Superwoman story
Apr. 18th, 2011 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drownedinlight I'm kind of stoked about this story. Just saying. Oh, and all the girls wanted to do for this section was sit around and talk, but eventually we get to a plot point.
The next few weeks saw Charlotte literally running all over town in order to increase muscle stamina. She did this first in a pair of jogging pants and tee shirt during the day, and then in her costume during the night, when she began working patrol again. Often, she would be catching up on projects or homework, working out end of the year details as spring heat slowly began drifting into summer, as then end of the school year approached. But by night, before, and sometimes after she returned from patrol, she would go over the files she had stolen from the Assassin’s Stronghold, memorizing each inch of the papers, not that there was much. Charlotte did not expect a lead to up and fall into her lap, but she thought maybe more villains would be coming after her almost a month later as she prepared for finals.
“I would ask if you’ve done any searches for them, but I suppose any kind of search these people would show up in the government would be watching,” Natalie said one night as Charlotte studied the files over dinner. The crunch time of the end of the academic year, plus Charlotte’s night time adventures, meant the two had not spent much time together outside of hellos and goodbyes.
“That’s what I thought of when the temptation came over me to try it at the library when I first got them,” Charlotte remarked. “I mean supposing I could hack into any sort of government database these people would be in—”
“Whoa, wait just a hot second!” Natalie exclaimed holding her finger out in front of her, spaghetti falling through her lips. She took a moment to slurp and chew, and then continued her thought, “The martial arts, and intense body training, or whatever you call it—”
“Parkour, dear,” Charlotte told her. “And you need to start coming with me. We have no idea if the villains are going to figure out that we live together, so we need to be prepared, and you need to learn how to run away.”
“Yeah, okay, you have a point there,” Natalie said, “but answer me this, where the hell did you learn how to hack? Don’t tell me your dad taught you?”
“Why do you think I can’t do it without getting caught?” Charlotte asked. “I mean, he’s kind of okay with computer science, but he never really studied it quite so in depth. He can hack, but I think he’s actually worse than me at it.”
“All right, you’re a bad hacker. I guess I just can’t believe how thoroughly your dad prepared you for being a superhero. I mean, how did he know you would actually follow through?” Charlotte shrugged.
“I guess he just thought it was the right thing and that I would do the right thing in the end. He guilt tripped me about it a lot in high school. He thought I should actually follow through with my fan girl plan of meeting Alcaeus.”
“Well, it just makes me wonder,” Natalie said as she scooped the last few noodles off her plate and into her mouth.
“Makes you wonder what?” Charlotte inquired, sipping at a glass of wine. Natalie shrugged in response.
“Well, in the words of Eddie Izzard, if a fourteen-year-old is helping himself to his grandfather’s arsenal and going to blow away his school, what the fuck is the grandfather doing?” Charlotte laughed.
“Okay, yeah, my dad is definitely not like that. Hacking was about the only thing he taught me himself, and that did not go well. He enrolled me in martial art’s classes and marksmanship courses, so I would learn how to control my strength, and if for some reason it failed, I would know how to defend myself. I picked up the parkour in high school through a friend of mine.”
“How does one just ‘pick up’ running and jumping off of things?” Natalie asked, taking her plate to the sink and rinsing it off.
“Well, you take it slow,” Charlotte said. “We don’t start you on the six foot wall; we start you on the long jump. We can begin training after term ends, if you want.”
“Oh, but what will happen if the big bad villains come after me in the mean time?” Natalie asked, leaning on the counter. “…If you want, I could try looking some of these people up for you.” Charlotte dropped her fork against the hard, plastic plate, and looked up at her friend.
“Natalie, do you know what you’re offering me?” Charlotte asked her.
“Yeah,” Natalie said with a shrug. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but I almost got convicted for hacking when I was in high school. I stopped, well mostly, when that happened, but I mean this is important. I’m pretty sure the worst that would come out of this, if I got caught, would be that you get your identity reveal and become a government tool. I’ve…I’ve learned a few things since then about how to better cover my tracks, so if you want me to do this, I will.”
