"I'm just saying, I'm still not sold on this idea..." I complained, kicking the water reservoir I was leaning on
"Well, me and you can't really hold our own if anything serious comes our way, so we kinda need her to run backup?" Alele pointed out. "There's been three fallen fights in the city so far tonight that ended wrong for the chosen, we don't know if they'll show up here. I think having her on patrol with us is fantastic."
"I just don't want to have our two teams mixed like this." I yawned "Also, I should have kicked you guys out way earlier last night, I forgot I was on night shift tonight..."
"I think you should have pulled an all nighter, and slept during the day." Alele said "That's what I did, and I feel fine."
"You're also drinking your third energy drink of the evening and we've only been here for half our shift." I pointed out "What if you need to pee? There's no public bathrooms around here."
She shrugged "I'll head back to that 24/7 corner shop I guess. Buy a stick of gum or something."
"I still think you should pace yourself..."
She snickered "Oh, pace myself like you paced yourself last night?"
I glared at her "What?"
"I lapped you like 3 races in a row, hell, Veridant lapped you once, and she didn't even know how to hold the controller."
"Look, I invite you into my home, let you play my video game, use a character and kart I'm not used to to be nice, and all you can do is make fun?"
She lightly punched my shoulder. "Pretty much. Never take a handicap, if you race, you race for blood."
"...Next time, I'm kicking your ass."
"Yeah, but good luck kicking Sable's ass, gods, I was kind of expecting her to be good? But it was still impressive."
"Saffron mentioned she used to be a streamer, I think. She played a lot of games..." I said, watching the streets below us. "Anyway, we should go find Crystal and do some more actual patrolling. It's been over an hour since we told her we would do a flyover."
"Fiiiiine, if we have to." Alele said, dragging out the word and waving one hand as she crushed her now empty can with the other
"I thought you liked her being on our patrol?" I asked, flaring my wings and lifting up off the roof
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I like her. She's all... bubbly and innocent. I try and flirt and she just looks disappointed in me, and makes me feel kinda creepy."
"Maybe you should take that as a sign to not flirt with everyone you meet then?" I suggested
"I know, but it works sometimes!" she said, poking me pointedly as she joined me in the skies.
"What, me? It didn't work, we're literally not dating." I said, gliding forward as I looked for Crystal's pink hat
"Just because we can't snuggle doesn't mean we weren't made for each other, Rouge." Alele said, her face in a pout
I sighed. Her flirting had been getting less and less joking the longer we knew each other, and it ramped up when we were alone now that she wasn't scared of me anymore. I didn't mind, I liked her, but I needed to get things straight between us... "Look, Cobalt, I know you're-"
She grabbed my arm and yanked me down to her, my body clashing into her as we spun in the air. My mind jolted, was I touching her? I didn't think I was, my gloves went all the way up, and my head was pulled away, but still why was she risking so much for a hug? She knew what I could-
A blue blast of light blew past us, chasing us through the air as we fell before trickling off into wisps and fading away. We were under attack, out of nowhere, who takes pot shots at heroes? I pushed away from Alele and looked around for the source of the blast, it'd come from a few streets over, and I couldn't see what had caused it from this angle. I flew up to get a better look, and felt a hand grip my leg through my tights. I glanced down, Alele's face was stricken, and she had tears in her eyes.
"I need to see where it came from, Crystal could be in danger!" I said, annoyed
"N-no, Candy, it's too dangerous!" Alele said "It took the entire top half of your body clean off!"
I dropped back down in shock, even the fallen usually didn't have powers like that. Sheer destruction was rarely something the gods wanted, and those that did want it were turned on by the others.
"Oh... this is round two?" I said, stupidly trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'd apparently just died
She nodded, and pointed away "We need to get back, to call the Queens or the Children of Battle, we can't do this, whatever did that, it tore through you like you weren't there, and you're transformed>, this could level buildings, it's easily a B rank threat."
I thought about dying, and how little I wanted to do that. I shuddered, and shook my head. I was trying to be better. Running away and ignoring the threat was about as shitty of a thing a hero could do... And anyway, it'd look terrible to my fans.
"No, come on, Alele. We've gotta go." I said firmly "You stay back, stay safe, I'll use my earpiece, and go in. If I die, rewind, and tell me how to avoid it, got it?"
