Previously on With Great Power Quest: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=With%20Great%20Power%20Quest

>>4590540
>Billy is a chump, whoever I want to talk to is in the club
Maybe on the way out

>>4590540
>Billy is a chump, whoever I want to talk to is in the club

Good to see you back Bullpen!

>>4590659
>>4590560
locked in

Billy could wait.

I crept low across the roof, looking for some kind of entrance. A utility entrance or something. The one I found, among the beer bottles and cigarette butts, was locked from the inside. A touch of fire and a solid right blew apart the woodchip door. I shook my wrist though it barely hurt, I'd taken to wrapping my hands before heading out now and it made a difference.

If anyone had heard me bust open the door I doubted it from the screaming thrash that came tearing up the stairs. Whoever was playing was playing fast and mean, the singer screaming to be heard over the instruments, their voice a screech so I couldn't start to understand the lyrics.

Down the stairs I came into a back corridor. Empty crates sat around, some cut up cardboard packaging stacked against a wall with various liquor company logos on them. A couple of band posters with touring dates plastered the wall. 'Brujeria', 'Transmetal', others, none I'd ever heard of. I'm not much of a music guy to begin with, and these guys all seemed to come out of Mexico.

I slid along the wall to the door where the fierce music was bursting from. A check out the door showed a packed moshpit brawling under strobe lights, a band dimly lit behind wire mesh. The singer was a woman, long legs sheathed in tight leather, a black leather bra top like something you'd see on the side of a hippy's panel van, metal chains dripping off her shoulders, all she was missing was the sword. Sweat had turned her hair into long wet noodles, her olive skin glowing under the light. It took me a second to realize she was screeching in Spanish as she twisted, wet hair flinging out.

The band behind her were a gang of bearded biker looking guys, harsh on their instruments like it owed them money, a snarling backup to her screeching. Bottles smashed against the mesh wire, flecks of glass spraying through, glittering across the stage floor.

Real wholesome kind of scene.

To the left of me was a standing area with a bar. A couple of guys in Reaper gear sat drinking, served by a leathery woman. They ignored the music, heads down with a grim atmosphere. The bartender poured a shot for the one armed man, who dunked it back like it was ice tea thengestured for another. Closer now I could tell who he was, the guy whose arm I'd broke in the park. I winced. Guess the doctors hadn't saved the arm.

Whatever I overheard was all in Spanish, but I didn't hear much through the wall of sound coming from the stage. It sent a cold prickle over my skin, a hard thump in my stomach.

The strobe lights flashed through the dark, bringing to life hot twisting bodies before disappearing again. I stepped through the dark, trusting it to hide me.

I had a feeling what I wanted was through the door behind the bar. I was certain of it when one of the Reapers slapped down some cash and went back that way.

Getting through that door wouldn't be easy. I had to wait for a distraction, or start one.

>roll 3 x 1d100+15 dc 75

if you guys can think of a fun write-in I'll give a bonus +5

>>4590684

Rolled 82 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>4590684

Rolled 4 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4590684

we need one more roll

Rolled 60 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4590684
I'll roll again just to keep things rolling if that's alright

>>4590750
success!

I got the opening I was looking for when one of the strobe lights, maybe overheated, maybe copped a stray bottle, burst, showering glass and firing off hot sparks into the crowd. The music slowed by half a tempo, the crowd clutched in surprise, but then it fired up again. The bar tender came out from behind the bar to chew out whoever was responsible for the lighting and while her patrons were enjoying the show of her tearing strips out of the goon, I stepped quick from the doorway, heading out the back.

Sweat clung to me under the hoodie. However cold it was outside inside the club was hot and I was feeling it. If I was still wearing this costume by summer time I'd be regretting it.

I went up a short corridor, doors leading off in other directions. Empty milk crates sat beside one door, still a little open.

A glance inside showed a smokey dark room, long, the back disappearing into the gloom. I crept low, stepping inside. Muffled voices came down the way.

Up ahead was a sitting area, low dark leather couches around an even lower coffee table. Glasses sat on coasters, half-filled with rum or bourbon. Men stood, Reapers mostly, looking tough at the two seated opposite. Smoke wafted from one of the couches, the soft pluck of lips on the end of a joint.

"So its true you did those deputies?" a rough Latin voice, "That stirred up some shit with the cops. Heard they've been giving your crew a wild time." He leaned forward, pink eyed and grinning, a man with thick rimmed glasses who looked more accountant than gangster.

"Whatever I've done or have not done isn't particular to this conversation," a voice I knew answered, soft with the strains of Dixie. Sullivan sat opposite the Latino gangster in an open white motorcycle jacket, his peroxide blond hair cut short. Sitting next to him in black motorcycle leathers was Baby Girl, staring at their smoking companion with a sheathed katana across her lap. "Now I suggest you arrive to the purpose of this meeting. As much as I enjoy your hopspitality, I would be more comfortable around my own kind."

"Whites?" the Latino said with a laugh and half a cough, weed smoke pouring from his throat.

Sullivan's eyes were flat. "Bikers," he replied.

The Latino gangster grinned. "That's why we asked for you Mr Sullivan, you and your kind are what we need for this job," he said, "Navaja would be personally grateful if you accepted."

"We don't work for credit, favor, or gratitude," he said, "I'm an outlaw, sir, I work for money."

"For this job we're offering a quarter mil," he said, "We need you to hijack a truck heading west. You need to hit it before it gets to Iowa. You need to bring back its cargo. Simple work for guys like you."

"Must be something valuable in the truck for such a hefty bounty," Baby Girl said.

"You don't need to know what's in it," he said, "But you bring it back to us and tell no one about it."

"Something both valuable and mysterious must be dangerous," she said, "That's worth more, half a million."

"We can go up," he said, though clearly didn't like it.

"You also haven't said who this truck belongs to," said Sullivan, "Or more accurately who its protected by. We aren't in the business of making enemies of the Outfit."

"Don't worry, its not an Outfit truck," he said, "It belongs to the alphabet gang, if you catch my meaning."

"Dangerous indeed," said Baby Girl. Sullivan grinned as if it were the kind of danger he liked.

"Get us what's in that truck and you'll have more than half a million," he said, "Navaja has work for all over the Midwest, we can set your gang up right."

"On that last score it'll be up to the Old Man," Sullivan said, "But we're soldiers-of-fortune, not errand boys. Keep that in mind."

The cartel gangster pulled up a folder, flicking it onto the table between them. Sullivan reached forward. The Reapers loomed in the dark, putting more effort into trying to menace the bikers than keep look out.

>make a move now, spoil their fun
>wait and listen, collect details

>>4590857
>make a move now, spoil their fun
We get that folder, we're golden. Not gonna get a better chance.

>>4590858
>make a move now, spoil their fun
>>4590858
Yep, agreed

>>4590857
>>make a move now, spoil their fun
I thought about it, and we could probably beat the shit out of the other guy for any more details

>>4590857
>make a move now, spoil their fun

>>4590912
>>4590910
>>4590865
>>4590858
locked in

give me a minute to sort something out

"We respect our partners, Mr Sullivan," the cartel enforcer smiled from behind his glasses.

Time to spoil their fun. Power flared through me with a white hot burst.

"Really? Because you're last one was a chump," I said, popping up from my hiding place, "But its hard to find good help these days."

"What?" the joint fell from his lip.

A smile broke over Sullivan's face as he stepped up from the couch, Baby Girl behind him with her sword half drawn.

"Why Hotspur, as I live and breathe," Sullivan said, reaching for his gun.

"We won't let you walk away this time," Baby Girl said, sword sliding out with a hiss from its scabbard.

"You know this freak?" the cartel goon said, scrambling back over the couch as his thugs closed in.

"We've had the pleasure," Sullivan said.

"Pleasure's all mine Sully, it'll be an even bigger one when I cart you and your girlfriend off to prison," I said, bounding forward. Sullivan leapt back as Baby Girl stepped forward. The flash of her sword cut for my head in the muzzle flash of his pistol, but they hit nothing. I dropped low in a bow, blade and bullet whistling by over my head. Then I leapt up, knee crashing into Sullivan's chest, driving him back.

I sprung off his chest landing in a crouch on the low slung coffee table, right over the folder as Sullivan went down.

Guns bristled around me. "Fucking grasshopper!" the cartel boss spat, "Fifty grand for every bullet you put in his corpse!"

"How much for his head?" Baby Girl spat, sword ready before her.

That set itchy trigger fingers around me. Heart thumping fear raced my excitement. I dropped low, legs bunching up under me, waiting.

Could I dodge those many guns at point blank range? Didn't have much choice but to try.

The chorus of gunfire flooded my ear drums as I moved, cutting out anything else as I sprung to the door with the folder in my fist. I felt the brush of wind against my neck, bullets scarcely missing. Fear clutched my balls.

A Reaper stepped in front of the door. I drove a left into his face then a hard right behind his ear, knocking him down in a one-two. I kicked the door out of its frame, leaving a white foot print on the surface, rolled over it with guns barking behind me, Spanish curses hot in my ears.

I rose up and lunged for the far door kicking over a milk crate. Past that door was the moshpit.

But the door opened, and a whole bunch of tattooed Reapers spilled through. Chains, knives, guns and pipes, the one armed Reaper leading the way.

"You!" he yelled, whipping a chain in his single fist, "I got a score to settle with you!"

"Ah shit."

Guns clacked behind me, Reapers sneered ahead of me, and here I was, stuck in the middle of a cartel spit roast.

Damn.

Then I heard something through the music, a low roar like a motorcycle. More Stunt Crew MC come to make my night worse? No, that didn't seem right, it had the Reapers checking over their shoulders all confused.

Then a light burst behind them, flooding my sight.

There was a loud bark of 'Motherfucker!'

A motorcycle came crashing through their ranks. It spun out nearly knocking me down. I hopped over it on one hand letting it skid out under me.

I caught a dark shape moving in the glowing bloom, a figure in black leathers and a helmet laying into Reapers with a monkey wrench. "Eat shit, motherfucker!" he brought the wrench across a Reaper's jaw, sending teeth flying before laying a boot into the soft part of another one.

Whoever he was I wasn't going to knock his help.

The guns behind me lowered as the gangsters backed off, hands raised to cover their eyes, hissing with pain.

It was the opening I needed.

>let's brawl
>let's run

>>4590951
potential friend or foe? well whatever,
>let's brawl

>>4590951
>let's brawl
I'm not adverse to kicking some ass again

>>4590959
>>4590968
locked in

but I'll have to update tomorrow

>>4590951
>let's brawl

>>4590985
oh damn missed this new thread

I didn't know who they were but I wasn't going to turn down their help, or leave them to fight half the Reapers in their home turf. His monkey wrench swung around, cracking down on shoulders and skulls, the toe of his boot clipping the side of a downed Reaper's head.

A Reaper swung a chain at me. I weaved low, driving a left hook into his liver. He stumbled with a clench of pain over his tattooed face, my right in his gut doubling him over, then my elbow to the back of his neck tacking him out of the fight. The thrash metal came pumping through the brawling mess of Reapers with frentic energy.

Hot fire roared through me as I swung around, the glasses goon staring as his boys poured down the corridor toward me.

It was on.

>roll 3 x 1d100+25 dc 75

Rolled 60 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>4592998

Rolled 29 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>4592998

I really don't mind people rolling twice

Rolled 40 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>4592998

>>4593038
clean success

I leapt into the fray, fists quick and hammering, diving low under a lead pipe to come up, carving an uppercut into his jaw. A knife flashed in my face, cutting arcs, but my hand shot out to grab his wrist and I squeezed. Bone splintered under my grip. I was worried about making another amputee, but when my life was on the line it was a distant worry.

"Hey-ho, let's go!" the guy with the monkey wrench stumbled past me, wrench lashing out. Blood and bits of hair were stuck in its teeth. I got a closer look at him in that moment, he wore some kind of WW2 helmet and under it a ski mask with grinning skull mask. He was around my height and wore a bulky motorcycle jacket.

Then a chain roped around his shoulders. He raised his arms before it could snare his neck, but he was still pulled back by the one-armed Reaper."Motherfucker!" he yelled as he wrestled with the chain. Another Reaper closed in driving a punch into his gut then a cross into his face. I weaved in, belting the attacker across the chin, felt bone shatter under the blow, then I grabbed the chain and wrenched it forward.

It gave him room enough to turn and bash the one-armed thug in the side of the head with his wrench. He dropped, chain slipping from his fingers. The wrench-armed guy bent over panting, gave me a thumb's up before the brawl closed around us again.

I threw elbows and fists, fighting back-to-back with the skull mask stranger, the world a tunnel of snarling faces in front of me.

Then a flash of steel through the brawl, Baby Girl's sword thrusting. It lanced through the sleeve of my hoodie, the kiss of steel brushing over my forearm, her determined expression behind the blade. I swung for her head but she slipped back, the cold edge of her sword slicing along my arm. Blood welled in the cut, soaking my arm sleeve, but adrenaline kept it a distant, numb pain.

"Quit screwing around and shoot these assholes!" Mr Glasses said.

Guns were raised, no mind for the gangbangers we were embroiled with.

"Hold up," my new friend said. He threw his hand forward, clicking his fingers. A white ball of light shot forth down the corridor. An explosion of white light blanched out the hallway, blinding the gun thugs and causing me to flinch.

"Time to book," I said, backing to the doorway as the criminals groaned in pain, clutching at their blinded eyes.

"My bike," he said, moving for the trash dirt bike collapsed in the middle of the corridor.

I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Forget the bike," I said.

"Shit!" but he turned at my grip and we ran for the door.

We came out into the main area. I leapt over the bar and he did the same, scooping up a bottle of beer as he did. Some people turned from the music as we ran for the door, but not many. The concert went on like nothing had happened, the gun fire and brawl lost in the cacophany of screeching metal.

We broke out into the cold night. Billy Lonegran looked up from where he was taking a piss.

"Suck shit!" my nameless friend said, giving him the finger as we raced by.

Out of the door and into the street came a horde of Reapers, spitting Spanish in murderous fury, and out with them walked Baby Girl and Sullivan. Gun shots went up but they were shooting wide. All they did was get civilians screaming and running for cover.

