As Aurora flew home, ready for a nap, she got a ping on her communicator. She cringed as she noticed that it was a call, but the funny thing about it was that there was no name attached to it. It could be anyone calling her, perhaps even a hacker.
“Aurora. This is the Midnight Avenger. I got a report. Are you safe? Can you speak with me?”
Aurora smiled. Midnight Avenger! Just who she wanted to speak with! “Yeah, I’m safe. A bit tired, but otherwise, I’m good. You got word about Mr. Mechanical’s attack on San Isidro, then?”
“I didn’t believe it, but it clearly was his work, or else the work of a copycat artist. Harlan Smith, a.k.a. Mr. Mechanical, died in prison decades ago. There was a villain in the late seventies that we thought might have been related to him, but he’s been quiet since his parole about six years ago. Do you have any leads?”
Aurora shook her head. “Not much to go on yet… just a few details. Firstly, I captured the head of one of his doppelgangers and it’s still debatably functional. It acted like it was the real Mr. Mechanical. At the moment, it’s in the custody of Detective Kirby here in San Isidro. I figured you and Vanguard would like to know, but I couldn’t get through because of some sort of big situation. Anyhow, the fact is that the robot isn’t working alone. There was someone who activated it.”
“Hmmm… I had a free moment, so I thought I’d contact you. Look, you said he sent a robotic clone and it wasn’t the real one? That pretty much in itself guarantees that it’s not him behind this. Despite his skills… oh, he could have done this, but… the real Harlan considered himself too pure of an artist to create different designs. He insisted on what he would’ve called a classic robot aesthetic for the time. So, you’ve already given me effective information. I’ll tap the police for more details.”
There was a brief pause, and faintly there was a muffled coughing. “You’re proving to be an effective heroine, despite your origin. Just stay out of trouble.” In classic Midnight Avenger style, the line disconnected, although there was another coughing fit that was briefly audible.
Aurora was worried for Midnight Avenger. Maybe his last fight had taken its toll on him, too. Had he gotten critically injured in a fight? It wasn’t uncommon for these natural origin types to have to recover from some particularly nasty fights.
Even so, coming from Midnight Avenger, the grouchy words came across as high praise. Aurora was pumped by the brief interaction, even though she was concerned for him. She shook off her exhaustion and flew more energetically and playfully as usual back home.
Taking a bit of time to enjoy the air and the warmth of the sun shining on her to nourish her, she reached home all too soon, and landed in her favorite spot to transform back. She’d started feeling as though Aurora was her real form these days, but being Leona mattered too.
She sprinted across the yard, but as she reached the front door, her tiredness caught up with her again. She panted for a moment, and while she did, Goonie pulled up the driveway in her car. Leona turned to regard her mom with a warm smile as she opened the driver’s side door and stepped out tiredly herself.
“Traffic was a mess today. I’m sure glad I decided to leave work early. It’s horrible.” She shook her head. “Giant robots, huh?” Her lips spread in a grin.
“Yup!” Leona rushed over to hug her Goonie tightly. “It sounds fun, but it wasn’t so fun when I was fighting them. Ehehe… looking back on it, it was pretty cool.” She giggled.
“I think there’s some kind of superhero bingo card that has giant robots on it somewhere.” Laguna chuckled. “So what do you want to do for dinner tonight? I think saving the city earns you your choice tonight.”
“FRIED CHICKEN! AND LOTS OF IT!” Leona was practically drooling. She hoped that her Goonie would offer. “Yay!” Bouncing.
Her ever-health focused Aunt rolled her eyes. “Well, we do have some frozen chicken parts in the freezer. I’ll thaw them out and start breading. I hope you don’t mind if I use the air fryer. I try to draw a line at deep fried food, you know.”
Leona giggled. “You look pretty tired, too, Mom!”
Goonie nodded at that and smiled. “You’re not wrong. Why don’t we go out and get some down at Roscoe’s. The traffic’s a pain, so I’ll avoid the freeways.” They’d had ‘Roscoe’s’ fairly often, particularly when Quinn lived with them. It was a southern soul food and fried chicken place down in the south part of the city.
Leona nodded eagerly and rushed to the other side of the car. Laguna laughed and opened her door, and soon they left. As mentioned, the traffic was truly despicable, not to mention, downright atrocious, but they were able to get there quickly thanks to Goonie’s GPS helping them to bypass the worst congestion.
Going to Roscoe’s was always a little intimidating, given that she and her auntie and Quinn were among the most white people who patronized the place That in itself made their family well-known by the staff, who all were always very friendly and welcoming. One of the usual waitresses greeted them with a great deal of sass, “Givin’ up on that healthy stuff tonight?” She looked at Laguna, joking.
