canaryrose

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-417

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-415

《 H. E. R. O. 》

“Don’t be silly. They probably just under-esteemed me or something. Wait. Did I say that right…” Jamie let her thoughts wander for a moment, contemplating her word usage, before snapping her head back up. “Right, car! Ooh, I don’t think I’ve ever been to your place before. Do you maybe have a freezer that I can put this ice cream in? I really don’t want it to melt, B and I wanted- wait, B’s in Utica. I guess I just wanted to have ice cream and movie night,” she rambled on as they walked to the car. Jamie put her keys in the door handle and had it already popped open when they were rudely interrupted.

… Woh. And she thought she had seen it all! Jamie’s eyes practically popped out of her skull as she stared unabashedly at whoever this pink… woman (?) was. Jamie had seen people of all sorts of colors before (she had once arrested a woman with orange skin- although she was pretty sure that was a spray tan and not superpowers), but she had never seen one quite like this before. She jumped out of her skin as her name was called, but waved all the same.

“Uh, yeah, that’s me! You can call me Jamie if you’re a friend, though,” she told Alien Angel, smiling cautiously. She listened to their litany of information quietly, nodding her head at what she felt were the appropriate intervals to do so. Glancing at Joseph for assurance, Jamie finally spoke, “Well, I mean, Angel- can I call you Angela? I’m just gonna do that- we don’t really need protecting, but alright! Don’t know what Infinite is, don’t really care that much as long as you’re not trying to murder us, but we’re kind of in a rush right now, so…” Jamie pointed to the half-open car door. “If you wanna come along, hop in the backseat! I’m not entirely sure where we’re going, but we’ll get there!”

Before Alien Angel- or ‘Angela’, as Jamie had affectionately termed her- could say no, Jamie hopped into the front seat and put her key in the ignition, beckoning Joseph into the car. “Was that a good idea?” she whispered to him, out of earshot of Alien Angel. “I’m not sure. Also, where are we going?”

@Rabidporcupine@DarkRecon

---

Patricia nodded resolutely at Grace, drawing herself up and taking a deep breath. The idea of facing a cop, especially right now, scared the shit out of her, but she couldn’t just hide forever. “Right, yeah. Hopefully he’s dumb and won’t have a contingency. I trust you, though. I’m alright in a fight, so maybe I can try punching him? I can get Eliza to go invisible and steal his gun or something, that might work-” Patricia’s anxious litany was interrupted by an annoyed voice from downstairs- one she vaguely recognized as Pandora’s. Her ears strained to hear through the floorboards. "Bypass? Aria? Bullet? This cop’s on our team. He's a traitor."

“Really?” That was… unexpected. Good, but unexpected. Patricia let out a breath, although that tension wasn’t entirely gone. He could still do god-knows-what. She nodded back to Grace before the other girl jumped through. On a normal day, Patricia would have used the portal, but Patricia didn’t exactly feel like jumping a story down. So, instead of going through the portal, she headed out of the bathroom and onto the stairwell, traipsing down it to meet Chad at the bottom.

In typical Patricia fashion, she sent her best death glare at Alpha. She wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with cops at the moment. “Mhm, help,” she interrupted their conversation. “Aren’t you sure you’re going a bit vigilante here? I don’t buy all that crap about Seraph being ‘wanted’ or whatever. I'm thankful that you're not tackling us immediately and loading us into your SWAT van, but it’s my life on the line, not yours- how can I be sure that you’re not lying? I mean, sure, there’s mind control…” She didn’t provide a ‘but’, instead leaving the sentence hanging. She leaned against the wall casually. She knew she was being sort of irrational, but now was not exactly the time to start a policy of universal trust.

