Vigilantes [M]

[Chevi]

Never this bad. Looking up, Lucius could tell that Camilla had been thrown for a loop by the whole experience. This was not usual, even by superpowered standards.

"No, you need a hospital" he sighed, struggling to sit to get the vest off too. "Stay put. Smoke inhalation is a bitch." he coughed, shaking his head. "And then we'll smuggle a fuckton of vodka into the school later."

@Sara

[Sara]

There was little chance of her doing anything but staying put as she fell back down again as she attempted to stand. "I have wine in my a-apartment." She coughed, "A-and whiskey." nineteen though she might be, she had rich relatives that gave her expensive bottles as a present for a 'future' date. 

But he was right, they weren't well. She groaned as she flopped back onto the grass, laying on her back, trying desperately to draw in more air. She heard boots trudge towards them - probably the infirmary staff from the academy who would whisk them away back to their state of the art facilities. She just wanted this all to be over.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

The rest of the day continued to be a mess. They returned to the academy where the infirmary staff checked everyone out, giving them oxygen for the smoke inhalation and  some high-tech drugs for the rest. Lucius was too out of it to question the cutting edge technology. Once they were cleared to leave, he marched down to the principal's office and almost set an entire desk on fire, yelling about putting the team's lives in danger; he got doused with water multiple times and threatened with jail again before he finally gave up. They marched him back to his room where he got doused a few more times. Showering at this point was redundant, but he did it anyway. It was late in the evening by the time he put on some dry clothes and walked up to Camilla's room, knocking.

"That whiskey better be top shelf."

@Sara

[Sara]

Camilla stretched out on her bed, trying to dispel the throbbing headache that she'd had since the previous night where she'd stumbled to Lucius' room to drag him to the roof for the helicopter. It felt like a week ago, and only minutes simultaneously. That was probably because she hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. Whatever they'd given her in the infirmary had eased her chest a little and the dressings had soothed the minor burns she'd accumulated but it hadn't helped the headache and it hadn't helped the adrenaline surge that refused to abate.

It was why when she heard the knock on the door and stumbled up, her ridiculous fuzzy pink slippers catching on the expensive rug in her living room, she audibly groaned. She repeated the sound as she swung it open to hear Lucius chattering about whiskey. She did need a drink, but at the same time she wanted to sleep for about a thousand years...her body just refused to.

The lengthy shower hadn't helped make her anymore tired, although at least she didn't smell of soot anymore. She hadn't bothered to dry or style her hair and instead it fell down her back in dripping wet waves. She sniffed and then swung it open further for him to step through, too weary to tell him to fuck off. Besides, technically, she owed him her life. Not that she was going to admit that. 

"Talisker, 25 year old." She gave him a weary smirk and retreated back into her room, stretching up to the hidden top shelf in her little kitchenette to fetch it and two glasses. "Balcony?" She yawned.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Camilla looked about the same way he felt. It occurred to Lucius a little too late that he might be an unwelcome guest this late. But then she offered a drink and he walked in anyway. He nodded, following her to the balcony. He was wearing training pants and a plain t-shirt, and the new elbow-length gloves the Academy gave him. At least the balcony was quiet, and the air was cool and fresh.

"Can't sleep?"

@Sara

[Sara]

Camilla shook her head as she bundled the bottle and two crystal glasses out onto the small table on her balcony, setting them down before curling herself into the chair, draping her legs over one of the arms. She pushed the glasses and bottle towards him for him to pour them a measure each. "I have wine if you'd rather." She murmured. She just wanted to sleep, this would do.

"I don't think my body has ever felt this tired." She murmured and looked at him, dark circles under her eyes, fingers still trembling a little from the sapping of her powers. "My...mind though." She shifted awkwardly, circling her pink fuzzy slippered feet, "I can't stop thinking about it." She cleared her throat. "Why aren't you asleep?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"I have wine if you'd rather." 

"Over this whiskey? What am I, an influencer?" Lucius smirked, pouring generously for the both of them. It was her fault for letting him do it. He handed one glass to her.

"I don't think my body has ever felt this tired. My...mind though. I can't stop thinking about it. Why aren't you asleep?"

Lucius shrugged. "Same, I guess. And the sprinklers. 93 people saved must really look good for PR, because they should have kicked me out like three hours ago when I almost set the boss' desk on fire. Cheers."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Some of my closest friends are influencers." She muttered but regretted it almost immediately and sunk lower into the seat.

She took a sip of the whiskey and remembered why it was reserved for boyfriends and dates and not her. It burned her already charred throat. Well...more won't hurt and she stretched out to the upside down plant pot under which she stashed her cigarettes and a lighter. She pulled one out and snorted in amusement. "Cheers. Surprised they didn't throw you in isolation. Then again, guess they can't have the hero of the night being locked up. They'll need you for PR tomorrow." She gave him a weak smile and lit her cigarette. It made her cough almost immediately. "You saved everybody." Well, not everybody, she heard from somebody else that ten hadn't made it out of the building. "I guess I don't know what to say." She gave him a half-smile and instead of talking, drank another deep sip of her whiskey.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Some of my closest friends are influencers." 

