Interlude - Alexandria

Charlotte Clarkson laughs as she zooms through the skies of Chicago as Alexandria on her night patrol. Being able to fly like she does is just outright awesome!

And she is fast. Not as fast as her older brother who can fly around the globe in almost four hours when he is going at top speed, but Charlotte has a maximum speed of two hundred and eighty kilometres per an hour.

Charlotte isn’t surprised that her brother is faster than her. When it comes to their powers, Charlotte is basically a weaker version of her brother except when it comes to their Enhanced rating. Both she and John are rated as A+ with her as an Aphrodite while her brother is an Adonis.

Obviously.

And her brother is better at using his powers than her as well. While Charlotte is powerful by parahuman standards let alone mundane standards, she can still get beaten easily and outclassed by a weaker, but more skilled parahuman.

Guardian taught her that with all of her prowess. Not only has she been actually hindering the local organised crime with her antics, but she also mopped the floor with the Aquiline and his loonies and fought that mobster supervillain, Dark Tendril.

And that isn’t even taking into account how she so easily took out Charlotte last Thursday. She still has no idea how Guardian was able to pull that off. It was so sudden. One moment she was talking the vigilante, the next she was blind and deaf and then Charlotte found herself on the ground while Guardian was nowhere to be found.

It doesn’t help that she has found a way to block my super senses even without her armour.

And those are weird. Her super senses that is. Even over one and half months later, Charlotte is still getting used to being about to see perfectly at night at day. While it is useful for moments like now, it sucks for when she is trying to get some sleep.

Who would have thought I would end up missing not being able to see in the dark? And don’t get me started on being able to see heat and x-rays everywhere. It is so weird just to look at my mum and friends just to be able to see their body heat and bones in addition to what I would normally see. I don’t even want to think about the radio waves or all the stuff I can now smell. How on Earth I am not insane?

“Hey Char!” says Charlotte’s teammate Glowbug as her fellow superheroine flies up next to her.

“Hi Nic,” replies Charlotte as she looks at her gorgeous teammate, “What are you doing here?”

“I just thought I might as well join you on patrol,” says Nicola as she uses her glowing yellow energy surrounds her, granting her the ability to fly in addition to blocking the use of Alexandria’s super senses on her.

With some effort, Charlotte looks away from Nicola. It has been confirmed that Glowbug’s energy can be rather enthralling and very pleasing to the eye and so Charlotte has to be careful around Nicola when she is using her power.

Nic doesn’t try to manipulate and control people like that, it is just a feature of her power that she has no control over it. Same way I have no control over what I overhear or see with my super senses.

“Well, I’m going to check on Guardian,” says Charlotte, “I want to see how she is doing.”

“Why?” inquires Nicola.

“Guardian and I are friends,” replies Charlotte, “She was the first parahuman I made friends with. And she helped with Aquiline when I really needed it. Guardian is a good, kind, caring person even if she is technically a criminal. I trust her and she trusts me.”

“She didn’t mind showing us her appearance even if she did refuse to tell us her real name,” notes Nicola, “But that girl is weird.”

“We haven’t actually got a right to judge, but I get your point,” says Charlotte, “Honestly, I worry about her sometimes Nic.”

“Why?” asks Nicola, “You think she might get hurt or something?”

“No, not like that,” replies Charlotte, “Trust me, Guardian is more than capable of taking care of herself, more than anyone on our team can. She wasn’t joking when she claimed she could take our entire team even without her armour.”

“Seriously?” says Nicola.

“Yes,” replies Charlotte, “What I’m concerned about is her living conditions and mental state.”

“Why?” Nicola asks for the third time that night.

“Because we have no records on her,” replies Charlotte, “If she had a family or school or something, we would have some idea at the very least, but we don’t. And she operates out of the Battle-Zone and made her equipment out of junk when she first started out. I literally mean her earliest creations were made out of junk that she found lying around on the street. All of that makes me feel that Guardian is homeless or at least used to me. And given her lack of knowledge of things despite her smarts makes me feel that she hasn’t got an education either.”

“Oh,” says Nicola, “But she knows a lot about technology. You can’t deny that.”

“I think that is an element of her power,” says Charlotte, “Because that seems to be the only area she has any serious knowledge in. Other than fighting.”

“Yeah,” mutters Nicola, “You also said something about her mental health.”

“Oh that,” replies Charlotte, “It’s just how odd she acts you know?”

“Guardian definitely isn’t a normal person and doesn’t act like one,” agrees Nicola.

“Well, I think she might be mentally disabled or something,” says Charlotte, “So while she is smart, she doesn’t think in a normal way. Not like me or you do. Which could cause her trouble. Or perhaps she is one of those parahumans whose power has messed them up mental.”

“Like Thrust up in Alaska,” says Nicola, “The poor woman can’t speak or write ever since she manifested her powers.”

“Yup,” replies Charlotte.

“I can see how you worry about Guardian then Char,” says Nicola, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have offered a relationship to her then. I might have confused the poor girl.”

“Were you even serious about that Nic?” inquires Charlotte glancing at her friend.

“Yes and no,” answers Nicola, “I wasn’t expecting her to accept or take me seriously, but if she did, I wouldn’t have minded. Actually, I would have liked it if she did accept. She is kinda cute and a nice girl so I would have given a try at the very least. Honestly it was mostly just to mess with her. In a friendly jovial manner of course.”

“Of course,” agrees Charlotte with a smirk as she begins to look Nicola’s body over.

She does looks pretty ni-No. Keep it together and don’t get enthralled by Nic’s power.

Charlotte tears her eyes away and Nicola seems to notice what happened.

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly.

“It’s fine,” replies Charlotte.

“So how exactly are we going to find Guardian?” asks Nicola.

“Just fly around the Battle Zone and the surrounding area,” replies Charlotte, “After a while, you generally find Guardian beating up some drug dealers, muggers or other form of criminal.”

“Really?” says Nicola, “That easily?”

“Pretty much,” confirms Charlotte, “I sometimes do this when I want to relax. Just fly out at night and find Guardian so I can watch her kick ass.”

“Aren’t you supposed to stop her if you see her doing something like that?” asks Nicola.

“Technically yes, but the authorities don’t mind that much as long as Guardian doesn’t go after the wrong people,” replies Charlotte, “Which I doubt she will. Guardian is a staunch supporter of doing good, just not looking good. I’m certain her primary motivation is to just help people.”

“She is can be a bit simplistic,” agrees Nicola.

“That she can, but as I say, Guardian has a good heart,” says Charlotte, “There she is.”

“Where?” asks Nicola, “I haven’t got have super senses like you.”

“In the street down there,” replies Charlotte, pointing with her hand, “By the green car. Guardian is taking out a dealer.”

“Oh, I see her now,” says Nicola, “I think. It’s hard to see in the dark.”

“Then let’s go down and say hello,” replies Charlotte with a smile as she swoops down.