@Hitman@Zoey Boey@Duoya@Amethyst@DarkRecon

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Patricia blinked, stunned. Grace’s offer was unexpected, and she didn’t know how to respond. She simply stared at the portal for a moment. Of course she wouldn’t leave Castleburg. It was her home. She had only suggested going to Chainstown because… well, she had been hoping it would all blow over. That everything would go back to normal soon, because, well, there were other heroes in the world- ICOSA would certainly fix it, bring Seraph to justice so that they wouldn’t have to. But Patricia was wrong. The entire world was against them, against her. There was no one to save them but her and her friends, and the possibility that they might be wrongfully imprisoned and never exonerated seemed to be… too high for comfort. But she could leave. There was an opportunity, right here, and it might be her only one- to say goodbye to Castleburg, to this nightmare, for good. She could walk free. She could become a new person, unburdened by the crimes of her father and her own power. The idea was tempting.

But Patricia couldn’t imagine living out the rest of her years without the people she loved. Without the job she loved. Without the city she loved. And her mom… Patricia’s heart broke to think of what would happen if she left. So it wasn’t even a choice.

Patricia wiped her teary eyes, as Grace had said, drew herself up, and spoke again. “You’re an idiot if you think I’m leaving now,” she told Grace, trying to sound as strong as possible. “I- I couldn’t go to Australia while you and everybody else are fighting those bastards. No way.” Patricia grasped Grace’s hand in hers, squeezing it. “I’m not about to leave all the people I love. My mom, my girlfr- I-I mean, Eliza, you, Brie… you’re all here. If I left, I’d never be able to see any of you again. I love you all too much to just- to just up and leave. I couldn’t give up hero work, either. I couldn’t stop using my power.”

“And you’re right, Grace. I did make a commitment. And maybe it wasn’t meant to last through a coup and being framed for mass murder, but I wasn’t planning on breaking it today. So close that damn portal, because I’m not leaving. I’m scared, yeah- terrified, really- but I’m no coward. You can count on me.”

Patricia’s eyes welled up with tears again, and she tackled Grace in a full-force hug. “Now let’s beat those bastards. Together.” Patricia held her there for a moment, squeezing the skinny girl hard. Then, she separated herself from her friend, and wiped her tears from her eyes. “Now, before we do anything else, we probably need to deal with that cop downstairs before he storms up here and arrests us. What should we do?” Patricia looked up at Grace, eyes still scared but with a determined glint in them.

@Hitman

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-417

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Patricia didn’t need to be told twice. As soon as Pandora uttered the words, the girl skittered to the door and up the stairs. She was the first to make into the house above and held the door open for everyone else, waiting until everybody was inside before closing it. Still trembling and blinking tears out of her eyes, she observed the room, focusing on the new environment to calm her down.

It was… kooky. That was the first word that came to Patricia’s mind. Although Pandora appeared to be around Christina’s age, her home reminded her of Patrica’s grandma’s- without the old person smell, of course. Patricia paced around the room under the guise of exploration, running her hands along the walls. Everything here seemed… old. The carpets seemed as if they were from another century, and, when Patricia paused in the kitchen, she noticed that it was empty. There was no microwave, no dishes piled up, no dishwasher running. Pandora was one odd person. Remembering the cake in her hands, she swung open the refrigerator and put it in. She blinked as soon as she noticed it, surprised- there was nothing in the fridge. No food, no drinks, no nothing.

Patricia shook off the skeeved-out feeling she had and headed back into the living room. She sat down on the rug against the couch, setting her bag down. When Grace came up to her, asking for her laptop, she nodded silently and unzipped the bag for her. The news played on in the background of her thoughts, making her despondency rise by the second. Finally, while Grace was still unlocking her laptop, she found the remote and pressed mute. She didn’t want to watch that shit anyways.

“HE-” she began to protest, loudly, before realizing that she needed to be quiet, goddamnit and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Hey!” she whispered this time. “Am not.” She shoved Grace and then peered over her shoulder, watching her browse the Internet.

Nodding along when Grace spoke, Patricia itched for her phone to browse through. She wanted to talk to her mom, or somebody else that could help. “Mmm,” she responded to Grace’s plan. “I don’t know. Maybe we should-” but before Patricia knew it, Grace was gone, heading to the “bathroom”. Patricia just sighed. Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to be upset?

