The Adorable Archfae - vol. 01

Brian goes from looking like he's going to burst out laughing at the mention of Micah barking, to looking terrified that they might be experimenting on people. "Well... I didn't go to dinner with Micah's men. Only Todd did..." Brian gets up off the couch and goes to a linen closet. He tosses clean sheets and a pillow your way.

"I need to get to bed. I got a part time job delivering papers and have to be up in a few hours. Promise me you don't go talk to these guys alone. This is really starting to sound serious and I want to help. I need to find Todd and make sure he's ok." After receiving your response, Brian tells you goodnight and heads to his room.

---

You wake up the next morning with bright rays of sunshine hitting your face. The doors to both bedrooms are open, but you only see Brian and Brie's mom laying on his bed inside. Brian appears to still be out working and Brie is sitting on the ground next to you still coloring away at the drawing she was working on last night. When she notices you are awake, she turns to you with a smile and shows you the picture she drew of Archfae flying out of the alleyway.

"What do you think? I told my brother about this cool superhero I saw flying around last night. He thinks I made it up." At the bottom of the page in bold lettering she has written 'Super Fairy!'

'I promise' The lie rolls easily of her tongue. If she hadn't agreed he may do something stupid. She would decide later if she would actually bring him, but that could just endanger him for no reason. He had no powers, nothing to defend himself if these people were as dangerous as they sounded.

-----

She'd woken up on coaches too many times to count. She wasn't used to waking up to others in the house though and starts slight at seeing Brie, before she remembers.

She looks at the picture curiously. She had to admit the idea of being drawn by someone was slightly cool. She was used to avoiding attention and not being noticed. Being seen as cool was knew one. It would totally be cooler if she was on fire or had armour rather than being a fairy though.

'Well you can tell Brian that it was real. I saw her too, there was a little..altercation at your neighbours. I heard the police talk about how there were like 10 or 20 bad guys as I passed.'

Brie’s eyes light up as you tell her about seeing the superhero and the amazing odds she totally overcame last night. Brie gets up and gives you a high five, which is only somewhat awkward, before running off to the fridge to get something to drink.

Brian returns about 5 minutes later. He walks through the doors looking like he might fall asleep at any second and is taken aback when he sees you. "Oh, hey Lex. I forgot you were here... sorry, that came out wrong. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I don’t mean to be a bad host but I gotta crash." He then stumbles through his bedroom door and collapses on the bed.

If you wanted to set up a breakfast or brunch meeting with Micah’s second in command without Brian getting in the way, now would be a good time to do it. If so, let me know any plans you have for the meeting. If not, is there anything Lex wants to explore on this bright new day?

'Perhaps. Stationary is not my style.' A coach was nice though. 'Brie was right by the way' She calls after him before he collapses.

She starts to head to the door instinctively. She was yet sure what to do in regards to Micah's lot, but she had a cash to check. ANd well it that turned out to be a trick of some sort, while then at least she technically wasn't breaking her promise.

Money first, crisis of morales later. She checks its still in her picket, and even attempts to make herself look slightly less 'homeless vagrant' in a car window before heading the nearest one she is aware of,

The bank teller’s eyes go wide when he sees the amount on the check. "One second. I’m afraid I’ll have to get a manager’s approval before cashing a check this large." You start to get a little nervous as you watch him go over to speak with the manager. She in turns gets on the phone and has a brief conversation with someone. Thoughts of baling cross your mind, but you could really use that money.

In the end, it is a good thing you stuck it out. The bank manager comes back with a smile and asks you how you would like the money cashed out. "$100’s? $20’s?" After getting the cash, you walk out of the bank with a smile and a bit of paranoia that everyone on the street knows how much money you’re currently carrying.

As if to confirm this paranoia is justified, you are punched hard in the arm after taking literally three steps from the bank. You instinctively flip the switch to fight mode only to find the punch came from a smirking Magpie. She has a bit of mustard on the side of her mouth from the half eaten hot dog she’s holding. She offers you a bite as the two of you continue to walk down the street.

"Where the hell have you been, Lex? Checked the usual haunts this morning but I never expected to spot you walking into that place. You better not be using a certain circlet for evil and going all bank robber on me."

'20's' Flashing 100's was asking to get rolled. She was also paranoid about who the manager was talking to. Was it the lady, confirming the cheque? She still wasn't completely sure this wasn't some complicated trick. Perhaps it was a dream. Though if that case her brain sucked for how bad that fight with the common thieves went.

'Oi careful.' She growls, debating taking the entirety of Magpie's food for scaring her, but settles for the bite. Which reminds her it' been a while she was eating.

