Whoso comes from the dark ... - Part 1

If it were possible to both hate and appreciate a growing number of individual things at the same time, Caitlyn would feel that at this very moment. She both hated and appreciated the fact that Aunt Mary accepted her explanation for breaking her grounding. A grounding now extended. Caitlyn hated lying that she only sat up on the roof for some time to herself, but appreciated Aunt Mary's trust. A trust broken, nevertheless.

She hated and appreciated the fact that Drone had not only upgraded her cell phone to receive and send everything anonymously, if she wanted to, but it now also received alerts for crimes happening within the city. No doubt Drone had thought that would help her in her crimefighting, but hadn't considered the fact that there was a lot of crime. A lot! And messages pinged up on her screen with an alarming regularity.

And Caitlyn both hated and appreciated that Rayna had reached out to her to smooth things over between Caitlyn and Alaina. Pho-Boy was good for his word. The entire school, apparently, had seen the proof that the video of Caitlyn trash-talking Alaina was fake, but, as Kyle had said, some people didn't care. There was smoke and they were warming their hands in glee over the fake fire. Alaina had lost much, all because of Fiend's campaign against Caitlyn. Caitlyn could totally understand how hurt Alaina felt.

"This is nice. Parochial." Rayna didn't curl her nose at the diner that sat a few doors down from Aunt Mary's apartment building, but the implication was there. "Your Aunt still not allowing you off the leash?"

"No leash. Cage. I'm pretty certain she's told everyone in the neighbourhood to watch me." She glanced at Ted, behind the counter, who suddenly found wiping things down of great importance. He started to whistle, tunelessly. "Only a few more days, I guess. How ... how's Alaina?"

"Loud. Loud and outgoing. Loud, outgoing and hungry. Like, she's hungry a lot!" She laughed, turning the bagel on the plate with her fingers, picking off pieces and dropping them. "But she's also pretty sad and lonely and furious. She misses you, but she's not ready to talk. Sorry."

"I understand." Where Rayna picked at her bagel, Caitlyn bit down and chewed. The best bagels in the area, by far. "I can't blame her."

If not for Caitlyn's activities as Blood Obsidian, this wouldn't have happened. Since the night Kyle had taken her to Fiend's hideout, he had spent each night trying to find the villain, with no success. All the data he had found and none of it led to any more of Fiend's lairs, or had given him any clue as to Fiend's identity, or why they hated Caitlyn so much.

Another ping came to Caitlyn's phone and she felt her cheeks burning. She could see Rayna's eyes drop to where Caitlyn had the phone, in her back pocket, but said nothing. Then those eyes rose up to catch Caitlyn's, a warm smile crossing her face. Alaina had, somehow, broken the girl's brittle façade. The smile suited her and Caitlyn coughed as she looked away. Her thoughts had turned to kisses and that wasn't appropriate, given the situation.

"Well, I'm the daughter of a powerful industrialist, I'm sure I can negotiate some simple reconciliation terms. We'll have you back talking before long, trust me." Rayna's hand, long, delicate fingers with perfectly manicured nails, reached out, touching Caitlyn's. "How are you coping? It must be hell, sitting at home all day, every day. I bet you're dying to get out and about."

Caitlyn almost laughed at that. Blood Obsidian had not ventured out for the past few nights, what with Aunt Mary watching like a hawk. Every movement Caitlyn made brought her Aunt knocking at the door to her room. Every noise had an innocent call from the living room, asking if she was alright. Did she need anything? Was she secretly sneaking out in the middle of the night to battle people that thought dressing up in colourful costumes was the best way to steal things stealthily?

Rayna's hand hadn't moved from Caitlyn's, the thumb rubbing against a finger and that simple touch had Caitlyn wanting to push everything from the table and crawl across the surface to the beautiful girl opposite. She didn't do that. Not least because she felt certain she had bagel crumbs stuck to her mouth. Probably in her teeth, too. She had no idea whether Rayna liked boys or girls and couldn't simply ask. Or could she? No! Absolutely not! Yet. Not yet.

"I'm fine. Everything is fine. It's been relaxing. Though school has been sending ridiculous amounts of homework. I mean, ridiculous amounts. I'm going to need a truck to carry them all in when my suspension is over." As Rayna laughed, looking out the window, Caitlyn wiped her lips and ran her tongue across her teeth. "I'm ... I'm actually dreading going back. People will think I'm a cheat and I really don't need to cheat, but that won't matter to anyone. Alaina has it worse, I don't doubt that."

"I know for a fact you're not a cheat." A wink. Such an innocent gesture that Rayna made into one of the most sensuous things Caitlyn had ever witnessed. "You'll both get over it. School will be done in a few months and college calls. Of course, with that on your record, your choices will be limited, but for someone like you, the institution isn't that important. You'll ace it, no matter what."

Caitlyn gawped at Rayna. She had started out really well, making Caitlyn feel better about her prospects, then dropped her by reminding her of the consequences of the 'cheating', then built her up again, all in the space of a few sentences. But she was right. Ivy league colleges wouldn't touch her now. Not to mention that the fact she was dropped from the intern programme at Rayna's father's company. That kind of thing trickled out further than only that company.

