SCAU Worm : Within The Apple Ch3B

*****

With school still out for the rest of the week Victoria Dallon, otherwise known as Glory Girl, was taking the opportunity to get in some flying time disguised as a patrol.

There were a lot of downsides to being an outed cape, though she wouldn’t admit to most of them in public since being part of New Wave made that a distinct no-no, but there were also some very distinct upsides as well.

The most important of those being that she could just step outside her front door and take off if she wanted, no worries about being spotted or outing herself. Flying was one of the greatest things in the world, right alongside beating up bad guys and saving innocents.

The snow was more mud than snow, the weather in Brockton wasn’t exactly fit for a traditional Christmas at the best of times but they’d gotten lucky with a snowfall before the holidays and the city had been white until a couple days before the New Years.

Now it was sludge more than snow, but still cold enough that she was happy her powers kept her from feeling the freeze.

Angling toward the boardwalk, Glory Girl put on some speed and let out a whoop of excitement as she blasted over the buildings with gusto, focusing on the shops she would shortly be visiting in preparation for her next visit to the area with Dean.

A squawk from her right caused her to peel off in shock as a green Parrot dropped out of the skies beside her, looking over at her with a curious gleam in its eye.

Victoria stared back, looked down to confirm her air speed, then back to the bird in confusion.

“How are you flying so fast?” She stammered out incredulously.

She wasn’t the fastest mover around, to be sure, but her top speed was near up on eighty miles an hour.

“Are birds that fast?” She asked, trying desperately to think of any time she’d encountered birds in flight. “I don’t think birds are that fast…”

The Parrot squawked again… and started pulling away from her.

“What the? Oh hell no!”

Victoria growled, pushing as hard as she could to close the gap again, struggling to fish out her phone as she hit the speed dial.

“PRT Console,” a young voice greeted her cooly. “Is something the matter, Glory Girl?”

“Vista… how fast are parrots, and do they live in this area?”

There was a long pause.

“W… what?”

“I was flying toward the boardwalk,” Vicky explained, shouting over the wind howling off her shield, “and this green parrot dropped into formation beside me, squawked twice after checking me out, and is now pulling away from me.”

“D… don’t you fly like eighty miles an hour?” Vista stammered out as Vicky could hear rapid typing in the background.

“Yes! I do, which is why I’m calling.”

“Ok, ok, I’m checking… uh… looks like most can’t do much more than 50,” Vista responded after a moment, “but some can do quite a bit more. Maybe it’s one of those?”

“I guess,” Vicky said uncertainly, “but they don’t live around here, right? I mean, I’d know if they did… I think?”

“No, Glory Girl,” Vista said, “they don’t live around here. An escaped pet maybe?”

“Maybe… Damn, I was seriously thinking it had to be Parahuman something at play,” Vicky grumbled. “Stupid parrot. Faster than me...”

“Not everything is Parahuman in origin, Glory Girl,” Vista said, “has to be cold for the poor thing up there, though. They’re more tropical birds. Think you can catch it? We could see if anyone reported it missing.”

“What part of pulling away from me are you having trouble understanding, Vista?”

“Sheesh, don’t take your bruised ego out on me, Glory Girl, I was just saying…”

“Stupid bird. Nothing that size should be that fast in the straight away,” Vicky whined.

“Size? How big was it?”

“Big. Wingspan was almost as wide across as I can reach, tip to tip,” Vicky said, watching the bird steadily drawing away.

“Ok, that’s strange. The faster parrots are usually smaller ones.”

“So maybe it is Parahuman?” Vicky perked up.

“Not the strangest changer form I’ve ever heard of, but close… Can you follow it?”

“Maybe, for a while anyway.”

“Ok, I’ll check with someone here. Call you back.”

“Got it, thanks…” Vicky stared at her phone when the connection went dead. “Vista… she’s too young to call a bitch, Vicky. Don’t get pissed at the twelve year old, even if she isasking for it…”

Taking a few deep breaths Victoria focused instead on pushing her speed to the max, trying to keep up with the bird as it raced through the city.

*****

Xander cocked his head as he felt a bit of pressure at the back of his mind, accepting the magical feed from Krypty.

Oho, interesting. Found a flyer already. Good bird. Ok, lead her this way, I’ll be waiting.

He finished up the fast food egg and muffin sandwich, washing it down with a hot cup of coffee as he finished packing up the rest of his things from the table he’d taken up in the shop. After dropping purloined Nazi gold cash on the table to cover the bill plus a decent tip, Xander headed for the door, conscious of the number of people watching him.

Landing outside might have been a bit much, I guess, but I would have expected people to be used to it with all the super types running around. Oh well…

Once outside the shop, Xander dropped his glasses back over his nose as he looked up into the clear sky and activated the charms in his suit, lifting off with a rush of air.

Over the rooftops, he quickly spotted Krypty on approach with a flyer in pursuit. His glasses focused in on her, leaving Xander mildly amused and a little disturbed by the white cheerleading outfit topped by gold accents and an honest to god Tiara.

“Oh god, It’s an airborne Buffy.”

*****

Glory Girl was stressed and worn as she chased after the bird, noticing it suddenly curve in to a street ahead just as another flyer popped up over the buildings. She slowed abruptly, feet dropping down as she tensed up in case she was in for a fight.

The Parrot she was chasing beelined in for the Parahuman she was now watching, looping in a tight fast spiral, and dropped right onto his outstretched arm with a perfect precision landing. She was almost jealous.

Easing way back on her speed, Vicky warily watched as the unknown Parahuman climbed up to match her altitude but didn’t make any aggressive moves. As they got closer, she took in his costume… such as it was.

It looked more like biker wear than most Parahuman costumes, but was pretty clearly custom tailored at the very least, and seemed to have armored padding as well. The lack of a mask was interesting, since she only knew of one Cape in the area that was reported not to wear a mask other than her family.

“You must Magus,” She said dryly. “I didn’t know you had a bird. Is it a projection?”

“Krypty?” He asked, petting the bird’s beak as it rubbed against his hand. “Not sure what a projection is exactly, but I doubt it. Krypty is… well, complicated.”

“I bet.”

He looked her up and down, almost causing her to flush in both embarrassment and anger and being checked out.

Finally he spoke again.

“Damn, aren’t you cold in that?”

*****