"We should get off the street," I said.

"Yeah? Well I'm all for ideas," he said, running alongside me.

I turned on a foot and grabbed him under the shoulders. With legs bunched under me I sprung up, launching high overhead, his weight nothing in my arms.

"Oh fuck!" he swore in my ear, grabbing me hard as we sailed through the air.

I brought us down a block away on the roof of a Popeye's.

When I dropped him he stood shaking, trying to get his feet, dropping his bloody monkey wrench.

"Damn, damn, holy shit!" he said, pulling off his helmet, panting hard. He loosened the collar of his jacket, then with shaking hands pulled up his ski mask. "Mother fuck me, that was wild!"

Her ski mask. Dark hair was plastered with sweat to a wide face. It was the kind of high yellow skin tone you saw in some Mexicans, not brown exactly. She shook, sweating, almost feverish. She was older than me but still a teenager. Then she smiled, shook out her damp hair.

"Shit, damn, you saw my face," she said, pulling down her ski mask, back to a grinning skull.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I go by Misfit," she said, "And you're Hotspur. I seen you in all the papers. Man, I was not expecting to run into you tonight." She smiled through the grinning skull, then downed her stolen beer. "You're like, why I do this man. Or like, you gave me the idea to put on a mask and do something. You're like a hero, my hero or, uh, fuck."

She turned around and muttered, "Damn it, don't be fucking weird Natalie, keep it together."

She turned back. "So hey, you fucking with the Reapers too? I heard that was a Reaper hang out and decided to crash their party. Literally, lost my bike and everything goddamn it. I mean it was just a kiddy little dirt bike but...uh..." she turned away, muttering again, "You're babbling dude, shit."

>Misfit huh? Why Misfit?
>she'd shown you her face, return the favor

>>4593156
>Misfit huh? Why Misfit?
Not ready to show our face. There is no way to tell if she is trying to trick us or use it against us later. Way too dangerous when we are messing with the big shots

>>4593156
>Misfit huh? Why Misfit?
Like the band?

>>4593189
>>4593178
locked in

"Misfit, huh, why Misfit?"

I kept my own face covered. Call it paranoia but I wasn't going to show my face to someone I'd just met, and for all I knew this was some kind of trick to get me to lower my guard.

"The band," she said, pinching at her mask, "You know, Danzig, Jerry Only, 'London Dungeon'."

I think I'd heard of them before but I couldn't name a song.

"I got something to say!" she belted out, her voice carrying over the Popeye's roof, "I killed a baby today! And it doesn't matter much to me as long as its dead!"

Grim.

"What about you, why Hotspur?" she said.

"It's just something I thought was cool is all, no reason," I said.

"Damn, yeah, ok," she said, "I thought maybe you were a San Antonio fan or something." Then, "You know you're bleeding right?" she said, pointing.

I looked. Blood soaked my sleeve and was starting to drip out through the fabric. Seeing it brought pain flooding up my arm. "Ah shit!"

Baby Girl had sliced me good on the back of my forearm. I rolled up the soggy sleeve to my elbow. Blood leaked from a thin slice, staining my arm a bright red.

"Nice," Misfit said, looking it over, "That'll make a cool scar."

I don't need scars, I had enough already. "So you know I heard you'd been fucking with the Reapers," she said, pulling a roll of bandages and a little bottle of disinfectant from her breast pocket, "Hold still man, I'll get that for you. So I heard you crushed Juan's arm, the doctors had to take it off at the elbow. You know what they call him now? The Juan Armed Bandit. Funny shit." She splashed disinfectant over the cut and I curled back, hissing at the stinging fire crawled down my skin. "Easy pal, easy," she said, starting to roll the bandage over it, "I got a certificate in first aid you know. That might need stitches but we'll keep it from free bleeding until then. You got a place to go for that?"

"Yeah I got someone," I said. Ms Grant had arranged a hook up with a doctor at a free clinic.

"Lucky, I've been doing my own doctorin', you know. Had a couple of cuts, got my nose busted a few times but nothing hospital worthy. My flash bombs help with that I guess, blind a guy and he'll have trouble doing much of anything."

"Flash bombs, that's where you click your fingers?" I said.

"Yeah," she tied off the bandage, tight around my forearm, "It comes in handy but its not a finisher, that's why I got the wrench. Blind a dude then split his wig, you know."

"Brutal."

"Got to be," she said, "And they ain't killed me yet, so its working." She grinned. "I can't do what you do but I got some tricks."

"I'm a lot of things, I ain't bullet proof," I said, "Or sword proof either."

"That was Baby Girl of the Stunt Crew MC, right?" she said, "She rides with Sullivan, a couple a heavy hitters. What were they doing talking to the Reapers?"

They weren't, I thought, but I didn't know if I could trust Misfit yet.

>they're planning a hijacking
>assholes keep asshole company is all

I'm wondering if I might need a cast list or something

>>4593257
>Write-in
Ask her why she's doing this. She seems like a normal civie with no powers. She's going to get herself killed like this. All to cause some destruction?

>>4593257
>they're planning a hijacking

>>4593303
Wouldn't hurt!

>>4593316
"Hold up," my new friend said. He threw his hand forward, clicking his fingers. A white ball of light shot forth down the corridor. An explosion of white light blanched out the hallway, blinding the gun thugs and causing me to flinch.

>>4593341
>>4593316
These aren't mutually exclusive. I'll lock them in

"They're planning some kind of hijack," I said, pulling the folder I swiped out of my waist band. "And its not with the Latin Reapers, its the Midwest Cartel. I've been looking for their boss, some lady called 'Navaja'."

"I've heard about her, dangerous customer," Misfit said, "Most of the Latino gangs pay up to her. Even the Puerto Ricans, if you'd believe it."

I didn't know enough about inter-Latin politics to comment on that.

I opened the folder over the roof. There were photographs of a black van clipped to maps, a sattelite map of a stretch of road I took to be the I-88, and a road map that confirmed it, taken from an old road atlas with a path highlighted in. Old school way of doing things, but I guess in an era of super hackers digital was dangerous too. There was nothing about what exactly they were after other than it being in a small black box. There was a time and date, set coordinates.

Glasses had told them to hit it before they reached Iowa. I don't know what made Iowa important but it was a piece of the puzzle.

"Said something about stealing from the 'alphabet gang', whoever they are," I said.

"Federal agency maybe," she said, rubbing her chin over the pictures, "FBI or NSA, something like that."

Big fish, I could see why the Cartel wanted proxies rather than going after it themselves.

"Man, you really are on another level," she said, "Here I am tussling with hoods while you're going after full blown criminal organizations." She said it with admiration, her eyes bright in the holes of her mask.

"I got lucky is all," I said, "I met someone who clued me in on the bigger picture."

"Cool," she said, "You want back up on this? I can't jump a city block in a single leap the way you can, but I can ride a bike better than any of the Stunt Crew punks."

"Mind if I ask you something first?" I said.

"Shoot," she replied.

"Why are you doing this?" I said, "Outside your lightshow you're pretty much a normal civilian. You're going to get yourself killed running around like this. Is it all to cause some destruction?"

She tapped her steel cap boot, hands in the pockets of her jacket, thoughtful. She started to hum.

"We walk the streets at night," she sang, "We go where eagles dare."

More song lyrics.

She whipped her finger out, pointing at me. "I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch! You better think about it baby!"

Not much of an answer, or at least not much I could figure out from it.

"Why do I do it?" she said, "Man, maybe its because if someone looking like me calls the cops they're as likely to get shot at as helped. Maybe 'cause its all screwed up, where the biggest gangsters get government bail outs while the rest of us get evicition notices. And maybe yeah, maybe I do want to cause a little destruction. Play the wild card in their games. But you tell me, why do you do it, Hotspur? For the thrill, for revenge, or maybe because you can do stuff others can't and you want to do something about it?"

"About this big ass, stinking, beautiful shithole of a city!" she spread her arms wide like she was going to embrace the night sky.

"So maybe we could ride together on this job," she said, "Watch each others backs. We got whole armies against us, we should help each other out."

>accept her offer
>maybe another time

>>4593380
>accept her offer

>>4593380
>accept her offer
I like her guts. New best girl?
JK, Ivy all the way

>>4593386
I like her too, but the less she knows the better. We shouldn't have even mentioned our "handler" indirectly, she could easily be caught and tortured for info

>>4593386
>>4593384
locked in

>>4593380
>accept her offer
Accept this one time. She rubs me the wrong way

"Yeah, all right, I could use the help," I said.

"Don't worry, this won't be my first rodeo," she said. She held out her hand. When I went to shake she grabbed me around the wrist, squeezed before sliding off, then shot me a fist bump. "That's a handshake I been thinking about," she said, "This is going to be good shit man, you and me teaming up. We're going to rock their shit, fuck 'em up."

"Sure," I said. She had enthusiasm, but hunger was starting to set in and I needed to get my arm stitched up. But before splitting up I had to ask. "Say, you ever run into others like us?" I said, curious.

"You mean folks with powers? I heard about the fire chica working for the Outfit, Salamander, but I never met her." Lucky her, I thought. "There is this one guy, I call him Ooze, he lives in the sewers. He's all...he's made up of this toxic sludge, barely looks like a person anymore. A real creep, don't let him grab you, his sludge burns like a bitch. First time I caught him eating stray dogs, disintegrating them all 'The Blob' style. If you do run into him his big weakness is water, but you need a lot of it. I thought I did him in when I blasted him with a fire hydrant but he turned up again a month later in a McDonald's trying to eat the manager. Maybe he can't die anymore, I don't know."

Ooze seemed unpleasant.

"What about you?" she said.

I filled her in on who I knew about. When I told her about Shark her eyes grew wide. "Badass," she said.

"I think its a good idea to keep an eye out," I said, "For sightings, rumors. Feels like there's more of us showing up everyday."

"Ever since that explosion," she said, nodding, "Man I wonder what that was about, why us, y'know?"

"It's a million dollar question," I said.

We parted ways, it wasn't hard for her getting down off the roof, and despite my hunger I launched myself through the night, heading for the surgery Ms Grant had patched me into.

His name was Dr Ramsey, he worked the midnight shift at a free clinic out in Fifth City. I had a number I could hit him up with and could expect the VIP treatment, all prearranged by our mutual friend. It was still just a free clinic though, and like most in the midnight hour it was visited by the transient and the desperate, the kind tweaking bad and the homeless who had no where else to go to get their strange cough looked at.

Through the window I saw a mother in a filthy coat, face stained with filth and despair, holding a girl close as they waited. Beside them was a rent boy with a face all covered in bruises, leaking spit into a bandage held against his lip.

I limped around the back, the pain in my arm really letting me know it was there.

He met me by the dumpster, a young black doctor with short braids and a depressed heaviness to his eyes.

"So you're Maddy's friend," he said, "You going to ditch the hoodie?"

I shook my head. I wasn't even inclined to speak.

"Super hero has to keep his secret I guess," Dr Ramsey sighed, "Come on in, I've got a nurse to help if that's all right."

She was an older nurse in pink scrubs, and her job was to pass him swabs to drink up the blood around the cut.

"What was this, a knife?" he asked, "It's deep, almost to the bone."

"Sword," I muttered.

"A what?" he said.

"A samurai sword," I said louder. He just shook his head with a chuckle.

He stitched it up then gave me some antibiotics to take. "Do the full set," he said, "And rest that arm, we don't want those stitches to tear. So go easy on the pocket hocky. You got lucky Hotspur, it didn't cut the bone or sever any ligaments."

"Thanks Doc," I said, limping to the exit.

"Yo, why the heavy steps, are you hurt anywhere else?" he said, frowming hard, demanding an explanation.

"Just hungry is all," I said, "My powers...never mind, I'm good. Thanks again Doc, hopefully won't be seeing you soon."

"Same to you," he said.

I limped out. By the time I was home we were heading into early AM hours. I hooked an arm on the fire escape ladder, careful like the doctor said, but I wasn't concerned. The cut was shallow and hadn't done any serious damage. I was more worried about explaining my new scar to Dad.

I got in to a quiet apartment. I pulled off my bloody hoodie, stashed it under my bed.

I sat looking at my bandage.

Its funny how a question turned back on me. I'd asked Misfit why she did what she did, but the question could be asked of me too. Maybe we were both the same kind of crazy. I slipped the file into my desk, took out a notepad and wrought out Ooze's information on it, right under Shark's. It couldn't hurt to keep track, even if it wasn't much of a database.

Then I sunk on the bed and lay there, trying and failing to get some sleep.
-
taking a break

hope you guys are having fun

>>4593508
>hope you guys are having fun
Having a great time. Was missing the updates when you were on your break so I had to re-read the old threads

"What happened to your arm?"

A hell of a question to get over bacon and eggs. Dad looked worried over his glass of juice. He'd been drinking a lot of juice lately, to get him over his drinking. I rolled half chewed bacon around my mouth, the finest cuts available out of Luis' freezer. He'd only noticed the bandage Monday morning, right as I was due to head off to school. The weekend had passed by since my run-in with the Cartel, trying to find out about Navaja and finding out a planned Federal hijacking instead.

I could still feel the cold edge of Baby Girl's sword on my skin.

"Cut it goofing off," I said, feeling lousy for lying and lousy for how lame it was.

Dad would be heading off to work too, he'd secured a steady gig as part of a construction crew on the south side. The union card helped, a guy back home had put a good word in for him with the foreman, and it turned out Chicago was a union town. Steady work had helped with his other problems.

"Fell off my bike," I added, hoping Dad didn't remember he'd sold my bike a couple months back.

"Oh," he said, "Well don't forget to wear a helmet."

"Never do," I sponged up the dripping egg yolk with white toast.

"I swear your food bill and the medical bills are in a neck to neck race," he said, serving me up another of his home made hashbrowns. "Growing boy."

I chugged down a glass of orange juice, not able to look him in the eye.

I had school to get to, homework to hand in and assignments due. I doubt the date of the hijack would be moving, it was a locked in thing. And in a couple of weeks it would be Halloween. My favorite time of year.

