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"Yeah, we're full of charm, it's why you sought us out." I glare, daring the man to say something else.
"...To enlighten you three, she does it to lower her opponents guard and sometimes even toy with them." Coil wisely continues on. "By letting an attack hit and pretend it causes her more pain than it actually does. She does derive some form of masochistic pleasure from it, but not in that way. Though electricity seems to cause her genuine pain. Other than that, she absorbs most forms of kinetic energy used against her and uses it to power her abilities."
'So Shiv is borderline useless against her.' I mentally contemplate. 'He'll need to take a supporting role in any fights. But you ain't gotta beat someone down to beat them.'
"Has heightened senses and can mold her biology to give herself extra senses." Coil explains. "Not to mention she can manipulate light."
'So I'm fucked.' I keep trying to form a plan of attack for dealing with the runt.
"And is strong enough to casually rip a man's arm off, and beat him to death with it." He finishes up. "As well as fast enough to keep up with Velocity. And no, I'm not done, but I feel I've made my point."
'Above our paygrade, got it.' I realize I've bitten off more than my team can chew.
"So we're in over our heads, good to know." I say and stand up. "If that's the case, we'll cut our losses and head back to Dakota City. We've got a bigger score to settle there anyway. One that's accrued more interest, you understand."
"Are you sure that's wise?" The masked man asks. "Kitsu is known to hold grudges, and is known to skirt around the law and even outright break it to settle her debts."
So the brat's petty. Still, I'm no fool, I can smell ulterior motives and this man reeks like he hasn't washed that tacky suit in years.
"She's got roots here in the bay, what's to say she'll follow us?" Talon asks.
"Perhaps I should enlighten you a bit more." He says and snaps his fingers. Prompting a man in a tux to come out the door he came through, and hand him a laptop.
"Ooh~ fancy." Shiv comments. "How do I get me one?"
"Money." Coil answers and pulls up a feed on the laptop.
It's the brat's PHO account. And the post pulled up features her posing with the hero, Static.
Totally gonna get that autograph today! The caption reads.
"You see, Kitsu is a rather large fan of your old nemesis." Coil tells us.
"Then why's she got beef with the blue boy?" Talon asks. "If she goes goo goo for the kid, why's he out for her blood?"
"Girl's got a point." I follow up, gesturing to the orange feathered case behind me. "From what we saw, the only thing Static wanted was to put her in cuffs."
"This was taken before Kitsu murdered Permafrost." Coil answers.
That makes my heart go cold. No pun intended.
I know of the girl, had a run in a bit back. I'm no saint, but I ain't a heartless bastard and that girl never deserved the shit she went through. Hell, I'd ave taken her in if I thought the crew could help her.
But she needed professional help. It's one of the few things me and the hero agreed on. Peacefully, that is.
But the fact that this brat killed her? I know there's some extenuating shit Coil ain't tell'n me. But that's a cold comfort in the face of how this twerp barely out of diapers is a killer.
If we head home and get back to our usual shit, who's to say she won't follow just to make it up to her crush by stomping us out? Worst case, I know, but I ain't one to risk my people like that.
"... Shit." Shiv mutters for us all.
"Aight, you proved your point." I sit back down. "But that still leaves us with one issue."
"And that would be?" He tilts his head.
"You ain't got no powers." I point out. "How am I s'posed to trust you with my back when I'm doin all the heavy lift'n?"
"A calculated deception told to the wider public at large." The man says cryptically. "Let me ask you this, why would I let a man such as yourself, along with your crew, to see me alone. If I wasn't confident I could protect myself?"
"Maybe yer bat shit?" Shiv shrugs and chuckles.
"... I won't disagree. In this line of work you need to have some level of... instability to get ahead." He says in a measured tone. "But allow me to correct your assumptions of my person." He says and writes down something on a piece of paper, places it face down, then slides it across. "Bear with me here, when I say, flip the paper over." He then pulls out a coin. "Heads, or tails?"
"..." I look back to Talon and Shiv. Talon rolls her eyes and Shiv just shrugs. Looking back to the masked man, I decide to go along with it. "Heads."
Ting
The coin lands back in his hand, and he reveals it to be tails.
"Again." He says.
"Heads." I say.
Second verse, same as the first. The coin flies up and lands on tails.
"Again." He says.
"Tails." I tell him.
Ting
Shink!
