5.35 – Saucery

I hope you enjoy your double-treat today! *purring* <3

Aurora answered Avenger’s call to see his masked face. “I just got an alert of you checking the database. Are you alright?”

With a nod, Aurora spoke, “Yeah, we’re good. Mission complete… and then some.” Aurora gave him a full report.

He listened with a frown, or so Aurora thought. “That’s… good work, overall, but are you sure you can trust Black Angel?”

“I’m not 100% sure of anything, but she won my trust when she protected me. She was offered a new body and an infinite supply of power and she didn’t take the offer. I’m going to gamble a bit here. I don’t think ANYONE is irredeemable.”

“I’ve noticed that about you,” the Midnight Avenger said. “It’s admirable that you always try to see the best in others. Are you going to be coming back soon at this point? Mocha’s been becoming antsy while waiting for you. To be honest with you, I think she’s worried about you.”

“Yes. I was hoping I could recharge, but I can push myself a bit more and get right to charging up the ship’s batteries. I was thinking the smartest thing to do would be to drop the villains off at a holding location. Crimson Coil is particularly dangerous because of her condition. After that, I’ll head back and we can talk about what comes next. Any suggestions about where we should take Gothschilde and Crimson Coil?”

Aurora turned and created a hotel cart again and Bombshell loaded the villains onboard. They headed into the cave and Aurora continued speaking with the Avenger about what she planned to do with her new ship.

When the call finished, Aurora turned her eyes on Black Angel to ask, “Does the ship have a brig that can handle Goths and Crimson Coil?”

“Of course we do have one, but it may not hold them. They’re most appropriate to hold Empyrean prisoners.”

“I see…” Aurora smiled wryly. “We’ll have to upgrade the brig too.”

They returned to the Saucer and Black Angel directed Aurora to the brig, it was a small affair on the upper floor. Aurora put the villains inside a cell and triggered the bars to close. Aurora headed back to the main chamber, led by Black Angel with Redline coincidentally walking by her side.

Aurora moved to the room where Void Wolf was seated, the room he considered to be his throne room. Feeling her energy sparking as she took a seat in the chair, Aurora knew that the connection was created between herself and the ship’s system..

Black Angel walked into view in front of her. “Just relax if you want the ship to draw on its own, or concentrate on letting your power flow to the ship. Sitting in the pilot's chair like that will let the ship draw your energies most efficiently.”

Aurora nodded, feeling the connection. She imagined her power flowing out in a gentle wave and felt a sharper drain. The sudden sensation made Aurora gasp, but she quickly got herself under control. It was surprisingly easy to deal with once she’d experienced it. Black Angel smiled as Aurora mastered the sensation. “Just let it flow and you can control it.” She disappeared from view as she said, “I need to rest. It’s surprisingly difficult to maintain the connection.”

Aurora smiled. “Thanks.” She looked at Redline. “It’ll take around an hour to charge this baby up. I have to sit here until it’s done. Once we get it going, it’ll maintain itself via its systems that take in ambient energy.” Aurora grinned at Racer. “I’m really excited to get her flying! If Bombshell’s coming with us, make sure she knows when the bus leaves”

Redline returned her grin. “Me too! I’ll go tell Bombshell in case she doesn’t already know.” She rushed out from the room and moments later she returned. “Okay, she knows. She says she’ll come inside in a moment, so she’ll be along. I’m going to wait at the door for her, so don’t leave until I get back, okay?”

“Of course.” Aurora smiled, going through all the information that Black Angel had given to her about the ship, so she’d be able to handle it flawlessly when the time came.

By the time Redline returned again, Aurora was reasonably sure she could handle the flying part. “Bombshell’s on her way. I’m heading back to the door to wait for her.” She sped off again.

Aurora laughed, excited to start. It was nearly time!

Aurora sang songs in her head while she finished the charging, humming softly as she waited. Redline popped in periodically until she showed up with Bombshell who was a little green after being super-sped to the bridge.

Bombshell started pacing around the room while she sighed and took deep breaths, calming herself after Redline’s rushing. “You need to stop running around like that, Red! You’re just making my motion sickness worse.”

