The Gala

Nothing felt real anymore. Her thoughts collapsed and all that remained of her life, all that held her father's goals and aspirations sat behind her shoulder, in a makeshift kitchen. Dazed and disenchanted, Ashley stumbled towards Bliss. A feint light headed state over came her during the trek. I made a mistake. Formed on her lips, mouthing the truth in silence to Bliss. This came as no surprise to Bliss, who now found the clarity to fully express her contained emotion by stomping her feet and trying to yell.

Tears would come if the situation could lend her any clarity as to what was happening. The floor greeted her during a calculated plummet to the side of her right thigh. Her hand reached back and unsnapped the strap on her heels, pulling them off. "Nothing feels real, Bliss. I finally know that my father's dead. He can't come back; you can't bring him back. You never could, and neither can Cosmos." Looking to the ground for answers was all see could think of. "What the fuck have we been doing Bliss? I tried to help you build that computer, that machine. What came of it?"

Feeling static in a whirlwind of calamity, Bliss made her move. Old converse pushed against the kitchen floor to turn her chair around. No longer needing to see Ashley's demeanor gave Bliss the ability to slide her way out of the kitchen and towards Ashley. Glass slid towards Ashley and sat sat in front of her, courtesy of Bliss. All Bliss needed lay before Ashley. Just one quick action and she could handle this situation.

Drunkenly, Ashley got to her feet with the shard of glass and began to saw through the tape around Bliss's arms. Implying a more pressing matter, Bliss let out a muffled command and leaned her gagged mouth towards Ashley. Fibers let go of their grasp and tore apart. Freedom came closer and closer.

A strong push from Bliss's shoulder ripped the tape with a loud creak. With a renewed vigor Bliss stood to her still bound feet. Working to free Bliss's leg gave Ashley the leverage she needed to keep Bliss form falling. Bruised and beaten, but far from out, Bliss moved away from the chair. She ripped the tape from her mouth and flung shard of glass into the air around her. All the issues that occurred prior to this could wait. "Where were we!" Bliss was pissed.

Clement let go of Cassidy Rose and moved around the pillar to the large screen. He expected her to follow him like a puppy, hugging an arm and purring. But she didn’t. Momentarily, she seemed more enamoured by herself. She glanced down the slender form and moved from left to right, enjoying the way the large ridiculous skirt followed her. And she was humming. To Clements keen ear, he imagined the tune to be a twisted version of Moonlight Sonata, a favourite of his late daughter. Of his daughter. Of the thing before him. He shook his head and slipped down behind the keyboard, glancing up as his fingers sped over the keyboard. Cosmos was executing roughly five plans at once. Across the country he was collecting information about superhuman beings are they’re various appearances on camera or military records. Across the country, a cold war machine was awoken with a start and found itself in an empty base. He was finding all the possible links to Super Villains that he had categorized as “Level 5.”

And he was deleting the records of the Genetic Manipulator. Not only on the Clement Industries mainframe, but the numerous Swiss Servers set up as high profile data caches. Soon, the ten years of work would be lost. He suspected they could probably build another one, if they had the time, but it was highly unlikely. In the cost and manufacture it would take longer than his plans to come to fruition. Oh, god, he sounded like a Cliché villain. And, oh, god, he was beginning to care what he sounded like.

"Where were we!"

The dancing form of Cassidy Rose stopped, her humming ending in the tiniest of sighs as she widened her eyes at the bloodied form in the doorway of the kitchen. She then proceeded to squeal and went up, en Pointe, showing off to what she considered a new toy. ”Hello! Aren’t you a pretty thing?” She stretched out a leg and danced forward, completely ignoring the angry look on her face, completely ignoring the fact that the woman could cut her into shreds if he wanted to.

Clements fingers stopped, the chair was pushed back and he was standing as close to the two of them as he dared. ”Cassidy, Dear, this is one of Daddy’s friends.” Cassidy glanced back at her father, but her face dropped its little charade and she scowled darkly, seemingly knowing it to be a filthy lie. ”Oh, you’re being silly again, Daddy!”

Controlling the energy she expunged so fluidly kept her in control of the situation. Her fists gripped at the air, trying to choke sensibility back into the situation. "If you think I'm pretty like this you should see how adorable I'm about to make you." All air within the room grew still and motionless as Bliss kept focusing. Wounds along her wrists opened and began to bleed down her hands beginning a fall to the ground. As the droplets plummeted they lost momentum and trajectory. Blood drops stood motionless in the air.