"Hahahaha!" Shiv chuckles, having stepped forward and slashed the coin in half midair with his plasma blade. "Sorry boss, I got bored."
"What's a coin trick supposed to prove, eh?" Talon walks up and stands beside the couch I'm seated at. "You wanna waste our time, the least you could do is pay us."
Unfazed, he gestures to the paper in front of me. "Now please flip it over and read."
"Get ready." I say under my breath as I grab the slip and hold it up.
First flip, Ebon chooses heads.
Second flip, Ebon chooses heads.
Third flip, Ebon chooses tails, Shiv gets impatient and cuts the coin mid flip. Talon grows assertive. Talon asks-
"Eh yo, what's it say?" Talon asks.
Ebon reads further before realizing it's now telling the present tense and he'll say-
"You tell the future." I say, tossing the paper down towards Talon. "... Damn. Well that explains a bit at least. Like how you found us."
Talon reaches for the paper, but struggles to pick it up from the table with her mutated hands. I go to pick it up for her, but Shiv beats me to it and reaches across the coffee table to pick it up for her.
"Not quite." He says. "While I forgive you for confusing my abilities as such, the truth is much more aggrandizing."
"Then enlighten me." I lean back in the couch. "What's your power, if not future sight?"
"First, if you'll look at the fallen halves of the coin." He gestures to the table. "You may get a better idea. For you see, I don't predict the future."
I do so. Looking at the table, and notice how both sides of the coin are facing heads up.
"I direct it." He finishes.
My mind races with the implications and possibilities of such a power. Working for someone who can literally make sure a situation goes right? I'd be a fool not to take advantage of that.
"Alright, you got me." I chuff. "So, how's this partnership gonna work?"
"Wait! First!" Shiv interrupts and looks to Coil with a serious expression. "What're the results of the next Super Bowl?"
.
.
-Wednesday, October 27th, 8am, Dallon House-
.
.
Kitsu POV
.
"You need to go to school." Mom says as she throws open the blinds to my room. "I'm not paying for your school fees just so you can laze around and play hooky."
Jokes on her, I already covered my window in blackout film. So all it does is brighten the room a little bit.
"I don't remember saying you could put film over your windows." She says with an accusatory glare towards me.
"You pay for my school fees?" I mumble, avoiding that subject as I turn over in my bed and throw the blanket back over my head. "Thought public schools were free."
"Arcadia is a vocational school." Mom says and taps her foot impatiently. "Now get up. You've sulked in this room long enough."
"Those are paid for by the state as well." I mutter.
I know my stuff.
"That's not the point." She says and throws the blanket off of me once more. "The point is that you're not going to sit in here and stew all day every day like you've been doing."
"Dad gets to do it when he forgets his meds." I grumble as I grab my pillow and press it over the back of my head, muffling the noise and burying my face in my bedsheet.
"Are you asking to be grounded?" Mom says with a sarcastic laugh. "Because you can be. Go on, keep it up."
"Would it let me stay in bed?" I call her bluff.
"No, it'd involve helping Mark with his chores and then making you help out at the homeless shelters and food kitchens." She counters. "But more than that, it'd involve you getting up and going to school. So you might as well do that before I make you do the rest as well."
"... That seems like more effort than it's worth." I say.
"It's effort I'm willing to put in if it gets you up and out of this room." She says and nabs my pillow, pulling it away from me and tossing it at my closet door.
"..." I don't say anything in response, not having a comeback and not bothering to think of one. I just reach a hand out, and use my illusions to lift my blanket back up and over me. Dispelling it and letting the soft fabric fall, covering my world in sweet darkness.
"... Fucking hell." Mom sighs in exasperation before grabbing my blanket and leaving the room with it.
"Hey!" I call out, getting to my hands and knees and reaching out. "That's my only blanket!"
"I'm mailing it to your school!" She shouts back as she stomps down the stairs.
...
'Damnit.' I let out a sigh and slump back down on my stomach, not having the energy to get up. Instead, I just eavesdrop on my parents as they talk about me in the living room.
"I'm guessing she's still not up?" Dad says.
"What tipped you off?" Mom jeers as I hear her toss my blanket at the couch. "I don't know what to do. I let her sit on her feelings for a few days and now she just won't move. I haven't even seen her eat in the last three days."
Aww! She does care, in her own, tiger mom kind of way. The big softie.
