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drownedinlight “So did you like them?” Natalie asked as they shuffled out of the auditorium with the rest of the crowd.
“I like the music, well, mostly I thought they maybe took some liberties with the Iliad,” Charlotte said, “and maybe some of the other myths but their beat was good, and so were their lyrics.”
“You say so with just general dislike,” Natalie observed. “What’s your deal?”
“I don’t know I guess it was something about the lead singer,” she said. “When he leaned down like he was going to…I don’t know kiss me, or romantically lock eyes, I thought that was dumb and contrived and old hacked.”
“Hey! Hey! Atreus girl! Wait up!” Charlotte turned as she saw the lead singer of the bad running towards her, stopping just before he ran into the two of them. “That was some come back. I think that’s the first time someone’s told me off in Greek.”
“Well, that might be the first time someone ever compared me to a woman who helped start a ten year war,” Charlotte retorted.
“Ah, but only in some versions, in others she was a cloud,” he replied, sticking out his hand. “Greer Mason, nice to meet you.”
“Charlotte Oros,” she replied shaking his hand quickly before she began walking away. “I would say the same, but I’m not quite sure if it is nice to meet a boy who would shove his face into mine without so much as an introduction.” Greer sidled alongside her.
“Well then, how about I make it up to you with a date?” he suggested. “Then we can get to know each other a little bit and you can tell me whether or not it’s nice to meet me.” Charlotte stopped walking and looked him in the eye.
“Is there anyway other than that I will get you stop following me?” she asked, eyebrow arched.
“Not really, I am quite an expert follower,” he replied, quirking a grin. Charlotte snorted,
“Because that was not creepy in the least.” She pulled a pen from the back pocket of her jeans, grabbing his hand as she did. “This is my phone number, and you are allowed to write it nowhere else, until you have my permission, is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied saluting with his left hand. “So I guess I should get my call in soon before it washes off, huh?”
“I guess,” Charlotte replied, capping her pen and walking away. As soon as they were out of the door, Natalie squealed and grabbed her arm.
“I cannot believe that just happened! You do realize he’s a bone fide rock star right? Their singles have been all over the rock charts, and one of them even made top forty!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be a good date,” Charlotte said. A buzzing against her thigh alerted her to an incoming call, and she slipped her phone out her pocket to answer it. “Hello?” she asked.
“So, is now too soon to ask if you’re free on Saturday?” Greer asked. She turned and saw him on his cell phone in the hall way.
“Let me check my calendar and I’ll get back to you,” Charlotte retorted, clicking her hang up button.
“I can’t believe this,” Natalie said as she sat on Charlotte’s bed, while Charlotte dressed in her costume. “I mean it’s still a little unreal everything that’s been going on around you the past couple of months. First you become a superhero, and then you complete a successful information raid on an assassin’s compound. And apparently, you’ve managed to pull mostly straight A’s again this semester. Congrats, by the way.”
“What, who gave me a B?” Charlotte asked, turning the computer screen away from Natalie towards her. “Ugh, Edwards. I worked like a bitch for that class too!”
“Hey, well, you will some you lose some,” Natalie said, turning the screen back towards her. Charlotte jerked up, drawing her face together in a squint.
“How are you viewing my grades? I didn’t give you my information.” Natalie pulled her screen up to cover her face. “You hacked the school website?”
“I just needed to practice!” Natalie said. “I swear I haven’t peaked at any of the important things, I just needed to know I could do something like that. I’m trying to work my way up to where I could be at the level of hacking like a government database again. I mean I’ve learned a few tricks on how now to get caught and everything, but I still need to hone my skills.”
“No, it’s cool, I guess. Hey could you show me what Justine Miller got in that class? She was a total suck up.” Natalie glared at Charlotte and pulled the laptop away as she tried to reach for it.
“NO! I must use my powers for good and practice only, not evil,” Natalie said, settling on a further edge of the bed. “…And she got an A, by the way, I already checked.”
“Mm..!! That female dog, in the most derogatory way!” Charlotte screamed.
“Who, Edwards or Miller?” Natalie asked, working to cover her tracks on the site.
“Both!” Charlotte retorted pulling on her gloves. “She did way less work than I did, and Edwards still gave her an A! And I’m much more of a feminist too! That’s the only reason Edwards graded her work higher, because Miller claims she’s this big feminist and then goes and degrades herself.”
“Incoming hail, Captain!” Natalie exclaimed, grabbing for Charlotte’s phone which buzzed on the desk. Charlotte smacked her friend’s hand away and grabbed the phone and answered it.
“Hey, what’s up?” Greer asked.
“Oh, Greer hi, nothing much, I was just about to head out. What’s up with you?”
