Heroes of Silvatica City

Silvatica City. A place where people go to escape their troubles, or cause troubles of their own. There is a melting pot of different people in this city. And then there are those who are a little more special than others. Nobody knows what drew these people to this city. Call it fate or luck, but soon these special people would find themselves drawn to each other...

> Previously in Heroes of Silvatica City...

While powers were tested and new frontiers pushed, more quiet but equally important events were ongoing at the same time. Caoimhe and William were worried about both Daniel and Aaliyah, so decided to bring the two together. It might not be the best idea and they were ready to support both of them if it were upsetting, but they went ahead anyway. "She's just down here," Caoimhe murmured, pointing Daniel towards Aaliyah's containment.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean... I do recall a bit about her but she was with the clone of me right?" Daniel said. He had been improving as of late. He was regaining his memories, although his personality was having trouble resurfacing. It had been a few days, and now Ica and Squishy were ready to do their crime fighting thing! They were going to meet up with Haley, who had decided to change her hero name to Zepher since she knew the origin of her powers now. She was excited to meet up with other heroes to start a kind of team! The others were off doing their own thing at this time.

"Honestly? I ain't sure it's a good idea," Caoimhe said truthfully. "But Aaliyah don't have no one. She don't see any of us, her friends, as anythin' anymore, all she does is push us away. She ain't got family either. All she had was you, losin' you made her like this. Maybe just seein' you's all she needs." That said, Daniel didn't look the same. He refused to have his horrendous robot arm replaced, and his eye was still mangled. His poor father... "So, we are not allowed to attack perpetrators if they are running from us," Squishy repeated again. "We may restrain them but not use deadly force on them in this event... I do not understand this law, honestly." It and Ica were still new to the laws of humans.


"Heh such confidence. Alright. Ill do my best." Daniel said as they approached. William really hoped this would work. He wanted Aaliyah to be better. They had no more options at this point. "the law is made to protect good citizens. We don't want to be bad like the people we take down. Although if someone attacks you, use self defense." Haley said. "squishy is right, this is somewhat confusing. But, we must jump in head first in order to fully understand." Ica said. She was wearing her costume already and she was so excited to get started.


"Just don't be too full on," Caoimhe whispered as they rounded the corner to Aaliyah's cell. "Be... Gentle..." She trailed off when they caught sight of Aaliyah, standing right up against the glass and staring out at them with her large black eyes. Of course, she had super sensitive hearing, she might have heard Daniel's voice already. "If the enemy retreats, we will just jump in front of them and attack them that way," Squishy said, negating the law by not understanding its nuance.


Too full on? Daniel didn't understand what that meant, but he would be gentle. "Aaliyah....it's been a long time." Daniel said as he approached her cage. Wow, she looked so much different. No wonder everyone was worried. "Jumping is fine, but only attack if they hit you ok?" Haley said. She was getting a bit nervous about this, but she was hopeful(?) that it would be ok. "Lets head out on patrol. We might not even have any action tonight." Haley said.


Different from the photos they'd showed Daniel, no doubt, as he still claimed to not remember Aaliyah or any of them. She crouched down slightly behind the glass and put her big paws against it, staring intently into Daniel's face. Then she pressed her face right against the glass, perhaps hoping to scent him through it though it would be impossible. But would it be safe to let him in the room? "That would be boring," Squishy surmised as they all headed out alongside one another.


"Go ahead and let me in." Daniel said to the soldier by the door. He didn't fear her, and if she attacked he would defend himself. William agreed. It looked like he was getting through to her a bit, just by being in her presence which was a good sign. Haley just smiled as she took off into the sky. Ica held onto squishy as she spread her wings and they flew after her. "This is quite exciting isn't it Squishy? Tonight we debut as superheroes." Ica said to him as they moved around the city.


Caoimhe wouldn't rate this idea, but there was no stopping it now. As soon as Daniel entered the room, Aaliyah roughly grabbed his robot arm and began to sniff it thoroughly. She didn't seem to like it much. But as she did so, her body started shrinking and russet fur began to fall to the ground. "I hope they like us," Squishy said, revealing a little of its childish need to be accepted.