But until then I had to focus.

>focus on school, try to put that B+ up to a solid A
>focus on training, both boxing and my powers
>focus on my social life, Kay and my friends
>focus on crime fighting, the streets wouldn't clean themselves

>>4593629
>>focus on my social life, Kay and my friends
we've been ignoring Kay these past weeks, don't want his fighting power to be halved because of some emotional distress he has

I'll leave this vote open until tomorrow

>>4593629
>focus on training, both boxing and my powers, but make time for some dates with Kay

Thread's been pretty quiet compared to the other two, but I'm glad to catch it, read the first ones on the archive. Good work so far QM, enjoying the ride.

>>4593629
>focus on my social life, Kay and my friends

>>4593629
>focus on crime fighting, the streets wouldn't clean themselves
Don't wanna neglect the neighborhood

>>4593629
>focus on my social life, Kay and my friends

Can't neglect the home front

>>4594153
>>4593738
>>4593664
locked in

>>4593629
>>focus on training, both boxing and my powers, but make time for some dates with Kay

My nightly adventures on the rooftops of Chicago had left me thin on the ground. Over the last week I'd had to turn down multiple invites to this or that, including a movie with Kay. So I figured now was a good time to change that, and I could use a breather before the hijacking. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.

Of course social life meant school, too. When I rolled up Monday I got a text from Zeke.

It said - 'Ms Flores ;)'

It didn't take me long to figure out what he meant. She was wearing tight leggings today, with a Blackhawks jersey that didn't quite cover the view. It left most of the guys in a better mood, though it also reminded me we had the invisible creeper skulking among us. Every guy is a little bit of a pervert, anyone who says he isn't is a liar, but it had me looking at Zeke's message a little longer wondering if he was our culprit. Of course I also scoped out Ms Flores, I'm only human, so I don't know if that made me a hypocrite or what.

"Hey."

I met up with Kay by her locker, hooking an arm around her shoulder, turning her around for a quick kiss. We'd been the same height just a few months ago but I must be getting taller because she had to lean forward for it. We broke with my fingers on the back of her neck.

"Hey yourself," she said, "You missed a good movie."

"Eh, I'm not really into those Marvel films," I said, "I like Westerns better."

"God, you're such a boomer," she said, then leaned forward to kiss me again through her teasing grin.

"Break it up before I get the hose," Mr Sack came down the corridor looking mean, whistle bouncing on his chest, "Don't get too cuddly on school grounds, Miller, or you'll get another detention."

When he went by Kay whispered in my ear, "He's just jealous he can't get any," then pecked my cheek before breaking away.

I grinned all the way through class, even the sight of Ms Flores in her tight black leggings couldn't distract me from thinking about Kay.

School rang out and we'd arranged to hit a record store down the Loop. We got down to the L station, the usual gang.

We got off at Wabash near Millenium park. The others were mostly talking about the movie from the weekend.

"What happened to your arm?" Ayesha asked as we filled into a record store. It was a neat place, I had to admit, two floors, one a mezzanine overlooking the other. Band posters litered the walls, tour dates for local acts big enough to have a following but not enough for a record deal. A corkboard with want ads by the entrance, and music thumping from the speakers was stuff you wouldn't hear in a top 20 list. They were getting set up for Halloween, putting forward horror themed music on display.

Dane was over at the vinyls, lifting out a Clash album.

"Cut myself shaving," I joked. She rolled her eyes. "Nah, I fell off my bike."

"You're the unluckiest guy I know, Eric," Zeke said, "I swear next you'll lose an eye eating french fries."

I rolled my eyes. We moved through the record store, each of us hunting different genres. Kay was looking through the latest musical releases, original broadway cast recordings, that kind of stuff. I knew she kept a poster of Cats on her bedroom wall. Zeke was looking through the latest rock and metal releases.

"The Darkness are super underrated," I heard him tell Ayesha, who nodded along in a friendly but uninterested way.

Rufus flipped through the latest hip-hop releases looking unimpressed. "Man if you want good rap you got to go online," Hunter said, "You hear Li'l Droop? His last drop was fire."

"Man fuck that mumble rap sound," Rufus said. It reminded me I still hadn't checked out Smokey and D-Mark's soundcloud.

I stopped before one of the Halloween displays, a poster of a grinning skull, one eye leering from under a bony brow all done up like the Grim Reaper. Misfits was written in big white letters with a stack of albums underneath. Just out of curiosity I picked one up, turned it over.

A track listing I recognized - 'Where Eagles Dare'. I don't think there was a song longer than three minutes on the album.

"I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch," I muttered, putting it back.

Behind the counter and the blue haired girl flicking through her tablet, was a poster of a big black guy with a massive bruise on his forehead, grinning dumb at the camera. 'Wesley Willis RIP'.

Then I saw Ivy flicking through records. She'd tied her sweater around her waist, her bag slung off one arm, and just had this effortless cool about her as she went through the bargain bin. She tucked her hair back as she picked up a punk record, 'Trenchmouth'.

"Didn't think you were the punk rock type," I said, ambling over.

She turned from the records. "What type did you think I was, Hannah Montana?" she said.

"Hey Miley Cyrus can rock," I replied.

"Honestly I'm more into the songwriter types, but a girl has to keep an open mind," she said, "Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson. Pretty much my grandfather's old collection."

"And they call me the boomer," I said.

"Good music doesn't age," she said.

"Truth, I still rock Soulja Boy," I said.

I got a smirk out of her and a little snort. Let's call that a win.

"You want to hang out?" I offered, knowing it was dangerous territory considering her feud with my girlfriend. There was a curious spark in her eye but she hesitantly shook her head.

"No, sorry, I've got to be somewhere, you know where," she said, sliding the record away. Grace.

"Tell her I'll swing by soon," I said.

"She'd like that," Ivy said with a real smile, "I think she's getting a bit of a crush on you."

I blushed dspite myself. Coughed into my hand as Ivy backed away.

"See you around, hot shot," she said with a wink.

I turned and bumped into Hunter. "What was that about?" he asked.

"What was what?" I asked.

He pointed with his chin back toward Ivy.

"Oh, that was nothing, just a hi bye kind of thing," I said.

"Sure," he said. I gave him a look as I went on by, what was up with the long necked goon?

Kay I found on the second floor. She hugged a record to her chest, sighing. "Oh Hadestown, this always makes me cry," she said, "I hope I get to play Eurydice one day."

"What's it about?" I asked.

"It's a post-apoc remake of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice," she said, "You know the story?" I shook my head. "Orpheus and Eurydice were lovers, but when Eurydice died Orpheus went to the underworld to rescue her. When he found her though he was warned that if he looked back to her as they fled the underworld she'd disappear forever."

"And he looked back," I said. What a moron.

Kay nodded, getting teary just thinking about it, hugging the record harder.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked.

"Yeah of course," I said.

"I think Dad's in bigger trouble than he's letting on," she said, "You know he's been suspended but...I think there's more to it than that. He's been going out a lot and he doesn't say where. His friends have been coming by but they only talk in the study. Do you think he maybe did something illegal? I'm starting to worry."

My guts clenched.

>maybe he did do something wrong
>I doubt he's guilty of anything serious
>I don't think worrying will help

>>4594309
If write-ins are ok for this vote:
>People aren't always as they seem, and I don't know your Dad well enough to say for sure that he didn't do anything bad. But either way, worrying yourself sick won't change anything, so try not to?

>>4594321
write-ins are always fine so long as they aren't stupid

sometimes I think my updates are too big

>>4594309
>I doubt he's guilty of anything serious
We're just a loving boyfriend. Totally not going to use this info of a corrupt cop meeting people in his study to see who else is involved.
Can we ask her who he talks to?

>>4594309
>I doubt he's guilty of anything serious

>>4594353
>>4594347
>>4594321
the write-in can work as part of the main vote

locked in

I have to deal with something but I'll be back on later. It could take a while though. Sorry to anyone who misses the next update

>>4594309
>"Honestly from the little contact I had with him I wouldn't be surprised if he had murdered one of your former boyfriends. More seriously, I don't think worrying will help, and if it is serious I'll be here for you."

>>4594309
Do you think he would tell you if you asked him what was going on? That's the only way to find out for sure.
I think if we continue to outright lie to her about it everything will blow up in our faces. Also we should be a lot more cautious about Ivy, it's only a matter of time before someone tells Kay that we seem close.

"I doubt he did anything too serious," I said, "He'd be in jail otherwise, right?"

"I guess..." she said, looking to her shoes.

"People aren't always what they seem, and I don't really know your dad well enough to say he didn't do anything bad," I said, "But its so far outside your control you shouldn't worry yourself sick over it."

"He's my dad though," she said, brow crinkling, "I can't help but worry. You'd be worried too if it was your dad, wouldn't you?"

She was right, I would. "Hey let's get something to eat," I said, snaking my arm around her hips, hoping to take her mind off it, "There's a sushi joint near here, right?"

"Do they do vegan options? Is that even a thing?" she said, "Only you know Ayesha's vegan."

"I'm sure they can put together a tofu roll or two," I said.

We wrangled the others after a few purchases. Old media is dying ut it isn't dead yet, and there's something about a physical purchase that was different from streaming. It made a thing your own, not given to you by a service that might pull it next month. Everyone walked away with something except me, on account of having no money. I'd have to stick to youtube videos for my music for now.

We found a conveyer belt sushi place and took a booth, picking out plates while Ayesha keyed in an order for the vegan options.

"I thought fish was vegan," Zeke said, threatening her with half a shrimp roll.

"That's pescatarian, genius," Ayesha said.

"I thought pescatarians were Jesus freaks," he added.

"Those are pentacostals," said Dane.

"Band of heathens if you ask me," Zeke said, popping the sushi in his mouth.

"Speaking of freaks," Kay said, indicating with a finger.

A group of wide-eyed strangers walked into the store. The faux-Japanese staff called out a greeting which made the girl hop. They were dressed kind of funny, the two guys in straw hats and suspenders, the hats they took off as they came in, the girls in full long skirts and tailored blouses with hair covered in plain white bonnets. They had a hand stitched quality to them, even their shoes looked handmade.

"Illinois Amish, out in the big city," Dane said, "Don't stare too long or they might come over."

"What are they doing out of goat fucking country?" Hunter said with a smirk, "Did they get tired of marrying their cousins."

"Probably on Rumspringa," Zeke said.

"You ever see any Amish before?" Kay teased me.

"We get plenty of Amish in Indiana," I said.

"Old Order Amish or Mennonite?" Zeke asked.

I shrugged. "Whichever kind don't that don't speak English," I said.

We ate, and while waiting for her tofu Ayesha tinkered on her phone. She gave a sharp gasp and held her phone out for us to crowd around.

It was a fin in the waters of Lake Michigan, snaking around. The youtube video was titled 'Shark Man of the Great Lakes???'

"It's fake," Rufus said, "Look, its CG. There's no sharks in the lakes."

It rose up, the water breaking on gray shoulders, a head hunching forward. It turned to the camera and whoever was filming swore, staggering back with the camera going shaky. Beady black eyes looked into the camera above a grinning mouth filled with rows of teeth. It was Shark all right, no tricks here, his hide pitted with new scars since I'd last seen him. Shark turned from the camera, rose up, and dove back under the water.

"Chills," Zeke said, rubbing his arms.

"Do you think its dangerous?" Kay asked, "I hope someone stops it before it hurts someone."

"I don't know, its kind of cool though," Ayesha said, "Don't you think?"

"It's gross," Kay said, wrinkling her nose.

"Is widdle Kaywee scawed of the shark?" Zeke said. She drove her elbow into his ribs.

"It is freaky," Hunter said, "All these freaks showing up, its not right. You got Hotspur leaping over buildings, shark men in the lakes, and the invisible creeper at school. I heard there's some kind of slime monster living in the sewers now too. The government should do something about it."

"Yeah, bring down the jackboot," Rufus said, "That's never gone wrong before."

"Hotspur is not a freak," Ayesha said, eyes hard at Hunter. It was an uncharacteristic look on her face, I think she was a little mad.

"Don't get so defensive, he's not your boyfriend," Hunter said.

"I mean, he is kind of a freak though," Dane said, "He's got those powers and he uses them to fight crime? He could be making money or something, becoming famous."

"Yeah, he could," Ayesha said, "He could be doing lots of things, including nothing, but he doesn't. Because unlike you guys he's a hero."

"Hey what the heck did I do?" Zeke said with a joking grin.

"You ran away!" she snapped at him, standing up, "You ran away and you didn't even stop! I had a gun in my face, I..." she stopped to swallow, tears in her eyes, settling back down in the seat.

"Jesus Yesha, he had a shotgun," Zeke said, somewhere between frightened and angry. She rubbed at her eyes.

"You...you're right, I shouldn't be angry, I shouldn't," she said, "But I was scared, I still...I still have nightmare. I'm sorry."

We were silent for a long moment.

Then Rufus asked, "So the shark, good guy or bad guy?"

"Definitely a bad guy," Kay said, "It's a shark."

"Sharks are gregarious creatures, good guy," Ayesha said.

"I'm with Kay here, its a goddamn shark," said Zeke, "No way a shark is a hero."

"What about you Eric, good guy or bad guy?" Kay asked.

>he's a hero
>he's a bad guy

>>4594594
>he's a hero
I’d like to hope there’s more good guys out there than bad guys.

>>4594594
>he's a hero
He's either a heroic shark or an evil human

>>4594645
>>4594635
locked in

I have personally watched Shark bite a living man in two, saw the guts spill out into his swallowing maw, and listened to his victim's death scream. But at the same time, it was an Outfit thug.

"He's either a heroic shark or an evil human," I joked, "No but serious, I hope he's a good guy, there's got to be more good guys out there than bad guys."

"Ew," was all Kay had to say to that.

"Bet you like this one though," Ayesha said, clicking on the next video. It was a backyard, and stepping into frame was Salamander, wearing some kind of karate gi. She'd set up a bunch of wooden planks.

