3.16 – Stampede

Aurora blinked. “Now, now… Take it easy! Knock out doesn’t mean to put her to rest.” She wasn’t sure what the newcomer intended, but she had to act.

She bulged out the construct and thumped Snow Witch’s head firmly where she’d learned it would knock out the lucky recipient of this kind of a hit.  Aurora was dedicated to the Society of Sentinel’s policies of protecting lives whenever possible, whether those lives were villains or in particular the citizens which had to be protected at any cost.

The girl spat, her finger leaving the trigger of her huge gun.  She flashed a grin.  “Not bad, kid.  Wasn’t going to kill her, however.” She pulled a paper from her coat and showed it to Aurora.  She scanned the paper and shook her head. It looked like it might potentially be official, since it bore an official seal from the attorney general of Canada.  “I’m here to take her in.”

The storm gentled as Mistral massaged it down from the full blown fury under the Witch’s control.

Mistral looked down. “I don’t know her,” she stated, “give me a few minutes to fix the weather.  She twisted it pretty crazy.”

“Anyway,” Stampede wannabe said, producing a pair of handcuffs. “Please disappear the light bondage.”

Aurora blinked and blushed, recoiling.  She was surrounded by unique people.  Sweat drops.  “It’s super effective for restraining villains, I’ll have you know.” She stomped, annoyed. Aurora took a deep breath and frowned. That seemed a little weak for a retort.  “No offense to you, however you are, but I’m used to seeing the Police force show up on the scene or at least S.T.A.R.S. agents.  I know it’s probably different here, but if you’re an authentic agent, you can spare the time to let us check on your credentials, right?”

She rolled her eyes and reached slowly into her pocket, speaking, “Well, then will you at least let me put a device on her to keep her unconscious?”

“Not yet. It’s Society policy. We’re their representatives.  I can knock her out again if she comes to and tries anything else.” Aurora reassured the strange agent and she changed the configuration of her construct to allow her to enter it.  She made it big and dense with breathing vents.  When she got close to Snow Witch, she checked her vitals to confirm things.  She was trained to tell when someone was pretending unconsciousness.  Monitoring the pulse was a good method as well as confirming her slow and even breathing.  She was convinced that she wasn’t playing possum as it were.

Leona pulled her card out and dialed Midnight Avenger for some backup information.  He’d be the most likely source of information concerning various agents world-wide.

“Avenger, here.”

“Hi, Avenger.  Sorry to have bothered you. Aurora, here.  I don’t know who to contact at the moment about this … and you seemed like you’d be the most likely to be able to help. Mistral and I have captured a weather-powered villain. In fact, it’s very much like Mistral’s own power.  After we took her down here up in Saskatoon, a stranger gunslinging agent appeared in the last moments to take her into her custody.  It was a little too quick and convenient, so I don’t trust it.  Considering the Society’s policies regarding making villain arrests, it’s best to be sure before we just turn her over to an unknown’s custody.  Could you check out this person’s identity?” She lifted the communicator and snapped a picture of the Stampede copycat otaku.

She transmitted it to MA.

MA grunted, sounding frustrated. “All right, give me a moment.”

The blizzard became a gentle snowfall outside the construct and Mistral touched down.  “Can I help you?” She asked the newcomer.

The woman flashed the paper at Mistral, who frowned a little when she pulled the paper back immediately. “Here to pick up the criminal for the government,” she said tersely.

“I didn’t quite get a good look at your paper.  Can I see it for a moment?” Mistral held out her hand to her.

“See with your eyes, not with your hands, Windy.”

“Windy, huh? Are you a mountie with that red coat?”

“No, Special Bounty Hunting Agent,” she replied.

Aurora wondered at that while she waited.  S.B.H.A.? That didn’t seem like a functional acronym.  Uncool.

M.A. finally responded. “She looks like a cybernetic mercenary named ‘Gun Dame.’” She was a freaking OTAKU! GUNDAM? Really?! And she looked like a certain other anime protagonist.  Aurora’s head hung over.  Sweat drops.  “She’s not an authority by any means, so unless she has some kind of a mandate or letter, you are not to turn over anyone to her. We don't know why she’s on the scene. Unfortunately, she’s not currently wanted either, so you can’t just capture her. Here's a number to call, it’s the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. If she was hired by the government, they’ll know.”