'And no, I got this totally legit. She draws and single note out and rapidly passes it. ' Didn;t even use the bloody thing. Though I guess there were heroics involved. As for where I was, someones couch. Maybe some parts of this heroics thing has benefits. It also got me attacked by a desklamp...'[/b]

"Yeah, I read all about it in the paper." Magpie smirks. "Some little kid talked a reporter's ears off with all the details of your glorious battle. That's how I knew to look for you in this neighborhood. Unless there is some other new fairy themed super in the city and then I found you by pure coincidence." She steps in front of you and holds a hand to your chest, stopping you in place. "You know I'm glad you're out there fighting the good fight, but this whole thing isn't just about punching baddies in the face. You gotta play the PR game, Lex! They literally called you 'Unnamed new hero' in the paper. How are you ever going to be able to introduce me to Fortuna if nobody knows who you are?"

'Whether it was me depends on what exactly those kids said. Lex shrugs, before rolling her eyes as Magpie stops her. 'Excuse me for not being willing to talk to the police. And doesn;t it like, add to the allure of something, of this mysterious fairy, instead of just queuing up for pictures and interviews.'

'Besides with how that fiht went, not sure I want to be known for that one. Wait till I like,..I dunno whats a big thing heroes do. Save a bank? Beat up a known villain? Like that other new one you were going on about. Missaim or something?'

Magpie ponders what you have to say about different methods of being a superhero and comes around to see your point of view. "Fine. I'll admit, it works for Deadnite. Of course the whole having taken down all the biggest villains in town, and oh I don’t know, having risen from the dead like a billion times, also helps their image. Maybe you just aim for getting hit in the head by frying pans less often?"

She laughs at your inability to remember basic facts about the elite community you have suddenly found yourself a part of. "You mean Miss Direction? Dude, she is killing it. Did you see the news clips of her taking down Matchstick? Badass. Meanwhile you’re even being shown up by that new guy Micah. That’s not good, considering how lame his name is and the fact that there hasn’t even been a single verified photograph of the guy." She stops at your reaction to the name. "What? Do I have mustard on my face or something?"

Lex grumbles as Magpie starts to descending into fangirling. Until that name shows up. Again.

'You do but that's not...Who the hell is Micah? He's..somehow involved with some of the crap I've got caught up in but, I don't know whether he's the mastermind, the hero, or a dog trapped in a mans body at this point.'

"A dog trapped in a man’s body?" She gives you a questioning look and goes to put her hand on your forehead to check your temperature. When she realizes you aren’t joking she looks a little more concerned and decides to tell you what she knows about Micah.

"He’s another new hero, Lex. Name has been cropping up more and more over the last couple of months. He doesn’t operate like the rest of you guys; patrolling the streets and helping people in need. This guy wants to start a revolution or something. Rumors say he is an escaped captive of the Order of the Eternal Court. They supposedly did experiments on him which gave him the ability to fly, super strength; all that jazz. Now he wants to assemble an army of the forgotten people of Crowfall to take down the corrupt fat cats at the top."

It is pretty clear from the way that Magpie talks about him that she doesn’t believe all the rumors. She’s recounting the tale as it is being told but you know she is an expert and any good superhero expert will know that public origin stories rarely have much basis in reality.

"If you ask me, he seems a little too power hungry. Being a superhero isn’t about punishing the wicked. But I can’t deny he’s doing some good out here. I heard that Micah and his group have been conducting regular raids in the sewers trying to wipe out a weird cult that has been kidnapping people off the streets. None of the big supers are doing anything about that. I bet they don’t even know about it because the reporters don’t care about people like us. No one wants to come down here and look into disappearances of people that are easily forgettable. If Micah can put a stop to that then maybe I’ll cut him a break. If he even exists. You know how rumors are."

'Or he's causing them.' She goes to run her hand through her hair before catching herself, remembering the circlet hidden under her hat.

'That and he's trying to recruit me, except the ones doing so in his name were chasing someone, who barked like a dog and when I got him home, the lady called him Micah, and honestly this hero stuff is way to complicated.' She sighs, before givinga more in detail version of events, including Brian and Brie. She was only going to get nagged till she spilled anyway.

'I have a 'dinner date' with his recruiters at some point. The same type Brian's friend went to. That may get me some answers. You should stay away from the name, at least for now. I've already got one kid I need to keep away from this stuff.'