She blanched "Oh, gods, I don't want to have to watch you die like that..."
I grit my teeth at her "I'll be fine if you tell me what to do, look, do you want to be on the morning news? Or do you want Lady Cleaver or someone to be on the news, in our territory, showing off her latest kill instead of us?"
"Being on the news isn't worth-" Alele started
I ignored her, taking off around the buildings at an angle, hoping to catch the mystery blaster from the side. Alele shrieked and took off after me, following a ways behind. I heard her mic pop in my earpiece as she switched it on, and I tried not to think about the other versions of me that were most likely about to die. The blast sounded again, and a blue glow flashed from behind a couple of the buildings to my right, but I didn't see the beam. Was the person shooting at random? Or...
I rounded the corner, and Alele's voice shouted "Up, up! Fly up!"
I instantly changed course as the beam shot under me, slamming into a building behind me and melting a hole in it. I looked down to see a man in a blue outfit, with a large gun, hooked up to a massive, glowing battery pack on his back. I didn't recognize him, so he was either new, a lower rank nobody, or he was un-chosen using a super scientist's tech. Across the street from him was a pink dome, cracks branching out from the center, burn marks splashed all over the ground around it. Inside it was Warrior Mage Blinding Crystal, her hands on the ground, coughing up pink, oozing slime that flew to the walls of the dome to patch the cracks.
Well, she couldn't survive another hit. I didn't want another one of her team to start patrolling with us instead, so I had to act fast. I shot straight down towards the man in blue, picking up speed, and I aimed for his face.
"Left!" Alele yelled, and I ducked as a beam blew past me, taking a little of my skirt with it. It would heal itself after a few minutes, but that was much too close. He lined up another shot, and I flipped over, my glossy, hard black mary janes feeling like a better option than my hands at this point. I didn't want to stain my gloves, after all.
"Duck down!" Alele commanded. As I did, she continued "...and don't let him fall on the battery pack!"
Fuck. I re-adjusted my angle as the beam flew over me, and I felt my shoe slam into the side of his face, and I drove him downwards, slamming him over sideways onto the asphalt. His head smacked the ground with a popping noise, and I stepped off him as we landed.
He wasn't moving, so I quickly grabbed the backpack battery, and yanked, pulling it off him, and dragging the gun away with it. A shattering noise sounded out from across the road, and I looked up to see Crystal stepping over the remains of her shattered protective shield to come over, bits of pink shards still on her hat and in her hair.
"Who is this guy?" She asked, walking up "I saw a blast from a street over, and ran up to see him aiming this gun at the sky. Was he shooting at you two?"
I felt for a pulse, but didn't feel anything. Which, admittedly, didn't mean anything; I was wearing gloves, and had no idea how to check a pulse.
"I know as much as you." I said "I was looking for you, and apparently this guy killed me, Alele saved me."
Crystal's eyes widened "Ohmigosh you died?"
"Four and a half times so far." Alele said, landing behind me and carefully patting my arm. "My job is making sure she doesn't stay dead..."
"Half? What was the half time?" I said
Alele pointed to the backpack "The last shot he got off. The first time it killed you, the second time you dodged it, but the backpack exploded when you slammed him into the ground and burned you up really bad. The third time is what this version of you experienced."
"Wait..." Crystal said "Is it like pre-cognition?"
Alele frowned "No, it actually happens, I just send my mind back in time. So I just watched her die for real, like, maybe 5 times."
I really, really didn't want to think about that. Drizti had been killed once before already, and she seemed fine about it, so I was sure the sick, tight feeling in my stomach over it was just an overreaction. I rolled the guy over and poked him with a foot. "Did I kill this guy? He's not moving."
Crystal looked sick "Kill him? Oh, gods, oh gods... This is my first week on the job, please, please, tell me I didn't just watch someone die..."
I shrugged "It's part of the job."
I'd watched 3 people die so far, and one of them was currently living in my fridge. She was going to see someone die sooner or later. That said, I really hoped he was still alive, I didn't need that extra guilt.
Alele bent down and felt the man's neck "I think he's alive? He slammed his head into the ground though, so..."
She perked up and stood, dashing over to the backpack and dragging it to one side.