She gave the camera a peace sign. "This is Gabriella Marino aka Salamander putting out a challenge," she said, "Any of you punks think you're tough enough, hit me up for a one-on-one. I'll take any challenger, any time."

Then she kicked into a backflip, fire bursting from her feet. Landing on her feet she spun, snapping a flaming kick that splintered the wooden plank beside her, turned into a side kick and shattered the next, sending flaming splinters across the yard. She landed, bouncing on her toes with a bright smile, giving another peace sign before the camera switched off..

"Isn't she a hitman for the Outfit or something?" Rufus said, rubbing his chin, "Wouldn't mind getting hit by that."

"Pretty hot for a freak, huh?" Zeke said to Hunter with a wink.

"Wow," said Kay, "Now that's more my steam, yeah. Girl boss."

My blood ran cold watching my friends gush all over Salamander. To my relief Ayesha looked much less impressed.

"She's a villain, guys," Ayesha said, "I'm pretty sure she's killed people."

"Yeah but like, no one important," Kay said, "I mean maybe she's just misunderstood."

Ayesha scoffed, a stunned look on her face.

"I bet I could make that bad girl good, know what I'm sayin'?" Zeke said, the others nodding along, "Get her all good and honeyed up."

I don't think Zeke has even kissed a girl.

"Where's it going though?" Hunter said, "All these freaks, they can't be here for no reason, showing up now. Why? You know ever since I broke my arm I've been laid up listening to this podcast, the Mars Expression with Dougie Hicks. He's got some wild ideas but I think there's some truth there, and if so we should be worried."

"You sound like one of the nerds," Kay said, "Did one of the nerds show it to you?"

"I mean, its just interesting is all, kind of scary," he said, "He says they've been sent by an intergalactic force to displace us, prepare earth as the new home of a whole other species."

"That sounds straight up schizophrenic dude," Rufus said.

"Crazier than sharkmen in Lake Michigan?" he replied, "I dunno."

"Well the only scary I'm interested in right now is Halloween," Ayesha said.

"Oh hell yeah," Kay said, "Party time. Anyone know a good one?"

"There's a senior party at Kemal's," Ayesha said, "But I was kind of hoping we could do what we used to do, a scary movie marathon. Stay up til dawn with popcorn, get freaked out together."

"Lame," Zeke said.

"Sounds good," said Rufus more slyly, giving his rival for Ayesha's affection a smug smile.

"Aren't we getting too old for scary movie sleep overs?" Kay said, "I'd rather get a little wild, you know? Get turnt up."

Ayesha looked disappointed, down at her lap. "Yeah, maybe," she said.

"You want to get a little wild, Eric?" Kay said, leaning into me.

>I'm down for a party
>a chill night with movies sounds better

>>4594678
>a chill night with movies sounds better
All we ever do is go to parties, I'm down to mix it up. Let's watch the Invisible Man. You guys have heard the rumors about an invisible creep at our school right?

>>4594678
>a chill night with movies sounds better

>>4594678
>a chill night with movies sounds better
More one on one time with Kay (even though IVY is best girl, I still respect women)

Loved the scene at the record store BTW! Amazing fanservice

>>4594703
>>4594698
>>4594689
locking that in

"A chill night with movies sounds fun," I said, "I need a break from house parties, let's mix it up. Put on the Invisible Man or something."

"Speaking of, you guys have all heard about the invisible creeper, right?" Ayesha said.

"Did he strike again?" Dane asked, leaning forward.

Ayesha nodded. "Yeah, he [inched Ms Flores on the you know where today," she said, patting herself on the butt.

"Damn," I don't know if Zeke entirely disapproved the way he said it.

"What a creep," Kay said, "I bet its one of those nerds. This guy has mad incel energy."

"Ben or Chad?" Hunter said, "Say the word and they're going straight in a locker."

"We don't know if its anyone yet," Ayesha said, taking his threat deadly serious, "I doubt its either of them too. When the creeper spied on me in the shower, Annie insisted they were both with her goofing off in the library."

"Maybe he can be two places at once," Dane said, "Nothing says he only has one power."

"Well either way we aren't going to deal with it, I'm putting up a post on twitter later for Hotspur to see. We're going to let him know what's going on, he'll take care of it."

"You sure have a lot of faith in this guy, Ayesha," Dane said.

She smiled, said with a resolute nod, "Yes I do."

We broke up after that, everyone heading home. I went to the L line that'd take me out to the west side. To my surprise Ayesha skipped over to catch up.

"Hey, can I thank you?" she said, grabbing me by the arm.

"Thank me? Why?" I said, slowing down.

She smiled. "For backing my idea, the movie night. I feel like Kay's gone a little off the rails lately, way too much partying. Back in middle school Halloween movie night was our thing. Me, her, Ivy. We'd all get together for it. But since they fell out, well..."

"You used to be friends with Ivy too?" I said.

"Sort of, I was more a third wheel, or felt like it," she said, "They were tight you know, so tight I sometimes felt a little left out."

"I get that," I said. I got that hard. I'd felt like that a lot back in Indiana. Everyone's friend but no one's best friend. It had made moving to Chicago some how lonelier, very few of my old friends had reached out.

"Maybe this can fix things," she said, "You're friends with Ivy, right? Maybe you can invite her to movie night for me. I'd ask her myself but I don't think she's really forgiven me yet, for picking Kay over her."

"I mean, only if you think its a good idea," she said, pulling away.

>I can ask her but I don't like your chances
>Maybe its better to just let your old friendship go

>>4594735
>I can ask her but I don't like your chances
Good excuse to see Ivy! Also let's us address the tension between the two and get to the root issue. We could also ask about the dead animal in Kay's locker

I'll pick this up tomorrow

>>4594735
>I can ask her but I don't like your chances

>>4594746
Reread the quest, turns out we asked Ivy at the hospital. My bad!

>>4594735
>I can ask her but I don't like your chances
I'm not an Ivy simp, but I don't like breaking up old friendships that could be salvaged

>>4594735
>I can ask her but I don't like your chances

>>4594735
>I can ask her, but I think we should talk to Kay about it beforehand.

>>4594735
>>I can ask her, but I think we should talk to Kay about it beforehand.

>>4594913
This

>>4594913
Changing to this.

>>4594913
voting for this

>>4594735
>>4594913

>>4594925
Switching to this

>>4594913
this

>>4594913
locked in

>>4595460
awesome, also first time coming to one of these live, wanted to say really enjoying this quest so far

"I can ask her, but maybe we should talk to Kay about it beforehand," I said, "It's a nasty surprise to pull on someone, no one likes being parent trapped."

"You're probably right," Ayesha said with a glum look. "You're a good guy, Eric, I'm glad Kay's finally with someone decent."

I didn't quite know what she meant by that, I wasn't super well versed in Kay's dating history. "You're the one who told me to ask her out," I said.

"Guess I'm a good judge of character," she said with a wink, "See you at school."

She started off and I called after her, "You're good too you know."

She stopped to look back. "Huh?"

"Trying to patch things up with everyone," I said, "It's cool, not everyone would do that."

She whipped back around hiding a blush, waving backwards to me as she ran away. "Uh, yeah, see you!"

I got home some time after six. Dad was home too.

"Mrs Valdez made empanadas, she left us some," he said. I set on the tray of empanadas without hesitation. Mrs Valdez made the best empanadas I'd ever tasted. To be fair I hadn't had a lot of Mexican food before coming to Chicago.

Dad put on the tv and a grim report from Ms Takanawa came on.

"Five dead in a mass shooting on Chicago's south side," she said, standing on a dark sidewalk before a tall brick buildings, "Police suspect-"

"You're beautiful, Priscilla, but not hot enough for that news," Dad muttered, switching the station. It cut to another news report.

"Local judge found guilty of signing off on crooked warrants. Officers Hernandez and McAllister allegedly used these search warrants as cover to rob unsuspecting victims over a number of years. It was only after the story broke in the Chicago Tribune that an internal investigation was headed by Assistant Deputy State's Attorney Madeline Grant, bringing these allegations to light despite numerous accusations going as far back as half a decade. We turned now to Robert Duncan for more."

Dad whistled. "Now that's something," he said, "They caught the bastards at least."

"I swear Dad you're the only guy who watches tv to get his news," I said.

"Can't trust a facebook feed, kid," he said, switching over to the basketball. "Come on over, its a Pistons game."

I climbed over the couch to sit next to him, together watching his favorite team smack around the Pacers.

It was a good night, sitting in silence watching a game. I coud use some more good, quiet nights. Ones where I didn't have to worry about being shot or stabbed. At the same time I got restless, looking to the window, wondering what was happening out in the city and what I could do about it. My knuckles itched for it, for the rush of almost dying and the thrill of taking a gangster down. I put those thoughts aside, troubling as they were.

Just focus on the game.

The next day Ayesha and I had a sit down with Kay at lunch.

"What's the sitch?" she asked, smiling as we sat across from her at a cafteria table, lunch between us.

"We wanted to ask you something, but we aren't sure you'd like it," I said.

"Frankly we don't know how you'll take it so we decided to ask together," Ayesha added.

"We um-" I looked to Ayesha.

"What, do you guys want to experiment with a three way or something?" Kay joked with a crooked grin, "You're a great guy Eric but that's a hell of an ask."

"Uh," her joke took me off guard and if I was being honest didn't 100% sound like a joke at first.

Ayesha blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. "Oh please Kay," she said, "Like you'd turn that down."

This humor was inappropriate to my hormones.

"She wanted to ask Ivy to come to her party," I blurted out, "And I think its a good idea."

Kay's joking expression went cold. "I heard you two were getting friendly," she said, looking hard at me. "Which is weird since Ivy doesn't 'get friendly' with anyone."

"She was our friend, Kay, I think its time we got over last year's drama," Ayesha said.

"Last year's 'drama'? Have you forgotten what she had us do? We were almost expelled," Kay slapped her hand on the table, "Dad threatened to send me to a Catholic school, with nuns!"

"I don't remember you being all that unwilling," Ayesha said.

"She used to fat shame you all the time," Kay said.

"You did too!" Ayesha replied, "It wasn't all on her and you know it. And her sister was sick, she was troubled."

"Yeah but her sister is fine now," Kay said, "But she's still a bitch."

I swallowed.

"Ivy's my friend," I said, "You might not like it...but I'd prefer it if you did."

"Ivy doesn't have friends, just tools," Kay said, "Don't be a tool, Eric, you don't know her like I do."

"Just give her a chance," I said, "For my sake."

Kay crossed her arms. She didn't look convinced. I reached out to hold her hand.

> roll 3 x 1d100+5 dc 80

>>4595470
thanks I appreciate it. hope you keep enjoying it.

Rolled 58 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>4595498
rollin

Rolled 75 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>4595498

Rolled 14 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>4595498
Here we go

>>4595521
pass!

>>4595521
skin of teeth o wow

>>4595497
oh boy, what was Kay's last name again?

She hesitantly let me take her hand, and squeezed my fingers.

"I don't want her to...to ruin something else in my life," she said, "You don't know her, you don't know what she can be like, but if she really is your friend I guess I should give her a chance."

"That's all we're asking for," I said.

"Thanks Kay, I know this isn't easy," Ayesha said.

"But I haven't forgiven her, not yet," Kay stressed, "That's on her."

Ayesha and I exchanged a nod. It was a good first step.

The second task was inviting Ivy. This one I did alone.

I caught her by her locker, its door a different color from all the rest.

"Hey, what are you up to on Hallowwen?" I asked.

"Currently?" she said, swishing her hair back from her face, "Going to a party and trying not to get date raped by college boys, why?"

"Well that's an upsetting thing to hear," I muttered, leaning on the locker. "Well its just some of us are having a movie night over at Ayesha's. She was wondering if you wanted to come."

"Ayesha's huh?" she said, "I can guess who else will be there. Are they cool with me coming?"

"More or less," I said.

"Probably less than more," she said, switching out text books. She sighed. "What the hey, it could be fun. Beats being groped by drunk seniors at least."

I don't know if she was exaggerating or what but I felt a hot spike of anger that I couldn't settle down. I grabbed her arm before she could go too far. "You know, if anyone does grab you like that just point them out," I said, my jaw clenched tight.

"Easy there Galahad," she said, pulling my hand away from her arm, "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"You're fifteen," it came out in a rough snarl, angrier than I expected, a flare of power rushing through me as I caught her gaze and grabbed her arm again, "You're only fifteen Ivy."

She looked at me like she'd never seen me until now, a little frightened. I loosened my grip, tamping down my white hot rage.

"You don't have to act so adult," I said, a little softer.

"Well then a movie night sounds great," she said, a little shaky, "I have to get to rehearsals."

She strode away, steps quick down the hallway, books hugged to her chest.

"I'm sorry!" I called after her, but she didn't look back.

Later that day she sent me a text. 'Don't worry.' - Ivy. It wasn't much of a message.

Then another text. 'Tonight on the roof. The Creeper. The girls want to meet 'you'.' - Ivy

'What time?' I texted back.

'9:30' - Ivy

I slipped the phone away, turned my attention to Mr Getty droning on about I wasn't sure what.

9:30 tonight, it was time to start dealing with the invisible boy.

>>4595534
>oh boy, what was Kay's last name again?
Whitman

Ah shit so begins the supe psychosis
Or maybe it's PTSD from seeing so much fucked up shit and almost being beat to death

>>4595576
I think it's mainly that anger you get when faced with an injustice you know you can't do anything about, and in earlier threads people where theorising that having powers further amplifies already strong parts of people's characters, which for us is probably our sense of justice, which would in turn make that anger stronger.

>>4595582
wouldn't surprise me, with that in mind it explains why Salamander was showing off that kinda makes sense

Right as school went out I got a text from Ms Grant, with it a picture. It was her in front of a tailor's dummy, mirrors set up like in a fitting room, and with it an address out in the 'burbs.

Got that new suit ready - Ms Grant

I let out a nervous breath. A new look for a new mission. I guess it would do, but it meant a detour. I'd had my last blood soaked hoodie incinerated though, so I was in the mood for new threads. I googled the address and mapped a path in my head before masking up, a beanie pulled low making up for the lack of a hood. Then when the sun started creeping down to the horizon, I snuck out saying I was meeting up with Kay at an arcade, and set toward it.

