Sol Invictus 3: Child of Glory
The sun had not risen for three days. Since the sirens had gone off, there had been nothing but night. A part of Vicky wondered why it wasn’t getting cold. She remembered The Scream, when it had snowed in Brockton harder than she could remember. A part of her feared that it would start snowing, even here in Hawaii. Of course, that might mean that the Tsaritsa was coming, and even the Ice Witch might be preferable to the nightmare she was currently trapped in.
As it was, she was almost too exhausted to care.
Another ambulance was pulling up, lights obscured in the darkness of the Abyssal fog that coated the island of Oahu. Vicky hurried forward with the stretcher, breathing hard through the sweat stained mask she was wearing. She hadn’t showered in three days, and this was only an N95 mask, not one of the real anti-Abyssal purification masks. Even the PRT troopers guarding the entrance to Tripler Army Medical Center had on simple gas masks. The good stuff was long gone.
“Wait! Something ain't right!” the other girl on the stretcher cried. In contrast to Vicky’s fair skin and blonde hair, Mualani Kalama was dark-skinned with thick black kinky hair. Who was taller between the two of them seemed to depend on the day, with both girls trending towards lanky. They’d known one another vaguely through their soccer league, though Mualani played for Kapolei Middle.
Vicky pulled up short, even as the ambulance slid into place. That was when she realized the wheels weren’t turning. The two PRT troopers reached forward to open the ambulance door, only for the vehicle to suddenly snarl at them, the back door opening to reveal rows of horrifying fangs and a fleshy gullet. The guards screamed, but were devoured in a spray of blood and viscera.
Screaming, Victoria and Mualani ran back into the hospital. An arm flew past them, and Victoria was sickened to see it still held one of the troopers’ guns. The snarling ambulance was finishing its meal, and turning itself towards the two middle school girls, obviously still hungry.
Desperately, Victoria picked up the gun, ripping it out of the bloody hand. She hadn’t ever really fired a gun before, but her target was large, and the operation dead simple. She began to fire, shattering the glass of the hospital doors. Mualani reached under the stretcher and drew the machete they had strapped there: this wasn’t the first abyssal monster that had tried to ambush them as they transported patients into the hospital, but it was the first time the ambulance itself had BEEN the monster.
Even with the gun firing electro bullets, the nightmare vehicle wasn’t slowed. It plowed through the doors, demolishing the rest of the glass and causing the metal frame to buckle and screech. Fortunately, it got stuck in the entry, too large to easily maneuver in. Mualani sprang forward and slashed at the thing, but Victoria had run out of bullets. She looked around for more, spotted a spare clip, and hastily tried to reload even as the monster snarled and surged forward.
“Vicky! Mualani! Stay back!”
A sense of relief washed over Victoria as her sister ran forward, Vision glowing brightly in one hand, standard issue caster wand in the other. Victoria herself might be a useless idiot, but her sister was brilliant, and had a Holy Vision. Screw what the president said, at least Farasha and Nahida were doing something.
A rain of thorns hit the monster-bulance, but the thing just snarled and struggled forward, cracking mortar and forcing Mualani back. Victoria’s finger depressed the trigger again, but her gun clicked uselessly. Trembling with fear and rage, she grabbed the gun by the barrel and put herself between Amy and the monster. Sure, she was useless and weak, but she wasn’t going to back down. Not now.
Behind her, she could hear Amy shouting at the doctors and nurses to evacuate patients and barricade doors. Mualani was looking pale, even with her dark complexion, but she was gripping the machete with both hands and standing beside Victoria. The monster slithered closer, breaking through the doorway, slobber dripping from its fangs. Victoria threw up in her mouth a little, seeing bits of bone and torn uniform.
“You guys have to get out of here! I’ll hold it off!” Amy gasped, raising her Vision. It glowed pitifully, but the light was all that seemed to repel the fog that was now rolling into the hospital.
“No! We’re all that’s left! We’re not abandoning you or this place!” Victoria snarled. What was the point in running, anyway? They were going to die, one way or another. May as well die like mom did. On her feet. Fighting.