Joining the blood in the static air were Ashley's remaining tears. Her fingers stretched out to touch the droplet. Interacting with the chemical bonding caused the air molecules to explode at the touch. Ashley fell backwards from the minor blast; Bliss had only begun pulling the molecules to a stop, if she continued movement would set off a change reaction of extreme proportion.

"That's what you get for dwelling on tears, beautiful." Without even glancing back to see Ashley, Bliss could ascertain that her friend caused the ruckus. "I think it goes without saying, but watch my back."

"You got it." Sounds of robotic servants emanated from throughout the warehouse. Whatever Bliss hoped to achieve through this maneuver Ashley had never seen before. She never even thought of; opening doors and breaking windows seemed strong enough, but this control instilled a staggering amount of power in Bliss.

"If you think I'm pretty like this you should see how adorable I'm about to make you."

”Oh! Don’t worry about that. Daddy already made me adorable...” The thing giggled, glancing over a long haired bare shoulder at a scowling father. When the air changed, however, her smile faulted. Her eyes followed the clenched fists of the woman in front of her, watching intently as the blood on her wrists dripped and dropped to the metal below. Cosmos shifted his feet and moved to the computer console, tapping away at the keys with urgency to make sure that the computer system was backed up on the Russian server. Cassidy Rose however was walking forward, her legs bouncing up and down with excitement, her eyes filling with a cold sarcastic glee. Everything she did was hollow, was empty, was a facade. The creature in her head seemed to enjoy the lying to no end.

”Daddy! Isn’t this wonderful? Can I do this daddy?” Cassidy turned, instantly bored with her toy and frowned softly at Clement behind the desk. ”Daddy! We have guests. Stop playing with your silly machines!" Her voice was very sharp, almost a bark. It seemed to actually hurt Clement, who clutched his head and winced in pain. The poor man tried to turn away from her, move away, but he seemed locked in place. ”I’m sorry, Cassidy! Please stop!” Cassidy Rose sighed and shook her head, turning to smile sweetly at the woman in front of her.

”I’m sorry about hi-“ There seemed to be a little explosion behind the woman, caused by... What was this woman’s name? Daddy knew it, so she searched in his thick little head and thought what she was searching for. Before she could scold the stupid Ashley for her misbehaviour, the woman said something to her about her back, which made Cassidy Rose wondered wonder what was wrong with it.

Then the ground under Cassidy Rose feet seemed to whirr to life. The generators were powering up. Cassidy turned her head to her daddy once again, raising a single finger as if to shush the intruders as he stared at the man bent over the keyboard. Clement was imagining a wall. A low, garden wall, built from earthy orange bricks. One side, there were his secrets. On the other side, Cassidy Rose was supposed to play. She didn’t like that, she tried to take the wall down, which resulted in Clement grimacing in pain while pretending to smile towards her. With a sigh, she let go, intent to work a way around it later on. ”Daddy, what is that sound?”

Clement stood, removing the gun from his belt, pointing at Cassidy first before the barrel slid along towards the woman in front of him. ”I’m sorry, Cassidy, but we have to leave. The engines beneath your feet are slowly being overloaded. Soon, this tunnel will be demolished...” Clement glanced sadly towards Ashley and opened his mouth, hoping he could come up with some sort of apology, but he was cut off suddenly when a long pointed finger jabbed him in the chest at quite a considerable speed. Cassidy Rose was jabbing him in the chest and scowling up at him.

”Turn it off Daddy! I want to play with the pretty things!"

The horrid little creature screeched across the scaffolding like a demon lunging for the soul of a man. The soul of a man who bargained and now needed to pay. Bliss did not know if the man sought to bring down the tunnel to save himself the horrible existence he quantified with the black clad demon, but she knew she planned on ending this here. "Get out Ashley." Her brow turned sternly towards her nose. "I'll be there shortly. I promise." Her voice cracked slightly with sincerity; her spirit would fight to take this creature out with everything she possessed. She could feel the air in her lungs grow severely heavy. Every ounce of her body fought this, every inch of her stature, every fiber capable of replicating the manipulated DNA.

"Don't forget my shoes." A hint of normalcy hung in her words. The only family Ashley had now faced off against the family she though she needed. Bliss did not need any words of encouragement or support for this fight; she just needed to know that when she ended this there would be someone waiting for her. That's all Bliss ever needed in life. Now Ashley knew that. In this moment of absolute control and sterility existence of physics faded, and reality became clear.

