Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 151
There were no signs of jealousy in the bubbly woman, just genuine excitement for her friend—or was it her ‘sister’ now? “The PR people and press will be clamoring for something to call you other than ‘Devil’s Trainee’.”
“On that note, if you want a name related to your Power instead of your general appearance or past employment, show off your Power a bit,” the Captain interjected. “I’ve seen some of the parlor tricks you’ve been working on, make sure to put on a display or two today.”
“Yeah, otherwise you’ll end up with something with ‘Nurse’ in it,” Silver agreed, nodding rapidly.
“Or something green related, given your suit,” Tinker added helpfully.
Laura couldn’t imagine being called something like Verdant Practitioner or something ridiculous. “Okay, yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I’ll put on some shows. And might I add, it really sucks that we don’t get to choose our own names.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” the Captain complained, his golden eyes rolling just a little.
“Or me.” Hopewing sighed, the warm and serene smile that was a near constant on her face dipping slightly.
“Silver isn’t terrible,” the bright woman chirped happily.
“I’m with the angel and the demon.” Mind Witch huffed. “I don’t actually hate mine, but it’s sooooo predictable.”
“I’ve always liked Kitsune because it’s so obvious,” the foxy redhead admitted with a shrug. “And it only gets better the more tails I get. Speaking of,” she turned a look that got even Laura a little riled up on the Captain—and she wasn’t even into women! At least, she didn’t think so. “When do I get my sixth?”
“Ooh-ooh-ooh!” Silver squealed. “I wonder how long my hair will get this time! We need to set up a schedule!”
‘Kuh-he!’ Mind Witch giggled and then spoke into Laura’s thoughts. ‘You are not romantically interested in women and have always viewed sexual interactions as an expression of romantic feelings. There is a chance, however, that being a part of this family will normalize non-romantic sexual interactions with women to the point where you become curious… but it hasn’t yet.’
Laura was thankful for the insight but didn’t remember giving Mind Witch permission to read her thoughts.
‘Kuh-he!’ Mind Witch giggled again. ‘I guess you forgot giving me permission that first week we were at the base. I suspected you might have but couldn’t be sure because I’ve always respected your privacy to the best of my ability. We discussed this most recently about four months ago after you cleared the last of your second thoughts and I became sure you would make it to the ‘inner circle,’ so to speak. Now that you are Devoted, I can’t block you out as easily. I am literally connected to Boyd’s Bonds, so it’s hard to ignore the louder thoughts.’
Laura suspected the gothic beauty was just using that as an excuse. It was far more likely that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer when it came to the women so closely connected to her man. Their mental states could easily affect his, after all.
‘Kuh-he-he-he,’ Mind Witch’s reply to the thought was an evil cackle instead of her usual giggle.
“Alright, ladies…” the Captain said with the slightly firm voice he broke out when it was time to get his team back on track after a distraction. “We’ve got five minutes until our patrol officially starts. Let’s get on the Osprey and to our deployment positions.”
Laura noted he’d waited until they’d formed a loose schedule that would have each of the women Enhanced to their new level within roughly forty-eight hours.
The team broke from the loose huddle and made their way to the Osprey. Two sleek grav bikes sat just beyond the rear ramp of the team’s ship; one was red and white, while the other was green and blue. Tinker had made Laura one just like Kitsune’s, although it was slightly bigger to account for her larger frame. Laura followed her field trainer’s lead as she swung her leg over the grav bike.
Granny would pilot the Osprey today, with Tinker focusing on surveillance and her drones.
Silver was the first to exit the ship, darting out a side door shortly after they exited the Tower as the stealthed craft circled around the city walls. There was a tunnel that provided an exit from the city, but it was hidden well below the Tower and was only used for emergencies anymore. When Granny turned before reaching the wall, the rear ramp dropped, and Laura followed Kitsune out of it.
They rocketed forward on their grav bikes. The wind rushed past her face, causing Laura’s hair to whip around behind her. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that her Enhanced Resistances meant that she didn’t need goggles to fly at high speeds. The city blurred by beneath the two Heroes until they entered their patrol area. Once there, Kitsune slowed down and dropped down between the buildings.
“Alright, my bright-eyed Trainee,” the many-tailed redhead said over their sub-team comms, “we’re going to fly a quick circuit to start off. This will let everyone in the area know that we are here. It should deter any Powered Criminals that might have been planning something and let any looky-loos know to watch for us on the ground later.”
Laura gripped the handlebars confidently, feeling the familiar hum of the grav-bike beneath her. “Got it. Let’s do this.”
Kitsune took the lead, her skill with the bike evident as she danced between the buildings, five fluffy tails trailing in her wake. Laura followed her like a shadow, trying to keep up but struggling to match the redhead’s obvious skill.
‘Ease up a little, Kitsune. Your trainee is competent on the bike, but she doesn’t have your reflexes.”
The Captain's voice entered Laura’s head loud and clear. She hadn’t experienced much of the team’s mental comms before, and the sudden intrusion startled her enough that her bike wobbled in the air.
‘Shit, sorry,’ the Captain’s voice returned, sounding chagrined.
‘Easing off,’ Kitsune replied promptly, already slowing down.
