Of Capes, Cowls, and Cuddles (NEW Issue 3 Chapter 9 Up! 11/25/18)

[Little Lamb]

Very nice chapter, loved it, I can't wait for the next

[Selpharia]

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[Yuukarian]

Hey! Quite enjoyed reading this, can't wait to the next chapter! Especially a fan of the emerging dynamic between Val and Brigette, hoping to see it blossom in future updates~!

[Sophie ♥]

As amazing as always!  I ship Val and Bridget so hard.  And Space-Mommy is my absolute favorite nickname of all time!!

[CDfm]

That was a good chapter. Kind of filling in some gaps and setting the tone for this next part. Bridget did well keeping her secret from Dr Lee. Can’t be very easy going to a councilor and not sharing such important information. I will be looking forward to reading more. 

[Selpharia]

I’m glad! Hopefully it was less jarring than the last time skip. It’s definitely taking its toll on Bridget, keeping silent like she is. New chapter should be up soon!

[Selpharia]

Hello everyone! Apologies for the lateness of this, I've been working on a few other writing-related projects that slowed its production, and I wanted it to be as good as possible because it's a super important chapter.

Two notes for this one: First, Val gets an interesting feature in this chapter, an inspiration from a story written by my wonderful editor, some derivative of which might be coming as my next piece after this.

Second, what appears to be nonsense might just conceal secret meaning. 

Third, comments and questions are welcome as always. Enjoy! 

Chapter 2: Moonlit Echoes

That night, Bridget's dreams were strange.

She found herself on a bridge constructed of hard light, a monochrome arch, that bent off into the starry distance, so bright that she had to shield her eyes with her hand while sh staggered forward to keep its sharp luminescence from stabbing her eyes. As she dashed forward, she splayed her fingers just a bit to peek through. Through the tiny gap, she saw a figure standing at the summit of the arch, so far away that it was barely a speck.

It turned toward her, and despite the distance between them, she heard it speak to her as easily as if she was standing a few paces away. But the words were all nonsense, distorted and warbly as though they were being spoken through the water.

Emdo todan hatowt fenpo fuildell danteh skahu themorg, kind meht pebeas / fotinsel foi arvsintibo uyoru vies rens hat toteth loomnight.

A grimace of concentration crossed Bridget's face: she could swear there were words in there somewhere. She felt like this woman, or creature or whatever was trying to tell her something incredibly important, but it was useless. Her heart began to beat faster.

“I'm sorry, what did you say?” Bridget responded quizzically.

Huh, reahem untacoy?

Bridget said nothing, and cocked her head quizzically. Maybe she was just spoiled by being able to understand Val perfectly, but she couldn't make any sense of any part of that.

Yaw, with meton tenlist wothis risking! The voice sounded distressed, but it was growing softer, as its owner flickered in and out of existence.

Hograt, woneth sicone cenntio?

The voice was suddenly cut off. More worrisome though, the arc bridge in front of her began to dim, unbinding into pale, wispy tendrils of nebular gas that faded into darkness with a hiss. For a moment, Bridget stood, transfixed, and then she realized that the outer edge of the darkness was moving swiftly in her direction, like the fuse of an old explosive, threatening to plunge her into the emptiness of space. Bridget turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could. If she'd had the presence of mind or time to contemplate, she might have realized that Val's power of flight could have saved her. But as is so often the case in dreams, the only solution she could see was also the least effective one. She turned and ran.

But, the bright ground beneath her faded before she'd made it a hundred paces. The endless cosmic night yawned beneath her. She closed her eyes and screamed, the sound echoing impossibly though the airless void as she fell and fell and fell.

<<Wake up, little one.>>

Bridget's eyes snapped open.

