Octavia was truly, incredibly, undeniably having the most inconvenient day ever. Sitting in the decontamination shower, she sighed and thought back over the past few hours. If she thought about it logically, the musician was fairly certain that she could blame it all on Scratch. However, the FBSA, PPD, and various legal authorities generally frowned on such logic when considering whether a case was justifiable homicide or not in the eyes of the law.
Pity that.
Truth be told, she really should’ve known it was too good to be true...
***
“Hey, 'Tavi! 'Tavitavitavitavitaviiiiiii!” a familiar overexcited voice said as it intruded over the delicate tones of Octavia’s current practice session.
The dark-haired musician sighed, but only in that little part of her mind she put aside for dealing with the infinitely numerous ways the universe refused to comport itself as sensibly and elegantly as her music. Settling her composure, she looked over at the excitable young woman prancing up the stairs to her loft’s impromptu stage. “Yes, Scratch, what is it?”
DJ Vinyl Scratch, as the girl called herself, wouldn’t stand out in a crowd normally. Average height, average build, Caucasian, nothing out of the ordinary. However, her brightly dyed electric blue hair, omnipresent purple goggles, and matching blue “horse tail” accoutrement dangling from the back of her white leather and star spangled jeans made her stick out in a crowd like a neon street sign. Her current t-shirt, brightly labeled “PWN-3!’ further marked her ongoing campaign to sear her individuality into the retinas of as many unsuspecting bystanders as possible. Like most always, Scratch was wearing an ear to ear grin and walking about as if part of her was ‘jamming’ to a beat no one else could hear.
In that alone, perhaps, Octavia and Scratch had something in common. However, the “beat” to which both were internally attuned was drastically different. Octavia once more wondered how the young DJ had wriggled her way into Octavia’s social circle at all.
“Oh, hey Scratch,” said a dull voice from a seat nearby. Octavia’s younger sister 'Mina looked up from...whatever it was she was doodling in her notebook, favoring her with a slight glimmer of what might have passed for the faintest of smiles. Most would’ve assumed the salmon-haired girl wearing an eye-straining combination of black and neon was giving the barest acknowledgment she could get away with. However, Octavia knew better. Given the girl’s otherwise crushing disinterest in... well, everything, the fact she looked up when Scratch entered at all spoke volumes.
Ah, yes. That would be why, Octavia said, even as Scratch ruffled 'Mina’s hair (to the shorter girl’s protests) before hopping up onto the small wooden stage. Octavia set her bass down on its stand. The DJ’s grin was practically Cheshirean as she sat down on a stool, as if she had the greatest secret in the world.
“Well, 'Tavi, I was just out slapping up posters all over Galaxy for my next rave, when I overheard some folks that were totally bummed because their previous band had to quit on them last minute ‘cause their conductor sprained a divot or somethin’. Anyway, since I haaaaappened to be in the area and haaaaapened to know a similar fancy, uptight, hoity-toity-style group that was free, I figured I’d tell them that I’d see if they could handle the gig. The folks seemed really happy about it, so I have till the end of today to see if this group I know can be ready in time.”
Octavia found herself raising one eyebrow. There was the possibility that this was too good to be true. Scratch’s general haunts were nowhere near upscale, so it was entirely possible that she’d landed them a performance in some poetry slam for beatniks or the like. While Octavia certainly could use the additional spending cash doing some dignified work, she wasn’t about to drop her group’s reputation that far. “Oh? And what, precisely, is the venue for this... ‘gig’, Scratch?”
“Oh, nuthin’ toooooo major,” Scratch drawled. “... just the PPD precinct’s annual charity gala.”
Across the room, 'Mina’s eyes winced shut as her sister’s absent-minded tracing of the scales on her bass skipped into a truly off-color note, while Octavia looked at Scratch in astonishment so great that the musician hadn’t even noticed the terrible musical faux pas she’d just committed
“You got my ensemble... a position playing... at the gala? As in The Charity Gala?” Octavia said, almost certain that she must have facepalmed so hard when she saw Scratch enter that the resulting concussion had rendered her unconscious and hallucinating.
“Ee-yup,” Scratch said, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary.
“...what’s the catch?” Octavia said, looking at the other woman in sudden suspicion. There had to be a catch. An opportunity like this didn’t just fall into her lap all of a sudden...
“No strings attached, 'Tavi, honest,” Scratch said. “I figured you could use the exposure. I know it was a pain in the ass getting my name out there in the club scene. So I could hardly not give you a shot when one like this came up.”
Octavia blinked, setting her bow down as she stared at Scratch in mild shock, sitting down on her own bench. After a long moment, she met the eyes of the smiling DJ opposite her, unable to think of a single mote of sarcasm or annoyance to relate to the situation. “I... thank you, Scratch.”“No problem, ‘Tavi,” Scratch smiled back. “Least I could do.”
***
“Well, this is sure exciting,” 'Mina noted flatly as they entered the main performing area for the ballroom. Octavia did not roll her eyes as she looked back at her younger sister, setting her instrument case down.
“I realize this isn’t precisely your idea of a party, ‘Mina, but bear with it a little, okay? I promise, we’ll do something you want afterwards to celebrate, hmm?” she said, kneeling a touch to adjust her sister’s dress.
“...fine,” 'Mina said as she let Octavia finish, then went back out into the ballroom, where various guests had already begun mingling. Octavia sighed before turning back to her ensemble.
“Klaus, we’re going to lead with the 1408... I think the 1282 should fit in about twenty minutes in...” she said, beginning the process of arranging her quartet to perform the best show they’d ever done.
She really did mean to make up the inconvenience to 'Mina. Just, right now, she had to be on her game, or this would all come crashing down around them.
***
DJ Vinyl Scratch sat on top of the Galaxy Arena, watching the sky.
She wasn’t the only one up here, the wide roof having played host to almost anyone who could conveniently climb on top of it for a better view of the meteor shower that the newspaper had predicted. She’d have attended 'Tavi’s event, but truth be told, that sort of thing wasn’t really Scratch’s style, even if the musician was cool enough herself.
So instead, she’d planned to watch the meteor shower and then head back after the gala was wrapping up, maybe slip into 'Tavi’s group’s post-show celebration. Maybe they’d even let her mix a few drinks for the occasion. She was going to get that uptight girl to let her hair down eventually. Metaphorically speaking, anyway.
The line of thought was banished as the shower itself began to light up the sky. Scratch vaguely wished that she’d been able to get Flash out here, but the other woman had said she’d had something to do that night and so had regretfully declined. Which was a shame, given this sort of thing would totally be to the rainbow-trailing redhead’s interest, even if it was slightly less awesome than running around Steel beating up Outcasts.