"Those are nice shoes; I can't just leave them in a buried tunnel." As Ashley left, she felt pity for Cosmos. The family that she just found and the feeling she gained within her soul was what Cosmos wanted. She saw the grimaced glimpse of emotion he tried to show her. All the while she tried to find what he could give her, she had what he wanted. She mouthed the words I Love you, and then vanished into the warehouse to open the tunnel door and leave.

"Looks like we both want to take this place out. Question is, which one of us will do it first. You seem to have a lot riding on your device going before my powers." The glass she brandished as a weapon during her entrance shattered into pieces. Lights burst forth raining sparks along the floor of the laboratory. "For your sake I would hope that you're right. For my sake hope you have the sense to see past what you made, and what you love." Moisture began to vanish from Bliss's eyes, leaving her eyes to dilate and turn red. "Well..." Her voice sounded as though it crawled through a desert to reach its destination. Reflecting the faces of everyone in the room while it twirled a shard of glass that escaped the frequency floated up to Bliss's arm. "Let's get this started then." Bliss dug the shard into her arms spilling blood into the surrounding area. It remained motionless after a few seconds. She collected molecules around her and threw the blood ball towards The daughter.

As the ball shot through the air it shattered the motionless molecules into action. Reverberating a symphony of destruction that shot Bliss backwards thirty feet into the warehouse. Violently, the molecules set off a chain reaction of violent energy the sent of a shock wave of force that maintained a full force in a thirty foot cone. The sudden invigoration of the motion caused the oxygen to ignite in a quick burst of flame. The quickly igniting flame and violent force erupted towards the scaffolding with no remorse.

"Get out Ashley."

”Oh no! Look what you did Daddy!” Cassidy Rose turned with dark eyes and watched the meaner, uglier one boss around Ashley. She wanted them both to stay! They were her toys! But as she turned to skip forward and slap the fat mouth closed on the ugly one, Clement clutched her wrist. He was weaker than her, very much so, but she couldn’t inflict as much damage on him as she could on the woman stood stock still before them. The air was getting dryer in there, much dryer and the machines beneath their feet were starting to puff out great plumes of tin tasting air. Static electricity was growing with each second, working towards a fever pitch that would put them all in danger.

Clement glared into her eyes, trying to establish some sort of dominance in their brief struggle, but he felt his eyes being dragged away from the purple irises. He saw her, just in time, and his heart broke in the sweetest way possible. I love you. His hand let the thing go and his feet demanded that they follow the sweet child into tunnel and simply went on with his life, even if it was a lie, even if it was simply a way for a stranger to reassure another stranger. He supposed that would he get the chance, he would send her some kind of thank you. Some kind of acknowledgement that while the sentiment may not have been the whole truth, it still meant more to him than anything else at this moment...

"Let's get this started then."

”Oh, shut up, you stupid thing!” As Cassidy turned and stamped a foot, her eyes went wide as she watched a large red ball of blood speed towards. Her nerve endings burned alive as she immediately understood what was about to happen. She turned back to her father, pushed the man of his feet and threw him across the room, missing the lower steps of the entrance before he hit the furthest wall from the scaffolding. He would be fine there, the distance offering a protection, as well as he thick skin.

She however had no such luxury. She turned, moving as fast as a bullet from the barrel of a gun and ran to the nearest stone pillar. Anything to block the sudden violent blast directed at the two of them. The first pillar wasn’t enough, but it stopped the searing fire from instantly bubbling away her skin. The second pillar was better, but by the time she had reached it, her dress was burnt and her hair was scorched beyond recognition. She’d make her pay. Make her pay. Make her pay... The idea ran through her mind as she hugged the ceramic tiles as the flames licked away at either side. The windows cut into the side of the train cut exploded inwards and fire swallowed the meagre home Cosmos had inhabited at the very beginning of his adventure.

Cosmos, who found him one moment staring at a tunnel doorway and the next moment sliding into a tiled wall with such force, spared himself a brutal burning by scrambling up the stairs towards the entrance. His legs were blistered though, as was his back, which would take it’s time to heal. He collapsed when he reached the top of the stairs, the fire dying behind him. But now, the air was filled with the sound of the engines whirring beyond their ability.

The explosion was coming...

Flames erupted from around the laboratory. Through the blurred vision Bliss could hardly make out what she caused and what the explosion Dr. Cosmos instigated caused. All she knew swirled in hellflame before her, whipping up shrapnel and pieces of equipment that melted in the catalyst. The flames shot towards the pair of black heels Ashley discarded during her earlier existential odyssey. Not wanting to break a promise gave Bliss pulled the shoes with telekinetic force and flung them into the warehouse.

