The Adorable Archfae - vol. 01

His eyes remain squinted tight with suspicion. For a long minute he does pretty much nothing but stare at you. There clearly isn’t a lot happening upstairs with this guy. Even though you have spelled it all out for him, it takes ages for him to connect the dots.

"You saying you want to hit the place with me tonight?" He pauses again and considers this. "Two people have twice as many hands." He looks down at your pants and frowns. "Not the biggest pockets though... How much stuff do you think you can carry?" He holds his hands away a few inches from each other and gradually spreads them further apart. With each increase in size his face shows more and more excitement over the potential score.

She was beginning to think this guys wasn't the ally she had hoped he would be.

'That depends on why you are hitting it.' Though some valuables would be nice she had the card. Would there even be any traces of what had happened earlier left?

'Pockets that big make you noticeable, I'm just saying. Anyway I've got some muscle on me. I can carry a fair bit.

He looks at you like you have three heads when you ask why he’s hitting the mansion. "Uhh, you saw that joint, right? I get my pockets filled in there and I’m on easy street, baby!"

He hurries around to the driver’s side and hops in before leaning over to open the passenger door for you. "Your muscles may not look like much to me, but I can never say no to a pretty face. Let’s roll!" He turns the volume way up on some hair metal and revs the engine to try and impress you.

Yeah, it is probably a safe bet at this point that you put your money on the wrong horse with this guy.

'Yeah sorry mate, turns out you're not my type.' She turns and begins to walk away, waving a hand behind her. 'Good luck on your haul. And watch out for the camera's in the parking lot.' maybe that would keep him out of trouble

That had been a waste of time. As she leaves, keeping an eye out to make sure he doesn't follow her she throws a message to Sam.'Andre the Giant throw you out to?' As she waits for a response and thinks through her next options she also looks around for a cash machine. May as well take advantage of the card before it was cancelled after all.

It doesn’t take long to locate an ATM vestibule and you head inside to make a withdrawal. The passcode written on the post-it note works like a charm. As the money starts to filter out, you feel the phone in your pocket vibrate. You grab the money and pull the phone out of your pocket while turning to make your exit. The text from Sam reads: ‘Shit, Lex. Where are you!?!?!? Been driving around in circles looking for you. You safe?’

You never heard the door to the vestibule open and with your head looking down at your phone, you fail to notice the man until you bump into him. He looks down at you with a blank expression on a face that betrays his true age. It is clear that his now plastic like skin has been stretched over and over again to mimic the appearance of youth. Inhuman is the aura it ends up achieving instead.

The man is dressed in a finely tailored three piece suit. All black, except for the white button up shirt. On his head is a black bowler hat. Both hands are resting on the head of a cane which stretches down to the floor in front of his shoes that are shined so brightly you can see your own reflection in them. You know you have seen this man before but cannot place where.

"Good news, I hope?" He nods toward the forgotten smartphone which is now limply held in your hand as you back away from the man that blocks the exit. You wouldn’t normally be afraid of such a frail looking man. His clothing might actually weigh more than he does. But something overrides common sense and lets you know that you are correct to be afraid.

"Cat got your tongue? No worries. That is probably for the best. It only ever gets you into trouble anyways, my dear Archfae." It takes a few moments for the recognition to hit you. For you to realize what name he just called you. When the realization washes over your face, he smiles. "I’m sorry. Would you prefer I use Lex instead? That is fine by me. After all, I never wanted you to be Archfae anyways.

"You were supposed to be a pawn. A tool used to pass the circlet onto Millie Dawson. Magpie, as you usually call her. You would fall in battle trying to rescue her and she would be motivated to pick up the circlet and become one of the greats. It appears I underestimated you and now that is leading to problems."

The cellphone in your hand rings. You manage to pull your eyes away from this man long enough to look down and see that it is Sam calling you. "Go ahead and answer it, Lex." You do as instructed.

"Lex, where are you?" Sam asks as the man takes a few steps toward you. "I’m pulling out of the 7-11 where we met. I’ll pick you up... just...whoa...that’s weird--" You can feel it too. A sudden sense of nausea coupled with the feeling of vertigo.