"Incoming." she announced causally, pointing upwards
An explosion rocked the air and a bloom of yellow orange and red shot across the sky, a humanoid shape slamming into the ground where the backpack had been a moment before, a flash sparking around her as she hit the pavement. I got glimpses of the woman who'd just cracked the ground around us through the smoke and haze of her impact. Her chunky, round, polycarbonate purple boots, the tiny blue shorts, the round forearm guards that matched the boots, I was looking up at one of the Downtown Queen's founding members, Miss Missile. I'd never seen her up close before, and I was shocked at how tall she was, easily seven feet tall, although her boots could have platforms in them, it was hard to tell.
She looked around at us, pulling her dirty blonde hair out of her face, and then looked down at the prone man at her feet. "I take it you're the heroes of this section?" She asked sternly
I stepped closer to her, waving away the smoke between us with my wings "I'm Angel Rouge of Lorgiaia's Angels, this is my teammate Angel Cobalt, and this..." I waved towards Crystal, trying not to wince at her stupid name "...is Warrior Mage Blinding Crystal, of the Un-Chosen."
She looked us over, then around the area, noticing the scorch marks and blasted buildings. She slowly reached into a pouch on her back and produced a set of handcuffs, rolling the man over and snapping them on him.
"Thanks for the takedown." she said "This man was a witness to a fight with a super scientist earlier in the square. He stole that" she pointed at the gun with her chin "from the super scientist's mobile lab. I guess he though he could come out here and set up shop as a villain with no resistance."
"He just started taking shots at us as soon as he saw us." I said "He killed me 4 times before I stopped him."
Miss Missile jerked her head over to me, her gaze hard and unreadable "I... wasn't aware there was a new immortal around, how long have you been?..."
"Ah, no, that was me." Alele said quickly. Too quickly, like she'd rewound time to say it. I needed to ask her about that... "I rewound time to keep her alive, I have limited time manipulation."
Miss Missile's expression relaxed "Oh, ok. Thank the gods, I thought I was about to have to bring you guys in too."
Bring us in? I didn't know of any heroes that were actually immortal, but it sounded like a big deal if she was willing to arrest other heroes just for having that power. I'd have to ask Lucy about it later.
"Thank you both for helping with this guy." she said, picking him up in one arm and the weapon in the other like they were made of packing peanuts. "Sorry to drop in and run, but we've got a full night tonight, multiple A ranks out and about. I'll send some news crews your way though, I'm sure they'll be waiting for me back at the tower."
"Ah, it was all three of us, actually." Alele said "Warrior Mage Blinding Crystal drew fire with her magic, she helped too."
I was annoyed at that, all Crystal had done was stay alive, and barely succeeded at that, but I pushed it down. I was trying to be nicer, and her team needed all the good PR it could get. Having Crystal's bubbly, cutesy vibes on the morning news would be sure to get them at least a few fans.
Miss Missile gave a half salute with the hand holding the backpack, and glowed slightly "I'll tell them to keep an eye out for you three then, thanks again, girls."
At that, she exploded upwards with a blast of energy, streaking away into the sky at speeds almost too fast to follow with the naked eye. I watched her go for a while, and felt something odd. Not a feeling of admiration towards her, or a sense of pride at having won our first super-fight, but the feeling something was off, something was wrong with the interaction, I just didn't have all the pieces yet. There was also something bugging me about how things went down, not only did the guy go down extremely easily, minus the deaths, but the city around us didn't respond to the fight at all.
"Wow... She's such a hero... I'm honored just to have been here next to her." Crystal said, watching the glow fade into the night sky.
"That was... a really weird fight, right?" I asked, looking around and ignoring her fan-girling "There's damage to all these buildings, and it was super loud, so why don't we hear anyone making any noise? We should hear sirens, screams, dogs barking, something."
Alele floated up and peered in the hole the man had melted into the building "Well, this part of the city is mostly abandoned, right? So..."
Crystal looked back and forth between us "Are you two not even a little excited you got to meet THE Miss Missile? She spoke to us, even! She thanked me! Me!"
"Crystal, we're heroes now too, you just have to get used to meeting other heroes." I said, mildly frustrated that she was ignoring my concerns. I floated up next to Alele and glided into the hole.
