Arcadia took off the mask, reverting back to Jon. Jon looked at Karyn and sighed, "Listen, I know how much this means to you. I'll let you try it later. For now, I haven't even gotten to try out my powers." Karyn nodded, and then laughed, "You know, I kinda figured that was gonna happen. Couldn't hurt to ask, right? Well, what do you say we go to the old train yard and give it a whirl?" Jon nodded and smiled. He was happy this hadn't turned into some dramatic issue.
The train yard had been abandoned for years. Some of the trains had gone as far back as the 1920's. No modern tracks connected to it. It's also the hangout place for most of the "losers" in the school, and occasionally host to parties when alcohol is involved. When Jon and Karyn arrived, the yard was empty. Trains and scrap metal littered the yard. Karyn looked at Jon. "Alright, Jon. Let 'er rip." Jon took out the mask and put it on, becoming Arcadia once again. Arcadia looked around, trying to find something to do.
"Why don't you go lift that train car?" Karyn asked, pointing at a car that was off the track. Arcadia nodded. "Alright, let's see what this bad girl can do!" Arcadia began walking toward the train car, and noticed for the first time how naturally she walked. She forgot she was even wearing heels. Karyn noticed it as well. She even saw Arcadia's hips swaying in an unmistakably feminine fashion. "Something you're not telling me, Jon?" Arcadia stopped. "Guess the mask just made me used to this body. Listen, it's weird, but I'm still me." Arcadia made it to the car, and inspected it. 'Where do I grab it?' Arcadia shrugged and placed her hands on the bottom of the car. She pulled, and before she knew it, the car rose up with her. 'Huh. It's as light as my textbooks.' Arcadia continued to push and held the train car over her head with no difficulty. She turned around to face Karyn and smiled.
Arcadia couldn't help but enjoy the newfound power. She decided to kick things up a notch. She pulled her arms down, and then tossed the car straight up into the air. It went up, and up, and up, until it was just barely in sight. Karyn walked over to Arcadia. "I think you over did it," Karyn said. "Nah. I got it." Arcadia noticed the car was inching toward the exit. It wasn't going to land where Arcadia was. Arcadia waited, until it was just a few yards away from the ground, then she took off, bolting toward it faster than she could imagine, and soon found herself beneath the car. She raised one hand, and the car landed on it. Arcadia only felt a brief discomfort, but she held the car effortlessly, before grabbing it with her second hand to gently lower it.
Karyn ran toward Arcadia, absolutely beaming. "That was amazing!" she cried, "You gotta show me your flight!" Arcadia looked around, and smiled. "Alright, but you don't get to come with me. Not till I get the hang of it." "Aw, come on." Arcadia backed away from Karyn and concentrated. 'Just let the body do the work,' Jon thought. Suddenly she felt herself becoming lighter than air. She looked down and saw the ground... several feet below her. Karyn stared in awe as her friend did something she could only imagine doing. Getting the hang of floating, Arcadia blasted off, careening into the sky. "WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO" Was all Arcadia could yell as she flew as fast as a jet through the sky. She flew up to the clouds, and loved the freedom. She did loopdeloops, spins, whatever tricks came to mind. Arcadia wondered how far she had went, and decided to lower herself. She flew down and found herself over a city.
Arcadia decided to lower her altitude to just above the skyline. She flew around, looking down as people stared up at her in awe. And then she heard a pop. And then a second one. She looked for the source of the noise and noticed a pawn shop with a broken window. No police officers had come yet. Arcadia flew down, and sneaked to the side of the window. She saw two men in front of the counter, one was pointing a gun at the owner. The owner, a Russian man, scrambled to talk, but could only get out a frantic mix of Russian and English. "Listen old man! I saw you take that statue! I want it! Now!" Arcadia sneaked into the pawn shop. The owner, still trying to talk, looked at Arcadia, drawing the muggers attention toward her. "What are you- oh shit. A meta!" The mugger panicked and fired, but Arcadia saw the bullet leave the barrel. It moved almost painfully slowly. She could have dodged, but wanted to see if Grandpa's claim of invulnerability was true. The bullet made its way to Arcadia's stomach, and when it connected, it flattened, and bounced right off.
The mugger backed away. He couldn't believe it. And then he got a good luck at just who he was dealing with. "Arcadia? You're supposed to be-" Arcadia stepped forward "Dead? I got better." In an instant, Arcadia bolted toward the armed mugger and effortlessly slapped the gun out of his hand. The second one drew a knife, but Arcadia looked at him. "Really?" The second mugger dropped the knife and raised his hands, backing off. "I think you guys should turn yourselves in. Wouldn't want this to get ugly, would we?" The two muggers looked at each other and shaked their heads. "Good." Then out of the corner of her eye, outside the window, she saw a streak of silver. She watched the window and saw a black man in a silver and white costume, his face masked with what looked like a beak, pass by the window. Arcadia immediately knew him as Silverhawk, one of the metas she had looked up.
Silverhawk stepped through the door. He hadn't even bothered to look at the new meta yet. He looked at the ground and saw the bullet. She actually let the guy fire off a bullet. Classic newbie mistake. "Look, I get it. You just got powers, you wanna try 'em out, but you gotta register with the Socie-" Silverhawk looked up and saw someone he never thought he'd see again. Arcadia, looking exactly as she had the last day he had saw her. The same youthful beauty who trained him when he first got his powers. "Arcadia?" The woman who looked like Arcadia nodded. Silverhawk took a closer look. The stance was all wrong. This woman was more relaxed than the Arcadia he knew. She let the guy fire off a bullet, and hasn't even looked at the victim yet. This was not the Arcadia he knew. "No. So, what, shapeshifter or fan?" The lookalike stepped forward. "Arcadia... when she died, she wanted me to be her successor. I just got the source of her powers yesterday." Silverhawk nodded. He mentally smacked himself for getting his hopes up. Nobody comes back from the dead. Nobody.
Silverhawk immediately reassumed his professional posture. "Well, in that case, you're an unregistered meta. So here's what's gonna happen. The police'll get here, and we'll tell 'em you're under my tutelage. Your Junior Society member license was approved, but you didn't get it yet. You were here solely to watch. Cool?" Arcadia looked around. She didn't know why Silverhawk was trying to cover for her. She knew she had just committed a crime by helping, but she couldn't stand by and do nothing, right? She could leave now, and Silverhawk would probably cover for her, or she could trust Silverhawk and hope his intentions were pure.
