Futuristic Arcadia: Heroes World Brave

[obscured_light]

No.

Akiko had been expecting a fight. She had been so excited to show Sasha her improved control on the souls. They had worked so hard on it after all. Even if one soul in particular hadn't cooperated.

No, no, no.

But the irony of it hit her, literally, as the flames hit her rock shield. Sasha had dropped demon form. Akiko couldn't see him. It was just a few moments. She heard him though.

NO!

The rock shield exploded outwards but the only people left to dodge were her friends. Sasha was gone. His associates gone with him. She looked over at Henry, at Albert, at Lynne. She searched all their faces for reassurance even as she tried to say some joke, some quip, something to be reassuring... but for once, the detective was at a loss for words.

 

[druidquest]

Lynne strafed to the side as lightning shot past her, close enough to smell burning ozone and feel hot energy on her skin. She brought her hand up for a counterattack, lunar light surging in her fist, but as the dust of destruction blew across the field she realized the enemy force was already gone.

And so was Sasha.

She drifted down to earth, feet finding purchase in the disturbed concrete. Lynne's eyes met Akiko's briefly as the detective casting her eyes around to those around her. Lynne hadn't known Sasha long. She couldn't recall if she'd had a full conversation with the man, and her familiarity with the other members of the team wasn't much more significant than that. But in all that time, she had known with certainty that the detective was bright and energetic, barely contained by gravity and never truly silent for more than a moment. She couldn't possibly understand what kind of ache was in the others' hearts in this moment, but to see the Akiko now, so deflated, words dead in her throat... Lynne knew it wasn't right.

Lynne pulled her hand back, stopping herself from touching the detective's shoulder. Instead she held her hand to her breast, balled in a fist for the briefest of moments before dropping it to her side and stepping past Shinigami Grey. "Professor!" she called out, approaching the upended VTOL with purpose. "They teleported away, right? Could they have left traces of energy behind that we can use to track them? What about cameras?" She turned toward Albert. "Atlas City is one of the most surveilled cities in the country, isn't it? If we had access to the city's network, could we find the faces of these people, use it to track them wherever they could've gone? They didn't just vanish. We should still be able to find them, right?"

"Right?" Lynne looked Henry firmly in the eye. "Right, Commander?"

 

[Wing06]

Klaus, finally able to stand on his own two feet without the aid of his suit, sighed. He hadn't helped the team, and now, Sasha was gone. He, a time traveler with access to devices to trap others in time, failed to stop the kidnapping of one of his teammates. "All of this chaos to draw him out and then run away? Cowards..." He muttered, his eyes darting around the area, seeking some particle he would lock on to that could give them some clue of how to track the group and Sasha.

 

[PiePillager]

"I'm not a commander," Henry corrected with a sigh as he looked ahead n the spot where their comrade once stood before these mysterious supers had vanished without a trace. "But we will." If the city couldn't grant them access upon request via George's connections, then they had more than enough means to get any possible footage themselves.

Question was, if these people were in the same line of work as Sasha was previously, simply tracking their faces may not be enough. But it was at least a start. "I'll have George's people make the call. In the meantime, we can try and detect any trace elements they may have left in their teleportation. Depending on how their porting works, there may be something left behind. Trace elements, lingering magic, whatever..."

Henry scratched his chin. "It won't be a trail in the traditional sense, but if there's anything left behind, there should be somewhere else in the world that gives off a similar energy signature. Enough to cover about five people."

 

[obscured_light]

"You should also have George look into any Russian activity around here," Akiko called out. She had her back towards them, head tilted up to look at the sky. "Sasha mentioned them wanting him back. Possibly KGB involvement. I didn't get a chance to get anything concrete out of him."

But I will when we get him back.

"I'm going to go do some personal investigating. I'll be back in an hour."

Her voice was cheery but she still didn't turn to face them. With a wave, Akiko turned intangible and slipped through the ground.

 

[Wing06]

Kluas scratched his chin as Henry spoke. Tracking the ones who took Shasha wasn't impossible, but he wasn't sure how to dial it in on the Chrono Dialer. "I may be able to trace their tachyon particles, given they would be traveling faster than the speed of light, but I'll need time to program my Chrono Dialer." He looked down at his wrist and began tapping various buttons in sequence. Simply locating the proper Chronons would be an excellent first step for him, and the area was littered with the time particle. He would need to filter out the noise, so to speak, and hone in on the particles left by Shasha to narrow down the variables. Following the wrong trail could prove fatal for Shasha, which wasn't a risk Klaus wanted to take.