“Not much either, but I’m going out too, so I won’t keep you. It’s just about Saturday, I was wondering if I could take you to this restaurant that just opened up, and then maybe we could go bowling or something.”
“Bowling?” Charlotte asked, cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she slipped on her other glove.
“Well I mean we can do something else, but I figure the typical silent activity of a movie would be out of vogue and then we wouldn’t get much of a chance to talk,” he said.
“You mean you actually want to go on a date to talk with a girl?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, I must admit opening myself up for you to dissect does not sound entirely fun, but I figure as a modern man, I must consent to some form of conversation,” he said. “When can I pick you up? Or do you get picked up?”
“That would depend on how far I have to walk. And five works for me.”
“Good, now do you have an address that I can perhaps come to do this picking up?”
“Four fifty-two South Ocean, apartment four twelve.”
“All right then. I’ll talk to you Saturday,” he said. “Have a good night wherever you’re going.”
“Hey you two. I’ll uh see you Saturday.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.” Charlotte clicked the off button, and smiled softly to herself, until she saw Natalie smirking in the mirror. She grabbed the closest cushioned thing near her and threw it at her friend, before pasting the adhesive over her mask and applied it to her face. “Well then,” she said to Natalie who was still hiding behind her computer, “I am going out, I’ll be back late, and will have the rare privilege of sleeping in.”
“Have fun and stop lots of crime,” Natalie replied, typing away at the computer.
“I always do,” Charlotte replied, stepping out of her window and onto the fire escape.
The air hung against her, moisture from the clouds hanging above her, mixing with the heat of early summer as she patrolled the city. And it felt quiet. To borrow an overused phrase, it perhaps felt too quiet, like something was coming. Atalanta did not know what to do, except to stand still, and take the thick air into her lungs and wait. She did not have to wait long as a repetitive shriek rang into her ears, almost silent and so high pitched; she almost missed it through the heady breaths she took in. Atalanta turned herself towards the sound and ran.
She found herself panting a little outside of a bank.
“How cliché,” she remarked, looking for the best place to enter. She glanced around the front of the building, and found that there were only two of them that she could see out in the main foyer. “Well, no rewards for the timid.” Atalanta charged inside, managing to get so far to take one out before he even noticed she was there, and had almost reached the second one before he even began firing. A sharp pellet hit her in the back and Atalanta realized there was someone still firing. Turning, she took several bullets to the stomach, the metal pressing itself against her, flattening as it did.
It took her more than a moment, especially once he realized the bullets were not going to hurt her and stopped firing, but she saw him, his head peeking out just above a teller’s counter. She strode toward the counter and pulled the guy up by his shoulder, taking his gun when he tried to aim it at her and threw it aside. “Where are the others?” she asked.
“In the vaults! I swear to God, they are in the vaults, just please don’t hurt me.” Tears ran down his cheeks, and he shook in her grip.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “But since I can’t really have you running away.” She pulled a zip strap from her back pouch, and zipped up his hands, before she hopped over the teller’s counter to do the same to his feet. Having one of the men thoroughly secured, and the other two knocked out, Atalanta moved towards the vaults, slowly and quietly. Sometimes it was no good for them to hear you coming.
But as she approached the vaults, she noticed that it seemed too quiet again, and sure enough, there were four men knocked out and zip strapped up, lying among bags of money and gold.
“You know, if you came for the party, you’re a little late.” Atalanta whirled at the sound of the voice. Not merely because there was someone standing behind her who she had no detected in her stupor of seeing the men she came to stop already foiled, but because she recognized the tenor.
“Greer?” she asked the man who slouched against the wall, arms folded into his long coat. The man snorted.
“Dark Strike,” he said decisively.
“That has got to be the dumbest name I have ever heard,” she retorted.
“And Atalanta was a much better pick?” he asked.
“At least one not so self-explanatory. And I know who you are, it’s kind of obvious.”
“Then perhaps we should not have this conversation in full view of a security camera,” he said, disappearing into the shadow of the wall. Atalanta tried to follow him with her eyes, but lost him until he called out from the end of the hall, “Are you coming?”
Atalanta ran after him, but she found no one, save for the knocked out men in the bank foyer, and as she exited the bank, she saw the red sirens and ducked for the closest ally way she could find. “Not safe yet,” came the hidden voice again. “Further in.” Atalanta bit down a remark about a beaver but jogged after the voice, which was always laughing and teasing her and only occasionally offering directions. She wanted to reach into the shadows and give him a good hard smack, maybe the kind which would knock a few teeth out, if only she knew where to reach. But she also kicked herself. To think, she a few hours ago, she had been considering going out with this creature. “Here, you can stop now.”