Bliss sprung to her feet and immediately took cover behind the wall of the warehouse to shield her from the full blast of the explosion. The intense heat made its presence known by burning the hair off of her right forearm. Before the flames could incinerate the heels, Bliss made a last pull to bring them to her hand. Her wounds poured blood all over her face and hands, coating her in a red and black glow against the inferno that lunged through the tunnel.

Even saved from the inferno, Bliss could not rest safely with the foundation of the base coming down around her. Adrenaline kicked in to keep her from feeling the threshold of pain that screamed and shouted for Bliss's attention. Luckily, her legs never experienced any pain from the before hand occurrences. She pushed herself forward towards the door as the complex came down around her.

Ashley moved through the tunnel and came across her familiar little car. She quickly moved into the drivers seat inserted her thumb for imprint recognition that would start the car. The engine roared up and shot forward to retrieve Bliss. Anti-lock breaks kicked in as Ashley switched gears to move the car into a complete one-eighty spin. Before the car came to a stop Bliss opened the passenger side door and jumped into the passenger seat.

Acceleration broke the silent static feel. The BMW whipped through the curving tunnels towards its exit. "I got your shoes." Held up in triumph were a pair of black heels with blood running down the leather. The soft leather of the seat cushioned her head, as her eyes twitched from the blood that covered them. The moisture of the blood actually felt good within her dry eyes.

A street light waved Ashley onward. The path was lit; they just needed to take it and they would safely make it out. At the increasing speed the car took on the goal seemed closer and closer. And finally met. The car emerged victoriously from the destroyed hideout. Both girls bounced forward with the bump from the exit of the tunnel. "You know we can't go to the hospital right?"

"I figured as much." Bliss kept her eyes closed. "We never can."

"I'll get the first aid kit when we get home. Most of your stuff should be fairly superficial, right?" If it was not the bumpy ride would certainly try hard to exacerbate the injuries.

"Probably. Our emotions can get us deep."

"Yeah, but we don't need a hospital for that."

"I think I tracked in some blood." Blood stains flowed from all over the wounds on Bliss' arms. "I'm sure baking soda will take it out."

"I'm sure you'll get it out." Ashley retorted with a smile back to her half conscious friend. She held so many things to tell Bliss, but that seemed like it was all she needed to say.

Cosmos looked up at the sheet of metal that covered the door way with dull eyes, his head shaking. There was a ringing in his ears. Perhaps the throw had affected him more firmly then he would allow himself to believe. He was patting his belt and wondering why, resting his forehead against the cool metal while his back burned with an intense, itching sensation. Something important was happening. Something that was sad, too. Like a funeral of a loved one. Had he ever been to a funeral? Many. Many friends had been taken by the march of time while he had stood and watched on with sad eyes. Such a shame they weren’t built like him, but he only thought like that because he was alone. Abandoned by his people through a mechanical fault.

The engines inside the train station, the great big electrical generators, had decided that the sudden rise of heat was enough to allow them to release the power that had been built up. This was a surprise to poor Cassidy Rose, who had been nursing a burn on her arm with the tiniest of pouts. A huge arch of electricity burned its way through the metal grating of the floor and left a trail through the ceramic tiles of the wall and ceiling. It was pretty, the red glow that was left behind by the huge amount of heat that was discharged. But Cassidy Rose understood it as a bad thing, because she could feel the fear buzzing away inside of Clements head. Her thin, lithe figure ducked and curved around the pillar and she ran at her full speed, accelerating far behind the human norm. Beyond even the superhuman form.

Her dressed whipped as she leapt over the stairs, turning to see her useless father hugging the steps like a defeated man bowing before his king. She hissed, running over him and simply hitting the doors with a delicate fist. The metal folded like cheap paper beneath her hands and flung back into the empty and now wet alleyway. It had started to rain.

Inside, the Generators discharged electricity left, right and centre. Arcs cut through the sheet metal of the steel grating, burned through the Genetic Manipulator’s plastic shell and overcharged the electric based force fields. Omega Cores ruptured and the machine was destroyed from inside out. And then the flammable parts of the generators caught fire and exploded. It was such a pretty little train station. Clean tiles were broken and scattered. The pillars were blown outwards and destroyed everything in their respective corners. The kitchen burned down and the plumbing burst, the cool water within turning into a fine steam mist. The metal, ornate train car that had been converted into Cosmos living quarters were torn apart like cheap paper.

