"Alright. Let's go over the plan again,"
Aether groaned, as did Hammerspace, Slime Slinger, and Maul. All of them were gathered at a 'table' made of a single unfinished wood board in the attic. It was dark; the only light came from battery powered lanterns because tinfoil covered the walls and windows. Wearing his thick blue comforter over his shoulders, Aether reached for the steaming kettle and another tea bag, wishing that Horizon didn't insist that they wear their costumes at the team meetings.
At least he's warm. Unlike the rest of us. Where Horizon's costume had a great deal of insulation, meant to keep him warm high in the atmosphere, Aether's costume was skin tight and built for running at high speeds. It was designed to breathe and easily release the heat generated by friction.
Horizon smacked a chalkboard hard enough to make his hair, which was somehow both flat and frizzy, fly up into the air. If he just used even just a little bit of curl cream, it would look gorgeous, thought Aether, stirring the tea bag while trying to to scream from boredom. Orat least scrunched it instead of toweling it dry and brushing it while it's still damp.
"Aether! Are you paying attention?"
"Eh…" Horizon's scowl froze on his face. Aether glanced at the table where satellite maps had been printed out and secured underneath a clear plastic cover. On the chalkboard were notes of when the shipment was coming, who was guarding it, and who was picking it up.
"The fed picking up the fusion cells is Colin Trent. If we're sneaky enough, we'll be able to follow him to the cargo container with the fusion cells, where we'll be met with whatever rent-a-cops they decided to use to guard the loot. These rent-a-cops may or may not have superpowers, so caution should be taken when engaging them in battle," said Aether, playing with the tea bag, deeply impatient for it to finish steeping. "You know, if you take a little bit of conditioner and water it down-,"
"First of all, my hair is straight like my dad's was, not curly- shut up," snapped Horizon, pointing at Hammerspace, who opened her mouth to interject. When she held up her hands and sat back, Horizon continued. "And my shampoo already comes with conditioner-,"
"Spiros, no-,"
"Spiros is not here right now. Horizon is! Now get your mind off of beauty products and focus!" snapped Horizon, smacking the chalkboard again. A small owl representing a group of guards flew into the air and tossed itself at Aether, then flew back to it's previous position.
"Ow!"
"Once we lay eyes on the fusion cells- Slime Slinger? What are you doing?"
Tiredly, Slime Slinger made a nest for his arms on the table, lowering his head into it. "I transform and start dosing the feds with hallucinogenics."
"Perfect," said Horizon, pointing at Maul. "Maul, what are you doing?"
"Keeping my eyes on the future and getting ready to cut stuff up," said Maul, punching his fists together. Telekinetic forces flared. The owl split in half. Maul cringed, then mumbled an apology to it.
"It's fine. Nothing a bit of glue won't fix," said Horizon, pocketing the owl and replacing it with an eraser. "Hammerspace, what are you doing?"
"Summoning up rope and throwing firecrackers to cause panic while the guards are tripping out on Slime Slinger's slime!" said Hammerspace, who was all too chipper and happy for the ungodly hour that it was in the morning, and the dastardly plans they were making. Then she summoned up a large hammer. "And getting ready to whack some heads together, too!"
"Let's try to keep the head whacking to a minimum. We're trying to keep a low profile," said Horizon, although he nodded in approval before pointing at Aether.
"I'll be tying the pigs up so fast that they never even see me coming,"
"Perfect," said Horizon, taking a fry-erase pen and drawing on the table's clear plastic sheet. "While that's happening, I'll jump in and grab the fusion cells."
"I still don't see why I can't do that-,"
"Aether, we've been over this! Same rules as the propane tank-!"
"I've never encountered problems with friction-!"
"And yet you still set off sonic booms-,"
"And I pick you guys up to carry you sometimes," argued Aether, "Have any of you also had a problem with friction? No!"
"Okay, well it might only apply to biological life forms! Not inorganic materials!"
"Um…" Hammerspace raised her hand. "What's the problem? Aether's just running through air…"
"And air isn't just empty space." Horizon pinched the bridge of his nose, then gestured with his hand. "Look, if it was anything else, I'd say yes. But I really don't like the idea of a bunch of battery cells powered with literal cold fusion running through the air with an unknown amount of protection against friction."
"What if I just run at slower speeds?" asked Aether, helpfully. "We can fireman carry the cells. You run off with them at first while we take care of the goons. After all- somebody is bound to get away and run after you. So I catch up after getting the goons tied up, and they'll be too busy looking for you to think that somebody else has the fusion cells."
"Have you forgotten? I can fly."