As streaks covered the sky, Scratch watched them in flat amazement. Even the most impressive lightshow she’d ever seen hadn’t matched this, and sometimes it almost seemed as if the streaks were practically passing right overhead. Gasps and sounds of amazement echoed around the DJ from other watchers as the flaming near-misses of celestial matter shot overhead. The tableau was only broken when someone cried out and pointed out a particularly large meteor streaking by even faster than the others. More than a few looked up at it, making shocked noises of surprise and amazement as the massive fireball rocketed across the sky.
Scratch was just wondering how a flaming chunk of rock that big could get so close without hitting something when the object in question answered her by slamming into the lake in Gemini Park, followed by a tremendous explosion.
***
The first blast shook the entire room, and Octavia’s ensemble stopped immediately as shouts of surprise and fear rippled across the crowd. The second blast, much sooner after the first, rocked the building still further. Outside the window, the skies rained fire as enormous chunks of flaming stone toppled buildings or carved great burning trenches through the ground. As the various guests either prepared for the emergency or began heading for shelters, Octavia reacted with the the same unflappable reserve that she directed her ensemble with in music, turning to her musicians. “Instruments in the cases. We’ll have to hope that they’re strong enough to survive if these things hit them directly. Klaus, get everyone together to the emergency exit. I’m going to find 'Mina.”At the first sign of assent, Octavia jumped off the stage, striding across the ballroom in spite of the ground swaying and heaving from the impacts outside. Octavia blocked it out. She’d lived in Paragon her entire life. The Rikti War had been the event that left her and 'Mina on their own. She was far, far more used to something like this than anyone should be, and she knew the first step to surviving it was to ignore any unnecessary distractions. She didn’t listen to the police officers in the banquet calling over their radios for information. She didn’t listen to the screams and cries of the frightened civilians being shuffled to emergency locations. She didn’t listen to the blasts outside that sounded as if a new war had come to Paragon before the old one had even left. All that Octavia focused on was listening for the distinct sound of her little sister’s voice through the enormous cloud of noise between them. Further, she directly forced her mind to funnel any other distractions away from this goal. Thoughts of being completely alone if she lost 'Mina, or of 'Mina abandoned should the danger about them claim her as well were ignored as irrelevant, the present the only thing that Octavia was concerned with right now.
It was this nearly monomaniacal focus that allowed her to spot 'Mina in a crowd of evacuees a few moments later. Octavia ran over, catching her sister as the younger girl broke off from the crowd of evacuees to press up against her. Her face was far from bored apathy as she clung to her sister. “'Tavi, what’s happening?” she asked, trembling.
“I don’t know, but we’re getting out of here,” Octavia said, keeping her voice level. “We’ll just go along with the rest of the people evacuating and we’ll be fine, okay?”“Okay,” 'Mina said, nodding, before the universe decided to put lie to Octavia’s words, seemingly out of spite.
A meteor the size of a large motorcycle slammed through the glass on the other side of the building near the stage. Reacting without thought, Octavia spun 'Mina around to shield her with her own body as the skylight above the dance floor was reduced to glass shrapnel, tearing into the hardwood around the glowing stone's impact point. While the officers on site had moved everyone away from the skylights in anticipation of such a scenario, the damage the rock had done to the structural integrity of the great glass-enclosed ballroom rapidly spread across the roof. Stress lines in the ceiling cracked open as the entire steel support structure began to sag and fall.
Octavia looked up at the descending ceiling as her brain began to whirl through the calculations. She knew they didn’t have enough time to get out from under it. The police officers nearby saw what she did and began to rush everyone to the rear exit. Octavia began leading 'Mina towards them as well as fast as she could, just as a large chunk of masonry gave way with an almost apologetic groan of surrender. Octavia knew what she shouldn’t do, but did so anyway, both her and 'Mina’s bodies freezing as they looked up and saw the rock crumbling and falling. She lifted one hand in an instinctive, futile gesture to ward off the approaching chunk of concrete about to reduce both of them to a fine paste. Time seemed to slow down. She could practically see the cracks and fissures on the boulder, hear 'Mina’s frightened gasp die in her throat, watch the rock steadily, inevitably hurtle towards them...
Her observation was jarred away a second later when the two girls were hurtled away from the impact point as a PPD officer knocked them out of the way in a diving tackle. The chunk of stone smashed to the ground with a concussive slam, splintering hardwood floors beneath it, while Octavia looked over at their near death in shock and incomprehension. “I... how did we...?”
“Just keep moving, ma’am,” the officer said, waving her forward. Octavia nodded, while her brain tried to tell her that that hadn’t made any sense. The rock had been moving far too fast for anyone to get them out of the way in time, yet there they were, safe and sound. 'Mina’s pained whimper brought her back to reality quickly enough, however. Octavia spat to get some of the chalky dust from the collapsing area out of her mouth. “Right, let’s go, 'Mina.”
“Uh huh,” her sister said.
***
The situation had gotten even worse as they’d gotten out into the open. While the meteors had seemed to have stopped falling, their danger hadn’t abated. The evacuees had been attacked several times now by strange, bulbous creatures formed from some sort of slime. One of the PPD had cursed at the sight of what he called “Shivans”, which apparently had only been seen in Bloody Bay after a similar meteor shower several years ago. The creatures seemed to attack anything that moved, and during yet another tense standoff, the group had been split as a single massive building had collapsed near them, forcing people to run out of its way. Octavia had held onto 'Mina as she did, and so the two had remained together, but whatever had happened to anyone else in the hellish wasteland that Galaxy City had become was something that Octavia didn’t think about too much. Truthfully, the only ones that Octavia was thinking about now were Klaus and the rest of her group, as well as...
Wait, it couldn’t be.
Octavia stopped for a moment as she heard a faint voice in the distance. 'Mina looked up at her in confusion, but Octavia squinted, looking further into the distance while her trained ears strained for a hint of sound.
“-avi! 'Tavi is that you?!” the voice called out, even as Octavia stood a little taller to try to get better sight of the source. Upon seeing movement, she waved violently in its direction.
“Scratch! We’re over here!” she yelled back. Despite herself, the musician was grateful to find that the DJ had apparently escaped the damage and widespread chaos of the meteor fall. However, as Octavia and 'Mina got closer to the source of Scratch’s voice, Octavia’s heart stopped as a section of meteor near the blue-haired woman suddenly cracked and erupted, a gout of semi-transparent goo splashing out of it and coating the nearby terrain. As Scratch scrambled for them, the liquid contracted, scrap metal and concrete beginning to be dragged along into a rudimentary skeleton formed around a chunk of the meteor rock. Pulsing veins rippled across the liquid as it solidified, glowing as the unearthly warble of the newborn Shivan carried across the street.
