nope,” Nicole interrupted, hands behind her head. Heather continued on, ignoring Nicole as she moved to a giant pad of paper and pulled back the first page to reveal the second. One of Ciel's artworks covered the paper, revealing a lady looking vaguely like Heather wielding a long, slender sword. “Far in the past, a chemical weapon called Agent Venom nearly rendered mankind extinct. Through the efforts of people like Ace here, we rebuilt. Mr. Lee, though, seems to have been very busy studying that weapon.” Ciel stood up from a chair near Nicole's, and soon she too was standing near the easel holding the pad of illustrations. She flipped up to another page, this one of Nicole and Sonya. “Mr. Lee fabricated a series of truck accidents to release his modified chemical agent into population centers,” she continued. “Just as he had planned, his version was mostly beneficial, granting superhuman abilities with minimal side effects. His plan was to combine this with his cybernetics program, which he perfected with the likes of J, to grant himself an army of servile superhumans. This much was part of the data recovered by Nicole and Sonya's past sortie into the Lee Corporation headquarters in River City.” “So what?” Ghost asked bluntly. Another page flip revealed a minimalist take on the city skyline, and Heather took over once again to answer the question. “Think about it,” she replied. “There's nowhere in the city itself he could have hid both chemical and robotics operations. It's been almost two months since Nicole ran Lee out of his River City skyscraper, but a friend and I have been looking for him for much longer.” [[Previous|112]] | [[Next|114]]

Nicole heard a chair scraping in the back of the room and watched as a newcomer to the group made her way to the front of the room, a stern-looking brunette with a thin physique. “That'd be me,” she said as she made her way to Heather's side. “My name's Leena. I knew J before Mr. Lee turned him into some kind of puppet. When Heather told me she saw him again, I couldn't believe it. I'd given up hope that he was alive...though I don't know if this counts.” She leaned past Heather to flip the pad to another page, a map of the area, bearing a heavy red line jutting out from River City to the southwest. “What Heather said is right," Leena continued. "There's no way Lee could hide his facilities here, but at the same time, we weren't having much luck narrowing down the search. But when J flew off last week, we were able to put together his path based on eyewitness reports.” Ciel stood in front of the paper for a moment, coming in with a marker to circle a spot on the line. “The path extended past the bay,” she added, “but I was informed that searches had already taken place on the land on every shore. Mr. Lee is not the only one who can study history, however...the public library had a pre-apocalyptic map, revealing an island along J's flight path. It was once known as Angel Island.” Leena scoffed. “No angels there now, that's for sure. But that's the only place J could be, assuming he didn't veer off once he hit the water and hit that other island.” “What, Alcatraz? It appeared to me that said island was too small to bear Mr. Lee's facilities and hide them from onlookers from the shore. Angel Island must be our destination. Any questions?” “Yeah,” Hot Streak piped up, pointing at Leena. “What's that babe's digits?” Leena groaned and looked away from the crowd. “382-5968,” she responded. “You think you're the first girl to think that one up?” Hot Streak forced out a fake laugh. “That's fine, I'll get it out of you sooner or later. I always do.” Leena shook her head. “Any not horrible questions?” “Ciel made some very lovely art for this little presentation,” Armand cut in without bothering to raise his hand or anything of the sort, “but why?” “Those will be sold as artistic pieces,” Ciel answered, ignoring the flirtatious tone of Armand's question. “Proceeds will repay people such as Nicole and Heather, who have been instrumental in my recovery. How about questions pertaining to the actual mission?” “I have one,” Riptide replied. “I can cross a bay no problem. But how are the rest of you going to go to this pre-apoc island?” [[Previous|113]] | [[Next|115]]

Nicole curled up into a ball, hugging her knees in an effort to steady herself as best she could. “I hate this so much,” she groaned as she watched the wake spray out behind the police boat. “I should have gone in the bigger boat.” Sonya reached over from the adjacent seat and gave Nicole a pat on the shoulder. “Relax, Nicole,” she said, barely audible over all the noise. “We'll get there soon.” Close by, she could see the party boat Hot Streak had requisitioned for the mission, a ferry rented out of another city on the bay under the pretense of a private party for a celebrity. In her mind, she had to admit that it was true in its own bizarre way. “I hope so. First cars, then boats...I'm sick of all this sitting around.” “I surmised you'd feel that way,” Ciel admitted, leaning around the seat in front of Nicole. “That's why your role in the assault is as it is.” “I remember...go in through the front and beat up everyone.” “Of course. Would you remember any other plan?” Ciel and Sonya had a good laugh at Nicole's expense, but she was feeling too nauseous to be angry. “Easy, kids,” Heather scolded them. “We're not on a field trip, remember?” “Doesn't matter,” Nicole said, lifting her head up to respond. “It'll be way better than riding this dumb boat.” “Don't worry, the island's coming right up, right where Ciel said it would be. We'll get off, take a look around the place, and start a fight at the front door while some of us look for a back door.” The radio on the boat began to crackle to life, though if there were any words being spoken, Nicole couldn't catch them through the static and the noise of the boats. “Say again?” Ciel shouted back at them. “Just a status update,” Armand's voice replied through the speaker. “Everything's fine on our end. Ghost thinks he sees some kind of harbor. You seeing that, off to the right?” [[Previous|114]] | [[Next|116]]

Nicole tuned out the conversation, trying her best to relax and avoid vomiting. When that failed, she threw herself against the side of the boat, heaving her lunch onto the reflection of the setting sun. She briefly wondered exactly where Riptide was, but she really didn't care about whether or not he got any puke on him. She watched the dark spot she left in the water get churned by the propellers, then turned her head toward the island quickly clawing its way up from the horizon. She couldn't see the harbor everyone was talking about, but it sounded to her like a back door, so she wasn't interested. What did catch her eye, on the other hand, was the small black shape she saw rising from the island into the sky. Her comrades began to chatter over the radio about it, but it was a little while longer before anyone could confirm what they were seeing. “A helicopter!” Ciel gasped. Reaching for the radio, she added, “Give me something to home in on. I'm coming to your boat.” “It might not be hostile,” Armand cautioned her. “But come on up. Hot Streak got fireworks and hors d'oeuvres with this rental. We'll pitch some overboard so you can come on up.” Nicole shifted around in her seat to watch Ciel direct her powers from one airborne snack to the next in order to fling herself above the deck of the party boat, then zip down to the railing to land in a brief grind. In the midst of her motion, she was able to snatch the radio away from Armand, and talk back to the police boat. “Well?” she called. “Sonya, what do you think? This helicopter, what's its angle?” “To fight us!” she replied, standing up and coiling her legs. “So let's go!” With that, she simply took a giant leap to the bigger boat. The force of her legs sent Heather's speedboat rocking even harder, putting Nicole's stomach through hell. Heather slowed the boat down, putting the party boat between her and the helicopter. “Well, kid,” she said, bracing herself on the adjacent seat to lean back and address Nicole, “it's just you and me here now. Don't worry, I brought my gun...I'll cover you if that helicopter swings around.” After the fight with the other cyborg, Nicole had had quite enough of that notion. “What, and leave me out of this?” she growled. “No way, I want to take that thing down.” She stared up at the sky, wracking her brain for some way to make herself useful in the coming conflict. [[Previous|115]] | [[Next|117]]

Before she could get too into her planning, Riptide surfaced next to the boat, and with Claire's aid, walked next to it. “What seems to be the matter?” he asked. Nicole responded by making a grab for the young man and turning him to the approaching helicopter. “I see.” The helicopter soon deployed a gunner out of one side of its cockpit, which only made the situation clearer.. “I've seen enough. Now to deliver justice unto—“ “Don't think so,” Nicole said. She reached over and pulled Riptide into the boat, glancing into the water to spot Claire. “Hey, Claire, how's about you and me get out there?” “Finally!” Claire roiled. “This guy's a real stinker to work with, see? Let's get somethin' goin'.” Riptide began to complain about the situation, but Nicole ignored him and stuck her hands into the water, concentrating her power and leaving a trail of ice across the surface. Claire's water elemental powers towed the ice along and gave it a gentle spin, letting Nicole form ice in an almost pottery wheel-like fashion. Once she was satisfied with the dimensions of her ice floe, she jumped right on, pushed forward by Claire's current. “Hey, you've gotten real good at teamwork,” Nicole praised her. “Hey, that other guy, he's all about the gestures. He don't tell me nothin'...I'm just real good at readin' people after that nonsense, ya know?” Claire's bizarre core organ oozed its way onto the ice, accompanied by a watery pedestal that kept her off the surface. Together, the two of them surfed to the forefront, where the battle had already begun. “It's too high!” Nicole could hear Sonya shouting. “I can't reach!” The helicopter paused in midair to give the gunner a steady shot at the boat, and Nicole feared the worst when she heard the reports of the machine gun. “Careful,” Blowout announced, stepping to the railing with an orb of pure kinetic energy in his hand. With a grunt, he threw it into the stream of bullets flowing their way, disrupting their trajectory and keeping everyone safe. “Fireworks?” “Yeah, I know where they're at,” she heard Hot Streak respond. “But they're not gonna dent that thing. What's the big idea?” “Ciel.” [[Previous|116]] | [[Next|118]]

The rest of the conversation was too distant for her to make out, but she understood through observation well enough. She looked on as her allies began lining up the pyrotechnics along the deck, readying them for Hot Streak's power to ignite the fuses. Even as the helicopter moved to another angle, the fireworks began shooting out across the waves, propelled by their rockets. In turn, Nicole watched Ciel pass by overhead, using her powers to zigzag her way through the air, moving from firework to firework in a jagged line to the helicopter. The first of the fireworks started to go off as she got close enough to the helicopter itself, illuminating her in a vibrant red as she made a grab for the underside of the helicopter. “So what's next, dame?” Claire sloshed. Nicole shook her head briefly. “Oh, right, that,” she replied. “How high can you get me on this thing?” “Not very, I gotta say. If it were a smaller chunk of ice, I could fling it but good, believe me!” “Well, we have to do something...if Ciel tries to get up in the helicopter, she'll probably get shot.” “Then what we need is a distraction, ain't it?” Claire paused to swirl around in a small circle on the ice platform, gathering a cylinder of water to hold in place with her power. “Hey, you, freeze this!” Nicole nodded and did as she was told, forming a block of ice. “So what's this for?” “Didn't I tell ya?” Claire let out a watery laugh and pulled the block off the ice floe and into the water, where she could put some velocity behind it. Her powers spun it around and around until she finally had it fast enough to fire off into the air. The gunner was able to spot it even through the explosions of the other fireworks, and shred it to bits in a storm of bullets, but that was all it needed to do. Nicole looked on as Ciel flipped her way into the helicopter and tossed the distracted gunner out of the open doorway, sending him plummeting into the bay. Before long, Ciel had ejected the pilot as well, and herself last of all, leaving the chopper to plummet while she tried to return to her friends. When they failed to give her something to home in on in time, Nicole was ready once again. “Claire!” she shouted. “Ready to fire off another one, a smaller one?” “You got it!” came the reply from the water elemental. [[Previous|117]] | [[Next|119]]

Nicole nodded and froze a smaller chunk of water for Claire to fling into the air, which allowed Ciel to use her powers to cancel some of the downward momentum. She fell short of the party boat, but ended up in the water, where it was a trivial matter to have Claire deposit her on Nicole's ice floe. “My thanks,” she gasped as she pulled herself up on the platform. “Yeah, no problem,” Nicole replied, watching the helicopter wobble out of the sky and land harmlessly in the sea behind their flotilla. “You think there's more up his sleeve? That seemed pretty easy.” Ciel shrugged. “There may be, but I ascertained that precious little of it can actually be put to use. For example, even if he had the old missile base operational, firing just one warhead would give away his island hideout to even the most casual observer looking out on the bay.” The others aboard the party boat were calling out to Nicole and Ciel, but were ignored, as Ciel paused to shake some seawater out of her hair. “At this point, I'd have to speculate that we have his full attention, too...he'll be putting every able body on guard duty. We're likely to run afoul of J as well.” Nicole let out a short laugh and cracked her knuckles. “So what? I'll pummel him good.” “But not too good.” Ciel shifted her weight a little as the group kept approaching the island. “You do realize we're not to kill J? Heather and Leena want their friend back.” Nicole scoffed. “No way. Heather doesn't act like she misses him.” “And there's nothing that you feel yet stop yourself from acting upon?” After a brief silence, Ciel added, “Actually, with your nature, perhaps not. Hm.” [[Previous|118]] | [[Next|120]]