It was in a nicer area, a two floor townhouse kind of thing with a Fall dead garden in the front, a flower bed hanging on the window sill. Ms Grant was waiting out the front by her car, chill wind stirring strands of dark hair. I landed on the branch of a tree overhead.

"Yo," I said. She looked up.

"Yo?" she said with a raised brow, "Do people still say yo?"

"I say yo," I said, swinging down from the tree branch. "You got something for me?"

"A new suit inside," she said, "Custom made, very expensive but very chic. You'll be taking down gangsters in style."

"I have to be some place," I said.

"It won't take long, they just need to make adjustments," she said, leading me up the stairs.

'They' were called Merriweather, and they were a private tailor for the rich and fashionable. Ms Grant promised they could keep their mouth shut, they had experience keeping secrets. We were met in the waiting room by Merriweather themselves. I don't know much about the LGBT community but you'd need to be a moron to not realize this person was part of it. I couldn't tell their gender at a glance, they had a lotion bright olive skin tone, shaved bald but with a clear hairline to say it was personal choice and not a cope, with a hint of blue make up around the corner of their eyes and lips. I couldn't tell their age, maybe north of thirty, maybe south of fifty.

They were perfumed up and dressed in a hand crafted, tailor fit suit with a puff of a cravat.

I guess 'non-binary' was the term, we had a few at school. Fashion was a natural industry for someone like them, I wasn't entirely surprised.

"Oh honey this will not do," they said, looking me up and down, "When Maddy-Line told me she was bring the new hot superhero my giddy little heart all but stopped. Let's make a look worthy of your reputation."

They took a measuring tape to me, working me over with quick, practiced hands. They had a pleasant smell of lotion and perfume. "Shorter than I expected, but bigger in the shoulders, there's some muscle here. Boxing, weight training? Maybe both. nice hip to waist ration. Barely a touch of body fat. Very good. I have designs ready but I needed the exact...now this is the delicate part."

They measured around down there. Ms grant watched by a mirror, arms crossed with a little smile.

"You've never had your measurements taken before, have you?" Merriweather said.

I shook my head.

"Everyone should have a fitted suit," they said, "I do deals you know, discounts for the poor. I run a workshop for soon-to-be fashionistas and designers on the south side too. Street fashion needs to come from the street you know. We don't need those gentrifying tastes taking over. Oh and you are as street as they come, for a white boy."

"Do you have an interest in fashion?" they asked.

"Not really," I said.

An amused smile crossed their face. "I can tell," they brushed dirt from my shoulder.

"Now leave this to me honey-boy, I'll have you looking hot," they said, "Maddy gave me the specifics. I don't get to work with these materials often, very few of my clients are looking to be bullet proof. I've made an undersirt of spider-weave, golden orb specifically. It will stop a low caliber bullet but don't think it makes you bullet proof. It's all the rage in the military. I've given it a little more 'jazz'. The jacket, double breasted buttoned across the chest, has a stab resistant layer woven into it. A high collar buttons under your chin in a Mandarin style. For face covering I don't want to mess with your look too much. Custom goggles better fitted to your skull shape with a covering for your mouth and a hood to match your jacket. Pants wise I took inspiration from Orientalist depictions of ninja with a touch of parkour, loose enough to give you air flow and a nice aerodynamic look when you're bounding around. All in all I think it'll be a look to strike fear in the hearts of villains."

"The question I have for you is color. Now I was thinking a jade green, but I think midnight blue could work, or a more daring red."

It was a lot. I looked at what they'd put together on a dummy in the corner. I don't know if the look was really 'me'.

"You seem unsure," Merriweather said, "I understand, fashion is all about risks, but trust me, I know my business."

"Merriweather made the New York Times 100 most influential people last year," Ms Grant said, "And they apprenticed on Savile Row in London, you really can't do better."

"Oh bless," Merriweather said, brushing their hand at Ms Grant.

>take it in green
>take it in blue
>take it in red

every spelling and grammar mistake pushes me closer to sudoku

>>4595593
>>take it in red

>>4595593
>take it in blue
A very dark blue

>>4595593
>take it in blue

>>4595598
Support
Blue blends in better at night. As much as I hate to admit it, we aren't invincible and do sneak around a lot.

Red makes me think of Supreme, which would make us look like even more of a hypebeast than we already will

>>4595624
>>4595598
>>4595638
locked in

>>4595645
oh shit also we shouldn't mention the words hypebeast or supreme in reference to the costume because it'd probably offend the shit out of the designer

File: with-it.gif (1.24 MB, 480x360)

1.24 MB GIF

>>4595645
do people even wear supreme anymore, pic related

>>4595659
only if they have a trust fund and pretend to skate

"I'll take it in blue," I said, "A lot of what I do involves sneaking around. Red seems like a bullet magnet and I don't know if I can pull off green."

"Oh don't underestimate yourself, honey-boy," they said, "Blue it is, a darker shade. A boyscout but with a bit of edge, someone not to be messed with. You just wait here I'll have it ready for you."

They swished out of the room, leaving me alone with Ms Grant.

"Merriweather is one of God's own creations," she said, "But trustworthy."

They came back with the suit. "Now if you need this fixed you just come on by, I have a spare made just in case," they said.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I said.

"And I appreciate Maddy's money," they replied, "A discount doesn't mean free. But if you have any other costumed friends who need new threads, tell them about me. No one's put their hand in real life super heroes yet, and I'm dying for the challenge." Something told me their instincts wouldn't jive with Misfit's, and Shark didn't wear clothes.

"I'll put the word out," I said, "Though the guys I know might not...styles might clash."

"Don't let the perfume fool you, honey," they said, "I was raised Back Of The Yards. You want tough, grow up queer in down town Chiraq. Now let's leave the boy to change Maddy, I've got tea ready."

When they were both gone I undressed. They'd gone all out that was sure, even the shoes were custom made. I pulled it on, feeling the fit as I buttoned across my chest. Tailor made sat different, and when I checked the mirror I had to admit it looked different too. The spider-weave undershirt felt like a silky carress. My shoulders stood out more, my physique showed off. And it was comfortable too. The dark blue wasn't garish. I brushed back my hair before fitting on the goggles and face mask, pulled up the hood. I bounced from foot to foot, then cut a quick shadow boxing combo, rolling my shoulders, my hips, checking for movement. Flexible despite the material.

It was great, better than I could have hoped for. Merriweather knew their stuff.

If there was one thing that made me a little uncomfortable it was the grip on my backside. Maybe girls like that, I don't know, but it left me feeling exposed.

When they came back Merriweather put their hands to their lips, blushing. "Oh my," they said. I wasn't fully comfortable with that.

"There's a look for a trending hashtag," Ms Grant said.

I thanked Merriweather again and Grant and I left together.

When we were outside in a cold evening, she wrapped her scarf around her neck. "I might have a lead for you on 'Navaja'," she said.

"Yeah?"

"My sources say she operates out of a pair of brothels, one called 'Gatitas', the other 'Princesas'. Gatitas is a low class joint down in Little Village, but Princesas has corporate cover, with rooms based in Sears Tower of all places. They take a more elite clientele. I don't have an ID on her specifically, just stories."

"I can work with that," I said.

>tell her about the hijacking
>don't

>>4595680
>tell her about the hijacking
trust goes both ways

>>4595680
>tell her about the hijacking
So far Ms. Grant has been a godsend, only right we give her the info

>>4595680
>tell her about the hijacking
Here we go! Finally about time we get a sweet suit

>>4595680
>tell her about the hijacking

>>4595680
>tell her about the hijacking
Note that we weren't exactly subtle about stealing the file so plans may have changed up on their end

"I got some news too," I said. I filled her in on what went down, her face growing more severe the deeper the story went.

"Be very careful there, Hotspur," she said, "I have an idea who this 'alphabet gang' is. Remember those federal suits I told you were asking questions? I think they're part of some inter-governmental task force centered around the Chicago Explosion, a very off the books kind of operation. I don't know what their modus operandi is but I'm not digging how they do things. I wouldn't be surprised if they're connected to whatever is in the truck, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was somehow connected to you, or your powers."

"That's a leap," I said, going cold inside.

"Maybe," she pursed her lips, "I think you should definitely stop what the Cartel is planning. I don't like the idea of something mysterious like that falling into criminal hands. But I don't trust the government with it either, whatever it is. Luckily I don't have to make that call."

"You've got a good head on your shoulders," she said, "You'll know the right thing to do."

Would I? "Tell me about Misfit," she said.

I filled her in on what I knew, she was some kind of biker chick from the rough side of town, could create explosions of light, and wasn't shy about putting a boot in someone's head. Ms Grant drank in the information, dark eyes narrow.

"We need to build our alliances," she said, "Maybe Misfit can be part of it."

"I'll see how she does on the hijacking," I said, "But now I've got some place to be."

"Text me if you need anything," she said as I took a running lunge up into the night.

The north side wasn't where I'd normally go all Hotspur, and it made a difference. There were a lot less tall buildings to use except the occasional luxury apartment block. Free falling in my new suit, the wind cut around it, no longer as hbone chilling, the loose pant legs fluttering under me. The boots, custom made, absorbed more of the shock on my landing, giving me a quicker spring up. I leapt from the roofs of take out joints to low strip malls, moving in an arc toward the school.

We were meant to meet at 9:30. It was about that time when I caught the flagpole out the front, hanging off it on one arm, looking to the roof. The night had turned it into a dark silhouette, the bell tower rising tall from the rest. Some lights were on, late night cleaners probably, maybe staff staying late. I heard the a door whine open, light spill out over the roof, the soft sound of voices carrying over the quiet night air.

I bunched my feet against the flagpole, and leapt.

They came out onto the roof rugged up for warmth, breath wispy smoke from their lips. A couple I expected, Ivy, Kay, Ayesha, but they weren't alone. Daphne, the theater girl Kay had befirended, came in behind them, with a couple of seniors I recognized as Peyton and Jessica, both cheerleaders. Last was Ms Flores and of all people Mr Getty. He carried a thermas of coffee, slurping at it as he closed the door behind them.

"I really must say we're better off going to the police," he said.

"We've been to the police," Ms Flores said, "They don't know where to start with this."

"I just don't think its good school policy to hire a vigilant," he said, "We can sort this out ourselves."

"You didn't have to come," she fired at him.

"And we aren't hiring him," Ayesha piped in, "He's a hero, not a mercenary."

"My ears are burning!" I called, landing before them, bowing forward, "Are you talking about me?"

Ayesha blushed hard, lips swallowed back in her mouth.

"Look guys, its Hot Rod," Ivy said, "I didn't believe Ayesha when she said you'd show."

"Of course he'd show!" she said.

"I saw your message on twitter," I said standing straight, "I came as quick as I could." I moved over toward them, and felt them shuffle back.

Ayesha smiled, rubbing a cheek. "Its weird thinking of you using twiiter," she said. She looked me up and down. "New costume? Nice, that's...that's a good look. Real good." She bit her bottom lip and I got uncomfortable again.

"Figured it was about time for an upgrade," I said.

Ivy sighed. "Change your panties, Ayesha, they're dripping."

Ayesha's eyes went wide and she turned away. I burned under my mask as the others gasped in shock. Ivy didn't give a shit.

"You're going to help us?" Kay asked, suspiciously.

"If I can," I said soberly, taking a step closer to her. "The message said something about a pervert who can turn invisible?" I looked over them, "He's been harassing girls, right?"

"That 's correct," Ms Flores said, "We hoped you could help us catch him."

"Who says he isn't here right now, listening?" I said.

Ms Flores' eyes now widened, she looked around in the dark, hugging her arm.

I looked to Mr Getty. "It's a surprise to see you here," I said, "Were you targeted?"

"I don't need to be a target to care," Mr Getty said, "The jagoff's gone after my students, the stars of my show. I won't take that lying down."

Or are you responsible, I thought.

"Do you have any leads?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"He's been getting bolder though," Peyton, the captain of the cheerleaders said. Peyton was a bubbly blonde who I knew worked her off time at a soup kitchen. She was as far removed from the stereotypes as possible, her boyfriend was the head of the chess club.

"We saw something in the showers after practice," Jessica was Filipina, I think. I mostly knew her from Kemal, who thought she was the most beautiful girls in the school. I didn't know about that. "We chased him out with a fire extinguisher."

"Good thinking," I said.

"I thought we could set a trap for him," Ivy said, "Lure him out with something too tempting for a perv to turn down."

"And when he pops up you can move in and take him down," Kay said. It was good to see them united like this.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"Cheerleader tryouts," Peyton said, "Schoolwide, open to everyone."

Yeah that might do it.

"Mr Getty and I will be the judges, with Peyton. I was a cheerleader in high school you know," Ms Flores said.

"And you'll all try out?" I asked, looking to my friends. To say it was strange to be around them and not have them recognize me was an understatement. Kay looked at me with hostile suspicion, while Ayesha had something close to worship in her eyes. Only Ivy knew me for who I was, and she was trying to play it off with feigned contempt.

At least I hoped it was feigned.

"Hell no," Ivy said, "A cheerleader? This isn't the 1950s."

"Hey," Peyton snapped.

"No offence," she said with an unapologetic smile.

It did sound like a solid plan.

>go for it, I'll need the time and date to be ready
>I have another option, a man named Andrew Givens

>>4595772
>go for it, I'll need the time and date to be ready
and if this doesn't work we can always try to get Andrew to possibly help later, though it might be hard with him now working for the government

>>4595772
>go for it, I'll need the time and date to be ready
Yessir, Hotspur looking hot!

>>4595772
>go for it, I'll need the time and date to be ready
We still need a way to see him. When you used the extinguisher did you see the powder sticking on him or did it disappear as well?

>>4595772
>I have another option, a man named Andrew Givens
A confrontation with a supe with unknown powers around a bunch of normies seems like a mediocre idea at best

>>4595791
>>4595785
>>4595778
locked in

"I can dig it," I said, "Just give me the time and date, and I'll be ready."