When Chad spoke, Patricia glanced up to him, eyes flicking to his face. “Who are you again?” she asked, a tired expression on her face. He looked familiar, but… she couldn’t place him. Then, realizing that what she’d just said might put him off protecting them, she hurriedly added, “O-oh. Sorry. Long day, you know?” She laughed insincerely. “Y-you look familiar. ...Chase, maybe? Anyways, Chase… it’s… don’t bother. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m gonna go see if Grace is puking up her guts or just crying. You can browse around on my laptop if you want, I don’t mind. But if I catch you snooping, I will end you.”

With that, Patricia headed to the bathroom, bursting in without knocking. She wasn’t expecting Grace to be naked anyways. Just like she had been expecting, Grace was on the floor, sobbing her eyes out. Patricia sighed, and plopped onto the floor along with her. In a very much not Patricia-like move, she wrapped her friend-one of the only people she could trust- in a massive hug.

Patricia sniffled, barely holding back tears herself. “Maybe we should leave the city,” she proposed, voice cracking. “We can hide out somewhere in- in Chainstown, or something, until this whole thing blows over and everything is fine and normal again. I couldn’t- I can’t go to Coldwater, Grace. I can’t. And I know, like, Tom betrayed us and everything-” she sniffled again, “but I know you’ll always be on my side. That makes you better than him.” She spat the word out with contempt, and then buried her face into Grace’s arm, trying not to cry again.

@Hitman@Amethyst@Duoya

---

Jamie scowled at Nero, stalking forward to his broken body. She stood over him for a moment, examining. For a moment, she had thought she would need some bungee cord to tie him up, but it seemed that she had broken a little more leg than she had intended. Glancing over to the troll dude, it seemed that he was the same way as well. Shrugging, Jamie grabbed the plastic Target bag from her cart. “Don’t worry,” she reassured Nero, “I’m not going to kill you. At least, not today.” She smiled wolfishly at him. “Stay out of me and my friends’ ways and it’ll stay that way. Okay? Okay! Bye!” With that, Jamie walked off, heading out the doors and back to her car. She popped the groceries into the passenger seat as she got into the driver’s seat, turned the ignition on, and drove.

She drove aimlessly for a bit, not sure where to go. Obviously, even to Jamie, her house was out of the equation. They would be looking there, especially now that she had defeated the first reinforcements. She needed somewhere safe to go. Her first thought, as it always was, was her parents’ house- but she ruled that one out as quickly as it came. They hadn’t wanted to see her in six years- why would that start when she became a fugitive? HERO One, of course, but HERO was apparently done for. The idea was shocking, but she had faith that it would come back. Maybe… she was friends with some of the Destiny Knights. They might let her crash for a few.

Then, as she was thinking, Jamie saw something on the side of the road that surprised her. Her mouth formed a little ‘o’, and she slammed on the brakes and parked messily, scrambling out of the car.

“Joseph?! Oh, thank God! These two dudes attacked me at Target…” Jamie went over to him and started yammering on about Nero and Dungeon Troll. “Anyways, we should probably get out of here before somebody else finds us. Hop in. I got ice cream! It might melt soon, though…”

@Hitman@Rabidporcupine

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-415

Men vs. Women Race to 1000: Version 2.0

-414

《 H. E. R. O. 》

The cashier finished scanning and bagging Jamie’s items. “That’ll be… $40.27, miss. Cash, credit, or debit?”

“Uh, debit,” Jamie muttered. Her blue eyes glanced to the store doors warily as she put her card into the reader. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was taking the time to check out. It might’ve been a better idea to get out of there before someone found her, but she wanted to finish her shopping before being plunged into yet another disaster. Nobody in the store seemed to be aware of what had happened, which was good- no one was calling the cops. Since Jamie had only told her friends her location, she couldn’t imagine that the EAGLEs would know where she was- but they knew where she lived, so she had better find someplace else to go after she finished at Target. She drummed her fingers on the cashier’s table as the reader processed her purchase, senses on full alert.

Then, with a deafening blast, a thing burst through the walls. That was really the only way to describe it- tall and disgustingly green, with long, oily dreadlocks. Jamie curled her lip and readied herself for an attack. How had they already found her?! She knew for sure that there weren’t any Wings of Law on the group chat. That meant there must be a snitch. Jamie briefly wondered who it was before refocusing on this troll-looking dude. He yelled at her (which wasn’t very nice!) and then hit the ground, creating a rumbling shockwave.

