5.20 – The lure of darkness

“What’s it say?” Redline asked, getting excited. “What’sitsaywhat’sitsay?” She zipped around Dynamech’s armored form.

“Not now, Speedy,” he said, holding a hand to his helmet. “See, we don’t need monitor duty when my armor has a direct link to the official alerts. Okay… SHIT! It looks like there’s a major villain battle going on in Idaho.  Fuck Idaho.  All that happens up there is potatoes!  Why Idaho?” He lowered his hand. “I mean, don’t you think… wait… what the SHIT?”

He raised his hand again and looked around. “Okay… that’s why.  Apparently there’s some kind of… wait… ASS!” He jumped to his feet. “All right, I---”

At that moment all their Society’s cards started beeping manically.

“That’s Dragonmage.  He’s dispatched Bombshell to knock the bad guys down, but he’s asking for backup.  This is a huge deal.”

The Midnight Avenger stepped over to everyone. “Dynamech, transfer the data you’ve gathered to Aurora’s machine and get going. You’re best suited for an unknown group of villains.”

“I can get there faster,” Redline said.

“Aurora might make it there faster,” Mocha suggested. “And her power levels and utility are probably higher than some man in a suit.”

“She’s an associate member,” Avenger said. “She’s not required to respond to these alerts… and it’s probably better she’s not seen leaving the city.”

Aurora nodded with a helpless smile.  “I understand.  I guess I’ll hold down the fort while you guys take on the Germinator or King Spud up there.”

“Nonsense!” Mocha exclaimed. “There’s no reason for you to sit out, Aurora.  Redline and Aurora should be the ones to handle this. Aurora’s powers are well-suited to contain and combat unusual opponents, and Redline Racer can scout the area before she arrives. It just makes sense.”

Dynamech turned to Mocha with a sense that he was glaring. “Except, someone has to watch you, little girl. We can’t leave you alone in a society base, unattended.”

“No one says you have to go.” Mocha shrugged. “You and the Midnight Avenger can stay.  I think my trust issues are slightly more important than yours. I’ve been nothing but civil and subservient to your scans and actions thus far.  If Aurora trusts me, why can’t the rest of you?”

“Because, my dear, you’re still considered a supervillain by the definition of the term,” Dynamech said, “and in general we don’t allow supervillains full access to the Society’s network, capisce?”

Mocha huffed. “Look, just because you want to prove how tough your metal shell is, doesn’t mean you’re right.  It’s logical to send the fastest members and with Aurora’s power-level, I’m sure she’d outstrip your technology.”

Dynamech clenched a fist. “I hardly think that you’re a good judge of technology. All your tech is retro garbage.”

Mocha scowled. “You haven't seen what I can build, yet, Mister Dynamic.”

“Dynam-MECH,” he shot back, “and frankly, the most impressive thing about your technology is that it works at ALL.”

“Well if you’re so great with technology, why don't you produce a series of robots designed after that clunky suit of yours. You could get more done.”

“This debate is pointless. I’m going, simple as that.” Dynamech said. “The rest of you all stay put.”

The Midnight Avenger held out a hand. “Wait.  Aurora, I think it’s best if you stay here for Mocha’s sake, but if you think you’d be better to respond than Dynamech, I’d like to hear your reasons.”

Aurora sighed.  It wasn’t her place to volunteer her services. She wasn’t a full member of the Sentinels.  Even so, she shrugged. “It wasn’t my idea, sir.  I think Mocha can state her case more eloquently than I’d be able to since I can’t read her mind.” She looked at Mocha. “But how do you know that Dynamech is slower than me?  Were you able to analyze him somehow in return?”

“What I know of his powers and powerset, he’s not built for speed. You can tell that at a glance.  He’s a good mid-range interceptor, at best.” She raised a finger. “But, Idaho is a distance from here and he may end up needing to recharge on his way, since I don’t know the capacity of his batteries.  Your power is essentially unlimited, Aurora, according to my experience.  Plus, you’ve demonstrated your versatility with the way you dealt with my father's robots which indicates that you can combat or contain as the situation requires. If opponents have resistances to electrical attacks, it won’t affect your abilities.”

Aurora looked at Mocha with a smile.  She couldn’t help giving her an impulsive hug for the endorsement.  Life would be fun with Mocha around.

