Report Assessment 14

  That can’t be all of Action Log 52? Right? It’s missing some action.

  “Kitten”

  Response to Assessment Report 14

  I just needed time to type it up — Fox

  Red Fox Action log 52 cont:

  She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me. Her arms crushed me with urgency, but her mouth met mine gently. She held herself back. My arm was trapped at my side, so I showed her my eagerness with my mouth.

  I had won her attention.

  She threw her leg up, skirt shifting higher, and straddled me. With my arm free, I put my hand on her hip.

  This was stretching the definition of ‘once’ quite a bit. But I didn’t mind. If I could mind anything at all.

  Her lips parted, and her tongue searched the inside of my mouth. I pushed back appropriately with my own tongue. She broke the kiss to let a small moan escape from somewhere deep in her throat.

  As long as we were being bad, I may as well break the rules a little more.

  I used this opportunity to kiss along the side of her face to the soft skin of her neck. She laughed. I nipped at her neck lightly.

  Then I stopped, pulled back, and looked up at her.

  My heart hammered in my chest. My head swirled with feeling so strongly that I fought to get any coherent thought through. Her eyes shone with mirth, but there was desire there too. Her lipstick had smudged across her cheek, and her hair fell down around me. I hadn’t noticed the lipstick before. That should have clued me in earlier.

  “That’s one,” I said.

  She rolled off me, laying next to me on the bed. She groaned with frustration.

  “That’s one,” she agreed.

  “I don’t do this kind of thing lightly,” I said.

  “Okay.”

  I could feel her next to me, the excitement, the way she was holding herself back. I also realized that she didn’t say this was difficult for her. I had to remind myself that she was a mature woman. She didn’t look like she was in her forties, but she was likely very close to that.

  I know that other men would have taken her right there. I know had I not shown my reluctance, that she also would have taken things further. That would certainly have been more fun.

  She had no pretense of inexperience. What must she have gone through to be able to give of herself so freely? I know her life had been hardly free from heartache. She must have built herself into someone very strong indeed.

  I don’t know if I had that strength. I know that if I gave too much of myself to her, that I could be hurt. I was especially aware that if I messed this up, she could be unwilling to be on this team, also, and that would be disastrous.

  I also knew that if I didn’t kiss her again, I would regret it.

  She shifted on the bed to be on her side. I faced her.

  “This isn’t free of danger for me either,” she said. “I still barely know anything about you.”

  “I know so much about you, too much probably,” I said. “Because I feel like I am just starting to see you for who you are, and not just the suit you wear.”

  “Really? And what do you see?”

  “Well, I think you’re a better kisser than me.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yeah. And it’s not like I haven’t had practice,” I said. She snickered. “I see that you’re stronger than I first realized. To be able to put yourself out there, to risk being hurt, that is something I find hard to do.”

  “It’s not easy for me,” she said, watching me, searching my eyes for a reaction. “I just refuse to deny myself the happiness I think I’m owed.”

  “Oh? And what do you think you’re owed?”

  “What can you give me?”

  I found it hard to move myself on the bed with my arm sort of pinned under me as I lay on my side like this, but I made the effort to move myself closer to her. She realized what I was trying to do, stifled a laugh, and put her hand on me to keep me from struggling. She then brought her face up to mine.

  I kissed her again. Again, her mouth was gentle and deliberate, but her hands greedily spread out on my chest. I matched her energy. I didn’t want either of us to have to stop the other for jumping the gun.

  I don’t know how long we lay like that, our bodies inches from each other, our lips gently exploring with soft kisses, but it must have been quite some time.

  She broke away first.

  “We really should get some sleep,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I can help you with that. If you think you need help.”

  I stopped to consider what she meant by that, and didn’t come up with anything that sounded very restful.

  “Oh!” she continued. “I don’t mean anything like that.”

  “I didn’t say a word,” I reminded her.