“I didn't come here for Heather and Leena,” Nicole said as she sat on the edge of the ice floe, letting her feet dangle in the water. “If there's some way to help J, I sure wouldn't know it.” “Having discovered Grizz,” Ciel explained, “they're hoping he and his insight as a mechanic might be of assistance.” “And he's not with us...why?” “After witnessing J, he became worried about the risk this all would pose to him and his family, more so now that he has a newborn child to watch after.” Ciel gave Nicole a brief shrug. “Heather was abnormally glad to hear it.” Before they could continue, Sonya plunged downward onto the ice to join the girls. “Hey you two!” she shouted. “We're close now! Let's team up!” Nicole jumped to her feet, excited to finally see some action of her own. “Claire's towing this ice to the front door,” she said as she started to shadowbox, “wherever that is. Point us to it, give us whoever our backup is, and let's get this over with.” Sonya shrugged. “Like who?” “Doesn't matter! I'd take them all on, just me and Claire, if everyone else wants to sneak around.” “I'm down for that,” Claire sloshed. “I barely need Nicole, see?” “That seems unwise,” Ciel sighed. “I will follow the two of you onto the beach near what was once Fort McDowell, which my research has indicated is the most favorable staging area for a frontal assault, then we shall move toward the missile base. The other party is investigating the harbor Ghost saw in the larger boat. My instinct tells me that Mr. Lee would interconnect any and all facilities hidden on the island.” “Thanks for the guide, anyway,” Nicole spat. “Sonya, you coming with us?” “Might as well!” she answered, striking her fighting pose. “You and I, we're a team! And Ciel...she's good too!” “Forgetting someone, kids?” Heather's voice called out from behind them. Nicole hadn't even noticed her pull her boat up alongside the ice floe, yet there she was. “Don't ride that ice there. Do the smart thing and get in the boat so we can get there faster. I'll radio the party boat and let them know they're a go on the harbor.” “And you owe me an apology, you!” Riptide groaned, pointing at Nicole. “Taking away Claire like that...do you not realize the help I could have been with her assistance?” “I must admit, he has a point,” Ciel added. “If he joins the others in the harbor, Claire would be of more use there.” “Hell with that!” Claire boiled, gathering up water to take a feminine shape around her core. “Y'all's talkin' like I ain't a person...even that wannabe over there ain't showin' the proper gratitude for what he'd be without me, see? I'd rather get on with Nicole...she an' I got more in common, at least!” After letting her watery figure degrade into a simple column, she added, “She don't treat me no different just 'cause I ain't got no real body!” [[Previous|119]] | [[Next|121]]

“But Nicole's a jerk!” Riptide whined. A small stream of water shot out of Claire's column at impressive speed, catching Riptide in the neck. “She's a jerk to everyone," Claire bubbled. "Consistency's where it's at, an' she's got it!” Nicole was content to let the proceedings unfold in front of her, but a lull in the conversation felt like a good time for her to interject. “Look, it's up to her, right?” she asked, knowing fully well what Claire's choice was. “She's not the kind of girl to take your crap...maybe she got that from Grizz?” That seemed to raise a response from both Claire and Riptide. “What would you scoundrels know of a hero?” he shouted, raising a claw to her. “Uh, we met him,” Nicole replied calmly. “He'd hate this hero talk. You do realize he's more like me than like you, right?” Riptide shook his head rapidly. “Impossible! The work he did for Cross Town, would that really have come about from a brigand?” Heather laughed, not looking away from driving the police boat. “It did,” she blurted. “He cares about himself, his Alyce, and their kids. That's about it.” “Heather...you, too?” “Yes, you are indeed the only person in this boat who has not yet met Grizz in person,” Ciel summarized. “Even Claire knows enough of him to mimic his mannerisms. Ironic indeed that you claim him to be such a role model with your knowledge so lacking.” Nicole wasn't accustomed to Ciel laying down such insults, but she was glad to see those words wreak their havoc on Riptide. “You're all lying!” he shouted, clutching his head. “Heroism is a special breed!” Claire formed a human head from the seawater just to shake it. “Ain't nothin' like that,” she simmered. “Heroism, I ain't one to talk about, but it don't take heroism to do good, now, does it? Grizz just had a girl an' a kid to help with, that's all. An' Nicole, ya said she did a thing too, didn't ya? An' now ya say she's a jerk an' a brigand? But what she did still did tons for helpin' our kind out, didn't it?” As with the head, Claire formed simple arms just to gesture with them, in this case giving a shrug. “So what's a bigger deal, doin' the right thing or havin' the right reasons? Nicole don't think about that, does she?” “Nope,” Nicole admitted, letting the cool water flow between her fingers as the boat pushed on. “So we ain't gotta worry 'bout that neither. We just gotta handle this Lee fella an' show him what-for. Vince, if ya wanna roll with me ever again, ya gotta understand that. Until then...” Claire's liquid features fell into the boat with a splash, and her core organ was scooped up by Nicole's hand as it traveled through the water. “...Nicole an' I are gonna show y'all how it's done.” Nicole nodded and gave a short, triumphant laugh, and stood up to say something. She was quickly interrupted, however, by the police boat running ashore, nearly bucking her off her feet. “Alright, kids, we're here,” Heather announced. “If you quit bawling at each other and actually work as some kind of team, we might even survive this.” Everyone present disembarked the boat and began walking, but Nicole stopped after a single step. “Claire, what about you?” she asked. “Do you need another bottle or anything like that?” “Yeah, somethin' would be real nice!” Claire whirled. “What'cha got?” Nicole shrugged, darting her eyes around in search of anything that might help, eventually settling on something that had been left in the police boat. “Hope you like fruit soda!” [[Previous|120]] | [[Next|122]]

When Nicole and company had first landed on the shore of Angel Island, she had been a little wowed by the natural beauty that seemed to have paid world history no heed. Apart from the beach the police boat had landed on, her view had been dominated by thickly wooded cliff faces, the trees all reaching for the peaks that seemed omnipresent in the background, behind any possible view she could get of the area. Birds were singing, and the area seemed vibrant. They had even passed through the ruins of some kind of abandoned post, a large fort that was invisible from the sea because it had been claimed by vegetation. The sight had captured Nicole's attention and imagination alike, and she wondered what might have happened on the island before Agent Venom had set the world back a few centuries. But the sights quickly got old to her. After what felt like hours of hiking, there was nothing else around them save for more woods. She felt like she'd had enough. “Ciel, are you sure we're going the right way?” she growled. Ciel had decided against skating along the rough cliffside trail, but still managed to stay out in front, her pace only matched by Sonya. “I am certain,” she said over her shoulder, pausing to sneak a peek at the sun laying down to rest behind the cliffs to their right. “To hide his activity from prying eyes, his best bet would be to stick to the north and east sides of the island. A missile base, however, would be too rich a quarry for one such as him to ignore.” Any conversation would be better than silence, because in silence, Nicole focused on her own fatigue. “Why?” Ciel turned to look at Nicole for a bit, as if it were that unusual for her to take interest in a conversation. “What's your problem?” Ciel simply turned around to watch her step as she answered. “I did as much research as possible coming in to this sortie, Nicole. It is a pre-apocalyptic site outfitted with an anti-aircraft missile base. I read they may have been removed, but I do not put it past Lee to have installed more. None see his illicit industry from land, seafarers are sunk, and were anyone to fly past...” [[Previous|121]] | [[Next|123]]

Nicole nodded, doing her best to keep up. Riptide was behind her, at least, and she took solace in his struggle. “Yeah, okay," she said, "so camping in a pre-apoc missile base makes snooping pretty hard. Lee's always gone all out.” “So then where's J?” Sonya asked, easily keeping up with everyone even while walking backward to address Nicole. “Now he's all out...more than missiles!” “He could be after the others,” Heather worried. “But they have Leena with them...maybe he'd at least show a little restraint around her.” She sighed and pushed some sweat away from her curly blond hair. “He didn't seem to recognize me last time, but then again, he wasn't dating me.” Nicole shrugged and slowed her pace a bit, working the kinks out of her neck and shoulders. “Huh, so that's her deal,” Claire sloshed from the bottle stuck in Nicole's pocket. “But Ciel, say we reach those missles an' no one's there. Then we trash 'em, right?” Heather cut in and replied to the question instead, her pace having slowed a bit as well. “If we do that, we can call in some air support, get a lift out of here, that sort of thing.” After that, she turned her attention ahead of her to Sonya and Ciel. “Hey, it's getting dark...you two should slow down a bit, shouldn't you?” Sonya gave a short giggle and turned around, moving to walk alongside Heather. “Sorry about that!” she gasped. “I'm just nervous...and excited! This is huge, yeah?” Her eyes met Nicole's, but only for a moment. It wasn't long enough for Nicole to read the emotion, but it was just barely long enough for her to get a weird feeling out of it. She had few enough thoughts to be concerned about it, but before long, she ended up distracted by a white cone poking up over the hill in front of them, illuminated by what little sunlight remained at that point. “Hey, Ciel, that one of those missiles?” she called out. “Allow me to find out,” came the reply. “Sonya, Nicole, how about some assistance in scouting it out?” [[Previous|122]] | [[Next|124]]

Nicole didn't know what assistance she could offer to Ciel, but Sonya seemed to catch on before her eyes. The redhead coiled up her legs for a superhuman leap, her altitude being matched in short order by Ciel's homing powers. The two of them were up in the air, using their impressive hang time to observe the road ahead. Sonya hit the ground first, dust swirling around her legs as she slowly straightened them to rise up. When Nicole spotted Ciel falling, she finally understood what her role in the scouting was to be, but not really how to accomplish it. “Claire!” she shouted. “Can you help me out?” “Yeah, no,” came the reply, the sound distorted as ever by the medium of the water. “Ya think I can catch her?” Nicole gave the bottle a playful slap. “No, stupid, you give her something to zip to again, like when she came out of the helicopter!” Claire gave a sardonic chuckle as she began to flow some water out of the soda bottle, dancing it in front of Nicole's face “How about you freeze this and give it a toss, genius? Ya barely need me on this one.” The water soon fell into Nicole's hand as an icicle, and one good toss put it clear above the party's heads. She hadn't even considered the differences between this landing and the one at sea, but she was grateful that Claire had. Before long, Ciel was skydiving into view, canceling her downward momentum by using her powers to move to the lobbed icicle, skidding to a dusty stop behind the others. “Thank you,” Ciel said once she had rejoined the others in their marching order. “Just around this bend lies the Nike missiles.” “You say that now,” Sonya interjected, “but from the air...it looked so small!” Ciel chuckled and checked her skates, glad to see them still tied to her waist. “Yes, it's probably a longer walk than it appears from the sky. But we'll be at the end of the trail before nightfall if we maintain our current pace, this I know.” “You better be right,” Nicole said, fluffing her hair to air out the sweat that had been gathering beneath her brown waves. “I just want to punch something. I almost want J to show up right now, just to give me something to do.” Ciel shook her head. “Not here...on this thin cliffside path, we may find ourselves back in the water.” Nicole glowered a little, but remained in silence, and was joined in her silence by the others, as the group walked southward toward the old missile base. In the silence, Nicole wondered if such a thing could even be kept operational over the years, even as everything else on the island had been lost to nature. She became vaguely curious as to how the rest of the island looked, if there were any other facilities that were around. But more than anything, even with all that rattling around in her brain, she was just anxious to stop traveling and start pummeling. [[Previous|123]] | [[Next|125]]

## Chapter 9 The party boat began to tilt sideways, taking on massive amounts of water from the hole the emergency landing at the harbor had put in it. Leena led the evacuation, making a running jump onto the guard rails, and from there onto the concrete of the covert harbor. The sun left them behind at the entrance, leaving them only the lights stretched across the top of the subterranean tunnel that led into Angel Island. Leena wondered if the tunnel might have connected to anything else as Ciel had guessed before, but at this point, she had no time to care. “Look alive!” she announced, hitting the floor with a rolling start to get her behind some crates before the incoming guards could open fire. “We've got company!” From her position, she watched the first guy off the boat, a husky fellow who had been introduced to her as Armand. “Then there's no time to waste!” he shouted, stretching his arms out and turning his back to Lee's goons. The bullets began to rain down on him, a downpour of lead, but to Leena's surprise, the young man seemed to be completely unaffected by the gunfire. “Everyone else, off the boat, now!” Leena watched on as the others scrambled to flee the sinking ship. Hot Streak and Blowout, the entertainers, barely managed to reach the destination, pulling themselves up the ledge to Armand's shelter. Ghost was right behind them, but his jump took him short of catching the ledge. Leena winced as she heard him make impact with the concrete structure, and then with the water below. To take her mind off the possible tragedy befalling him, she asked Hot Streak a question she'd somehow managed to ignore up until this point. “Just what are you kids?” “Superpowers, babe,” the lech replied, summoning a small flame with a snap of his fingers, then using his other hand to fetch a cigarette from his pockets. He balanced the lit cigarette on the side of his mouth as he added, “It's only made me hotter!” [[Previous|124]] | [[Next|126]]

A gout of smoke hit Leena's face. She was so disgusted that she reached out for Hot Streak's cigarette to pinch the end and extinguish it with her fingers. “Cool it, loverboy.” Leena had watched the news and heard Heather's stories, keeping her abreast on the situations in both Cross Town and River City. She'd met Grizz and his girlfriend, and was hoping to see someone to talk to to understand the superhuman movement starting in River City, but none of the people she'd been on the party boat with had really struck her as a good spokesperson, to say nothing of how Nicole had compared to her own reputation. She had stalled long enough for Ghost's sake, however. “So how do we get through these guys?” “Easy,” Hot Streak's assistant Blowout barked. He clutched a claw in the air, and Leena watched through his fingers as she saw that imperceptible swirl that she'd seen on the party boat. Sure enough, he leaned around Armand and threw a fastball at the enemies down the way, causing an explosion of force that knocked them and their weapons into disarray. In the confusion, they were easy prey for Hot Streak to dodge and sprint up to them, using his pyro powers to set them aflame. They let out their screams as they struggled to extinguish the fires. Leena and friends had plenty of time to dump their guns into the water, all except one, which Leena held on to. With a gesture to the defeated foes, Blowout repeated himself. “Easy.” “Can you do it again?” Leena asked, already looking ahead. When Blowout answered with a nod, she continued. “Good, because there's more of them. Armand, let's go. You're on point.” Armand nodded and moved to the front, again striking his martyr's pose to bear the brunt of the bullets. “Of course,” he responded. “But what are we doing about Ghost?” “Clearing a path, idiot.” Leena crouched by Armand's waist, taking potshots with the pistol she had procured on site. “It was hard enough sailing up to these guys. Ghost shouldn't have to deal with that kind of heat while he finds some way to get on our level.” Her blind fire rewarded her with an arterial spray from one of the guards, his stocky leg springing a leak and bringing him to the floor. Her pistol was not heavy enough ordinance to make significant headway into the oncoming traffic, however, so Hot Streak and Blowout took it upon themselves to help clear the way. [[Previous|125]] | [[Next|127]]