She woke in her own room, or what might have been her own room once, when she was much younger. The glowing stars that decorated her ceiling were gone, and the walls were a surprisingly cutesy lilac instead of the usual dark blue. Gabrielle the Unicorn was still in her place of pride on the pillow next to Bridget, but she had many other stuffed animals she hadn't seen in years: a pink bunny whose body doubled as a blanket, a soft brown bear with a heart on its chest, and a tiny green dragon with its lizard-like tongue sticking out, and so many others were piled up on the magenta comforter that someone had wrapped around her. Everything around her was soft, even her moon and cloud-pattern onesie was well-padded beneath. A vague shiver of horror ran down Bridget's spine at the thought, but she dismissed it easily; there were more important things to think about.

Most of all though, she found herself transfixed by the sheer size of it all. It was definitely the same room, but everything was almost twice as big. Bridget's full-size bed might has well have been a soft boat floating on a sea of purple carpet. Bridget tossed off the covers with a crinkly rustle and crawled to the foot of the bed, peering with mingled excitement and nervousness down at the ground that was so much farther away than it should have been. In other circumstances, she would have tried to get down as carefully as possible, but even her smallest movements made big bounces in her giant mattress, and an absurdly reckless part of her brain wanted to see if she could do a bouncing jump instead. The carpet looked very plush, so it would probably be fine. Besides, Val would always be there to help her catch herself.

Gabrielle went under Bridget's left arm, because she knew that there was no way the adventurous unicorn would want to miss out on such a daring feat. Bridget performed a few test bounces just to be sure, and then she made her big giant leap.

A giggle burst from Bridget's lips as she the rush of launch. She splayed her hands, letting Gabby fall, so that she could land like a cat. But she dropped faster than she expected and the ground rushed up to meet her before she could brace for impact.

<<Careful, there, princess. I'm glad that you want to fly so much, but we talked about how you have to wait for one of us to watch you, didn't we?>>

Just as she's predicted, Voidwalker power encased her in a bubble, leaving her floating a scant inch from the carpet. But unlike every other tine Val spoke, her psychic voice didn't come from within Bridget's own head, but instead from just outside her door. Momentarily confused, Bridget looked for the source of the sound. Sure enough, Val was in the doorway, wearing her usual purple blouse over her favorite black dress and matching black flats as she floated above the floor. She beckoned gently with her outstretched index finger, and floated her little charge over to her, until Bridget was securely nestled in her arms.

A half-formed thought ran through Bridget's mind – Val shouldn't even have a body, and especially not a humanoid one. Sure the purple-tinged skin and the outfit matched Val's usual color palette, but still, the Val she knew would have conniptions if she were stuck with a physical form and all of the attendant infirmities she so loathed.

But Bridget's dreaming mind asserted itself again, and she knew without question that this had to be Val. And the most important thing in that moment was that space-mommy was unhappy. The realization that she must be the cause of that unhappiness was an avalanche in Bridget's now-little heart. She buried her face in Val's blouse, hiding her quivering lip.

For a moment, Val said nothing, surprised by her little one's sudden change in mood.

<<What- oh. Stars take me, I should have listened to Echo. She told me about how variance in human sleep cycles could affect mood,>> Val chided herself.

<<It's all right, sweetie, I'm not angry.>> Val planted a kiss on the top of Bridget's head that made her scalp tickle. As the Voidwalker bent her head down, a sweep of her shoulder-length black hair brushed against Bridget's neck, and made her look up.

When she did, she forgot all about how upset she was.

Val's hair had looked black from a distance, but close up, it was full of far off stars, as though each strand were a tiny sliver of a window through which she could view the universe. The image shifted as Val's hair swayed with her floating steps, revealing and occluding stars, planets and galaxies as she moved. The display was entrancing, and Bridget grabbed excitedly at a lock of Val's hair to get a better view. Val grimaced at the sudden tug.

<<Don->> she began, but immediately thought better of finishing her reprimand and facing the ensuing tears.

<<Hey there, Bridget! Did mean old mommy Cadenza wake you up from your nap?>>

The voice echoed like Val's did, but higher and more chipper. As its owner rounded the corner that led to the kitchen, Bridget saw that she was about a head shorter than Val, and her skin looked much more like Bridget's. Her soft pixie cut seemed almost to be composed of swirling pink nebular gas.