"Next Friday," Peyton said, "Here at the school, around 12."

"I'm really not comfortable with this plan," Mr Getty said, "I have to say it puts the girls at needless risk."

"I'm not fully comfortable with it either," Ms Flores said, "But we need to do something."

"When you used the fire extinguisher on him, did the foam stick to his body or did it disappear as well?" I asked Jessica, "This is extremely important."

"I think so," she said, "But the showers were running and it was hot, so it didn't stick long. I actually thought I could see him in the steam at some points."

"He could be dangerous, when I move in you all clear out," I said, "Leave him to me."

They agreed, which was a relief.

"So see you Friday then?" Ayesha said, a little hopeful tone in her voice as she adjusted her glasses.

"Bet on it," I said, then gave her a thumb's up, "I can't let down my number one fan." She blushed as the other girls giggled.

"See you there," Ms Flores said.

I turned to leap off the roof, running for the ledge. "Nice ass!" Ivy called. I stumbled at the laughter of the girls. This damn costume. I smoothed out my stride as I hit the ledge, and lunged into the sky.

By the time I came down in my hood my belly was burning. I dropped on the roof of Luis' store.

One problem with the new digs. I couldn't just pull the hoodie off and walk on in. I got out my phone and sent him a text, asking to meet him up top.

It took a minute before he showed up out of a rooftop exit.

"That's a new look," he said, pulling on his pork pie hat, "I hate it man, why you got to mess with the urban ninja thing you had going on?"

"It was a bit DIY though," I said.

"Yeah but that was you, holmes," he said, "I don't know, maybe I'll get used to it." He tossed me a paper bag. I opened it up to a couple of hot, steaming, glistening cinnabuns. I wolfed them down, fingers sticky, sucking the glaze off.

"So you want me to set up a Hotspur signal up here or something?" he said, "Shine a light every time I got extra donuts lying around."

"I was wondering if you had paintballs or something," I said, "Might help me deal with this guy can turn invisible. People at school are calling him the Creeper."

"I can swing that, hook you up," he said. "Hopefully this goes better than the last super fight you got in."

"This guy isn't Salamander," I said.

"Good, because I won't be there to save you this time," he said.

"When you need these by?" he said.

"Friday morning."

Luis nodded. "Swing by then," he said.

Maybe he could help me another way.

>I can't keep this suit at home, can you stash it here?
>Luis does enough for me, I'll stash it at the hideout

>>4595856
>Luis does enough for me, I'll stash it at the hideout
Wayyyy too risky to stash it here, however convenient it is

>>4595856
>Luis does enough for me, I'll stash it at the hideout

>>4595856
>Luis does enough for me, I'll stash it at the hideout

>>4595856
>Luis does enough for me, I'll stash it at the hideout

Why have a hideout if we don't use it?

>>4595862
>>4595867
>>4595914
locked in

I couldn't ask more from Luis than what he was already doing. having to head all the way out to my 'hideout', the abandoned warehouse I train in, might be inconvinient but it kept him safe.

"Thanks," I said.

"All good holmes," he said.

What I did get from him was a change of clothes, something new to put on when I needed to switch out of this tailored get up.

When I got to my hideout I switched out, stashing my costume in there. I really should decorate the place or something, it was all bare surfaces. My dark blue costume looked lonely in a pile in the corner. But there was no way I could keep it at home. Dad was inattentive but he wasn't blind, and neither was Mrs Valdez or anyone else on my block.

So I pulled up the hood on my new hoodie and walked my way home in the cold dark night, my mind on Friday.

I'd lost to Salamander, beat down in a park, but there was no way in hell I'd lose to the Creep.

Not with my friends counting on me.

No way in hell.
-
stopping here

Hope you guys are looking forward to your second super-villain fight. Sorry if it was a bit railroady with Eric going straight to Luis for paintballs. If you guys have other ideas about what things Eric can bring to this fight, let me know.

>>4595934
>Other ideas about what things Eric can bring to this fight
For all we've skedaddled around the city, we are still wildly unprepared in terms of gear:
For the Creeper: flour, chalk or anything that can be thrown in a cloud (paintballs aren't the best since they need to explode before they spray paint and short of throwing them...), zipties (for obvious reasons).
In general: compact first aid kit, taser, pepperspray, baton, anything that can give us an edge in combat, maybe brass knuckles?

>>4595934
Silly string. Pretty cheap I think, and would work perfectly.
>>4596035
I'm going to advocate we get weighted knuckle gloves instead of brass knuckles. They would serve us better defensively and are less lethal.

>>4595934
No problem. Rather than paintballs, I think a water gun would be more handy. Especially if we can fill it with iodine or something that stains skin and clothing and can't wash off. Even better if we can rig up a gardening hose attachment to it so it comes out in a spray instead of a stream.

>>4595934
like what >>4596124 anon said, a water gun would be handier, and with water based paint since its safe and easily sticks. I think we should bring other stuff like flour just in case. zipties, weighted knuckle gloves, compact first aid kit, pepper spray and silly string, like what >>4596035 and >>4596060 anons say. we'll probably also need another phone, as a backup for photographing incriminating evidence.

if not, just fill the water gun with gas and bring a lighter. best way to see the creep

>>4596200
I don't think incineration would be the best move for the hotspur brand

File: CopelandLaugh.png (297 KB, 455x496)

297 KB PNG

>>4596200
>putting the hot in hotspur

>>4596200
Unless our powers include a pocket dimension we might want to cut this down to essentials. We'll be in a school with a nurses office, so first aid kit can be dropped. Phones for recording can be left to the teachers we're cooperating with. Silly string is redundant with the rest of our loadout, flour too probably. We might want to hold off on weighted knuckle gloves as long as we don't know he has enhanced durability. Obviously we're not going to use a makeshift flamethrower on a guy who has yet to actually cause physical harm to anyone. Pepper spray and zipties are great.

>>4595934
Definitely looking forward to that, when's the next run? I don't think it was too railroady, it's not a big leap to bring paint to an invisible fight, though I also support the water gun filled with paint idea over paintballs.
I liked all the different reactions to the new threads, maybe Merriweather can make the next version look a bit more 'scuffed' to better connect with our usual crowd.
Also, how giddy is Louis under the tough demeanor about being "the guy in the know" and fuel supplier for the first real super hero?

I'll be honest I don't know why some of you guys want Hotspur to use brass knuckles. He already punches hard enough to bust through cement, he has to be pretty careful not to kill people when he hits them, I don't see brass knuckles making much of a difference next to what he already does. I feel similarly about him using a baton but can see how that has more utility. Is it to give him more of a Batman/gadget user flair?

>>4596628
I think we wanted to do something about the constant knuckle damage, so we suggested hand wraps and those have been working out, so some people thought why not go farther?

Personally I agree, unless we're fighting someone like Shark they'd be overkill.

>>4596628
Nah I agree, there's not much point apart from protecting our hands from damage

I'm not running today just so you guys know, I've had too much stuff to do and I'm tired, but I'll be updating tomorrow. Hope to see you guys then.

>>4596664
Can't wait, thanks for the consistent updates OP

>>4596292
i was thinking more of the stuff we'd bring on our daily adventures, but yeah i could see why. instead of flour lets just bring two water guns

Friday had come. The day of the planned cheerleader try outs and my confrontation with the Creep. I lay in bed, running through scenarios in the pre-dawn hour.

I had a problem, and it was a real niggling bitch of a problem. How was I going to get to school as Hotspur without anyone getting suspicious?

>go for first period then leave sick
>skip going to school all together

>>4597542
>skip going to school all together

>>4597542
>skip going to school all together
Hopefully our dad can call in and excuse this one. Maybe our injuries are acting up or something

>>4597630
We've healed from the major injuries he knows about

>>4597628
>>4597630
locked in

I figured it was better to not go at all than have to ditch half way through.

When my alarm went off I stumbled out of bed putting on a hard cough, sniffing. Dad was in the kitchenette putting together some breakfast.

"You all right kid?" he said as I slumped into the chair.

I nodded dumbly, then hesitantly shook my head. "I think I might be coming down with something," I said, "Maybe I shouldn't go to school today." It was a solid performance in my opinion.

Dad wasn't the 'check your temperature' kind of guy. Mom had always been about that stuff. Still he looked me over in concern.

"You've been taking it pretty rough lately," he said, "I'll let the school know but you stay in bed. I'll ask Mrs Valdez to come up and check on you."

Mrs Valdez, my blood froze. I hadn't banked on Dad assigning a babysitter.

"Mrs Valdez is pretty old," I said, "Do you really want to risk her catching it?" For emphasis I coughed into my hand.

That made Dad a little more suspicious. He leaned on the counter with a savvy look in his eyes.

"You know if you're just trying to get a day off school you don't have to give me the runaround," he said, "Shoot straight with me eric, I won't be mad."

>no, seriously, I'm sick!
>...you got me

>>4597653
>...you got me
Ask him if we can play hooky for today, we've been a straight shooter so far and going to school whenever we can, despite our injuries

>>4597653
>...you got me

>>4597653
>...you got me

pls be cool dad
if not maybe it's time to tell him

>>4597669
>>4597666
>>4597655
locked in

I sighed and put up my hands. "You got me," I said.

"So why do you want to play hooky?" he asked, stirring his coffee, "Just feeling like it or is something going on at school? You aren't being bullied are you?"

"No, nothing like that," I said, "I guess I'm just stressed, yeah. I need a break, my brain is all fried."

"Hmm," Dad took a long sip, "Yeah, you've been having a hard year. Tell you what, I'll let you have this one day off, but you have to promise me you'll work to get your grade up. Mom thought you had it in you to be an honor's student. I'd like to see you put in the effort."

That was a lot to ask, academic competition at my school was fierce and whatever Mom thought of me I don't think I was big brained enough to go against someone like Annie or Chad. I'm not dumb but talking to them made me feel smooth brained, so smooth I could rent it out as a ski slope to rich New Yorkers.

"I'll try," I offered.

"That's all I ask," he said, setting down his coffee. He checked his phone. "Well that's me, see you tonight?" he said, as he went for the door.

"I hope so," I said.

I watched him leave. Dad could be pretty cool when he wanted to be. I waited a solid hour before heading out. My first stop was Luis' store.

He'd set up Hallowwen signs even though it wasn't for another week, and was in the middle of putting up a grinning skeleton by the counter when I walked in. His cat sprang down from the shelf to rub up against my leg.

"Ey, Rico, hold this," he said, dangling the skeleton at me. I grabbed the skull as he put a knee up on the counter to hook the string around a hook, letting it hang limp next to the front entrance. He stepped down grinning. "You think it'll spook anyone?" he said.

Maybe a five year old, a particularly nervous, near-sighted five year old.

I had a grocery list of material for dealing with the invisible creep.

"You get those paintballs?" I asked.

"I did one better," he said, pulling out a pair of bright pink pistols from behind the counter. "Paintball guns going at a discount," he said, "With a couple of magazines. Enough balls to paint the school. Like Community, you know."

I didn't know what that was, some old people TV show.

"I need some flour too," I said, "And can you hook me up with a taser, maybe some pepper spray? I could use like a baton or something."

"Jesus Eric, I'm a corner store," he said, "You can get the flour, aisle 3 bottom shelf, but the rest is more than I can skate, unless you're happy with a bat. We got baseball bats in the back with the sports equipment."

"You know someone who can hook me up?" I said.

"There's plenty of online vendors for that stuff, or you could go to Walmart," he said, "But I don't know what you need it for. Tasers are crazy unreliable, I seen one guy shrug off three right in the parking lot across the street, ran down the cops too and he wasn't on anything but a little liquor. Hell and on the other side of the coin you get unlucky with a taser you kill somebody too. you don't want to carry a rap for manslaughter."

"Just looking to add some versatility to my kit," I said, "Can't punch everyone."

"I feel that," he said.

I stashed the paintball guns in my backpack, added the bag of flour.

When I left D-Mark and Smokey had set up outside, D-Mark in a squat with half a cigarette at his lips.

"Man, my lady left me," he said to Smokey, "Said she was done messing with a loser with no job."

"You tell her we get three hundred hits on our soundcloud yesterday?" Smokey said.

"She said that don't count unless its got dollars attached, man," D-Mark clutched his head, "I need a job, and not this gig shit we been playing. Money you can tax, feel me?"

"I feel you," Smokey said, "But I ain't about shifting into the system of capitalist exploitation either. Man, I am a free and sovereign citizen, beholden to no government or corporation. I stand on my own two."

"Yeah well, I like pussy and donuts," D-Mark said, "You got either of those in the Sovereign State of Smoke?" Smokey shook his head. "That's what I figure," D-Mark crunched his cigarette, "Ay young 'un, Eric," he called at me. I slowed down. "Stay in school!"

I gave him a thumb's up.

I walked out to my hideout, ducking through the break in the wire-link fence. My new suit was where I left it. I got changed, pulling it on. It wasn't hard to get in and out of, despite the tight fit. The jacket buttoned over the undershirt, the gloves went over my taped up hands. I pulled on the goggles, pulled the cloth face mask up over my nose, and pulled up the hood. I wished I had a mirror to check myself in. It was snug in exposing places, I wasn't really about that.

I checked the time. I had maybe an hour to get to school. I pulled on my backpack. It probably spoiled the image but how else was I going to carry all that junk.

Outside I looked up to the cold blue sky, breathing in deep. I stretched out my fingers then clenched them into fists. I began to run through the tall grass surrounding the abandoned warehouse, then with a last muscle bunching step, leapt up into the sky.

I had a mission. Game time.

-

I came down in the trees at the front of the school, branches bowing under the force of my drop, leaves rustling. It was on twelve, the auditions would be starting, an open audition to join the school's top cheerleading team. I wondered just how many prospects it would attract.

My next jump saw me on the top of the school where I'd met the others earlier in the week. It was weird being here as someone else. It was dangerous too. I felt all it would take was one wrong word or movement for someone to recognize me.

I waited at the door.

It swung open with a creak. Ivy stepped out. It was a relief in a way, at least she knew who I was.

