2.06.2 – A serious crisis

2.1 - Edited by: Rellawing, AlliterativeArts - 1/15/2021

The power within spiraled and welled up until it exploded into a dazzling flash. When the light faded after a moment, Leona was back in her heroic form. This time however, her old clothes were nowhere to be found since she’d focused on changing her clothes immediately into her costume!

“Awww… you’re fully clothed this time,” Quinn pouted after rubbing the sunspots out of her eyes.

Leona nodded and grinned before turning and posing dramatically. “Hehe, yup… too bad for dirty old sis!” She stuck out her tongue and winked. “I’ll see you in a bit. Here’s hoping the second time’s a charm, right?”

She darted to the nearby window and slid it open, squirming out. Because they were on the ground-floor, there wasn’t much of a drop so when she hopped down to the grass outside, she leapt into the air and cannoned off.

When she transformed, her phone moved from her pants pocket to the bosom pocket as she had hoped. That meant that her normal clothes must have been broken down into light and  repurposed, or else they were stowed in some sort of extra dimensional storage. Regardless, she definitely imagined her phone being right where it ended up.

Pulling said phone out, she opened up the maps application and set a point for the camp where she’d find Sarah. Frowning, she realized that navigation would prove to be a bit more difficult than that. The map assumed she was taking roads so the lines rapidly zigzagged, trying to compensate for her direct flight over, not to mention how fast she was going. She wondered if there was a superhero app for flight GPS, but she could make do with things in the meantime. She at least had a distant point to work towards and a compass to direct her.

Orienting herself, she swept out of San Isidro in short order and was soon over the bay heading towards Seaside City. Once the shore was cleared on that side she made her way to the rural areas beyond. The camp was to be found well outside any city limits to the north.

She slipped the phone into its secure pocket and focused on maintaining a steady course and speed, but as she was about to clear downtown she detected a loud commotion on the ground. Sirens were blaring and there was loud screaming. Leona groaned, knowing this was going to delay her plans.

When she banked a frightening scene came into view. There was a huge crane wobbling near the edge of a construction site. The metal of its frame was creaking and grinding. The pedestrians were crying out and taking pictures. A rational onlooker from a distance might have thought that a few of those people should be moving out of the way, but more than a few were more concerned with taking pictures than with literal tons of metal potentially falling on them.

There were several major traffic arteries around the building so it was a fair bet wherever it fell would be on a roadway, causing a ton of secondary accidents aside from the few unlucky people who might be flattened.

The building itself, partly constructed, might also be brought down with the crane to land on the street if enough stress were put on it.

After a moment of consideration, she decided she needed to test what she could do. She would start with the brute strength approach.

She flew to the crane and laid her hands on it. Her aura crept over the structure to cover the whole thing, but this proved very taxing. She felt drained while doing so. If anyone was around to open fire on her now, she’d likely not be able to deflect the bullets. Below, the sirens whined and more people started shouting. Emergency responders were directing people away from the site. Needless to say, the racket was incredibly distracting.

Leona could feel that she wasn’t able to keep the crane from falling, but recalling several stories she’d seen and read about where heroes had to deal with similar situations, she knew influencing which direction it would inevitably fall was a viable option. So, she braced herself against the crane and did her best to use the thrust from her flight to keep it up for as long as possible and finally redirect its descent. For the first time since she’d transformed, Leona sweated from head to toes.

She knew this wouldn’t be easy. That things would go less than stellarly sometimes. It was something a superhero had to understand and accept. She was determined to hold the crane long enough that people were forced to evacuate the area and the traffic redirected. She set her teeth and, as planned, held the crane up as long as she could. The metal eventually started to groan more as it started to give way. On the opposite side it was weakening and starting to snap. Things were getting to the tipping point soon. Pushing it wouldn’t work to keep it aloft for much longer, the instability of not having a base would instead invariably force the upper portion in a potentially undesirable direction.

Still touching the crane, she slid down the structure and tried to find a way to keep the assembly stable for even a bit more. She spotted the metal bands that had snapped from metal fatigue and the steel twisting under the massive weight.

Just as she’d initially thought, there really wasn't any way to stop this from happening.

She’d bought people time, but would it fall in the right place at least? She considered spinning and resting the crane against another building, but that would still cause some damage and that damage would be due to a choice she made.

She sighed, nodding to herself. The only good direction to go was straight down.

She’d have to blast the structure from all sides and move as quickly as she could to force it to collapse directly onto the plot on which it was placed. That was the best outcome that she could see and because of that, she didn’t have time to dally. Calculating the required blasts as best as possible in advance, she launched up and put her plan into action.