Jamie, being intimately familiar with this move, didn’t even need to move away. She took the energy and turned it on its head. With a burst of her power, she redirected the shockwave right back at the villain with twice the power. The building shook, carts making clattering noises. A nearby window burst into shards of glass skittering across the floor. Troll dude was knocked off his feet and sent flying into a nearby wall, but wasn’t given a moment of rest before Jamie tried to crush him with a blast of concussive force.

"It's time for a clobbering, wouldn't you say?" a voice shouted out from behind her. Jamie turned, panting, and narrowed her eyes. "For the glory of Rome!"

Really?! They had sent two? And she half-recognized this one too. She did her best approximation of a glower in Nero’s direction, but really ended up looking like she was pouting. “I’ll clobber right back at you- ohhhh!” Jamie suddenly realized who she was, and then narrowed her eyes in a real glare. “You’re that dickhead who kidnapped us! I’ve been waiting for this…”

If they had been anywhere else, Jamie would’ve turned up her power to about an eight. But since they were in a Target, with innocents inside… she didn’t want to crush anyone. She wasn’t guilty of anything, and it probably wasn’t a good idea to become guilty of anything. So, Jamie extended her right arm and blasted Nero, only sending out a mild shockwave to get him off of his rhythm. Then, while he was unfocused, she used her left hand to blast his legs. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that to beat me!” Jamie jeered, grinning.

@Hitman

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Something was wrong. As Grace looked at her, expression pained, alarm bells clanged in Patricia’s head. Had something happened? Had someone... no, she didn’t want to think about it. One of their friends couldn’t be... She drew herself up, stopping the puppy eyes to look Grace in the face, wide-eyed and confused. "This isn't a mission, Patricia, agi," Grace said, being uncharacteristically gentle. Patricia’s heart jumped at her soft tone, and she backed up a step. “I-if it’s not a mission, then… everything’s fine, right? Right?” she pressed Grace, but Grace just stood there, looking deep in thought. Patricia braced herself for bad news as soon as Grace took a breath, determined to take it like a champ.

But the news was worse than she could imagine. For a moment, all Patricia could do was stare, barely comprehending. Shock reverberated through her bones, eyes and mouth open wide. The Wings of Law… a coup? And they had framed her. But the Wings were gone, and she hadn’t done anything. “You’re… you’re kidding me. Right? You’re- you’re kidding. It isn’t funny, Grace, please, I-” Patricia cut herself off with a nervous laugh, desperate for it all to be an elaborate lie. In her mind, she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t true, that Grace was some horrible prankster. Maybe… maybe it was Korean April Fool’s Day? She accepted Grace’s hug numbly, and shuffled after Grace into the living room. She stared at the television, willing it all not to be true when Grace turned it on, and…

“No. Nononononono… this isn’t happening, I-I didn’t-” Patricia choked out, staring at her own face plastered across CCN. It was real. This was happening- her worst nightmare came to life. Panic swirled, her throat tightening and body shuddering. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t want Grace or Eliza to see her sob like a baby, terrified. So she ran to her room, slamming the door shut.

Patricia sagged against the door, gasping for air. She didn’t have time to panic, didn’t have time before they got here to take her away, didn’t have time before she was carted off to prison for something she hadn’t done. But her body shuddered with terror, and she dug her fingers in her hair, unable to stop the tears from flowing. Why were they treating her like this? Why did Seraph have it out for her? He had worked on her father’s case, but that was no reason for this. Patricia sobbed into the collar of her dress, terrified. She didn’t want to go to prison, to be treated like her father. She had spent most of her life trying to build her own legacy, and, thanks to the Wings, all that had come crashing down on her in one fell swoop.