Aurora smiled, heaving a sigh of relief. Her instincts had been correct, even though she was extremely green as a hero.  “Thanks M.A.” She disconnected the line and dialed up the Mounties.

She got a ring in a single attempt. “Superintendent Catiff here. I assume that I’m talking to a superhero, what’s going on?”

“That’s right. Aurora of the Society of Sentinels.  I’m calling in with Mistral. She was my partner in capturing a new villain… well one I never saw or heard of anyhow.  She was a meta who was wrecking up Saskatoon.  Her name… well we’ve given her the name but she didn’t give another.  We call her Snow Witch, though I considered Yuki-Onna considering she’s Japanese, but anyhow, there’s a bounty hunter on site by the name Gun Dame.  She showed up quickly to take her into her custody, supposedly under government authority.  She flashed a paper at us and isn’t letting us get a close look at it.  As per Society meta-human arrest policies, I’m checking with the authorities to make certain of her claims.”

There was a pause, but Catiff responded, “Firstly, I’ve never heard of you. But I’m aware of the Saskatoon situation.  We have no agents by that name in the area at this time. But if Mistral is on the scene, I trust her to hold the villain until federal agents arrive.”

“Thank you for the information, Superintendent Catiff.  We’ll wait for your agents eagerly.” Aurora smiled.

Gun Dame and Mistral were meanwhile engaged in an argument. It was polite and professional, but Aurora noted that she had the ‘official’ paper now.

“Well, I’m going to contact the Mounties to verify this, all right?” Mistral said.

“That’s fine,” Gun Dame replied. “Go ahead and ring them.”

Mistral started calling on her communicator and Gun Dame frowned.  “On second thought, just go ahead and keep custody.  She’ll get there regardless.  It isn’t worth all this skepticism.” She chopped her arm and stalked off.

Aurora watched her go, smiling while sliding her construction in another reconfiguration so she could sleep out from it.  She left one hand on her, however, so she could continue to monitor her vitals.

“Mistral, I already called them in the construct.  M.A. gave me their number.  They’re enroute.  It turns out Gun Dame wasn't authorized to take the perp.  But she’s not wanted for anything either, so since she didn’t get away with anything here, she’s not at fault. Or am I wrong?”

Mistral’s eyes narrowed a touch towards the retreating Gun Dame. “Well, then.  I guess no harm no foul,” she said, hanging up on her own call.  Mistral sighed and smiled at her girlfriend. “I’m going to cast a sleep spell on the Witch to make this easier so you don’t have to monitor her like that.  She’ll stay fast asleep for a few hours unless something woke her.”

Aurora blushed.  She’d kind of took charge, even though Mistral was the experienced partner. It should have been her, not her … plus this wasn’t even her country.  “Yeah, sorry I took so much on.  While you were keeping her busy I took the liberty even though they didn’t know me from a hobo.” She turned to the construct and did another reconfiguration to bare her face. “Do you need more?”

Mistral smiled. “That’s all.” She started casting a small spell by crumbling some herbs on her face.  There weren’t any special effects to it, but she said, “Okay, that should do it. She should stay out cold for those few hours.” She winked at Aurora and took her hand. “I can hardly wait until the cops get here. Maybe I should try and clear the roads a little while we’re here,” she said softly. “I don’t like trying to do it at night in case it gets too cold later and causes a black ice incident.

Aurora nodded. “Maybe you should leave it then if you don’t think it’ll be safe? I generally leave these sorts of things for the city to take care of.  I CAN lift the wrecked cars, but a car is fairly close to my limit.”

Mistral smiled. “Let’s just wait. There are better ways to handle those things.  Anyway, I don’t want to be too public, y’know, but I just want to hold you again right now.”

Aurora blushed and smiled.  “If you don’t want people to discover a connection between us, I could leave and go to the clubhouse or your place and leave you in charge here.  I understand why it’d be for the best.  We didn’t just go to the trouble of fixing your powers just to get your reputation hurt because of me.”

“Stick around,” Mistral smiled. “You deserve some of this credit to be sure. It’s just hard to keep my hands off you right now. I’m so proud of you.” She sighed softly, winking.  She walked around and greeted some of the gathering people on the street. Now that things had calmed down, people were reappearing.  She started telling the people in a loud and ringing town things that embarrassed Aurora.