The crane started to collapse the moment her aura returned to her body. She flew rapidly around it and fired off a series of beams while monitoring how the building was falling with each attack. With her speed, she was able to flit from side to side and around to knock the collapsing hunk of metal back and then back again and again into the desired path of collapse.

There were a few angry shouts of complaint as Aurora worked, but she ignored them and the crane finally collapsed in a wreck directly onto the building. Dust flew in every direction when the structure settled. No one seemed hurt, even if some property destruction had been necessary to achieve it. She wasn’t Vanguard with his amazing strength, that just wasn’t her powerset.

Still airborne, Aurora moved up and away from the dust cloud to soak in the sun after her work. She sensed her energy levels were critically low and badly wished to recharge some when suddenly cheers started to build up below. People hooted and crowed, drowning the previous dissatisfied exclamations. Those cheers helped her to recover more than the solar recharge did. Everyone was safe and Leona hadn’t messed up, at least… in her opinion she had not.

She sighed and tiredly glided down to a cement block on the site a couple stories off the ground and spread her wings, sitting there. People pointed and took pictures of her. She couldn’t help basking in both their attention and the sun. She had to gather more energy for her trip to the camp where Sarah was, at least that was her intention, but an officer clambered up onto the wall nearby, distracting her from her near-future plans.

“Ma’am,” the officer spoke, “We appreciate what you’ve done here, and I think most everyone sees you’ve saved a lot of lives here, but we’d like you to come down right away to the station to give a statement about your intentions whatever else you witnessed before you wrecked this construction site.”

Leona gulped. “How does this work, officer?” she asked, rising to stand. “I’m new to this superhero thing and I really do want to do right by everyone, so there’s no need for that tone. I couldn't see a better solution to the problem. Had I not acted, there could have been more damage or worse. People could have died. Are you going to arrest me for helping when that building was coming down regardless?” she asked simply.

“Well, I didn’t see you do anything wrong. In fact, I saw you risk life and limb to defend the people here, myself included...” He shrugged. “As far as an arrest goes, no. It’d be up to the owner of the site to press charges if they’d like, but as long as you didn’t hurt anyone, I don’t see any reason at all to arrest you. The owner may wish to sue for damages, but that’s a civil matter.”

“Like I said, I’m new to all this, so how does the justice system work where superheroes are concerned? Public servants included.” Leona forced a smile. Lawsuits? This was an unwelcome gritty and realistic turn of events, to say the least. This sort of thing didn’t happen much in the comics. There, superheroes did what they had to do and everyone just kinda understood and cheered them on for the most part.

She sighed and shrugged to herself. “Well, let’s get on with it then. I do want to be the right kind of hero. Shall I follow you by wing or ride with you?” Leona couldn’t help grinning impishly. “Honestly, I had other plans for my afternoon, officer…” Checking the man’s jacket, she spotted a name tag, “Officer Jackson, but we don’t always get what we want, right?”

“It’s the law concerning meta incidents, miss. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though. Even if the owner were to file a suit against you, there’s still going to be an investigation as to who was responsible for anchoring that thing. If they were to sue a cape, any malfeasance on their part would also become public so I doubt they’d want to risk that until they could prove themselves innocent of negligence.”

Obviously having relaxed his demeanor after speaking with her, the officer offered his hand and laughed. “Mind rescuing a cop from a high place rather than a cat? It was a bother to climb up here after you.”

Leona smiled and nodded, wrapping her aura around him and holding his hand she leapt off. He floated down with her to the ground. Once back on terra firma, he resumed, “Look at it this way, we can also take down your information and statement at the station when we go since I know there aren’t any other Supers in this city. I honestly hope you’re from around here.” Officer Jackson grinned.

Leona chuckled and returned the grin. “San Isidro is my main haunt so to speak. Though, honestly, Seaside isn’t all that far away from my home city, right? I’m sure I’ll be both here and there plenty; I fly fast.” He offered his elbow to Leona and escorted her to a police car with the siren lights going.

With their winged protector now much closer, the crowd cheered for the nameless superheroine, showing their adulation for her. “If you don’t mind, what’s your name?” The officer asked.

Leona offered a smile. “I go by Aurora. I couldn’t think of anything better.”

He seemed to find the name appropriate. “It fits. Well, if you get tired of San Isidro, I see that there’d be at least some people who’d be happy to have you patrolling here,” the cop joked. “You wanna ride with me or just follow?”

