Collab with @Blackstripe,@Hagroden, and @Simple Unicycle3:50 PM
December 4th
Hub CityLady Arcana
"WOOHOOO~" Karen shouted, breaking through the cloud layer high over the city.
After a long, tiresome day at school, there was nothing like a good, long flight through the stratosphere. Diving towards the Earth from such a height was like the
ultimate roller-coaster ride! While it might not be the absolute
best use of her powers, it also wasn't a dangerous or abusive one.
Extending her arms out to either side in a plane-like motion, Karen performed an aileron roll as she sped her way through the sky. "I think I'm finally getting a handle on this flying thing!"
In the three days since that Wilhelm guy's attack on the city, the fires had been extinguished. It was too bad she didn't know any spells that would help her quickly put out flames, or she would've helped with that as well. Maybe she could've made it rain, since she has the power of Zeus and all? Ah well, too late now.
"Hmm...maybe I should help with the reconstruction? Let everyone know I'm their friend?" She mused to herself.
That was definitely something she could do, after all. She could do the labor of countless workers in short order, surely, and she wouldn't even charge for it. Yeah! That would be a
perfect way to build up some good will.
Harris
Harris was in a poor mood. He and Shawn had arrived in Hub City three days ago, and had yet to provide any help to the victims. Not that it was Shawn's fault, Harris had proven not to be ready to reveal himself just yet. They had found a home just outside the city, and Harris had taken to flying over it while looking down sorrowfully. Sometimes Shawn even accompanied him.
He was on one of these moping flights today, Shawn with him. He still had yet to feel at home with the new status quo that existed between the two of them, but Shawn's presence did provide him with a little more strength, even if his own stubborn resistance had proven superior in a battle against his adventurousness.
He sighed as he continued staring downwards over the burned city, unable to force himself to help or intervene in any meaningful way. He was angry at himself honestly, but he supposed that it was too early to assume that he'd grown prepared for this, it had been a month, not exactly enough time to completely change.
A deafening silence filled the air as Harris glided over the city, trapped in introspective pointlessness. Some part of him hoped that Shawn would break the silence, but the rest of him said that he'd rather Shawn didn't.
The Wanderer
Shawn's eyes scanned the city almost lazily, unsure of why Harris continued to subject himself to these sort of things. Harris was still too afraid to try and help people, or even to fly low enough to reveal himself to the average eye. These fly-byes weren't doing anything to help either of them, and Shawn knew Harris wasn't likely to muster the courage to do so anytime soon, so Shawn spoke.
"Why do you keep doing this to yourself Harris, it's not going to help anything."
He stated, not yelling, but speaking loudly enough for Harris to hear him over the wind. Looking down again, he released a slow and quiet sigh, something Harris wasn't likely to hear over the loud winds, and began to contemplate jumping from Harris to a building as they flew, many of the roofs were close enough that he could probably land on them safely. While the chance to Stretch would be nice, he'd likely just splatter on the concrete far below them, rather than make any sort of landing on the buildings they passed.
"Hey. I'm gonna hop down and look around for a bit. I need to stretch my legs and get some air."
And with that, he jumped, crashing down into a nearby building, his newly discovered "super-strength" allowing him to do so without damage, to himself at least. To anyone nearby it would have sounded like a small explosion.
The Question
Question's Journal, December 4th, 2019: Entry #2
Been three days since whatever that was. Lady in Red fought with some guy in this big suit of armor. Seemed to be a Nazi. Meant to intervene, but she got there first. They fought, and the man was throwing cars around. Wasn't even touching them. One hit Lady in Red, and it just crumpled against her. She was unaffected.
After she beat him, and this will sound just as crazy, she flew him out of there. Last I heard, he was in Germany. Just recollecting all that makes me more convinced that my sanity is slipping. Wouldn't even believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
Enough lollygagging. Must get back to work.The Question closed his journal, pocketing it and looking around. Most of the area was in ruins after the fight, the fires only recently being extinguished. In the days since the fight, he had been helping civilians whose homes were destroyed, on top of the usual patrols. Using his stored up vacation days, most of his time had been spent on the streets, with little to no sleep in the past three days.
The cold December breeze blew by, and he shuddered as he tightened his trench coat. With a deep breath, he climbed down from his perch on a fire escape and continued to walk the streets, in search of people to aid.
Lady Arcana
Karen had touched down in her home of
The Wedge, where people were still tirelessly laboring to renovate the many homes that had been caught in the blaze. These were no professional laborers, though. No, they were helping to repair the
nicer parts of Hub City.