"He sounds lightheaded, doesn’t he? Dangerous condition when you’re driving." The man is real close now. Right up next do you as he whispers.

"Lex what is going on? I--" it sounds like Sam drops the phone. You hear it falling and bouncing around as it is tossed about on the floor of the car. The engine suddenly revs as if the pedal has been pressed all the way to the floor. There is a terrible racket. Glass breaking and metal crunching. The man next to you shakes his head.

"That’s a real shame. Not everyone can handle the stresses of exposure to other worlds. Tell me, Lex, how do you feel when you look at your phone?" You cannot help but look down at it. It finally dawns on you just how wrong all of this feels. It is a phone. That much is obvious. But you’ve never seen one like it. You have no idea how it works without wires. How it sends and receives those text based message. The screen comes to life once more and a notification informs you that you have an email acknowledging your application has been received. What the hell is an email?

The phone falls from your grasp and crashes onto the floor. You fall next. Your legs are jello and your head feels like it weighs 1000 pounds. You push yourself backwards until you are stopped by the walls of the vestibule and can no further. The phone ignites on fire and quickly burns away to nothing but ashes which flutter around the vestibule.

The man slowly closes the distance between the two of you. He lowers himself into a crouch so he is at eye level and snatches the money and bank card from your hand. It also lights ablaze and crumbles to ashes. The man reaches out his ash covered hand and yanks away your hat; revealing the circlet that grants your powers. He taps it with his cane and then uses the end of the cane to hold your chin up so you are forced to look him in the eyes.

"You may not have been the one I chose, but we’re stuck with you. For now. I need you to shape up your act. You are messing with forces you don’t understand. We’ve managed to maintain this delicate balance all these years through careful planning and a lot of hard work. I won’t have a mistake like you messing that up. If you’re going to be a hero you need to act like one, Lex. Do you understand?" He stands up and drops the hat into your lap.

"Sam needs your help, so suit up and get out there. I’ll be seeing you." He tips his hat to you and walks out of the vestibule. You watch as he appears to fade away a little more with each step. It is impossible to pin point the exact moment you lose sight of him. Everything goes dark.

You wake up on a bench across the street from the ATM. Groggy and confused, you look around but there is no one in sight. The ATM remains well lit across the street but is empty. You reach up to your head and feel the familiar cotton of your hat. Pulling it off you run your fingers across the circlet. You go to cover it back up with your hat but stop when you notice the ashes that stain the fabric.

'What the fuck?' Had there been something in that scotch after all? Or was it some other supe messing with her. Maybe it had been a ploy to get the money. It had to be right? After all he had been talking complete gibberish. Delicate balance? What was that supposed to me and how was she meant to be messing it up as a superhero who struggled to take down a few thugs.

Magpie was meant to be Archfae not her. Sadly that was the one part of everything that made the most sense. The superhero nerd would barely sleep if she got powers. Still how would he know that it was meant to be Magpie? Futuresight? More bullshit to steal her hard-earned money? Still the idea stung slightly, even the thought someone considered her fodder for someone else's story.

Act like a hero? What the hell was that suppose to mean. No-one had ever given her a bloody manual on this mess, or lessons on what to do. She was doing her best with the cards she'd been dealt. Well okay maybe she shouldn't be robbing old ladies. Though how else was she meant to survive unless someone started cutting heroes a cheque? And how would that effect anything?

She stares at the hat for a moment. The ash meant it hadn't been a scotch based hallucination. A thieving villain then? Though why making her imagine that weird phone. Sam responding had taht been part of it as well?

Sam. He had sounded in trouble. Or had he? She pulls herself up and looks around, before running to a place to change. Whoever had done this said he needed help. Which was probably just another trick. After all there was no way she could have been speaking to Sam earlier. Still why then had she'd been so convinced till now she had already contacted him.

He was fine, everything was fine, just some asshole had tried, and succeeded, to steal her money. An asshole who knew her name, and that she was Archfae.

'Sam you'd better be in some bar with a beer right now.' She mumbles under her breath as she takes off into the air.