“I’m fond of flying so I’d rather fly along. Oh, I can fold my wings up so they’re not a bother, but I’ll recharge faster if I glide around a bit.” The cop nodded and got into his squad car.

Aurora followed along, a dozen feet in the air. People gasped when she leapt up and started flapping her wings to follow the car. It wasn’t long before the squad car and she had left both the site and the crowds behind.

Reaching the local police precinct, the officer parked in its lot. He stepped out of his vehicle and gestured to Leona. “C’mon, follow me.”

Leona was surprised at how ultra-modern everything appeared. Glass and LED lights were placed with surprisingly clean designs. She followed the officer and when she did, a lot of people gasped to see her. He walked right up to the desk sergeant. “I’m going to take a statement from this super, Aurora. Can we get Detective Ruffino to come by? She’s new to the area and I’m sure she’d want to speak with Aurora here too.”

The sergeant nodded and Officer Jackson led her to a lounge area. A few of the other officers looked surprised as she was led to a seat. “Okay,” her escort started, “Do you mind if I record this conversation? I just want to get your account of what you saw,” he recited as he activated a recording machine. “Please, start with your account of what you saw and why you did what you did.”

“Alright,” Aurora smiled, sitting back and crossing her legs.

“They all look rather surprised though, don’t they?” She chuckled, eyeing the other officers that were passing by blatantly going wide-eyed upon noticing her.

Returning her attention back, she began, “Anyhow, I was on my way to see a friend to the north today when I heard the commotion. I didn’t really want to be distracted, but the sirens and people were so loud I couldn’t ignore it. Arriving on the scene, I saw that the crane was teetering dangerously over the crowd and roadway.”

Adjusting slightly to make sure the audio recorder clearly heard this part, “It could have fallen in any direction and I’m no civil engineer but it was certain that people would have potentially lost their lives.” Aurora paused a beat to keep from going too quickly and making a mistake.

“I didn’t get there in time to prevent the collapse, so I braced the structure as best I could to buy the citizens below time to evacuate. It was all I could think to do at first. It didn’t take long to realize I wasn’t going to be able to hold it forever so I examined the bolts at the base of the crane, the braces.”

Shifting into a straight-backed, almost professorial, posture, she continued, “They seemed to be snapping from metal fatigue, the metal was twisting. I had to decide if I could gamble on letting it fall to another building, or direct the fall somewhere else. There was a huge risk the other buildings around would take considerable damage and start the proverbial dominoes falling. I didn’t have much time and couldn’t see any other way. So, I determined it was best that the crane fell directly on its plot. With the help of gravity and some guidance on my part, it worked out.”

The officer was frantically taking down everything Leona said on paper. She slowed when she noticed he was struggling midway. When she was done, he asked. “Can you repeat some of that again? My pen ran out of ink.”

Sweat drops. Aurora laughed as the officer laughed heartily at his joke and waved his hands. “No, I’m joking. We’re good.”

“Let’s not waste more time, shall we?” A feminine voice came from behind Leona, causing her to turn to eye this newcomer. A woman in impeccable business attire with reddish-brown hair stood behind. “I’m Detective Ruffino. And you must be the superheroine who just destroyed the new office building,” she said.

“Well, actually, she--” the officer interceded.

“I heard her statement,” Ruffino said curtly, “Let’s get your information, shall we. I’ll take over. We can go to one of the interview rooms so you don’t keep causing a stir in the precinct. Follow me,” she instructed, beckoning Leona with one hand while offering her other to her.

She took Ruffino’s hand and wondered what to make of her. She was fairly imposing, to say the least. “Sure. There’s a limit to what I want to share though, I’m told that’s acceptable in the case of supers. I’ll tell you what I think is proper.”

“Alright. Now then, once again for the record, I am Detective Marlene Ruffino with the Seaside Police Department. I’ll get us started. I have had some basic training in super crime, so I’ll be your liaison with our organization. Though I will say, Seaside City has survived without meta influence so far so I’m sure we’ll be fine for the most part were you to move away suddenly.”

When they reached the room, she eyed Leona. “Alright, first of all, what is your superhero name?”

Leona noticed there was a certain resentment or bias against supers emanating from Ruffino. “Aurora. I’m actually from San Isidro and I was just passing through, pretty much. Though I’m sure I’ll be here and there since they are sister cities.”

“All right, Aurora. So, your home city is San Isidro. Hmmm.. I’m surprised you don’t have enough to do over there, especially with all the air robberies they’ve been having,” Ruffino said flatly.

“Okay, now to get your personal data. Real name?” Ruffino sat behind the table first while almost demanding that Aurora answer.