"Hey! That's trespassing!" yelped Crystal "Get out of there, it's against the law to enter a building without an invitation or approval from the GGDS!"
"Well, or like, reasonable suspicion." Alele said. "I'm gonna say I'm suspicious, sooo..."
She floated in after me.
I found my flashlight in my pocket and switched it on, shining it around the interior.
"Oh, shit." Alele said "It's like, a movie prop or something?"
The entire inside of the building, a 5 story office building with windows on all sides, was fully hollow. No floors, no furniture, just one empty square box with support beams going back and forth to hold the walls and ceiling up. I shone my light along the walls, looking for evidence that the floors had simply collapsed or been removed, but the walls were smooth, save for the tinted windows. I noticed something else, and shone my light downwards, to the bottom floor. The windows started on the second, so the whole wall all around was made of textureless grey concrete, with no breaks, not even one for a door. There was no way in or out of this building, unless you blew open one of the walls like we had. Why would anyone build a full fake building like this? It's not to hide drugs in, or there would be a way to get the drugs out, it wasn't under construction, and it wasn't a half-job either, it was high quality construction.
"Oh, hey... Rouge, come look at this." Alele called from down on the floor.
I looked down, she was crouching in the center of the floor, her hand on the smooth surface. I dropped down and walked over to her
"What is it?" I asked
She pointed "There's a joint here, like, I think the floor opens up? I think this building is entered from underneath..."
The joint in question ran the length of the floor, wall to wall, and cut back and forth like blocky, jagged teeth. I flew to the side of the room and saw that the edges of the floor were rounded as they met the wall, implying the floor did, in fact, open up. I sighed in frustration. There was no way I was figuring this out on my own right now. I glided back over to Alele and pointed back the way we'd came.
"Let's get back outside, we can figure this out later. The news crews will be here any minute to interview us." I said, heading for the hole
"Yeah, it's just... so weird." she murmured, looking down as we exited the building.
"Hey! Why did you do that?" Crystal called up to us as we drifted over her "I told you it was illegal!"
I ignored her, and looked at the other buildings around us. A few had lights on, I saw a shadow in the window of one, but most were cold and dark. I went up to get a better view, and circled the area quickly, coming back around to where Alele was waiting for me over Crystal.
"So... What do you see?" She asked "Any other fake buildings?"
"...Yeah." I said "At least a third of the buildings in this immediate area don't have doors to get in."
Her eyes widened "A third?!" she looked around, checking for herself "So... This isn't a weird building in the abandoned part of town, this is like, something big?"
I shrugged "It could be something big, a secret drug running tunnel or something, but... whatever is down there can get up, but it can't get out of the buildings, just into them. So... it shouldn't be a threat, right?"
She groaned "Are we gonna have to do something about this?... I feel like it's something we need to be looking into or something, it is in our section..."
"Gods, I hope not. I'll ask Oori about it in the morning, I guess." I grumbled
It couldn't be that bad, they needed building permits and stuff, right? There had to be city oversight to these things, somewhere. Oori might even just know what they were, off the top of his head. I needed to think about what to say when the news showed up anyway,
"Damnit..." Alele whispered
"Hm?" I looked over.
"I gotta pee, and the news trucks could show up at any time. We're at least 5 blocks from the shop, and I gotta buy a thing, and go in, and... I'm gonna miss the interview..."
I sighed "Godsdamnit, just go. I'll stall, I'll tell them you're scouting the area for other threats or something."
"Thanks..." She said, slightly embarrassed, and flew off.
I'd warned her... Or I'd tried, at least. I should have said something before her third drink, though. Thinking about it now, I was a little thirsty myself... I hated night shift, because it meant the tea shop and the nice deli near our base were both closed. The only option was a soda or bottle of water from the convenience store, or going all the way to the diner me and Forica had eaten at for coffee. I glanced around at the businesses around me, the ones I could see that weren't boarded up or fake buildings and I shook my head, there really wasn't much around here. Tattoo parlors, auto shops, a CPA's office that looked like the place you'd need to ask proof of license at before trusting the CPA in question... Nothing worth coming all the way here for.