Patricia spent a horrible minute curled up like that. She was swathed in terror, overwhelming her mind and cowing her. But she knew she had to pull herself together, and, after that minute, stood up shakily and tried desperately to cast her attention somewhere else. Packing. Right. I need to pack. Patricia stumbled around her room, pulling out an old, tattered backpack. It was the one she usually used for sleepovers. This is just like a sleepover, she thought to herself. Tears still dripped down, and a horrible nausea was rising in her stomach, but Patricia dashed around her room in a panic, snatching clothes out of her drawers and shoving them into her backpack. She grabbed her laptop and its charger and shoved it into the bag. Luckily, she had saved a few burner phones from the mafia mission, so she dropped a couple of those into it too. Grabbing socks from her drawer, she wiggled them on and yanked her feet into a pair of tennis shoes by her door. Most importantly, she grabbed her stuffed unicorn, Veronica, and shoved her into the bag. It was a struggle to zip it, but she managed to after a bit of effort. Once done, she gasped for air and slung it across her shoulders. Seeing them in the corner, she also grabbed Eliza’s sleepover bag and her violin.

Patricia left her room, furiously trying to wipe her tears from her eyes. Before heading back into the living room, she popped into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush and some toothpaste. She didn’t stop to stare at herself in the mirror, instead charging straight back into the living room. Sniffling, she gave Eliza’s bag and violin to her and turned her gaze to the TV.

What she saw hit like a dull punch to the gut. “Tom?” she whispered, confused, as the newscaster… he couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have betrayed them. Patricia shook her head, in disbelief. But if all this could happen, then that could happen as well, couldn’t it? He was her friend. More than that, even, like something she imagined a brother would be. She was too upset to be angry, at this point- just numbly sad. In moments, her life had fallen apart.

She simply nodded at Grace’s little speech, just staring ahead. Tears trailed across her face. She stared at the portal for a moment and then glanced around her house. Would this be the last time she saw this place? If she was arrested… well, she couldn’t imagine being exonerated if Powers and Christina were dead and gone. Her eyes snagged on the cake she had finished mere minutes earlier and, for a reason unknown to her, walked into the kitchen. She grabbed it, balancing it in her hands, and walked back to the room. Why let all that effort go to waste?

Grace’s hand waved through the portal, and Patricia looked to Eliza. “It’ll…” she choked on her own words, unable to reassure her. “Come on. Let’s… let’s go.” Not waiting for Eliza, Patricia stepped through the portal, cake in hand.

She emerged in a florist’s shop, resplendent with summer flowers. Patricia took a breath, both trying to calm herself and smelling the flowers. It smelled nice. She glanced at Pandora and Chad, and then examined the room with her eyes. She vaguely recognized the two of them- especially Chad, who she had yelled at about a week ago. She cringed at the memory- hopefully it hadn’t left a sour taste in his mouth. She listened to Grace speak, and then took a breath in to say something herself.

“I’m- I’m Patricia. Aria. Whatever.” She stared Pandora in the eyes, trying her hardest not to cry even more. Against her will, another tear slipped out, but she couldn’t let go of the cake to wipe it from her eye. “I know what you probably saw on the news, and I-I promise, that wasn’t me.” Patricia sniffled. “I’m innocent. I didn’t kill all those people, Seraph made it up. I’m a good person, I swear. I don’t know why this is happening.” Patricia’s voice cracked on ‘I swear’, her mouth quivering. She moved past it quickly, though, and she awkwardly extended the cake, at a loss for what else to do. They were screwed if Pandora wouldn’t let them stay. She might even call the cops. “H-here. If you’re going to let us stay here, you might as well get something out of harboring fugitives. It’s homemade, and I don’t know how good it is, but…” Patricia smiled, hopeful, although weak.

"...Miss Pandora...this is Alpha aka K Nine...member of Hero One now officially with CPD SWAT...please let me in...we need to talk…” A voice sounded at the door, making Patricia jump into the air. The cops?! Fuck fuck fuck fuck… How had they found them already!

“Oh, shit! The cops! M-ma’am, do you have someplace I could hide? Like a closet or something… I really don’t want to go to prison,” Patricia whispered, glancing at the door. Her heart beat in her chest frantically, expression terrified.

@Hitman@Amethyst@Zoey Boey@Duoya