New chapter
**
Emily Piggot smiled as she watched the two girls spar through the security cameras in the gym. Akane had spent two hours teaching Taylor the basics and going through moves of her family’s style of martial arts, and then they had spent the last hour working on her confidence by sparring.
“She’s a good teacher,” Miss Militia said as she watched as well.
“She ought to be,” Emily said with a slight snicker. “She has been helping her grandfather teach their family’s style since she was ten.”
“Do you think she would be willing to teach the other Wards?” Miss Militia asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Probably,” Emily answered and then looked at her computer when it dinged at her. “And apparently we’re going to need all the help we can get on that front.” She continued with a sigh.
“Is the Youth Guard already causing problems?” Hannah asked shifting to look over her boss’s shoulder.
Piggot shook her head, “No,” she groaned, “they are thankfully still distracted by yelling at Shadow Stalker’s probation officer and that idiot Blackwell. This comes from Public Relations.”
Hannah groaned and said some words in a language that while Emily couldn’t understand them, she was sure she agreed with them. “What is Glenn’s problem now, and why isn’t he busy trying to spin the Shadow Stalker situation into a smaller problem.”
“Because there is nothing more he can do about Sophia, and Taylor’s insects are causing him an apoplectic fit,” Piggot answered with a snarl turning the monitor so the cape could see more easily. “The damn fool wants to turn her into a media darling like Vista.”
“You know how much Missy hates that role,” Miss Militia said stifling a groan. A second later she chuckled though, “I bet Glen would shit himself if he heard what Akane, Taylor and Missy came up with over breakfast this morning, they were practically cackling like Saturday morning villains over it.”
Emily quirked an eyebrow, “Do I really want to know?” she asked. Miss Militia nodded with a smug and knowing smile, “Then fill me in, we may have to unleash them on him.” Minutes later she was cackling herself.
**Taylor**
I grimaced at the price on the blouse and put it back on the rack. “Not into the whole shop-o-rama thing are you?” a voice asked behind me. Turning I found a frizzy haired brunette just a year or so older than me walking up and practically hiding in the rack.
“Not really,” I answered eyeballing her for a moment. “I usually shop at the Goodwill because of issues, but I need some better clothes since I’m transferring to Arcadia next week.”
She looked up from the blouse that I had just put back on the rack to eyeball me back, “School started yesterday,” she said, “why are you transferring in a week late?”
There was an incident at my old school yesterday that put me in the hospital,” I answered. “I was told at one point that I would never have to set foot in those halls again.” The girl’s eyes went wide and mentally I swore. She must have seen the video of Akane pulling me out of the locker, but before I could say anything Akane called from a little way away.
“Hey Taylor, look who I found,” she said dragging a blonde down the aisle towards me.
I facepalmed at my friend’s actions and shook my head. “Akane, you can’t just drag random people up to…” I trailed off as I notice that the blonde she was dragging was floating an inch or so off the floor. “Oh hell,” I muttered.
“Hey Amy, I see you found Akane’s friend.” Glory Girl said smiling.
“Yeah,” the brunette said, “I didn’t recognize her at first, but I do now.”
“Recognize me?” I asked, “why would you recognize me, oh hell.” It was then that it struck me, this was Amy and Victoria Dallon, the second generation of New Wave. “Thank you by the way,” I said looking at Amy who was looking back at me with a questioning look. “I’m guessing they called you in to heal me after the locker.” She blushed and ducked her head a little bit while muttering something I couldn’t make out. “Still, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said a little more clearly. “So why are you looking for new clothes?”
“We’ll be starting at Arcadia on Monday,” I answered, “my usual clothes are not nice enough for that, let alone going in to take the tests tomorrow. What are you two doing here, I figured you would be at school right now.”
“Today is one of our half-days for quote, unquote work study,” Vicky answered. “Technically this is a patrol of the boardwalk.”
“Which is just an excuse for Vicky to get an early look at what everyone has on the shelves before school lets out,” Amy snarked.
