Abnormals

Nightingale watched her companions as they all waited for Blaster and Berserker to return from their recon. Tesla Coil wasn’t making eye-contact with her, Xer was making a lightshow with fire as he averted a similar gaze from Tetra, who was busy muttering about every detail of what they’d learned.

“There’s too many of them,” Nightingale assessed, feeling the uncomfortable agreement from the others in the room, “He has to offload them somewhere other than criminals.”

“Or he wants us to destroy them,” Tesla Coil said, “They’re wooden swords, they aren’t hard to make, especially for a mage, and if we’re busy putting out fires, or starting them as the case may be to stop these, we won’t see whatever else he’s planning.”

“Something we have to stop,” Tetra said.

“But with murder?” Xer asked. Tesla Coil felt similarly. Nightingale understood their hesitation, but this man was dangerous. She listened anywhere else as Tetra tried to persuade them, catching the sound of the roof’s pressure plate activating.

“Blaster’s here,” she said.

Blaster looked harried as he descended into the middle of the team.

“Did Berserker ditch early again?” Xer asked. By now they all understood Berserker to be a start late/leave early type of vigilante.

“Berserker didn’t make it,” Blaster said, making the motion of a sword being stabbed down into a body.

That didn’t make any sense. Berserker wouldn’t just die. He wouldn’t let it happen.

“Who did it?” Nightingale asked.

“Dark Magek, he said something about interfering, and then moved Berserker’s frozen body so I’d have to see him die. Stabbed through the heart.”

“Then it’s settled,” she said, “The man’s a murderer, we can’t have him going around, not to mention this makes a majority vote to actually handle this problem.”

“No,” Blaster said.

“But you—” Nightingale began.

“There’s too many loose ends. He acted like Berserker was causing problems, but he made a comment about Xer with fire. Why didn’t he go after you two?” he pointed at Xer and Tetra, “Both of your groups were probably arguing, and you can’t convince me Xer didn’t set swords on fire too.”

Xer nodded.

“He made a point of killing Berserker in front of me, like he wanted me mad and vengeful. Not to mention Berserker seemed to recognize the guy.”

“He killed a man, and you’re asking me to defer my decision another day?” Tetra asked.

“No,” Blaster said, “Do what you have to, but I’m going to investigate before I join you.”

“I’ll be doing the same,” Tesla Coil said, “But I won’t ask you to hesitate on killing him.”

There had to have been something strange if something happened to Berserker, and Blaster was right that it didn’t make sense.

“Where’s the body?” Nightingale asked.

Nightingale could smell the burnt wood as she entered the warehouse, and the distinct smell of not yet rotting corpse.

She searched around, finding nothing distinct in the dark, but she did find a light-switch.

“Aagh,” Blaster said, having insisted on joining her. “Warn a guy next time.”

Sometimes she forgot being a sensitive meant her eyes adjusted quicker. She looked around again at the empty warehouse.

“Where’s the body?” she asked again.

Blaster looked around, equally confused, focusing his gaze on a blood stain near the sword ashes.

Nightingale bent down, taking a careful smell. The scent was concentrated here, only just permeating the rest of the building.

“The body wasn’t moved,” she assessed, “Or if it was, it was teleported, because it just disappeared, and not long after you left, I suspect.”

“Dark Magek left immediately,” Blaster said, “Without Berserker.”

“You’re right about there being something strange here.”

Nightingale took a walk around to insure her accuracy. The scent was already clearing out, leaving her only able to smell it because she was actively seeking it out, and she was a sensitive.

“What are we going to do?” Blaster asked.

“You are going to go home. I am going to ask Tetra to help me do the same because my ride just got murdered.”

She could feel Blaster’s hesitation.

“Don’t you have questions?” he asked.

“Plenty, but I’ll get them answered tomorrow. I’ll be making a call on Alyssa Daybury.”

“The Damsel Dancer?” Blaster asked.

Nightingale leveled a stare. She knew her mask hid her eyes, but she needed to convey her feelings somehow. Alyssa Daybury deserved a lot more respect than that term.

“Can I come?” he asked, “I’ve met her before, saved her life even.”

Any other “teammate” Nightingale would have said no to. She wasn’t the best at holding a real conversation, but the rest were hit or miss in the empathy department. Blaster was a sweet kid, who was probably better suited to this conversation than she was.

“If you can get a ride to Precedent, you can come with me, but only because you’re a reporter.”

“You know my secret identity?” Blaster asked.

“Telepath.”

“Right, can we share a ride? I feel like it will be less—”

“If Tetra says yes, sure, you can sleep on my couch.”

“Thank you, I know you prefer—”

Nightingale put a hand up. She’d developed a slight reputation for being the only person in the group to never ask for help, but she didn’t “prefer to work alone”.

“I don’t care either way about working with a partner, I just don’t deal with enough people out of my league to call the rest of you. Come on, let’s head home.”

Mandie watched Jet, then watched the door to Alyssa’s apartment. She’d been there before, when incidentally working with Berserker. Alyssa was kind, but didn’t care for nonsense. Mandie liked her, which made the idea of telling her that her dearest friend was dead a painful thought.

Alyssa took anti-psychotics though, so there was comfort in the fact her thoughts wouldn’t be quite so loud.

Jet finally knocked on the door.

Alyssa, a Japanese woman with blue eyes and a kind face, was unnerving after interacting with Berserker, especially when she was in an apron that clearly hadn’t been cleaned since before it was purchased. She looked too real and normal to be Berserker’s favorite person.

