P E N E L O P E x C A G E
power girl x • x outfit x • x #b17e2f
Two girls, clearly inebriated and cowering behind Penelope in the alley the mugger had caught them in, screeched as he swung and missed again. "Aren't you, like, bulletproof? Just hit him already," one of the girls begged, seizing Penelope's shoulder in one hand and tugging. This action distracted her from the ongoing fight, and this time the blade glanced off her cheekbone, the metal crumpling as easily as paper. Penelope sighed. She had hoped to just scare the mugger off, but men like that only responded to direct action.
Drawing her arm back, she cold-cocked him right in the nose, breaking it with a crunch that seemed to reverberate through the alley. He fell backwards, clutching his face. Blood poured out from between his fingers as he groaned. "Bitch!" Still bent over, he tried to slash Penelope again with his ruined knife, and now she lashed out with a lead foot that caught him in the chest and sent him flying backwards into a crumpled heap at the mouth of the alley. This time he stayed down.
The girls hurried out from behind Penelope, the one who had grabbed her shoving past roughly, clearly irritated that her night had been ruined by some stupid mugger and a hero who didn't even want to fight. Her friend slipped around her more meekly, reaching out to grasp Penelope's hand in her cold fingers. "Thank you," she whispered, and then they were gone, heading to whatever afterparty was going on in Harlem tonight.
Penelope sighed. Another night, another "rescue", or whatever. Putting her hoodie up, she tucked her hands into the pockets of the jacket and stalked off in the opposite direction from the girls. Her phone vibrated with a call, and she put it up to her ear without checking the caller ID. At this time, there were only a handful of people who would be calling her.
"Penny." It was her dad. "I've been trying to reach you for half an hour."
"Sorry, I was—"
He didn't let her finish. "It doesn't matter. Listen, Penny, this is urgent. I've received a summons to the Academy, and it's probably related to the disappearances. You need to go and check it out. Sugar's got a driver waiting for you. Come home, pack quickly, and go."
Penelope began to agree, but he had already hung up. Typical of the great Luke Cage, who was so busy keeping Harlem safe that he couldn't even say goodbye to his own daughter. She walked home, signalling to the car idling out front to wait. The driver, a hulk of a man, waved back.
* * *
"Miss Cage? We're here." Penelope shook awake, suddenly aware that the car had pulled to a stop. She had fallen asleep ten minutes into the ride, the movement of the car and her exhaustion overtaking her. They had pulled up in front of an old but no less familiar building. The sky was still dark; the night was not yet over.
She scrambled out of the car, dragging her bags along with her. Sticking her head in the open passenger side window, she thanked the driver. He reached out to pat her hand where it rested on the window frame. "Kick some ass, girl." The car left the driveway as quickly as it had come, its lights quickly disappearing into the darkness.
The doors opened automatically for Penelope, revealing a fully lit lobby that didn't surprise her as much as it should have. Although she was clearly late, it stood to reason that Phil and Alfred would be waiting for any stragglers. She didn't want to be there, but her manners took over automatically. "Phil. Alfred. It's good to see you." You look well, she wanted to say, but of course it wasn't true.
"Penelope. Welcome back." Alfred motioned to the chairs still set up in the arrangement from earlier that day. She noticed that someone else was already there; it had been a good while since they'd seen each other, but Penelope recognised Theodore Grayson immediately. "Hey, Penny." He raised a hand in greeting. "Seems like we're both late."
"Sorry about that." She turned to Phil, already getting ready to explain herself. "My dad got your message, and he..."
"There's no need to worry about that," Phil cut in. "What matters is why you're here." Quickly, as they had with the earlier arrivals, the two men explained the situation with the heroes and their suspicions about the I.H.A. "You'll be safe here, and we'll do our best to help you prepare," Alfred finished. "If you choose to stay. Others have responded to our signal, and those that accepted are upstairs resting. You'll be able to meet them soon."
Theo didn't hesitate, grabbing one of the keys for himself. Penelope was less enthused, but she was here, and she couldn't turn her back on the people that needed her help, even if this entire situation seemed like a Bad Idea. She stood up, shouldering her bags. She took the other key from Alfred's outstretched fingers, murmuring, "Goodnight," as she passed him.
* * *
It felt like Penelope's head had barely hit the pillow when an alarm rang out through the room, startling her awake for the second time in four hours. J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice was mildly apologetic. "Good morning, Miss Cage. Please proceed to Sub-level 20 for training in an hour."
"Morning, J," Penelope yawned, sitting up reluctantly. "Here we go again," she muttered to herself. It was just like old times, always the sparring and the obstacle courses and the judging people based on their abilities.
Unlike the flashy costumes that some of the heroes present would no doubt turn up in, she had no fixed costume, only a comfortable black hoodie that Penelope preferred to wear out while she was on patrol for its warmth and ease of movement. After a quick shower, she pulled the hoodie on and a pair of workout leggings, shaking the water out of her cropped hair as the door to her room slid shut behind her.
She had hoped for a few quiet minutes before reaching the training floor, but there was no such relief; someone else was already in the lift, an unfamiliar face. Penelope hesitated a moment before stepping in with a soft, "Good morning," and tucking herself into the corner furthest from the stranger.
