((Feel free sounds good to me!))
Ashlee had half stumbled away from the scene of Drades ressurection, attempting to compose herself. The last few months had been hard on her magic, letting it slowly drain away. She paused leaning by the Pocket D entrance in Talos, glancing at the disc in her left hand; the arcane marks from earlier were lighting up in order, but only those.
"This could come in handy..."
She regains her composure and stands up straight, cape blowing in the breeze behind her "Maybe this is a good sign, stay in Paragon for another month maybe before I have to leave again." Ashlee juggles the disc from hand to hand, the light tracing the shapes of the sun drawn onto it. "The disc of the Sun..." She looks up, the light catching her face "You'd think these discs had minds of their own when picking someone."
Ashlee laughed and reattached it to her belt, pushing the door open to Pocket D, still laughing to herself; but as well wondering what having such an item would lead to.
In a fairly new business office room in Atlas Park, Paragon city, Sheila placed a disc, a disc of Stars on an office table. Her father muttered something in a foreign language in a phone, and put down the receiver on an old-fashioned tabletop phone he was using. Then, he put on his reading glasses and took the Star disc in his hands.
"I can bring you all of the rest, if you want them, dad?" Sheila said, and took off the purple shades she was wearing.
"That will not be necessary. We have priorities, Jessica." Herman said to her daughter.
"The name is Sheila, dad. And she wasn't there." Sheila answered. Grinning mischeviously, she took a purple handkerchief from her trenchcoat pocket and started to clean up her sunglasses.
"Our soon-to-be doll wasn't present?" her father asked, and turned the disc over in his hands. Examining it.
"No. She wasn't.. but I found out three persons we could be interested in. Our old friend Catz, reverend Pious Hunter, and a bat-beast Ilemauzer."
"Forget about Catz, Blazeix already has her eyes in her. Reverend Pious Hunter... well, we might come back to the idea of having him. But who is this bat-beast?" Herman, Sheila's father, raised his eyes off the disc he was holding, glancing her daughter.
"She is just the one of the bat-beasts who have given unpleasant nuisance to our brothers and sister underneath Paragon City. From what I experienced during the revival of Drade, her magical powers are more than meets the eye. I find it difficult to say, which one is more powerful... Catz or Ilemauzer."
Herman looked at his daughter for a moment. Then, he carefully put the disc of Stars back on the table.
"More powerful than Catz? Why no-one else of the circle knows about this?"
Sheila shrugged, and put her now clean-wiped shades back on, pocketing her purple handkerchief. Her father was silent for a moment, then he talked to Sheila, in a very calm manner:
"Jessica, we must not endanger our existence in Paragon City with rushed decisions. We need power, but the most important agenda is to keep our noses clean. You need to infiltrate the Midnighter Club first. You done it with the Arachnos, you will do it again with our sworn enemy. But all this can wait. The infiltration, and gaining of more power. Both can wait."
Sheila pouted. Her father continued:
"I need my phone back. I want it back now. I have found out all the magical blocks of the phone have been removed by now. The phone can be electrically hacked by any normal human being any moment by now. I must have that phone back before someone hacks it. It is now your number one priority."
"Gawd sake what's the matter, dad? It's just a phone with some phone numbers. You can easily get a new phone and look at the phone book for numbers." Sheila asked.
"My dear daughter Jessica. There are some names in the phone I would rather keep in secret. Especially the name of our benefactor. Jessica, sooner or later we will be under suspicion. We even may be discovered by the Midnighters. But what ever happens, we must not reveal the name of our helper in Paragon City. His true identity is only known by some, and we are priviledged to be among the few people. I doubt even Baron Zoria knows the name of this mastermind behind the scenes. But we do."
Herman looked serious. But Sheila chuckled:
"So what if his name is found in your phone? It would only be another scandal for him. Gee, not even a scandal, really, he would only deny all knowledge of you and just shrug at it. And I've seen his abilities to slither away from every doubt. Infidelity, sheltering criminals, he even got his friend away with ****, and covered up the murders his [...] committed! That's much worse than connection to us. The guy is a master in media manipulation. Dad, your worries are-"
"Jessica, shut up."