<<She was already awake by the time I got here, I'll have you know,>> Val protested.

<<A likely story. You probably woke her up just so she could do more training, even after I had to read her three stories before she finally closed her eyes.>> The woman's tone was stern, and she had her hands on her hips as she floated up to look Val in the eye, but a smile tugged at the corners of her theatrical frown.

<<I have no idea what you're talking about,>> Val replied. <<But if it perturbs you so, you can have story duty again tonight.>>

<<Deal! But no making her cry, and no flying outside the playpen for little humans. And no, little one,>> she cooed, looking down at Bridget. <<no matter how cute those rounded fat deposits framing your jaw are, there's no changing my mind.>>

<<Of course, Echo darling,>> Val said, with mock irritation and a playful smirk.

Bridget looked up at Val quizzically.

<<Sorry, little one. You heard the lady.>>

Val gave her another kiss on the forehead, and released her like a bird from her grasp, floating her toward the playpen, as she called it. The contraption resembled the gravitational alteration field that Bridget and Val used for practice, except that Voidwalker outside of dreams didn't generally decorate the pylons at the field's corners with unicorn motifs.

Once she'd been plopped down inside the energy field of the futuristic playpen, she wiggled around a bit to watch Val and Echo. But it was quickly apparent that even her best puppy-dog eyes wouldn't get her any attention. Echo was clearly telling Val some really awesome secrets, her lips were right up against Val's ear, and every few moments, Val would let out a gasp of what must have been surprise. After a little while, Echo just lay her cloudy pink hair right up against the base of Val's neck, and then it was Val's turn to whisper secrets. Strain as she might, though, Bridget couldn't hear anything fun, so she turned to look at the toys piled up within the confines of the violet energy field. She dug through a few stuffed animals before her eyes lighted on an interesting little device, which she eagerly pulled out from beneath the soft blocks where it had been hidden.

This toy looked vaguely familiar to her; it had five little hatches, each a different color, red, green, blue, yellow, and purple. In front of each hatch was a button in the same color, but each button was also a different shape: a red triangle, a blue square, a green circle, a yellow star, and a purple moon. Bridget pressed the red triangle, expecting the red hatch to open, but instead, a tinny voice, irrepressibly cheerful came from the machine.

“Find the life energy!”

A look of surprise crossed Bridget's face; this definitely wasn't how this toy usually worked. But she remembered how Val had shown her to detect the different types of energy around her. So she closed her eyes and concentrated, putting her hands over her eyes, playing a game of solitaire peek-a-boo.

Sure enough, when she opened her eyes and looked down at herself, her body glowed a faint, familiar green. That toy in front of her, meanwhile, gave off five different colors. The red hatch pulsed and flickered like a flame; it housed heat energy. Within the blue hatch was what looked like a ghostly circuit board, it took Bridget a moment to realize that she was watching the flow of electrons from the blue hatch to the rest of the machine. The green hatch glowed the same color as Bridget's body, while the yellow and purple hatches concealed bits of the familiar signature of star warden and Voidwalker energy. She hit the green button, and giggled happily when the machine beeped a tinny little tune of congratulation.

Of course it would work like that. Color coded for our convenience.

The strange thought flitted wryly through Bridget's head, before it was totally subsumed by the pride she felt at having gotten such a difficult question right. Bridget turned and toddled excitedly toward Val and Echo, hoping to get some well-deserved praise. But when she looked at them sitting on the nearby sofa, instead of their humanoid forms, she saw their silhouettes, all bright star warden energy, but shot through with veins of Voidwalker violet, as though they were statues made of luminous marble.

Doing her best not to cry out of sheer surprise, Bridget rubbed her eyes again to restore her normal human vision, and, in a moment, Val and Echo were back to normal. Which of course, meant that Bridget had very important news to deliver.

“I did it!” she said happily, looking hopefully up at Echo, and pointing proudly back to the little toy.

<<Good job, sweetie!>> Echo said kindly, <<I'm sure you'll be sensing every kind of energy in the galaxy in no time!>>

Bridget excitedly nodded her assent.