“I’m not sure I could make that decision, Natalie,” Charlotte replied slowly. “I mean, I feel like I need more information if I want to go looking for the Superhero Collective, because right now I have no idea where to even start. But they might still put you away for hacking, and who knows what kind of attention you’ll attract from the dark side. This is your call.” Natalie bit her lip, but then smiled.
“I want to help you Charlotte. I may not have super strength or any other special power, but this is a way I know I can help you, and I want to try. Besides, like you said, once they figure out I’m your heterosexual life mate, they’ll come after me anyway.” Charlotte laughed, and almost forced spaghetti up her nose.
“Well, all right then, welcome to my non-existent team.”
“Well, now that there are two of us, maybe we should make up a name,” Natalie suggested. “After all, you are the superwoman, not the super girl, so we wouldn’t want people mistaking us for the Superhero Collective, now would we?” Charlotte flushed a little and took a long sip of wine. “I do hope you do not intend to drink and save?”
“No, I’ll stay in tonight; even though I’ve tried before and the more I drink the less I tend to get drunk.”
“Better safe than sorry though,” Natalie said, reclaiming her seat at the table. “What about the Guild of the Mighty?”
“Relying a little much on me, aren’t you?” Charlotte asked. “Besides, guild implies that we make people pay dues and don’t let everyone join.”
“Well, I would not want a psychopath in my superhero group, so maybe you shouldn’t let everyone join. What about just the Superhero Group?”
“Sounds too close to the Superhero Collective, and makes us sound less important than them,” Charlotte said. “Maybe we should leave the naming for when we actually have members.”
“I have this feeling in my bones,” Natalie said as she went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. “I think there are going to be more people trying to join up with you soon.” Natalie flopped down on the couch, and Charlotte dropped down beside her, stealing a spoonful of ice cream when she did.
“Who knows maybe one of them will have a better idea for a group name,” Charlotte said, Natalie letting out a small cry of protest as she shoved the chocolate ice cream in her mouth.
“Well if you don’t want to talk about group names, maybe we should talk about bands,” Natalie said. Charlotte blinked, and suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Try as she might, Natalie had so thoroughly guilt tripped her into going to this event, she couldn’t see any way out of it. Not even claiming that she needed to patrol unglued Natalie from her arm a week later when they arrived at the on campus concert to help the students celebrate the end of finals.
“What’s so special about this band again?” Charlotte asked, as Natalie pulled her into the auditorium.
“Spartan Rush? Well, they’re a new band, I like them, and I would prefer if you did not go insane while attempting to save the world,” Natalie remarked.
“SHH!” Charlotte hissed. “Keep it down about that, okay?”
“People won’t take it seriously if you don’t, Char,” Natalie retorted. “So just be cool, and hang loose. And take off your jacket, you must be baking!” Charlotte was baking.
“Maybe if you hadn’t dressed me showing so much skin,” Charlotte protested, as Natalie began pulling off the coat for her. She felt much better in the sleeveless, dark red wrap shirt, but almost covered herself with her arms.
“You are showing your belly button and your arms, both of which look great,” Natalie retorted. “And you are wearing your own jeans and comfortable shoes, get over it and smile. You are gorgeous.” Natalie linked arms with her and jerked her down suddenly with an exclamation of,
“OH! Front row seats!” Charlotte dutifully trailed after, frowning hard to conceal her vague amusement at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I’m surprised these are still open, considering we here only twenty minutes before they’re going to go on,” Natalie said, dropping her bag underneath her seat. Charlotte draped her coat over the back of her chair, sliding her small bag under her chair as well.
“So what’s this bad like?” she asked, settling into the hard ceramic chair, with only a thin layer of padding on it.