“Hit me,” Blowout commanded, both his hands at his side, clasping a larger globe of kinetic energy. In response, Hot Streak raised a hand high over his head, and issued another flame-summoning snap. With a flourish, he pointed his hand toward Blowout's stored energy, causing the sphere to shimmer with heat as the flames rolled around inside. After a short wait, Armand stepped aside and let the fireball pass, a merciless sirocco that seared their enemies to the bone. As the three superpowered young men dealt with the threat in front of them, Leena felt the heat from their attacks, and gasped when she found herself back in River City. At once, she felt herself transported by trauma back to the fateful day where J was taken from her by Mr. Lee, a transportation spurred by the same terrible sensation of heat.. Explosions ripped through the stadium, killing some people instantly as J began to panic down in the ring. The flames lapped the air in front of her, eager for her to move forward so it could taste her flesh. The screams echoed around her as she was frozen in place, and she could only watch helplessly from the stands as J's opponent moved to grab him, cutting off his escape as well. As she sat there, unsure of what to do, she felt Heather's hands pulling on her, and heard her voice. “We have to go.” “But J...!” “We'll get to him,” Ghost assured her, bringing her back to reality. Only after a few moments did she realize Ghost's hands were on her. “But we have to leave. The others are moving ahead.” Leena shook her head to try to dislodge the past from her thoughts. “Yeah,” she muttered. “We better hurry.” As the two of them ran to catch up with the other three, Leena distracted herself with a question. “How'd you get out of the water?” Even as they ran, Ghost gave Leena an incredulous glare. “I swam. I found a scaffolding and climbed it.” Ghost pointed above them, and Leena followed his gesture to the ceiling, where some sort of rail system went right down the middle of the tunnel, just as the water did. She stole a glance behind them, and saw a few support beams partially embedded in the concrete personnel trail. “I see.” Before she could ask more questions, she saw the others ahead of her, struggling to find their way around a large metal box dominating the walkway. “I told you I can't fit on the side,” Armand was telling the others. By the time she and Ghost were alongside them, Blowout was sharing his idea. “Destroy,” he said, already gathering the kinetic energy to do so. “Boys, what's this?” Leena asked. “Some crane slid down the channel and dropped us a present,” Hot Streak answered, laying his hands against the steel surface of the box. “Maybe I ought to try and melt this sucker.” Ghost shoved him aside. “Move,” he growled, repeating Hot Streak's gesture to dramatically different effect. Leena was astonished to see the young man disappear through the box. These superpowered young people were one surprise after another. [[Previous|126]] | [[Next|128]]

Hot Streak was already moving to the wall, trying to peer around the box. “Anything over there?” he asked. “One other crate,” Ghost said. Leena leaned against the wall, waiting and watching as he climbed his way up to the larger crate, pulling up the others in turn. Hot Streak and Blowout went up easy, but Armand was too bulky. “Leena, under him.” “Come now,” Armand whined, as the combined forces of everyone present pushed and pulled to get him up. “Are you calling me fat? Should I lose weight? Is that why Ciel won't notice me...?” “No,” Blowout replied succinctly. Leena couldn't help but nod her agreement from underneath the guy. It took a lot of effort, but eventually Armand got hiked up over the crate, and compared to him, Leena was no problem. “So why'd they just block you off instead of sending more guys?” Leena asked. “Bet they knew better than to try that on us,” Hot Streak replied, pressing a thumb to his chest. “They know I'll just get 'em good.” Leena swore she heard some kind of rattle through Hot Streak's prattle, but she thought nothing of it. “Whatever. The less to get in my way, the better.” The lot of them continued forward, past the obstruction dropped off by the box, and true to Hot Streak's word, no other guards moved out to obstruct them. Leena's mind wandered slightly to the entry of Mr. Lee's base, and how it was going smoother than she thought it would. She was content to chalk it up to the efforts of Heather's group, at least until a loud banging noise issued behind them. “Did anyone else hear that?” Ghost opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, he was drowned out by even louder noises. The subtle curvature of the tunnel obscured the path behind them, but the lights illuminated the source of the noise when it came around into view well enough. [[Previous|127]] | [[Next|129]]

Some sort of steamroller-like machine was barreling toward them, wrought of spikes and steel, bearing weapons, but the part that caught Leena's eyes was what was in the middle. “There's a kid in that thing!” she shouted. From what she could see, it was a boy, barely a teenager, looking almost oblivious to the people he was about to run down with the machinery grafted to his torso. “That's just sickening...!” “Quit it with the bleeding heart routine, lady,” Hot Streak shot back, “or you'll be bleeding for real!” Armand's stance was equally merciless. “Come on, lady, shoot it!” he shouted, barely audible over the noise of the monstrosity's engine. “No!” Leena protested. “If we can save J, we can save this kid too!” “And what makes you think we even can save J? Lady, this thing is gonna kill us!” The first sentence had struck a nerve with Leena hard enough that she barely heard the second, and barely let it finish before she was taking hold of Armand's shirt to drag him close and ensure he heard every word. “You listen here, kid...I'm here for J, and I'm not leaving without him. You better get that, because if you don't, what you do to him, I'm doing to you. Got it?” Armand shook his head. “This isn't the time for this!” To prove his point, he gestured back toward the machine, and the cluster bombs it was launching toward the group. “Blocking explosions hurts...I hope you guys have an idea!” Hot Streak scoffed and turned himself around, running backwards as he looked to the bombs. “Amateur,” he growled. “Just let the pros handle this! Blowout!” “Yes,” Blowout affirmed. The two of them took aim with their respective powers, the fire and force causing the bombs to explode in mid-air. The blasts knocked out some lights, and Leena felt the shockwaves against her back, but she was otherwise fine. When Heather had introduced the kids, she was rather nervous about trusting them as comrades, but she had had similar thoughts about some of her previous cohorts as well, and she'd at least lived to see this moment. She was even more determined to see the moment where she'd be reunited with her lover. She had no idea how Heather had chanced upon the information she had, but she could only hope her old friend was doing better. [[Previous|128]] | [[Next|130]]

“I'm fine,” Heather said as Nicole watched on. “Trust me, Leena told me everything I need to know.” “Even a big door like this?” Nicole refuted as Heather kept attempting to break in. “Can't I just break it open?” Ciel shook her head. “This manner of shutter is not one to cave to simple fists.” she said. “It was built to attack airborne targets with missiles...it's likely to have been built to withstand counterattacks. If Heather indeed has some circumvention of the electronics planned, that will be much more effective.” Heather glanced up from her handiwork with a smile on her face. “They weren't counting on someone to come in on foot like we have,” she added. “Trust me, this old relic shouldn't be a problem.” True to her word, a loud buzzer sounded, and the doors slowly slid open. Heather stood up with a smile as the former missile silo was revealed to them, a ring of stairs spiraling into the darkness. Her work done, she closed the box of wires with her foot and took the first step onto the metal staircase. “Probably would've been even faster to let someone open the doors for us, if they would've.” Ciel waved Nicole, Sonya, and Riptide on past her as she spoke. “Troop movement and density suggests a defensive strategy centered somewhere inside the facility...doubtlessly aiming to protect the more important facilities that may be nestled in the hills or securely underground.” Ciel was interrupted by a horrible scraping noise, and Nicole looked up in surprise to check it out, but it was only the amnesiac performing a grind on the handrail. She landed in front of the group and resumed speaking as if nothing had happened, stepping carefully on her skates. “Mr. Lee likely considers himself to be the most important thing of them all...I predict J is with him.” Nicole opened her mouth to speak, but caught a dirty glare from Heather, who spoke over her. “And before you ask, no, smashing everything isn't all there is to it. Lee's a savvy guy with a lot of money. He'll still own most of River City, robots or no robots.” [[Previous|129]] | [[Next|131]]

Lights came on around Nicole and company as they descended the staircase leading into the empty missile silo. This array of automatic fixtures revealed the cylindrical metal walls around them. Of course, if missiles had been shot out of this giant tube, Nicole didn't expect any interesting features in here, but a door in the wall a few stories down caught her eye. “Hey guys!” she shouted out. “What's in there?” “Let's find out!” Sonya said. She wasn't even done answering the question before she was hanging over the guard rail. She let go, and grabbed on to the next rail down, repeating the process to grapple her way to the door. The athletics impressed Nicole, but not the initiative. “Hey, wait for the rest of us!” As the group ran after her, she added, “Especially the fights...you better leave some bodies for me!” Nicole and the others followed Sonya into the door, finding themselves in a much rougher place. The tunnel was dug erratically through the rock of the island, braced by wooden supports. There were some shoddy lamps swinging freely in the dank cavern air, but none of them were on. Until they found any apparent way to turn on the lights in the hall, their only purpose would be to chatter like so many loose teeth in the maw of the island. “If only that light-up guy hadn't bailed on us,” Nicole lamented. “This looks like a pain to get through. How will we even know when it ends?” “You kids don't prepare for anything, do you?” Heather replied as she dug a flashlight from her pocket and turned it on, cutting through the darkness. “Not even you came packing anything essential, Ciel.” Ciel replied with a scoff and once again took the lead. “As an officer of the law, I knew you were most accustomed to carrying such things,” she said. “Proper delegation of responsibilities plays a vital role in tactical success.” “Ya mean like how y'all do the heavy liftin' an' let me out when it's go time?” Claire frothed. “I said I was sorry!” Riptide said almost immediately afterward. [[Previous|130]] | [[Next|132]]

“Quiet!” Heather spat back at her group. Only then did Nicole notice the cop in front of yet another door, making her wonder just how much ground they'd covered while they'd been talking. The door, and the wall it went into, looked very new and high-tech compared to what they'd encountered previously. Heather examined the door closely before giving her verdict. “I don't know if I can force this one open.” Nicole was already up to the plate with a plan B, but her running punch did nothing to the door. “Ah!” she barked. “Well, that did nothing.” Heather took a step back from the door, the reflection of her flashlight off the metal revealing that she was still deep in thought. “Leena is pretty sure that going out is easier than going in with these new doors. If we could just turn it on from the other side, we'd be all set.” “Get to the other side?” Nicole moved up to the door, stooping down to investigate, and gave a knowing chuckle. “Come on, get real. Are you not seeing this?” “Seeing what?” Nicole shook her head. “You're even dumber than I am. Look, ma, no seal!” She slid a finger underneath the door, to illustrate her point. Her meaty hands, of course, wouldn't fit through such a small space, not even past the first joints of her fingers. However, she knew someone who could fit. “Claire, can you control water you can't see?” “It's kinda hard,” she swished from her soda bottle, “but it ain't much different. I mean, you've been in a dark room gropin' at the walls for the switch, ain't ya?” Water from the soda bottle and the air circulation unit mounted in the wall coalesced into Claire's preferred feminine shape. “So officer, where's this switch at?” “I wouldn't know,” Heather replied. “I'd guess it's right by the door, because those guys we handled at the entrance must have had to hustle our way somehow. Going around to some distant switch would've taken too long. Just feel around the sides.” “Got it.” With that, Claire's body collapsed into a puddle at everyone's feet, a puddle that slipped under the door like a discreet message. [[Previous|131]] | [[Next|133]]

After listening to the water slap against the wall in the other room for awhile, the door got the message and slid upward. Behind it, Nicole and the others found a well-lit room about the size of one of the harbor warehouses back in River City. The chamber yawned before them, opening wide to show off the canal opposite the group. The pale lighting was scarred by a blue glow from the right side of the room, where a series of contraptions sat, a gaggle of mechanical arms reaching down toward some kind of operating table. The occupant of the table let out a small grunt when the arms came down Whoever was in that table was used to the pain it delivered unto them; Nicole could tell, since she'd made many a grunt herself in her own fights. But this was no fight. Nicole led the others into the room, her fists already glazed over and at the ready. She was disappointed, however, to find the room empty of guards. “I guess they all came out to fight already,” she whined, resigning herself to investigate the table instead. When she poked her head around to the other side to look at the patient, she recognized the silver dye of his hair, and from there remembered the glow. “Hey, you're that guy!” Unsatisfied with the vague exclamation, Sonya joined Nicole at the table. “You're Randolph!” she shouted. “But why you?” Randolph seemed to be having great difficulty focusing his eyes, but spoke on regardless. “That's Sonya, isn't it?” he groaned. “And Nicole...you two helped me at the warehouse.” Nicole remembered the occasion, but not the man's name. Now, here he was, looking horrible, his skin stretched thin and plugged full of wires and tubes. “It's not just us!” Sonya motioned for the rest of the group to join them, not that she needed to; they were already on their way across the huge room. “The others, too!” “Right,” Heather said, making her presence known to the man she'd connected to Nicole and Sonya before. “Randolph, how'd you get here?” One of the mechanical devices came down to poke at Randolph's arm, but Nicole reached for it and snapped it off in her hand so he could answer. “I don't know,” was his reply. “I remember leaving town...and that's it.” [[Previous|132]] | [[Next|134]]