Scratch dived to the ground as the first burst of sizzling energy scoured the space she’d just vacated. The Shivan warbled again through its gelatinous coating, closing in to catch its downed prey. Octavia reached over to shield 'Mina’s eyes, a cold part of her mind knowing what was about to happen when she realized that the younger girl had vanished.
“Stay away from her!” 'Mina’s voice echoed around them, causing Octavia to look all around her to try to find where her sister had run to, her heart seizing in her chest. The Shivan looked up as well, seeming to be confused at the sudden sound, allowing Octavia to dart off the cracked ground she’d been standing on and run towards Scratch while it wasn't paying attention. If what 'Mina had said was accurate, she was trying to distract it from the DJ, and that meant Octavia had to get the blue haired woman out of there before the Shivan found her younger sister. The rather shoddy plan, however, fell apart as she got over to where Scratch was, helping her up. The Shivan, not finding whoever had yelled at it, turned around, sinister warble announcing its attentions as the creature brought one arm up, steel rebar and asphalt forming a crude mace along its outer surface.
“Oh, shit,” Scratch managed, as Octavia felt the strangest sense of deja vu... a second before a sudden burst of pink light nearly blinded both of them, the Shivan’s liquid body exploding as the center of that impossibly bright light touched it for a split second. The meteor fragment inside it shot forward out of the body, embedding itself in a nearby wall, while Octavia and Scratch were both coated in semi-liquid slime as the rest of the body simply lost coherence all at once.
The two coughing women were soon confronted with a rather bewildered looking 'Mina, who was staring at the chunks of metal and wreckage that had once been the Shivan. Octavia crawled to her feet first, before she walked over to 'Mina, leaving Scratch to collect herself. “Pinkamina. Diane. P-” she started, gaining momentum towards a truly epic explosion over her sister’s endangerment of herself, before 'Mina’s outburst of surprise cut her off.
“I don’t know what just happened!” she said. “I just, it was going to hurt you and I had to get its attention again and I threw a rock as hard as I could and then it caught fire and then the monster exploded and-” she said, starting to babble rapidly, the apparent panic in the girl’s tone managing to douse Octavia’s anger.
The musician just pulled her sister in close, holding her tightly as the girl stopped her babble and just clung to her. Scratch came up behind them, tapping 'Mina on the shoulder. As the salmon haired girl looked up at her, Scratch nodded, smiling at her faintly. “Thanks, kiddo. Thought I was a goner there. You saved me,” she said, placing a very slight emphasis on the next to last word that Octavia’s sensitive ears picked up on.
Octavia forced her instinctive reaction down as she nodded in agreement. “You saved both of us, 'Mina. Good job. We’ll try to figure it out later, but right now, we just need to get out of here, okay?”
'Mina nodded slightly, before the group began moving back along the way Scratch had come from. The DJ had found a PPD mech squad a ways back being supported by a hero by the name of Blue Spectrum, leading to an evacuation point nearby. The group had moved through quickly, while Blue Spectrum stayed behind to hold off another wave of Shivans, and run through the guarded tunnel.
Which was when the sky had fallen in again.
Shrieks of supersonic jet fighters roared overhead as something that sounded enormous roared in pain and anger nearby. The tunnel itself had quaked as the group had stayed near the walls to avoid chunks of rock that had rained from the ceiling. However, this had its own drawbacks as a section of wall collapsed near them, the entire group falling through and landing in a bruised, slimy, exhausted heap as more rocks fell, sealing them in.
At the bottom of the heap, Octavia made an unintelligble sound of frustration as she shoved Scratch’s horsetail decoration (why couldn’t that have been lost in the damn apocalypse?) out of her face. Crawling to her feet after everyone else clambered off, Octavia growled in irritation. “Damn it, now? Now the... walls try to kill us?” she hissed, barely keeping herself from cursing in front of 'Mina.
“Hey, it’s not so bad...at least in here, we can’t get caught by those monster things?” Scratch said unevenly, presumably in an attempt to reassure 'Mina as Octavia whirled towards the wall in frustration.
“Yes, trapped by several tons of rock that we can’t budge, when the evacuation point is right. Over. THERE!” Octavia shouted, pointing at the wall as if she blamed it for the entirety of her problems.
Scratch started to say something about how Octavia was worrying 'Mina, before she stared as the walls literally cracked around where Octavia had pointed. “...'Tavi, do that again.”“Do what again?” Octavia said tiredly, turning to her. “Rant ineffectually at inanimate objects? I can start by pointing myself in your direction if you want variety as well.”
“No, no, what you just did. You pointed and yelled at the rock and it kinda broke!” Scratch said, energy starting to come back into her voice.
Octavia looked at Scratch like she’d gone insane, though at this point, that was a truly relative term. “What are you talking about? The wall was already cracked.”
“No, no, you don’t get it,” Scratch said. “You were like ‘and it’s right over THERE!’,” she yelled, pointing like Octavia had, and then turning back to the musician, missing 'Mina’s gasp of surprise as the cracks widened. “And it crack...what? What’d I do?” she asked, realizing both sisters were staring at her.
“You did it too,” 'Mina breathed. Octavia, meanwhile, tried to wrap her mind around what she’d just seen.
Scratch turned and looked at the wall, before pulling her goggles off and examining the wall again. “How the hell?”
Octavia, however, knew an opportunity when she saw one. Even if it was just Scratch that could do it, if she could convince her to try... “I think I have an idea.”
***
Nestled in one of the few areas completely held by Longbow and assorted heroes, the evacuation center to Atlas Park was full of various guards that were utterly and quite justifiably paranoid about liquid space aliens falling out of the sky, burrowing out of the ground, or otherwise finding some way to penetrate the gradually thinning security cordon as more and more injuries flowed in from the area and had to be escorted out overland rather than via helicopter. Thus, when a large pounding sound became audible in one of the larger walls around the area formed from a chunk of toppled sky scraper that had been carefully placed to create a choke point on the east side of the landing zone, several soldiers were detailed to find out why it was.
As a result, the first thing that Octavia, Scratch, and 'Mina saw when they finally broke through the final wall and the surface, besides blinding sunlight, was several dozen automatic rifles aimed in their direction by a number of very twitchy Longbow. Octavia slowly raised her hands, followed by the others, before a field medic ran up from behind the soldiers. “Put those down! For goodness’ sake, I think we can confirm these aren’t Shivans,” she said, sighing. “Honestly, people.”