"They're getting started now," she said, "It's pretty crowded. If they aren't trying out they're watching. Looks like the Creep isn't the only perv at school."

"I'm surprised you aren't trying out," I said, "With your warm, cuddly nature you'd make a natural cheerleader."

She gave me a sardonic look, then held up a finger as if in warning.

"That's a pretty mean thing for a superhero to say," Jessica said, stepping out from behind Ivy. She wore the green and gold top and gold skirt of the cheerleader squad, her black hair lashed back in a ponytail. All she was missing was pompoms.

Can't act too familiar with Ivy with her around.

"The first batch will be done in ten minutes," she said, "We're doing the tryouts in groups. Whoever is good will stand out from the rest. Then we'll elimate them down as we go. Peyton will put them through their paces."

"Where are the showers?" I asked, acting as if I didn't know.

"Right outside the auditorium." she said.

"And when will I know to strike?" I said, "I doubt you'd be comfortable with me hiding in a locker."

"That's a good question," Jessica said, "You're the hero. We'll leave it to you."

>if you're comfortable with it I can hide in the changing room
>someone can keep lookout and text me when you think he's there

>>4597792
>someone can keep lookout and text me when you think he's there
one super perv is more than enough, we have a rep to think about

>>4597801
Supporting

>>4597792
>someone can keep lookout and text me when you think he's there

>>4597792
>if you're comfortable with it I can hide in the changing room

>>4597856
>>4597817
>>4597801
locked in

"Someone can keep a lookout and text me when they think the Creep is there," I said.

"I can do that," Ivy said, "I'm not interested in the try-outs anyway."

Jessica nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I have to get back to the others. Send a message when the action is going down. Mr Getty will pull the fire alarm and evacuate the school. And when you catch him we'll call the cops."

I punched my palm. "Let's do this."

And the waiting began.

I sat up there for maybe a half hour playing on my phone. Waiting was not a lot of fun. It turns out 'Raid: Shadow Legends' fucking sucks. I deleted it from my apps when I got a ping from Ivy.

Ivy - Get ready.

I straightened up, cracking my back. Time to go.

Stalking through the school in my outfit was a strange feeling, even more so since the school felt half deserted. Empty class rooms stood silent, sound filtering in from outside. I had my bag of gear in one hand, the tools I'd need to take out the Creep.

It was while walking past the science lab I heard a sharp hiss followed by whispering. I turned to see Annie poking her head out the door. A startled look crossed Annie Wang's face before she pulled her head back, the excited whispering growing louder. I could guess who was with her. A skinny hand slid out from behind the door frame holding a camera, a quick snap. Then Ben ducked his head out, staring, buck teeth bared in a gawping expression.

"No way," he said.

I kept heading down toward the basketball courts, where the cheerleader tryouts were still going, and the girl's showers stood.

No one was around except Ivy leaning on the wall, playing on her phone. The soft hiss of running water came from behind the door, the slam of lockers and muffled conversation. Music pumped out from the courts, a good chunk of the student body assembled to watch. She stood up from the wall, slipping away her phone.

"Hey," she said, "The next round of girls just went in."

"Ayesha and Kay are part of the group. I don't know if you noticed but the Creep seems to have a thing for Ayesha," she said, "I figured if he was going to do something stupid it'd be when she was around."

"Good thinking," I said, pulling one of the pink paintball handguns from my backpack.

She looked to my bag and up to my face. "You need anyone to watch your back in there?" she asked.

Her expression was more serious than I was used to. My guess is she wanted payback. He'd stolen her underwear, that's not something anyone could forgive.

>I'll be fine, you've helped out plenty
>I could use the help, give her one of the guns

>>4597936
>I could use the help, give her one of the guns
Another pair of eyes can't hurt

>>4597936
>I could use the help, give her one of the guns

>>4597946
>>4597944
locked in

I spun the gun to hand her the grip.

"You know how to use one of these?" I said.

"No, played plenty of Time Crisis though. Do you?" she replied, taking it.

"Nope," I said, pulling the second out of my bag.

She held the bright pink gun up in both hands posing like a James Bond poster.

"Let's paint this sucker," she said.

Good line.

As we stepped in I felt an innate nervousness. Whatever I'd done in the past, fighting gangsters over the rooftops of Chicago, faced down an eight foot shark man, dodged bullets from men trying to kill me, it was still the girl's changing room. Steam clouded the slick ground as I followed Ivy in, the sound of voices coming from the showers beyond the locker, some of them I recognized.

There was an invisible pervert somewhere here, skulking around while the girls in my class, including my girlfriend, washed off their sweaty bodies under hot, steaming water, probably soaping themselves...I swallowed. There were two perverts here.

The change in temperature from the chilly school hall to the hot swelter of the showers made sweat start to crawl down my back. The steam clouds wafted out thick, almost impenetrable.

Ivy held up a finger for me to stop, back pressed to a locker. The heat was startling to curl her hair into drooping ringlets, sweat beading down her neck. I followed her stare into the hot steamy room.

I saw a dark shape, a wet body, frizzy thick hair dropping around her head. I snapped my eyes away, blushing at what little I'd seen of Ayesha.

Did they really have to go all the way with this act? I was burning under my mask. Ivy's eyes hunted through the steam though, unbothered by the wet, glistened bodies my body was screaming at me to look at while my better self snarled back.

Wasn't Mr Getty supposed to pull the fire alarm?

"There!" Ivy snapped, her gun dropping down.

Something the steam moved around, empty space that became a shape around the curling touch of steam.

Ivy stepped into the showers, gun in front of her. I stepped in after her. A girl I didn't know screamed, moving to cover herself.

The shape jerked up, stunned by the sudden noise and the sight of both of us appearing in the showers. Then he moved.

>roll 3 x 1d100+15 dc 80

Rolled 36 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4598030
FREEZE! HANDS IN THE AIR

to pre-empt concerns barring a crit fail/crit success this will be a series of DC checks.

no one there?

Rolled 60 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4598030
>>4598192
It's super late, lucky I checked before sleeping

Rolled 92 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4598030

>>4598205
very good, very good

I saw the swirl of steam around wet legs, the scream of girls soon puntuated by the harsh beep of the fire alarm. And then I saw water spray off nothing. I fired a paintball, a blue dot bursting across the wall.

"Get out of here!" Ivy said as the girls rushed for the exit. I kept my eyes head height even as a girl smacked into me in a panic, her slippery wet body rolling off and around. I tried not turn to watch Kay sprint out, though I wanted to say something to relieve the cloud of fear over her face.

"Something touched me!" a girl screamed, jumping. Ayesha grabbed her, pulled her out of my way. The steam didn't hide much. I couldn't look her way, it took all of my focus and will to control my screaming teenage hormones at the sights and sounds of the chaos and keep my concentration on the task at hand.

Ivy unloaded with a sharp belt of anger, dots bursting over the wall. I heard the pit-pat of wet feet in water, saw the steam move around something running and fired.

A blue dot bloomed across a naked back, painting between the shoulder blades. Whoever they were cried out in shock. They ducked behind a wall.

I stepped between him and the exit, gun in front of me.

"We know you're in here Creep!" I said, "Come out with your hands in the air!"

"L-like you'd even see them!" I didn't recognize the voice, but it was tight with panic.

I looked to Ivy, who moved toward the stall, gun low. We locked eyes.

'What next?' her eyes said.

I tilted my head, 'You flush him out.'

She nodded, back to the wall he was hiding behind. She took a deep breath, then spun around, pistol clicking, spraying the area with paintballs. She jerked back with shock as a pink and blue painted chest came charging through her. She slipped, landing hard, a still streaming shower raining down on her back. She gasped in shock at the sudden hot water gushing over her, and pushed her way forward.

Then her chin flew back as she made a harsh cry. The painted chest hovered over her. Her wet hair twisted up in an invisible grip.

"Stay back!" he said, "I've got a knife, I'll slit your girlfriend's throat! Back away from the exit!"

My heart beat froze. "Let her go."

"I wasn't hurting anyone," he said, "It's just...just harmless fooling around. No one had to know!"

"It's not looking so harmless now," I said, "Are you ok Ivy?"

She grit her teeth, her eyes telling me how stupid the question was. "Fine," she snarled through her perfect white teeth.

He picked up her paintball gun. "Just back away!" he gestured at me like it was a real weapon, dragging Ivy by the hair."

"You've got a knife, huh?" I said, looking to Ivy. Did she know what I was planning? She nodded as if she did.

I threw my backpack at him. He raised his arms in surprise, letting go of Ivy. She dived for the bag and pulled out the flour, flinging it over him. He screamed like a shocked child as the white powder stuck across his body, across his arms, his legs, his crotch. He stood stark naked in the showers, a now visible if headless powder white figure. He had no knife I could see, and I could unfortunately see everything except the look on his face.

This guy, this sick coward who had harassed and stalked my friends, stood looking pathetic in the middle of the room, horrified by his own reveal.

Power surged through my legs as I lunged toward him, rage and fire pumping through me, my hand a clenched fist.

>roll 3 x 1d100+30 dc 55

Rolled 51 + 30 (1d100 + 30)

>>4598239
He's gonna get his shit rocked
God I hope it's Jeremy, fuck that guy

Rolled 75 + 30 (1d100 + 30)

>>4598239

Rolled 74 + 30 (1d100 + 30)

>>4598239
inb4 we punch this guy's head clean off on accident

>>4598261
got him

I threw a right cross as Ivy swept his leg with a kick, driving him even harder into my fist.

Blood poured down over his lips and chin, the sound he made panicked and pathetic as he stumbled over, grabbing at his mouth blanketing out the sight of it for a moment. I didn't let up, loosing a left hook behind his ear. He wailed. It was pathetic, and only stoked my anger.

Ivy scrambled away as he tripped by, staggering.

"You disgusting little creep," I said, stalking him over the drips of blood, his trail running into the steamy showers.

"Please," he sobbed, "I was j-just playing around."

"Playing around? You could have done something good with your powers, something decent."

"M-maybe if I had your powers," he said, "M-maybe if I could leap over buildings, b-but I can turn invisible. N-no one ever noticed me e-even before I t-turned invisible. Are you g-going to tell me you wouldn't do the same thing?"

He ran for one of the running showers, maybe hoping to wash off the blood, flour and paint. I grabbed him by the neck, and flung him back toward the entrance. He smacked down onto the cement, rolling with a groan.

"Stalk girls, creep on them?" I kicked him over, "No, I wouldn't. No way in hell!"

I grabbed at his throat, squeezing. His blood stained hands gripped my wrist.

"Guys like you think we're all the same deep down," I said, driving my fist into his face, "Scumbags, perverts, corrupt. You act like good people don't exist, innocent people." I belted him again. "Leaving dead rats in a girl's locker, stealing panties, grabbing them. What else did you do?"

"D-dead rat?" he choked.

I pushed him down. "I'll beat the invisible out of you," I snarled.

My fist drove down, again and again, the knuckle guard on the glove turning red.

"Hotspur," a voice I could barely hear through my burning rage. "Hotspur stop!" louder but I was half-blind, my teeth bared.

"Eric..." a panicked whisper in my ear.

My fist jerked to a stop half way to his face. His nose was a bloody crater in a tan face, teeth dislodged through groaning lips. I didn't know him, whoever he was. He looked Asian, or mixed. He twitched under me with a cough.

I looked up to Ivy, her eyes wide with fear, her hand locked to my shoulder, her cheeks red from the heat.

"He's done," she said.

I got up with a swagger, the Creep's blood dripping from my fist.

"Is he..." my voice was spiky with puberty and a flush of fear, "Is he alive?"

She touched his neck, checking for his pulse. I sagged with relief when she nodded, visibly slackened, slumping back against the wet wall. It was hot in my new suit, and I was suddenly very tired. I loosened my collar at the neck, unbuttoning it. He lay covered in flour, paint, and his own blood among the rivers of water bubbling around him, shrouded in the steam. Self-disgust rose up inside me.

I'd almost beaten him to death.

"What about you," I said, waving a hand.

"He kicked me in the chin," she said.

"Glad you stopped him, glad you got revenge?" I said, bending over my knees. Hunger was starting to set in.

She crossed her arms. "I didn't do it for revenge," she said.

But whatever else she was going to say she left unsaid when the other girls came back in, now dressed.

They stopped in shock at the sight of the blood and his battered face.

"Who is that guy?" Kay asked, a hand to her nose.

"I think his name is Ernest, we have Biology together," Daphne said.

Ayesha handled the zip ties. They rolled him onto his back, binding his hands together, then his ankles.

"The cops are on the way," Ayesha said, coming up to me, "Do you want to stick around, give them the blow by blow?"

I shook my head. "Me and the cops aren't exactly tight," I said, "Ivy can fill them in on what happened."

"Yeah well, don't be a stranger," she said, "This is the second time you've saved me. I owe you."

"It's a bad habit to get into," I said, "But as damsels go you're pretty all right."

She took a deep breath, walking away. Then shook her head and walked back.

"Do you maybe want my number?" she said in a nervous rush, "I know I'm maybe young but I'm mature for my age and um no, forget it, forget I said anything I...thanks again Hotspur, really. Thank you!"

She gave me a quick, tight hug then stepped away with a nervous grin. I saw Ivy try not to laugh. I felt all kinds of weird, but I felt bad too. Ayesha really put herself out there.

"Well, if you do need rescuing, I'll come running," I said, "You have my word, and when I give my word I keep it." She didn't see the wink on account of the goggles, but I hope she heard it.

Either way, it was time for me to go.

The crowd outside parted as I left, staring in wonder, phones snapping pictures. People I knew looked at me with awe. I was a stranger among them, something not entirely real. I didn't like it, the feeling it left me with.

I ignored the calls for me to wait, the people trying to get my attention. Now all I wanted was to be somewhere else, and leave this all behind me.

I ran.

I'll be back tomorrow

Sorry if the Creep being an unknown student was underwhelming. It was always the plan. You'd have met him in the first thread if you'd gone to the Loop to meet Kemal.

>>4598341
Nah that made sense. Thanks for running!