"My name is-"
"Shut up."
Sheila looked at her fathers eyes, but remained silent.
"We got what we wanted. We are now safely inside US borders. We both have legitimate US citizenship. I have received a significant amount of money as a contribution to start my business again. We are out of the reach of Arachnos, Midnighters, heroes and the rest of the Circle of Thorns. He even fixed you your hero licence. Jessica, we will not betray him. From this point on, we only own him a favor. We have nothing else to do with him. Nothing at all. Do you understand?"
"Dad?"
"Do you understand?!"
Sheila looked like she was only barely holding back her anger. Then, she looked at her father in the eyes with a fierce look:
"Dad. My name is Sheila."
"I order you not to interact with him in any way. Just find the phone, and get the phone back. Then, you will infiltrate the ranks of our arch-enemy. Then, you will find Allison, and bring her and Ilemauzer to me. Will you do as I tell you to, Jessica?"
"Yes dad, I will." Sheila nodded.
"Good. It has come to my knowledge our prey now works with Nighthunters, and it is rumoured that the Blood Countess herself has plans concerning the Nighthunters. Jessica, meet the Blood Countess and claim Allison as your exclusive prey. But don't mention our interest in Ilemauzer."
"Ok dad."
Herman picked up the receiver of his old-fashion tabletop telephone again, and started to dial a number. Sheila grunted, and marched out of the room, down the corridor into an elevator. In an empty elevator, on her way down, Sheila started to talk to herself:
"I'm ok dad, thanks for asking. Yeah, I went there to revive Drade who had beaten me down earlier, luckily he didn't recognize me. And yeah, Catz and reverend Pious Hunter were there also but I came back with my undead life. Yeah, dad, I did it just for you. No problem, but I appreciate your gratitude. Here's the disc you wanted. Gee, getting the disc was not necessary after all. No problem, dad."
The elevator reached street level and Sheila walked out of the building. In the front yard of the business building, she turned around, and raised her eyes up at the office windows of the tall skyscraper.
"Now you want me to go and meet the Blood Countess, who probably already knows about us. Why we were driven out of Etoile Isles. And what we really are. And what we want. But dad, I'll do it. Because you tell me to."
Sheila lowered her voice, and muttered silently:
"But know one thing... father. I have a will of my own. I will decide my own future. You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you."
((Just a short bit of fluff that I conjured up out of my brain after the events of this evening. If you want to post your own 'fallout' story, feel free.))
Manny Azeerah, aka Whirling Dervish, walked through the dim dimension-bending cave that led back to Pocket D. She had drunk enough water to sate the inexplicable thirst she felt after the ceremony to revive Drade had finished.
Stray chalk dust was on her fingers and long coat. She smiled to herself.
Sometimes it's the things that are done for show that quiet the mind the most.
Drade hadn't leapt for the vial of blood she'd thrown at him. So he was Drade and not some slavering beast from The Pit.
She passed through the gaudy halls of the nightclub, still clutching her 'prize'. It was a small disc and carved into it were images of mountains. At least that's what she saw. The disc, she couldn't help but feel, had picked her and not the other way around.
At King's Row she hopped on to her trusty motorbike and sidecar, the disc safely in her inside coat pocket. The faithful old machine putt-putted along the streets towards Skyway where she lived in a small apartment in one of the many high-rises.
The others at the ceremony had spoken about putting their 'gifts' somewhere safe and special. Manny thought that there was nowhere more special than behind the clock on the mantelpiece. Who would bother to climb all those stairs to her home? Who would even know?
Sometimes, being a minor entity within the Hero Community was the safest bet.
She placed the disc behind the clock, her hand trailed over a picture to the side. It was a young man, his skin much lighter than Manny's, but there was a resemblance. He was wearing a military beret and smiling.
"Looks like I'll have to keep going a few more years yet. Until someone comes along who can guard this better than I."
Manny got ready for bed and switched the light off in the living room. She glanced at the disc and the photo one last time before lying down.
"Sweet dreams, son."