Scenes from a Mall (fiction)
Apr. 5th, 2009 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akaihyoWe are getting back to the AEON Mall setting in gaming, which is a very post-modern take on superheroes. The Ultimates by way of The Office and reality programming. Most of the characters are new, but one, mine, is returning.
April Fox, aka Vixen, sipped her mocha as the monorail sped through the Rocky Mountains from Denver. They had offered to pick her up in a corporate helicopter but she said no. She wanted it to be just like the first time she came to the AEON Mall, all those years ago. She tried to remember what she had been like back then with “just her talent and a gym bag packed with hope” as her brother put it. She shook her head and patted her bag, what was it packed with now? Resignation? Duty? Redemption? Or, maybe, just maybe, hope.
It was not that she needed the money, though they were paying her well. Foxy Things, the company April and her brother, August, built had a nice turn over of exercise plans and DVDs, nutrition bars and other merchandise. No, she just needed to do this.
The monorail shot out of the tunnel, she knew what was next, the picture perfect view of the paraglass dome catching the early morning sun. The AEON Mall in all its glory, its flaws invisible at this distance. The tourists oohed and aahed and took photos, their cameras and phones clicking. April sighed, it had seemed like a dream come true when she made this trip at eighteen to be a hero, a superhero. One of the chosen few, the AEON Defenders. A year with a superteam and then University had been the plan. So naive, so hopeful. She laughed at herself and took another sip of mocha.
She was the last one of the original team active, Vixen the survivor. Greenback had never recovered from the trip to the future and remained under care. Cuppajoe lost to that dimension rift in France, probably dead. Vince returned to Hell, a prince, bet he wished he paid more attention to the paperwork now. And something happened to Applekid one day and he just locked himself away in his lab. She heard he had been transferred to a government facility but who knew really? The teams that followed the original one, she could not bear to follow the news on them, but she heard that their luck had not been any better.
Not that her career outside of the ADs had been much more successful. The California Paratribe fell apart after they lost half the team in the Hellsmouth Incident. She reached back to make sure her fighting stake was in her kit, she really hated vampires. Then that midget acrobat from Bhutan got chosen instead of her for the UN World Team, she knew it was politics, but still it stung. Her soloing career after that did not go to badly, but she was no Night Specter but then, he was not much these days either. At least she did not betray any trusts.
“AEON Mall Station,” announced the monorail, “have a wonderful day shopping under the paraglass dome.” April smiled and stood, draining the last of the mocha. She tossed the empty cup into the garbage can as she exited among the early morning shoppers.
The station was not quite as shiny as it had been that first time but it was still impressive, the welcoming gateway to the ‘shopping paradise’ beyond. Advertisements and bright colors were everywhere and the omnipresent mall music washed over her, oddly, it was like being home. April hopped on the escalator down into the mall and gasped.
That mural over the escalators, that was new. It was the original team done in that massive heroic Soviet style with the motto “AEON Defenders: Keeping you Safe” boldly displayed. She did not know whether she should laugh or cry and was caught halfway between both when a scream interrupted.
April was instantly alert, her collapsed battle staff in hand. A young boy had climbed up on the railing to look down and was now in danger of falling . . . was falling. April was already on the move. Vaulting off the escalator, she dove! Catching the boy in midair and then falling. She twisted, cushioned the boy’s impact with her body. She winced, thankful for the kinetic dispersal cloth of her underwear.
“Are you alright,” she asked the boy who just stared at her. She set him upright and flipped up to her feet. People were running and shouting but April was focused on the boy.
“Are you a superhero?” he finally asked looking up at her with big eyes, just before his mother smothered him in an embrace.
She reached into her jacket and pulled on her domino mask. “No,” she said with a sad smile, “I’m just Vixen.”
April Fox, aka Vixen, sipped her mocha as the monorail sped through the Rocky Mountains from Denver. They had offered to pick her up in a corporate helicopter but she said no. She wanted it to be just like the first time she came to the AEON Mall, all those years ago. She tried to remember what she had been like back then with “just her talent and a gym bag packed with hope” as her brother put it. She shook her head and patted her bag, what was it packed with now? Resignation? Duty? Redemption? Or, maybe, just maybe, hope.
It was not that she needed the money, though they were paying her well. Foxy Things, the company April and her brother, August, built had a nice turn over of exercise plans and DVDs, nutrition bars and other merchandise. No, she just needed to do this.
The monorail shot out of the tunnel, she knew what was next, the picture perfect view of the paraglass dome catching the early morning sun. The AEON Mall in all its glory, its flaws invisible at this distance. The tourists oohed and aahed and took photos, their cameras and phones clicking. April sighed, it had seemed like a dream come true when she made this trip at eighteen to be a hero, a superhero. One of the chosen few, the AEON Defenders. A year with a superteam and then University had been the plan. So naive, so hopeful. She laughed at herself and took another sip of mocha.
She was the last one of the original team active, Vixen the survivor. Greenback had never recovered from the trip to the future and remained under care. Cuppajoe lost to that dimension rift in France, probably dead. Vince returned to Hell, a prince, bet he wished he paid more attention to the paperwork now. And something happened to Applekid one day and he just locked himself away in his lab. She heard he had been transferred to a government facility but who knew really? The teams that followed the original one, she could not bear to follow the news on them, but she heard that their luck had not been any better.
Not that her career outside of the ADs had been much more successful. The California Paratribe fell apart after they lost half the team in the Hellsmouth Incident. She reached back to make sure her fighting stake was in her kit, she really hated vampires. Then that midget acrobat from Bhutan got chosen instead of her for the UN World Team, she knew it was politics, but still it stung. Her soloing career after that did not go to badly, but she was no Night Specter but then, he was not much these days either. At least she did not betray any trusts.
“AEON Mall Station,” announced the monorail, “have a wonderful day shopping under the paraglass dome.” April smiled and stood, draining the last of the mocha. She tossed the empty cup into the garbage can as she exited among the early morning shoppers.
The station was not quite as shiny as it had been that first time but it was still impressive, the welcoming gateway to the ‘shopping paradise’ beyond. Advertisements and bright colors were everywhere and the omnipresent mall music washed over her, oddly, it was like being home. April hopped on the escalator down into the mall and gasped.
That mural over the escalators, that was new. It was the original team done in that massive heroic Soviet style with the motto “AEON Defenders: Keeping you Safe” boldly displayed. She did not know whether she should laugh or cry and was caught halfway between both when a scream interrupted.
April was instantly alert, her collapsed battle staff in hand. A young boy had climbed up on the railing to look down and was now in danger of falling . . . was falling. April was already on the move. Vaulting off the escalator, she dove! Catching the boy in midair and then falling. She twisted, cushioned the boy’s impact with her body. She winced, thankful for the kinetic dispersal cloth of her underwear.
“Are you alright,” she asked the boy who just stared at her. She set him upright and flipped up to her feet. People were running and shouting but April was focused on the boy.
“Are you a superhero?” he finally asked looking up at her with big eyes, just before his mother smothered him in an embrace.
She reached into her jacket and pulled on her domino mask. “No,” she said with a sad smile, “I’m just Vixen.”