Magpie has to stop walking as you fill her in on everything. She takes a seat against the brick wall of an apartment building and you sit down next to her. "Shit, Lex. Shit, shit, shit. Do you know what I mean by that? We gotta help. It sounds like a lot more people are in a lot more danger than I realized and you’re the only hero really equipped to do anything about it. Archfae, protector of the downtrodden!" She looks around because she is talking way too loud about this before realizing that there is no one around and even if there was, they wouldn’t be paying any attention to you two.

"I gotta say, I am really impressed. You’ve actually been doing your homework and seem to know more of what is going on here then I did. Even if you kind of fell ass backwards into it. Holy fuck, is that the Warden!" She jumps to her feet and points at the top of a building. You see him too. Standing there on the roof across the street. It is abundantly clear he is looking right at you and you wish he didn’t look so pissed off. And just like that, he is gone. He flies away in a blur of motion.

Magpie is ecstatic. She is practically bouncing around on the sidewalk and reminds you of a puppy or a cat happily tapping their feet while going around in little circles. "That was so cool. What do you think he’s doing in town! Dude, do your thing and go after him. You guys could do a team up!" You both know he moves too fast for you to have any hope of catching up. Magpie doesn’t seem to have noticed the look of displeasure that was on his face while he looked at you.

Lex was used to staring down those glaring at her. Yet the various stories from Magpie, and what little common sense she has made her look away, even as her heart spedup. Why was he here? Did he know who she was? He couldn't know right? Was he just disappointed in how her first attempt had gone? Or that someone like her had somehow got powers?

When she looks back again he was gone. She'd have assumed she'd imagined it if Magpie wasn't in danger of blowing a fuse in excitement. 'Yeah I'll pass. He didn't seem in the mood for a chat. Whatever reason for the displeasure she doubted he would tell her. Just probably blame her for whatever she didn't know what she was doing wrong. Business as usual. So her best bet was to never run into him again.

'Anyway no. 'We' don't need to do anything. Do I need to remind you want happened last time. You have no powers.' Why was she beginning to get the feeling she was going to have to be often fishing bother her, and possibly Brian out of trouble constantly? This was why they shouldn't get involved,

' Also I less did my homework and more fell into that soon. Maybe this bloody circuit is some sort of trouble magnet. Anyway whatever is happening, it revolves around 'Fido' so I guess I'm getting dinner.' She sighs as she stands and after looking around carefully, pulls out some of the cash she'd just got. About 300 she reckoned at a glance. 'Look, make sure some of that gets to the kid I mentioned. Tell him he can be all disappointed in me breaking promises like every else if I turn back up. rest is yours. Don't spend it on plastic figure or whatever. Every bone in her body was telling her this was stupid. She should take the money, get on a train to a less of a shithole city, and leave Micah to whatever he was up to. Especially if Warden was watching her. Was this darn circlet giving her feelings?

Magpie’s eyes go wide at the amount of money you hand her but her expression quickly sobers. "I don't like this, Lex. You’re acting like you’re going off to face your doom. I like that you’re acting the part now, but going into this with no back up is dangerous. Be careful, ok..."

You part ways and pull into a phone booth. The man from the alleyway picks up the phone on the second ring. He somehow simultaneously sounds surprised to hear from you and like he was expecting you to call all at once. You give him a time and place and he agrees to meet you there.

You arrive a good deal early to scout out the place. Big large windows on a heavily trafficked street. It would be hard for them to pull anything here, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. You wait for him to arrive and are a little shocked when he shows up alone. No entourage in sight anywhere. Taking your circlet into account, this should give you the upper hand if he tries anything.

The man gives a small smile as you enter that looks like it took a lot of effort. He looks like he hasn't slept since you last saw him. "I’m really glad you decided to give us a chance. Name’s Sean, by the way. I don’t think I properly introduced myself before. Things were a little tense both times we met. So I gotta know; what’s up? What made you change your mind and decide to hear me out? I honestly thought I had a better chance of teaching my dog to speak English then ever getting a call from you." He watches you very closely as he says this last sentence. His eyes narrow as he tries to gauge your reaction.

'Nah I'll be fine. I'm some sort of super fairy now remember. You can yell at me if I'm not.'

She was having doubts about this plan the second she parted from her friend. Though she and Brian were right. It was stupid to go alone. But she was the one who had a magic bit of metal, and as crap as the world was, they were a few of the good things it in and she wasn't going to risk them for this. Better if someone was going to go down it was just her.

As she meets the second in command, Sean he said, she tries to keep a straight face. 'Lex' She had to let him think she was genuinely interested. To be honest if all the horror stories were incorrect, she might actually be. But she doubted it. Everyone had an ulterior method in this city.

