Scene 25 - December 19th

Exterior City, Early Afternoon

Dominic Könberg

We halted in our flight a few streets away from the compound, ducking into an alley after the eyes that had sprouted from every surface in the city had faded. Viv whipped off her stealth cloak, massively expanded from a hasty spell she had cast on it to allow us all to gain its benefit, and threw it to the ground - it was smoldering already, and as we watched it began rapidly shriveling. A moment later, it had shrunk to nothingness, releasing a burst of blazing white light as it did. Fortunately, the light went unnoticed by passers by, swallowed up by the greater light of a crackling aura that seemed to have consumed the entire city.

“What the hell is going on?” Percy snapped at Viv. “This is Anima’s aura - how is she affecting this much?” He cast a quick suspicious look at the wall, eyeless once more. “Shouldn’t spending this much energy kill her?”

“I don’t know,” Viv admitted, pulling off her helmet and rubbing at her temples. She ran a hand through her hair before taking a deep breath and pulling the helmet back on. “But I have a guess. The thing that Max was after was n artifact that increased his power, right? What if Anima got her hands on it?”

I glanced at the street. “That... would be bad,” I said. “I know Morgan said a city-level threat, but... this is beyond what I was expecting.”

“We can’t let something that powerful stay in the hands of the MLED,” Percy said. “Not when the Ambrosia Company has a death grip on the DMO.”

“But... can we even face up to power on this level?” Tristan asked, sounding worried. “I mean, we’re badass and all, but... I mean, we were trying to steer clear of professional heroes for a reason. None of us anywhere near Dad’s level, even together.”

We found ourselves all looking to Viv for guidance, even mom. She was, after all, the tactical leader of our group - the one who had whispered advice in our ears and helped us turn the tide against the Journeymen, at least until Journey and Referee had shown up.

Viv sighed. “I don’t know what to do, guys. This isn’t a situation we expected - when mother and I were planning, we assumed that the MLED would just toss the artifact over to Peregrine, not use it themselves.” She patted her hips, then butt, then groaned. “Fuck, no pockets in this armor! I don’t have my phone!”

“Where’d you leave it?” Tristan asked.

“It should be on the table next to my bed,” she said, “but don’t -”

“One sec.”

“-go into my - damn it, Alacrity!” Viv swore. She turned to mom as the green mist left in his wake began to fade. “I didn’t give him permission to go into my room!”

“I’ll scold him when this is over,” Mom said, making a calming motion. “Right now I’m afraid we have bigger things to worry about.”

“I guess so, but honestly, if he was going to run home he might as well have -”

“Here you go!” Tristan said, skidding to a halt next to my sister and holding her phone out to her. He wobbled for a moment before Percy put out a hand to stabilize him - the kid was still getting used to super-speed.

Viv glared as she plucked the phone from his hand. “Don’t go into my room without asking, brat.”

“It seemed important!”

“If you were going to rush home and leave a massive pointer right to where we live,” she growled, pointing at the trail of mist he had left behind him, “then why didn’t you grab a bullhorn too, and shout ‘this way to the Round Table’s hideout! Right this way, Champions!’”

“Vivian,” Mom said sternly.

“It’s Dame Acumen,” Viv hissed. “We have codenames for a reason!”’

“Dame Acumen,” I said, putting a hand on my twin’s shoulder. “Calm down. Our home is under protective wards, remember? No one is going to be able to follow Alacrity’s trail back.”

I could practically feel the tension draining from Vivian’s posture, and a moment later she turned away from the rest of the family to lead her head against my chest. Then she started gently knocking her head into the breastplate of my armor. “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered. “Enhanced senses, super-intelligence, and an eidetic memory, and I can still overlook things. I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” I said, hugging her. “You’re the smartest of all of us even without that helmet.”

“Except for mother.”

“Except, maybe, for Morgan. Now, what were you going to do with your phone?”

She dialed a number and stepped away from us to make the call. “Hi mother,” I heard her softly say before I turned back to my mom and brothers.

“She feels a lot of pressure being in charge,” I quietly confided in them. “She was really hoping that Morgan would come in person.”

“Why didn’t she, again?” Percy asked mom.

“Morgan isn’t as anonymous as the rest of us can hopefully be,” Mom explained. “The MLED never learned that the Mountain King was Arthur Könberg, and so they have no reason to look at our family, even though they’ll almost certainly notice that we’re using his armor. But Morgan knows Arthur Peregrine, and he’ll be looking at this whole series of events when he has time. If she isn’t seen to be involved, he won’t connect it to us.”

“Right, right. The whole apprentice thing.”

“Yeah.”

Viv returned to the group, whispering a few words to her phone that caused it to wrap around her wrist like a bracelet. “Okay, so I talked to mother,” she announced. “She didn’t expect this either, and she says it’s bad news. We have to get the item away from Anima, and do whatever it takes to ensure it. Which means...” She sighed. “We’re going to have to work with the Journeymen.”

“We’d better get moving, then,” I said, sighing just as heavily. “Who even knows where they are now? I doubt they stayed where Anima could see them. And with Loki’s powers of stealth...”

“I’m pretty sure my helmet can let me see through those,” Viv said dismissively. “And I have a hunch about where they ended up...”