“That’s sensitive information I don’t want to provide. I’m still early in my career and I don’t really want anything getting out.” Aurora smiled apologetically, taking a seat opposite. “I’m told that’s acceptable.”

Ruffino huffed. “Well, it’s not necessary, but in my experience, honest people don’t have much to hide,” her voice had become barb-filled. “What are your powers? How did you come by them?” she probed.

“I can say what my powers are as far as I’m aware of them,” Aurora murmured. “I can’t say how I came by them. How to put it, they have something to do with… hmmm… energy? I can use my power to defend myself and to change a few things about myself.” She concentrated and demonstrated by turning her silver hair to a sparkling golden.

“I can use it to somehow cancel gravity, or rather to lessen its effects. Perhaps I can amplify my strength in a limited way too. I don’t know everything I’m capable of yet, but I can generate blasts, and fly of course. I can also create constructs outside of myself.” She lifted a finger and a ring formed around it, twirling it around her finger nonchalantly, a smaller version of the one she created to bind the crooks during the dirigible heist. At the end of her display, she flipped it onto the table. “These are temporary objects.” To demonstrate and punctuate those words, it faded into flecks of light.

Detective Ruffino listened carefully while writing. “Okay, so we got flight, energy projection, a hair dye service, free jewelry… and these abilities are all untested, is that correct? You don’t know how powerful any of these powers are and you’re not fully sure how to use them?”

“That’s not completely true. Once I do a thing, I seem to understand it well enough. It’s almost innate.” Aurora smiled fakely. “I can do it again pretty easily once discovered. Do I understand all the applications of my powers yet? Probably not. I just got them recently. But I’ll learn more as I explore myself,” she said confidently.

“Alright. Next, do you have any affiliations with any organizations you wish to declare? Society of Sentinels or anyone else?”

Leona shook her head. “I’d be honored if I ever met them or was inducted,” She said with that same smile, but she gushed a bit at the thought. “I always loved superheroes. To be accepted by my peers would be wonderful.” Her smile became glowing and happy. “But I’m on my own right now. I kind of slightly introduced myself today to a couple of the officers in San Isidro. The last situation I helped with was one of those air robberies you jokingly mentioned. You should read the news more. I was surprised that was even a thing though. If it’s common enough that I just happen upon it on day one, I think I might need to learn to pilot an airship.”

“So you’ve already contacted the police in San Isidro?” Ruffino asked. “And did you bring in the gang at the time?”

“I left it to the officers who pulled up in their police blimp. They were extremely nice.” Aurora’s smile became professional again. “I always seem to run across these situations when I’m out doing something else. I was just out flying and enjoying the day when I noticed their blimp. And today I was just traveling north when I noticed the crane crisis. My first interaction with the SIPD wasn’t a formal introduction like this, but it was kind of like a… ‘Hi, how did I do?’”

“Alright. I think that’s all we need out of you. Do you have a cellphone?” Ruffino asked.

Leona stopped herself from immediately shaking her head disrespectfully and just grinned. “But well, if I said yes, you could find out who I was from that, right?” She chewed her lip with a playful expression.

“No one said we were going to spy on you,” Ruffino snapped, frustrated. “I was just going to give you my phone number in case you need to get in touch with me here.”

Leona sighed and smiled sweetly. “That’s fine then. I don’t want to give you a hard time, Detective. I’m just trying to brighten the place up a bit.” And then she amped up the glow of her wings a bit. Please forgive the pun! “I’ll try to tone it down if it makes you feel more at ease.”

“Look, Aurora,” Ruffino said with a borderline scowl and narrowed eyes while shielding them. “I don’t like the idea of some superpowered kid flying loose on my streets without any control or understanding of her powers. If you want me to trust you more, you’ll give me a method to contact you.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts.

“Mmmmm… I’ll consider it.” Aurora thought about a solution. “I could set up a special purpose email address, one I could use to communicate with you. Do you have any better ideas that wouldn’t compromise my secret identity?”

“It’s not my job to manage your secret identity,” Ruffino replied flatly. “If that’s all the information you want to provide,” she said as she produced a business card and handed it to Aurora. “You’re free to go now, but call me if you discover anything else important.” She stood and walked around the desk and opened the door. ”We’ll be investigating the site to be sure you haven’t hurt anyone.”

Leona eyed Ruffino. “I see.” She slipped the card into the bosom pocket with the cellphone. “I’m sorry you don’t like me, Detective. I hope to be able to change your mind despite the bias.” She smiled as she left.