Leona thought things over, glad that she woke a little earlier than usual.
She had to do her best to not skip school today. She couldn’t get sidetracked or distracted, if she could help it. In a hurry, she transformed into Aurora, so she could get started with what she needed to do.
The villain behind this string of robotic attacks might be Mr. Mechanical himself, but that wasn’t looking very likely, considering that Midnight Avenger had confirmed the villain’s death and likely had poked through his remains, considering his nature and reputation. Probably, just to make sure.
Something strange was going on here, and someone else who had a bent for technology had to be here. She hoped that the perp behind all this wasn’t Utility.
She dialed Detective Kirby right away and the moment he picked up, he spoke, “Kirby, what’s up?” his voice oozed exhaustion. Probably having dealt with the crisis yesterday had taken its toll.
“I hope I didn’t wake you up, Detective. I wanted to tell you a few things and ask you about something.” Aurora smiled, hoping he wasn’t too put out.
“Go ahead, shoot.” Kirby yawned.
Aurora, nodded and went on, “I have somewhere to be this morning, assuming no other huge issues arise. Midnight Avenger reported something to me last night, and I thought you should know. Mr. Mechanical, the real one that is, Harland Smith is definitely dead. I don’t know what he did to confirm this, but we certainly know that someone else is pulling the strings. I don’t know much more than I’ve said, but you can give me a piece of information he hinted at. MA said you might know something about where that van that deployed the robots is.”
Kirby paused a moment to digest the information she’d shared, but his response was wry, “I got that in my email a few hours ago. Anyway, we do have a location. CSU was already over there and gathered some clues. Do you want to investigate a bit yourself, too?”
Aurora mused and shook her head. She couldn’t afford the delay, and they’d do a good job of investigating. Probably better than she could without more extensive training, maybe. “Only if it’s necessary, thank you. I can wait for the report. Keep me updated, if you would. I wasn’t sure of how much Midnight Avenger or anyone else would tell you, so I wanted to make sure you were filled in.”
Kirby chuckled and his tone was more jaunty as usual when he spoke, “Hey, thanks for staying on top of the situation. I need to get some coffee, but I’ll forward you anything I get. See you later.”
“Sure thing, Detective.” Aurora smiled as she disconnected and pocketed her card as she transformed back to Leona, so she wouldn’t go to school and appear in her pajamas. She changed her clothes quickly and got over to the bathroom to clean up.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled. She was getting cuter. Aurora was starting to feel more and more like her real self. Nodding to herself, she headed downstairs and got to completing some quick chores.
After she finished, she sat down with Goonie and they ate. It wasn’t very long before she was rocketing off to school, held aloft by her fluffy glowy wings. The morning air was crisp and refreshing.
The flight was pleasant, but while she flew, her card buzzed again and it was from Chuntao, this time.
She recalled their wonderful interview back at the Oceana in Seaside City. They intended to go to a rave together sometime soon, but nothing had come of that, yet.
Expecting to hear something about it, instead, she talked about a tip.
Did you forget me? Thought you were going to call? :p
Got a tip on the fire, if you’re interested ;)
Aurora considered it and decided to call Chuntao for the information she was offering. She had a bit of time to glide, thanks to her getting up earlier. Maybe she was hinting about the rave, but she wasn’t asking directly about it.
It took a little time, but Chuntao picked up. It was a bit odd that she didn’t pick up in a flash like she usually did, but she asked, “Aurora?”
“Yup. It’s me! I have a little time to talk, though I have no time for a face-to-face conversation, if that’s alright. Yesterday, I was overloaded.” Aurora smiled and winced. Bad pun. “How’d that article of yours go?”
“So I saw,” Chuntao missed the point of her pun, thankfully. She wouldn’t know that Aurora was connected to some kind of a power core that pumped her with so much energy it nearly killed her trying to contain and expel it. “Trailing giant robots is an OK excuse not to get back with me,” she teased.
Was she seriously trying to get Aurora for more than just the next biggest headline?
“Are you serious?” Chuntao asked, practically pouting. You could hear and feel it. “You didn’t read my glowing article about you? No pun intended.” Aurora looked at her glowing wings and blushed, embarrassed. “Anyway, I thought I’d text you because one of the people I was talking with said that the fire was deliberately set. It was arson. Do you want more info?”