<<Certainly, with a good deal of practice.>> Val's voice was impassive, but she leaned down and kissed Bridget on the head just the same.

<<Bridget, tell mommy Val not to be such a curmudgeon,>> Echo replied.

“Yeah mommy, don' be a mudgin!” Bridget dutifully relayed Echo's request to Val, whose face formed an exaggerated frown, even as Echo bust into giggles at hearing her own insult repeated in Bridget's childish lisp.

<<Truly, you two surpass the entire galaxy for sophisticated humor.>>

Echo merely stuck out her tongue in response, and Bridget eagerly followed suit, realizing that if mommy Echo was doing it, she certainly wasn't going to get a time-out if she did it too.

<<Remember, my dear Cadenza, there are other ways to learn besides through rigorous practice. Sometimes play is an easier method.>>

<Oh, very well,>> Val relented.

<<Get up here, little one.>> Val smiled, and reached through the field to gather Bridget into her arms.

<<Get up, little one.>>

<<Up>>

<<It's time to get up.>>

Val's voice resounded through her head, and Bridget's eyes slowly opened.

Her room had returned to its usual hue, and all that remained of the horde of plushies was Gabby the Unicorn perched on her pillow.

“All right, all right, I'm up!” Bridget mumbled, shaking off the last foggy remnants of the night's strange dreams

<<Very good, little one. We have a whole day of educational opportunities ahead of us.>> Tired as she was, Bridget could only wonder at how Val managed such a perverse degree of enthusiasm so early in the morning.

Gee, you never change do you? She thought back grumpily. There are other things in life, you know.

<<Why would I alter a perfectly effective methodology? Does that make me a “'mudgin,” princess?>>

Bridget flushed beet-red.

Wait, you saw all that? Bridget asked, dreading the answer she already knew.

<<Of course. Your nightly hallucinations happen in a different part of your brain than I'm used to interacting with, but viewing them is a fairly simple matter. They really are fascinating, you know; an interesting display of what could be if you'd just embrace things and complain a little less about our training regimen.>>

”You mean you could make me a baby. Truly, a thrilling prospect.” Bridget said dryly.

<< The dreams come from your psyche, not mine. Besides, isn't it more important that you'd have full mastery of our shared powers? It isn't as though you'd be required to wear that cute little outfit when we're on missions.>>

“I guess,” Bridget said, unconvinced.

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

“Hey, wait a minute. If none of the things in my dreams are from you, where did that version of Echo come from?”

Val was silent for several long seconds.

<<A fair point. You couldn't possibly have formulated such an accurate picture of her personality without input from my memories. Our gestalt is truly odd.>>

Bridget finished her morning routine, and endured a breakfast with her mother and sister. This included endless rounds of being peppered with parental questions about whether she had completed all of the assignments from her time out of school. Her mother had, of course, recorded each one meticulously in her day planner, and the list was so long. that Sami got up from the table in the middle of it; she ran out the door with a wave to her mom, and a gruff nod in Bridget's direction.

Once that ordeal was finally over, Bridget was able to retreat to her room again.

<<More importantly than Echo's verisimilitude,>> Val said, continuing their discussion as though there had been no interruption, <<the inclusion of my thoughts in your nightly visions suggests that there might also be some scientific validity in to the possibility of constructing an ersatz form of hard light that could act on the material world as though it were a physical creature.>>

You mean, we could make you a body?

<<With significant limitations, but yes.>>

That's awesome!

Bridget did her best to banish the memories of last night's dream in which Val carried her snuggled tightly in her arms that rose up unbidden, along with recollections of how easy it was to get lost in the swaying of the galaxies in Val's impossible hair.

<<Indeed. However, that is a thought for another time. As I recall, tonight is your meeting with that Margot girl.>>

Oh, um, yeah, that is today isn't it. Bridget's stomach was instantly one gigantic knot.

At least I have a while until then, with mom out of the house all day.

<<Precisely. You'll also have a long flight during which you can consider what you might wear, or any other frivolities you wish.>> Val said cheerfully.