Why can't she ever show that kind of concern when in front of me? She's always the tough parent.
"She just had her first breakup." Dad reminds her. "She's depressed, she's going to be in a slump for a while."
...
"She can be in a slump, at school." Mom says with a bitter tone. "Being sad isn't a reason to be unproductive. And letting her do nothing but think on it and wallow in her feelings is doing her no favors."
Wow, she just said that to her chronically depressed husband?
"... Yes, Mark, I'm fully aware of who I'm talking to." She says after a brief pause.
'Ouch. That was colder than Maureen's corpse.' I snicker to myself, but my amusement is short lived. 'And I just made myself sadder.'
Dad sighs and says. "... I'll go talk to her."
"You do that, I'll find a ride to work on my own." Mom passive aggressively mocks.
"I can talk to the kid, or drive you to work." Dad offers her the ultimatum. "Which is it?"
"I'll just call Sarah." Mom sighs and walks towards the front door in a huff.
Am I causing marital issues? Damn... now I kinda feel bad. I mean, not that bad since things have been tense all around ever since Noelle happened. Plus, Mom and Dad usually fight like that often enough as is when there aren't greater issues. I just normally do something to break up the fighting. Usually something that gets them to argue over what I did.
...
"... I miss Kratos." I sigh.
.
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Mark "Flashbang" Dallon POV
.
I let out a sigh as I lean on Kitsu's doorframe. Spotting the golden blonde haired girl face down on her bed in nothing but an oversized white T-Shirt that reaches her knees.
I would have knocked on her door, if not for the fact that it was left open. And I know she can tell I'm here.
"Hey." I call out and give the doorframe a quick knock with my knuckle.
"...rm." Is her muted response.
"She lives." I say with an airy tone as I push off the frame.
Walking across the floor, stepping over discarded clothes and stuffed animals. Sighing, I ignore the click in my knees as I sit down on the edge of her bed. My back right to her.
"... old." She mutters into her sheet.
"Yeah, I know." I groan and turn my neck, letting it pop a few times and getting rid of the stiffness. Having gotten that out of the way, I let the silence sit for a bit. Looking back at the girl behind me.
Sighing, I shake my head and turn my gaze to the floor.
'I'm not cut out for this.' I think to myself. 'How the hell do I comfort a teen girl who just went through her first breakup?'
Well, I can do what I did when Vicky... oh. I didn't do anything when Vicky had her first breakup. And Amy's never really dated until recently, even then she's never really gone on any second dates.
'... Fuck it, sink or swim, Mark. Third one's the charm.' I tell myself. 'Can't make it worse now, can you?'
"You've been in here for a while." I start off.
"..." She doesn't even bother to respond to that one.
"Haven't gone out, haven't streamed, haven't eaten." I list off. "At this point I'm starting to think you're trying to become an inanimate object... or a vegetable."
"Would if I could." She mumbles.
"Yeah, you make a good potato." I joke. "Which ones the yellow kind? The small ones that come in a bag, they're usually next to the red ones."
"Potatoes are tubers." She mutters. "Not vegetables."
"They are?" I ask. "Didn't know they were cool like that."
"What?" She looks up, having finally moved her head away from being face down in her bed.
"You said they were tubular." I look back and smile. Holding in a laugh as she gives me the look all women are born knowing. The look they give that screams, are you dumb? So, I hold a fist up, pinky and pointer finger out. "Radical bruh."
I laugh as she puffs out her cheeks and slaps me on the back. Not appreciating my comedic genius for its truest worth.
"You know, that's the most active you've been in the last few days." I tell her as I calm down from my laughing fit.
"Yeah?" She mumbles as I see her pillow float up and move around her room, landing on her head behind me.
"... You really should try to get up and get back out there." I tell her. I wait for a response , but don't get one. "I know it's not easy, what happened."
"You never had anyone break up with you." She spits out bitterly.
"How do you know?" I scoff.
"Didn't you and mom start dating at sixteen?"
"And you're thirteen." I point out. "Your mother wasn't the first woman I dated."
"And the control freak with paranoia and trust issues is what you landed on?" She says, though I can tell she's just trying to get under my skin.
"Hey, I got a hot blonde to tie the knot with me." I boast. "And not only is she a super successful and wealthy lawyer, she's got banging bod that still drives me-"
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