There were a couple places to buy food at, but nothing open at 3-4 AM, and nothing worth writing home about. There was a pizza shop nearby that was 'just ok', not as good as the one on the main road that we usually ordered from, but this one did deep dish, which was my favorite, so I could see myself getting it again. There was a dwarven pub a street over that had ok roast meats, but Oori had said they used 'sub-par minerals' to cook it, and swore that we shouldn't eat there again until he could get us 'some real dwarven roast brush pig', so we'd agreed not to eat there.
In all honesty, the nicest place in our section by far was our base, with our cafe and snacks and open lobby policy. If I was around in Valley City as a tourist, it'd be the only thing I'd come to this section for. It wouldn't be the 'luxury day spa', down the road from us that's for sure. I hadn't been myself, but Alele had tried it the first week we'd been here, and had ended up buying a ton of home-spa stuff the same say, and setting up camp in the single bathtub we shared in the showers rather than go back. I'd have to see if I could borrow some of her stuff later, I'd never tried spa things, but it seemed like a very 'celebrity' thing to do. I didn't know if I needed it, I'd found any traces of acne and dry skin vanished when I transformed, but the way Alele practically drifted out of her little mini-spa when she used it made me want to try it once at least.
Speaking of, she was taking her sweet time... I looked around to see if she was coming back, then begrudgingly dropped to the ground, letting myself fall and dropping right in front of Crystal.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" She said as she folded her arms at me "I was trying to talk to you, we're supposed to be following the laws, if we don't, we're no better than the bad guys!"
"We were checking for injured people, it's fine." I said. If there had been people in that building, not going in to check on them would be a bad thing, why was she acting like this?
"You knew there weren't any! You just wanted to poke around!" She accused
"...Something weird is going on, it's our job to figure it out. Your job too." I didn't really want to drag her into this, I'd wanted it to get blown over, but I really didn't like being fussed at.
"What do you mean 'weird'?" she said, glaring up at the building in question
"It's a fake building, it's hollow, no floors, no way in, and the foundation has joints in it to open up."
She looked at it and back to me, then back at the building
"Oh... That is weird..." she shook her head "But it could just be an abandoned project, like, they were going to put a hero team there and it fell through or something? It's probably nothing, just a weird building."
I pointed to a couple buildings we could see from the intersection we were on "See those? They're the same, and there's a lot more around us too, it's more than just one weird building."
She looked nervous, like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what. Finally she asked "So... our section is full of hollow buildings, what do we do about it?"
"Hollow buildings with massive tunnels leading down" I corrected her "I'll talk to our strategic lead about it later, I really don't know. It might just be a city planning thing, who knows. He'll get our guys working on it either way."
She looked at the ground and kicked at it with her loafers
"...I feel so out of place here..." She said, almost too quiet to hear
I wasn't expecting that.
"What do you mean?" I asked her
"I'm... just me, I'm the one leading the team, I get my patrols, I go out, I go back, we work on the base. You have... A small tower, a little cafe, a head of PR, an agent in charge of strategy, a whole church backing you, 'guys', money. I look at us, and we have... barely enough to live on once we put our pay towards fixing up that janky garage."
"Well... That's how it is, when you're an independent." I said. "Chosen deal with that stuff too, ones with smaller gods, I mean."
"They still have a support group. a couple dozen people who worship the same god, who think they hung the moon. I don't- none of us even have family. We mostly all met in an online chatroom for people who just needed someone to talk to, to listen."
"That's... pretty sad." I said. I wasn't trying to be mean, but it was a pretty pathetic thing to admit.
"We're ok now..." Crystal said, misunderstanding my words "We have each other, but... I see the other heroes, I see you guys, and I just feel like I don't belong here. It's a feeling of 'everyone else is here for a reason, and you're just tagging along, pretending you're like them'."
I felt a pang, that hit something in me, the feeling of not belonging. I didn't want to admit it to her, but she was getting close to the way I felt around my team.
"Well... What about Sera?" I said, deflecting the conversation "She's got no one, and her religion is... weird, I think she's the only one in it, from what she told me."
"She's on a quest, though, this hero stuff is just a way to get money and a base so she can 'hunt for the heretics' or something." Crystal pointed out "She's been constantly going all over the city looking for something and getting into trouble all week when she's not on patrol."