It was working!! "Yeah. I have a lot to tell you about what happened. I'm glad to see you again." Daniel said to her, as she shrank down. He was happy this was working. "Maybe it will be like the shows where they don't really like you much until you start to help them." Ica said. "Something's happening over there!" Haley said, interrupting her conversation to point out that something was happening on the ground. It looked like some kind of street brawl.

Could Aaliyah even understand human speech anymore? It looked like she was hearing him, but not really listening or understanding, she was simply touching and smelling him. As she shrank and lost her hair, her movements became less animal-like and more slow, human-ish. It took a few minutes, but soon enough she was standing before Daniel as a human again, fully naked, and she looked different. Her hair had orange streaks in it. She was shorter, still tall for a woman but not quite as lofty. Her tail had a tuft of fur on the end now. And unlike usual, she was smiling. "Danny," she breathed hugging onto Daniel tightly. "Hmm," Squishy hummed, looking at Fly Girl - now Zepher. "You have the most experience, show us how it's done."

Daniel noticed she had no clothes, so he glanced over for someone to bring her something to wear. William had a jacket for her and asked the soldier to go get her some actual clothes. "Yeah. It's me. Welcome back Aaliyah." Daniel said to her. He could really feel like he needed her so he was glad he could help. Even if he wasn't her Daniel. "Ummm ok. First we should try to break up the brawl and see how it started." Zephyr said as she flew down and landed near the brawl. She went up and stopped two people who were fighting. "Should we also try to get people to stop?" Ica asked Squishy.

Caoimhe always had scarves and such present, so she wrapped one gently around Aaliyah's waist as a skirt. "What happened?" Aaliyah asked in a hoarse voice, looking up into Daniel's face. "All I remember is... D-doesn't matter. Danny," she said, as firmly as she could though she sounded frail. "I want you to know I... Don't care you're a clone. You're real to me, ya hear." Oh no. She thought this Daniel was the clone, her boyfriend, who'd melted and made her go mad. "Yes," Squishy agreed, but inside it was thinking if it would be a help or a hindrance. It was freaky looking and might just scare them off.

Daniel saw no reason to lie to her. If she found out at a later time it could just make this happen again. "I'm not a clone Aaliyah. I'm the real deal. The others went to rescue me." He said to her. He didn't say the clone was dead, because it was unnecessary. "I'm really here." He said. They were all wearing costumes though, so it should be ok. Once they landed, they noticed strange with the people. Haley jumped back to them as the people started to gather around them. "Um.. I think something's wrong here. The people are acting really funky." Haley told them. Upon closer look Ica and Squishy could see that the people's eyes were white.

Upon that revelation, Aaliyah quickly recoiled her hands and looked at Daniel with horror. So it was true, her clone Daniel had died after all in the most horrid way. The real- no, the original Daniel was back, that was good, but this wasn't her Daniel. All at once she was sad, horrified, furious, scared, lonely... She passed out before any of this could be put into words, falling backwards onto Caoimhe who couldn't support the taller girl's weight. They had to sling her over to her rarely used bed. "Are they sick?" Squishy asked, striking a typical hero's pose while standing between the group and the two women. In the comics and the cartoons, the women always stood behind the man while he defended them: Squishy wasn't male or female, but it would still not like for Ica, in particular, to be harmed by the sick people.

"Well...she is somewhat back to normal. That's good right?" Daniel said. "Yes. You did good friend. Perhaps now we can help her heal from experience." William said sadly as he helped situate her on the bed and made sure to cover her up. "It's hard to tell, but this is certainly nt normal behavior. What should we do?" Ica asked. "Lets just...try to knock them out until we can figure out what to do. If you hit them in the chin hard enough, it should rattle their brains. Just try not to hurt them too much." Haley said as she led by example and zipped towards one getting too close and knocked them out with a swift smack to the jaw

"You're gonna have to really talk with her," Caoimhe said, sighing as she sat next to Aaliyah in bed and stroked her hair out of her face. Hadn't she said to be gentle? "Poor chick... Her hair's cute," she added idly, stroking a strand that was laced with russet. Squishy could do this easily. One thing it did know about its powers was that it was very elastic. So it could punch a few perps in the chin, without coming too close to them. So it did.