“If Berserker did property damage, I’m not liable,” Alyssa said, “We’re legally distinct people, if you weren’t aware.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” Jet said. Alyssa eyes widened as she looked at him.

“Oh, kid, what are you doing here? Berserker didn’t turn evil for a spell, did he? He’s probably faking it. I’ve only seen him be manipulated one time, and he recovered surprisingly quickly.”

“Berserker got stabbed through the heart,” Mandie blurted.

“Is he alright?” Alyssa asked, tone of disbelief clear.

“Of course not,” Jet said, “I checked his pulse and his breathing. The man’s dead.”

“Oh.”

Alyssa watched something beyond both of them.

“Why don’t you come in?” she offered.

Mandie took a seat on the couch. It smelled like Berserker, was probably where he slept.

“Neither of you did it, right?” Alyssa asked, “I feel like Birdie here might have a sword hidden, but you wouldn’t kill him just for being annoying.”

“You know?” Jet asked, “Who she is?”

“Red-head in a white dress comes in and tells me Berserker’s been stabbed to death, plus she’s with you. Of course I recognize her.”

Mandie shrugged. This wasn’t the time to care about secret identities.

“You recognized me?” Jet asked.

“Of course I do, kid. You saved my life once. Do you really think me so ungrateful as to forget you.”

“But I never—”

“I’m not on Berserker’s level with the eyes and everything, but I’m not an idiot about this stuff. I spend enough time around you guys to know how it is.”

“That makes it easier,” Mandie said, “You don’t seem too put off by his death.”

Alyssa shrugged.

“I’ll be bawling soon enough, but you have to take Berserker in stride. I’ve always known I was going to lose him before I was ready, you know?”

“When would you have been ready?” Jet asked.

“No clue, kid. I’ve managed to be Berserker’s best friend for life, and I still haven’t gotten tired of him, not enough to kick him off my couch at least.”

“Any idea if he’ll come back?” Mandie asked. She’d seen Berserker survive incredible odds, and she wasn’t convinced death would actually bother stopping him.

“It’s possible,” Alyssa said, rubbing at her eyes, “He survives all kinds of—” every motion paused, “Circe told me to keep an eye on him. She knew this was going to happen. I didn’t even bother to look at the cards.”

“What cards?” Mandie asked, “Who’s Circe?”

“Come with me,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa brought them to a fairground that was beginning to pack up. She beelined straight for a Romani woman, around her and Mandie’s age, packing up a well-worn trailer.

“What did you show him?” Alyssa demanded as soon as they were in hearing range.

“Does confidentiality mean nothing to you?” the woman responded, unphased by Alyssa’s tone.

“About as much as it meant to Berserker,” Alyssa answered, “What did you show him? What was the reading?”

“The reading?” Mandie asked, “Like a palm reading?”

She didn’t want to make assumptions, but this was a circus, and the camper had the eclectic vibe of people who claimed to see the future. Maybe this woman did. The people Mandie knew could see into the future never seemed to use anything more than a touch for it though.

“Tarot, actually,” the woman corrected, revealing a deck out of nowhere, “And I don’t share what I read for other people. Sorry, K.”

“K?” Jet asked.

“I was an orphan, I changed my name.” Alyssa returned her gaze to the fortune-teller, “Please, Circe.”

Circe looked at each of them in turn, then pointed at Mandie and Jet.

“You were in the cards.”

“We were?” they asked.

“In costume, but the red hair and the white dress can’t be a coincidence.”

“It is kind of like you want people to figure it out,” Jet commented.

“What cards?” Mandie asked.

Circe shook her head.

“I’ll tell you the past but not the future. You were both in the two of swords, onlookers to a truce.”

“Xer and Tesla Coil,” Jet concluded.

Circe shrugged.

“I don’t keep tabs on you guys, personally. It’s a bit too much for me.”

“What was the present?” Alyssa asked.

“I already broke the rule,” Circe said.

“Berserker’s dead,” Alyssa pleaded, “Apparently. Did you see it coming, or didn’t you?”

Circe’s resigned expression was a simple answer.

“The present is a time of changes, the future portends deception or strategy.”

“So it was Death,” Jet said, “The present was Death, but isn’t it just supposed to mean change, not necessarily actual death?”

“Circe’s readings are special,” Alyssa explained, “It’s how you were in the cards even though you’ve never met her. The cards show something just a bit more specific.”

So this woman could predict the future.

“So you saw Berserker’s death, but you don’t think we’re done changing,” Mandie said.

Circe nodded.

“It’s not exact, it isn’t meant to be, but Berserker’s death probably isn’t the only oncoming change.”

Mandie accepted the information.

“Thank you, and what do you know of Dark Magek?”

Circe shook her head.

“I’m not going to do a reading about that.”

“Why not?” Alyssa asked, “The guy killed Berserker. Why can’t you—”

“I already did a reading about it, and look where it landed us. I’m not going to risk making anything worse. Go, be superheroes.”

Circe entered her trailer and locked the door.

“That was it?” Jet asked.

“Honestly she’s usually more ambiguous,” Alyssa said. “We’re lucky Berserker’s death shook her enough to give us something.”

“Lucky?” Mandie asked.

“That shook her?” Jet asked.

“Definitely, and more importantly, it convinced me.”

“Convinced you of what?” Mandie asked.

“I’m going to help you deal with this asshole.”

Jet and Mandie hesitated at that.

“Don’t let the damsel comments get to your head, I can handle myself.”

“It feels wrong to drag you into this over Berserker’s dead body,” Mandie said.

“It’s what he would have wanted,” Alyssa grabbed their hands, “Besides, I’m your fastest ride back.”

“Back?”