Nicole couldn't help but think Randolph had trouble remembering recent events because his head had been cut open. This was no doubt part of the process that created J, and whoever else Mr. Lee saw fit to turn into his cyborg enforcer, and that process was only partway done. "Wow," Nicole mused, "we just saw you, and already you're here at Mr. Lee's secret island base...it's scary to think of how easily they pulled that off." “Mr. Lee's base," Randolph repeated slowly. "Is that where I am?” He let out a grunt, as if trying and failing to move his head despite the restraints. “I really can't remember.” Indeed, Nicole could see on his face that it was hurting him a little to even try. “Yeah, So anyway, how do we get you out of this thing?” Even before hearing the answer, Nicole was already making a grab to rip Randolph off of the table. “Don't touch me!” he shrieked, stopping Nicole in her tracks. “All I know is that I heard some people talking when they put me here. Whatever they're doing, they said this was a delicate operation that required precision. If they were off by a hair, they would kill me.” “Well, yeah, they're making you into a robot lik—“ She was interrupted by Sonya's elbow bashing her shoulder. It was too late, however. “That explains a lot. I just thought it hurt less because I was tough. How...how do I look?” “About 70 percent done,” Ciel replied flatly. Nicole said nothing, but had to agree that Randolph looked like quite a mess, a patchwork of skin and steel stretched over a tall body. “J has a thick metal exoskeleton, a variety of weapons, and a strong skull covering, all of which you yet lack.” Another probe lowered its way toward Randolph, passing right by Nicole's nose and irritating her enough to break that one as well. “Stop that!” Sonya scolded her. Nicole was nonplussed. “Yeah?” she said. “What's your problem? We just gotta get Randolph off of this thing and move on, don't we? If we're springing him, there's no point to leave the thing be, is there?” Ciel nodded away from Randolph, leading the group to another section of the room. [[Previous|133]] | [[Next|135]]

Ciel settled on a bank of computers set into the far wall as the place for everyone to group up. The monitors were showing too much information for Nicole to take in, aside from one picture that displayed a diagram looking similar to the machine prodding Randolph. A soft electrical hum was the only thing filling the silence, until she finally spoke. “So the rest of us see it, do we not?” she asked. Everyone else nodded except for Nicole. “Such injustice!” Riptide groaned. “But what can we do at this point?” “Uh, get him out?” Nicole spat. She began walking back to do just that, but Heather held her back. “The rest of us,” the cop parroted. “I see what Ciel meant now. Nicole, he's in rough shape at this point. They probably hollowed him out to make room for more robotics, but there's a good chunk of flesh and blood left too. If we interrupt this procedure any more than we already have...odds are...he'll die.” Everyone else was trying to keep their voices down, so Nicole played along. “And if we don't, he's gonna be one of those robot things like J, right?” “I had also considered this,” Ciel cut in, stepping between Nicole and Heather. “But you and Sonya have defeated J in the past, who lacks powers...and Randolph has powers ill-suited for battle. Do you not think that you could also defeat Randolph, should the need arise?” Nicole shook her head and reached out to give Ciel a sudden shove. “I see what you're trying to do! Well, it's not gonna work! You tell me now that I can just go fight him, and then you get all angry when I do start fighting. You're trying to catch me in a trap, just because it's convenient for you!” “I merely meant to present all the possibilities.” Ciel gave Nicole a cold stare as she steadied herself on her feet. “I have no intention of passing any sort of judgment.” “Yeah, that's what I said, I think,” Nicole replied. “You don't wanna make any decisions just because they're hard. Well, this wouldn't be the first time I've taken charge of a bunch of do-nothing wusses.” [[Previous|134]] | [[Next|136]]

“What of him?” Riptide asked. He pointed toward Randolph, who remained trapped in traction beneath the surgical machines. “Have you not consulted with he who this actually affects? That seems the right thing to do!” Nicole responded by shoving Riptide back toward the monitors, his back slamming into a screen and leaving a crack. “So if I'd asked that one twerp that mind-controlled Mr. Lee whether he wanted to live or die, you'd just let him go?” she asked. Riptide brandished a claw at Nicole, raising the other threateningly. “Nicole, the other was a criminal! This man has done no wrong! They cannot be judged in the same fashion!” “Hey!” Claire bubbled, forcing the cap off of her bottle and forming her female shape. “Nicole knows her stuff, even if ya think she's some kinda moron, see? She ain't got book smarts, but she knows more 'bout people than you two flowery nutjobs!” Rather than use the hands she'd formed, Claire elected to point at Ciel and Riptide with spikes of water from her conjured chest. “So she says we gotta do this guy in for the better of things, we gotta do it!” “No way, Nicole,” Sonya chimed in, standing with Riptide. “This isn't right. You'd kill Randolph?” “It's for the good of the city, ain't it?” Claire flicked her wrist, letting it disintegrate into a spray of water. “You oughta get it, cop lady.” Heather winced. “Pull the plug on one kid to keep River City safe, is that it?” she sighed. “I...protecting River City is my duty, as an officer...” “Which that guy isn't even from!” Nicole added. “You want to let him on your turf with jets and hate machines and whatever else Lee puts in these guys' heads? You saw what the last one did!” Nicole bit her lip, reluctant to unleash an admission, but her lip became unbuttoned before she knew it. “Ciel and Sonya really ought to be backing me up on this one...they know as well as I do, the last cyborg to come by was tough to deal with!” [[Previous|135]] | [[Next|137]]

Heather closed her eyes. Nicole's words had gotten to her. No doubt, she was remembering the broken windows and chunks of buildings lining the streets where Nicole and friends had fought the cyborg with wind powers. She was contemplating her duty to protect and serve River City. She was weighing Randolph's life against the lives ruined or outright lost in that attack. And, finally, the swaying of the scales in her head came to a stop, and she made those weights clear. “The less Mr. Lee does this," she said slowly, "the better.” Nicole nodded smugly at Sonya. “Yeah, so that's three with me, two against me, and Ciel...I don't even care. You guys wanna ask Randolph before we do anything? That'll make you feel good? Why not?” “We owe him at least that courtesy,” Ciel agreed, moving alongside Nicole and her supporters back to Randolph's operating table. “You guys sure whipped up a storm back there,” Randolph mused as he heard the group coming. “What was that about?” “Just deciding on what to do with you,” Nicole replied without a hint of restraint. “So you said you'll die if we snag you out of this thing, right?” “That's not...quite what I said. But from what I managed to overhear...you're right about that.” “And if we leave you in there, you'll be a robot slave to Mr. Lee. You understand that?” “Yes...” “So we were wondering if you wanted us to pull you out and get you killed or not.” The peanut gallery behind her grumbled their discontent at her blunt delivery, but otherwise tried to stay quiet in order to hear Randolph's verdict. He started off his remarks with a dry laugh. “I don't suppose there's some way to get me to be a robot that's not a slave?” Nicole shook her head. “Officer Storm here has a friend who wants to believe there's a way, but nothing's worked so far. According to these guys, odds are you're fighting me if you end up a robot.” “That's just a more agonizing death, isn't it?” Randolph forced out another laugh. “You beat up the guys that killed my friends without much problem. I don't know how much chance I stand.” After no one else spoke up, Randolph continued. “You guys...anything is preferable to this. I don't want to be forced to fight for Mr. Lee.” “Well, you heard the man!” [[Previous|136]] | [[Next|138]]

Nicole didn't wait for any guidance or gripes. She just started grabbing for the machine that had been prodding at Randolph the whole time. She gripped the machine as everyone shouted their opinions around her, but she ignored them so she could concentrate her ice powers on the device, making it all the more brittle beneath her grip. Ensconced in ice, it was easier for her to rip it free of its moorings and smash it against the floor. She set her sights on the armor in a nearby tube, and broke that open with her fist, snatching up the armor pieces to toss into all the computers set up around the room. Yet somehow, over this din, she heard something else: footsteps. “Guys?” she yelled to the others. “Can you come listen in over here?” Ciel was the first on the scene, skidding to a stop on her roller skates and leaning an ear opposite to the way she and Nicole and the others had entered this room. “Indeed,” she mumbled, “I would have to say that I hear footsteps running this way. The tunnel lighting is too poor to make anything out, however.” The next person to arrive was not focused on the footsteps, however. “Do not attempt to change the subject!” Riptide demanded as he scurried over to meet Nicole face to face. “I cannot believe you...having a man killed! What manner of justice is that?” Nicole turned around to face him, finding a claw inches from her face. “To think I once praised you as a hero...as a positive influence on River City! Officer Storm may approve of your chicanery, but I do not! Our city ill needs a hero such as you, Nicole!” Nicole shook her head, protecting her hands with ice so she could grab the claw before her and move it away. “Shut up,” she said. “Someone's coming.” Riptide grumbled incoherently, but ultimately followed the command and assumed his fighting stance alongside Nicole and Ciel. When the people running stepped into the light, however, Nicole was feeling a little let down. “Oh, it's only you guys,” she gasped when she saw Hot Streak and Blowout leading the way. When they brought Leena, Armand, and Ghost with them into the machinery room, Nicole marveled at the exhaustion they were suffering. Armand fell over immediately once he reached the safety of the room, with the others looking close to following suit. “We're definitely not the enemy,” Lenna gasped, her words separated by sharp breaths. “I think we fought all of them...even that weird machine Lee had waiting for us.” [[Previous|137]] | [[Next|139]]

When Leena mentioned her group getting into fights along the way, Nicole let out a groan. “They went after you and not me?" she said. She crossed her arms and wandered back toward Randolph. “Explains why we had it so easy getting to Lee's important thing here.” Leena nodded and proceeded further into the room, leaving her comrades to struggle for air where they were. “So this is where he did it.” “Yeah?” Leena sighed and moved to the operating table where Randolph's body still was, though with the damages Nicole had made, she figured he didn't have much time left. “His name was Glenn Jacobs...but when I found him, he only remembered part of his last name, so we all just called him by that...J.” She stared at the young man who shared in J's plight, watching the last of his life escape him as he finally gave in to the the pain of his ordeals, sparing him the hollow life J now lived. “He was like a lost little puppy when he first came to the boarding house, but the longer he lived there, the more he proved himself to be the nicest guy I've ever met. He treated us all with such respect, even as he tried keeping to himself...but he couldn't resist that tournament.” Heather noted the confusion spreading through the team and decided to add her two cents. “I went to that tournament too,” she added, “but only because Lee had sprung a serial killer out of jail that I'd put away in the first place. I met J because that killer and I, we were on opposite sides of the bracket...but that killer was round two for J.” She gave a glance toward Leena, and almost immediately handed her a police baton. Leena put it to use right away, swinging it at any machinery that ended up near her. “He was so stupid!” she shouted over the sound of breaking glass. “We told him to just bow out of the fight, and we almost lost him then! Then he'd have never gone to the finals...where Lee had that trap waiting!” “Trap?” Nicole repeated, familiar with the tournament they were discussing due to its airing on TV. “What, the stadium bombing?” Leena nodded, tossing the baton into the nearest computer screen. “Oh, it got bombed, alright! And Lee and his goons are the ones who did that...to his own stadium! And while that happened, Lee must have taken him to bring him here and put him through all this torture!” She turned back toward the area where Randolph's corpse was strapped and drew a gun, firing every bullet she had into large containers of liquids and wiring boxes that were situated against the walls. Glass and sparks rained down around Randolph, around Leena, around Nicole, around the entire room. Everyone else stood still, in varying amounts of shock and distress, as Leena had her outburst. Everyone except Nicole, that is. She stood where she was, but she reared forward and swung an arm out in front of her, bearing an excited smile. [[Previous|138]] | [[Next|140]]

If Leena was this angry and this ready to break shit, Nicole couldn't help but wonder if she'd underestimated her. She'd seemed so wiry and waifish to Nicole before, but maybe she could be persuaded to spar, once all this was over. Just the possibility filled Nicole with new respect for Leena, and new vigor. “Then what are we waiting for?" Nicole asked. Even Leena's eyes snapped to her, still wild with grief-stricken rage. Nicole laughed every one of them off. "Let's not stop here...! This whole base...Mr. Lee, and each and every one of his goons...let's smash them all to pieces!" Heather soon joined Nicole with a chuckle of her own. "Okay," she said, "I'd be lying if I said that wasn't extremely tempting. But I would have loved to preserve this place as a crime scene, before you two made all this mess. So that leaves us with J...not just because Leena and I used to know him. But because he's probably the only thing you won't break," Heather finished. The "you" was punctuated with a finger that Heather jabbed at Nicole. "Look, I got the picture." "Do you truly, Nicole?" Ciel asked. Nicole growled at being put on the spot. Maybe she'd zoned out during the Q&A at the briefing, but she was pretty sure she grasped what was going on—or at least enough. But Ciel took that growling as a no. "Oh, come now. With Mr. Lee implicated in the chemical spill that caused your superpowers, and the ties that have been found between the Lee Corporation and the Cross Town Asylum, this sort of evidence has been piling up against him." Nicole thought she had a handle on things, but Ciel's explanation only confused her further. Fortunately, after a pause to tighten the laces on her skates, Ciel continued. "This is why J absconded—err, took the other cyborg. Mr. Lee cannot afford to have that discovery reach the public. This is not just his most important facility. Mr. Lee must be here." "Then what are we waiting for?" Nicole cheered. "Let's find him and cave his fucking skull in!" Everyone seemed on board with that idea, except Sonya. “First, Nicole,” she said, laying a hand on Nicole's shoulder, “can we talk?” Nicole simply shrugged it off, however. “We don't have time for that. Lee got away once before. We can't let him go again.” [[Previous|139]] | [[Next|141]]