Right, that's true. Wait- what do you mean a flight? It took a moment for Bridget to register what Val had just said.

<<Well, I suspect an active Vector office will be better guarded than an unmanned warehouse, so I don't think we can use the bike again. Besides, we need to put some of your training into practice.>>

<<Don't worry, little one,>> Val said, after a few moments of silence from Bridget. <<We're just going to do some intelligence gathering. There's minimal risk of bodily harm.>>

Val's self-assured, didactic manner could make almost anything seem safe and reasonable, but in this particular instance, even she couldn't quite quell Bridget's fear. Still, there was no denying that they had to do something, and this was the best lead they had.

Bridget didn't trust herself to say anything that wouldn't sound like a fearful child trying to squirm out of getting a shot, so she stayed silent as she grabbed her coat from off the doorknob and slung it over her shoulder.

 

[Wannatripbaby]

Great stuff!

Part of me wants to try to decipher the cope of the Voidwalker language, but since I have no experience with doing anything of the sort I'll just wait until it gets explained... or until someone in the comments solves it?

Also with the "Find the life energy!" Toy you said that the hatches and buttons were the same color, but then immediately followed it by saying the 5th hatch was pink while the 5th button was purple. Was that an oversight?

[Selpharia]

Ah! Yes, I thought I’d fixed that one! At any rate, I have now  Thank you!

Also, the language there isn’t the Voidwalker language, it’s something else : D

[Wannatripbaby]

20 minutes ago, Selpharia said:

Also, the language there isn’t the Voidwalker language, it’s something else : D

Ha! I got her to reveal something!

[Selpharia]

You're quite welcome. Don't get used to it, though

[ELLIE52]

On 4/25/2018 at 11:52 PM, Selpharia said:

You're quite welcome. Don't get used to it, though

Echoes and Premonitions.   LOL

[CDfm]

Well I liked it. I am still scratching my head trying to decider the new language. Strange because I did fairly well with the Defense Language Institute tests. That involved learning toa new language that is a made up language. I must be getting to old. 

[Selpharia]

Hi everyone! Good news, I finally finished the other project I’ve been working on this month, so I can get back to writing. But I thought I’d share what I’ve been working on, a painted miniature version of Uto, Devourer of Corruption, and now source of Kimmy Schaeffer’s sorcerous power, seen in from Interlude 3. This isn’t quite the same outfit Kimmy saw her in, it’s her purple robe and armor for special occasions and battles with heroes. The wings are, of course, an enchantment

New chapter soon!

[ELLIE52]

Are you a metal worker? or who made this?  Very intricate!

[Selpharia]

It’s a Games Workshop miniature, but I painted and did a bit of modifying her myself 

[ELLIE52]

Maybe you should post this under Art, so it doesn't get lost from sight?

[Selpharia]

And we're back, after a shamefully long time! I hope you enjoy! I do hope to updage significantly more frequently than I have been. Thanks for being so patent! Comments and questions are, as ever, the best.

Chapter Three: Leaps and Bounds

“Okay,” Bridget said, exhaling a long steadying breath, steeling herself. “I can do this.”

<<I have every confidence in you, little one. You've already displayed a particular aptitude for stopping things from falling; all that remains is for you to apply that technique to yourself rather than to other children.>>

“Right.” She was too focused on the task ahead to notice the insinuation in Val's encouragement. For the third time in as many minutes, she looked left, right, and left again, eyes peeled for any potential observers. But neither the cars nor the occasional pedestrian passing by noticed the girl leaning surreptitiously against a faded brick wall in an alley just off the main road. Which only made sense, of course; Bridget could feel the warmth of the concealing sheath of Voidwalker energy she'd built around herself. But still, there were enough butterflies in her stomach to populate several insect sanctuaries.

Closing her eyes and letting out a grunt of effort, Bridget lifted off. The wind of her movement whipped her hair into her face, and its rushing filled her ears. For the single glorious moment of liftoff, the feeling of rising into the grey sky overwhelmed everything. She was a swimmer leaping off the block at the start of a race, casting herself into the void without a care.