No longer facing down several hundred rounds of ammunition, Octavia turned back to help 'Mina out of the hole they’d finally made in the side of the building, while Scratch absently adjusted her goggles to get a bit of dust out of the lenses. The medic glanced over them in appraisal. “Hello, my name’s Rhea. How’s your group doing? Any injuries?” she asked.
“Nothing too serious, but I really do want to get 'Mina out of here,” Octavia said, trying as best she could not to glare at the soldiers who’d aimed weapons at them.
“I can completely understand what you mean. I’d prefer to be as far from this place as possible as well,” Rhea said. “We just have to do a quick examination and make sure you haven’t picked up any contaminants, okay?”
“Contaminants?” Scratch wondered. “Well, we did kinda get coated in Shivan slime...”
“Mmm, that’ll be a major one then. Don’t worry, though,” Rhea said, as the group started to look rather apprehensive. “It’s not toxic, so just cleaning you off should take care of it. We’ve got a portable decontamination chamber nearby. I’m afraid that your clothes may be a lost cause, though.”
“I mostly accepted that when we dug our way out of a skyscraper,” Octavia said. “I’m sorry, 'Mina.”
“Eh, it’s a dress,” 'Mina said, something of her usual apathetic facade starting to slide back into place now that the group was out of immediate danger. Scratch shrugged indifferently, and Rhea nodded back at all of them.
“Right this way then,” she said, leading them into the tent.
The “decontamination chamber” turned out to be a large white and red robot whose body flipped open to reveal a sealed environment used for washing them. The fit was a little claustrophobic, and the robot’s monotone lack of bedside manner a little off-putting, but 'Mina had almost laughed at the somewhat ridiculous back and forth between the robot and a plainclothes officer by the name of McNichol that apparently was assigned to guard him. Glancing back rather sadly at her ruined tuxedo, Octavia sighed openly, but focused on the fact they’d gotten out of the city alive for now.
With luck, she could finally go home and try to forget this day ever happened.
***
“We’re what,” Octavia said with about as flat a tone as she could muster.
Rhea looked apologetically at them as she absently wiped at a non-existent smudge on the chrome of her body armor. “Uh...well, it seems you have powers now.”
“....” said Octavia, very eloquently.
“Uh, not that Octavia wants to debate your results, but how exactly is that possible?” Scratch interpreted for the currently silent musician.
“We’re not exactly sure, but scientific study of Shivan biology isn’t exactly widespread at the moment,” the combat medic noted. “It’s possible that radiation from the meteors could’ve caused it, or possibly when you were doused in their slime. Or possibly the stress of the situation just caused ambient powers you always had to manifest fully for the first time. There’re a lot of possible explanations. Um. Possibly,” she finished lamely.
“This isn’t happening. I am not getting recruited to go break up gas station robberies in glorified spandex lingerie. I’m going to wake up and this will all be a terrible, terrible dream,” Octavia started muttering to herself, trying to convince reality to accept this much more reasonable state of affairs than what it seemed to have decided to go with at the moment.
'Mina raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing as she continued reading through the book she’d gotten while waiting for the others to finish decontamination. Scratch, meanwhile, turned to Octavia, her hands resting on the older girl’s shoulders. “Hey, 'Tavi, let’s not think about that now, okay? We’ll just go home, and maybe think about this some more later, okay?”
Octavia felt that perhaps the universe was either taking a great deal of pleasure in doing the opposite of the expected, or feeling bad for her at this point. Scratch was making sense. There had to be some sort of rule of the universe being violated there. Still, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Yes, I... I think that’s for the best,” she said.
Beside them, Rhea nodded, the redhead looking sympathetic. “The FBSA will probably be in touch in a couple of days, at least, assuming we aren’t still deluged in all of...this,” she said, waving at the disaster zone. “Still, they got to me pretty quick after I wound up here, so who knows, huh?” she said with a faint smile that Octavia suspected was faked for her benefit.
The musician shrugged off the thought, thanking the medic and then leaving the tent to head into Atlas. From there, their small group had bypassed the refugee lines and quickly caught a train back to Independence Port.
“Hey...uh. It’s a weird thing, but do you guys mind if I kick it with you tonight?” Scratch said as they walked up next to Octavia and 'Mina’s loft. Octavia glanced over at the DJ in mild surprise, getting an awkward fidget from her.
“It’s just....I want to make sure that 'Mina’s okay, y’know? I’d feel really bad if I headed all the way over to Talos and something happened. Just for tonight, in case...anything else weird goes on,” Scratch said, fidgeting again and not quite meeting Octavia’s eyes, even through her goggles.
“...I suppose it couldn’t hurt. You won’t mind using the couch downstairs?” Octavia said, deciding to herself that she really didn’t care right now why Scratch was acting so odd about this. She really just wanted to sleep.
“Sure, no problem,” Scratch said, seeming to regain a touch of equilibrium at Octavia’s approval of the idea.
“Good. You know where the bathroom is,” she said as they walked inside.
***
The next morning opened somewhat atypically at the loft. Octavia and 'Mina had spent the night in bed together for the first time since they’d both been little children, as 'Mina had seemed equally unwilling to let Octavia out of her sight lest something separate them again as Octavia was. She was somewhat grateful that her little sister had broached the idea. It was terribly unlike Octavia to admit to something like that normally.
Scratch had done some research while the two girls slept, having apparently been an early riser most of her life. By the time they sat down to a late brunch, she’d already hit on an “idea”.
“Freelance hero work. You’re joking,” Octavia said, idly prodding what Scratch purported to be Eggs Benedict, but which looked awfully like a scrambled omelette.
“Well, I figure both of us aren’t going to be getting normal jobs any time soon, what with the whole Galaxy mess,” Scratch said.
“We’ll make do,” Octavia said. Scratch continued, undeterred.
“Also, agreeing to do so gets you a mandatory, state paid-for analysis test run to determine your powers, rather than having to pay for a civilian inspection,” she added.
“I don’t know, Scratch...” Octavia said, wavering.
“And the city’s doubling the given freelancer return rate to encourage heroes to go out and do stuff since a lot of Galaxy’s crime kinda funneled over into Atlas,” Scratch said, smiling as if she’d closed the deal.
“Upped the rates? How much?” Octavia asked, mostly out of curiousity, or so she told herself.
Scratch named a figure and 'Tavi’s jaw opened a little in surprise.
“That much?” she said, shaking herself.
“Yep,” Scratch said. “And if we don’t like it, we can always retire, y’know?”
Octavia considered that. It would be awfully poor form, but in such times, it’s not like it’d be too unusual... She glanced over at 'Mina who seemed to be trying to avoid being caught paying attention to the conversation. She’d probably go if Scratch did, regardless of what Octavia said or did. Best to at least be there to keep an eye on her.