It doesn’t take long to cover the distance to the last location Sam mentioned in the possibly imagined phone call. The overhead view does not paint a pretty picture.

Sam’s wrecked car is in the middle of the road. Water is propelled 20 feet into the air from a burst fire hydrant. After the car hit that, it must have careened into the traffic light which is currently resting on top of the partially crushed roof of Sam’s car.

You spot Sam lying on the sidewalk in a bloody mess. When you fly down next to him you are relieved to find he is not only alive, but still conscious. He groans in pain but manages to speak.

"Is that you, Micah? I’m not doing good, man. I could really use some of that healing magic right about now." His body goes limp as he loses consciousness. Sam still has a pulse, but it is weak.

'Bloody hell. What the.. Learning little from her encounter just now Archfae goes to scoop Sam up in her arms, hoping her wings were stronger than they looked. This made the previous experience even more weird. How had he known about the accident. About Sam? Had she genuinely heard the accident heself on that weird phone?

She could do with that phone right now. An ambulence, that was what would be good. It takes her a moment in her panic to realise Sam's words. 'Healing magic i don;t.. wait Micah has some?' The question comes to late though as Sam passes out.

Looks like she has a destination. She gives a quick glance around to make sure no one else is hurt before taking back to the air, to Micah's house.

'Fido you'd better be in.' She mumbles to herself as she land by the back door before starting to bang on it loudly. In the rush it hadnlt occurred to her to change back. Sam's life was what mattered right now.

You fly faster than you previously thought your wings were capable of and arrive at the backdoor of Micah’s house within minutes. The frantic knocking brings Micah to the door very quickly. His eyes go wide at the sight of Sam’s condition. Without question, he waves you inside and instructs you to put Sam on the kitchen table.

Micah turns his back to you and holds his hands over Sam’s chest. You watch as a yellow glowing light seems to surround Micah. The light moves over his body until it comes together in the small of his back and spreads outward to form impressive wings of light. Feathered like an eagle, or an angel, the wings lift Micah a foot off the ground.

You walk around him to the other side of the table so you can see Sam better. From here you can also see Micah’s face. His eyes are closed and his lips move as if he is speaking, but he remains silent. Wisps of yellow light spread from his fingertips and float over Sam’s body like fog over dry ice.

For the second time tonight you watch as wounds are removed from one individual only to reappear on another. Micah transfers Sam’s wounds to himself. Identical cuts and scrapes appear all over his body. His silent chanting is momentarily stopped as he coughs up blood, but this barely slows him down. With a minute, Sam is looking like his normal self and he regains consciousness.

Micah lowers himself to the floor. His eyes remain closed but his lips stop moving. Sam sits up on the table. He looks from you to Micah but says nothing. Another minute passes and the wounds that Micah has inherited slowly heal until he too is back to full health. His eyes open. The wings and the light fade. Micah breathes out a sigh of relief and slides out a chair so he can sit down.

"Thanks, man." Sam says to Micah. He turns to you. "I, uh, don’t know who you are, but I’m assuming I owe you a thanks as well?" Micah looks like he as just run 20 miles. His head is drenched in sweat and he looks like he may need a minute to recover.

She had finally started to trust Micah, and now the same healing as she saw prievously casts doubts again. Archfae watches with morbid curiosity as Sam is healed, and then Micha.

'Neat trick. DOn;t suppose you can teach anyone else that?' She had to not sound suspicious. As far as these two were concerned this was the first time time they were meeting. Archfae didn't know the rumours about Micah, nor have some distrust.

She blanks briefly when Sam thanks her, before giving an awkward nod.. 'No worries. I was flying over when I saw the accident. Naturally I had to help.'

Miach wipes some more sweat from his brow and gives you a weak smile. "I am afraid I don’t even understand how I do it myself. I wish I did. Then maybe I could figure out how to do it without taxing myself so much. As is, this ability is really only good for emergencies like this."

"Well I am certainly glad you can do it, Micah," Sam thanks him again. He turns to you and says, "And I’m glad to see another guardian angel watching over the city." His eyes narrow as he takes in your appearance. "Are you that new hero that got taken out by some hoodlums with a frying pan the other night? The flying is cool and all, but maybe try signing up for judo classes or something."