"Akikio, let us know what you find. We need to be sure we're in constant communication. Soloing these guys is impossible."

 

[obscured_light]

The city passed by in a blur as Akiko, intangible and invisible, zoomed on through back to their base.

She wasn't expecting to run into any danger. They had what they had come for and it seemed highly unlikely that a group like that, one capable of making even Sasha surrender with a mere threat, would be fearful of their little ragtag group. Of course, Alpheum had made the same mistake and had paid a hefty price for it. But Akiko had been able to bring her friends with her. Sasha had gone alone.

Therefore time was of the essence and she wanted to deal with her feelings, even if it was to put them in a box for another time. It was not that she had lost hope or that she was expecting the worst but some part of her did want to latch onto those thoughts. It presented memories as conclusive proof that the worst could happen and it had happened and it would happen again. Day after day, she saw the worst parts of humanity whether it was the news, on the street, in the memories she saw or that others told her about. She could only imagine what the worst parts of divinity looked like if demons like those of Sasha existed.

But it was these thoughts she hated the most. They did no one any good and the team had shown they were capable of wreaking havoc. Akiko just wanted to let the thoughts run their course because she knew she needed a clear head. Detective Bong was on the case now.

Akiko hovered a couple inches off the ground as she stopped at Sasha's door. With a deep breath, she phased through the door, slipping on gloves she always kept in a pocket. She became tangible and flicked on the switch. The room itself was rather bare with a few of Sasha's belongings. She flew over to Sasha's nightstand where a neat stack of books sat, their titles in Russian. She gingerly picked them up, one by one, and leafed through them. There were no marks or notes or anything of note really. Beside the stack of books was a picture with two older looking people that strongly resembled Sasha. Akiko assumed it was his parents and after examining the wooden frame, even taking the picture out of its frame, she put it back together and in its place.

There was a singular painting in the room. Akiko did the same, examining it thoroughly. There were the initials, "M.C." and on the back was an address and the message, "For the painter." The painting itself was unremarkable with a calm scene of snowy woods. The closet contained his clothes and the desk only had a single notebook on it. Akiko picked it up and for the first time, hesitated. They needed information and she could simply tell the others of the painting and the address, but an investigation had to be thorough. An apology to Sasha was likely needed in the future.

With another deep breath, she opened the journal and a piece of paper fell out. Akiko caught it before it hit the ground and she saw Sasha's neat, tiny handwriting.

To my fellow detective, please read carefully.​

 

[DarKnight36]

Having opened the journal, Akiko's eyes would fall upon the words Sasha had written. Perhaps much to her surprise, they were not records of Sasha's daily proceedings as one might have expected. Instead, it seemed that Sasha was... an aspiring writer?

Indeed, even a few sentences in, it was clear that Sasha had been writing hilariously bad fan-fiction of various TV shows and movies that he had seen since arriving in Atlas City. None of the stories were long; most were only a few paragraphs. But none of them were good.

Why on earth would Sasha have wished Akiko to read this carefully?

Something did catch Akiko's eye - the most recent entry was not about a fictitious character. It was about her, but not as Shinigami. It was only a few sentences.

"Akiko Bong, as a librarian, was always quite careful about the order of the books under her care. No one cared quite so much as Akiko about organization. She would always sort by author. In her mind, questions could only be answered if the books were properly organized."

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko looked back over at the books and then back at Sasha's passage about her. She had material to pick on him now but he seemed to have struck first as her grasp of the Russian language was minimal. Sasha clearly didn't know that but luckily, she had a friend she could refer to.

Whipping out her phone, Akiko looked up the Russian Alphabet and set to work on setting the books in order, tucking Sasha's own journal underneath her arm.

 

[DarKnight36]

The books, once organized and the words translated, said "Key is Fate."

 

[obscured_light]

Twenty minutes was what it took for her to translate but when she did, she felt super proud of herself. Akiko would have gloated if someone had been there with her but she still puffed her chest out, debating on strutting about. These thoughts didn't last long as she realized she had no idea what it meant. She hadn't found a key yet and there was nothing where she could type any sort of password in. She highly doubted Sasha was trying to be philosophical as well. Akiko put a hand on her chin in thought.

It looked like she was going to need actual friends.

Akiko slipped the book into her jacket pocket and took off again, radioing in her usual chirpy voice, "Hey guys, who, uh, who knows Russian?"

 

[PiePillager]

"Anette, that you?" Henry asked, relief flooding through his voice as he answered his cell as his cousin-in-law answered.