So I've noticed a trend, when we got our powers we were protecting a woman from a scumbag. Then when Ivy mentions scumbags going after her at parties we start to lose our shit. And when this invisible guy was harassing women we went fucking nuclear on him too. I think our supe psychosis is directly related to what we were doing right when we got our powers, and it seems like it's getting worse. Maybe we can talk to Ivy or Luis about it but I think we should start meditating to regain some control.

I think the real solution to this problem would be to find out more about the explosion, treat the root cause. Because at this point it's a matter of time before we lose control and beat someone to death.

>>4598440
>shark was just a hungry swimmer trying to reach land to get a snack

>>4598440
That makes a lot of sense actually! Salamander could've been committing arson, Shark could've been going for a swim, Creep could've been stalking someone. Brooo thats a good theory
Also, I hope this scene proves that Ivy is best girl

>>4598481
Or it could just exaggerate a character trait that was already there. I'm sure a kid with a dead mom feels strongly about protecting women overall. The fact that we were saving that woman could just be a coincidence. Could be correlated to but not caused by what we were doing during the explosion.

>>4598481
>Salamander could've been committing arson
I think Salamander was fighting for fun, note how she keeps challenging people and I think she said she "needed it" when we were fighting her.
I don't know if it has any correlation to abilities, but I think there's a strong correlation to what's driving them.

>>4598790
Yeah agreed. I bet the invisible dude was hiding, maybe from bullies. I don't think its true, but I would laugh my ass off if Shark was literally just a shark before the explosion

>>4597788
> Enough balls to paint the school. Like Community, you know.
>I didn't know what that was, some old people TV show.
welp it's clear now that our guy is an uncultured swine.

>>4599796
I tried the final season recently and it was pretty much unwatchable, couldn't do it. Great show in earlier seasons though.

I got back to Luis' some time after two in the afternoon, switched out of my costume and limping with hunger and self-disgust. The bell chimed overhead as I came in and I had to swerve to avoid the hanging skeleton display.

He had his little tv turned on, watching the news. Priscilla Takanawa stood out the front of my school, mic in hand, scarfed up against the chill breeze with wisps of black hair flicking across her finely sculpted face. Zeke and Dane wandered through the background trying to catch the camera's attention, pulling faces, generally clowning.

"-saw dramatic events unfold within its halls, a super powered showdown between a student dubbed 'The Creep' and the superhero known as Hotspur. The Creep, whose real name cannot be disclosed as the accussed is a minor, is alleged to have been waging a campaign of harrasment on the female student body, going so far as to break into lockers and engage in sexual assault. After a brief but violent confrontation the Creep has been transported to a local hospital under police custody. It's our understanding that the Creep has the power of invisibility, making him the latest in a line of super powered criminals since-"

"Can you shut that off man?" I said, leaning against the counter, belly in a hot vice.

"Crazy shit," Luis said.

"You got anything I can eat man?" I said. He pulled out a pack of glazed donuts.

"You ever consider carrying an emergency supply or something?" he said, "You know my uncle had diabetes and he used to carry a bag of jelly beans on him just in case." I couldn't answer through the chunk of food I was trying to swallow, all mashed up in my mouth.

The news kepts playing. Ms Takanawa was interviewing students now. Ayesha stood nervous in front of the camera.

"We put the word out through social media hoping he'd see it," she said, "We were really lucky. We're all lucky to have a hero like him."

"Change the station," I said, reaching for the remote, burning hot down my neck.

"Fine, fine," Luis said, switching it over.

It was just another news story, still about me but with a very different track. 'Hotspur's Hot New Look' was printed across the bottom half of the screen, over a photo of me stalking down the hallway. I cringed, shoving another donut in my mouth.

Luis sighed, switching it over to a daytime soap. "Oh Rhett!" a woman with a plastic face said, falling into the arms of a plastic faced man.

"Wait, I thought she was goin' with Rhett's cousin Carmichael," Luis said with an ugly frown. When he caught my stare he smiled. "Man, what, give me a break. They got some good lookin' babes on this show and they put 'em in low necklines."

"Pornhub is a thing," I said.

"That's the problem with your generation," he said, "It's all straight to the hardcore stuff. You don't appreciate erotica. Man, I don't want to see a woman turned inside out by some jumbo sized dick everytime."

"This is not an appropriate conversation to have with a minor," I said.

He turned the TV off. "How you doin?" he asked more seriously.

"Fine," I said.

"Really?"

>yeah really
>maybe not 'fine' fine

>>4600646
>maybe not 'fine' fine

>>4600646
>maybe not 'fine' fine

>>4600646
>maybe not 'fine' fine

We should really tell him about us losing control a few times. Get some advice.

>>4600713
>>4600712
>>4600675
locked in

I sighed. "Ok, maybe not 'fine' fine," I said, "The news is making it sound like some super hero fight, some dramatic heroic thing but...it was just messy. It wasn't glamorous. I beat him half to death, Luis. You didn't see what I did to his face."

"Shit," he said, "That's pretty heavy."

"I've just been getting so...so angry lately," I said, "I lose control a little, and with what I can do, that's a scary thing. I don't know if I've...I could have killed guys and not even known it, as hard as I can hit."

"We'd have heard if you'd put anyone in the ground," he said, "And if you're defending yourself its not evil."

The bell chimed, Smokey ducking his head in.

"Not now Smoke," Luis said.

"Man, I was just lookin' to get some hot Cheetohs," he said, backing up.

Luis looked back to me. "Look kid, I don't got a lot of answers, I just run a corner store is all, but you've been doing good where you can and that counts for something. Maybe you need some help managing this stuff. We got grown ass men working as cops and soldiers who can't keep it together. You're just a kid and you already seen more than most folks'll see in a lifetime. It's going to have a toll."

"Who am I supposed to talk to?" I said, "Who else knows what its like?"

"I don't know," he said, "Maybe you can find someone, but until you do you can always swing by here. I'll look out for you."

I let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks Luis," I said, "I owe you."

"Don't worry about it," he said.

He sent me home with a box of cupcakes he had sitting in the back, just at their use-by-date. I was half way through the half-dozen when I got a text.

Kemal - Dude!!! You missed out!!! Crazy shit went down!!! I'm a cheerleader now!!!

I coughed with laughter on a mouthful of cupcake, had to spit most of it out in the gutter to keep from laughing.

I had a couple of others.

Ayesha - hey didn't see you at school today. you ok? :)

Kay - BIG NEWS! Call me? xxoo

Zeke - Yo man, Hotspur showed up at school. Kicked the crap out of a senior!

Dane - So the Creep = Eugene Nguyen. That's good, I was worried it was Rufus.

Rufus - Turns out the Creep was some Asian kid. I thought it was Dane.

I flicked through the texts as I got up the stairs.

"You're home early," Mrs Valdez said, "How was school today?"

"Oh I took the day off," I told her.

"Everyone deserves a day off," she said, "My daughter, she's always working. She barely sees her son. But that's life."

"You know it Mrs Valdez," I said, waving on the way up.

I got in and phoned up Kay.

"Hey there," she said, voice all sultry, "Guess whose going to be at every single game from now on cheering you on?"

"You made it?" I said, "That's funny I don't picture you as the cheerleader type."

"And why not? Don't you know it looks good on college applications?" she said.

"Well just between it, the student council, and the play you're going to be real busy," I said.

"Never too busy for you," she said, "I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner to celebrate?"

Dinner at the Whitman residence?

>I'll be there
>Do you want to have dinner here?

>>4600759
>Do you want to have dinner here?
aw fuck time to clean like a madman

>>4600759
>I'll be there
I wanna have her over sometime but I also want to get a feel for what her dad's up to after he got caught being dirty.

>>4600759
>I'll be there

We should really prepare more before inviting her, clean up some and learn to cook at least one semi-nice thing.

>>4600777
>>4600781
locked in

"Sounds great," I said, "Should I bring anything?"

"A big appetoite, Mom's baking an apple pie," she said. I could do that.

"What time?"

"Any time after six," she said.

Great, I'd leave Dad a note. I scribbled something down and stuck it to the fridge. In the mean time I caught up on some homework.

However I was feeling about the Creep at least it was done. He'd locked up and unable to harm anyone, maybe he'd have time to think about where he'd gone wrong and come back a better person. Maybe. In the mean time the next big thing would be the hijacking next Thursday, then after that Ayesha's Halloween party.

Mostly I was thinking about tonight, dinner with the Whitmans. I wanted to say I was only going over to support Kay, but that wasn't true. I wanted to know what her dad was about ever since he got suspended. He deserved whatever came his way, but Kay didn't, and it better not come back on her.

When I left I passed the nurse coming down from Mr Green's, the guy who lived above us. A male nurse, a tired looking black guy, he gave me a distant nod. I'd seen him come and go a couple of times. I'd only seen Mr Green once, an ancient wheelchair bound old black guy who dated back to the time 'negro' was a polite word. He was a lonely relic who never had more visitors than the nurses who checked in on him.

A lonely way to live. Not really my problem though.

I took a couple buses up to Kay's, wearing my denim jacket, tired but trying to hide it. It had been a big day.

Halloween decorations were already taking over the street. I love Halloween but thought it was a bit early. One house had a graveyard put out the front, a line of tomb stones with earth padded down to make graves, skeletons hanging from tree branches. Another had set up a glowing jack-o-lantern on their mailbox. Kay's house had a ghoul in the window but that was it.

I came up the drive, knocked on the door. A red haired boy, maybe ten, opened the door. Kay's little brother Simon.

"Oh barf, its you," he said. He turned around. "Kaylee, your boyfriend's here!"

"One second!" her voice came down the stairs.

I waited for the little brother to let me in but Simon stood his ground, arms crossed, blocking my way with a punk slouch chewing gum. Little asshole, I thought.

Stomping came down the stairs.

Kay hopped off the bottom step in her new cheerleader oufit, gold skirt and green and gold top. I stared at her exposed flat belly, heat building in the back of my head. "Ta-da!" she said with a twirl. I swallowed. "What do you think?"

I wasn't going to say what I really thought in front of her little brother. 'Hot' was the child friendly version.

"You look good," I said, trying not to crack, "Great."

"Mmm hmm," she said, rolling her shoulders, "You aren't looking so bad yourself. Well, come on in. Is Simon playing bouncer again? Simon, quit being a turd."

She pushed her brother aside, all but pulling me in. I saw Simon pretend to vomit behind her.

"I heard Hotspur showed up at school today," I said, "Crazy."

"Oh that guy? Yeah, he took down the Creep. Did you hear it was a senior? What a loser."

Mrs Whitman came out of the kitchen, cleaning her hands. "Eric, its so nice to see you," she said, "I'm sure Kaylee told you everything, we're all very proud of her."

"Not sure why she's running around in the outfit though," her dad came waddling out of a backroom, his study. "You aren't going to be one of those girls who wears her outfit everywhere?"

"Oh Daddy," was all Kay said, kissing him on the cheek.

"I dated a couple of cheerleaders in high school," he said, "A couple in college too. Good chicks but not much to 'em. If you've got to pick between studyin' and cheerleadin' you pick study, got it?"

"Yes sir," she gave him a salute.

"And you better not be doing this over some boy," he added, then looked to me, "Talking about some boy, Eric, you mind if we have a talk in private before we sit down to eat?"

So he wanted to talk, and he wanted to do it in his study. He held the door open.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you and make it look like a suicide," he said with an unfriendly chuckle. Kay gave me a nudge toward him.

I stepped in, Officer Whitman following, the door clicking shut behind us.

"Eric, I'm going to ask this straight, are you a virgin?" he said.

I blushed, but there was no point lying. "Yes sir," I said.

"Bet you want to change that though, with my daughter," he went to sit on a wooden swivel chair by a computer. The study was a small room, cluttered with this and that, including a revolver disassembled on a little tray with cleaning equipment set up next to it. No bullets I could see, but there was a little combination safe stashed under the desk.

"Sir," was all I could think to say.

"She's a good looking girl, I can see that," he said, "You aren't the first boy come sniffing around, but you're different. She's nuts about you in a way she wasn't with the others. If I'm honest I'm sick of hearing your name. The only consolation I've got is you're a boy. I know its not PC or 'woke' or whatever but I was starting to worry my girl had different interests. She was getting really heavy with this...ah forget it. Point is, I wanted to talk to you one-on-one, man to man."

"Sir," I said. I found older guys liked being called 'sir'.

"I don't think I've got to threaten an upstanding, respectable boy like you," he said, "So I'll ask for your word instead. You treat my daughter right, you treat her like a princess, you respect her honor, and we're kosher. Do you understand?"

I understood, it was hard not to. Not with an open gun sitting behind him on his work desk.

"I understand," I said carefully. This wasn't the kind of guy I liked making promises to.

"I'm on leave at work but don't think that'll stop me from hauling you down town if you step out of line," he said. He really couldn't help but make a couple threats, I guess bullies were like that. "They got niggers in holding will pull your guts out your asshole. Buckwild south side boys just itching to get their hands on a pretty white boy."

The slur put a prickle up the back of my arm.

"Anyway, let's have some dinner," he got up and clapped my shoulder too hard.

We went back to the smiling family out at the dinner table, Officer Whitman acting like he hadn't said what he said. I sat across from Kay. She smiled at me, trying to play footsie under the table. Her mom served up pork chops and gravy. Officer Whitman ate with a shark smile, all the way through joking with everyone around the table. It could have been pleasant if I wasn't feeling cold.

Then the doorbell rang.

"Now who could be calling this late?" Mrs Whitman said, getting up.

"I'll get it," Mr Whitman said, rising a bit too fast.

He waddled from the room, his wife halfway through slicing the pie.

>follow Mr Whitman
>stay seated

>>4600882
>follow Mr Whitman
Kay and Ivy definitely used to be a romantic thing, I think the evidence is insurmountable at this point. Anyway maybe we can pretend that we're supposed to give our dad a call and go a room near Mr. Whitman to eavesdrop

>>4600882
>follow Mr Whitman
Man, fuck this guy.

>>4600888
Support
My guy really just dropped the N-word like that

>>4600888
+1 stealth tactics