“Let me stay until the rest have arrived and then decide about who gets to stay and talk this out. Fair?” Vanguard offered.
Aurora beamed as she responded for Mocha, “Very fair, sir. Thank you for coming and believing in me for that matter. I know that it may have been a tough call given how new I am to the Sentinels. But your trust… it really touches me, sir.” Her eyes shifted to Mocha and she took her hands to pull her gently towards where they could sit quietly together.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Aurora.” Vanguard smiled a touch and looked away as Aurora pulled Mocha into a chair.
“Mocha,” Aurora said as she looked into the girl’s eyes, “I know how you feel about him, but I want you to do your best to treat him as if you knew nothing of him. Treat him as a stranger and wipe the slate clean… at least for a short time while we negotiate. I ask that you judge him by the things he says to you and his virtues on that basis. I have to tell you this, Vanguard is among the foremost of my role models in the Sentinels of Society.”
“I’ve followed his career for a long time and I’m who I am today because I always told myself that I’d be just like him and others like him when I dared to dream of being a superhero, certain that it could never really happen, but if you personally like me I think because I’ve managed to successfully convey who I am and what I stand for, what I dream of, I think that you’ll come to see what I’ve said about this man.” Aurora smiled warmly at the end. “And please remember that the Society is here to help.”
Mocha sat pensively the whole time eyeing Vanguard and when the motor-mouthed Aurora finally finished, she nodded. “I’ll say this again. I do trust you. So I’ll wait and see where this goes for better or wo--”
A sudden explosion of swirling jade-green energy filled the room.
The wary Mocha crouched again and turned her head to stare at a portal that swirled like an emerald galaxy, throwing its arms vertically around its axis. From inside crept the vision of a Chinese-style serpentine dragon that spiraled out and when it did the center of the portal opened to reveal three hovering figures.
After a moment hanging in the air, they were spat out and the three landed roughly onto the cement flooring of this base.
“Ugh, that teleportation technique always plays hob with my equilibrium.” The man in lead, Dynamech himself, said as he stood in his trademark powered armor that made Blue Max’s look like some piece of rusty construction equipment in comparison. He held out a gauntleted hand out and walked across to Aurora who rose to meet him, blinking. So that’s how people feel when I transform? She blinked tears from her eyes. To either side of him stood the Midnight Avenger and Redline Racer.
Aurora started inwardly squeeing when she saw the three standing there. She’d already been made deeply happy over the vote of confidence that Vanguard had given her, but now Dynamech spoke to her, “Incredible. Truly. You’re the new girl, huh? It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you.” He waited for Aurora to take his hand and Mocha sat fidgeting. Her eyes were already darting to the passageway leading out and her lips compressed.
Aurora reached to take Dynamech’s hand with a smile and a small blush, but suddenly Avenger slapped his gauntlet to the side and said shortly, “Pleasantries later.”
His eyes flashed at Dynamech, and Aurora could have sworn that he was irritated by Dynamech’s gesture if she didn’t know better. Despite his action, the Avenger was almost as expressionless as an overly logical pointy-eared alien.
M.A. turned to Aurora again and continued, “Sorry it took so long to respond to your message… Is this her?” He gestured to a glaring Mocha.
To forestall any further issues, Aurora quickly replied, “Yes! This is Mocha Hearnn. Thank you so much for coming to help me out, everyone! It’s wonderful to meet you all!” She stood, blushing more because she was geeking madly on the inside and did her best to stay collected so she wouldn’t blow this opportunity if she let out her inner child, because Mocha’s name as at stake. Meeting more of the big-leaguers of the S.O.S. was almost too much for little Leona!
“It’s wonderful to meet you too, Redline Racer. I’ve followed you all…” A big and broad grin leaked out as a bit of her nature inevitably bubbled out.
In order to further suppress it, Aurora paced and took a deep breath, but she started blathering, “Um… well… on… the subject… Mocha here was taught everything she knows about the world by her father who raised her. She believes that he’s the only real hero in this world and she very much believes that with her whole heart. Consequently, to her the Society of Sentinels is a den of no good villains in some kind of sheep’s clothing, mostly because her father believed all heroes are too ineffective when it comes to the saving of people’s lives and helping them.”
Vanguard regarded the pacing Angel quietly with a slight smile and Midnight Avenger’s head tilted as he listened to Aurora, “And Mocha has a wonderful heart. It’s truly unbelievable that someone who was raised by a person who is considered to be a villain could turn out like this and yet I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in her.” She stopped walking and clasped Mocha’s hands. “I think I can help her to see the world in a whole different light, but right now she’s in a great deal of trouble and she’s still at odds with what she was taught. If she went to a prison or a Jail, she’d have a very hard time seeing the world differently. Not to mention the fact that Extensive Enterprises regards her as property, so other things would happen and this opportunity to help her would be gone. Because, if they got their hands on her, you know what would likely happen. A lot WOULD go very wrong. Now…” Aurora had scanned the faces of those she could while she delivered that last bit but then turned back to Mocha and let her hands go to gently place one hand on the anxious girl’s shoulder with a warm smile.