“Well, I suppose. How hard could it be?”
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Pity that.
Truth be told, she really should’ve known it was too good to be true...
***
“Hey, 'Tavi! 'Tavitavitavitavitaviiiiiii!” a familiar overexcited voice said as it intruded over the delicate tones of Octavia’s current practice session.
The dark-haired musician sighed, but only in that little part of her mind she put aside for dealing with the infinitely numerous ways the universe refused to comport itself as sensibly and elegantly as her music. Settling her composure, she looked over at the excitable young woman prancing up the stairs to her loft’s impromptu stage. “Yes, Scratch, what is it?”
DJ Vinyl Scratch, as the girl called herself, wouldn’t stand out in a crowd normally. Average height, average build, Caucasian, nothing out of the ordinary. However, her brightly dyed electric blue hair, omnipresent purple goggles, and matching blue “horse tail” accoutrement dangling from the back of her white leather and star spangled jeans made her stick out in a crowd like a neon street sign. Her current t-shirt, brightly labeled “PWN-3!’ further marked her ongoing campaign to sear her individuality into the retinas of as many unsuspecting bystanders as possible. Like most always, Scratch was wearing an ear to ear grin and walking about as if part of her was ‘jamming’ to a beat no one else could hear.
In that alone, perhaps, Octavia and Scratch had something in common. However, the “beat” to which both were internally attuned was drastically different. Octavia once more wondered how the young DJ had wriggled her way into Octavia’s social circle at all.
“Oh, hey Scratch,” said a dull voice from a seat nearby. Octavia’s younger sister 'Mina looked up from...whatever it was she was doodling in her notebook, favoring her with a slight glimmer of what might have passed for the faintest of smiles. Most would’ve assumed the salmon-haired girl wearing an eye-straining combination of black and neon was giving the barest acknowledgment she could get away with. However, Octavia knew better. Given the girl’s otherwise crushing disinterest in... well, everything, the fact she looked up when Scratch entered at all spoke volumes.
Ah, yes. That would be why, Octavia said, even as Scratch ruffled 'Mina’s hair (to the shorter girl’s protests) before hopping up onto the small wooden stage. Octavia set her bass down on its stand. The DJ’s grin was practically Cheshirean as she sat down on a stool, as if she had the greatest secret in the world.
“Well, 'Tavi, I was just out slapping up posters all over Galaxy for my next rave, when I overheard some folks that were totally bummed because their previous band had to quit on them last minute ‘cause their conductor sprained a divot or somethin’. Anyway, since I haaaaappened to be in the area and haaaaapened to know a similar fancy, uptight, hoity-toity-style group that was free, I figured I’d tell them that I’d see if they could handle the gig. The folks seemed really happy about it, so I have till the end of today to see if this group I know can be ready in time.”
Octavia found herself raising one eyebrow. There was the possibility that this was too good to be true. Scratch’s general haunts were nowhere near upscale, so it was entirely possible that she’d landed them a performance in some poetry slam for beatniks or the like. While Octavia certainly could use the additional spending cash doing some dignified work, she wasn’t about to drop her group’s reputation that far. “Oh? And what, precisely, is the venue for this... ‘gig’, Scratch?”
“Oh, nuthin’ toooooo major,” Scratch drawled. “... just the PPD precinct’s annual charity gala.”
Across the room, 'Mina’s eyes winced shut as her sister’s absent-minded tracing of the scales on her bass skipped into a truly off-color note, while Octavia looked at Scratch in astonishment so great that the musician hadn’t even noticed the terrible musical faux pas she’d just committed
“You got my ensemble... a position playing... at the gala? As in The Charity Gala?” Octavia said, almost certain that she must have facepalmed so hard when she saw Scratch enter that the resulting concussion had rendered her unconscious and hallucinating.
“Ee-yup,” Scratch said, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary.
“...what’s the catch?” Octavia said, looking at the other woman in sudden suspicion. There had to be a catch. An opportunity like this didn’t just fall into her lap all of a sudden...
“No strings attached, 'Tavi, honest,” Scratch said. “I figured you could use the exposure. I know it was a pain in the ass getting my name out there in the club scene. So I could hardly not give you a shot when one like this came up.”
Octavia blinked, setting her bow down as she stared at Scratch in mild shock, sitting down on her own bench. After a long moment, she met the eyes of the smiling DJ opposite her, unable to think of a single mote of sarcasm or annoyance to relate to the situation. “I... thank you, Scratch.”“No problem, ‘Tavi,” Scratch smiled back. “Least I could do.”
***
“Well, this is sure exciting,” 'Mina noted flatly as they entered the main performing area for the ballroom. Octavia did not roll her eyes as she looked back at her younger sister, setting her instrument case down.
“I realize this isn’t precisely your idea of a party, ‘Mina, but bear with it a little, okay? I promise, we’ll do something you want afterwards to celebrate, hmm?” she said, kneeling a touch to adjust her sister’s dress.
“...fine,” 'Mina said as she let Octavia finish, then went back out into the ballroom, where various guests had already begun mingling. Octavia sighed before turning back to her ensemble.
“Klaus, we’re going to lead with the 1408... I think the 1282 should fit in about twenty minutes in...” she said, beginning the process of arranging her quartet to perform the best show they’d ever done.
She really did mean to make up the inconvenience to 'Mina. Just, right now, she had to be on her game, or this would all come crashing down around them.
***
DJ Vinyl Scratch sat on top of the Galaxy Arena, watching the sky.
She wasn’t the only one up here, the wide roof having played host to almost anyone who could conveniently climb on top of it for a better view of the meteor shower that the newspaper had predicted. She’d have attended 'Tavi’s event, but truth be told, that sort of thing wasn’t really Scratch’s style, even if the musician was cool enough herself.
So instead, she’d planned to watch the meteor shower and then head back after the gala was wrapping up, maybe slip into 'Tavi’s group’s post-show celebration. Maybe they’d even let her mix a few drinks for the occasion. She was going to get that uptight girl to let her hair down eventually. Metaphorically speaking, anyway.
The line of thought was banished as the shower itself began to light up the sky. Scratch vaguely wished that she’d been able to get Flash out here, but the other woman had said she’d had something to do that night and so had regretfully declined. Which was a shame, given this sort of thing would totally be to the rainbow-trailing redhead’s interest, even if it was slightly less awesome than running around Steel beating up Outcasts.