"Yeah, we were trying to reach you for the past thirty minutes...are you back in town?"

"For a little bit, yeah. Marshal and the kids okay?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, we're all here at home. You saw what happened in the city?" Anette inquired in return. "Came out of nowhere, it's horrible. All over the news. ....What's that noise?"

"Uh...sirens," Henry replied with a shrug.

"Wait are you there?"

"Well, it's..."

"So Marshal was right? Your new job is working with a super team? That's great! ....which one?"

"Look...it's. I'm not at liberty to reveal all that, chill," Henry laughed. "I'm mostly the designated driver. Pilot the planes. Do some rescue work on the side. Nothing too crazy...well, I'm about to get some trapped civilians out of the rubble of a restaurant that had part of a train tossed through it, so it's a little crazy. But look, I'll hit y'all up later! Glad everybody's okay."

"Okay...just let us know everything went okay once you're finished...."

"For sure. Talk to y'all later!" Henry hung up and placed his cell in his pocket as he went to go join the rest of The Brave's rescue operations personnel in clearing the debris and getting the civilians to safety. It was best to do these things with a clear head.

***

From a distance, Mayor Gideon Gauss walked among the people of Atlas City, speaking to reporters, shaking hands, and making promises to the victims of this latest attack on the city. It was good to expend the time to join in on the relief effort when he could. Make sure the civilians knew he cared. And he truly did, publicity aside, this was his city and he would ensure its protection. More than they would ever know. As he looked in the distance his eyes narrowed, at the rescue efforts. Everything appeared to be going smoothly, but...

Among the various workers and firefighters stationed there was a unit he did not recognize. He made it a point to memorize all of the superpowered operatives and rescue and response teams that were in operation and this was the first time he'd seen uniforms like these. As soon as he was free of the crowd for a moment, he drew out his phone and took a picture. He ran a search through the internet of similar uniforms and discovered....nothing concrete.

But there were images. A sparse few images, but the resemblance was unmistakable. What was their purpose? Covert operations? But what purpose did it serve to simply travel around the world providing aid. They could be unregistered, but...why act so brazenly then? Did they have something to do with that call he had received earlier? Ever since the attack on the beach, it became more and more apparent that there was a severe gaps in his knowledge of the world and how it operated....and if there was anything Gauss despised, it was not having answers.

"You won't stay hidden for long, now will you? We'll see what you're really about..." the mayor thought to himself before he was approached by yet another reporter. His taciturn expression swiftly becoming a smile, Gauss went on to give a speech.

***
Henry set down the last of the trapped civilians onto the stretcher provided by the EMTs that had arrived on the scene. They'd soon take care of the survivors too injured to tend to themselves. With that out of the way, he moved on to fetch some water bottles to provide to the survivors who were more stable and just getting their bearings before presumably heading to the hospital themselves.

Twenty minutes was what it took for her to translate but when she did, she felt super proud of herself. Akiko would have gloated if someone had been there with her but she still puffed her chest out, debating on strutting about. These thoughts didn't last long as she realized she had no idea what it meant. She hadn't found a key yet and there was nothing where she could type any sort of password in. She highly doubted Sasha was trying to be philosophical as well. Akiko put a hand on her chin in thought.

It looked like she was going to need actual friends.

Akiko slipped the book into her jacket pocket and took off again, radioing in her usual chirpy voice, "Hey guys, who, uh, who knows Russian?"

"Uh, I really only know a little but...gimme a sec..." Henry noted, pulling out his phone and quickly pulled up a few tabs explaining the Russian alphabet and general linguistic system. Rapidly scrolling through until he reached the end of both tabs, he responded back about a minute later, "Alright, got it. What's up? Need something translated?"

 

[obscured_light]

"Eh, some books, maybe a secret message, maybe a rough draft or two," Akiko responded as she held the books tightly to her chest. "I found some clues but I don't know what, 'Key is Fate' is supposed to mean when there's no key or place to put in a passcode."

 

[druidquest]

Grinding concrete and creaking rebar were nearly as loud as the sirens in Lynne’s ears as she worked to clear away the larger chunks of rubble. Shimmering moonlight was all but lost in the morning sun, only visible in the shade of the massive slabs she hauled up onto her shoulders before dropping them in the designated areas. The routine of the physical labor was nearly meditative, her muscles barely registering the weight yet the repetition of the work brought a sort of physical strain in its own way.

