Tales of the First – Training Session Part Two

August 16th, 2019  |  Published in Tales of the First  |  2 Comments

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A/N: This part rather makes me cringe in places as I think it gives away my lack of technical knowledge.

“Just don’t make it black, you’ll look like Darth Vader,” Lucy said.

Wendy stared at her for a moment before hitting her own forehead again. “Darth Vader! Of course!”

“Huh?” Lucy was clearly baffled and Sienna felt much the same.

“Oh sorry, you just reminded me that Sienna and I will both need some sort of voice changer as well,” Wendy said. “Otherwise we could be identified that way.”

“That’s a good point,” Lucy said as she pulled her drafted pattern for Sienna’s costume and some pins from her bag. “But we’d best get on with this.”

She’d just finished adjusting the pattern to Sienna’s body when they heard a yell from Martin in the next room.

“What the hell!” The exclamation was followed by the sound of him smashing something.

“What’s happened?” Wendy asked as they ran into the other room. Martin’s computer was switched off and the dongle he’d been using was lying on the desk next to him. It had been smashed open and the sim card removed.

“Someone was trying to trace us.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you think that they located us?” Wendy asked. “It’d be a pain but we can move to one of the back up dens if we need to.”

Martin shook his head. “No, I realised in time.”

“You’re sure they don’t know where we are?” Wendy asked.

“Well they were trying to triangulate the dongle so they know we’re in Castleham,” he said. “But that’s not exactly a stretch to figure out. They didn’t have time to pinpoint us. I think we need more dongles and only to use them in short bursts until I come up with something better.” He scowled. “What worries me more is how they knew which number they were looking for.”

“We’ll find out,” Wendy said. “For now stay offline until you’re sure we’re secure.”

“Of course,” he said.

“Did you find anything else interesting before you had to shut down?” Sienna asked.

“Actually yes,” he said. “Given the source it’s probably nothing but I think it’s worth mentioning. You may not be the only person with powers under their control.”

“Hmm?” Sienna tilted her head at him curiously.

“Well you know how there’s kind of a trend for people to dress up as superheroes and fight crime?”

“Yeah,” Wendy said. “Like that ninja guy with the foam sword. I wouldn’t call it a trend but there’s certainly more than a few – especially over the Pond.”

“Well I found an article about how one of these people in America seems to have real powers. It says she’s a healer and goes by the name of Cornucopia if it’s to be believed but as I said the source is dubious.”

“Dubious?” Sienna said. “It isn’t the Onion, is it?”

Martin chuckled briefly and shook his head. “No, this source does claim to be true. Claim being the operative word. It was the Star.”

“Ah, definitely not a reliable source,” Wendy said. “But you think it might be true?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because it named her as being from a remote town in the Rocky Mountains that was all but destroyed in an avalanche a couple of winters back and I recognised the name. It’s the same town my research pegged as the first magenta fog incident.”

“And the Star made the connection?” Wendy asked.

Martin shook his head. “It was very much a fluff piece about how this small place with a low crime rate had a costumed defender who seems to have real powers. It didn’t even mention the avalanche let alone the mist. But like I said I recognised the name of the place so I poked around and discovered that it was the same place. She definitely exists, she even has her own Facebook page though she doesn’t mention having real powers on it.”

“So the only question is if she has real powers or the Star was embroidering the story to entertain its readers?” Wendy said. “What do you think?”

“My gut says she’s got real powers,” Martin said. “Once we’re back online I’m going to search the tabloids correlating stories that might be about people like Sienna with magenta mist incidents. That should help clarify things.” He grabbed some paper from the printer. “I managed to print the article about Cornucopia before I had to disconnect.”

“Her costume is absolutely awful.” Lucy was staring at the artists impression and blurry photographs accompanying the article. “She’s actually doing the dress like an acrobat thing.”

“It looks easy to move in,” Wendy said.

“Oh it would be,” Lucy said. “But it’s so ugly and less than practical. Where do you put your stuff when wearing skintight spandex.” She shook her head. “And that colour scheme and styling… is she trying to look like a DC supervillian?”

“DC? Specifically?” Wendy looked over Lucy’s shoulder at the pictures. “Oh, you mean Poison Ivy? I don’t think it’s that close but I see what you mean – the colours are right and she does have a vegetation motif going on doesn’t she?”

“And she’s painting her skin green,” Lucy said. “At least I really hope that’s body paint.”

“It certainly doesn’t scream healer to me,” Sienna said.

“Nor does her name,” Lucy said. “What does a cornucopia have to do with healing? Surely that suggests feeding people. Maybe there’s more to her powers.”

“She could be biokinetic,” Martin suggested. “That would fit with the healing and the possibility of other stuff. I’ll look into it.”

“You said she had a Facebook page, right?” Wendy said. “Perhaps we should see if she’s got contact details and risk sending her an email?”

“Risky,” Martin said. “But it may be worth it.”

“Ooh! If you are going to email her tell me before you do,” Lucy said. “I’ll sketch up some better costume designs for her build, colour scheme and theme for you to send to her.

Martin chuckled. “Okay, Luce, I’ll do that. Are you angling to be Super Lucy Fashion designer to superheroes? Speaking of which shouldn’t you unpin the pattern from Sienna soon?”

“Damn!” Lucy bustled over to Sienna and began removing the pattern. “I forgot with all the excitement.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sienna said. “I did the same thing and I’m the one it’s pinned to.”

“So when do you think we can have the internet back up and running? Wendy asked.

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2 Responses to “Tales of the First – Training Session Part Two”

  1. White Tiger says:

    Yay!!! More supers 😊 So I sense an international team? Anyway, another awesome chapter. Thanks!!!

    • Rebecca Sutton says:

      Yeah, more supers coming. 🙂

      Also I’m up in your area of the world this week (assuming you are still in Scotland (or will be by this evening) 🙂

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