Archfae's wings flicker slightly in annoyance, even as she tries to act ignorant. 'Is that what they are saying? Perhaps the thieves are embarrassed being beaten up by a fairy, and are spreading such rumours. I definitely came out on top in that suituation' What would it take to get the frying pan incident to go away?

You were supposed to be a pawn. A tool used to pass the circlet onto Millie Dawson. The words from earlier suddenly echo in her mind even as the embarrassing incident also plays in her head. Had her rescuing mMagpie really been a fluke, and she was destined to get knocked around by thigs until eventually one got lucky? Probably.

Destiny could fuck off however. She wasn't going to be some cannon fodder or necessary sacrifice if she could help it. She would figure out what they meant by real hero, show them not to judge people by their looks or situation.

"Not all problems can be solved with violence, Sam." Micah says. Sam nods in agreement and gets up off the table. He takes a seat next to Micah. "The fact that this young woman takes on personal risk to help others is what matters. The city is lucky to have you."

Sam looks down at his blood stained shirt. "Hey, I’m not knocking either of you. You’re both heroes in my book whether or not you’re out there throwing haymakers. We all play an important role in changing this city for the better; right Micah?" The leader smiles at Sam mimicking his teachings. Sam turns back to you. "So what do they call you? Besides using those fancy wings to fly, what abilities do you have?"

Sam’s eyes go wide as a thought occurs to him. "Aw crap! I forgot about Lex."

Micah’s face shows worry. "Lex was out with you? I wasn’t aware she was taking part in those kinds of missions."

"Uh, yeah. Sean said she wanted to help."

Micah is slow to respond. "I see."

Sam avoids Micah’s gaze and turns back to you. "Do you think you can do me one more solid and head to the sky to scout for a missing friend?"

'Archfae.' Magpie had picked the name, naturally. 'As for abilities, you'll have to keep an eye on the news. Unless it contains for rumours about pans. She tries to sound mysterious. Right now she should keep her cards close to her chest.

Her interest is imeadiatly piqued when she herself is mentioned. Turns out Sam really did care.

'Quite likely. Who is this Lex? And what kind of missions do you mean?'

Sam looks questioningly to Micah. He nods his head and tells him, "She saved your life and you’re not sure if you can trust her?" Sam relaxes and starts to fill you in on the details.

"Lex is a local who is tired of being oppressed by the people in this city that don’t play nice. Have you heard about this underground fighting ring? We’ve been working against them for weeks now. She went with me to help gather information tonight and we got separated. Before I lost control of my car, I was out looking for her. I talked to her--"

Sam gets visibly woozy and nearly blacks out again. Micah reaches out a hand to steady him and Sam slowly recovers. You feel it too. A wave of nausea. But it clearly hits Sam harder than it does you.

"Sam, I think you should lie down and rest. Archfae and I will make sure Lex is ok." Sam is reluctant to agree but ultimately relents. He gets up, pats Micah on the shoulder, and heads for the living room.

"If we split up we can cover more ground. Lex is in her late teens, tattoos on her right arm, and blue hair. She’ll probably be wearing a hat. If you find her, please just make sure she gets someplace safe. If she needs medical attention then by all means bring her back here. I’ll check in every 30 minutes until we make sure she’s ok."

Micah raises from his seat and moves toward the backdoor. His golden wings form once more.

Well that was accurate. She definitely hadn't been looking for more praise or anything.

It was a very rapid lie for someone who had just been through a car accident. maybe these guys really were concerned. They just needed to work on their frontman Sean to be les intimidating. As Sam mentioned they were talking Archfae stiffens. She had hoped that had just been part of the illusion, the accident coincidental, or known by whoever had done it to spook her. But no there was talking. On some conjure device. Wasn;t their.

She tries tries not to think of it, or focus on it. Right now it was the underground rings that mattered. Sam was okay. She needed to go find herself to stop people panic. Normal hero stuff right? After all tahts what she was. A hero.

She nods as Micah gve more details, going to follow, then pausing again as she sees the wings. Well he had definitely been holding back. Still if he was willing to show them to a near stranger to save that strangers alter egos life, it probably wasn't sinister. Probably.