Aurora laughed softly. “You’ve got motion sickness? I’ll do my best to not freak you out when we take off! Here we go!” Aurora turned everything on. The saucer lit up and arrays of controls appeared around the angel. If Black Angel hadn’t shared her memories of piloting, she’d have been overwhelmed by these controls, but she stretched her fingers over them. It wasn’t a seamless action. She had to reference the memories to be sure. Alerts came up to report that the saucer was in disrepair. Aurora ignored them, particularly the one indicating that the door was open leading outside. The saucer took off with a wobble.

The pile of rocks with sagebrush growing in its crannies shuddered and gradually bulged as stones and earth moved. There was a rumbling as they fell away. When the silver saucer peeked out, it shot out, sending rocks flying in every direction.

Onslaught turned to see it shining in the sky as he plodded away. His eyes narrowed and he turned away with a limp.

As the ship rose, it steadied itself as Aurora refined her control. Bombshell clapped her hands firmly onto Aurora’s shoulders. “Get this thing steady or I swear…!”

Aurora focused despite the distraction of Bombshell’s panicking and steadied its movement more. Bombshell’s fingers loosened their grip.

“Wowthisisgreat!CanIflyitnext,please?!” Redline asked, dashing around the room, practically bouncing. “How fast can she go?! Openitup!”

“Don’t you dare!” Bombshell yelled.

Aurora laughed, continuing to gain elevation. She made sure that she didn’t lift the saucer so much that the air would get too thin, but enough that they’d not be seen easily from below. Aurora hit a few controls and pulled up the GPS system. A map of the world came up, but it was extremely out of date. She initiated a scan to correct the holographic map. “Sorry, Redline. I’ll give you rides anytime, but this thing runs on me. I’m its greater supply of energy and my powers manipulate its controls. They’re holograms made of light and you wouldn’t be able to touch them.”

“Are you saying that if you get hurt or fall unconscious, the ship is going to fall out of the sky?”

“Nah…” Aurora laughed. “The Empyreans weren’t dumb. If the pilot gets knocked out of the seat, it’ll hover in place as long as it maintains enough energy. It’ll draw on the ambient energies until its power repository is spent. It does what the Empyrean body does, just less efficiently. In the worst case scenario, the ship detects that the pilot is unconscious and it can’t draw energy, it gently settles down onto the ground.”

“Then how did it crash-land?” Bombshell asked with a strong hint of sarcasm.

“Youcancatchit!” Redline almost squeed.

“Yeah… doing that worked out so well last time,” Bombshell ruefully remarked.

“This one’s a LOT smaller than the one you caught!” Redline corrected Bombshell. “I wish I could stand on the outside of this thing when you make it go really fast!”

“You’re so weird… like a dog sticking out her head outside the window to let her tongue fly.” Bombshell rolled her eyes.

“What can I say? I’m a bit of a speed addict. NO! Not like that!” Redline pled.

“Ha ha! You said it, you little tweaker!” Bombshell chuckled.

“I mean REAL SPEED! The true fix. No drugs,” Redline glumly said.

“We know.” Aurora laughed with a smile. “She’s just teasing.”

“I know she’s messing with me.” Redline sighed. “But I’m worried sometimes people get the wrong idea.”

“What? That you’re a speed addict that acts like a crack fiend on her fourth rock?” Bombshell continued to tease.

Redline shot Bombshell a glare and sat, pouting.

Aurora veered towards the Sentinel’s HQ, playing in the clouds and gradually lowered its velocity. However, Aurora checked the controls and found something that wasn’t mentioned by Black Angel. The broken door had been ‘patched’ with an emergency field to keep the weather conditions from affecting the ship and pressurize the inside. It was a system for if the ship took damage and the hull punctured. The ship’s silent AI made use of the energy to intelligently create constructs and fields.

They arrived at the location of the Sentinel’s HQ and they were hailed immediately by Bulwark. A screen that was hidden in a wall activated to show the robots’ face. The superhero was a creation of pure metal without skin.

“This is Bulwark of the Society of Sentinels. Please identify yourself.”

Aurora fumbled with the controls and activated the outgoing communications stream and spoke, “This is Aurora in my new… SPACESHI~I~I~I~IP!” This last part was said playfully with a lilt in her tone.

“Ah, I see,” Bulwark said dryly. “Your file indicates you have no such transport. Can you provide me with the Sentinel all-clear word of the day?”

Aurora bit her lip, not knowing what the hell that was.