"I will try my best. I would not know what to say though." Daniel admitted. "Lets just wait for her waking up to see what to do." William said to them. They sat around for a while, waiting for their friend to wake up. Ica could do it too. She flew past a lot of them and smacked them in the chins and pretty soon they were all unconscious. "Ok that's done. Now we gotta figure out what happened here." Haley said. "I...I know." A voice said from inside a trash can nearby. it opened and out popped a little boy. "There was this strange guy who came around, played some kind of weird song on a flute then suddenly everyone went nuts." the boy told them.

Before Aaliyah woke up, Caoimhe reluctantly got to her feet. "I, um... Actually have to go now. I'm goin' back to New York for a bit, see mama," she said. "Should've said sooner but we were all so busy." She'd actually booked these tickets a long while ago and nearly forgot about them. "Why were you not affected?" Squishy asked immediately, confused and suspicious of the boy.

Oh. William had not known she was leaving. "Ok. Be careful. Enjoy your trip. We watch over things while you are gone." William said to her. Daniel nodded in agreement. She had been very supportive of him, so he hoped she could enjoy her visit to her mother. The boy reached into his ear and pulled something out. "I have hearing aids. I had it turned down before the guy started playing his flute. I barely caught a tune before everyone started flipping out." The boy said. "Hmm so there's some guy who's using some kind of sonic frequency that makes people become violent? Sounds like a good plot for a movie." Ica said. "Well regardless we need to find this guy before he does this again. Someone could have gotten really hurt during all this. Give us a description and we'll search him down." Haley said. The boy agreed and gave them a description so they could set out.

What a disappointing but not at all surprising reaction - complete apathy. From Daniel it was fine, but from William... Well, it was to be expected. Caoimhe gave William a brief look of longing before turning and leaving. Not long after, Aaliyah awoke in silence, staring up at the ceiling. "Is this not like the Pied Piper?" Squishy asked, not sure if it was getting the tale right, as they went back out into the streets.

William didn't know what to do so he just waved as she left. He sighed once she left and sat down. He wondered if even Caoimhe was getting tired of the way he was. It certainly did seem that way at times. MMm he would talk with her more when she came back. For now he wanted to focus on AAliyah's issues rather than his. Daniel saw her wake up and sat beside her. He didn't say anything until she was fully conscious. "Hmmm kinda sorta...Ooh that's a good name for him until we find him!" Haley said to Squishy. "Let us find this pier piper and bring him to justice." Ica said. They walked around until they heard a commotion on the streets. It looked like a full blown riot as a lone figure stood atop a car, holding a violin in his hand. He had a flute tied to his back, so chances are that was their flutist. He was playing a haunting melody that seemed to be making everyone very destructive.

Aaliyah saw that Daniel, and then William, noticed her wake up... And she turned away from them both, lying with her face against the wall. She was back to normal, but she was still mourning the loss of someone very precious. To undercut the solemnity of the moment, her stomach growled loudly. Squishy rubbed one of the structures on its head that could have been an ear, with a pained look on its face. "That stings," it complained. "We must put a stop to this." It was a noble thing to say, and it took a noble stance when it said it, but really it just wanted to not get a further earache.

Daniel gave William a look once they heard her stomach growl. "I...shall bring food for you. I be right back." William said. Once he left and they were alone Daniel sighed. "Im...really sorry about what happened to your...me." Daniel said. "Agreement. How should we combat someone who uses sound?" Ica said. "We don't seem to be affected just from hearing it, so maybe we can take him out quickly before something happens." Haley suggested. "Lets rush him and get him to stop playing then." Ica said as she ran towards the man with the violin. He turned around and saw them heading towards him. He was wearing a strange mask so they couldn't see his face but he pointed his violin towards the three of them and played more, making everyone who was fighting stop and then run at the three heroes.

Daniel sat in silence with her, thinking she probably wouldn't speak to him but then she did. "I uh....I had a rough time since I was gone." Daniel said as he made a fist with his robot arm. "They told me you were having a really bad time too. I'm...sorry about what happened. I know it's gonna sound strange but...I'm sure that Daniel was good guy." Daniel said. "Gotcha. You two focus on keeping the people from hurting each other." Zepher said as she zoomed forward, taking off into the air and headed towards the pied piper. He saw her and kept playing, making most of the people still go after Ica and Squishy and a few others coming back to protect them.