“Oh, like you don’t like to look and see what new books and movies have come out each week before everyone else.“ Vicky returned, and I watched as the two sisters verbally spar as we walked out of the boardwalk store and toward a Brockton Bay landmark. “Have you two eaten lunch yet?”
“No,” Akane answered, “and we really should before we go anywhere else.” I nodded at that feeling a bit hungry myself.
“Well then,” Vicky said, “let’s get some Fugly’s and then we’ll see if we can’t catch a ride up to Weymouth Mall and get some real shopping done.”
“You don’t think we’ll find anything here on the boardwalk?” I heard myself ask.
“Not anything that you would want to wear to school for very long,” Vicky answered. “It’s almost all tourist crap, with the exception of Parian’s shop.”
“And she would be so far out of my budget that it isn’t funny.” I answered and saw two of the other three nod.
“Who is Parian?” Akane asked.
“Cloth cape,” Vicky answered waving at the hostess as we walked in. The hostess waved back and guided us to a booth towards the end of a particular section.
Amy lifted an eyebrow and then expanded on her sister’s quick answer, “She’s a rogue who has the ability to animate cloth and control other light objects related to cloth. She uses this ability to do puppet shows for children on the boardwalk and make clothing. It is really high-end custom stuff, and the cost is insane, but it’s worth it when you get one, especially her cape costumes.”
Akane and I both nodded, and then we ordered our drinks before resuming the conversation. “So, clothing suggestions?” Akane asked the pair, Amy groaned and covered her face while Vicky smiled.
**
After a lively discussion over clothing styles, of which I had no real clue and apparently Akane was a bit of a tomboy in that she preferred pants or slacks and a simple shirt instead of dresses, a decision was made to hit Weymouth Mall and get some “normal girl clothes” with Vicky and Amy’s help where fashion was concerned. A double order of chili-cheese fries had been shared by the four of us and as we waited on our burgers Amy asked, “So what classes are you thinking about taking?”
“I don’t know what I’ll qualify for yet,” I answered, “Akane and I don’t take our placement tests until tomorrow at the earliest, but the computer science track looks interesting.”
“I’m looking hard at the history track myself,” Akane said with a shrug, “I can already do some advance level mathematics in my head, as well as tutor in that and a few advanced physical sciences, so I’m looking more toward the humanities so that I don’t burn out on the hard science side.”
“Can’t say anything about the computer science track,” Vicky said as the waitress refilled our drinks and set our burgers in front of us. “That said, AP History is interesting, or if nothing else, amusing.”
“Interesting how,” Akane asked lifting an eyebrow in a decidedly Nimoy fashion.
“The teacher is working on his doctorate,” Amy supplied apparently also having the class. “Mister Wolfe tends to assign reading for about the first half of the class, and then once we reach the halfway point asks if there are any questions over the material. It has led to some very interesting discussions in class.”
“I bet,” I responded, “it’s definitely not something that you could do at Winslow, you would have a riot on your hands before the first class was half over.”
Amy and Vicky both winced and the latter asked, “Is Winslow really that bad?”
“Let me put it this way,” I said with a sigh, “From the beginning of this school year up until just before Christmas break we had an actual security guard. Don’t know why they didn’t have one last year, but they got this guy somewhere and he would ride the minority kids unmercifully.”
“I’m guessing his attitude toward the minority kids got him fired,” Amy half asked, I just shrugged in response.
“An attitude like that, he was probably an Empire member,” Vicky sneered before taking a monster bite from her burger.
I chuckled and shook my head as I swallowed my own bite of burger, “No,” I said turning my head to face Vicky directly. “He was definitely not an Empire member.” The other three gazed at me with questioning looks so I relented. “Mister Ruckus was an old black man, but I swear, barring his skin tone he would have gladly stood shoulder to shoulder with Hookwolf and Kaiser. As it was, if one of them had encountered him they would have probably died of shock when he abased himself to them.”
While I told them about Ruckus it was as if you could hear the mental record scratch, “What the actual fuck,” Vicky asked.