"What if the Aegis Society shows up? We're a team with a speedster and a bird. They might pop in once the nine-one-one call goes out, and they have members who can fly,"
Horizon nodded thoughtfully, thinking this over. "That's… not a terrible point. I've seen videos of them getting involved in mundane purse snatches before."
After groan, Horizon nodded, then began moving the figurines on the table to account for the plan change. "Okay; try to keep it under a hundred miles an hour. One-fifty tops. The rest of us are going to scatter and get the hell out once you leave. We'll meet back up at the jeep where we'll have a change of clothes to get out of our costumes. If everything goes to plan, we'll be in and out within five minutes. Any other questions?"
After a resounding chorus of silence and head shaking, Horizon cleared his throat, then said, "Alright- let's get to school. We'll go over the plan again before heading out tonight."
…
The train yard was dark and cold. Aether waited in place anxiously, paying close attention to several spiders on a nearby fern that were so white they were nearly fluorescent. They were moving normally, which meant that his anxiety was under control. Fidgeting with the hem of his dark hoodie, Aether focused on his breathing. I'm cool. We're cool. We've got this.
A barely discernable shadow moved overhead. Horizon swooped down from behind. Of his face, only the whites of his eyes were visible. The rest was hidden under a dark mask, and the hood of his cloak.
"I've got eyes on the feds. Slime Slinger and Maul are both in position. Start moving out," whispered Horizon, before lifting off into the air once again.
Aether focused on the earth beneath his feet and the air hitting his face. His heart pounded against his chest. Adrenaline surged. Silent. Soundless. Lets keep the bursts of air to a minimum. With barely a breeze, Aether zipped onto the top of a shipping container.
Horizon floated in the air above them. Dressed entirely in a dark violet costume, he blended seamlessly into the night sky. The silver stars on his hooded cloak were the only evidence to his presence. On his back was Hammerspace; her horrendous Christmas sweaters were gone, replaced with a dark sweater like Aether's. .
Nearby, Maul and Slime Slinger were skulking on the ground nearly fifty feet from the guards.
They did not have to follow the group for long.
Movement. Maul signed. Danger. Light in sky. But Horizon didn't retreat. Either he couldn't see the sign, or he missed it.
Shit. Aether focused on his serpent. The faded sharpie was now fresh. The serpent moved once again to his throat, and a sound came from his head that mimicked a screeching barn owl whose nest had just been attacked. A guard with a large crossbow strapped to his back began whipping his head around at the towering pine trees surrounding the trainyard. He patted another guard's arm, whispering excitedly to them. Maul signed again.
The mild clairvoyance that Maul possessed proved as true as ever. The dark shape that was Horizon floated away just before a blindingly bright light began lighting up the sky.
Another few moments passed. Maul signed again. Stopping.
Horizon swooped down to land next to Aether, stooping slightly to let Hamerspace off of his back. Whispering, he said, "Once I grab the cells, I'm going to try to stay grounded until you've taken them from me. Take the cells home, then come back and grab Maul. I've got Hammerspace and Slime Slinger."
Just as the group stopped at an inconspicuous steel shipping container, Hammerspace jumped off Horizon. Without wasting any time, rope burst from her hands, which Aether wrapped up in neat loops as fast as it came.
On the ground, Slime Slinger shrank. Within moments he was a palm-sized orange salamander that skittered straight toward the guards. Quickly, he climbed up one of them, stopping on their shoulder to deposit a shiny coat of slime on the back of the neck. The guard yelped, smacking his neck, but Slime Slinger had already jumped to the next guard's shoulder.
"What the hell?"
"Guys, relax," said the guard with a crossbow, quickly jumping away from Slime Slinger. "It's just a little salamander. It's tiny,"
"My neck feels numb, dude!" replied another guard that Slime Slinger had jumped on.
"Yeah, and mine!"
Another guard smacked at the bottoms of his pants, shrieking.
"What the hell is going on?" said Trent, his hand clutching the latch of the shipping container door. "Pinion, you told me your men were professional."
"Sorry, Sir,' said Pinion, glancing around the trees once again before thumbing the handle of his crossbow. "Just a dumb salamander."
"Why's it taking so long?" muttered Horizon, taking off one of his gloves, and picking at the already raw skin around his chewed nails.
"Dude, relax," said Aether, doing his best to smother his own nerves. But it was easier said than done. With beach passing second, the guards voices went down another octave as time slowed and the soundwaves stretched.
"Get out of there, Slimer," muttered Horizon, under his breath. "We only need a couple of them to get hit to get them panicking,"
Steel doors creaked open. Hammerspace panted as the last of the rope fizzled out of her palm.
"Hammerspace, you good?" whispered Horizon, only for Hammerspace to summon up several packs of firecrackers.