Of course they were. Lucius chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Cheers. Surprised they didn't throw you in isolation. Then again, guess they can't have the hero of the night being locked up. They'll need you for PR tomorrow."

Lucius drank from the whiskey. It really was good. She was mentioning isolation again, and he really didn't want to find out what he'd have to do before they threw him in there. Or what would happen if they did. Than god for PR.

"They want me in front of cameras?"

""You saved everybody... I guess I don't know what to say." 

Lucius frowned. Not everybody. Some didn't make it, he'd heard that. And it had been a team effort, by the way, and even the team barely made it.  "Teamwork makes the nightmare work" he muttered. He quirked an eyebrow at Camilla.

"Haven't had enough smoke for one day?"

@Sara

[Sara]

"Of course they'll want you in front of the cameras." She said, bemused and with a frown in his direction. "You saved ninety-three people. They'll make posters of you for teenagers to draw hearts on across the country." She snorted at the ridiculousness of it. 

"It wasn't teamwork," She shook her head and puffed on the cigarette pointedly, just to irritate him, blowing smoke in his direction, "And judgy much?" She coughed again before getting back on track with what she meant to say. "Had you not been there, the rest of us would have been no help at all. Congratulations Mr Roscoe," She said in a voice not unlike their grumpy instructor, "You're the new it boy of the academy." Jealousy was part of her nature and it rippled off of her now.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Of course they'll want you in front of the cameras. You saved ninety-three people. They'll make posters of you for teenagers to draw hearts on across the country." 

Lucius sighed, rolling his eyes. He never really wanted to be on posters. Especially to teenagers. That was iffy.

"It wasn't teamwork. And judgy much? Had you not been there, the rest of us would have been no help at all. Congratulations Mr Roscoe. You're the new it boy of the academy." 

"Well, fuck me" he groaned, drinking some more. The whiskey was good enough to be savored, but he was tired enough not to care. "Can I pick the isolation instead?" Being the face of the Academy was the last thing he wanted, or needed, in his life. "Maybe if I remind them I have a record..."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Ah," She jabbed a finger in his direction, "But they'll say they reformed you into a hero. They need some good press, the last time I went out it didn't end so well." She cleared her throat and stretched back into her seat.

"Although, is this the secretive record which you still won't tell me about?" She stared him down for a moment to see if he'd spill the beans, and then flicked the cigarette off the balcony before she started to cough again. Instead, she took another deep sip of the whiskey and coughed on that instead.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Smoking and whiskey was probably the last thing they should have been doing, but Lucius was not about to lecture Camilla on healthy living, not after the day they had. Her comment about good press did make him arch an eyebrow, though. The more he found out about Camilla, the less he trusted the good girl image she had going on.

"I don't know. What happened the last time you went out?" he shot back.

@Sara

[Sara]

She gave him the smug, self-satisfied smile she seemed to give him every time they spoke or crossed paths or sparred in class. It was almost habitual at this point and reclined even further back in her chair. It was cold this high up but the whiskey was warming her up so she took another healthy sip.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. You first." She jabbed another finger in her direction and then for good measure, whipped her head around so water droplets from her wet hair flew in his direction. She'd claim it was accidental if he asked.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Of course she was not going to make it easy on him. Lucius frowned as she shook some water on him, and wiped his face with his glove. She could have looked him up online already, so there was not much use in lying. Lucius emptied his glass and refilled it.

"Got into a fight with some idiot, and set a building on fire. Some people... got caught up in it. Your turn."

@Sara

[Sara]

She had looked him up already but all she'd got was...about as much as he said. Which was not enough for her. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, eyes narrowed on him. "People got injured? In the building you set on fire?" She narrowed her eyes even tighter, watching him warily. "Killed?" 

She sighed and shifted. She'd give him as much detail as he gave her which was almost nothing. "It was a cartel, or what they thought was a cartel. People died. We were injured, some worse than others. I think the word mess sums it up." She cleared her throat and pushed her  now empty glass across the table towards him for a refill. Her head was feeling foggier, but in a good way.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Well, that was a whole lot of nothing. They had both been in messy situations where people got hurt. Camilla was telling him about as much as he was telling her. He groaned, refilling both their glasses. If he was going to do this, he needed to not be sober.

"Not by the fire. I could keep that away from people, more or less... but having my hands on fire is not exactly... helpful, when people need first aid. So I got to choose between letting them burn, or holding the fire off and leaving them on their own." he frowned deeply, drinking. "Your turn."

@Sara

[Sara]

She frowned. He wasn't making any sense, and she thought he'd say as much. "If you were fighting one idiot, and didn't burn people, why did they need first aid?" Her eyebrow quirked up and she studied him. "Stop being so evasive." 

If she wasn't quite as comfortable as she was with her legs artfully draped over the arm of the chair, she would have kicked him for more information. As it was, she just prompted; "Start from the beginning. Don't skip out any details, and then I'll tell you what happened to us." She, herself, would need a deep, deep drink if she was going to tell that story so she downed another plug of whiskey until her throat burned more from that than the cigarettes or smoke from earlier.