As streaks covered the sky, Scratch watched them in flat amazement. Even the most impressive lightshow she’d ever seen hadn’t matched this, and sometimes it almost seemed as if the streaks were practically passing right overhead. Gasps and sounds of amazement echoed around the DJ from other watchers as the flaming near-misses of celestial matter shot overhead. The tableau was only broken when someone cried out and pointed out a particularly large meteor streaking by even faster than the others. More than a few looked up at it, making shocked noises of surprise and amazement as the massive fireball rocketed across the sky.
Scratch was just wondering how a flaming chunk of rock that big could get so close without hitting something when the object in question answered her by slamming into the lake in Gemini Park, followed by a tremendous explosion.
***
The first blast shook the entire room, and Octavia’s ensemble stopped immediately as shouts of surprise and fear rippled across the crowd. The second blast, much sooner after the first, rocked the building still further. Outside the window, the skies rained fire as enormous chunks of flaming stone toppled buildings or carved great burning trenches through the ground. As the various guests either prepared for the emergency or began heading for shelters, Octavia reacted with the the same unflappable reserve that she directed her ensemble with in music, turning to her musicians. “Instruments in the cases. We’ll have to hope that they’re strong enough to survive if these things hit them directly. Klaus, get everyone together to the emergency exit. I’m going to find 'Mina.”At the first sign of assent, Octavia jumped off the stage, striding across the ballroom in spite of the ground swaying and heaving from the impacts outside. Octavia blocked it out. She’d lived in Paragon her entire life. The Rikti War had been the event that left her and 'Mina on their own. She was far, far more used to something like this than anyone should be, and she knew the first step to surviving it was to ignore any unnecessary distractions. She didn’t listen to the police officers in the banquet calling over their radios for information. She didn’t listen to the screams and cries of the frightened civilians being shuffled to emergency locations. She didn’t listen to the blasts outside that sounded as if a new war had come to Paragon before the old one had even left. All that Octavia focused on was listening for the distinct sound of her little sister’s voice through the enormous cloud of noise between them. Further, she directly forced her mind to funnel any other distractions away from this goal. Thoughts of being completely alone if she lost 'Mina, or of 'Mina abandoned should the danger about them claim her as well were ignored as irrelevant, the present the only thing that Octavia was concerned with right now.
It was this nearly monomaniacal focus that allowed her to spot 'Mina in a crowd of evacuees a few moments later. Octavia ran over, catching her sister as the younger girl broke off from the crowd of evacuees to press up against her. Her face was far from bored apathy as she clung to her sister. “'Tavi, what’s happening?” she asked, trembling.
“I don’t know, but we’re getting out of here,” Octavia said, keeping her voice level. “We’ll just go along with the rest of the people evacuating and we’ll be fine, okay?”“Okay,” 'Mina said, nodding, before the universe decided to put lie to Octavia’s words, seemingly out of spite.
A meteor the size of a large motorcycle slammed through the glass on the other side of the building near the stage. Reacting without thought, Octavia spun 'Mina around to shield her with her own body as the skylight above the dance floor was reduced to glass shrapnel, tearing into the hardwood around the glowing stone's impact point. While the officers on site had moved everyone away from the skylights in anticipation of such a scenario, the damage the rock had done to the structural integrity of the great glass-enclosed ballroom rapidly spread across the roof. Stress lines in the ceiling cracked open as the entire steel support structure began to sag and fall.
Octavia looked up at the descending ceiling as her brain began to whirl through the calculations. She knew they didn’t have enough time to get out from under it. The police officers nearby saw what she did and began to rush everyone to the rear exit. Octavia began leading 'Mina towards them as well as fast as she could, just as a large chunk of masonry gave way with an almost apologetic groan of surrender. Octavia knew what she shouldn’t do, but did so anyway, both her and 'Mina’s bodies freezing as they looked up and saw the rock crumbling and falling. She lifted one hand in an instinctive, futile gesture to ward off the approaching chunk of concrete about to reduce both of them to a fine paste. Time seemed to slow down. She could practically see the cracks and fissures on the boulder, hear 'Mina’s frightened gasp die in her throat, watch the rock steadily, inevitably hurtle towards them...
Her observation was jarred away a second later when the two girls were hurtled away from the impact point as a PPD officer knocked them out of the way in a diving tackle. The chunk of stone smashed to the ground with a concussive slam, splintering hardwood floors beneath it, while Octavia looked over at their near death in shock and incomprehension. “I... how did we...?”
“Just keep moving, ma’am,” the officer said, waving her forward. Octavia nodded, while her brain tried to tell her that that hadn’t made any sense. The rock had been moving far too fast for anyone to get them out of the way in time, yet there they were, safe and sound. 'Mina’s pained whimper brought her back to reality quickly enough, however. Octavia spat to get some of the chalky dust from the collapsing area out of her mouth. “Right, let’s go, 'Mina.”
“Uh huh,” her sister said.
***
The situation had gotten even worse as they’d gotten out into the open. While the meteors had seemed to have stopped falling, their danger hadn’t abated. The evacuees had been attacked several times now by strange, bulbous creatures formed from some sort of slime. One of the PPD had cursed at the sight of what he called “Shivans”, which apparently had only been seen in Bloody Bay after a similar meteor shower several years ago. The creatures seemed to attack anything that moved, and during yet another tense standoff, the group had been split as a single massive building had collapsed near them, forcing people to run out of its way. Octavia had held onto 'Mina as she did, and so the two had remained together, but whatever had happened to anyone else in the hellish wasteland that Galaxy City had become was something that Octavia didn’t think about too much. Truthfully, the only ones that Octavia was thinking about now were Klaus and the rest of her group, as well as...
Wait, it couldn’t be.
Octavia stopped for a moment as she heard a faint voice in the distance. 'Mina looked up at her in confusion, but Octavia squinted, looking further into the distance while her trained ears strained for a hint of sound.
“-avi! 'Tavi is that you?!” the voice called out, even as Octavia stood a little taller to try to get better sight of the source. Upon seeing movement, she waved violently in its direction.
“Scratch! We’re over here!” she yelled back. Despite herself, the musician was grateful to find that the DJ had apparently escaped the damage and widespread chaos of the meteor fall. However, as Octavia and 'Mina got closer to the source of Scratch’s voice, Octavia’s heart stopped as a section of meteor near the blue-haired woman suddenly cracked and erupted, a gout of semi-transparent goo splashing out of it and coating the nearby terrain. As Scratch scrambled for them, the liquid contracted, scrap metal and concrete beginning to be dragged along into a rudimentary skeleton formed around a chunk of the meteor rock. Pulsing veins rippled across the liquid as it solidified, glowing as the unearthly warble of the newborn Shivan carried across the street.