Her face hardens slightly at the last sentence, not used to hiding her thoughts. She knew what he was getting at, but how much?Did he merely mean the fact Micah was barking, or was the use of 'my dog' more important. Was Micah actually in charge or just a front man with this guy actually in charge, or hell was Micah actually a mutated dog they were trying to teach to speak. How did heroes do this without having a constant headache?

'I mean I'm never one to turn down free food. You've got a good marketing ploy there. Also well my own querying on Micah turned up too many different answers. So it seems to be the only clear answers can get are by going to the source. Especially given my experience of the only 'Micah' I have heard of is very different from any of the stories I have heard. She tries her own attempt to watch him at the last part. He had to know what she was talking about . She didn't believe in the coincidence that Fido just happened to be called Micah.

'And well, you did say the only way I would get answers as why to were chasing Lassie down in the sewers was by meeting you. And again, free food.'

Sean appears amused at your attempt to turn the tables back on him. You get the feeling that he is used to everyone around him obeying his every order and he is enjoying someone actually speaking their mind to him for a change.

"Look, Lex, I’m not going to lie to you. Our organization always aims to be truthful and we hold everyone to that ideal. Even people near the top like me. Lead by example, Micah always says. But lies by omission are an interesting thing. Is it really a lie when you fail to mention something? I’ll leave that debate to the philosophers.

"You’ve sort of jumped ahead in knowledge about Micah. Only a select few have seen him as you did the other night. I hope that won’t make you think any less of him. Micah is a great man with a huge heart. He only wants to help people and his genius is great enough that he can actually do it. I’ve pledged my life to helping him."

Sean sounds incredibly sincere as he speaks. You don’t feel like there is any sort of trickery going on. Sean would absolutely jump in front of a bullet for Micah.

"Are you familiar with the old saying ‘genius and madness are two sides of the same coin?’ It is unfortunate that you met Micah on one of his bad days. When he is on, he is really something to behold. He could be president if he wanted to. His words could move mountains. But all he wants is to help people like me and you.

"I’ll answer any questions you have about Micah and our group as best as I can. I'm willing to give you more information than some of my most trusted allies know. I do have to ask, whether or not you believe in what we’re trying to, that you do not speak of what you saw. We’re doing a lot of good for a lot of people. Please don’t hurt our ability to do that by telling the world about the private troubles of good man who is trying to do his best to help people."

Sean looks a little frustrated. It is clear this is not the typical sales pitch he makes to new recruits and he is having a hard time finding exactly the right words to approach a difficult subject. "I am not trying to deceive you. It is unfortunately necessary to deceive our standard rank and file by never allowing them to see Micah like you saw him the other night. People are fickle creatures. If they saw their leader acting like an animal, do you really think they would continue to follow him?

"I am not sharing this information because I see some grand potential in you. As far as I can see, you are just a normal run of the mill individual. No offense. But you stumbled upon Micah at his weakest and I feel I have no choice but to explain before you get the wrong idea.

"Unlike most of his followers, Micah comes from a very rich background. Graduated from Yale and still was a disappointment to his overbearing father. Micah’s father was a real monster. Nothing ever good enough for him and nothing Micah did could impress him. His old man treated him like dirt on his worst days and like a dog on his best. That must have left an impression.

"Eventually, he pushed too hard and something inside Micah snapped. He went feral, you could say. Tore his father to pieces. With meds, he’s generally able to keep that side of himself in check these days. But every once in a while it finds its way to the surface and you don’t know what is going to happen. He fell into one of these... dog delusions the other night and all we wanted to do was get him back home safely. His mom is a real good lady and can generally calm him down. You seemed to have that same effect. I had my doubts when you two went top side but he didn't take off again. You got him home safe and you have my thanks for that."

'Okay, good. I was hoping you were about to spout a load of bull about potential. Seeing what I shouldn't have, that's more fitting. Till I get dealt for knowing to much.

She's unable to keep her face impassive as Sean spoke of abusive parents. She knew that all too well. Most people like her did. Though that was another reason they were probably an easy target. Everything Sean was saying made some sense. But that's what people relied on, and he;d had a while to work on his story.

'Look I don;t believe you don;t want to take a better piece of the city for yourself from the assholes who currently run it. My concern is whether you lot generally intend to share it, or are just using us lot as easily riled fodder that can easily be gt rid of when the job is done. You said it yourself, Micah's from a rich family. Why would he care for us, except as a mean to an end.'

She hesitates briefly, before steeling herself. 'I want to talk to him. If your story is true its clear why you do all the headhunting. But I know, so seeing him shouldn't be a problem. Especially if I 'calm him' as you put it.