 

TAG: @Chevi

 

[Chevi]

Lucius really did not want to tell this story. He drank more whiskey, slowly developing a numbness that at least made it a little easier.

"I got into a fight with some local drug dealer. Was selling to kids from the high school and everything." he sighed "Decided to set his house on fire. He was armed... we had it out. The fire caught the next building, some kind of a hostel. People got caught in the crossfire." He really did not like remembering this. "I was trying to keep the flames off until the firefighters and EMTs got there. I could have... if my hands were not the way they are, I could have done first aid, or CPR, or something." He drank. "One woman died. Two people got serious injuries. And I got arrested for being a vigilante. There. That's the story."

@Sara

[Sara]

Camilla listened with patience as he spoke, the usual snark disappearing and instead her face softened turning from wary to ashamed for prying. No wonder he didn't want to talk about it. Even the small voice in her head that called him an absolute idiot for setting somebody's house on fire was quieted as he finished. She sighed and swallowed, letting the silence linger as she formulated a response. All she could say, really, was; "I'm sorry." and after a sigh, "You did everything you could." 

She shifted a little so her legs were stretched out onto the third, empty seat at the table instead of draped over the arm of her metal chair. She sighed. It was only fair. She took another deep sip. "They sent six of us out to the border with Mexico, some dingy town who nobody good goes to. We were told they were smuggling drugs. Turns out they were smuggling people." She shifted again. "And they were armed. We only had our powers." Firearm lessons came after the fact, in response. Idiots. "I'm surprised last night went as well as it did...last time...I don't know," She cleared her throat, "You put six under 21s in a team and expect them not to show-off...? Our elemental died. He was creating ditches and hills and stuff with the earth and they shot him, and the girl who can bend stuff. Turns out it doesn't work on bullets. I was tasked with leading the people away, the ones they were trying to smuggle..." She swallowed and took another deep sip, "But my team hadn't cleared the path and...I should have waited. I led them right into fire from an automatic." She moved again and lifted the hem of her t-shirt where, even though she was sitting you could see two scarred bullet wounds across her abdomen, and the top of another hidden by the hem of her pants. "They were smuggling fifty-seven people. Only 20 made it to the hospital." She shrugged. And, as it turned out, whilst the infirmary here could heal wounds like nobody's business, they couldn't heal internal organs. She dropped her t-shirt and curled back up.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Camilla listened to his story and didn't make any snarky comments. Instead, she told a story of her own. Whatever Lucius thought about how badly he had messed up... hers was way, way worse.

"Jesus fucking Christ" he said quietly, looking at her scars. Sending a team of teenagers, basically, into a cartel fight... a body count like that, on and off the team. Fuck. How was Camilla even functioning?

Lucius shook his head, emptying the second glass.

"Okay, no, this is not right" he said, with some of the same anger he'd let out at the office earlier. "You can't tell me this place is not fucked. They collect powered people... like, right out of school. Kids. And then they send us into shit like that? We didn't even have masks today, and we walked int a damn fire! Who the hell decides this shit?"

@Sara

[Sara]

She didn't want pity. She was fine. A shit ton of therapy helped. And smoking. And boyfriends. And not thinking about it. His anger provided a good distraction from her embarrassment and she frowned at him, taking a deep sip and emptying her second glass alongside his, pushing it to be refilled. Yes, she was definitely feeling it now.

"What's the alternative?" She choked, "If we hadn't been there they would have sent cops in and it would have been a massacre." It was anyway, but that's besides the point. "You might be the only person on the planet that did what you did today, saved those people today. It...comes with the territory, I guess, of helping people. You risk your life for others." She shifted, "That's just what happens." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

No matter how much she wanted to put a spin on this, Lucius was not buying it. It could have been worse. It could have always been worse. But that didn't mean it couldn't be better.

"Cops get bulletproof vests." he pointed out with a frown, refilling the glasses. "Firefighters get damn masks and outfits. Vigilantes should at least get decent equipment. And you are telling me they couldn't rustle up a damn healer? Who the fuck organizes these missions?"

@Sara

[Sara]

Camilla pursed her lips. She wouldn't admit he was right, but he...was. In a way. They were, generally, wholly unprepared for the missions they were forced onto and no amount of sparring in classes was going to change that. They could hardly simulate a five floor building fire, or a cartel gunfight could they? 

"There's a committee." She said as she pulled back the glass to take another sip, "They get the call and then say yes or no. I'd hate to think of what they say no to." She smirked. "And there's the academy leader. He doesn't visit, but apparently he has an in with Government. Hence why we're allowed to operate." She shrugged and drummed her fingers against the glass. "But short of going to jail or you, and going to college for me, there's not a lot to do to change it. So better get used to it, Lucius. And maybe by a mask." She smirked.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

A committee and a leader who was not around. Weird. The whole thing was weird. Lucius sat back in his chair, downing some of his drink. He would probably keep drinking till he passed out. Felt like a good idea.

"I don't wanna to go jail. But college is not so bad. You'd probably kill it there."

@Sara