Her mind was disconnected from her actions, mulling scenes over in her head again and again. She couldn’t get past the words she had said to Akiko and the others, an immovable stone waylaying her other thoughts. Words like that would often be spoken by heroes in stories and the like, rallying the spirits of those around them, yet they hadn’t had quite that effect on the rest of the team.

Had she made some misstep without realizing? Perhaps it had seemed overly familiar, or tonally dissonant. She hadn’t known the others long. Henry had also chafed at being treated as a commander, despite being the closest the team had - from what Lynne could tell, at least. Or… maybe she just lacked the charisma of those literary giants.

The rubble landed with the others in a trembling thud, and Lynne sighed through her nose. There were just too many possible faults against her this time.

Twenty minutes was what it took for her to translate but when she did, she felt super proud of herself. Akiko would have gloated if someone had been there with her but she still puffed her chest out, debating on strutting about. These thoughts didn't last long as she realized she had no idea what it meant. She hadn't found a key yet and there was nothing where she could type any sort of password in. She highly doubted Sasha was trying to be philosophical as well. Akiko put a hand on her chin in thought.

It looked like she was going to need actual friends.

Akiko slipped the book into her jacket pocket and took off again, radioing in her usual chirpy voice, "Hey guys, who, uh, who knows Russian?"

Lynne looked up, the sudden crackle of her comm catching her off guard and pulling her out of her head. "Huh? Russian?"

"Uh, I really only know a little but...gimme a sec..." Henry noted, pulling out his phone and quickly pulled up a few tabs explaining the Russian alphabet and general linguistic system. Rapidly scrolling through until he reached the end of both tabs, he responded back about a minute later, "Alright, got it. What's up? Need something translated?"

"Eh, some books, maybe a secret message, maybe a rough draft or two," Akiko responded as she held the books tightly to her chest. "I found some clues but I don't know what, 'Key is Fate' is supposed to mean when there's no key or place to put in a passcode."

"Maybe a key to a cipher?" Lynne spoke up, stepping back from the rubble pile. "Do you need help decoding? I have some experience at that. Чем могу помочь?"

 

[PiePillager]

"Eh, some books, maybe a secret message, maybe a rough draft or two," Akiko responded as she held the books tightly to her chest. "I found some clues but I don't know what, 'Key is Fate' is supposed to mean when there's no key or place to put in a passcode."

Lynne looked up, the sudden crackle of her comm catching her off guard and pulling her out of her head. "Huh? Russian?"





"Maybe a key to a cipher?" Lynne spoke up, stepping back from the rubble pile. "Do you need help decoding? I have some experience at that. Чем могу помочь?"

"Wanna put our heads together and figure this out, then?" Henry asked. "Anything else you can tell us, Akiko?"

 

[obscured_light]

"I can tell you that I have no idea what Lynne just said," Akiko said brightly as though what she had just said was not entirely useless. "But I'm bringing the books that gave me the clue. You guys can work on the cypher while I go see if I can't get some cat ears and some more information."

Henry's lighthouse beacon of a soul guided her towards them as she flew at her max speed. As she touched down on the rubble nearby, she took a mental note of her physical state. A few beads of sweat, a little aching as she stretched out her arms, but there wasn't any true fatigue yet. It's already paying off, she thought as she made her way over to the rest of the crew.

"I shouldn't take so long this time," she said as she handed the books over to whoever reached for them first. "I just need to check one more spot and since we have a resident translator here, I won't be wasting my time searching online again."

 

[PiePillager]

"Well check the spot first so we have all bases covered before we get to solving this mystery," Henry insisted. "...And Lynne asked how she could help, by the way," he added with a smile. "Might wanna brush up on the language if this is heading where I think it might..." And since it most certainly was, he hoped they would have enough time to figure out how to follow through on this mission without sparking some sort of international incident.

"Good job, though!" he nodded at Akiko. "We have a lead now and all we gotta do is follow through." He turned to Lynne next. "You want to do the honors?" Henry asked, gesturing towards the books.

 

[Wing06]

Klaus continued to scan the immediate area. Pinpointing Shasa was proving more complicated than the man from the future had anticipated. He breathed a sigh of relief, hearing that Akiko had found a lead. "I have the Chrono Dialer scanning for any traces of Sasha. Maybe following this lead will give my tech the time to work out the math..." The Chrono Dialer chirped and whirred as its processes worked out the immense amount of data Klaus had collected.

 

[obscured_light]

"Oh I didn't realize that was what the Russian was!" Akiko exclaimed, "I leave it in your hands then, Lynne. Also! Also, nice work Cobalt. Also! Speaking of covering bases, I got second base for ya'll."