  “I just meant that my gem color, sapphire, is connected with tranquility, peace, and sadness. I find I can soothe others, especially those connected to the gemfield. It could help you fall asleep. Usually it takes less than a minute.”

  “That sounds useful. Can you use it on yourself?”

  “Unfortunately, not easily.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Oh.”

  “It’s fine!” she said, sitting up. “I am happy to do it.”

  “Alright.”

  After some maneuvering, I let her get me under the covers, and she held my hand up to the gem in her chest as she sat cross legged on the bed.

  “I don’t exactly need to do it like this,” she said, glancing down at my hand, “it just makes it easier. Try to just focus on the feeling in your hand.”

  I nodded. I focused on the way my hand felt against the skin of her chest, and the gem in my hand, and the strange way the hardness of it felt against the hardness of her gem. Then the gem felt warm. Then my whole hand felt like it had been submerged in a warm bath.

  The warmth traveled down my wrist, then my arm, then soon my whole body tingled with warmth, like laying in a sunbeam.

  I could hear her saying something, something kind and soft and quiet, but I couldn’t focus on what it was. I just felt warm, and maybe a little sad. I couldn’t tell if it was mine or someone else’s. It wasn’t a dire sadness, just a bittersweet ache.

  The last thing I remember thinking was how lucky I was to have people that cared about me. Didn’t they know I was broken?

  Then, I swiftly gave in to the darkness, and fell asleep.

  Red Fox Action Log 53:

  I awoke to the sound of a voice, a man’s voice — Sniffer Sleuth.

  “What?” I answered groggily.

  “I said that we have T-minus 20 minutes until the chopper lands and it’s hero time, buddy.”

  “What time is it?”

  My eyes adjusted to the harsh light, and I saw Sleuth in his full kit, nose emblem bright on his chest and his gun at his hip. Hero time? And where was Cynthia?

  No, I remember her putting me to sleep. She probably snuck out after that.

  “Like I said, Hero Time, man! Here, let me get you into your kit.”

  I let him help dress me, the final piece being my new prosthetic, which clicked into place and hummed as the servos warmed up. Even without the helmet and its neural connector, I still had a little bit of movement from the nerves in my shoulder. I swung the arm a bit.

  “She left probably 2 or 3 in the morning, if that helps,” he said.

  That means she’d laid next to me for a while, if that was true.

  “Thanks,” I said, not sure how he knew or how I was supposed to answer. He could smell how long someone had laid somewhere? Insane.

  Then the helmet came on, and I tested the range of motion in my new arm. The lag on this prosthetic was much less than the one I’d wrecked at the museum. Just a small fraction of a second. Felt sluggish, but not slow.

  I checked my pouches. Grapple gun, smoke canisters, everything seemed to be snug where it was supposed to be. The fingers on the prosthetic were surprisingly dexterous.

  “The suit interfere with your gem?” Sleuth asked.

  “Let’s see,” I said.

  I looked at my palm. The gem glowed, a mote of iridescent fire in its center like an opal, then it surrounded me in the field and I floated above the ground for just a moment. Then I landed on the balls of my feet.

  “Looks good,” Sleuth said, “meet us downstairs in 5.”

  He left. I applied some chapstick. I scrambled to swish some mouthwash, then shove a granola bar in my mouth, chewing as I ran down the stairs.

  Bronze Boy had a pan of eggs in one hand, and a spatula in the other.

  “Masala omelet,” she said as I slid to a stool on the bar next to Gunnar. “We didn’t have lentils for cheela.”

  I looked to Sleuth who was already digging into the food on his plate.

  “I didn’t know you could cook," I said, grabbing a fork and puncturing the omelet to let some steam out before I let it burn my tongue anyway.

  “Can’t taste, but I can still smell,” she replied, dumping the pan in the sink. “Also, it’s all muscle memory to me. And I only know a couple of dishes anyway. Never set out to be a wife. But I like to eat. Liked, I guess.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply,” I said, then just decided to shove the food in my mouth instead of finishing the thought.