“I like the music, well, mostly I thought they maybe took some liberties with the Iliad,” Charlotte said, “and maybe some of the other myths but their beat was good, and so were their lyrics.”
“You say so with just general dislike,” Natalie observed. “What’s your deal?”
“I don’t know I guess it was something about the lead singer,” she said. “When he leaned down like he was going to…I don’t know kiss me, or romantically lock eyes, I thought that was dumb and contrived and old hacked.”
“Hey! Hey! Atreus girl! Wait up!” Charlotte turned as she saw the lead singer of the bad running towards her, stopping just before he ran into the two of them. “That was some come back. I think that’s the first time someone’s told me off in Greek.”
“Well, that might be the first time someone ever compared me to a woman who helped start a ten year war,” Charlotte retorted.
“Ah, but only in some versions, in others she was a cloud,” he replied, sticking out his hand. “Greer Mason, nice to meet you.”
“Charlotte Oros,” she replied shaking his hand quickly before she began walking away. “I would say the same, but I’m not quite sure if it is nice to meet a boy who would shove his face into mine without so much as an introduction.” Greer sidled alongside her.
“Well then, how about I make it up to you with a date?” he suggested. “Then we can get to know each other a little bit and you can tell me whether or not it’s nice to meet me.” Charlotte stopped walking and looked him in the eye.
“Is there anyway other than that I will get you stop following me?” she asked, eyebrow arched.
“Not really, I am quite an expert follower,” he replied, quirking a grin. Charlotte snorted,
“Because that was not creepy in the least.” She pulled a pen from the back pocket of her jeans, grabbing his hand as she did. “This is my phone number, and you are allowed to write it nowhere else, until you have my permission, is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied saluting with his left hand. “So I guess I should get my call in soon before it washes off, huh?”
“I guess,” Charlotte replied, capping her pen and walking away. As soon as they were out of the door, Natalie squealed and grabbed her arm.
“I cannot believe that just happened! You do realize he’s a bone fide rock star right? Their singles have been all over the rock charts, and one of them even made top forty!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be a good date,” Charlotte said. A buzzing against her thigh alerted her to an incoming call, and she slipped her phone out her pocket to answer it. “Hello?” she asked.
“So, is now too soon to ask if you’re free on Saturday?” Greer asked. She turned and saw him on his cell phone in the hall way.
“Let me check my calendar and I’ll get back to you,” Charlotte retorted, clicking her hang up button.
“I can’t believe this,” Natalie said as she sat on Charlotte’s bed, while Charlotte dressed in her costume. “I mean it’s still a little unreal everything that’s been going on around you the past couple of months. First you become a superhero, and then you complete a successful information raid on an assassin’s compound. And apparently, you’ve managed to pull mostly straight A’s again this semester. Congrats, by the way.”
“What, who gave me a B?” Charlotte asked, turning the computer screen away from Natalie towards her. “Ugh, Edwards. I worked like a bitch for that class too!”
“Hey, well, you will some you lose some,” Natalie said, turning the screen back towards her. Charlotte jerked up, drawing her face together in a squint.
“How are you viewing my grades? I didn’t give you my information.” Natalie pulled her screen up to cover her face. “You hacked the school website?”
“I just needed to practice!” Natalie said. “I swear I haven’t peaked at any of the important things, I just needed to know I could do something like that. I’m trying to work my way up to where I could be at the level of hacking like a government database again. I mean I’ve learned a few tricks on how now to get caught and everything, but I still need to hone my skills.”
“No, it’s cool, I guess. Hey could you show me what Justine Miller got in that class? She was a total suck up.” Natalie glared at Charlotte and pulled the laptop away as she tried to reach for it.
“NO! I must use my powers for good and practice only, not evil,” Natalie said, settling on a further edge of the bed. “…And she got an A, by the way, I already checked.”
“Mm..!! That female dog, in the most derogatory way!” Charlotte screamed.
“Who, Edwards or Miller?” Natalie asked, working to cover her tracks on the site.
“Both!” Charlotte retorted pulling on her gloves. “She did way less work than I did, and Edwards still gave her an A! And I’m much more of a feminist too! That’s the only reason Edwards graded her work higher, because Miller claims she’s this big feminist and then goes and degrades herself.”
“Incoming hail, Captain!” Natalie exclaimed, grabbing for Charlotte’s phone which buzzed on the desk. Charlotte smacked her friend’s hand away and grabbed the phone and answered it.
“Hey, what’s up?” Greer asked.
“Oh, Greer hi, nothing much, I was just about to head out. What’s up with you?”