Construction work had barely even started at this point, with most places still being covered in ash and soot after the fires. Well, that was fine...she could help with
that too! And they needed it, she could tell.
Given how she stood out, it hadn't taken long for them to notice her. Their faces carried a mixture of fear and astonishment at her presence, many backing away when she approached. Attempting to assuage them, she slowly raised her hands in a placating manner. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt any of you. I'm here to help."
Glancing between one another, a man - apparently the leader of their community effort - slowly stepped forward. "Y-you're going to help us?"
Karen smiled, offering him a gentle nod. "If you're trying to renovate these homes, I should be able to speed things along considerably!"
Though they didn't seem to know quite what to make of her, nobody seemed intent on stopping her, either. So, the first step would be cleaning up all of this soot, dust and smoke. The community had already brought the proper tools for it, so that made things considerably easier.
Grinning to the onlookers over her shoulder, she held up a pressure washer. "Alright, who wants to see how to clean house with the Speed of Hermes?"
Vanishing into the first structure with a tyrian blur, she moved through the home in a matter of seconds, before continuing onto the next. All in all, the entire neighborhood took a good number of minutes to properly clean from their perspective...though Karen had quickly realized that it had seemed like quite a few hours had passed from hers, due to the relative nature of time.
"Whew..." She huffed, more from the mental exhaustion than from any physical wear. "Alright, all clean. What's next?"
The Wanderer
Shawn made his way down from the building-tops and began to do what he did best, Wander. Looking around, he began to see the city's damage first-hand, although given the lack of profesional workers, he could assume that this was The Hub's infamous, and poverty ridden district,
The Wedge. As his eyes wandered, he saw a group of 4 men, about his age, struggling to push, or pull, a car from the side of what appeared to be a very run-down home. With a glance at each of the men, he saw four transparent tendrils grow from his chest and connect to each of the young men respectively. They looked around, slightly confused, before seeing Shawn and smiling.
"Chris! It's been so long!" One of them shouted as Shawn approached them.
Chris, huh? I guess I can't expect them to know my name, but it's strange nonetheless. He thought to himself, before grabbing the car by it's bumper. With a few soft words, the four young men backed away, and Shawn made quick work of the ordeal. Within moments, he had pulled the car completely out of the building and onto the street.
He nodded non-attentively as he stepped away from the Car, but noticed a purplish blur just a few yards up the street from him zipping from house to house. With a look of interest, he made a cutting motion over his chest, and the ties between him and the men snapped. They scratched their heads and talked quietly in confusion, certain that they recognized the bearded man before them but unsure of themselves.
Making a slight note to their reactions, he turned and began to walk towards the blur, tensing slightly, preparing himself to throw out a 'tether' if needed.
Lady Arcana
"Okay, so clean up the standing water next?" Karen confirmed what she had just been told by the de facto leader of the community effort. She knew she'd seen him around before, but his name eluded her at the moment.
The next task would actually be a little more complicated. She would need to use submersible pumps to drain any standing pools of water. Well, that kind of sounded fun! She had never used something like that before, so she was honestly kind of excited to give it a try. "Alright, you might need to give me directions, but I should still be able to help!"
Seeming to be a bit more at ease - if still nervous - around her now after witnessing her desire to help, he quickly nodded. "R-right, will do, thanks. I worked for a Renovation Company before their latest round of layoffs, so that's why I'm leading the effort."
"Nice to have your expertise, then, Mister!" She replied, listening carefully as he instructed her in transporting the first pump to the worst flooded of the homes. The fire had caused many pipes to rupture, and one entire floor was submerged in an apartment complex. Since the pump was sadly automated, all she could really do was help speed the assembly of it, and then let it go to work. Even with her help, this would take a while, since they had only one pump to go around.
Folding her arms, she tilted her head with a frown. "I guess all we can do is wait, now."
The Question
"Damn cold... Need to get a thicker trench coat..." The Question muttered to himself, walking along the streets. From what he saw, it was pretty quiet, not many people around. As he turned a corner, he looked around, noticing there were more people here. He continued scanning the area, searching for someone who needed help, when he spotted the Lady in Red. Well, Lady in Purple now.
"Hurm." Humming to himself slightly, he approached, announcing himself with a quick "hey". A few people turned to look at him at that, their facing morphing into looks of surprise. "Nice work a few days ago. Would've been more damage if you hadn't intervened. However, didn't know you had... Powers, I suppose you could call them." He said, jumping straight to the point.