“This girl has a very strong sense of justice. Oddly, her father imparted it to her. Freedom to make her own choices. After that he tried to ‘teach’ her his beliefs rather than choosing to force it on her. Today, she’s willing to reconsider everything she was taught. I suggest that we handle her delicately. I have to say this… because of her father’s sentiments, she bears a large grudge for Vanguard and the Midnight Avenger.” She turned to look at M.A. as she mentioned his name to caution him.
“I’ve asked her to judge you all based on the merits you show her and not what she was told. I hope that she will see who you truly are. I’m confident that in the end she’ll see what I’ve always seen of you.” Aurora took a deep breath and sighed, hoping she set the stage properly.
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“Whoa. She sure… hmmm…” Dynamech looked in Aurora’s direction and she blushed, looking away. “Ahem… as for ‘Mocha’ here… she’s got all kinds of unusual signals coming off her on many bandwidths. Nonstandard radio transmissions… and there’s a strangely modulated carrier wave in all that.”
“I noticed that too,” Vanguard said as he came to his feet to walk a bit closer but clasped his hands behind his back and waited.
“Heyguys… rudemuch?” Redline said and stepped over to Mocha with a warm smile. Her mile-a-minute speech slowed down as she introduced herself, “Hi. I’m Redline Racer. You’ll have to excuse these two,” Aurora had seen a lot of footage where the Racer spoke to reporters and usually spoke too fast for most to properly follow. “Everyone under the age of seventy are whippersnappers to them.” She smirked with a shifting her eyes towards the three senior Sentinels.
“Hey, now!” Dynamech shot back, “Don’t toss me in with them. I’m only around twenty-five and you know it!”
The speedster took off her mask and let it hang down her back while pulling her goggles down to hang around her neck like a necklace. “See? We’re all regular folks under everything. Just like you when it comes down to it.” She offered a hand to the girl and grinned more warmly. “You can call me Molly.”
Vanguard sighed and facepalmed. The Midnight Avenger witnessed her action stoically as Vanguard groaned and said, “Redline, please don’t expose your secret identity to someone with a literal photographic memory.” He rubbed his temples.
Mocha nodded to Redline in almost defiance of Vanguard’s warning. “Your secret is safe with me, Molly. I’m Mocha.” She seemed to relax a fraction. Aurora’s heart skipped a beat. Redline Racer really understood how to reach people. The speedster had just duplicated the gesture that Aurora made to reach Mocha in the first place and in trusting her to this degree, Redline had demonstrated her points about the Sentinels in a way that words alone couldn’t express.
Sometimes a brave action speaks louder than pretty words.
Redline continued as though she was talking to an old girlfriend, “I guess your dad really liked his coffee, huh?” She chuckled.
Mocha smiled as she replied, “He said it was because I kept him up nights, actually… and because my… mo--his… girlfriend liked coffee… and because… uh… that’s weird…” Her eyes widened as she spoke and swallowed anxiously, putting a hand to her head. “I-I don’t seem to remember his other reason for why…” Mocha’s eyes showed a bit of fear.
Redline grinned and glossed over Mocha’s odd reaction, “Hey, don’t worry about it, hon. We all forget stuff. We’re all human.” She winked.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Vanguard interrupted delicately, “Aurora, do you want some of us to leave?”
Aurora looked at Mocha, her lips pursing. If things kept going this smoothly, everything would be fine. “I think it’s fine for everyone to stay. But if you think it best to handle this differently, I respect that. Everyone knows that the area outside here isn’t entirely secure. You’d just need to take care not to be seen if you needed to get a breath of fresh air. I don’t use this base as often as the houseboat since this one is still a bit rough around the edges, but the computer’s installed here.”
“Well, that aside, I was thinking that if I’m making young Mocha uncomfortable, maybe it’d be helpful if I paid a visit to the Seaside City Special Crimes Unit and assure them that we have this situation in hand. Would that be alright with you, Aurora?”
Aurora’s face flushed at the deference he was showing her. She nodded with a broad smile. “I really appreciate the suggestion. Honestly, sir. I hope Mocha will get to know you the way I have. Please do as you see best.”
She turned her eyes to Mocha and asked, “There will be some time afterwards, sound good Mocha?”
Mocha grumbled but nodded, still skeptical even though Vanguard was being unbelievably understanding even while he regarded Mocha with caution.
“Very well. I’ll let myself out and see what I can do,” Vanguard said as he stepped back to the passageway.
As soon as he was out of sight, the Avenger spoke, “We all trust your judgement here, Aurora. That’s apparent, I hope, but I think we’d all feel more at ease if you would perhaps put some restraints on your new friend.” His eyes shifted in Mocha’s direction.