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“Of course, I do,” Aurora said, shaking her head. “If there’s some kind of serial arsonist going around, that needs to be dealt with too. I’d like to know what you’re offering. I’ll look more into it as soon as I’m able. There’s already a lot on my plate as is with Mr. Mechanical’s robots rampaging.”
“Well, the police here are investigating things, I’m sure.” Chuntao chuckled in a softer tone. “If you’re busy, I don’t want to overload you. Tell you what, when you bring Mr. Mechanical to justice, I’ll tell you what I know. Meanwhile, I’m going to investigate this myself. Let me know if you need a hand from the press.” Anyone who heard her speaking would know she was grinning broadly, just from her tone.
Aurora laughed softly. “Of course. But honestly, you should send me everything you can and not take any huge risks. The sooner I know all this, the better. An email with all you know about this would be fine, too. I’ll read your article today too and let you know what I think.”
“If you promise to read your article,” Chuntao sounded even more chipper, “then, I’ll promise to give you what I know via an email, so if I disappear, you’ll know where to look, OK?” She chuckled.
“Don’t go disappearing on me, Chuntao. I’ll be upset if you do.” Aurora smiled, rolling her eyes.
Chuntao was impetuous, and that was probably what made her a good reporter. “Don’t take too many risks. Leave that to me. I can handle the hazard.”
“Ha!” Chuntao scoffed. “Not a chance! New media reporters aren't taken seriously enough, so if I can break the story before anyone else, it’ll be in the name of internet news.” She laughed again, softly. “But, I’ll send you all the information, since you’re so worried for me. It’s touching knowing you have my back.”
The reporter’s fingers were flying on her keyboard as they spoke. The telltale rattling of her keyboard spoke volumes of how much she was writing. Hopefully, it was the email she was talking about sending. “Are--- you on your way to a job? Where does someone like Aurora work?”
Aurora’s lips tightened humorously as one side of her mouth crinkled. Chuntao was so nosey. “That would be telling.” The angel giggled. “Talk to you later more, Chuntao, take care.” She disconnected, mostly because she’d arrived at school. Landing a flash like usual, she snuck into the shed to transform back into the smaller and cute Leona.
Stepping out nonchalantly, she made for the front to wait for her friends to arrive.
While she waited, she thought more and decided she’d pull up Chuntao’s article on her phone.
Leona carried both the communicator and her smartphone with her at all times. Even the smartphone still had its perks, even though the communicator did everything it did, multiplied by a factor of… like a hundred? Leona still needed to have the phone to stay in touch with her friends, and Sarah, who she was particularly looking forward to seeing.
She found Valerie North(Chuntao)’s article quickly and sure enough, it was a glowing representation of her work, including quotes from some of the people she’d rescued. One of the firefighter’s words was particularly positive, but there was also an obligatory piece of criticism she read first.
As usual, Inspector Ruffino’s tone was negative where the unwanted angelic superhero was concerned.
“While we appreciate all the help in saving lives, surely she could’ve
used her great powers to suffocate this blaze, or simply create more
devices to save lives. Hopefully, Seaside City will have a full-time
superhero. One who takes civic responsibilities more seriously.”
Her words made for quite the burn.
Marlene didn’t understand Aurora’s powers, though.
If she suffocated the fire, wouldn’t she have suffocated the people inside, first? If she did it after she’d saved the people, would her aura have spread over the whole building? She’d experimented with how much she could handle when she first got her powers, and she couldn’t cover a shipping crate with it. It was possible to do more now after her training and some gained experience, but enveloping a huge building with her halo was more than a tall order.
The Inspector was ignorant, but you couldn’t blame her since she didn’t know what she was talking about. Create devices? She did make constructions from her halo, but they were ephemeral and temporary things and they had no mechanical use.
The firefighter was quoted, as mentioned:
“Frankly, anyone who says Aurora didn’t do all she could obviously wasn’t
here. Maybe if some people were nicer, she’d stop by more often on her
own. She doesn’t owe us … we owe her.”
Awwwwwww… Leona’s eyes filled with tears.