T H E O x G R A Y S O N
nightstar x • x outfit x • x #13315c
"Listen, if you could just—yes, I know you haven't heard anything, but are you sure that Curtis didn't speak to—man, come on, just help me out—goddammit!" The dial tone blared in his ear, and Theo hurled the receiver in frustration. It bounced off the monitor harmlessly, falling back into place on its hook. He threw himself backwards in his chair, which toppled backwards, leaving him lying on the floor. Without bothering to get up, he put his hands over his face and groaned. It was almost three weeks since Jason had vanished, and Theo was getting desperate.
"Theooooo!" A feminine voice sounded in the living room, the owner drawing out his name as, from the sound of it, she searched through the kitchen, storage room, and then finally put her head into the spare bedroom. "Theo, darling. What are you doing?"
"Change of perspective," he replied, ever the wisecrack. "Hi, Mom. How'd you get in?"
"I let myself in. You really should stop hiding your spare key in your shoes, it was disgusting looking through them." Koriand'r tossed the spare key at him. "Your father got a message yesterday. We think it might be related to Jason." She waved a piece of paper at him, numbers scribbled hastily in blue ink clearly visible on it. Theo leaped up, snatching it from her and reading the numbers to himself. Coordinates. "This is the Academy. But it's closed?"
"That's exactly what your dad said. He doesn't think there's anything fishy about it, and that you should go. They might be able to help," Kory suggested. She ruffled his already-untidy hair, ignoring his protests. "We'll leave you to it." With that, she backed out of the room, leaving the apartment.
Although he trusted Dick more than anyone else, Theo had to check again. It took the better part of two days, and more phone calls, but eventually it seemed as though the summons wasn't suspicious. Packing quickly, Theo watered his plants one last time, then hurried to the garage where his bike was waiting.
* * *
It was way past the stated time when Theo pulled up outside the Academy, parking his bike haphazardly by the front of the building. Beyond the front doors, Alfred and Phil were waiting in an empty lobby. "You got our message, then."
"Well, Dad got your message, and he ran it through a bunch of checks, and then he passed it to me, and then I ran it through a bunch of checks... and I'm here now. What's going on? Does it have anything to do with the disappearances? Did you know Jason's gone?"
"Mr. Grayson, please calm down. We'll explain shortly. Please take a seat," Phil urged. Theo turned to see the arrangement of chairs and sofas, and flopped down into one of them with a huff, clearly impatient to get to the part where they told them what was going on.
The doors opened again, and a girl hurried in, pulling a couple of bags behind her effortlessly despite her slender frame. It was obvious who she was, Theo didn't need to see her face to know. When she turned to him, he saw the spark of recognition in her eyes too. "Hey, Penny. Seems we're both late."
She took the seat beside him. It was clear, through the entirety of Phil and Alfred's speech, that she was nervous, her spine tense and hands clasped tightly in her lap. The realisation broke through Theo's own anxiety, confusing him. He was aware that Penny had never been the most heroic of them, but this tension was new. Had something happened to her?
Before he could ask, Alfred held out two keys, clearly to the penthouses upstairs. Their speech was finished, and the choice was obvious to Theo. "I'm staying. I want to know what's going on, and put a stop to it." The hint of a wry smile touched Alfred's lips, recognising the trademark Grayson determination. "Good to have you back, sir. Before you go upstairs, perhaps you'd like to put your vehicle in the garage. You remember where it is."
"Good idea. I'll see you tomorrow, Alfred, Phil. Penny," he nodded as he passed her, heading back outside to wheel his bike into the garage where he put it next to a row of bikes, some flashy, some more pedestrian. Probably belonged to the students.
* * *
Theo barely slept the rest of the night, lying very still on his back in the middle of the bed, just thinking about the situation. Having exhausted pretty much every contact, he had to admit that there was very little information for him to go on with—but now he was at the Academy, with a group of other heroes who seemed to have a similar desire to find the ones that had gone missing. That brought a bit of hope, even if he wasn't sure how helpful they would be.
The sun rose, and with it came J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice. "Good morning, Mr. Grayson. Training at Sub-level 20 will commence in an hour."
It would be a good way of meeting the others present, at any rate. Theo had packed his suit, similar in appearance to his father's classic Nightwing design with significant armour, a utility belt, and two escrima sticks which could be strapped to his back for easy access. This Theo pulled on after his shower, opting to leave the domino mask off, which he tucked into a hidden pocket. There was no need to hide his identity here.
Walking onto the training floor, Theo stopped short, realising that he didn't quite recognise most of the people here. Of course, not every hero-in-training would have attended the Academy, but maybe there were more than he'd realised that either studied there at a time different from him or had never attended at all. He looked around at the people gathered, just in time to see one of the girls slap another on the butt. She was one of... those girls. Certainly amusing on their own terms, but not in a situation like this. Theo hoped they wouldn't all be like that.
He cleared his throat, trying to catch someone's attention. "Hey. Hi. I'm Theodore Grayson, Theo. Nightstar."