‘I don’t need to be coddled,’ Laura tried out the mental comms herself, sounding a bit put out.
‘I’ve got it, Devil.’ Kitsune sighed.
Then, she continued on their sub-team comms, “The Big Guy wouldn’t have said anything if he sensed you were comfortable with those speeds or maneuvers. And if you aren’t comfortable, the odds of a mistake go way up. So, outside of responding to an emergency, speak up if I’m ever leading too fast. I really like to fly fast, and improved reflexes are part of my Power set… so this may not be the last time you’ll need to speak up.”
“I was handling it,” Laura huffed, though she had to admit she was much more comfortable at the slightly reduced speed. They were by no means going slow, the ten to thirty-story buildings around them flashing by, but it was manageable.
“Mhmm, you were,” Kitsune agreed, “but you shouldn’t have to worry about something like that… outside of an emergency. It was my failing, not yours. No reason to burn your nerves out just flying patrol.”
“Alright, fine,” Laura sighed.
“Good,” Kitsune said as she grinned over her shoulder at her trainee—make that provisional Hero. “Now that we’ve announced ourselves with a little reckless flying, let’s land in the park coming up and start our foot patrol.”
Laura followed Kitsune as her field trainer slowed further and descended. She spotted the aforementioned park up ahead, a grassy area with play equipment for children and plenty of benches for the adults. It had a central fountain that offered some real possibilities for a little showmanship. The park was filled with parents with young children at this time of day, the majority of school-aged children already being in class.
As Laura landed the bike beside Kitsune, she noted the park was bustling with activity. Children laughed and played on the play equipment, with parents sitting on the nearby benches keeping an eye on them. Most eyes, child and adult alike, turned to the two Heroes as they settled to the ground beside the fountain.
The adults tensed, scanning for signs of a disturbance as the two Heroes dismounted their grav bikes. Several of the kids took tentative steps towards the pair, but then stopped and turned to look for their parents. Heroes were inherently cool, but they could also be harbingers of chaos and destruction. As such, most kids were taught from a young age not to run towards a Hero when they saw one.
Kitsune gave a big smile and a wave before tapping a button on her FDU that sent their grav bikes to hover in the air twenty feet above them. The bikes would follow them around like they were on a tether. Laura saw several big green hands with upraised thumbs appear and rotate around them. It was the illusionist’s way of letting everyone know they weren’t responding to an impending emergency.
Some kids dashed up to them at that point, their accompanying parent or guardian scurrying after them. Many others returned to their adult and immediately tried to drag them towards the Heroes who’d descended from the sky to play with them.
Laura put on the comfortable and approachable smile she’d learned in her first year as a nurse and prepared herself for the part of being a Hero that would feel the most like work to her—generating positive public relations through interacting directly with the public. She liked to think of herself as a people person, but had always preferred one-on-one or small group interactions.
Heroes got swarmed.
Kids raced towards them with excited shouts, their caregivers following close behind and trying to maintain a sense of control while being swept up in the kids' enthusiasm. Laura could sense the adults’ hesitance and the need for reassurance, so she focused on putting them at ease.
Grinning broadly, she crouched down and addressed the children. “Hey there, little ones! What are your names?”
Names were shouted back at her from the crowd of mostly four to six year olds that had run up to the Heroes. She caught maybe three of the names that were shouted back in response to her question and committed them to her short-term memory. Several of the children asked her for her name, including one of the kids whose name she’d picked out.
“Well, Logan,” Laura smiled back at the young boy at the front of the crowd, “I don’t have a Hero name yet, but I hope to get one soon. Maybe you can help with that, what do you think my name should be?”
The boy blinked, and replied with a seriousness that was comical coming from one so young. “That’s a lot of pressure.”
Laura blinked, then laughed. “Sorry, Logan. I didn’t mean to put that pressure on you.”
“What are your Powers?” one of the adults asked, holding a different child back by the shoulders. She was in her late twenties, and the gleam in her eyes reminded Laura of Kayla, who was always ravenous for the latest bit of new information.
“I can create liquids...” Laura held up her hand and created a small globe of pure water using the hydrogen and oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere. “And control them…” She split the globe of water into smaller shapes.
One was a hoop, another a ball, a third a square block, and—she pursed her lips in concentration—the final one became a bunny that hopped back and forth through the hoop. Her Enhancement really was a game-changer. She would have to rock the Captain’s world again to express her gratitude to him for all he’d done.
“Wow!” The woman blinked, looking a little surprised that Laura had been so quick to give her an answer. “That’s really cool.”
Laura was only revealing what Phil would guess at after seeing her in action. “Thanks,” Laura grinned, then removed all the hydrogen atoms, leaving her with a ball of Liquid Oxygen. She let it evaporate, the loose atoms rapidly rejoining with the extra hydrogen atoms she had left lying around and condensing into a thick fog that rolled over their feet.
While the children were delighted, the adults seemed to go from impressed to wary, and their grip on their children tightened. Each of the parents looked at one another, exchanging uneasy glances.