"Golden," said Hammerspace, wiping sweat from her brow, stumbling slightly when she knelt down near the edge of the shipping container. Then, she summoned up a large, lime green boom box, which a CD that Aether recognized from Horizon's room was immediately placed in. Cackling like a ghoul under her breath, Hammerspace rubbed her palms together, wiggling in excitement. "This is my favorite part of the plan,"
"Track three," whispered Horizon, watching Trent exiting the shipping container with a large, heavy briefcase.
A tiny salamander crawled on the rusting steel next to Aether. Within moments, it was once again Slime Slinger. "Got about five of them before I had to get out. They're gonna start tripping any second. Wasn't able to get the Pinion guy, whoever he is. The guy has some pretty sharp eyes and reflexes,"
"Pinion?" Aether frowned, feeling like he should recognize the name.
It was difficult to tell what Horizon's expression was behind his mask, but the white of his eyes narrowed, and he placed his glove back on his hand. "Aegis Society,"
"Not really," whispered Hammerspace, her hand hovering over the play button on the boom box. "A few months ago, Jade and I read in her Cape Scoop magazine that they had some sort of a falling out and now he's doing top secret covert stuff in like, I think the Middle East or something? And mercenary work, too, I guess,"
Slime Slinger transformed back into a tiny, five inch salamander, then scurried up onto Horizon's shoulder.
"Horizon?" said Hammerspace, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. Below, one of the guards took a swipe at the air. Another was starting to look twitchy. Pinion's face was a hard, expressionless mask.
"Hit it,"
Loud music erupted from the speakers.
"Grandis Spiritus Diavolos. Grandis Spiritus Diavolos. Grandis Spiritus Diavolos."
While many of the guards froze, and a few began nervously holding their weapons, Pinion barely reacted as the music began playing.
"Hallucinations mixed with opera music for Satan?" asked Pinion, looking directly at Aether, Hammerspace, Horizon, and Slime Slinger at the top of the shipping container. The music began growing louder and faster.
"Pinion, this guy has some pretty freaky powers," said one of the guards, rubbing his neck while twisting around himself and flailing at the air.
"Snap out of it, man! There's nothing there."
One of the guards who was still lucid aimed a gun at Horizon. "Pinion, say the word and I shoot him down,"
"Don't. If he's got a psychic projection on them, who knows what'll happen to them if you land a hit. Psychics are as common as rats, and can do some really nasty things to the person they're possessing if the connection is forcefully cut off," said Pinion, hand resting on his crossbow. "Besides that, they're a bunch of kids-."
"Kids? Yeah, right-,"
"They're short an scrawny enough to be middle schoolers. Maybe you're trigger happy to shoot a couple of kids, but I'm not. Let's try talking-,"
"GRANDIS SPIRITUS DIAVOLOS!"
Bored to death, Aether turned the volume on the boom box up just as the song began kicking up. Screaming from both the music and the guards filled the air. Pinion swore, then began loading his crossbow.
"No- No!" said one of the guards that Slime Slinger dosed, now staring in horror at his hands. "Oh, God! Oh, God, no!"
"DEMONS!"
Without much difficulty, Aether began tying them up and disarming their guns. As an afterthought, he also grabbed their wallets. Might as well see if they've got any cash worth taking while I'm here. Barely three seconds later when the rope ran out, the only ones not tied up were Pinion and Trent.
Trent grabbed the box of fusion cells. Horizon extended his arm. Pinion aimed his crossbow.
SNAP!
Twang!
"AHH!"
Screaming, Trent crashed to the ground, his leg crushed when a distorted ball of warped gravity appeared around the limb. The bolt fired from Pinion's crossbow that was heading straight for Horizon was instead clutched in Aether's fist.
"I hate speedsters so damn much," said Pinion, swearing while he loaded another bolt. "All of them. Overpowered and impatient..."
"Aether, are you stupid? Don't stand there holding that thing!" yelled Horizon, waving his hand at the box, which shot straight up into the air.
Noticing the flashing light on the bolt, Aether yelped. Quick as lightning, he tossed it away just in time to miss getting zapped when a taser built into the bolt fired off.
"Aether!"
A bolt warped around Horizon just as he ducked behind the storage container.
TIme to go, thought Aether, running around the container to grab the briefcase when Horizon dropped it, then flew back up.
"Hey, 'Bird Wing?' Having a hard time hitting me, Bird Wing?" taunted Horizon, making a crude noise and gesture when Pinion shot an arrow that warped right around him. "You'll have to try harder than that, Bird Wing!"
"Yeah, and you'll have to come up with some better insults!"