**
Emily Piggot smiled as she watched the two girls spar through the security cameras in the gym. Akane had spent two hours teaching Taylor the basics and going through moves of her family’s style of martial arts, and then they had spent the last hour working on her confidence by sparring.
“She’s a good teacher,” Miss Militia said as she watched as well.
“She ought to be,” Emily said with a slight snicker. “She has been helping her grandfather teach their family’s style since she was ten.”
“Do you think she would be willing to teach the other Wards?” Miss Militia asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Probably,” Emily answered and then looked at her computer when it dinged at her. “And apparently we’re going to need all the help we can get on that front.” She continued with a sigh.
“Is the Youth Guard already causing problems?” Hannah asked shifting to look over her boss’s shoulder.
Piggot shook her head, “No,” she groaned, “they are thankfully still distracted by yelling at Shadow Stalker’s probation officer and that idiot Blackwell. This comes from Public Relations.”
Hannah groaned and said some words in a language that while Emily couldn’t understand them, she was sure she agreed with them. “What is Glenn’s problem now, and why isn’t he busy trying to spin the Shadow Stalker situation into a smaller problem.”
“Because there is nothing more he can do about Sophia, and Taylor’s insects are causing him an apoplectic fit,” Piggot answered with a snarl turning the monitor so the cape could see more easily. “The damn fool wants to turn her into a media darling like Vista.”
“You know how much Missy hates that role,” Miss Militia said stifling a groan. A second later she chuckled though, “I bet Glen would shit himself if he heard what Akane, Taylor and Missy came up with over breakfast this morning, they were practically cackling like Saturday morning villains over it.”
Emily quirked an eyebrow, “Do I really want to know?” she asked. Miss Militia nodded with a smug and knowing smile, “Then fill me in, we may have to unleash them on him.” Minutes later she was cackling herself.
**Taylor**
I grimaced at the price on the blouse and put it back on the rack. “Not into the whole shop-o-rama thing are you?” a voice asked behind me. Turning I found a frizzy haired brunette just a year or so older than me walking up and practically hiding in the rack.
“Not really,” I answered eyeballing her for a moment. “I usually shop at the Goodwill because of issues, but I need some better clothes since I’m transferring to Arcadia next week.”
She looked up from the blouse that I had just put back on the rack to eyeball me back, “School started yesterday,” she said, “why are you transferring in a week late?”
There was an incident at my old school yesterday that put me in the hospital,” I answered. “I was told at one point that I would never have to set foot in those halls again.” The girl’s eyes went wide and mentally I swore. She must have seen the video of Akane pulling me out of the locker, but before I could say anything Akane called from a little way away.
“Hey Taylor, look who I found,” she said dragging a blonde down the aisle towards me.
I facepalmed at my friend’s actions and shook my head. “Akane, you can’t just drag random people up to…” I trailed off as I notice that the blonde she was dragging was floating an inch or so off the floor. “Oh hell,” I muttered.
“Hey Amy, I see you found Akane’s friend.” Glory Girl said smiling.
“Yeah,” the brunette said, “I didn’t recognize her at first, but I do now.”
“Recognize me?” I asked, “why would you recognize me, oh hell.” It was then that it struck me, this was Amy and Victoria Dallon, the second generation of New Wave. “Thank you by the way,” I said looking at Amy who was looking back at me with a questioning look. “I’m guessing they called you in to heal me after the locker.” She blushed and ducked her head a little bit while muttering something I couldn’t make out. “Still, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said a little more clearly. “So why are you looking for new clothes?”
“We’ll be starting at Arcadia on Monday,” I answered, “my usual clothes are not nice enough for that, let alone going in to take the tests tomorrow. What are you two doing here, I figured you would be at school right now.”
“Today is one of our half-days for quote, unquote work study,” Vicky answered. “Technically this is a patrol of the boardwalk.”
“Which is just an excuse for Vicky to get an early look at what everyone has on the shelves before school lets out,” Amy snarked.
“Oh, like you don’t like to look and see what new books and movies have come out each week before everyone else.“ Vicky returned, and I watched as the two sisters verbally spar as we walked out of the boardwalk store and toward a Brockton Bay landmark. “Have you two eaten lunch yet?”