## Chapter 10 “So you're tellin' me that's where Lee's at?” Claire frothed, ready for action. Ciel nodded. “It has to be,” she replied. “In pre-apocalyptic times, that section was known as Point Blunt. My research reveals yet another sort of installation there.” “Research nothin'! I can see it!” Even from within the bottle on Nicole's hip, she could see a large tower in the distance, illuminated by the moon hanging over it. From a distance, it seemed a very unassuming structure, but she figured the island must have looked similarly innocent to onlookers from the mainland too. “Can we get this goin'? I'm gettin' real sick of this saltwater.” “Don't I know it,” Nicole agreed. “Well, not the water stuff, but I'm so ready to be done with Lee for good.” Claire felt the water of her bottle splash and tumble around as Nicole fell to the ground. Looking up, she saw that the culprit seemed to be Sonya. “Gonna kill him too?” she shrieked. “I don't believe you!” As Nicole picked herself up out of the dirt, Claire helped a little, scraping a long finger of water on her back to clean her off. “What? That was the plan the whole time. We're gonna smash that Mr. Lee to paste!” “You don't remember?” Nicole leaned back as Sonya got in her face to deliver more scolding. “We don't kill, Nicole! Or we're like Cody!” “Cody who?” Nicole shrugged. “I thought I told you, we don't have time for this, Sonya. Can you complain after we save the day?” Claire had heard of Cody; she'd seen the aftermath of his protests on a couple occasions. When Mr. Lee had first made his moves against the superpowered kids of River City, Cody was quick to respond with a murderous, destructive counteroffensive in the streets. She'd heard whispers in the streets of the cold-blooded killer, but dared not get in the way of the argument just to offer them. She instead resigned herself to listen to Sonya's pained reply. “Fine, then, it'll wait,” she snapped. “But it won't be good.” [[Previous|140]] | [[Next|142]]

While most of the group fell silent at Sonya and her argument, Heather was far more willing to interject. “Well, okay, but we still probably have to kill him,” she said, gazing intently at the tower that beckoned upon the horizon. “You do remember that his pull was enough to get a serial killer out of jail, right? The man himself will probably walk right out without anyone noticing. Frankly, I'm surprised more of you don't have this kind of vendetta twisting your gut into a knot right about now.” After a brief chuckle, she added, “After all my years on the force, I thought I'd be over this.” Spotting a fallen tree nearby, she moved over to it and took a seat. “You kids ought to know what I mean...that feeling you get right here when you're about ready to knock someone out that really has it coming. Adrenaline is one thing...but it feels way different when there's emotional investment, doesn't it?” “I don't have those parts, lady,” Claire replied, pushing on her bottle to urge Nicole to go sit down and allow the group a short break under the black sky as it bled starlight. “But I'm pretty riled up about this Lee guy, ya got that right. I used to be a real hottie, an' now I'm stuck ridin' in dirty old bottles all day! I probably still smell like the booze left over in the bottle Nicole shoved me in the first time we met!” Nicole seemed to feel the urging, and landed herself in the grass next to Heather. “You do not,” the icy teen said in some feeble attempt at assurance. “You're a little briny from playing in the water today, but that's it.” She turned to Heather next to address her words. “I'm with Claire on this one. I'm not talking about the body because I don't know how it works, but I'm so ready to clobber this guy. He and J got away before we could finish things last time, so I need to finish the fight! Finally...this is gonna be the happiest day of my life, I bet.” Even from her position, it was plain to Claire that Nicole didn't realize the affect her words were having on Sonya. Every syllable she spoke in support of not just fighting, but killing Mr. Lee, seemed to wound Sonya. But Nicole wans't the only one oblivious to Sonya's mounting doubts. “Just be careful with J this time, OK?” Leena asked as she unceremoniously plopped herself down on the dirt road. “I heard you dunked a missile into him last time you saw him.” [[Previous|141]] | [[Next|143]]

“He shot it at us!” Sonya shot back, quick to get on the defensive. “It was only fair!” Leena laughed. “Hey," she said, "I was only joking. It's not like the J I know was loaded with missiles. But that other boy back there in the lab gave me hope...they seemed to be trying to leave his brain as intact as possible. Maybe there's enough of J left to have him back once we're done here. So it might shape up to be one of the best days of my life, too...I'll get myself some closure, at least. So I can't say I don't understand what Nicole's getting at.” “Then I'll be the first!” Armand shouted, nervously pacing in front of the group. “You guys seem awfully calm and happy about going up that tower to kill a guy, even if it is Mr. Lee.” “You're the second!” Sonya corrected him, rising to her feet. “It isn't right!” “Look, guys,” Nicole reasoned. “I'll leave you behind if you don't want to do this. Wouldn't be the first time. I'll reach the top of that tower and I'll thrash Lee and J. The rest of you can sit here with your thumbs up your asses for all I care. But anyone who's itching to do the world some good and won't slow me down in the process can come along with me.” Heather nodded. “That's a surprisingly fine idea, Nicole,” she said. She, at least, seemed to have a better intuition toward the tension building among the group. To that end, Heather rose from her seat. She drew a line in the dirt with her police baton, then left the baton itself in the dirt when the line didn't show as well as she'd hoped. "We'll once again split into two groups. One group will continue to infiltrate the facility and find Mr. Lee. The other group will secure our escape...hold off stragglers, defend the boats, that sort of thing." “That's the crew for me,” Ghost said, stretching his arms as he stood opposite the others. “Not for lack of wanting to deal with Lee...I'm just not suited for direct confrontation.” Armand nodded and approached Ghost, standing alongside him. “It's true, I'd be better off there too,” he added. “Besides...this honestly isn't my fight. I was born in Cross Town, you know. We moved to River City when my mother figured it'd be safer. I think she'll have a heart attack when she finds out I've been way out here...” [[Previous|142]] | [[Next|144]]

Nicole shrugged. “Two down,” she said, her voice lackadaisical in tone. What Ghost and Armand did from here didn't seem to matter to her one iota. “Not that you have to announce it to me. I'm heading down the road before long, with Heather and Leena and whoever else. Don't worry, I'm not judging.” She took a few steps down the road, turned back to the group, and gave a little smirk. “I just know what I'm good at.” Claire watched from Nicole's hip as the group began discussing their fates behind them, but as the group shrank from view, she got concerned. “Hey, Nicole,” she swished, “ain't it a better idea to wait an' get the group together?” Nicole laughed and stopped to take the bottle off her hip and hold it up in front of her. “You're not scared, are you?” “Bein' scared ain't the problem...I'm just as fired up 'bout Lee as you are. His crap took my body away! But it ain't even Lee that gave ya such a fight last time! Leave him to whoever wants him...they won't be our backup if we clobber Lee right away!” Nicole shook her head. “I don't need backup! But I guess you're right...Lee has hidden behind so many men, he must be weak and cowardly. He's beneath me...it's J I'm fired up to fight.” With that, she turned around and watched with Claire as the groups formed. As she watched, however, she came to a realization that startled her. “Wait, Sonya's not coming?” Claire couldn't help but laugh; it had seemed like the obvious conclusion to her, but Nicole must have missed everything. “Ya don't catch on to nothin' too fast, do ya?” she roiled. “Ya got a real hard head an' no brains to fill it...Sonya ain't been feelin' up for this since the start, got it?” “Not really.” With that, Nicole was already on her feet, moving to confront her best friend. “Hey, Sonya, what's the deal? You're not coming?” [[Previous|143]] | [[Next|145]]

Claire couldn't help but laugh; it had seemed like the obvious conclusion to her, but Nicole must have missed everything. “Ya don't catch on to nothin' too fast, do ya?” she roiled. “Ya got a real hard head an' no brains to fill it...Sonya ain't been feelin' up for this since the start, got it?” “Not really.” With that, Nicole was already on her feet, moving to confront her lover on this matter of assassination. “Hey, Sonya, quit joking around and get over here!” Sonya shook her head, turning away from Nicole to hide her tears. “This isn't right,” she sighed. “It's illegal.” “Illegal?” Nicole repeated. “I don't think that matters. A cop's here. I don't think she cares.” “Do we have to? We can't arrest—“ “Of course not!” Nicole swept her arm in front of her, nearly catching Sonya with a backhand. “Who even made these dumb rules you seem to love more than this, than me?” That was enough to turn Sonya back around. “Don't you even!” she said as she jabbed a finger into Nicole's chest. “This is different! This is murder! Same as Randolph!” Nicole pushed Sonya's finger off of her. “You didn't answer my question. Who has the balls to try to tell me what to do? And why should I be listening to them right now?” When Sonya remained silent, Nicole continued. “This is Lee's island, isn't it? It's not on any maps or a part of any settlement today...so that means he calls the shots here? Does that just mean I ought to do what he says?” “No—“ “No!” Claire watched Nicole pause a little, possibly having not expected Sonya to answer that question at all, much less the same way. “Well, there you go. Everyone wants me to do something different, so I won't listen to any of them I'm going to do what I want to do.” [[Previous|144]] | [[Next|146]]

“But why, Nicole?” Sonya pleaded, now sobbing. “Why are we here?” Nicole shrugged. "Because it's fun?" she said. The tone of her voice made it sound like she'd never really considered the why of this whole mission, even though it was her idea to begin with. Then again, charging across an entire bay, a lush forest, and at least half of a pre-apoc military base without once stopping to wonder why felt so very Nicole-like to Claire. “I'm here 'cause I want to. I guess you can do what you want, Sonya. I just thought that...you left your home to be with Steven's crew because Mr. Lee put you in danger, and your parents by association. Now you have a shot at revenge, and you're throwing it away? That's crazy.” It took Sonya forever to choke out a reply. “I won't stop you.” “You can't stop me," Nicole corrected her. In this stretch of silence, Claire became cognizant of just how dark it had gotten. It seemed like not long ago that she'd noted the sunset, that last hurrah on the horizon where warm colors fled to the west. Maybe nightfall was the reason for the sudden chill that overtook the group, or maybe it was Nicole's ice powers. But if it was Nicole...Claire couldn't help but see that summoning of ice as an act of intimidation, if not a prelude to violence outright. As soon as the question came to Claire—would Nicole really beat up her own girlfriend over this difference in ideology?—she was once again surprised at how she was simultaneously shocked and not at all surprised at the limits of Nicole's violent streak, or the lack thereof. "...hey," Armand said from within the ranks of the guard party. He seemed nervous at breaking the silence and tension, but he pushed through to ask the group a question. “What happens if someone tries to step up and be the next Mr. Lee?" Nicole's immediate answer was to crack her knuckles. “Well...same thing we're doing right now.” [[Previous|145]] | [[Next|147]]

Inside the tower, the attack group found themselves in a single large room, plain gray steel marred by the yellow and black lines marking the edge of a circular elevator in the center. A wreath of white lights decorated the outer wall near the floor, and some moonlight filtered in through whatever awaited Nicole and her companions at the top of the elevator. “Up we go, I guess,” she muttered, moving right to the center in search of the elevator controls. The moment she crossed the line and put her weight on the elevator itself, however, she felt it moving underfoot right away, urging the others to hustle. She had Claire on her hip, and Heather and Leena were quick to haul themselves up onto the rising platform. “I'm just glad those two burning guys didn't come with us,” Leena groaned. "I was getting really fed up with their attempts to hook up with me." Heather said something in reply, but Nicole was barely listening. She wasn't all that interested in anyone except her present company, and the two targets she expected to see at the top of the tower. Nicole shrugged and sat down on the elevator, waiting as calmly as she could manage for the thing to raise. “We don't need them,” she balked as she slicked her arms in ice, preparing for the challenge ahead. “Of course, if it was just a straightforward fight up ahead, I wouldn't need you, either. But...you think you can break J out of Lee's control?" Heather nodded, checking the gun Leena had procured on-site. “Basically. We knew J before his surgery, so maybe the humanity in him will remember us.” She handed the gun back to Leena, then began stretching and working the kinks out of her baton arm. “But there's no way he'd do the things Lee has him doing of his own free will, either, so be ready for anything.” Nicole shook her head and stood up to face the officer. “Anything? That's too much. That's your job. I'll be ready to fight and that's it.” “The results are inconclusive,” Ciel interrupted, facing away from the group as she adjusted her skates. I'd have to see the skills of Claire and Leena to know for sure. For example, water jets of extremely high pressure are sometimes used in factories to cut metal...if Claire could manage such a feat, I imagine she could be a valuable ally in this fight.” “Ya don't say?” Claire swirled. “I don't think I ever got to that kinda level before, lady, but it sounds wicked sweet!” [[Previous|146]] | [[Next|148]]

