Angelic (part 21)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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28th January
21:34 GMT -3
"Beatriz, I think-"
Beatriz's head snaps around, a thin film of fire immediately appearing over her hands.
"-I've found a fix-"
The men -yes, they're all men- around her either start at my sudden appearance or take a step away. Beatriz herself on the other hand has already scanned and recognised me and is lowering her flame-level.
"-for your combustion dysfunction."
She smiles for her conversation partners. "Would you gentlemen excuse me? Paul and I have superhero business to discuss."
A few nods from slightly calmed guests as Beatriz takes a rather firm hold on my left arm and pulls me towards the balcony. She smiles and waves at several of the conversation clusters we pass before leaning into me companionably. I doubt that anyone else attending this… Post fashion show party thing, can see how gritted her teeth are.
"Did you have to do this now?"
"No, but you made it clear how interested in this you were, so I thought that you might appreciate being involved from the start."
"On balance, yes, but this is what I do for a living."
"Pleased as I am that the Brazilian fashion industry doesn't immediately reject women with a bit of muscle on their frames, I can't help but feel that you're wasting your talents."
"I don't remember getting a call from the Justice League."
"Not.. superheroing. Police work. Or the Brazilian fire service. You are fireproof, yes?"
"This pays better -mostly- and gives me enough time off work that I can volunteer to work with the police and fire service as a superhero."
I nod as we walk out of the main hall and out into the Brazilian night air. January after sundown and if it wasn't for my environmental shield I'd be sweating.
"I saw your blog entries. How is your training going?"
She checks the distance to the other people out here. "My control's a little better, but I'm still-. Only as powerful as I was before."
"Why exactly.. do you want to be a superhero again? And if you could avoid the bullshit answer you put on your website, that would be splendid."
"You know who Hugo Danner is?"
I smile broadly. "Yes! I managed to get a copy of his research from Green Lantern -the one who was part of the-."
"The All-Star Squadron. I didn't know they actually found that. You know how to make the formula?"
I nod. "Yes. LexCorp hired his son, and the first batch of Guard Dogs of Dawn should be undergoing their training now."
"Dogs?" She frowns, then nods. "I.. suppose that makes sense. They're easier to train than people." She lets go of my arm and walks over to the edge of the balcony. "Did you ever wonder what would have happened if the Children of Dawn had won?"
"I'd probably be down a mentor or two. Depending on whether or not they pulled their punches fighting Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Flash had already left the Squadron at that point, so the modern Flash would probably still exist. The-."
"I meant to Brazil."
"I can't honestly say that I've studied Brazilian history in any detail."
"Our last Emperor, Dom Pedro the Second, was overthrown in a military coup. He abolished slavery, instituted parliamentary democracy, championed free speech and civil rights, and he was replaced first by corrupt oligarchs and then by a military-backed dictatorship. Then a handful of idiots, then twenty two years of fascist military rule."
"What exactly was your grandfather's job?"
She looks back at me, but she's actually not glaring this time. "He was the Head of Counter-Insurgency. He told the field units who to grab from the streets and torture to death. He had thousands of people murdered." She laughs humourlessly. "And of course the amnesty law gave him immunity from prosecution."
"There was a lot of that going around. I still remember the attempt to extradite Pinochet from Britain."
She shakes her head. "Growing up, I actually liked Grandpa. Then he tried to persuade me to join the Brazilian Integralist Party and we had a.. disagreement."
Ring, who are-? Oh. Yes, that reminds me a little of when I found out that Patrick Moore would have quite happily genocided Germany. You think you know the Gamesmaster, then it's sort of an uncomfortable 'ooh'.
"Hugo Danner and the Sons of Dawn would have laughed off the military coup. I don't know whether or not he would have been successful at running the economy, but he was used to the American system of government. I would be astonished if the more unpleasant parts of modern Brazilian history would have occurred. And.. you would never have been born, so there's that." I frown. "Why do you ask?"
"My grandfather's police murder anyone with strong political opinions while a superhero who would have saved the country rots in prison and you're still asking why I want to be a superhero and not a policewoman?"
I nod. "Ah."
"I couldn't face it. Not after my grandfather-. His son's working for LexCorp?" I nod. "I didn't think he had any children."
"He got together with an old girlfriend shortly before coming to Brazil." I shrug. "I can give you his e-mail address if you want to send him a message."
"Thanks. So what was that about improving my powers?"
"We recently apprehended an individual answering to the name-" Provisionally, we have to call her something until she makes a permanent decision. "-'Noriel'. She claims to be the angel responsible for -amongst other things- fire. With her-."
Beatriz' eyes light up. "She helped you create a ritual we can use to boost me?"
Technically…
"Wait." Her eyes narrowed. "You hesitated. Why did you hesitate?"
"You remember when the angels marked me for death?"
"Ah. I thought that was some sort of trick."
"Technically, it was. It still hurt. Anyway, she and some Atlantean mages working for KordTech based the design for the spell on how she manipulates fire. Technically, it won't boost your raw power, but it will allow you to do much more with it."
"What's the drawback?"
"Magic is easier to directly counter than metahuman abilities, so don't slack off on your other training. And there's a small chance that fires might start… Pointing at you in defiance of local air currents."
"And that's it?"
"I don't use demons, and we already discounted the Parliament of Flames."
Unhelpful, uncommunicative gits that they/it are/is.
"So are you up for this?"
"Yes." She straightens up, and I can see her shift mode into the intelligence agent she used to be. "Let's go."