“Not much either, but I’m going out too, so I won’t keep you. It’s just about Saturday, I was wondering if I could take you to this restaurant that just opened up, and then maybe we could go bowling or something.”
“Bowling?” Charlotte asked, cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she slipped on her other glove.
“Well I mean we can do something else, but I figure the typical silent activity of a movie would be out of vogue and then we wouldn’t get much of a chance to talk,” he said.
“You mean you actually want to go on a date to talk with a girl?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, I must admit opening myself up for you to dissect does not sound entirely fun, but I figure as a modern man, I must consent to some form of conversation,” he said. “When can I pick you up? Or do you get picked up?”
“That would depend on how far I have to walk. And five works for me.”
“Good, now do you have an address that I can perhaps come to do this picking up?”
“Four fifty-two South Ocean, apartment four twelve.”
“All right then. I’ll talk to you Saturday,” he said. “Have a good night wherever you’re going.”
“Hey you two. I’ll uh see you Saturday.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.” Charlotte clicked the off button, and smiled softly to herself, until she saw Natalie smirking in the mirror. She grabbed the closest cushioned thing near her and threw it at her friend, before pasting the adhesive over her mask and applied it to her face. “Well then,” she said to Natalie who was still hiding behind her computer, “I am going out, I’ll be back late, and will have the rare privilege of sleeping in.”
“Have fun and stop lots of crime,” Natalie replied, typing away at the computer.
“I always do,” Charlotte replied, stepping out of her window and onto the fire escape.
The air hung against her, moisture from the clouds hanging above her, mixing with the heat of early summer as she patrolled the city. And it felt quiet. To borrow an overused phrase, it perhaps felt too quiet, like something was coming. Atalanta did not know what to do, except to stand still, and take the thick air into her lungs and wait. She did not have to wait long as a repetitive shriek rang into her ears, almost silent and so high pitched; she almost missed it through the heady breaths she took in. Atalanta turned herself towards the sound and ran.
She found herself panting a little outside of a bank.
“How cliché,” she remarked, looking for the best place to enter. She glanced around the front of the building, and found that there were only two of them that she could see out in the main foyer. “Well, no rewards for the timid.” Atalanta charged inside, managing to get so far to take one out before he even noticed she was there, and had almost reached the second one before he even began firing. A sharp pellet hit her in the back and Atalanta realized there was someone still firing. Turning, she took several bullets to the stomach, the metal pressing itself against her, flattening as it did.
It took her more than a moment, especially once he realized the bullets were not going to hurt her and stopped firing, but she saw him, his head peeking out just above a teller’s counter. She strode toward the counter and pulled the guy up by his shoulder, taking his gun when he tried to aim it at her and threw it aside. “Where are the others?” she asked.
“In the vaults! I swear to God, they are in the vaults, just please don’t hurt me.” Tears ran down his cheeks, and he shook in her grip.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “But since I can’t really have you running away.” She pulled a zip strap from her back pouch, and zipped up his hands, before she hopped over the teller’s counter to do the same to his feet. Having one of the men thoroughly secured, and the other two knocked out, Atalanta moved towards the vaults, slowly and quietly. Sometimes it was no good for them to hear you coming.
But as she approached the vaults, she noticed that it seemed too quiet again, and sure enough, there were four men knocked out and zip strapped up, lying among bags of money and gold.
“You know, if you came for the party, you’re a little late.” Atalanta whirled at the sound of the voice. Not merely because there was someone standing behind her who she had no detected in her stupor of seeing the men she came to stop already foiled, but because she recognized the tenor.
“Greer?” she asked the man who slouched against the wall, arms folded into his long coat. The man snorted.
“Dark Strike,” he said decisively.
“That has got to be the dumbest name I have ever heard,” she retorted.
“And Atalanta was a much better pick?” he asked.
“At least one not so self-explanatory. And I know who you are, it’s kind of obvious.”
“Then perhaps we should not have this conversation in full view of a security camera,” he said, disappearing into the shadow of the wall. Atalanta tried to follow him with her eyes, but lost him until he called out from the end of the hall, “Are you coming?”
Atalanta ran after him, but she found no one, save for the knocked out men in the bank foyer, and as she exited the bank, she saw the red sirens and ducked for the closest ally way she could find. “Not safe yet,” came the hidden voice again. “Further in.” Atalanta bit down a remark about a beaver but jogged after the voice, which was always laughing and teasing her and only occasionally offering directions. She wanted to reach into the shadows and give him a good hard smack, maybe the kind which would knock a few teeth out, if only she knew where to reach. But she also kicked herself. To think, she a few hours ago, she had been considering going out with this creature. “Here, you can stop now.”