Nicole sighed in relief as the lift finally reached its apex, fitting snugly into place in the center of the top floor. The stars wept their light into the blackness of the sky above her, visible through a glass dome that served as the tower roof. Were she more interested in the stars, she might not have spotted the two human shapes lurking along the circular wall, silhouetted against the lights of computers behind them. Heather was quick to choose one of the targets to aim her pistol at, though the other was free to skirt around the room. “RCPD!” she announced. “You're under arrest!” Without missing a beat, she added, “Cardiac arrest!” and let her gun do the talking from there. The mobile enemy's arm had stretched out to inhuman lengths, likely the culprit of the unsatisfying sound of bullet against metal. Even for Nicole, it wasn't hard to guess what was up. “J!” she said, her dukes already up. Sure, he could extend his arm to block a bullet, but she was confident that that wouldn't help him stop her “You're not getting away this time!” Knowing her friends' nonviolent tendencies, she was already shrugging off their restraining grip even before she felt hands on her shoulders. “We've got a fight to finish!” “There's that spirit,” the other man said. It took Nicole a second to remember him as Mr. Lee. “I thought for a second that you might be winning the fights you get into because of that spirit, Miss Ellery.” With only a long jump between her and her target, Nicole did exactly that, fist at the ready to bring down on whichever of the two was there when she landed. It was J that made an impact, however, as his arm extended again to catch her in the stomach, telescoping out to impart its force. As she fell to the ground and the group gathered around her, Mr. Lee continued. “But I found a volunteer with spirit, and with much better handle on his powers than your limited brainpower can muster. You defeated him regardless. J even ran the calculations...you wouldn't know how hard you defied the odds.” Without anyone's help but Claire's, Nicole was already back on her feet. “I don't defy anything. I don't pay attention to odds or orders or anything. Speaking of, can you shut up now? I'm here to do to J what I did to that other guy.” [[Previous|147]] | [[Next|149]]

Lee opened his mouth to reply, but the conversation was quickly drowned out by Leena's shouts. “J, you goof!” she called out to the cyborg. “Get over here, will you? You're causing a scene!” Heather smiled a knowing smile and stepped forward. “Leena's right,” she concurred. “I think we need to slow down and get some grub at the Master Onion.” Despite J's earlier snap reactions, he did nothing as Leena walked closer to him. “Master Onion's closed down, Heather...but I'm sure we can sit down at the boarding house and have a meal with the guys.” “Leena...?” J creaked out, standing completely still. “That's right.” Leena extended a hand toward J and gave him a nod. “I've missed you so much. Please...come here. Let me get a good look at you.” “Order received.” The words came out of the robot as rough as ever, but his feet shuffled obediently over to his girlfriend, landing him in an embrace. “You fool!” Lee growled at the scene. “J, you're set to receive orders only from me! Get back here this instant!” J nodded and belted out another confirmation, making his way back to the computers beside Lee. “Intruders detected.” “I...yes, I know.” As the two of them talked amongst themselves, Ciel shook her head slightly. “Interesting,” she mumbled. “Could Leena and Lee have control in equal measures?” “It'd make sense,” Heather replied, only elaborating by way of imitating a whip-cracking noise with her mouth. It was explanation enough for everyone present, though, even Ciel, which Nicole didn't expect. “I suppose, with how much brain matter the process seems to leave intact, it's perfectly possible that such devotion could rival whatever process Lee implemented to assert himself as master.” “Seriously?” Claire roiled from within her bottle. “Cut the sappy crap and gimme a real reason...!” [[Previous|148]] | [[Next|150]]

Before anyone could explain things to Claire, much less Nicole, a loud whooshing noise turned everyone's attention back to J, who had taken to the air on his jump jets. “My priority is to neutralize Nicole Ellery,” he announced. “Lethal force authorized.” The latter announcement proved redundant as some kind of cannon primed itself on his non-extending arm. Leena, however, was undeterred, striding up to J with confidence. “Like hell!” she shouted. “Don't you dare kill anyone, J! Stand down!” J obediently plopped to the floor, but just a few seconds later, let out a terrible scream as his body was wracked with some powerful force. Mr. Lee looked down at his convulsing android and laughed. “Oh, I wouldn't get too pushy,” he said, barely audible over the very human agony of J. “Any disobedience of a direct order results in electric shock. That's how I get them to obey my orders. You know what to do, J...get up and attack them!” As loyal as ever, J managed to take a knee and use his extending arm to grab hold of Nicole, reeling her in for some impact, but before he could, he again fell to the clutches of internal voltage. “Seems it goes both ways,” Lee noted, the smile never leaving his face. Nicole didn't understand the man's joy, however. “So, uh, no one wins?” she guessed. After a harsh sigh, Lee explained his observations. “If he shows mercy, he disobeys my order...but if he attacks, he disobeys your order. His obedience protocol is going to fry him to a crisp unless one of us rescinds our commands...and it won't be me.” Nicole looked to Leena as she bit her lip, looking on as her boyfriend slowly electrocuted to death. Even as she decided, Lee kept talking. “But while you make that decision, is there anyone here that wants his kind of power?” Nicole felt Lee's eyes right on her, and shook them off with a shrug. “I thought you knew me, Lee,” she began, returning his stare. “I'm already the strongest there is, though I think if I had to choose between listening to you and death by electrocution, I'd just have Heather give me the chair instead.” She took a step toward him as her shoulders sagged, her hands heavy with ice. When he stepped back, she finally realized that he was without his bodyguard. This was probably the most defenseless Mr. Lee had ever been. Even though Nicole had said she'd let the others take the first shots at Lee, this epiphany had her tempted to press the advantage. [[Previous|149]] | [[Next|151]]

Ciel seemed to note Mr. Lee's vulnerability as well, and came to Nicole's side. “To think anyone could be afraid of you,” she sneered, “when you're attempting to reason with Nicole. That makes you even dumber than her.” Mr. Lee refused to back down. “PureTech was awfully afraid of me to make you,” he shot back. When Ciel recoiled away from Nicole's side, he gave another sadistic laugh. “That's right...don't think I don't know. I had my eye on PureTech long before I recognized that Margaret was working there. I remember the drinks and the fun we shared one night, though once we learned of the pregnancy, I—” Any emotion at all seemed rare enough for Ciel, but Lee's comments made her truly angry for the first time Nicole had seen. “Don't you ever tarnish her name with your salacious tongue!” she screamed, willing her body forward to put her powers into a fierce flying shoulder tackle. Heather and Leena had been too busy looking after J to notice much of the exchange, but their attention came back to Mr. Lee just in time to watch Ciel's attack send Lee flying, his body clearing a small workstation and a railing. He bounced off the plate glass window behind him and fell to the floor, barely managing to lift his head up in time to watch Ciel swing a skate into his forehead. The thump his face made afterward was almost as loud as the one his whole body had made after bouncing off the window. Through it all, however, Lee still managed a laugh. “What's so funny?” Nicole asked. “Forgot already?” Lee sputtered, his sentences coming out more as blood than sounds after the hits he'd taken. “If I don't tell J to stand down...Leena has to...has to give J permission to kill you all...or he dies!” “That again?” Nicole's exasperated groan got her halfway to J, letting her rant the rest of the way. “Leena, just tell your dumb boyfriend it's okay to fight! I can take him...I did it once, and I'll do it again!” Leena's gaze jumped to Nicole, showing off the tears in her eyes. “What, so you can kill him instead of this electricity?” she shouted. J was still convulsing before her, his screams much quieter now. Heather nodded slightly. “No...I think Nicole has a point,” she began. [[Previous|150]] | [[Next|152]]

“Don't you remember how J felt about fights?” Heather asked Leena. Leena nodded. “He always hated them. He only joined Lee's tournament because he wanted to repay us...repay me...” “Yeah!” Heather was already pointing her gun at Mr. Lee as she spoke. “So if he has enough brain left over that your relationship rivals Lee's mind control, maybe he still hates fighting? Maybe he's only doing it because he has to?” “Heather, I still don't—“ “Hey, I get it!” Claire flooded. “J doesn't fight with his all, so we can beat him up...stun him, don't kill him...an' then we gotta do somethin' afterward with the computer stuff to get him calm-like, see? An' we can't just smash him an' then give the order 'cause he can't obey what he can't hear, that it?” “Exactly,” Heather confirmed. The rest of the room went silent as she fired a second shot, this one finding its mark in Lee's head. His body shook slightly on the floor as the bullet rammed into him, disappearing into his skull and covering its tracks with blood. As the rest of the group stared up at her, she shrugged them all off. "I've been wanting to do that for so long. And now that I have, we have to do as Claire says." For all of Heather's conviction, however, Leena was still not convinced, not that she could do much else with Lee dead and J still being electrocuted. “You're sure about this?” she asked one last time. Nicole nodded, her fists frozen in anticipation. “Let me at him already!” she gasped. “I came all this way for a rematch...but if a missile didn't stop him last time, I think you'll have enough boyfriend parts left over to get what you want, Leena!” “Yeah, I wanna see some action!” Claire boiled, already swirling out of her bottle to wrap water around Nicole's shoulders. Even Ciel gave her support. “Five on one makes for solid odds,” she mocked. “But did you not all hear J's orders the first time around? Lee had programmed Nicole to be his first priority target.” [[Previous|151]] | [[Next|153]]

“That's fine,” Heather said. “J goes too far back with Leena and I...we have to depend on you girls to stop him. I couldn't bring myself to fight him...I don't think Leena could either." “No,” Leena sighed, “I don't want to see him hurt anyone...or anyone hurt him. But...now that you shot Mr. Lee, there's nothing else to do.” Before she did it, however, she made her way to Lee's corpse and wound up, delivering a mighty punt to his temple. She watched the blood lag behind him, falling to the ground in a wet trail to his body's new position. “J, dear,” she cooed to the cyborg as he convulsed on the floor. “It's okay. I won't stop you anymore. Attack Nicole Ellery, just like Mr. Lee told you...but don't you dare kill anyone, okay?” In an instant, the convulsions stopped. J's body, no longer tortured by electricity, rose to stand and face Nicole. “Understood,” he said coolly, as if he hadn't spent the last few minutes on the ground screaming. “Only one command remains. Attack Nicole Ellery." Nicole had little else left to say. “You wish,” she taunted as she raised her fists. She lunged forward, fist cocked and ready to bury into J's face. She skirted around the cyborg's extending arm as it clutched for her neck, darting back into line for some extra momentum to put into her fist. The icy impact sent J reeling a little, though being part machine allowed him a swift recovery. Before she could get back, his fist was already clamping down on her shoulder, and it was then that she found out what the other arm had up its sleeve. While one arm could extend, the other was outfitted with a special piston system, causing a metal shaft about the width of an elbow to crack right into Nicole's collarbone. Two quick strokes of the cylinder bashed into her, causing her to cry out as she was shoved out of J's grip and onto the floor. She heard Leena squeak out maybe half a syllable of concern before she was already back on her feet, ready to attack again. [[Previous|152]] | [[Next|154]]

Nicole made another charge, only for J to use his jump jets to scoot backwards, skidding about two arm's lengths away. After a few repetitions of this, however, J had his back against the wall, and Nicole saw her chance. When she moved in to land the hit, J simply scooted sideways, forcing an agitated groan out of her. “This guy...!” When she moved in and saw J dodge another punch, however, Ciel was right behind her, using her powers to move even faster and mash her skate into J's chest, knocking him to the floor. “Don't forget, we're here too,” she reminded Nicole. “Got that right!” Claire agreed, feeding Nicole some more water from her own bottle to refine Nicole's freezing prowess. Now, the blunt glacier on her right fist was turned into a spike. Nicole gazed at the implement in approval as Ciel continued to kick J around. “Thanks...!” she eventually managed, before seeking the fray once again. However, she couldn't get into it; Ciel and J were moving too quickly. With her skates and his jets, the two of them were circling the tower, his left arm extending in vain and unable to reach across his chest and have a meaningful effect on Ciel. Until one of them slowed down, nobody could get any meaningful shots in, especially Nicole. “Claire, can we do something about this? This is boring.” “Ain't gonna happen...I'd be just as likely to hit Ciel from here!” “You guys,” Ciel sighed, moments before suddenly turning to Nicole, her powers flinging her back to the center of the room. Before anyone could react in the slightest, she homed back in on J, blasting him into the plate glass and popping the whole section out of its mooring. Nicole ran over to watch her and J tumble into the night sky, though Ciel was able to save herself by homing in on Nicole yet again, cartwheeling off of Nicole's shoulders to stick her landing. Of course, J was fine too. “Insufficient,” he mocked as he hovered in the air on his jets. He took aim with the gun mounted on his piston arm, and nearly dropped into the sea in the blink of an eye. His scream gave away the reason easily enough. “Don't you dare kill anyone,” Leena said sternly, repeating part of her earlier command. Nicole wasn't looking at Leena, however; she was up against the railing looking for J. As she gazed into the night, a hand came out to greet her, on the end of J's extending arm. Before she could resist, she was yanked over the side of the balcony, and watched the inky darkness of the sea reach up into her view to catch her. She could hear people calling out to her, and she could hear the din of combat as Sonya's group repelled reinforcements at the base of the tower, but soon it was all replaced with a dull rumble, inaudible from under the waves. She felt the wind get knocked out of her from the impact with the water, and she began thinking that she would have had an easier time if she'd just fallen on land. In the black of the night, she couldn't see how far away from shore she was, but it didn't matter since she couldn't swim, or do much moving at all after her impromptu dive. If she had closed her eyes, it had made no difference to her vision. [[Previous|153]] | [[Next|155]]

## Chapter 11 When Nicole was next aware of anything, she felt nothing but an intense chill enveloping her entire body. Her limbs were trapped in place, and even her eyelids refused to open. She could hear nothing, not even the soft beating of the waves against the shore, not until a single voice called out to her. “Up an' at 'em, ya idiot!” She instantly knew it was Claire, and couldn't help but oblige. Hearing that call to action roused her to put all her efforts into motion, and when she did, she felt the chilly grip surrounding her shatter apart entirely. The open air of the night was plenty brisk, but after she'd broken herself free, her eyes opened, and she had just enough light to see what she had broken out of. “Ice?” she gasped, uncertain on her feet. “Well, yeah!” Nicole looked to her side and saw Claire standing there, having woven her female form from seawater, judging by the smell. “Ya got dunked on, big time, but I was on your hip, so we both had a swim! Lucky I was there, cuz if I hadn't softened the blow an' launched ya outta the ocean, ya would've drowned!” After a short pause, she added, “Ya almost did anyway...ya got too much muscle mass for me to be pushin' 'round! So try not to suck from now on!” Nicole smirked. “I was going to thank you, but never friggin' mind. Where's J?” The question was barely out of her mouth before J's extending arm caught hold of her, and reeled her forward along the ground for a fierce clothesline. When her head hit the ground, though, she only had another question. “Wait, what's with all the ice?” she asked as she shoved herself upright. She felt the ground underfoot continue to shift, a situation she had chalked up to her own disorientation before, but eventually it hit her. “Are we still out on the water?” [[Previous|154]] | [[Next|156]]