"I was thinking of NHU anyway." She wasn't. She had always dreamed of going to a prestigious college. New Hastings University was not, in any way, shape or form, prestigious. "Stay close to Aunt Mary. It's probably for the best."

"Oh, tosh! It's a dump and you know it!" The bagel uneaten, Rayna pushed the plate aside and leaned forward, over the table, holding both of Caitlyn's hands now. "When I run Ald-Tech, you'll come work for me and if anyone says anything about the veracity of your degree, I'll pay for you to get another at a top school. Whichever school you want. You deserve it."

"Oh, I don't ... uh ... you're so ... um ... I ..." Words stopped having any meaning. At least those failing to leave Caitlyn's mouth in any coherent fashion. Rayna really was incredibly beautiful. "You're dad! Mister Alden! How is he? Doing well?"

Rayna said nothing for a long time, still leaning over the table, probably counting every single flicker of Caitlyn's lashes, every involuntary gulp, every time Caitlyn's nostrils flared as she smelled the expensive scent drifting from Rayna. This was unfair. After an even longer pause, where Rayna leaned forward a microscopic amount more, Caitlyn heard several pings from her cell phone and almost collapsed, gasping for breath, when Rayna sat back.

"He's fine. He'll live." That seemed a little cold but, then again, Caitlyn didn't really know the relationship Rayna had with her father. A long finger pointed toward Caitlyn's backside, circling the tip. "You should answer those, little Miss Popular. Does the winsome Caitlyn Carter have a mysterious boyfriend, perhaps?"

"Ha! No!" That came out a little too definite. "No boyfriend for me. No. No. No. Uh, social media. I made the mistake of turning on notifications and now it informs me every time a K-Pop band pouts into a camera. Which is, you know, like, a lot!"

The smile Rayna gave told Caitlyn nothing. Whether she believed Caitlyn or not? Whether she was happy there were no boy on the horizon? Whether? Whether? Whether? It looked as though Rayna knew more than she was willing to reveal, or had seen through Caitlyn's cunning subterfuge about just how much she found Rayna ridiculously attractive. Or any number of things. One of those kinds of smiles. Rayna lifted her purse onto her shoulder and dropped a twenty on to the table.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to leave. Sorry. I'll tell Alaina everything you said. You'll be hanging out again in no time." In a rush, Rayna had caught Caitlyn by surprise. She turned toward the diner doors and stopped. "Maybe, when you're no longer grounded, we can get together somewhere, sometime? A movie, maybe? Just you and me."

Before Caitlyn could say anything in reply, not least of which would have been a loud, incredibly desperate 'Yes!', Rayna had left the diner, dashed to the kerb, waving her hand in the air. A second later, a cab pulled up and Rayna folded herself inside. All her smiles and warmth had gone the moment she sat in that cab, probably something that she only reserved for people she liked. If she looked a little angry, Caitlyn supposed it was because Rayna had to go to her father. They didn't seem to be on the best of terms.

-+-

Later that night ...

Kyle, or, rather, Pho-Boy, crouched on the fire escape as Caitlyn leaned out into the fresh night air. He had recovered from the bumps and bruises of a few nights before and had taken to patrolling the city while Blood Obsidian took some time out. Not that anybody knew Blood Obsidian wasn't out there. She wasn't exactly a well known super. She handed him the gauntlets that she had promised to give him back nights before, not telling him that she had, while bored, taken them apart and worked out every secret those gauntlets had.

"Ooh, you! Sneaky! Proprietary technology, Miss Carter!" He knew. Of course he would. He was the sidekick of the world's greatest detective. "It's okay. I'll trust you with our secrets. There are upgrades on the way, anyway. So, ready to get back out there?"

"I guess." She tried to sound noncommittal, but, inside, she yearned to be Blood Obsidian again. "Have I missed much?"

"Nah. Pretty quiet. Easy to arrest punks, mostly." His head kept moving, eyes never staying in one place for longer than a second, always ready. "Found something, though. Some of those files from the other day were heavily encrypted, but I broke it. I'm that awesome. But, yeah, anyway, I found out something about all those weapons we found."

The weapons that had all self-destructed, leaving nothing traceable to examine. Pho-Boy had made a detailed examination of the lair the next night. He seemed to delight in telling her how much freedom he had. From what he had told her about Fear, Kyle's adoptive father believed in intense training as punishments. He also believed in intense training as incentives and as privileges. Kyle had mentioned the birthday and Christmas training as presents. Still, he had freedom. Caitlyn didn't.

"What about them?" She whispered as low as she could, glancing back to her bedroom door. "Can you trace them?"

"Oh, yeah! Well, I can trace where they originated, which, lo and behold, are places that have all had unreported break-ins." He lifted his half-mask, revealing his face as he leaned closer. "It's Ald-Tech technology. Every bit of it, except the flying platform. I'm thinking we should pay old man Alden a visit."

Caitlyn wasn't so sure. Raymond Alden wasn't the type to reveal anything about his businesses, she knew that for a fact after the death of Uncle Richard. Pho-Boy, however, was the experienced hero here. Perhaps he was right.