<<You see, little one? My estimates of your capabilities were, once again, flawless. Being a good girl and practicing so assiduously has produced excellent results.>>

A satisfied smile crossed Bridget's cheeks, which became a gleeful giggle before she could even think to stifle it. Practicing in Val's lab had been fun, but it felt so much more real to be out in the world. With the houses and people that surrounded her reduced to tiny ants far below, it was truly exhilarating. Unfortunately for Bridget, while her brain was perfectly content to rest on the laurels of her first successful foray into aviation, her stomach found the aerial view much less agreeable. A sudden rush of nausea broke Bridget's concentration. She clasped her hand to her mouth, her momentum broken as her focus turned from lifting herself into the air to preventing the imminent loss of her lunch.

As the energy of her leap faded, gravity naturally asserted itself. Her fall was slow enough at first that she barely noticed it, but then the sensation of being on the world's worst free fall ride came on her with overwhelming force. This, of course, only magnified her discomfort, shattered what was left of her concentration, and kept her from arresting her fall.

Val's mental voice echoed in her head, trying to cajole her back to the level of focus she needed. Butt as the ground approached and the soft touch showed no signs of working, Val reverted to the same method so often used by parents of teenagers, one that Bridget's own mother had employed as part of her driving education curriculum: Incoherent, terrified screaming.

This, however, proved no more effective. Bridget barely slowed, and it looked for a moment like her budding superheroine career would crash and burn. But, as Bridget's primate instincts took over and she tried to shield herself from the impact with her outstretched hands, she inadvertently released a pulse of gravitic energy that sent her bouncing, mostly unharmed, off the pavement and back briefly into the air, as though she were a human-sized stone being skipped across town by a cosmic giant.

The surprise of finding herself hurtling up into the air again rather than an unfortunate stain on the pavement jolted Bridget back to her senses, and she was able, with some hasty coaching from Val, to turn her second fall into a more controlled hover. She touched down in a half-kneel, scraped, shaken, battered, and breathless, but intact.

“Owww,” Bridget hissed under her breath. She grimaced and blew on her hand, hoping to ease the sting from where she'd inadvertently pummeled the asphalt. Amazingly, the impact hadn't drawn blood, even though her arms felt like someone had set them ablaze.

<<Are you all right, little one? The damage we've sustained appears superficial, but perhaps it would be best to borrow a little life energy from a nearby human? We don't want you getting hurt any further, after all.>>

N-no, this is nothing, I'll be fine. I'm\ definitely not stealing someone's energy for something as- she scowled in renewed pain, -minor as this.

<<Very well. But if we suffer damage any additional damage, we're going to get you some life energy, and I won't hear any argument. Understand, little miss?>> Val said, the steel in her tone making it very clear that she meant every word.

Uh-huh.

<<Good. Let's get aloft.>>

Shaking herself one last time to renew her focus, Bridget shoved the burning feeling in her hand aside and took to the air again. Her next few attempt was certainly an improvement over her first; she kept altitude for a whole twenty seconds before her body's instinctive fear broke through her mental defenses, and sent her tumbling earthward again. It took every ounce of grit she had, but on her second fall, she managed to control the descent a little bit better, giving her crucial seconds to prepare a smaller pulse of gravitic power, large enough to stop her falling, but small enough that it only bounced he a foot or so, instead of sending her on another gigantic skyward arc.

A sudden pulse of worry came from Val, but Bridget managed to catch herself much more gently this time, and to avoid further bodily injury.

Her pride, however, was quite another matter.

“Dammit!” she cursed, loud enough that a pair of passing joggers turned their heads for a confused moment.

Why can't I fly? Everyone with powers flies! Sami flies, Leanne flies, even Phoebe can walk on air. All I can manage are these stupid little frog-jumps.