“Well, they’re kind of a mix of contemporary rock and metal, they have a really unique sound, but they do some really great ballads. I actually think you would really like them. They’ll probably be selling albums afterwards. I’ll get you one if you want.”
“Let’s wait to the end of the show to decide that,” Charlotte said. They chatted about various thinks until the lights in the auditorium began to dim and a hush fell over the audience only to be followed by a roar of murmurs, including Natalie shrieks. She gripped Charlottes arm, and shook her so that Charlotte’s hair tossed from side to side. Charlotte grinned at Natalie until the girl stood up and screamed when a blue light lit up the black stage curtain.
Soon though, Natalie was not the only one screaming as the stage began pumping out base sounds, and guitar chords filled the air. Soon their playing was accompanied by a soft tenor flooding through the mike, reciting Greek Charlotte recognized from the Iliad. There was a beat after the lead singer finished the verse where everything was quiet on stage, before they erupted with sound. Another wave of screaming ran through the audience.
Natalie pulled her up and close to the stage, but Charlotte closed her eyes and listened and swayed with the music. She found the lines of the greek poem interspersed through the song and translated them in her head as she listened. It was not until Natalie pinched her arm that she opened her eyes and realized that the lead singer was perhaps inches from her, leaning down over the stages as he sang out one final line in Greek, “Ah, no wonder the men of Troy and Argives under arms have suffered years of agony all for her, for such a woman. Beauty, terrible beauty!”
“Son of Atreus, what a word has escaped the barrier of thy teeth!” Charlotte retorted in Greek. him, right as the music died, and before the applause could raise in the auditorium. The lead singer scoffed as he leaned up, taking in all of the applause.
“Thank you!” he called. “Thank you. As you probably know we are Spartan Rush. If you were here for the lecture on horticulture, I’m sorry to tell you it has been cancelled. But in the meantime, how’d you like the music?” After a general yell of assent he turned to his fellow band members and said, “Well then, gentlemen, play on!”
Charlotte chuckled at his theatrics and did not spare a single glance to the lead singer for the rest of the night, instead dancing with Natalie or just all by herself, swaying to the music.
The next few weeks saw Charlotte literally running all over town in order to increase muscle stamina. She did this first in a pair of jogging pants and tee shirt during the day, and then in her costume during the night, when she began working patrol again. Often, she would be catching up on projects or homework, working out end of the year details as spring heat slowly began drifting into summer, as then end of the school year approached. But by night, before, and sometimes after she returned from patrol, she would go over the files she had stolen from the Assassin’s Stronghold, memorizing each inch of the papers, not that there was much. Charlotte did not expect a lead to up and fall into her lap, but she thought maybe more villains would be coming after her almost a month later as she prepared for finals.
“I would ask if you’ve done any searches for them, but I suppose any kind of search these people would show up in the government would be watching,” Natalie said one night as Charlotte studied the files over dinner. The crunch time of the end of the academic year, plus Charlotte’s night time adventures, meant the two had not spent much time together outside of hellos and goodbyes.
“That’s what I thought of when the temptation came over me to try it at the library when I first got them,” Charlotte remarked. “I mean supposing I could hack into any sort of government database these people would be in—”
“Whoa, wait just a hot second!” Natalie exclaimed holding her finger out in front of her, spaghetti falling through her lips. She took a moment to slurp and chew, and then continued her thought, “The martial arts, and intense body training, or whatever you call it—”
“Parkour, dear,” Charlotte told her. “And you need to start coming with me. We have no idea if the villains are going to figure out that we live together, so we need to be prepared, and you need to learn how to run away.”
“Yeah, okay, you have a point there,” Natalie said, “but answer me this, where the hell did you learn how to hack? Don’t tell me your dad taught you?”
“Why do you think I can’t do it without getting caught?” Charlotte asked. “I mean, he’s kind of okay with computer science, but he never really studied it quite so in depth. He can hack, but I think he’s actually worse than me at it.”