21:34 GMT -3
"Beatriz, I think-"
Beatriz's head snaps around, a thin film of fire immediately appearing over her hands.
"-I've found a fix-"
The men -yes, they're all men- around her either start at my sudden appearance or take a step away. Beatriz herself on the other hand has already scanned and recognised me and is lowering her flame-level.
"-for your combustion dysfunction."
She smiles for her conversation partners. "Would you gentlemen excuse me? Paul and I have superhero business to discuss."
A few nods from slightly calmed guests as Beatriz takes a rather firm hold on my left arm and pulls me towards the balcony. She smiles and waves at several of the conversation clusters we pass before leaning into me companionably. I doubt that anyone else attending this… Post fashion show party thing, can see how gritted her teeth are.
"Did you have to do this now?"
"No, but you made it clear how interested in this you were, so I thought that you might appreciate being involved from the start."
"On balance, yes, but this is what I do for a living."
"Pleased as I am that the Brazilian fashion industry doesn't immediately reject women with a bit of muscle on their frames, I can't help but feel that you're wasting your talents."
"I don't remember getting a call from the Justice League."
"Not.. superheroing. Police work. Or the Brazilian fire service. You are fireproof, yes?"
"This pays better -mostly- and gives me enough time off work that I can volunteer to work with the police and fire service as a superhero."
I nod as we walk out of the main hall and out into the Brazilian night air. January after sundown and if it wasn't for my environmental shield I'd be sweating.
"I saw your blog entries. How is your training going?"
She checks the distance to the other people out here. "My control's a little better, but I'm still-. Only as powerful as I was before."
"Why exactly.. do you want to be a superhero again? And if you could avoid the bullshit answer you put on your website, that would be splendid."
"You know who Hugo Danner is?"
I smile broadly. "Yes! I managed to get a copy of his research from Green Lantern -the one who was part of the-."
"The All-Star Squadron. I didn't know they actually found that. You know how to make the formula?"
I nod. "Yes. LexCorp hired his son, and the first batch of Guard Dogs of Dawn should be undergoing their training now."
"Dogs?" She frowns, then nods. "I.. suppose that makes sense. They're easier to train than people." She lets go of my arm and walks over to the edge of the balcony. "Did you ever wonder what would have happened if the Children of Dawn had won?"
"I'd probably be down a mentor or two. Depending on whether or not they pulled their punches fighting Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Flash had already left the Squadron at that point, so the modern Flash would probably still exist. The-."
"I meant to Brazil."
"I can't honestly say that I've studied Brazilian history in any detail."
"Our last Emperor, Dom Pedro the Second, was overthrown in a military coup. He abolished slavery, instituted parliamentary democracy, championed free speech and civil rights, and he was replaced first by corrupt oligarchs and then by a military-backed dictatorship. Then a handful of idiots, then twenty two years of fascist military rule."
"What exactly was your grandfather's job?"
She looks back at me, but she's actually not glaring this time. "He was the Head of Counter-Insurgency. He told the field units who to grab from the streets and torture to death. He had thousands of people murdered." She laughs humourlessly. "And of course the amnesty law gave him immunity from prosecution."
"There was a lot of that going around. I still remember the attempt to extradite Pinochet from Britain."
She shakes her head. "Growing up, I actually liked Grandpa. Then he tried to persuade me to join the Brazilian Integralist Party and we had a.. disagreement."
Ring, who are-? Oh. Yes, that reminds me a little of when I found out that Patrick Moore would have quite happily genocided Germany. You think you know the Gamesmaster, then it's sort of an uncomfortable 'ooh'.
"Hugo Danner and the Sons of Dawn would have laughed off the military coup. I don't know whether or not he would have been successful at running the economy, but he was used to the American system of government. I would be astonished if the more unpleasant parts of modern Brazilian history would have occurred. And.. you would never have been born, so there's that." I frown. "Why do you ask?"
"My grandfather's police murder anyone with strong political opinions while a superhero who would have saved the country rots in prison and you're still asking why I want to be a superhero and not a policewoman?"
I nod. "Ah."
"I couldn't face it. Not after my grandfather-. His son's working for LexCorp?" I nod. "I didn't think he had any children."
"He got together with an old girlfriend shortly before coming to Brazil." I shrug. "I can give you his e-mail address if you want to send him a message."
"Thanks. So what was that about improving my powers?"
"We recently apprehended an individual answering to the name-" Provisionally, we have to call her something until she makes a permanent decision. "-'Noriel'. She claims to be the angel responsible for -amongst other things- fire. With her-."
Beatriz' eyes light up. "She helped you create a ritual we can use to boost me?"
Technically…
"Wait." Her eyes narrowed. "You hesitated. Why did you hesitate?"
"You remember when the angels marked me for death?"
"Ah. I thought that was some sort of trick."
"Technically, it was. It still hurt. Anyway, she and some Atlantean mages working for KordTech based the design for the spell on how she manipulates fire. Technically, it won't boost your raw power, but it will allow you to do much more with it."
"What's the drawback?"
"Magic is easier to directly counter than metahuman abilities, so don't slack off on your other training. And there's a small chance that fires might start… Pointing at you in defiance of local air currents."
"And that's it?"
"I don't use demons, and we already discounted the Parliament of Flames."
Unhelpful, uncommunicative gits that they/it are/is.
"So are you up for this?"
"Yes." She straightens up, and I can see her shift mode into the intelligence agent she used to be. "Let's go."
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