<<Little one,>> Val interrupted, kindly but insistently <<You've had all of a few weeks to practice, while every one of the examples you listed has had years to become accustomed to their powers. Even a newly-split Voidwalker does not gain full control of their faculties in that short a time.>>

I guess, Bridget admitted grudgingly. I still look like a doofus though.

<< I'm afraid I do not concur, little one. The resemblance of your motion to any one of this planet's large variety of jumping amphibians, or of their mammalian variants is rather, oh, what was the human expression? Ah, yes, adorable. And as I recall, many human children enjoy pretending to assume the aspect of various types of non-human fauna.>>

Bridget's cheeks flushed. Listen Val, that's-

Wait.

<<What is it, princess?>>

Did you just say that a rabbit is a kind of frog?

<<Are they not? I don't see how this is->>

But Val's impeccably reasoned scholastic inquiry was rendered useless as Bridget collapsed into a fit of giggles at the thought of her oh-so-erudite passenger making such an elementary error.

<<Truly the height of humor>> she grumbled. <<I'd like to see you correctly identify the taxonomic relationship of the zell and the mendat of Cygnus V without any prior knowledge or a xenobiology degree, missy.>>

Bridget simply stuck out her tongue in response.

<<Yes, yes, very mature, sweetie. I see you're getting quite the start being a good little froggy. Hop along, now.>>

Part of Bridget wanted to protest Val's treatment, but she'd probably just get chastised again for wasting time. Besides, like Val said, there wasn't any way anyone would see her. And who knows, Val might even see how absurd an idea a nearly-grown girl pretending to be a frog was.

Okay, space-mommy!

“Ribbit!”

Bridget launched herself into the air again for another gravitically-enhanced leap. She found it surprisingly easy and painless, without the need to worry about staying aloft, she was free to focus on softening her landing. It still took a bit for her stomach to get used to the constant ups and downs, but it was better than looking down at the ground and trying vainly not to think about how terribly far away it was, and how badly she could splatter on theasphalt if she lost control. It was just a simple, silly game, all to frustrate her passenger.

<<You see? Remarkably effective.>>

“Ribbit!” Bridget replied, landing once more in the middle of a small park before she launched herself again.

<<Indeed. Now, we should discuss tactics for our approach. It's highly likely that Vector will have a number of devices in place to detect non-human or metahuman->>

“Ribbit!” Bridget interrupted cheerfully, landing with a bounce and beginning another leap.

<<-presence.>>

<<As such, >> Val continued after a moment, <<it's probably our best option to investigate only the public-facing areas where security is likely to be most lax. If we avoid triggering any alarms or arousing suspicion, we should->>

“Ribbit!”

Val was silent, evidently uncertain how to react to having her lecture so summarily ignored in favor of silly animal noises. Bridget supposed that other Voidwalkers rarely interrupted the Chief Science Officer mid-exposition. Knowing them, there was probably some awful martial-law punishment for it or something. But Val couldn't very well punish her own host, so as Val described the sort of devices they might find to shed light on Voidwalker activities, she let out another “ribbit” with gusto.

<<Well, I see someone is->>

“Ribbit!”

<<Really now, little one, there's->>

“Ribbit!”

<<Perhaps you'd like to stop->>

“Ribbit!” Bridget objected.

<<because we've arrived.>>

“Ri-wait, what?”

<<As I said, we've arrived. The primitive mapping program we consulted earlier indicated that the entrance to the Vector building is mere hundreds of meters from this location.>>

A quick look around confirmed what Val had said. They had touched down at the edge of a lawn so impeccably manicured it might have been a golf course. A small, winding side street snaked its way from the main road, up a steep incline, and into the front entrance of a building that rested at the summit like a gigantic blocky white octopus, its wings splayed out like tentacles grasping the hillside. In front of the main building, a fountain burbled pleasingly, as clusters of casual-clad workers gathered at tables around it, taking advantage of the unusually warm day outside. Once again, Bridget was surprised that a secret stronghold of alien invaders looked so, well, boring, but there was no mistaking the place. The fountain was a circle surrounding a massive silver V, and the company motto hung in marble lettering above the front door.