“All right, you’re a bad hacker. I guess I just can’t believe how thoroughly your dad prepared you for being a superhero. I mean, how did he know you would actually follow through?” Charlotte shrugged.
“I guess he just thought it was the right thing and that I would do the right thing in the end. He guilt tripped me about it a lot in high school. He thought I should actually follow through with my fan girl plan of meeting Alcaeus.”
“Well, it just makes me wonder,” Natalie said as she scooped the last few noodles off her plate and into her mouth.
“Makes you wonder what?” Charlotte inquired, sipping at a glass of wine. Natalie shrugged in response.
“Well, in the words of Eddie Izzard, if a fourteen-year-old is helping himself to his grandfather’s arsenal and going to blow away his school, what the fuck is the grandfather doing?” Charlotte laughed.
“Okay, yeah, my dad is definitely not like that. Hacking was about the only thing he taught me himself, and that did not go well. He enrolled me in martial art’s classes and marksmanship courses, so I would learn how to control my strength, and if for some reason it failed, I would know how to defend myself. I picked up the parkour in high school through a friend of mine.”
“How does one just ‘pick up’ running and jumping off of things?” Natalie asked, taking her plate to the sink and rinsing it off.
“Well, you take it slow,” Charlotte said. “We don’t start you on the six foot wall; we start you on the long jump. We can begin training after term ends, if you want.”
“Oh, but what will happen if the big bad villains come after me in the mean time?” Natalie asked, leaning on the counter. “…If you want, I could try looking some of these people up for you.” Charlotte dropped her fork against the hard, plastic plate, and looked up at her friend.
“Natalie, do you know what you’re offering me?” Charlotte asked her.
“Yeah,” Natalie said with a shrug. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but I almost got convicted for hacking when I was in high school. I stopped, well mostly, when that happened, but I mean this is important. I’m pretty sure the worst that would come out of this, if I got caught, would be that you get your identity reveal and become a government tool. I’ve…I’ve learned a few things since then about how to better cover my tracks, so if you want me to do this, I will.”
“I’m not sure I could make that decision, Natalie,” Charlotte replied slowly. “I mean, I feel like I need more information if I want to go looking for the Superhero Collective, because right now I have no idea where to even start. But they might still put you away for hacking, and who knows what kind of attention you’ll attract from the dark side. This is your call.” Natalie bit her lip, but then smiled.
“I want to help you Charlotte. I may not have super strength or any other special power, but this is a way I know I can help you, and I want to try. Besides, like you said, once they figure out I’m your heterosexual life mate, they’ll come after me anyway.” Charlotte laughed, and almost forced spaghetti up her nose.
“Well, all right then, welcome to my non-existent team.”
“Well, now that there are two of us, maybe we should make up a name,” Natalie suggested. “After all, you are the superwoman, not the super girl, so we wouldn’t want people mistaking us for the Superhero Collective, now would we?” Charlotte flushed a little and took a long sip of wine. “I do hope you do not intend to drink and save?”
“No, I’ll stay in tonight; even though I’ve tried before and the more I drink the less I tend to get drunk.”
“Better safe than sorry though,” Natalie said, reclaiming her seat at the table. “What about the Guild of the Mighty?”
“Relying a little much on me, aren’t you?” Charlotte asked. “Besides, guild implies that we make people pay dues and don’t let everyone join.”
“Well, I would not want a psychopath in my superhero group, so maybe you shouldn’t let everyone join. What about just the Superhero Group?”
“Sounds too close to the Superhero Collective, and makes us sound less important than them,” Charlotte said. “Maybe we should leave the naming for when we actually have members.”
“I have this feeling in my bones,” Natalie said as she went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. “I think there are going to be more people trying to join up with you soon.” Natalie flopped down on the couch, and Charlotte dropped down beside her, stealing a spoonful of ice cream when she did.
“Who knows maybe one of them will have a better idea for a group name,” Charlotte said, Natalie letting out a small cry of protest as she shoved the chocolate ice cream in her mouth.