She takes to the air herself, heading towards where she had been before calling..contacting Sam somehow. Keeping an eye she wasn't being followed she drops into a seclude place to change once one, before starting to walk her way back. It would be best it didn't seem Archfae found her. As then questions why they weren't together would be awkward So either Micha needed to find her, or she needed to find herself. Wait that was confusing.

Anyway she made her way back to Micha's as Lex, and started to knock on the door.

Travelling back to Micah’s house as Lex and knocking on the door might have been the plan, but something comes up along the way that may alter that.

You and Micah both take to the air. He gives Archfae a wish of good luck and you take off in separate directions. Soon afterward, you slip into an alley and make the change back into Lex. The walk back to Micah’s doesn’t take too long. The unexpected happens as you round the corner onto his street.

About a block from Micah’s house you see a few familiar faces and one new one. Micah’s second in command, Sean Miller, is standing on the sidewalk next to a luxury sedan. Inside the car is Dustin Barris. A second car full of Dustin's armed guards is idling behind him, keeping an eye on the street.

Dustin and Sean are mid-conversation and seem quite familiar with each other. You are too far away to hear what they are saying, however. Standing next to Sean is a teenage kid with a heavily scarred face. He looks like he is barely conscious and is struggling to stay on his feet. Neither of the men are paying much attention to this kid that matches Brian's description of his friend Todd.

Well that made things interesting. The question however was was Sean meeting Dustin on Micahs orders, or by his own choice. Micah had claimed he knew no Todd, and he and Sam seemed to generally care. They had sent someone they hardly knew to look for a teenager they had just met on the off chance she was in trouble.

Sean however was the link that made sense. He'd spoken to Todd. He knew Todd and Todd had gone missing. Was the man pulling double duty? Or just doing the dirty work while Micah acted all angelic.

Lex didn't even realise she was suddenly Archfae again as she snuck closer trying to listen. Once more vines went to encicle wheels, though the goal this time was only delay. If they found her listening, or just finished the conversation and went to leave Lex, Archfae now, was certain of one thing. Todd was coming with her.

Tiny cracks break apart the asphalt below the cars. Small, but strong, vines inch their way up through the cracks and begin to wrap around the axels.

You fly upward and keep to the shadows as you get to a rooftop position close enough to listen in on the end of their conversation.

"Don't forget you owe me for this loss of merchandise," Dustin spits out at Sean.

"None of this would be necessary if your people could have kept an eye on him," Sean responds.

"Or if you did a better job of tying up loose ends." There is a pause as neither man is willing to back down from blaming the other. The longer the pause goes on, the more confident Dustin seems to get. "I want twice as much juice this week. Then we're even."

Sean shakes his head. "That's not going to be easy."

"Not my problem."

Sean bites his lip and clinches his fists. "Fine." Dustin smiles and waves the two of them off. Sean turns to Todd and gives him a shove to get him moving in the direction of Micah's house. Dustin puts his car into gear and prepares to drive off.

Suddenly she understood why people said heroes had a tough time. Save Todd now, or watch this encounter. Sean wa going to Michahs maybe. What would be said upon arrival. that he found someone new? Or that he had recaptured the runaway and Sam would know what he was talking about.

She could ctah them both now. Dustin couldn;t lean, ad she would take Sean by surprse. But she would know Wouldn;t know if she had cut off the head.

Was it always like thius? Making promises then immeadiatly consider breaking them. No she wouldn;t be breaking it. She would still save Todd. Stop him from being harmed further. She just needed to hear the interaction. Hear what was said. Know who she had to take down to stop this completely.

'Fucks sake' She mumbles as she speaks to let the vines go. Let Dustin go. She would get him again. They were tracking him. Unless Sam was in his side. Damn. It wasn't meant to be this hard, from what she'd heard. She was the hero. the good guy, meant to save the day. No dilemmas, no morals. No freaky guys telling her she was meant to be the scapegoat.

As she takes to the air to follow Sean and Todd she makes yet another resolution to herself. She would solve this. Stop this. As a hero.