Scratch dived to the ground as the first burst of sizzling energy scoured the space she’d just vacated. The Shivan warbled again through its gelatinous coating, closing in to catch its downed prey. Octavia reached over to shield 'Mina’s eyes, a cold part of her mind knowing what was about to happen when she realized that the younger girl had vanished.
“Stay away from her!” 'Mina’s voice echoed around them, causing Octavia to look all around her to try to find where her sister had run to, her heart seizing in her chest. The Shivan looked up as well, seeming to be confused at the sudden sound, allowing Octavia to dart off the cracked ground she’d been standing on and run towards Scratch while it wasn't paying attention. If what 'Mina had said was accurate, she was trying to distract it from the DJ, and that meant Octavia had to get the blue haired woman out of there before the Shivan found her younger sister. The rather shoddy plan, however, fell apart as she got over to where Scratch was, helping her up. The Shivan, not finding whoever had yelled at it, turned around, sinister warble announcing its attentions as the creature brought one arm up, steel rebar and asphalt forming a crude mace along its outer surface.
“Oh, shit,” Scratch managed, as Octavia felt the strangest sense of deja vu... a second before a sudden burst of pink light nearly blinded both of them, the Shivan’s liquid body exploding as the center of that impossibly bright light touched it for a split second. The meteor fragment inside it shot forward out of the body, embedding itself in a nearby wall, while Octavia and Scratch were both coated in semi-liquid slime as the rest of the body simply lost coherence all at once.
The two coughing women were soon confronted with a rather bewildered looking 'Mina, who was staring at the chunks of metal and wreckage that had once been the Shivan. Octavia crawled to her feet first, before she walked over to 'Mina, leaving Scratch to collect herself. “Pinkamina. Diane. P-” she started, gaining momentum towards a truly epic explosion over her sister’s endangerment of herself, before 'Mina’s outburst of surprise cut her off.
“I don’t know what just happened!” she said. “I just, it was going to hurt you and I had to get its attention again and I threw a rock as hard as I could and then it caught fire and then the monster exploded and-” she said, starting to babble rapidly, the apparent panic in the girl’s tone managing to douse Octavia’s anger.
The musician just pulled her sister in close, holding her tightly as the girl stopped her babble and just clung to her. Scratch came up behind them, tapping 'Mina on the shoulder. As the salmon haired girl looked up at her, Scratch nodded, smiling at her faintly. “Thanks, kiddo. Thought I was a goner there. You saved me,” she said, placing a very slight emphasis on the next to last word that Octavia’s sensitive ears picked up on.
Octavia forced her instinctive reaction down as she nodded in agreement. “You saved both of us, 'Mina. Good job. We’ll try to figure it out later, but right now, we just need to get out of here, okay?”
'Mina nodded slightly, before the group began moving back along the way Scratch had come from. The DJ had found a PPD mech squad a ways back being supported by a hero by the name of Blue Spectrum, leading to an evacuation point nearby. The group had moved through quickly, while Blue Spectrum stayed behind to hold off another wave of Shivans, and run through the guarded tunnel.
Which was when the sky had fallen in again.
Shrieks of supersonic jet fighters roared overhead as something that sounded enormous roared in pain and anger nearby. The tunnel itself had quaked as the group had stayed near the walls to avoid chunks of rock that had rained from the ceiling. However, this had its own drawbacks as a section of wall collapsed near them, the entire group falling through and landing in a bruised, slimy, exhausted heap as more rocks fell, sealing them in.
At the bottom of the heap, Octavia made an unintelligble sound of frustration as she shoved Scratch’s horsetail decoration (why couldn’t that have been lost in the damn apocalypse?) out of her face. Crawling to her feet after everyone else clambered off, Octavia growled in irritation. “Damn it, now? Now the... walls try to kill us?” she hissed, barely keeping herself from cursing in front of 'Mina.
“Hey, it’s not so bad...at least in here, we can’t get caught by those monster things?” Scratch said unevenly, presumably in an attempt to reassure 'Mina as Octavia whirled towards the wall in frustration.
“Yes, trapped by several tons of rock that we can’t budge, when the evacuation point is right. Over. THERE!” Octavia shouted, pointing at the wall as if she blamed it for the entirety of her problems.
Scratch started to say something about how Octavia was worrying 'Mina, before she stared as the walls literally cracked around where Octavia had pointed. “...'Tavi, do that again.”“Do what again?” Octavia said tiredly, turning to her. “Rant ineffectually at inanimate objects? I can start by pointing myself in your direction if you want variety as well.”
“No, no, what you just did. You pointed and yelled at the rock and it kinda broke!” Scratch said, energy starting to come back into her voice.
Octavia looked at Scratch like she’d gone insane, though at this point, that was a truly relative term. “What are you talking about? The wall was already cracked.”
“No, no, you don’t get it,” Scratch said. “You were like ‘and it’s right over THERE!’,” she yelled, pointing like Octavia had, and then turning back to the musician, missing 'Mina’s gasp of surprise as the cracks widened. “And it crack...what? What’d I do?” she asked, realizing both sisters were staring at her.
“You did it too,” 'Mina breathed. Octavia, meanwhile, tried to wrap her mind around what she’d just seen.
Scratch turned and looked at the wall, before pulling her goggles off and examining the wall again. “How the hell?”
Octavia, however, knew an opportunity when she saw one. Even if it was just Scratch that could do it, if she could convince her to try... “I think I have an idea.”
***
Nestled in one of the few areas completely held by Longbow and assorted heroes, the evacuation center to Atlas Park was full of various guards that were utterly and quite justifiably paranoid about liquid space aliens falling out of the sky, burrowing out of the ground, or otherwise finding some way to penetrate the gradually thinning security cordon as more and more injuries flowed in from the area and had to be escorted out overland rather than via helicopter. Thus, when a large pounding sound became audible in one of the larger walls around the area formed from a chunk of toppled sky scraper that had been carefully placed to create a choke point on the east side of the landing zone, several soldiers were detailed to find out why it was.
As a result, the first thing that Octavia, Scratch, and 'Mina saw when they finally broke through the final wall and the surface, besides blinding sunlight, was several dozen automatic rifles aimed in their direction by a number of very twitchy Longbow. Octavia slowly raised her hands, followed by the others, before a field medic ran up from behind the soldiers. “Put those down! For goodness’ sake, I think we can confirm these aren’t Shivans,” she said, sighing. “Honestly, people.”
No longer facing down several hundred rounds of ammunition, Octavia turned back to help 'Mina out of the hole they’d finally made in the side of the building, while Scratch absently adjusted her goggles to get a bit of dust out of the lenses. The medic glanced over them in appraisal. “Hello, my name’s Rhea. How’s your group doing? Any injuries?” she asked.