She paused mid-flight, trying to remember what direction she was supposed to head in. Tilting her head as she tried to recall, she remembered the photo she was supposed to send.

"There was also a painting I saw. I snapped a pic of it before I left," Akiko said as she emailed the photo to Henry. "Note the initials, M.C., and the address on the back. Whoever this painter is, he has some skills. I mean did you see those snowflakes in the painting? I can see why Sasha bought this painting."

 

[druidquest]

"What? Oh!" Lynne leapt to grab the books at Henry's prompting. She lifted the cover of the book at the top of the stack thoughtfully, examining the front page before lifting the rest with her thumb and letting them flip back down. The books didn't seem particularly remarkable. Key is Fate, huh. Maybe something hidden in the four letters of that word? Or maybe the five in судьба? No, she shouldn't be rushing ahead of herself.

She leaned over to peak at Henry's phone as the email came through. "Is it that impressive?" she asked somewhat incredulously. Artwork wasn't really her wheelhouse. "Who's M.C.?"

 

[Wing06]

Klaus peered over Henry's shoulder, trying to look at the picture of the painting that Akiko had sent him. He let out a low whistle as he scanned it. For a photo of a painting, the details came through well. "He certainly has an eye for quality. M.C. could be the artist, though. I have to wonder more if we are supposed to find the area depicted in the painting or the artist...one of the two is the clue, but both? That would be farfetched."

 

[obscured_light]

"I'm not sure if there's anything distinctive enough to match the location in the painting," Akiko mused as she continued to jet towards a location she had seen only once. "Unless I missed seeing the north pole sign or something."

There wasn't a lot she could offer so she went to the only other place that could offer her clues. Invisible, Akiko slowed down as she approached the place Henry's soul had led her to not so long ago. It seemed untouched with chaos having been wrought not quite so far from it. When she went into Sasha's room however, it was a completely different story.

Someone had beaten her to it. It wasn't as sparsely decorated as his room on the ship but it certainly wasn't comparable to her own overly cluttered condo. There were a lot of things knocked to the ground, furniture overturned, open doors. Akiko put on her gloves to sift through the wreckage with hopes that they had missed even the smallest thing. But the detective quickly lost that hope as she realized she wasn't even sure what she was looking for.

The smell of smoke still lingered in the air and Akiko headed towards where it was strongest. In the kitchen sink were drenched ashes. She recalled seeing empty shelves and no sign of papers or photos. There wasn't even a painting like there had been on the sub. Even all the cabinets in the kitchen had been opened and rifled through. They had been thorough and Akiko guessed that the only reason Sasha's room on the sub had been untouched was because it was heavily guarded.

Not that his apartment hadn't been but she assumed the group had known him well. She had noticed smashed pieces of cameras and technology she wasn't sure the purpose of. There were parts in doorways that looked ripped off or punched through. It was a mess and his landlord certainly wasn't going to be happy about it if they ever found out.

Akiko went back again through all the rooms. Every single thing was examined again as she had in his other room. Walls were examined and knocked upon. Fridge was emptied. She even carefully sifted through the ashes to see if anything, even the corner piece of a page, had been left untouched.

In the end, nothing was found. Sasha's kidnappers had been thorough and Akiko had grown impatient towards the end of her search. Frustrated and annoyed, she lingered at the main door to his apartment. Again, one more time, one more search. But yet again, she found nothing. So she left and made her way back to the group.

"No dice on more clues yet," Akiko said when the comms had gone quiet, careful to hide her frustrations and keep her voice light. "We have to work with what we got."

 

[PiePillager]

"In that case...all we've got is that address, then," Henry noted, pulling up his phone to remotely set the coordinates of the address to the VTOL's onboard computer. "And that's where we'll be headed. Everybody get ready to move out!" he nodded at the others gathered there before heading back towards their mode of transport.

 

[DarKnight36]

The address the group was led to was a small home in one of the suburbs of Atlas City. The small lawn was well-cared for, like its neighbors. A single vehicle was parked in the driveway, not too expensive or too cheap. Indeed, nothing about the home really stood out from the others in the area.

"Are we sure this isn't just someone's house?" Albert said, scratching his head. "Just how well did we know Sasha?"

 

[obscured_light]

"Enough to know that address has to mean something," Akiko said as she adjusted the comically big glasses on her face. It was meant to distract from the white beard and curly black wig she was wearing.

"What can it hurt to look?" she asked, already beginning to walk to the front door.