“Hey, it's okay,” Laura said quickly, her voice soothing. Realizing her mistake, she explained. “Sorry about that… it’s just fog. All I did was change the form of water in the air around our feet. It’s nothing to be afraid of.”
She focused on one particularly concerned-looking grandmother. “I used to be a nurse; I would never expose children to something harmful.” Her words had the desired effect, soothing ruffled feathers.
The children started clamoring for more displays, asking what else she could do while she addressed the adults. “Tell you what, let’s move things over to the fountain.” She figured the parents would worry less about it potentially hurting the kids if she kept the rest of her showboating over the existing water. Besides, she could incorporate it in some larger displays.
“Good idea,” Kitsune chimed in, making herself heard over the chatter. “Let’s go over to the fountain.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Laura encouraged her young fans, giving them a thumbs up as they all began to follow her and her trainer back to the fountain in the center of the park.
As the group of children, adults, and Heroes approached the fountain, Laura saw a few people snap some pictures while one young woman seemed to be taking a video, possibly streaming it. It was something she had seen countless times before. Those pictures would be circulated within minutes and become part of the evolving narrative of the public's imagination.
She set about entertaining them by creating different shapes with various liquids over the fountain. She focused on things with impressive reactions when exposed to atmosphere or the other chemicals she introduced into the globe, snake, bunny, and bird shapes she formed over the fountain. Her suit had hidden containers and reservoirs—because she’d refused to let the Captain call them bladders. They stored some of the less common elements she could easily incorporate with those found readily in most environments.
The children's eyes widened with delight as Laura created balls of liquid nitrogen, letting it fall in droplets to form ice shards that danced across the surface of the fountain, along with liquid carbon dioxide, which turned into billowing clouds of fog the moment it touched the water. The adults, still skeptical, watched with a mix of awe and unease. She added different chemicals to the fountain, causing portions of the water she launched into the air in small fountains to change color and shimmer brightly in the morning sunlight.
“Ooohhh!” one little girl gushed, “She’s like a water spirit.”
The twenty-something man who knelt beside the little girl looked down at his young daughter. “A water spirit? I think she’s too pretty to be a spirit… maybe a water nymph.”
The woman standing behind them smacked the twenty-something in the back of the head.
“Hey!”
“That would be a Naiad, Jeff,” the woman—obviously his wife—said. “And stop leering at her.”
“Already causing trouble, I see,” Raev said over their sub coms and then laughed out loud—ostensibly at a pink fox shape that chased a blue bunny shape around the edge of the fountain.
Laura stifled a scowl at her trainer. Focusing back on the crowd, she was careful to explain what each substance was for the adults, ensuring they knew that nothing she was doing was dangerous. She hoped this display of transparency and safety consciousness alleviated their concerns and built trust.
“Alright, Trainee…” The Captain’s voice cut over her comms, interrupting the display not long before she’d planned on wrapping it up. “I’ve got your first engagement. It was going to a Low-Ranked Powered Response Team of NPOs, but I pulled it for you. There is a D-Ranked Strength Powered causing a disturbance at a coffee shop three blocks from your current location. You’ll see the location on your FDU… hop to it.”
“Sorry everyone, but we’ve got to go,” Kitsune called out as their grav bikes descended to the ground. “Step back, please.”
One by one, Laura neutralized any reactions and pulled back any non-natural elements back into her suit’s reservoirs. In seconds, the fountain was just as it had been—except for the floating ice shards. Running to her grav bike as soon as she could, she swung a leg over it while taking the deep breaths she had been trained to use to control an adrenaline rush.
She was more excited than frightened, but it wouldn’t do to go in all twitchy.
Chapter 42
That evening, everyone gathered around a buffet table in the Great Room to enjoy a small feast that consisted mostly of Laura’s favorite dishes. The woman of the hour sat directly to Boyd’s right, with their fairy chef sitting on her other side—the closest she ever had sat to the big demon before. Apparently, the desire to sit next to her best friend overrode Daisy’s drive to stay as far away from Boyd as possible. The rest of his loves were arrayed around the table, happily partaking in a feast to celebrate Laura’s first day on patrol.
She had done very well, handling civilian interactions perfectly and making a couple of misdemeanor arrests that would put her on the map. Footage of her was everywhere, hundreds of clips of her putting on small displays of her Power at the park circulated on social media, as well as a few clips or pictures from her arrests.
Boyd was all but certain she would have a positive news cycle. She might even earn a name in the near future. As if on cue, Granny pretended to be the system’s automated voice and carried out a command he had forgotten to program.
“News2 has just announced they will be doing a segment on The Devoted’s Trainee after the currently airing commercial break.”
He made a mental note privately to thank Tinker’s artificial ancestor. He would have kicked himself if they’d missed it. But he didn’t want to blow her cover with Tinker by thanking her now.
‘Kuh-he!’ Mindy sent. ‘Tinker knows both that Granny has taken over the base’s AI and also that you are playing along with her… and is pretending not to. She finds it adorable that you value your relationship with the only member of her birth family she cares about enough to play Granny’s little games. No, she isn’t upset or believes that you are lying to her. Keeping Granny contained is a game she has been playing with the Ai for years. She trusts you to play along without letting Granny do something she actually shouldn’t.’