She had a point, Seraphim seemed to barely care about the attention she was getting, focusing entirely on looking for someone else, someone she called 'the heretic'
"That's fair." I said "I don't know, it's like, sometimes you want something, right? Or- I guess you need it, you know it's you, but the universe tells you no. You weren't told you were a 'chosen' by some god, you weren't declared and brought up to be one, you looked inside, and said 'I'm a hero', and made it happen yourself, you knew who you were, and you made the changes you needed to to make the you on the outside match the you on the inside."
She looked at me funnily "...yeah, I guess I did?"
"So..." I continued "That means that even if your team doesn't look like a regular one, and you don't have all the stuff a regular team does, the fact that you're still heroes after the universe tried to tell you no means you've earned your spot here, right? I'm like, a hero nepo baby, I was given this stuff. You're self-made, the real deal."
I felt good, telling her that, I was helping, right? I was proud of that little speech, I was just disappointed she was the only one around to hear it.
"...Wow, I guess... That's one way to look at it?" She said, looking at me with a softer look "I hadn't thought of it like that, thank you."
"No problem." I said, giving her a small smile. Maybe she'd be closer to me now, and she'd want to patrol with me. That way I'd have a smaller chance of getting paired up with... that one...
"You said 'it's part of the job' before." She said quietly
"What?" I asked
"The seeing dead bodies, you said it was just part of the job, when I was worried for that man."
"...oh, yeah, I did." I let my words hang.
"...You've seen a dead body?" She asked
"I'm not allowed to discuss it." I said, turning away
"So... you have." She confirmed "...I keep thinking about that, since you said it. How long will it be before I see a dead body? Or... cause one? My spells aren't all safe after all..."
I stayed quiet.
"I'm sorry, I know I should have thought about this before I signed up, and I'm sure I'll be fine, but... I'm sorry." She rubbed at her face with her hands "Listen, can I give you a hug? You seem like you need one, and I'm still all worked up."
I shook my head quickly "Absolutely not."
She looked hurt, and stepped back "O-oh, no, I was- I'm sorry..."
I looked at her for a long second then pursed my lips. I'd need to tell her eventually if we were going to be working like this...
"I have a condition. If you touch me, it could kill you." I said "It's a secret, and no one can know outside of the heroes I work with, but you really, really can't touch me, ever."
Her eyes went wide "Oh, oh gods, the dead body you saw-"
"Can we not?" I interrupted her "I don't want to talk about it."
"Talk about what?" Alele said, softly touching down next to me.
I glanced over, she had another energy drink in her hand. Of course she did...
"I was explaining to Crystal that I can't be touched or bad things happen, and I don't want to go into details."
Alele winced "Ooh, yeah... Real bad things." She looked at Crystal "Don't touch her or I'll kick your ass, she's mine."
"No-ugh, it's serious." I growled, frustrated
"Are you two dating?" Crystal said, looking between us
"No!" I barked, at the same time Alele chirped "Yes!"
Crystal frowned and glanced back and forth between us
"It's complicated." Alele said
"It's not, she flirts with everyone, and I'm part of everyone." I said flatly.
"Yeahhh, but it's personal with you." Alele said "After all, there's a 40% chance of teammates-"
"Oh gods, Alele, we know the statistics, we get it." I said, cutting her off
"What?" Crystal wrinkled her nose "What statistics?"
Alele's face lit up "Well! According to team dynamic studies-"
"Oh, look, the news is here." I said dryly.
A single news van pulled up, and stopped in front of us, a lady and a cameraman getting out onto the pavement as the doors slid open.
"Ok, you three are the junior heroes who helped stop the thief?" the lady asked, holding up her mic
"We're... the three regular heroes who stopped him by ourselves, if that's what you mean?" I said, offended. Junior? Did I really look like a child to her? I supposed the mary janes and puffy dress didn't help, but still, I was obviously an adult.
"Mm, we'll just roll and you can tell your story, however you like, ok?" She said, waving at the cameraman to get the camera the camera running
"Shouldn't we be waiting on the other new crews?" Crystal said "I'd like to get back on patrol, and I don't want to give the story over an over..."
I nodded, it wouldn't make sense to do it six times for each of the major news companies if we could just do one group interview...
"Oh, hun, this is it..." lady said, gently "We've got multiple other cases going on tonight, bigger than this. We'll put you on air, of course, but we're only here because no one else is, we thought it'd be good to get some footage the other news groups don't have of the aftermath of the fight the Queens had earlier."
