Aaron scanned his student ID to get into the Langley Hall cafeteria early on a Friday morning. The shiner on his right eye was just starting to heal from the fight with a group of Nexers he and White Diamond had had a few days before. He'd had to tell his friends it was a fight over a girl, one that he'd unfortunately lost.
After getting some eggs, turkey sausage, juice, and some salsa for the eggs, he looked around the wide open room until he found someone he recognized, and went over to sit with them.
At the table sat Ben and Dylan, and two guys he didn't recognize. One was short, with dark brown hair and glasses. The other was big, with a thick brown mop. Though they seemed to be quite different people, they were talking as if they knew each other well.
Aaron set down his tray and scooted up next to Ben. “What up, Ben, Dylan,” he greeted them, taking a sip of his juice and tossing his book bag on the empty chair beside him.
“Hey, Aaron. Actually going to class this morning?” Ben joked.
“Lol. You're hilarious, Benny.” Aaron changed his focus to the new guys. “Hey, I'm Aaron, I living on 7, Ben's floor.”
“What's up. I'm Caz, this is my roommate Tim. Just moved here from Schuster Tower,” the larger one with the thick curly mop spoke in a strong voice.
“Ah, the big place. Nice building, on the outside anyway.” Schuster Tower had been once of the first buildings Aaron had explored when he got the wings and became Dragonfly. It was one of the three tallest buildings in Stevenson, and definitely the tallest at CIU.
“Yeah, well, considerably less nice on the inside. This place has much more style,” Tim said.
“Of course it does,” Dylan said. “I live here.”
“Ooh!” Aaron said, standing. “Ladies and gentlemen, Dylan Beyer. He's here all week!”
After a bit more small talk, Aaron finished off his breakfast and headed to class. As he crossed the Quad, he thought about earlier in the week, when he'd met Rick Pennington, AKA The Adept. So far, he hadn't contacted them to save the world or anything. Aaron hadn't been in touch with White Diamond either, though he know a bit more about her now. The young woman was actually a highschool student, not a CIU student. She was a senior, at least. On the track team, the photography club. She lived in South Stevenson on the other side of the highway, a wealthy area. These things he'd found on Google in a few minutes of searching.
Aaron had Emily's number, of course, but he was honestly a bit nervous to call her for non-business reasons. He wasn't sure what her parents' views on her dating a college guy would be, even though she was 18. He had people of interest right now, too. But for some reason, his mind kept coming back to Emily. They'd shared more in the last few weeks than anyone else he knew in this town. And she was, in a word, fabulous. Even if their interacting wasn't always the friendliest.
Aaron chuckled a bit as he remembered their first encounter. His mind was so involved in replaying that memory, he almost didn't notice that people were streaming out of a nearby lab building. Must be a fire or something? Better find out, Aaron thought. He hustled across the campus to the back of the group of students.
Nudging the nearest, a young woman with thick, curly blond hair, he asked “What's going on?”
She looked at him, horrified. “It's awful, just horrible. There's...there's something in there.”
THAT did not sound promising, Aaron thought. Something? Without a further word, Aaron ducked between two buildings, flipping over a railing to the bottom of an isolated stairwell. Fortunately, he kept more than books in his bookbag. Pulling out his phone as he changed, he dialed Rick first.
“Pennington, that you?” he asked to confirm when the other answered.
“Yes. Is this Dragonfly?”
“Half-way. There's something going down in one of the lab buildings on campus. Girl was talking about seeing a monster or something inside. Find Diamond and get here as soon as you can. I'm heading in.” With that, Dragonfly tied on his mask. He pulled his sword from the pool cue case he carried with him most days (he wasn't taking billiards).
Zipping low through the air just over the heads of the evacuated students, Dragonfly flew into the building. The first thing he noticed was the smoke. Covering his nose and mouth with his shirt, he flew up the stairs and into the upper hallway. The smoke was thick and acrid. Undoubtedly, it contained chemical residue. Dragonfly hoped it wasn't anything too dangerous. Suddenly, a chair flew at him from out of nowhere. He barely had time to move out of the way, but it's a good thing he did. One of the metal legs of the chair embedded itself in the brick wall next to him.
Whatever this thing is, it's playing for keepsies, Dragonfly thought. He didn't have long to wait before the creature came rushing out of the smoke. It was a hideous, tentacled monster, like something out of a Lovecraft story.
Bwah! Not getting too close to that thing if I can avoid it! Dragonfly thought. He drew his sword as the creature approached him. Slashing at the tentacles as the creature closed in, he managed to sever one of the creature's limbs. It fell lashing to the ground, but then immediately, it fade from view, as if it had never been there. Dragonfly briefly entertained the idea that the creature was an illusion, but the tentacle wrapping around his arm and flinging his sword backward dispelled that thought.
Dragonfly was in unfamiliar territory; he'd never fought monsters before. Super-powered, drug crazed college students was one thing, but this was just crazy. Time to try out that other gadget; he'd wanted to use it in combat for some time, but had been afraid of hurting real people. No such concern this time. Reaching into a pocket in the side of his costume, Dragonfly pulled a small metallic device, only slightly larger than a smartphone.
“Suck Humming Bomb, slime!” Dragonfly broke free of the tentacle and flipped backward, tossing the device at the creature as he did so.
As the beast moved forward, a loud “screeeeee” noise echoed from the device. Dragonfly landed just outside the device's central effect, picking up his sword as he did so. Even at this distance, the pain was excruciating. Holding his ears, he watched as the exterior windows reverberated, then finally broke. The creature shimmered slightly, as if it, like it's severed limb, were going to fade out of existence. Instead, it leaped out the shattered windows and among the crowd.
Damn, Dragonfly thought. Didn't see that coming. Coughing out the toxic smoke, he flew through the window after the creature. He came into the outside light just in time to see White Diamond blasting the creature with a light beam. It had an effect, but not much of one. Meanwhile, The Adept was ushering several dozen students through a portal he'd opened to a presumably safe location.
The creature lashed at White Diamond, but she stood still, trusting her heat shield. This seemed to be a poor choice. The creature lashed around her, ignoring the shield as if it weren't there. Dragonfly held his sword out, and charged in straight for the creature. It was designed to slash rather than puncture, but it had a sharp point, nonetheless. From above and behind, Dragonfly dropped into the beast, his sword embedding in an indiscernible but hopefully vital part of its anatomy.
The creature screeched and flailed all its tentacles upwards, dropping White Diamond to the ground. She pivoted and ran to get to a safe distance from the beast. When she was free, The Adept opened a portal underneath the creature. It struggled to dodge out of the pit below it, which seemed to open into the sky, but it failed. Dragonfly was barely able to pull his sword from its flesh before it fell in.
Now that the students were safe or evacuated, Dragonfly flew down to White Diamond. “You okay, Em?” he asked with concern. She looked a little surprised at the depth of emotion on his face, but nodded.
“Uh-huh. Fine,” she said, standing upright and adjusting her stance.
“Nice work, Adept!” Dragonfly called out.
Adept, appearing in his street clothes rather than the mystical robes that were always with him, came over to join his teammates. “Thanks. I like that one, though I've never been able to use it in quite that way before.”
Sounds of clapping and cheering were starting to be heard in the background, as the students of CIU realized their heroes had averted another disaster. “We better take off before someone official gets here...” Dragonfly begun.
Suddenly, a tentacle appeared around his neck, and he was flung backwards into a concrete support pillar. Another of the creatures had appeared from nowhere, and one more on either side of the heroes for a total for three.
“This is not good,” Rick said, “not good at all.”
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