Claire's watery arm formed itself around a chunk of the ice Nicole had hatched from, letting her emulate Nicole's icy fist attacks. “Yeah," she gurgled. "What, ya thought I could manage to get your big ass all the way ta shore?” Nicole paused briefly to sidestep another telescopic grapple attempt. “So where are we, then?” she asked Claire. “Beats me. Somewhere out to sea?” “What's that supposed to mean?” J made a dash toward Nicole, his jets firing in time to lift him above her counterattack. From there, he went into freefall behind Nicole. For his troubles, he was swamped by a massive wave. “Means we got him where I want him, don't it?” Claire flowed as she steered another wave into him, keeping him off-balance long enough for Nicole to face him. Undaunted, he found his footing and reached out again with his extending arm. Remembering his previous attack, however, Nicole was ready. “Bring it!” she taunted as she felt the hand clamp down on her and drag her in toward J. Before he could reel her into another clothesline, she let the momentum feed itself directly into a shoulder charge, bowling J over. While he was down, she stepped over him and smashed a glacier of a hand into his gut. For a human, that probably would have been enough to end the fight, but J was back on his feet soon enough. “Yeah! That's why I came for you, kid! You just don't stop!” “My mission is incomplete,” J replied. With the help of his jump jets, he was able to launch a quick spin kick, with far more haste and force than a normal human could muster. Even so, Nicole just ducked it. “You are to be neutralized.” “Told you already...you wish!” [[Previous|155]] | [[Next|157]]

Nicole raised her hand and motioned toward her with a finger, a gesture that Claire somehow understood perfectly. A stream of water came in from behind J, which she met with a left hook from the front. With the water pressure gluing J to her fist, she was able to freeze some moisture that had collected on his chest, catching him in a solid icy grip. From there, not even his jets could break him free; he tried, but Nicole only flew along with him, delivering a beating with her free hand while J took shots at the ice and at her left arm. “Not good enough!” J wrapped his extending arm around her neck in a fierce stranglehold. “Still...not enough!” When she'd taken enough shots at what she could reach from the current hold, she pumped her left arm, bracing it with her right and a little ice to take J and slam him firmly into the ice floe. As she held him there, Claire's aquakinesis draped layers over layers of water on him, layers that were quickly frozen under Nicole's own powers. “No, I remember,” Claire sloshed. “This ain't enough...ya froze him over way better last time.” Before Nicole could respond, J had a note of his own. “Launch coordinates confirmed,” he intoned, motionless and muffled from within the ice. “Launch?” Nicole gasped. “Launch what?” She looked to the horizon at a brilliant ball of fire erupting deep in the night. As she watched the ball stretch out into a pillar, she could only make one guess, though one even she couldn't believe. “No way.” Beneath her ice, J made no efforts to escape. “Uh, Claire?” “Yeah?” she asked as she wove the ocean into her preferred human shape to stand next to Nicole. “Oh...that.” “Missile?” “Missile.” After a brief pause, Claire added, “What about the others?” “What about us?” Nicole had guessed that the missile was aimed at their little iceberg, and when she watched it tilt in the sky, she knew she guessed right. When J burst out of his icy prison and used his jets for a mighty leap, she had a second question. “What about J?” “Don't ya get it?” Claire slapped Nicole on the cheek with her watery hand. “It's monkey see, monkey do, ain't it? How'd you an' Sonya put this guy out last time?” [[Previous|156]] | [[Next|158]]

“Missile riding. Wh...” Nicole trailed off as the missile continued its dive toward them, the realization coming quickly. “Oh. Claire, can we get on up with him?” “Shut up!” Claire frothed. “Ain't no way you can stand on a speedin' missile!” Nicole shook her head. “No, but we can!” she asserted. “I have a plan.” “For once...” Despite Claire's griping, she followed the steps as Nicole narrated them to her in a hurry. First, Nicole had Claire wrap water around her feet so she could freeze herself onto the ice block. Then, much as they had launched ice up at the helicopter earlier that day, Claire summoned a geyser to toss Nicole skyward. A quick jerk of her legs separated the ice in two, and she trusted Claire to hold spikes of water in place on the underside as she put her all into freezing the whole thing. By the time the missile came by, both she and J landed on it, her supported by the frigid cleats underfoot. Claire herself had ended up giving herself a small pool to seat her core into, a cup formed in the ice on Nicole's leg, a detail she hadn't noticed until she'd looked down to admire her frozen footwear. “It worked!” she gasped, a little surprised with herself, before turning to J, as the two of them stood on opposite ends of the anti-air missile. “And you! Trying to run off again, coward? I won't let you get away again! We're finishing this fight, tonight!!” She wasn't sure if he'd heard her over the rocket engine or the sound of the air as they flew through it, but she doubted he had a good reply. The stark angles of J's artificial body were lit haphazardly in the flickering fire of the booster engine, as he braced himself in a kneeling position so as not to be flung from the missile. His extending arm easily wrapped around the thin shaft to give him some extra grip. Nicole, meanwhile, simply pressed down hard on her legs to really dig her icy spikes into it. This missile was only slightly faster than the one Sonya had stood on during the previous fight; Nicole guessed it was only meant to pick off helicopters and the like as she took powerful strides up the missile. Claire had pulled leftover moisture around her to act as a windshield, thinking farther ahead than she ever could. All these extraneous thoughts, however, left her mind as she finally came close to J. [[Previous|157]] | [[Next|159]]

“You!” Nicole hollered. She found it easy to gather ice here, over the ocean and steeped in wind chill. “When Leena and them pop your dumb head open and make you a good guy, you better come back for a rematch!” “Impossible,” J shot back, looking up to Nicole as he held himself in place. “One of Mr. Lee's orders is embedded in my very code.” “Don't listen to that guy...he's dead! Didn't you know?” The news seemed to shock J, having not reached him in the middle of his conflict of orders. He paused, then continued as if he hadn't heard it yet again. “If I exhaust all possible avenues for evading capture, I am to seek measures to destroy myself.” For Nicole, that explained two things, the lesser of which being his appearance to destroy the punk with wind powers before Grizz could cart the remains away. “So what you're saying is that you know I'm not letting you off the hook no matter what? Man, you're durable and smart...this is why I like fighting you!” J kept talking as if Nicole had said nothing. “Sea and air escapes were the only possible measures...over water, your powers would have given chase. In air, only this missile has the long-range capability to leave you behind, and here you are aboard it alongside me. I have taken too much damage to safely continue fighting, and I have been exposed to low temperatures that have compromised my booster systems. I have exhausted all possible avenues to avoid your capture.” Nicole swore she saw a strange look in J's eye as he spoke his next sentence, one that had life to it, as opposed to the cold mechanical stare she usually received. “What is it that drives you to fight so zealously?” Nicole shrugged, her advance halted by the oddity of the situation. “I don't know what that last word means.” [[Previous|158]] | [[Next|160]]

Even the cyborg couldn't help but sigh. “Zeal," J explained, "fighting for a cause with energy and enthusiasm.” With J on the ropes as he was, Nicole saw no trouble in humoring his little question. Even so, she had no great answer for him. "I don't fight for a 'cause'," she said. "Some people use violence and war to get what they want. Mr. Lee controlled people with force. Cops use clubs and guns and handcuffs to stop criminals...or to act on their bigotry and sick little power fantasies. But I don't want to fight for anything...I just want to fight. The joy of meeting new people and finding worthy opponents, the mix of planning and winging it that goes into every step and punch, the beauty of the human body in motion...what more could you want?" “...peace,” J responded, the life still evident in his voice. Nicole had no doubt that somehow, she had reached through to the humanity still left in that metal body. “Why violence? Why not...perhaps, a game?” Nicole laughed and shook her head. “Fighting is like a game to me, I guess. It's all in good fun.” “Uh, hello?” Claire bubbled. “Nicole, ya forget where ya are? Can't ya talk this out with the guy later?” If it hadn't been for Claire, Nicole might have missed J's suicide attempt. When his extending arm unraveled itself from the missile, though, she saw what he was up to and immediately took hold. “Oh, no you don't!” she bellowed. “I've got orders too...you're not supposed to die here, buddy!” J fell off of the missile, but Nicole was able to catch his telescopic arm. He wiggled and struggled at the other end in an effort to break her grip, but Nicole's grip was augmented by ice, and caught between sections of his extending arm for even more stability. His body hung limp from the arm, his other fist too far away to accomplish anything in the way of freeing himself. “They better cut this part out of your brain, too. This whole 'destroy myself' crap is just gonna turn into you letting me win when we have a rematch, I just know it!” “Guys? You're takin' the missile into a nosedive! It's gonna hit the water like this!” [[Previous|159]] | [[Next|161]]

“What? Oh, crap...!” Nicole wondered if that had been J's plan all along. Through the lighting of the rocket booster, she could see the surface of the water inching ever closer to the missile, and if it took the fall as badly as she did, she saw an explosion in her future. “We gotta get away from this thing! Claire, get ready to push some water around...I'm jumping on the count of three!” Before Claire could protest, Nicole pushed herself off of the missile, her cleats coming free as she dragged J out of the sky. Their bodies caught the air and slowed them drastically, while the aerodynamic and rocket-powered missile cruised on past them The burning fuels licked at the airborne trio, but were gone before they could do anything but melt a little ice. When Claire was close enough, she moved the water like she had before, using subtle currents to ease Nicole's landing. The missile exploded when it finally ground its nose into the sea. Between ordinary currents and the shockwave of the explosion churning the water, Nicole was swallowed by the ocean. Perhaps she could have floated back to the surface if she let go of J, but she didn't dare. As she panicked and felt her ice powers going wild, she heard Claire's voice, calm and comforting as it had been to rouse her from the ice, even if the words themselves were rough. “Settle down, ya moron. I think boats are comin', so try not to die like a chump before they get here, got it?” [[Previous|160]] | [[Next|162]]

*I am Ciel Letrush, and this is what happened today, on December 3, 441 PV.* Leena and Heather are optimistic as to the future of their friend J. I may have my memory problems, but Leena has no such issue; she was able to remember much from the technology she'd seen on Angel Island, and a pre-apocalyptic text on the composition of the human brain I found at the library has been further help in their efforts to lift the clouds of control from his mind. Of course, they have Nicole to thank as well, for all her efforts to detain him in the first place. She has accepted surprisingly little in the way of compensation for her role in recovering J. That night, when we had followed the missile out to sea with some boats procured from the Angel Island base, we had found the two of them, floating in a block of ice in the water, just as they had been while the very world around them froze over. Nicole had an unparalleled grip on J's arm...even in the midst of the waves, she hadn't given up in her mission. She insists on fighting him, as she has done to me and likely everyone she meets and comes to know. Her choices seem to have caught up with her, however. Earlier today, she saw Sonya for what both of them insist will be the last time. In the interest of further study on the nature of this woman, I have noted some of the words Nicole used in making her case. “Sonya, I only said yes because you were into it! “I was just gonna see if I could grow into a fling, and then past that. “You caught me on the rebound, kind of. That's just sick! “It's like I said on the island, I'm not gonna listen to your idiot mom just 'cause I live in her house! “J and Leena being in love was just like mind control machines! I'm not letting you do that to me! “I didn't kill Lee! Heather did! “You don't get to make me choose between you and fighting!” I'm not sure what “the rebound” means, but my decision to ally myself further with Nicole lends importance to a more complete understanding of her being. Noting these things she apparently finds so vital will assist me in keeping her a valuable ally. Her greatest value seems to be in her ability to express herself through violence. I know little of the things she cannot put into words, only fists, but my preliminary judgment of her altercation with Sonya reveals that she holds violence as her utmost passion...her "first and now only love", as she once put it. [[Previous|161]] | [[Next|163]]