Bombshell leaned over, inserting herself between Aurora and his image. “Can he hear me?” she asked Aurora.

“I can hear you, Bombshell, and see you. I’m glad to see that you’re looking so full of vigor, but you looked better the last time I saw you. You look like you’ve been in another fight, not that that’s uncommon for you.”

“Gee… THANKS!” Bombshell glowered at Bulwark. “Anyway, the word of the day is… um… Expialodocious.”

“You are correct. Disengaging defenses. Aurora, you are cleared to stay in Sentinel’s airspace.”

“Great,” Aurora dryly said, “we’re dropping off Gothschilde and Crimson Coil to be held for the warrant of their arrests. How do we handle this? Should I land?”

Bombshell nodded. “I’ll take them to holding and get them locked away, then hit my room and get some real rest. Can you handle the rest without me?”

“Aren’t you afraid you're going to miss the action?” Redline asked, surprised.

“Honestly, fighting Onslaught was enough excitement for me today. I really need the rest despite all the healing Aurora gave me.” Bombshell stepped to Aurora and clapped her on her shoulder. “Can one of you show me where they’re locked up?”

Aurora hit a few controls and instructed, “Follow the lights on the walls. They’ll lead you to the brig and the brig will open. The construct may have expired by now, but I’m sure they’re not going to want to try and mess with you.” She winked.

Bombshell smirked. “Oh, I wouldn’t mind them trying a bit of funny business,” She said as she left the bridge.

Redline rushed to Aurora. “I’ll back her up, just in case. Be right back.” She ran after Bombshell and after about fifteen minutes, she returned. “Okay, open up!”

“While you’ve been gone, I’ve been looking for a good place to park her,” Aurora said with a frown. “Any ideas?”

Redline smiled. “Space?”

“Probably not the best idea since we lack a door… I could keep it pretty high up, but I doubt she’d be repairable in space, and then how would we return to Earth?” Aurora rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but people might still be able to find it on the ground.” Redline said. “But you're the only one who can control it, right? Just park it here. Bulwark can train the sensors on the saucer and we could fly where directed.”

Aurora thought about the problem of the Society’s card signals being eaten and blocked so she started punching controls and created a light box and put her card inside it. Soon after, she created a facsimile of its controls created with light, just larger. She dialed up Mistral’s card. After a moment she answered, “Aurora! How are you?!”

The Angel blinked and then smiled happily with a wink. “I’m doing very well.”

Mistral chuckled. “I’m pleased to know it. You’re looking happy. I bet you’ve been having some nice thoughts about me.”

“Hiya, Missy!” Redline Racer rushed over behind Aurora.

“AH!” Mistral gaped. “I--- didn’t expect you’d be right there.”

“We were just on a mission together.” Redline gave her a thumbs up.

“Um… where are you two?” Mistral asked.

“Hovering above the Sentinels’ HQ. I’d like to ask if you’d be able to temporarily keep my new spaceship for me.” Aurora filled Mistral in on everything that happened.

Mistral gaped and blinked. “Wow… it went well from what you’re saying.” She smiled warmly. “Well, sure. Why don’t you bring the saucer up north and I’ll create a blizzard to cover it with snow. If you park it next to my lodge, it’ll look like another hill and no one comes near.”

“Excellent!” Aurora grinned. “Thanks, Mistral. We’ll make for Canada next, then. After a short visit, I’ll have to head back to San Isidro to wrap things up there, at least I hope things will go easier going forward. I’m going to be looking into getting this ship repaired so she’s space-worthy again.”

Mistral nodded and set down by the HQ building to let down the ramp and remove the barrier so Bombshell could take the villains out and into the building. With a few pushes of buttons, she created a screen in the air outside to display her face and waved goodbye to Bombshell, Gothschilde and Crimson Coil. Bombshell held the two firmly and nodded to Aurora. “It was fun. Thanks!”

Gothschilde scowled at Aurora but shrugged and her frown turned upside down for a moment. Crimson was still unconscious but Gothschilde walked alongside Bombshell. When they were far enough, Aurora lifted up and Redline stayed by Aurora’s side.

“I’m tagging along with you, since we haven’t finished the case back in San Isidro yet.” Redline said.

Aurora nodded and rocketed as fast as she could to Canada.