The plumes of flame were massive, rocketing upwards into the building above. The old warehouse caught alight within moments, which filled the streets with an orange hissing glow as the rain of New York City poured onto the streets below. Cassidy Rose dragged the form of her “father” into the alleyway, rolling him onto his back and falling onto his chest, knees pressed into his ribs.

”You are weak. Fragile. Remember that. Because if you do that ever again, you worthless little creature, you’ll be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of you miserable days. Do you understand?” Clements tears were lost in the rain as he cried in pain, wept in fear, and mourned the loss of himself. For Cassidy Rose, the anguish spilling from the man was reward enough for a night’s work. But this was fun. ”I said! Do it again, and I will HURT you!” She pressed down on his chest and he wheezed another choked sob. But the babbling cries seemed to be mumbled, half formed variations on the word yes.

”Oh, Daddy. What am I going to do with you?” She sounded almost sorry.

Almost.

Bandages hugged firmly around the wounded arms Bliss used as a pillow. Her hair lay wildly across an old math camp shirt, unleashed from the usual tail it so often found itself forced into. Black tights hugged the form of her legs from her upper calf to her waist. The sun creaped out from behind the storm front that moved past New York and onto the next city that longed for the intensity. "You never told me how California was?" Ashley brought Bliss back to the apartment Bliss had almost adopted as her own dwelling.

"Nothing really happened." The leather couch moved to fit her small stature perfectly. "I met with the Queen of the Thrones. I'm actually on assignment right now for a guy in New York who runs a criminal organization called FEARE."

Bacon and eggs seared within a frying pan in front of Ashely. It felt good to get out of the supportless dress and into a gray Queen's t-shirt and a pair of pink shorts. The kitchen overlooked the living room with the television in full view. A report on a robbery at a downtown museum caught the attention of the media. "Are you going back?"

"I don't know. This couch is comfortable, and you make a good nurse." The aroma of the apartment took the pain of the lacerations away from Bliss. "How many hospitals make their patients good breakfast and give them leather furniture."

Ashley collected the food onto a plate and walked into the living room, taking a place on the couch next to Bliss's head. "I feel bad for Dr. Cosmos." Bliss laid her head on Ashley's thigh. "He lost his daughter, and gained a monster." Fingers ran threw Bliss's black hair. She hardly kept it soft with her constant traveling and danger, but that was neither here nor there. "I think we could help him." Ashley twirled Bliss's hair. "He's a good man."

"He has bad means, but good intentions? My dad was the opposite." Bliss closed her eyes and chuckled. "Actually, he didn't have good means either."

"Maybe your dad can help us." The request came with a major set back.

"My dad's dead." Bliss spoke plainly. "Kind of."

"What? Kind of?" Dumbfounded by the incident, but not heartbroken or really even sad, Ashley continued stroking Bliss' hair. "Who did it."

"I shot him. I needed someone to go into the device, and he wanted me to kill you." Moving against Ashley's hands, Bliss rolled over to face her. "So, I shot him and now he's in the device." Whether the impact of the blow lessened her emotions on the situation or not seemed uncertain. What remained was the display of hubris towards the death of a family member.

The remark caught Ashley completely off guard. Dr. Fokukama held no sympathy with her, the man killed his wife and used his daughter as a lab rat, but to hear Bliss cast it off as nothing gave her chills. "He's still alive?"

"Half life." A smile came over Bliss's face. "I did it. I can bring people back. I didn't tell you because my phone's been monitored and our meeting at Dr. Cosmos's lab didn't give me a lot of talking chances, but I did it."

"So that means..."

"For a little while, but it won't be long."

"That's all I need."

"Looks like you're famous." Out of focus photos of Ashley ran across the screen. Reports identified her as a willing accomplish in the gala heist last night. Reports indicate that this woman assaulted a number of scientist with an extra sensory manipulation that left several injured.

"Oh, this is terrible."

"It's not good, that's for certain. You assaulted other people besides me last night? And I thought I was special."

"You're the only one I held prisoner though." The calm joke relaxed her as the blurry photo remained across the screen. "That tape was the second cutest things to be on your lips."

"Oh yeah." Bliss brought her hand up to rest between her head and Ashley's leg. "What's the first?" With that loaded question Ashley reached down and kissed Bliss. She popped her lips and then returned her head to the sofa. Nothing really mattered on the television. Bliss and Ashley could trust each other with their very lives; even when they could not handle it themselves. Bliss chuckled at the audacity of her usually timid friend in her action before returning her gaze to the television.