Nicole has already agreed to join my own crusades, citing that I “already got all up in the Lee business” and that she considers her involvement mere “payback”. On yesterday's journal entry, I even wrote all about how I expected to have to bring up all these points to persuade her, yet all I needed in the end was to promise more strong opponents. It may be cruel of me to give her inadequate warning as to some of the weapons in PureTech's arsenal, but I already know enough about her to know that such a fact would only further excite her. I can't blame her, either; she did wrestle someone who was more machine than man to the brink of exhaustion. Were I one to feel things such as ego, a victory that impressive would surely bolster ~ Ciel gasped as she felt an icy finger on her shoulder. “What?” she said, her head darting around quickly. “Relax,” Nicole said through a laugh. “Just getting your nose out of that book. You're the one that said you wanted to talk to Grizz, and we're pretty much at his house, so you better look sharp.” Ciel nodded and looked out the car window, taking in the suburban sprawl on display. She could see how some people would reject the cramped quarters and heavy air of River City in favor of its more relaxed sister across the river, but the history books had taught her that there was more than that to Cross Town. "How can you even write while in the car?" Nicole teased. Ciel didn't respond. She was busy ruminating on this smaller town, this place that seemed much more comfortable and less chaotic than the urban sprawl of River City. Grizz had made his mark on this Cross Town, just as Ciel herself had assisted Nicole in changing the course of River City. It made plenty of sense to her that the man would prefer to spend his time somewhere he'd helped shape, but she'd already been told of one other reason he was so reluctant to leave home and get involved in River City's business. “I read from yesterday's journal entry that his girlfriend has recently given birth. Is that true?” “Yeah, I'm the one that told you, Ciel,” Heather confirmed from the driver's seat of her civilian car, not looking away from the road. “They'd have brought her home about now...it's a girl. Lyla's her name.” Heather paused to take a right turn onto another street and added, “For awhile, Alyce was a little cranky about him sneaking out and whatnot, and turning away visitors, but I think they've got everything smoothed out. Besides, they both know this is important, so you should be fine.” Ciel nodded and waited silently as Heather found the proper house and pulled in to the driveway, squeezing in next to a garishly colored motorcycle. “If they're expecting me, I should get to it,” she finally said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car, careful to avoid hitting the motorcycle. She walked slowly around the modest one-story house, admiring the angular architecture while she slowly gathered the courage to reach the front door. [[Previous|162]] | [[Next|164]]

Before Ciel's knuckle could even find the door, however, it was already swinging open of its own accord, revealing a slender woman in a flowing blue summer dress. “Hi!” she greeted Ciel. Then, motion atop the woman's head caught Ciel's attention; she looked up to see pointed ears covered in bright orange fur poking out of the woman's brown hair. Ciel followed the woman's hair down to her knees, and caught a glimpse of an orange tail along the way. “Hello.” Ciel clutched at the journal under her sky blue sweatshirt and gave a nod to the woman. “You must be Alyce.” The animal-like features were what gave it away most conclusively. “That's right! Are...are you one of Grizz's friends? I'm sorry, I don't recognize you...” Alyce seemed genuinely disappointed in herself at that fact. “Eh, only natural,” Grizz called out as he finally entered the doorway alongside his girlfriend. “You're the roller skate one, right? Cell or something?” He turned to Alyce and explained for her benefit, “She's new to town. One of Nicole's friends.” Alyce snapped her fingers and nodded to Grizz. “Nicole! The big angry punchy one! Well, if you're a friend of my friend, you're a friend of mine.” “I'm Ciel," she formally introduced herself, "not Cell. Please to meet you, and...congratulations on the birth of your child.” “Oh, thanks! A lot of people have come by to say that. Oh, but speaking of which...” Alyce ushered Grizz outside in front of her and closed the door. “...it sure is hard getting Lyla to fall asleep. Don't worry, Aaron will come get us if she wakes up.” Alyce plopped herself onto the front lawn, dragging Grizz down with her as she adjusted herself into a cross-legged position. “Alright, Heather was so vague on the phone...can you please tell us why you're here?” Ciel nodded. “To keep a promise. So, then, Gregory—“ “Whoa, you do not get to call me that!” Grizz snapped. “But that's the name your mother gave you.” Grizz broke free of Alyce's hold to stand and make a grab for Ciel's sweatshirt, holding her by the neck. “Look, you better think of a better way to say all this, because as it is, you're just pissin' me off.” [[Previous|163]] | [[Next|165]]

Ciel gave a short sigh and turned away for a second. She realized he was right; the information she had was much better delivered straight. “Right,” she said. “Grizz, I knew your mother.” “So what?” Grizz was attempting to walk away, but Alyce was holding him down, so he eventually relented. As further insurance, she slid into his lap while he asked, “She give you an excuse as to why she split?” “Actually, yes.” With the couple's rapt attention, Ciel broke out her journal and thumbed through it in search of the sections with Margaret, reading off things about her, the way she looked and cared for Ciel, the son she so desperately wanted to be safe—that son being Grizz. Grizz listened in silence, leaving Alyce to offer her analysis when a moment of silence arose. “Yeah, that's all right,” she confirmed. “I don't think Grizz has told anyone else about this stuff, either. I mean, that stuff with Uncle Geoff.” Alyce turned to Grizz and addressed him next. "And this Margaret does sound like the same person your uncle said your mom was like, right?" “I guess,” Grizz spat, though Ciel had been around the likes of Nicole and Claire long enough to recognize the technique. Despite sounding so dismissive, it was as close as he'd come to admitting that these things were undeniable proof. “You said she had some kind of excuse, though.” Ciel nodded and flipped to one of the last pages before the one of her explosive escape. “Right here,” she reminded him. “She wanted me to tell you she loves you...and that she did this to protect you. According to her...if she'd kept you close by, if she hadn't hidden you by entrusting you to the care of another...you would have been the one taken instead of me.” [[Previous|164]] | [[Next|166]]

The wind began to pick up, playing with the trio's hair as they sat in the lawn and talked. “Taken," Grizz repeated. "Taken for what, exactly?” “In a word, eugenics.” Ciel watched Grizz's face go blank, making no effort to hide the fact that he didn't know that word. “Okay...this journal, then." This was another thing Ciel was accustomed to, after hanging out with Nicole. She had chosen her word carefully, but without regard to what words Grizz knew. So she tried a different approach. "Margaret was in the employ of a company named PureTech, and I met her because I was an...involuntary test subject.” After more blank stares, she simplified matters further. “I was kidnapped and experimented on.” Alyce's face lit up instantly, and Ciel saw a depth of understanding she hadn't expected to find on her visit. “Okay, yeah, that's bad,” she squeaked into Grizz's shoulder. “Why did Grizz's mom work somewhere like that?” Ciel shrugged. “These journal entries paint her as a very remorseful woman who had no idea such a thing was happening at first,” she explained, “Then worked from the inside to reduce the scope of PureTech's evils." But at this point, all Ciel could do was guess. "I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you more, but the experiments have damaged my memories...everything's just gone every day when I wake up in the morning. This is all I have to remember anything by. I just have to trust that it's all true.” “The way you hold that thing?” Grizz noted. “No way a thief's comin' that can snatch it. An' it's all your handwritin', ain't it?” “Yes. Those are the conclusions I came to as well.” Ciel rose to her feet, brushing away the grass that had clung to her clothes. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so secretive about it all. I'm just...not skilled with people. Officer Storm had to be the one to set up our meeting.” [[Previous|165]] | [[Next|167]]

“Oh, don't worry!” Alyce reassured her. “It's probably better that way...we didn't quite recognize you at first, but Heather's a good friend of ours! She's been there for me, too.” Ciel nodded. “She's an exemplary officer of the law, yes," she agreed, "always one to go above and beyond the line of duty.” Just as she had when she put a bullet into Lee, she almost added. “I just wanted to let you know, Grizz, that your mother was an incredibly caring and selfless woman as well. I suppose this was for the best, what she did to protect you.” “An' how's that?” Grizz asked, his arm around Alyce as she smiled up at him. Ciel simply pointed to Alyce. “With my memory problems...it seems irresponsible for me to ever attempt a relationship like the one you two have. If it were you who were kidnapped, you would never have been here for Alyce, or Cross Town.” “Eh.” Grizz shrugged and moved back to his front door, ushering Alyce inside. Before he followed her, he turned back to Ciel. “I heard all about the Lee stuff...which means you killed my dad. Good for you. So mom, where's she at?” “I hope to ascertain her location during my current crusade,” Ciel replied, jutting a thumb toward Heather's car. “With Lee deceased, River City is host to an enormous power vacuum, and as this information propagates through others hidden from the public eye, they will be coming en masse to claim the abdicated throne.” “...yeah,” Grizz mumbled, still wholly unable to hide his confusion. [[Previous|166]] | [[Next|168]]

Ciel waved it off, since the details were irrelevant to her point. “PureTech, the ones that Margaret worked for, are my next target." Nicole's strike had been an inspiration to Ciel. After seeing how effective the mission had been, she realized that she could return to the PureTech labs, and in the unlikely event that sabotaging the reactor and blowing up the facility had left survivors or any functioning equipment, she intended to finish the job. It was also unlikely that Margaret had survived, but here in the company of her son, Ciel was reluctant to think that, much less speak it. "Nicole will be joining me...perhaps you would like to as well, in case we happen across your mother?” Grizz stopped to think about it, but shook his head as he opened the door to his home. “Ain't gonna happen," he refused. "Alyce says I'm on...what'd she call it? Paternity leave. No adventurin' for me, not until the baby's doin' well off.” “Very well.” Ciel gave Grizz a respectful bow, nearly bowing her eye into his waiting fist. “Huh?” Grizz chuckled. “Fist to fist. It's how ya show respect 'round here, see? Ya fought real well, an' found me with this mom stuff. Ya get props for that.” Ciel obliged his request, thumping a fist against his. “Good luck with that Pure stuff.” “Thank you,” she responded as she turned to leave, walking along the stone path through the lawn to go around the grass on her way to the car. Before she could get there, Grizz was already chasing her down, having thought better of shouting after her while his infant daughter tried to sleep. “Nicole, she doin' okay? She came by all jealous-like about her girlfriend last time ya visited. They smooth that out?” “No. The two of them have parted ways over their differences. It seems that Nicole's warlike nature and disregard for authority were too much for her.” Grizz let out a quick chuckle. “An' you, ya think you can handle it?” “Yes. That's how Leena and Heather see it as well.” With that, Grizz laughed and ducked back into his home, leaving Ciel alone on the lawn. When she returned to the car, the others noted her smile. “That went adequately.” As she took her seat, she fished her journal out of her pocket and resumed writing, persisting despite the bumps in the road back to River City. [[Previous|167]] | [[Next|169]]

I've told Grizz about his mother now. He seems to have taken the news well, though the long-term ramifications of this are unknown, especially in regard to the possibility of finding her through my fight against the remnants of PureTech, whether she be alive or dead. I hope for both his sake and mine that the former case is true. Many of those that joined us for the island attack will not be available for this fight. Hot Streak and Blowout plan to return to their entertainment circuit, Ghost has taken advantage of his pardon agreement to vanish back into the populace where he may yet commit more crimes, Riptide went back to the harbor, Armand hurried home to face his mother's waiting punishment, and Sonya has her family to return to as well. They have organized one last group meeting, however, to give Randolph a funeral at sea. We were invited, of course, but we shall not be attending...there's too much work to be done. Once we return to River City, Heather will reconvene with Leena in their efforts to fix J. Meanwhile, Nicole and I hope to rendezvous with Claire. Nicole insisted we not bring her, apparently due to her being a “total Grizz fangirl”. Whatever she meant, the connotation was obvious, and I thank her for her guidance; breaking the news was already quite difficult. Claire had her own agenda, however, that of clean water, free of salt and impurity, in which to “take a long bath”, as she put it. Still, skipping out on the funeral is likely to be the last straw with Sonya and company, thus voiding any chance of them offering any assistance or friendship in the future. Nicole seems undeterred by such news, however; she is convinced that she alone is more than a match for all of PureTech, and with Claire and myself with her, my calculations give us such low chances of suffering casualties, given that we were so fortunate in the Angel Island mission. Early in the morning, Sonya had shared her concerns with me, that Nicole had become some sort of animal, interested only in war, unable to discern friend from foe. Nicole seems very lucid to me, however, and despite her ruthlessness, I get a sense that she buries a taste for justice beneath her bravado. I don't think she sees it either. I ask her why she fights, and her answer is always the same: “Feels good.” But I suppose that makes me the fool, for expecting a complete sentence out of her, much less one to articulate her thoughts. I don't press her on it because it's irrelevant. The causes I enlist her in are barely relevant. She's made it clear to everyone she knows...she does what she wants, and that's all there is to it. I doubt she even ponders the reasons why she wants what she does. I doubt it even matters to her. [[Previous|168]] | [[Next|170]]

I envy her somewhat for that. During our mission, Nicole saw suffering and death, she saw dissension in the ranks, she saw the best and the worst of humanity, and all points in between, and her response was always identical. Temperatures fell, fists raised, fists fell, men fell. I've often wondered what her powers could do were she to actually control them, but I don't think she does. She's never one to wonder. And yet, everything she does seems to be exactly enough. She doesn't think further because she doesn't have to. She doesn't develop her powers further because she doesn't have to. She has no long-term plans because she's willing to repeat her short-term plan if circumstances demand it later on. And in the here and now, I catch myself wondering...would I be happier if I were so singly focused? Is ignorance truly bliss? Sometimes I wish my own life were so simple. Sometimes I wish I could wake up the next morning, just remember things from the day before right off without having to read my own account of them in a journal. Sometimes I wish I'd received my powers naturally. Sometimes I wish I'd never received powers at all. But that's okay...when I wake up tomorrow morning, I won't remember anything well enough to be upset about it anymore. But does Nicole make wishes like these at all? Do the machinations of her mind even have the capability to form thoughts in categories like wishes? Or maybe she has no reason to wish, because this life, this warring, is exactly what she wants? She's much harder to ascertain than she looks...that must be why so many people act so afraid of her. Should we keep her entertained with the dregs of society, I see no chances of her turning on those who would do good, as some like Sonya fear. Besides, there is something she would say about the situation, something that I believe is true about her that would still hold true if she were to attack River City indiscriminately. It is something that makes her my greatest ally, one who fears nothing and can serve anything, one who has discovered that violence is not the answer, but always an answer, one that makes violence work for her, and for all of River City...and I believe have the ultimate insurance for the case in which she turns that violence on me. I think I can take her. ## The End [[Previous|169]] | [[Back to Title|Title]]