“Nothing too serious, but I really do want to get 'Mina out of here,” Octavia said, trying as best she could not to glare at the soldiers who’d aimed weapons at them.
“I can completely understand what you mean. I’d prefer to be as far from this place as possible as well,” Rhea said. “We just have to do a quick examination and make sure you haven’t picked up any contaminants, okay?”
“Contaminants?” Scratch wondered. “Well, we did kinda get coated in Shivan slime...”
“Mmm, that’ll be a major one then. Don’t worry, though,” Rhea said, as the group started to look rather apprehensive. “It’s not toxic, so just cleaning you off should take care of it. We’ve got a portable decontamination chamber nearby. I’m afraid that your clothes may be a lost cause, though.”
“I mostly accepted that when we dug our way out of a skyscraper,” Octavia said. “I’m sorry, 'Mina.”
“Eh, it’s a dress,” 'Mina said, something of her usual apathetic facade starting to slide back into place now that the group was out of immediate danger. Scratch shrugged indifferently, and Rhea nodded back at all of them.
“Right this way then,” she said, leading them into the tent.
The “decontamination chamber” turned out to be a large white and red robot whose body flipped open to reveal a sealed environment used for washing them. The fit was a little claustrophobic, and the robot’s monotone lack of bedside manner a little off-putting, but 'Mina had almost laughed at the somewhat ridiculous back and forth between the robot and a plainclothes officer by the name of McNichol that apparently was assigned to guard him. Glancing back rather sadly at her ruined tuxedo, Octavia sighed openly, but focused on the fact they’d gotten out of the city alive for now.
With luck, she could finally go home and try to forget this day ever happened.
***
“We’re what,” Octavia said with about as flat a tone as she could muster.
Rhea looked apologetically at them as she absently wiped at a non-existent smudge on the chrome of her body armor. “Uh...well, it seems you have powers now.”
“....” said Octavia, very eloquently.
“Uh, not that Octavia wants to debate your results, but how exactly is that possible?” Scratch interpreted for the currently silent musician.
“We’re not exactly sure, but scientific study of Shivan biology isn’t exactly widespread at the moment,” the combat medic noted. “It’s possible that radiation from the meteors could’ve caused it, or possibly when you were doused in their slime. Or possibly the stress of the situation just caused ambient powers you always had to manifest fully for the first time. There’re a lot of possible explanations. Um. Possibly,” she finished lamely.
“This isn’t happening. I am not getting recruited to go break up gas station robberies in glorified spandex lingerie. I’m going to wake up and this will all be a terrible, terrible dream,” Octavia started muttering to herself, trying to convince reality to accept this much more reasonable state of affairs than what it seemed to have decided to go with at the moment.
'Mina raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing as she continued reading through the book she’d gotten while waiting for the others to finish decontamination. Scratch, meanwhile, turned to Octavia, her hands resting on the older girl’s shoulders. “Hey, 'Tavi, let’s not think about that now, okay? We’ll just go home, and maybe think about this some more later, okay?”
Octavia felt that perhaps the universe was either taking a great deal of pleasure in doing the opposite of the expected, or feeling bad for her at this point. Scratch was making sense. There had to be some sort of rule of the universe being violated there. Still, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Yes, I... I think that’s for the best,” she said.
Beside them, Rhea nodded, the redhead looking sympathetic. “The FBSA will probably be in touch in a couple of days, at least, assuming we aren’t still deluged in all of...this,” she said, waving at the disaster zone. “Still, they got to me pretty quick after I wound up here, so who knows, huh?” she said with a faint smile that Octavia suspected was faked for her benefit.
The musician shrugged off the thought, thanking the medic and then leaving the tent to head into Atlas. From there, their small group had bypassed the refugee lines and quickly caught a train back to Independence Port.
“Hey...uh. It’s a weird thing, but do you guys mind if I kick it with you tonight?” Scratch said as they walked up next to Octavia and 'Mina’s loft. Octavia glanced over at the DJ in mild surprise, getting an awkward fidget from her.
“It’s just....I want to make sure that 'Mina’s okay, y’know? I’d feel really bad if I headed all the way over to Talos and something happened. Just for tonight, in case...anything else weird goes on,” Scratch said, fidgeting again and not quite meeting Octavia’s eyes, even through her goggles.
“...I suppose it couldn’t hurt. You won’t mind using the couch downstairs?” Octavia said, deciding to herself that she really didn’t care right now why Scratch was acting so odd about this. She really just wanted to sleep.
“Sure, no problem,” Scratch said, seeming to regain a touch of equilibrium at Octavia’s approval of the idea.
“Good. You know where the bathroom is,” she said as they walked inside.
***
The next morning opened somewhat atypically at the loft. Octavia and 'Mina had spent the night in bed together for the first time since they’d both been little children, as 'Mina had seemed equally unwilling to let Octavia out of her sight lest something separate them again as Octavia was. She was somewhat grateful that her little sister had broached the idea. It was terribly unlike Octavia to admit to something like that normally.
Scratch had done some research while the two girls slept, having apparently been an early riser most of her life. By the time they sat down to a late brunch, she’d already hit on an “idea”.
“Freelance hero work. You’re joking,” Octavia said, idly prodding what Scratch purported to be Eggs Benedict, but which looked awfully like a scrambled omelette.
“Well, I figure both of us aren’t going to be getting normal jobs any time soon, what with the whole Galaxy mess,” Scratch said.
“We’ll make do,” Octavia said. Scratch continued, undeterred.
“Also, agreeing to do so gets you a mandatory, state paid-for analysis test run to determine your powers, rather than having to pay for a civilian inspection,” she added.
“I don’t know, Scratch...” Octavia said, wavering.
“And the city’s doubling the given freelancer return rate to encourage heroes to go out and do stuff since a lot of Galaxy’s crime kinda funneled over into Atlas,” Scratch said, smiling as if she’d closed the deal.
“Upped the rates? How much?” Octavia asked, mostly out of curiousity, or so she told herself.
Scratch named a figure and 'Tavi’s jaw opened a little in surprise.
“That much?” she said, shaking herself.
“Yep,” Scratch said. “And if we don’t like it, we can always retire, y’know?”
Octavia considered that. It would be awfully poor form, but in such times, it’s not like it’d be too unusual... She glanced over at 'Mina who seemed to be trying to avoid being caught paying attention to the conversation. She’d probably go if Scratch did, regardless of what Octavia said or did. Best to at least be there to keep an eye on her.
“Well, I suppose. How hard could it be?”
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