The kitchen was open, and the restaurant was fairly empty at the moment, so the comment drew the attention of the chef who knew Laguna. He looked up from the hot stoves to wave at them. Leona grinned and waved back. The smell of the food already made her stomach start growling. She didn’t just need her sun food. Her body demanded this delicious chicken, and right now!
Goonie was speaking with the waitress, “Leona’s doing well in school, so she wants to harden her arteries a little.”
Leona faintly blushed.
‘Sounds good! All right, go on an’ grab a seat!” She pointed towards the nearest empty booth. “And, I’ll be over soon.”
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The angelic heroine in her young girl form grinned eagerly and rushed to the before mentioned booth and sat down, trying to relax, although she was too excited, unable to keep herself from fidgeting and enjoying the odors wafting in the restaurant. “This place always smells so good.”
Goonie took a seat as her lips twisted. The strongest smell in the air was of seasoned meat. There were things she liked to eat here, though. She wouldn’t eat meat under any circumstances, but there were still sinful fried vegetables, dirty rice, etcetera.
The waitress came over and the two ordered. Goonie asked for mac and cheese with collard greens.
After a short while, their plates arrived, and Leona was looking down at her plate laden with spicy fried chicken smothered in plenty of southern-style cream gravy.
Compared with hers, Laguna’s plate was relatively small.
As the waitress left the table, Goonie winked and quipped, “I hear robots need a lot of grease too.”
Leona chuckled politely. “I personally guarantee that I’m not some kind of a robotic copy of me.” She grinned and Goonie smiled in response. “Speaking of copies of people, maybe I should take a gallon or so of Roscoe’s used deep fry oil to Mr. Mechanical’s robot’s head over in jail, or maybe to the evidence locker, if he’s there. That would make for a soulful gift, right?”
“Head?” Goonie asked, alarmed. “What? No… tell me about it later.” She laughed and started on her greens.
Leona devoured her delicious fried chicken, savoring every bit of gravy and meat, except for the bones, of course. The breading was a bit salty, crispy, slightly soggy in the right places, and was slightly tart and spicy. It soaked up the juices of the chicken and absorbed flavors of their cooking oil. The hot sauce they used was slightly garlicky, vinegary and spicy.
Leona was in heaven, even if Goonie thought eating so much of this tasty chicken was sinful.
Once they finished, they paid and headed home. While they drove, Goonie asked for more details about Aurora’s robot-filled experiences.
Leona dished out about everything she’d done and thought, even including her near accident when she’d cored Mr. Mechanical’s robot, destroying its body in the process.
“So tell me more about this Utility guy. Did you find out about his secret identity?” Goonie asked.
“Nope. Nothing, really. I wouldn’t expect him to tell me. Privacy is important. I wouldn’t tell anyone on a whim mine. The subject is a huge deal for most heroes, you know. I’d expect him not to pry into mine either. Anyhow, he said he was inspired to act by my actions. That was pretty cool. I was suspicious about him, but since things have gone well so far, I’m thinking better of him, but I can’t help thinking of him like he might be the enemy playing some elaborate game. Given time and getting to know him, might change that. He was really helpful, though. At least, from what I can guess, without his help, the robot could have done a lot more damage.”
When they came to a stop in their townhouse’s driveway again, Goonie pulled Leona over and stroked her hair with a smile. “You did well, even though it was a close call. You should remember that you have a lot of power and you need to use it more carefully. I’m still bothered that you missed school today, but let’s not dwell on it. I hope you can make it to school tomorrow.”
“I’ll do my best. Duty calls, you know, but I hope the next threat I face isn’t half as exhausting as today’s.” Leona sighed softly, enjoying the petting.
They headed in and spent the rest of this evening watching some television together on the sofa. Leona nodded off a few times, but when she was ready, she headed upstairs, and well before Goonie felt ready to sleep. As soon as Leona got upstairs, she crashed on her bed, not bothering to crawl under her comfy bedding, or to even change her clothes.
Her sleep was rejuvenating and uninterrupted. Her alarm woke her up as usual for school and as she usually did, she checked her card, which was flashing once more. She activated its display and noticed that this time it was a texted message.
Confirmed that Smith is deceased. It’s not him, but your local police
have found the van and where it was coming from. When I’m able, I’ll
look at the forensics data if you haven’t already solved the case -MA
The message arrived around 1AM her time. Classic ‘Midnight Avenger’.
There would be more to investigate, and it would be sooner than expected. Because the message wasn’t a call for help, she wouldn’t have to skip school again, but the case would be on her mind all day.