Lady Arcana
Karen turned when a familiar voice caught her ear, her face brightening when she saw the familiar gray coat of The Question. Rushing over to greet him, she lowered her hood. "Wow, hey there! Nice to see you again, Question!"
Realizing that he had just mentioned her powers, her cheeks immediately reddened. Reaching up the scratch at the back of her head, she chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I kind of tried to keep them hidden for the most part. I figured they might scared people, and y'know, I'm here to help, not frighten."
Still, now that they were public knowledge, that meant she could use them
to help, so maybe everything worked out for the best in the end. "So what brings you here? Are you helping with the clean up, too?"
The Question
A chuckle escaped the vigilante's mouth, "Can use fear when helping. After all, criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot." Question let his mind wander to the various times he had used his apparent facelessness to his advantage. Yes, criminals
were a superstitious and cowardly lot.
The former Lady in Red asked him what he was here to do, and he answered: "Helping whoever needs it. Suppose that includes the clean up." He paused, taking a sugar cube out of his pocket, rolling his mask up slightly, and plopping it into his mouth. Pulling his mask back down, he pulled another sugar cube out and tossed it to the Lady in Purple.
"Wanted one last time. Figured this time would be no different." Question looked over the area, then turned back to the Lady in Purple. "Seems you've done a lot in such little time."
Lady Arcana
Karen reached up and caught the cube in her hand, smiling in gratitude. Popping it into her mouth, she briefly savored its taste before replying to her fellow vigilante's remark on her progress. "Yeah, the Speed of Hermes makes for a surprisingly good one-woman cleaning crew, eheh."
Glancing to the pump, she sighed. "I can't really do much about draining the water though. Honestly, if they had a hand-crank pump I could definitely do it faster than this automatic thing is."
After it finally finished draining this place, she would have to lug it across the street and hook it up at the next building that needed to be drained. "I don't suppose you have any creative suggestions for how to speed this along?"
The Question
"Hunh." The Question would place his hand upon his chin as he pondered the situation and what she could do to speed it up. "Would I be correct to assume you have superhuman strength, in addition to your other 'powers'? If so, could use that to punch a hole into the wall, allowing the water to drain out. Of course, would need to be careful to not destroy the buildings."
Lady Arcana
The community leader apparently overheard he Question's suggestion, as he quickly approached the both of them. "You know, that might not be a bad idea, so long as it's fairly easy to patch up afterwards."
Karen tilted her head to the side, her eyes darting about the apartment complex. Even before the fire, this place wasn't in the best of conditions, so she would need to be cautious in her approach. A large enough hole to let it all drain out would still not to have to be much larger than her fist, and could be easily patched up later on.
"Alright, let's give it a try!"
Stepping down into the water, she sloshed her way over to the far end of the room. Staring at a spot there for a brief moment, she drew her arm back and slammed her fist through the cement until she could feel the naked air brush against her skin on the other side. She felt it was probably best to make the hole here as it was adjacent to a back alleyway, and thus the water wouldn't drain out into the street.
Stepping back, she watched as the water began to slowly drain from the room, the waist-high pool gradually descending. Now she was soaked with dirty water, though. She'd need to go spin herself dry.
The Question
'Holy shit, that... That actually worked.' Question thought to himself, watching as the water drained through the hole. On the outside, however, he just gave a small nod and a "hurm" as though he suspected that this would happen.
"Just need to do that for all the flooded buildings, and everything should be good. Perhaps could get people to help, as you don't need super-strength to create a hole in the wall." He suggested.
Lady Arcana
"Yeah!" She nodded, seemingly happy that the idea had actually worked, despite her drenched state. "And they need new flooring, paneling, doors and trim-work, according to Mr. Khutty here."
She gestured towards the de facto leader of the community renovation task force. He smiled gently in response to this, folding his arms. "Right, though, I don't see how you'll help with any of that, unless you happen to be wealthy enough to purchase all of those materials from the local mill. None of us certainly are, I can guarantee you that much."
At this, Karen's shoulders sank slightly...but her dejection didn't last long. "Wait, the local mill?"
"Yeah, you know, the lumber mill," Mr. Khutty elaborated. "After a tree is chopped down, they carve them into proper building materials."
Cupping her chin at this, Karen's eyes seemed to twinkle with a hint of insight. "I think I have a new idea!"
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