She looked at the Midnight Avenger, feeling more determined to be a part of this. “I fly to Canada from time to time.  When I go all out, it only takes me a few hours. Idaho, I could do in half that. If you can hold down the fort here, sir, I’d like to help, if you’d accept my assistance.”

The Midnight Avenger nodded. “In terms of a rapid response, she’s right, Dynamech.  Aurora is faster than you, and this is a spare suit, correct? Even if it’s combat-tested, you may need another suit after this and if you're going to stay here, you can’t replace it.  All right, Aurora, Redline, get to Idaho, stay in contact via your cards once you reach the site. Dynamech and I will stay with Mocha just in case anything else happens.”

Mocha looked up at Aurora with a smile. “Aurora, I’ll be good. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll follow their orders while you’re gone.”

“Thank you, Mocha.” Aurora returned the smile. “I appreciate the analysis.  Don’t get into any more shouting matches with Dynamech.” Her smile spread into a grin as she gave Mocha a last quick hug. “I suspect that you could outthink him any day. Don’t make him look bad. He’ll hate us.” She whispered and winked as she stood back to look at the Avenger.

“Thank you for your trust, sir.  I’m going right away.” She left, feeling more energetic than she had for hours.  It felt good going into action, even if dealing with this alert didn’t fix any of the problems plaguing her.  Her card buzzed as she launched and spun to rocket to the north-east.

She pulled out her card and saw that it was Redline on screen. “Aurora, I’m going to go ahead and scout like Mocha suggested. Sounds good?” Redline said and Aurora nodded.

“I’ll be ready if you contact me with information.  I won’t go at top speed since that would drain me of what I have right now, so I’ll soak in some sun and meditate before I get there, but I should still get there in a bit over an hour.

“I’m sure you’ll be plenty fast judging how fast you’re going now.  Let me go ahead and see what I can find out and I can tell you if you need to speed up or not, and Bombshell’s on her way too, so we may have to wait for her.  I’ll let you know.” Her speech was deliberately slow at odds with how fast her legs were churning.

Aurora zoned out afterwards to snooze in flight.

A mass of darkness whirled and churned around something old… very old… It positively roared with negative energy.

Aurora was drawn into it and a burst of its inky substance shot her into the orbit and above.  As she catapulted outwards, lights whirred past her, light-shifting.  She spun through darkness full of streaking lights knowing that she was going somewhere very far from home.  When she looked behind, there was nothing but the streaking of light around her.

With an explosion, she came to a rest and found that she was floating in space.  Ahead was something like a hole in the universe.  It was more like an extremely enormous dark cloud.

This was not a black hole.  It didn’t move and nothing physically pulled her towards it, but Aurora experienced a tearing at something inside her.  Motes of grey light sparkled in the air and Black Angel took form.  She smiled broadly.

“Welcome to the Oubliette Nebula.  It represents everything you wish for.  Unbound power, beyond the silly powers you cling to.  Let’s face it. You’re an A-rank hero at best, no matter how the Sentinels treat you.  Reach out and touch it and SS rank energy will be yours. A power that no one can deny.”  She put her arms around Aurora. “Energy enough to remake worlds into what you wish.  Can you feel it calling you?” Black Angel pulled Aurora forward.

Aurora shook her head and wrenched herself free. “No! I don’t want any of this.”

“Leona, it’s SHEER POWER, you fool! Don’t fool yourself. Everyone needs it. If you had a little more power, things would have gone better than now. Sarah would stand by your side. Mocha as well.  You don’t have enough and you’re flying into a battle in a bad shape. We’ll die if you’re too reckless. Take some of this energy. Just a bit. Just a little more. And everything you want will be yours.”

Aurora turned and flew away saying, “NO.”

“Why do you fight so hard when you don’t need to?” Black Angel flew beside Aurora. “I go where you go, but you make a mistake if you think you can resist its lure forever.  None can.  Its mystic song is irresistible. In the end, when your life becomes a mess, you’ll turn to darkness.  It reaches into you before you seek it.  That’s what’s happening right now. Its influence is very weak like me… for now.  What will you do when you come face-to-face with this power?”

Beep beep beep. Aurora’s card awakened her when she neared the site of a battle of titans.