"But- this is our first thingy, right?" Alele said "Don't we get like, special attention or something because of that?"
The lady shook her head "Sorry, hun, but there's hundreds of other heroes in this city, we can't give special treatment to anyone but the bigger teams. Can we get you three together a bit more so you all fit in frame?"
We all stepped in closer, my arm bumping Crystal's, causing her her yelp in fear. I took a step back, standing between and behind the other two.
"Ok, and three... two... oneeee, and..." the lady counted off, looking at the camera "Hello, my name is Raquel Pikelle, and I'm here with the three girls who helped apprehend a dangerous criminal this morning!" the camera panned to us, and Raquel held out the microphone to us "Would you three mind giving your names for the camera?"
"My name is Angel Cobalt, of Lorgiaia's Angels, and this is my teammate!" Alele said jutting her thumb at me
"Hello, I'm Angel Rouge!" I said, with fake cheer in my voice
"...And I-I'm Kir- Cry- uh, I'm- I- I'm-" Crystal's voice shook and she tried again, louder "I'm Warrior Mage B-Blinding Crystal, of the Un-Ch-Chosen!"
"And what was your part in the takedown?" Raquel asked us
"Well, Me and C- Rouge were flying around looking for Crystal," Alele started "and a big beam just blew Rouge's whole top half off, so I used my power-"
"And what is your power?" Raquel prompted
"Oh, um-" Alele was thrown off "Time manipulation, so I used that, and rewound time to before Angel Rouge was killed, then we took off after the source."
"I d-drew fire!" yelled Crystal "I chased him down and got him to shoot at me too!"
"Yeah, and while she was drawing fire, I drop kicked him, and knocked him out, and we held him until Miss Missile came to pick him up." I finished for everyone.
"Wow, it sounds like a well executed takedown! Thank you so much for your hard work!"
She turned back to the camera, panning us out of frame
"This has been Raquel Pikelle, here in section 247 of Valley City!"
The camera turned to the ground and shut off, and Raquel turned to us
"Thank you very much, you can see this on the morning news, around 7, and most likely again at 9!"
"That's all?" I asked "That was... nothing..."
"Well, you're supplementary footage, so it's just a quick blurb. You did great though!" she turned to Crystal "I would recommend getting some public speaking lessons to get used to talking on camera, but you all did great!"
She climbed into the van "Ok, have a good rest of the morning!"
As the van drove off, Crystal stepped back and looked at me, her face pale and her hands shaking
"Am- am I going to die?" she whimpered
I blinked, then snickered, remembering the arm bump "Oh, no, it's only skin to skin contact, it's fine, you're fine. It'd already have happened, anyway."
She sagged in relief "Ohhh gods, I could barely focus on the interview, I bet I sounded like an ass..."
Alele patted her, causing her to jump "We all sounded like asses. Let's forget about it. Me and Rouge will do one more fly over, and meet up with you at the diner on Sky Street, ok? Victory breakfast and all that."
"But our patrol doesn't end until 7, it'll be like, 5:30 by then, the section will be left un-defended!" she protested
I groaned inside, seriously? She expected us to be actively hunting for crime the whole time? This is why we ditched her earlier...
"The bad guys don't know it's un-defended, though." I pointed out.
"...Oh, hm." she said, thinking "...Alright, but we gotta be fast while we eat, ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be fast, now let's hurry, ok? My power makes me super hungry." Alele said, shooing her to start her walk through
"Ok..." she murmured "I'll see you there, then."
As she walked off, I looked over at Alele "So... race you there and pretend we just finished the flyover when she shows up?"
She laughed "Yeah, ok. We gotta get there quick either way."
"Why is that?"
She crunched up the can of her fourth energy drink "Nnnno reason, but let's make it quick."
As we tore off into the sky, I couldn't help but admire her form. While I beat the air to rocket forward, she had a lot less wing control, so she focused on gliding and cutting through the air instead. She really was pretty, if she'd stop aggressively flirting with me, she might have a chance. Maybe. I pushed the thoughts out of my head and blew past her, spinning her over behind me as I rocketed off at top speeds.
It was a race, after all.