VECTOR.: TAKING THE WORLD IN A NEW DIRECTION.

B-but how can we be here already? Bridget asked, now that there was no denying where they found themselves. We never even changed direction!

<<Of course not, why would we? I pointed you properly at the outset, and we simply proceeded along a straight route. It would probably have been quicker if we could have simply passed through the rock below, but I suspect you'd find intangibility difficult to maintain along with cute frog-hopping.>>

Still! That took, like no time at all?

<<If you remember, I did suggest you'd find it easier to use our abilities if you stopped worrying and complaining, and let yourself have a little fun. It is gratifying that you heeded my advice.>>

Bridget felt Val smile, a psychic expression of warm satisfaction, laced with just a touch of a smug smirk.

<<I did, however, notice you were quite caught up in that little frog impression of yours. But then, I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised. I recall Breanna was also quite focused when she was playing dinosaur. It seems that is merely a behavior common to all children.>>

I-I'm not- Bridget began, but her protest was extinguished as a red blaze of embarrassment ignited in her cheeks.

<<All right now, princess, playtime is over. Can you be serious for me?>>

A small, defiant part of Bridget desperately wanted to reply with yet another ribbit, but she was sure Val would be furious, or just keep applying her scientific acumen to discovering hitherto unknown depths of human humiliation. But most annoyingly, she found that she couldn't deny that Val had been right.

But there would be other times to consider how to win their argument. For now, there was infiltration to be done. Bridget closed her eyes, wrapped her gravitic stealth cocoon around herself again, and strode straight up the drive and toward the front door.

 

 

[Wannatripbaby]

The Faerie Princess is back! 

With one of the most whimsical chapters of C3 yet!

Honestly, part of me was beginning to consider this a dead story. I mean, after leaving a story on Hiatus for several months it isn't easy to get back into it as a writer. I know, you say you've been busy with other projects, and I don't doubt that you want to continue. But I've seen the promise of "This story is not dead." Many times before.

I look forward to being proven wrong.

[Sophie ♥]

Ahh I just re-read all of Issue 3 because I really like this part so far!  I think it's my favorite over Issues 1 and 2, even though I miss Bridget's cute totally-gay best friend.  I also am beginning to ship Val and Echo more than Val and Bridget. o_o

Oh I had a question.  She's leap-frogging around the city right?  Doesn't anybody notice this?  Is it out of place?  I know Bridget was a little distracted so she wouldn't notice, but I wonder if anybody else did.

Keep up the amazing work, Selphie!

[Wannatripbaby]

5 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

She's leap-frogging around the city right?  Doesn't anybody notice this?  Is it out of place?

Yes. Probably. And not really. Remember, Superheroes are commonplace in this world. Seeing someone flying (or bouncing) around is just normal everyday stuff.

[Guilend]

I am loving this story

[Selpharia]

Bridget also has her gravitic stealth field up, so that unless someone is very close and focused on finding her, all they'll see is a shimmer in the air. But even if they did see her, it wouldn't be that unusual in this town to see someone doing gigantic leaps. A bit odd for a heroine to be out of uniform in public, but not remarkable.

Sophie, there may be some good news for you in the not-too-distant future

Also, Aries, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thank you all so much for your compliments

[Sophie ♥]

Ohh.. yeah, that completely slipped my mind.  

And I knew about the superhero things, I just thought Bridget was trying to keep a low profile.  But your explanation makes sense.  I just forgot! XD

YES BRING ME MORE CUTE GAY GIRLS SELPHIE!!  

[CDfm]

That was a fun chapter. I can picture them flailing around and then bouncing off the ground with that first attempt at flight. It caused me to recall an incident where I was going to arrest a guy for public intoxication (he was really drunk) but he fell before I could get to him. He made no attempt at all to try and break his fall, just went down right on his face and his hole body bounced back up off the ground about a foot and a half. The guy ended up being just fine to. I think he was to drunk to get hurt. I had the video of him going down. Caught it on my dash cam. This was well worth a like and I am really looking forward to reading about their infiltration of this new facility.