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Mandica is looking at herself in the mirror. The costume fits—that’s not
even a question—Elysia’s tailor knew what they were doing. She’s not sure if
it’s her. It feels like something is missing. Maybe it’s just that she feels
like a fraud in it.
“Turn around,” Reagan suggests. “Look over your shoulder.”
Mandica turns. “Oh. You can see the stone.” That might be her problem with
it.
“Is that bad?” he asks.
“I think so. I don’t think I want to advertise it. I can’t explain it, and
wouldn’t be comfortable trying even if I did understand it.”
“Sorry,” Elysia apologizes. “It’s partially backless for style. I obviously
didn’t have a magical stone lodged in my back.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I like the outfit. I like backless. I just don’t
think it’s right for this situation, assuming I go through with my first
field test today.”
Reagan chuckles. “If you’re a raven, maybe you should have wings. Those
would cover up the stone.” He looks over at Elysia. “I always thought you
should have wings.” He looks at Jaidia. “You too, since you’re both birds.”
“They would have only gotten in the way,” Jaidia explains. “It’s not like
they would have allowed us to fly. They would not have been powerful
enough.”
“Ha, yeah,” Mandica agrees. Then she realizes that this is not entirely
true. She has seen a human fly with wings before. They weren’t even all that
big. Why aren’t there flying superheroes in this world already? It
has to be possible. Mythodome is bound to the same laws of physics. They
don’t have any sort of advantage. In fact, if anything, they’re at a
disadvantage, because most of the technology there is archaic.
“What are you thinking about?” Reagan asks, noticing her glassy eyes.
“Oh, nothing. Nothing,” Mandica replies. Daedalus does apparently owe
her a favor. But no, that’s crazy. She can’t wear functional wings. And
besides, she can’t leave Underbelly anymore, so there’s not even any way to
reach out to him. She has come to accept her new boundaries. Ravensgate is
her home now. It had to be somewhere, and she’s grown quite fond of her
friends. She has been missing Malika, however, who has opted not to return
to this simulation. She’s evidently relaxing on some island in Aquilonian
Deep. Mandica doesn’t know how relaxing it could be, though. Polar Tropica
is the nice vacation ocean. The north pole ocean, on the other hand, is cold
and rough.
Elysia returns holding something black. Is it...a bib? It looks like a bib.
“So. Cleavage is common in comic book stories. I didn’t design my costume by
accident. I like feeling sexy. But I have also needed to cover up more in
certain situations, namely when I participate in speaking engagements at
grade schools.” She shakes the bib. “This is an accessory that I have used
for that. It goes under the straps, and clips onto the collar.”
“You think I should cover up my boobs all the time?” Mandica questions.
Elysia laughs. “No. It should work in reverse.” She comes up behind Mandica,
and slips the bib—she’s never going to stop calling it that in her
headcanon—over her head, clipping it to the back. “Yeah. You can’t see the
stone anymore; not at all. How did you get it to stop glowing?” It’s been
months since the original Ravensgate Rescuer was killed. She has been
training Mandica to take up the mantle ever since, and being a real good
sport about losing her powers. She hasn’t complained or acted bitter once.
She says that passing the baton to a young protégé is a staple of superhero
stories.
“It stopped glowing on its own,” Mandica answers. “I don’t know how, but I
believe I know why. I could feel it happen. I think it was fully done with
its job, and was ready to go dormant, like a car sitting idle until you turn
the engine off completely.”
“What happens if I touch it again?” Reagan asks, harkening back to the
orgasm doing this gave her, which she has not told anyone else about.
“Nothing. Nothing will happen,” Mandica tells him. “Don’t do it.” She spends
another minute looking over her shoulder into the mirror, and moving around
to make sure the bib doesn’t slip off on its own. She takes a deep breath,
and looks out the window. “I’m ready, but are you sure I shouldn’t start out
after dark?”
“No, we want people to see your debut,” Elysia encourages. “They should see
that outfit, and recognize you as the new Ravensgate Rescuer. You can move
to the shadows later, but I would rather find a daytime replacement for Blue
Umbra first.”
“I thought that Cardinal Sin was out there now.” With Blue Umbra gone, Wave
Function has been going out on the streets without her. He’s not been alone,
though. Cardinal Sin performed a heel-face turn and became a good guy, which
is absolutely not unheard of in the superhero genre either. The public is
generally on board with the change, but some hypothesize that it’s a ruse.
They think she’s preparing something evil again. They don’t know what
happened to her. She had to modify her own suit to cover up the massive
scars on her face with a larger mask. She’s not ashamed of them, but they
can’t be seen both when she’s Mildred, and while she’s masquerading as a
vigilante. She had to pick an identity to cover them up for, with the
obvious choice being the one where she’s expected to wear some kind of
concealment anyway.
“I like the night too,” Jaidia says. “I don’t want to stop playing a hero,
but I’ve never loved the sun. On Proxima Doma, I lived underground.”
Mandica nods in understanding. “Okay. I guess I’ll go out and look for
trouble.”
“Trouble is already waiting for you,” Elysia claims. She walks over to the
door and knocks on it, which is a weird thing to do when you’re already
inside the apartment.
Anyway, it opens, and a man walks in. He goes straight to Mandica, and holds
out his hand. “Hello. My name is Grover Pecan, but in the streets, you will
see me as the supervillain known as Velvet Thunder. I’ll be aiding your
debut today.”
“Wait, we’re...we’re gonna plan a fight?” Mandica questions.
“This is how it’s usually done for debuts,” Elysia explains. “You can fight
the dummies in the training sector of the plaza. You can bend iron rods at
The Depot. You can train in an abandoned warehouse. But nothing is like
being out in the field, in a real fight. Think of it as the next—but not
last—step in your training. Velvet Thunder will go easy on you, but for the
sake of the civilians, he’ll make it look good. You fight as hard as you
can. You do what you think you’re supposed to do. It’s staged, so if
something goes wrong, you can learn from your mistake without worrying about
being killed off on your first day. That used to happen constantly, so they
started doing it this way.”
“Okay,” Mandica decides. “It’s nice to meet you, Grover, a.k.a. Velvet
Thunder.”
He smiles at her. “I think you look great as the new Rescuer. I never got
the chance to say this before, but have you thought about adding wings?”
After making a plan, Grover leaves to change into his dark cloud costume.
They meet downtown and pretend to fight it out like gods amongst ants.
Within ten minutes, an elevated train falls on Mandica, and she dies
instantly. Maybe she does need wings.