“No,” Akane answered, “and we really should before we go anywhere else.” I nodded at that feeling a bit hungry myself.
“Well then,” Vicky said, “let’s get some Fugly’s and then we’ll see if we can’t catch a ride up to Weymouth Mall and get some real shopping done.”
“You don’t think we’ll find anything here on the boardwalk?” I heard myself ask.
“Not anything that you would want to wear to school for very long,” Vicky answered. “It’s almost all tourist crap, with the exception of Parian’s shop.”
“And she would be so far out of my budget that it isn’t funny.” I answered and saw two of the other three nod.
“Who is Parian?” Akane asked.
“Cloth cape,” Vicky answered waving at the hostess as we walked in. The hostess waved back and guided us to a booth towards the end of a particular section.
Amy lifted an eyebrow and then expanded on her sister’s quick answer, “She’s a rogue who has the ability to animate cloth and control other light objects related to cloth. She uses this ability to do puppet shows for children on the boardwalk and make clothing. It is really high-end custom stuff, and the cost is insane, but it’s worth it when you get one, especially her cape costumes.”
Akane and I both nodded, and then we ordered our drinks before resuming the conversation. “So, clothing suggestions?” Akane asked the pair, Amy groaned and covered her face while Vicky smiled.
**
After a lively discussion over clothing styles, of which I had no real clue and apparently Akane was a bit of a tomboy in that she preferred pants or slacks and a simple shirt instead of dresses, a decision was made to hit Weymouth Mall and get some “normal girl clothes” with Vicky and Amy’s help where fashion was concerned. A double order of chili-cheese fries had been shared by the four of us and as we waited on our burgers Amy asked, “So what classes are you thinking about taking?”
“I don’t know what I’ll qualify for yet,” I answered, “Akane and I don’t take our placement tests until tomorrow at the earliest, but the computer science track looks interesting.”
“I’m looking hard at the history track myself,” Akane said with a shrug, “I can already do some advance level mathematics in my head, as well as tutor in that and a few advanced physical sciences, so I’m looking more toward the humanities so that I don’t burn out on the hard science side.”
“Can’t say anything about the computer science track,” Vicky said as the waitress refilled our drinks and set our burgers in front of us. “That said, AP History is interesting, or if nothing else, amusing.”
“Interesting how,” Akane asked lifting an eyebrow in a decidedly Nimoy fashion.
“The teacher is working on his doctorate,” Amy supplied apparently also having the class. “Mister Wolfe tends to assign reading for about the first half of the class, and then once we reach the halfway point asks if there are any questions over the material. It has led to some very interesting discussions in class.”
“I bet,” I responded, “it’s definitely not something that you could do at Winslow, you would have a riot on your hands before the first class was half over.”
Amy and Vicky both winced and the latter asked, “Is Winslow really that bad?”
“Let me put it this way,” I said with a sigh, “From the beginning of this school year up until just before Christmas break we had an actual security guard. Don’t know why they didn’t have one last year, but they got this guy somewhere and he would ride the minority kids unmercifully.”
“I’m guessing his attitude toward the minority kids got him fired,” Amy half asked, I just shrugged in response.
“An attitude like that, he was probably an Empire member,” Vicky sneered before taking a monster bite from her burger.
I chuckled and shook my head as I swallowed my own bite of burger, “No,” I said turning my head to face Vicky directly. “He was definitely not an Empire member.” The other three gazed at me with questioning looks so I relented. “Mister Ruckus was an old black man, but I swear, barring his skin tone he would have gladly stood shoulder to shoulder with Hookwolf and Kaiser. As it was, if one of them had encountered him they would have probably died of shock when he abased himself to them.”
While I told them about Ruckus it was as if you could hear the mental record scratch, “What the actual fuck,” Vicky asked.
Wolf wins every fight but the one where he dies, fangs locked around the throat of his opponent.
Currently writing BROBd
Currently writing BROBd