“Well if you don’t want to talk about group names, maybe we should talk about bands,” Natalie said. Charlotte blinked, and suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Try as she might, Natalie had so thoroughly guilt tripped her into going to this event, she couldn’t see any way out of it. Not even claiming that she needed to patrol unglued Natalie from her arm a week later when they arrived at the on campus concert to help the students celebrate the end of finals.
“What’s so special about this band again?” Charlotte asked, as Natalie pulled her into the auditorium.
“Spartan Rush? Well, they’re a new band, I like them, and I would prefer if you did not go insane while attempting to save the world,” Natalie remarked.
“SHH!” Charlotte hissed. “Keep it down about that, okay?”
“People won’t take it seriously if you don’t, Char,” Natalie retorted. “So just be cool, and hang loose. And take off your jacket, you must be baking!” Charlotte was baking.
“Maybe if you hadn’t dressed me showing so much skin,” Charlotte protested, as Natalie began pulling off the coat for her. She felt much better in the sleeveless, dark red wrap shirt, but almost covered herself with her arms.
“You are showing your belly button and your arms, both of which look great,” Natalie retorted. “And you are wearing your own jeans and comfortable shoes, get over it and smile. You are gorgeous.” Natalie linked arms with her and jerked her down suddenly with an exclamation of,
“OH! Front row seats!” Charlotte dutifully trailed after, frowning hard to conceal her vague amusement at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I’m surprised these are still open, considering we here only twenty minutes before they’re going to go on,” Natalie said, dropping her bag underneath her seat. Charlotte draped her coat over the back of her chair, sliding her small bag under her chair as well.
“So what’s this bad like?” she asked, settling into the hard ceramic chair, with only a thin layer of padding on it.
“Well, they’re kind of a mix of contemporary rock and metal, they have a really unique sound, but they do some really great ballads. I actually think you would really like them. They’ll probably be selling albums afterwards. I’ll get you one if you want.”
“Let’s wait to the end of the show to decide that,” Charlotte said. They chatted about various thinks until the lights in the auditorium began to dim and a hush fell over the audience only to be followed by a roar of murmurs, including Natalie shrieks. She gripped Charlottes arm, and shook her so that Charlotte’s hair tossed from side to side. Charlotte grinned at Natalie until the girl stood up and screamed when a blue light lit up the black stage curtain.
Soon though, Natalie was not the only one screaming as the stage began pumping out base sounds, and guitar chords filled the air. Soon their playing was accompanied by a soft tenor flooding through the mike, reciting Greek Charlotte recognized from the Iliad. There was a beat after the lead singer finished the verse where everything was quiet on stage, before they erupted with sound. Another wave of screaming ran through the audience.
Natalie pulled her up and close to the stage, but Charlotte closed her eyes and listened and swayed with the music. She found the lines of the greek poem interspersed through the song and translated them in her head as she listened. It was not until Natalie pinched her arm that she opened her eyes and realized that the lead singer was perhaps inches from her, leaning down over the stages as he sang out one final line in Greek, “Ah, no wonder the men of Troy and Argives under arms have suffered years of agony all for her, for such a woman. Beauty, terrible beauty!”
“Son of Atreus, what a word has escaped the barrier of thy teeth!” Charlotte retorted in Greek. him, right as the music died, and before the applause could raise in the auditorium. The lead singer scoffed as he leaned up, taking in all of the applause.
“Thank you!” he called. “Thank you. As you probably know we are Spartan Rush. If you were here for the lecture on horticulture, I’m sorry to tell you it has been cancelled. But in the meantime, how’d you like the music?” After a general yell of assent he turned to his fellow band members and said, “Well then, gentlemen, play on!”
Charlotte chuckled at his theatrics and did not spare a single glance to the lead singer for the rest of the night, instead dancing with Natalie or just all by herself, swaying to the music.