  “I know,” Twitch said. “Maybe you cook next time?”

  I turned to Gunnar, “you ever have chilaquiles?”

  “I dun no vut it is?” he mumbled with a mouth full of food.

  “I can make that, and spaghetti?”

  “Sounds great!” Sleuth said.

  I finished my food in silence. Down the hall I heard a whispered conversation between what I figured was Nora and Cynthia. It didn’t sound heated, but I could tell it wasn’t pleasant either.

  “Sleuth, where are we going?” I asked.

  “Boston Institute of Technology and Sciences,” he answered, washing his plate. “Something they were working on went out of control. Twitch felt it in the leyline. Something magical. A breach.”

  “Into space?” I asked, scraping my plate with my fork.

  “Into somewhere dangerous,” Twitch clarified.

  Cynthia entered the room in a huff, tucking her hair into a messy ponytail from a hair tie she’d pulled from her gem.

  “What was that about?” Sleuth asked.

  “Nora just wanted to impress upon me the severity of our logistical mistakes,” she answered, eyes darting to me then out at a neutral space in the middle distance.

  “How severe?” Gunnar asked.

  “She thinks we’ve lost the rest of the team. That Carla Quick and Captain Iron are lost too.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “She just said ‘fate is wound like a watch, and if the teeth don’t catch, the whole thing stops keeping time.’”

  “That means nothing,” Sleuth said.

  “I think I get it,” I said, putting my plate in the sink. “But I was never sure we could win back Captain Iron anyway.”

  “He doesn't even answer my texts anymore,” Cynthia said.

  I looked at her, prodding an explanation. She just shrugged.

  Then the sound of the chopper came from above. Soon we were strapped into it, and headed off into the sky. Bronze Boy flew ahead. Cynthia sat next to me. Her hand rested on my arm.

  I’m with you, she said.

  In the darkest part of my mind, away from her, I asked myself ‘for how long?’

  Fox Foundation AP stats compiled from the HRA 3.

  Note: the data you’ve given us about Gem Blade and your new Gem Field powers means that the HRA can tentatively place you as a Superhero candidate. It also confirms that Gem Blade is not as strong as she once was (though she’s only dropped 13 points). Maybe because she hasn’t needed to be. Competition keeps athletes sharp. You know that.

  Also, don’t be too alarmed that Whitehot has increased her AP ratings also. A certain amount of growing into her powers is expected.

  As a last point of interest, Gunnar has shown himself to be able to complete complex problem solving solutions under stress such that he has pushed the boundaries of what a human is capable of. Whether that is because he has some kind of latent powers, or because he has pushed past the limits of what the HRA considers human, remains to be seen. Be sure to congratulate him when you can. — K

  Gem Blade (CAP score 341) —

  Strength: 74

  Movement: 62

  Durability: 85

  Energy Projection: 90

  Mental Acuity: 4

  Special Skills: 26

  Bronze Boy IV (CAP score 277) —

  Strength: 24

  Movement: 51

  Durability: 97

  Energy Projection: 76

  Mental Acuity: 3

  Special Skills: 26

  Whitehot (CAP score 235) —

  Strength: 4

  Movement: 46

  Durability: 34

  Energy Projection: 61

  Mental Acuity: 79

  Special Skills: 11

  Red Fox with Gem (CAP score 157) —

  Strength: 41

  Movement: 3

  Durability: 63

  Energy Projection: 23

  Mental Acuity: 3

  Special Skills: 24

  Sniffer Sleuth with pistol (CAP score 33) —

  Strength: 1

  Movement: 1

  Durability: 1

  Energy Projection: 6

  Mental Acuity: 6

  Special Skills: 18

  Gunnar Gunnarson (CAP score 9)

  Strength: 1

  Movement: 1

  Durability: 1

  Energy Projection: 0

  Mental Acuity: 3

  Special Skills: 3