“This is my great friend from California who brought up some sunshine from that state to help defeat the witch.  Please applaud her!  If it wasn’t for her, Saskatoon might not have been here come the next morning.”

Aurora fidgeted and smiled, at a loss for what to say.  She couldn’t come right out and say that they were in a relationship, but to say even that much drew a connection between them, and people would wonder maybe.  Would they draw doujin?  She laughed softly.

After about ten minutes, Aurora was in a daze, thinking about the repercussions of her announcement and she was kinda daydreaming.  Some people approached her.

“Are you really from America? California?” A woman asked, grinning.

“Are you an angel, really?  Did God send you to us?” A pious-sounding man overrode the tentative question regarding where Aurora came from.

Aurora laughed and noticed that Mistral was engaging in crowd control not too far away, fielding her own questions.

“Ahaha… yeah… San Isidro, actually!  It’s a stately old lady of a city.  I wouldn’t recommend visiting, though.  It can be a little dangerous, though I’m working on that problem. No… no I’m not an angel.  I’m an alien actually.  But you can think of me as the friendly Guardian Angel.  I’ll be in now and again… but since I live really far away, I can’t protect people here regularly, but you have your own wonderful heroine, and my hero Mistral!” She gestured back to Mistral with a warm smile.

“She’s my mentor.  The hero who set my feet on the path of heroics.” That was a bit of a misnomer, but she’d be happy if people accredited her with things she achieved to some degree.  She wanted to make sure she never did dishonor to their relationship nor her reputation.

Finally after a little less than half an hour later, the federal agents showed up, driving cautiously and slowly through the snow.  Mistral moved to speak with them leaving Aurora to field all the remaining questions.  She kept an eye on Snow Witch to be sure, of course.  It was imperative to make sure nothing happened to her before she was in custody.

The authorities came to a halt in the snowy streetway and left their cars, walking over.  Aurora removed her construct and eased Snow Witch to the snow.  They came over and put restraints on her.  Mistral gave a warm smile and walked over. “You want to take off last? I’ll give you a closer to leave on.” She winked.

Aurora was relieved that things had gone well.  What she was looking forward to was cocoa, another shower, cuddling, and lots of more cocoa.

Mistral raised her hands. “I’ll have to untangle the mess she’s made of the weather, but please be sure to give Aurora a little extra appreciation.” The words were intended for the crowd.  “She came a long way to help us out and made sure everyone here was safe.  Don’t keep her now, though, she’s got a long way to go to get home.  Good night everyone!” She said, sweeping up into the sky.  She winked slyly just for Aurora as she flew away.

Aurora watched her go and smiled, looking at the police as they finished loading Snow Witch into an armored vehicle.  It seemed like they had everything in hand.

More people repeated the same questions of where Aurora was from, but some asked what her powers were, and how she got the message to come help and was able to get there so quickly in a pinch.  Aurora gave them pleasantly vague answers, signed a few autographs when she was requested and stayed for a few pictures with children and adults alike.  She got a few propositions from horny men, but she let them down as gracefully as she was able.

After a bit, she excused herself and took off, taking a long way around Saskatoon to route back to Mistral’s apartment without being seen or tracked.  At least she did her best.  When she arrived, she was buzzed in and Mistral was waiting in her heroic form, but she was wearing a fuzzy bathrobe with some hot chocolate with little marshmallows and whipped cream and butter cookies. “Hail, traveller.” She giggled.

Aurora giggled in reply, leaning against the door with a big smile. She stretched. “Mmmmm cocoa… I wanted some… and lots of it after that um… white Christmas.  Not that it’s close to that time of the year… well technically in a few more months, maybe.  She accepted the cup and drank it happily.  It was chocolatey and the marshmallows melted in her mouth.  “That was an adventure, but more than that, it was the first time we worked together seriously.” Aurora’s heart was full and she had yummy cocoa to celebrate.

“Speaking of Christmas, we should spend it together.  I can visit your town and guarantee a real White Christmas for San Isidro.   A nice gentle snowfall might be a nuisance, but it would be beautiful. If you liked I could make it heavier in a specific area.” She winked and stepped in and leaned forward to give Aurora a kiss.

Aurora leaned forward and met her halfway, kissing her back lovingly.

When they broke the kiss, their faces were flushed and they both smiled.  “I’d love to get right to celebration, but I have to put together a report for the authorities.” Mistral winked and walked away.