In the corner of his eye, he saw Horizon dive and grab Hammerspace, just as a guard finished climbing onto the storage containers. Running at just under a hundred miles an hour, Aether skidded to a halt in front of their base in less than two minutes.
Carefully, he set the box of fusion cells down in the main sitting room, then opened it to inspect them for damage. Inside, eight fusion cells packed in layers of foam cushioning glowed a radioactive blue. Oh, blessed heat. Warm water. I can take a bath without having to boil water.
Being a runner meant that Aether was well aware of just how good scalding hot water felt on aching muscles. Aether fantasized for a moment. "Oh, scalding hot water. Oh, glorious heaven awaits!"
But first they had to be installed.
Back to the fight, thought Aether, darting back to the trainyard at Mach 2. In an instant, Aether was by Maul's side. Oh, shit.
The rope Hammerspace summoned had vanished when she got too far from it.
Time appeared to freeze. Another bolt from Pinion. Maul was holding three guards in place, who all had their fingers millimeters away from the trigger on their guns. Five other guards were running around the trainyard screaming like they were being murdered.
"Let's see…," said Aether, stretching. Once again he took the guns from the guards, tossing them aside before they could be fired. Then, he knocked the bolt out of the way, and took the crossbow from Pinion for good measure. As an afterthought, Aether dug around in Pinion's pockets for a wallet.
Not a whole lot of cash… It was a couple of wrinkled ones crammed in old, cracking leather that was threatening to fall apart altogether. Several children's photos were stuck behind opaque plastic shields.
"Aw, cute kids," said Aether, letting the world return to a normal speed.
"Give that back!"
Aether rolled his eyes, dodging a grab from Pinion while fishing out a full punch card for a free coffee at a local Bikini Barista stand, as well as a business card for a masseuse with a handwritten note on it. 'Gearhead! Get yourself a massage on me! L.F.'
"I'm not taking anything," said Aether, reading the note aloud. "L.F.? That's not Luke Farkas, is it?"
"Invasion of privacy much?" Without a crossbow, Pinion angrily threw a bolt. Aether casually dodged it. "Look, you little runt. You better scram. I've already phoned in for backup."
"Whatever. I was bored anyways,"
Aether grabbed Maul, speeding away back to the base. Once there, Aether realized he still had Pinion's wallet.
Fast as lightning, Aether ran to Eochaid's room and to the wardrobe. There were several wallets shoved in one of its drawers. Most were as worn as Pinions, or terribly out of fashion. All of them were antiques. But a couple were good enough to give to someone. Aether grabbed one with a dark green oak tree etched into the black leather, then promptly returned to the train yard just in time to see Pinion punching the air where Aether had been just two seconds ago.
After putting the business card back but taking the punch card, Aether tossed Pinion back his wallet, along with Eochaid's.
"Thank you for the coffee! Here's a new wallet- it's one of my father's!"
…
An hour later, Rian was sipping happily from a giant-sized slurpee. Lavender and Theo danced merrily to music playing from another battery-powered boom box. Perched on the armrest of one of the plastic covered couches, Corey was in his salamander form, fast asleep. Rian was halfway there, himself. Despite the cold that was doing its best to creep in, the blankets over the windows and archways helped keep in enough of the heat from the blazing hot fire that the room was a fairly comfortable temperature.
Only one person was absent. Spiros. Despite Rian doing his best to keep him upstairs with the celebration, upon returning home Spiros went straight to the basement and began working on replacing the fusion cells.
"FUCK!"
Jumping from surprise, Rian sped down to the fuse box in the basement. There, he found Spiros hitting the ground with a wrench, and kicking a box of wires. All eight of the fusion batteries were screwed into their respective places, which confused him. But if they're already replaced, wouldn't the power be on?
"No, no, no-!" Swearing in Greek, Spiros began kicking a toolbox on the ground.
"Spiros?"
"Just go back upstairs-,"
"But I want to help-!"
"No! I know what I'm doing! I don't need my kid brother telling me how to do this!" yelled Spiros, tossing a balled up piece of paper at Rian, which flew through the air in slow motion. It was easily dodged.
"But…" Rian took a deep breath and forced time to right itself once again. "Spiros… What happened?"
"I don't know what happened. It's just not connecting right. I- I- I don't know what all these wires are for. I fixed all the damaged parts, but it's not working!" Spiros lashed out at the box of wires, sending a shockwave that shoved it into a wall. Slime covered boxes rattled. The beams creaked.
"Just… Go to bed," said Spiros, sinking onto the floor. He leaned his back against a large generator, abandoned from a previous attempt at fixing the fuse box. Depressed, he hung his head. "If you're in the mood to steal shit, you might go grab some extra bedding and as many handwarmers as you can carry. It's going to be a cold night."