Daniel didn't really connect it at this point, because he had no idea how that other Daniel acted. "I'm sure....he loved you too. From what I remember about you, you're an amazing person." Daniel said. He felt slightly awkward, not knowing what to say in this situation. He hoped William would be back with the food soon. Ica was able to float over them so she could dispatch them quite easily as well. "Should we still discuss super hero move names?" Ica said to Squishy as they kept easily dispatching of the zombie people.

"My memories are slowly returning." Daniel said. Yeah...most days its hard not to think about it. Being around everyone helps., but most days the memories of that time...is hard to deal with." Daniel said. This was the most he had talked about what happened to anyone. It was very easy to converse with Aaliyah. His arm was cold and it had the feel that he had used it a lot. For what was unclear. "Are they not also super heroes?" Ica said, kicking someone in the face from the air and knocking them into a few others.

Daniel was surprised that she leaned against him but didn't stop her. Perhaps she needed some physical contact with someone. It certainly helped Daniel when his father hugged him. They sat like that for a bit until William returned with some food for Aaliyah. "I hope I am not intruding. I have brought the food." William said as he brought it over to Aaliyah. "Perhaps we should discuss this with others. Gaining some insight might help us." Ica said as the both of them finished off the rest of them. "For now we should help Zepher." Ica said, looking over to where she was fighting. The Pied Piper seemed very agile as Zepher was having a bit of a hard time. He also seemed to be playing something that let him multiply. Some kind of illusion.

"No problem." William said. They waited for her to finish eating and when she laid down William and Daniel shared a look. "Hey Aaliyah. Since you're doing much better maybe we should bring you somewhere else. That bed is probably not the most comfortable." Daniel told her. The pied piper dodged Squishy as well and even Ica couldn't touch him. "What's with this guy? He's so hard to hit!" Zepher said. "Perhaps he is not actually here. He may have fled." Ica said. The pied piper chuckled as he looked at Ica. "Correct you are my dear. I am nowhere near." The pied piper said. Ugh he rhymed.

William looked like he wanted to say something, but Daniel stopped him. "It is alright. You don't have to leave. Do you want to be alone right now?" Daniel asked her. He knew this feeling, so he could understand if she wanted them to leave her alone. The pier piper simply chuckled and then like a puff of smoke he just vanished. "Ugh. What was his purpose?" Zepher said, just as confused. "He might have just been one of those agents of chaos? Someone who just likes making things difficult?" Ica suggested, although she was also confused. zepher sighed. "Well at any rate I guess we stopped what he was doing for now." She said on a more positive note.

Everyone was really happy until Knight brought them the news. "A heart attack...you don't suppose that Caoimhe..." Elli started but the others probably were having the same thoughts. William quickly headed out, going to see if he could make contact with Caoimhe. He really hoped she was ok, but from the sound of it she might not be. He wanted to make sure she was ok, although he didn't know what he would do if she wasnt...

Thinking in that way, it would make sense that she could have done that. "Maybe we should all head over to her mother's place? That was where she was going correct?" Ica asked. William came back with a grimace. He was worried that they couldn't reach her. "Maybe we relax. Perhaps Squishy is right. Maybe just coincidence. We wait for Caoimhe to contact us." William said.

During those days they all were worrying a bit less. Since they hadn't heard from her, they figured she was fine and what happened was an accident. At least everyone did except William. It was abnormal for her to not contact any of them at all. He didn't know how to feel but he certainly wasn't like the others. When Knight said she was coming back, they got excited. They were all hanging around for a while, trying to get Aaliyah back used to being around everyone. William perked up a bit as he waited for Caoimhe to appear with Knight.

That was...slightly alarming. William was fine with going alone, or just with Squishy. "I check back." William said to all the others. He went over to Knight and he was ready to teleport off with her to go see their friend. he still didn't know what he'd say if something terrible happened.

William was very alarmed by this. Especially since Caoimhe didn't even look at Squishy who she treated as her child. He felt like what happened really shook her up. "Uh hello Caoimhe. How was trip?" William asked somewhat awkwardly.

William did know about the incident but not what happened which is wanted he wanted to know about. He wouldn't press her on it for now though. Then she mentioned the plants. "Blame on me. Was preoccupied trying to make Aaliyah better. I apologize for plants." William said. He did tell her he would come water them, he just was more concerned about Aaliyah's health that he forgot.