Mualani suddenly stopped her foot, taking a shuffling step forward and chanting in an unsteady voice, "E Kū! E Kū! E hele mai!"
Victoria had no idea what the frick that meant. She had done ʻoli and chants during May Day, and she’d had to sing Hawaii Ponoi, but she didn't know what they meant.. However, she was also scared stiff, and Mualani looked…well, not like she wasn’t scared, but like shouting had helped.
So, when Mualani did it again, Victoria did her best to copy her, stomping her foot and screaming, "E Ku! E Ku! E hele mai!"
It was stupid. It was ridiculous. A giant Abyssal demon had taken on the form of a damn ambulance and was currently forcing its way into the hospital to eat Victoria and everyone else there. She was out of bullets, using a gun like a damn club, and she was screaming in Hawaiian despite being a white girl from Brockton. She wanted to laugh, cry, run away, and hide under a bed until the monster went away.
But Ami wasn’t running either. She looked paler than a ghost, was gripping her Vision, and sending more thorns at the monster, which just made it mad, but she was stomping her foot and screaming, "E Kū! E Kū! E hele mai!"
Three twelve year old girls. One monster. A dramatically unfair fight.
But not in the way Victoria Dallon or anyone else would have imagined.
Because in the distance, the Sun had just broken through the fog.
Despair is all around you, but do not fear! You can fight on!
The monster-bulance cracked the door frame completely, and slithered in, chomping its jaws. Victoria brought her gun down with all her might, and the stupid demon ripped it out of her hands, crunching the metal frame into fragments.
Let your Soul awaken! Destiny is what we make it!
Amy screamed as the monster lunged for her. Victoria snarled and threw herself in the way. It wanted her sister? IT COULDN’T HAVE HER!
Your Vision is of Glory, your Purpose is to defend those you love.
Victoria herself ignited, flames burning all over her body. She tackled the monster, and it roared in pain, the false metal and paint of its body hissing and boiling away to reveal nothing but miasma and twisted flesh beneath.
Fly to battle, Daughter of War. For you will not go quietly, this or any other day!
A flaming gem forged from her own soul formed in Victoria’s hand, and she used it to punch the monster. The Dendro that infused it from her sister’s attacks ignited in a massive Combustion reaction, and fire alarms wailed. An instant later, sprinklers began to spray.
And Victoria discovered Burgeon reactions. Dendro Cores formed from the water mixing with Amy’s attacks, forming green seeds that coated the monster. When the Pyro from Victoria touched them, they triggered a massive explosion that ripped the monster’s face off. Instinctively, Victoria formed a shimmering shield of Pyro about herself, protecting her body from the attack.
Still, the monster wasn’t done. A long, tentacle-like tongue licked out towards Victoria, grabbing her leg under the shield, and toppling her to the ground. A second figure wielding a blade of flame stepped in, slashing the tongue, which burst into dark purple sludge.
“CHEE-HOO! WE GIVE IT ONE MORE CRACK!” Mualani roared, and Victoria surged back to her feet. She had nothing but her fists and flames, but that was enough. Together, she and Mualani threw the monster back out onto the curb, where it writhed and gurgled.
“KILL IT!” Victoria screamed, dashing forward even as her sister begged, “Wait!”
Screw that noise! That thing had tried to hurt her FAMILY. It had tried to wreck the hospital! It was going to BURN.
Victoria jumped into the air with an explosion of Pyro, and landed atop the monster-bulance. It wasn’t just rage that filled her. Anger, yes, but directed. Purposeful. It was fuel for her fire, but she didn’t let it consume her. She punched, kicked, bit, and wailed with everything she had, Mualani right behind her.
Amy, being the smart sister, stayed back and did her best to keep the monster infused with Dendro to fuel the burning reactions for the two maniacs who insisted on beating a whole vehicle to death.
At last, panting, tired, and covered in monster blood, Victoria stood over the rapidly evaporating ooze under her Jordans. She wiped the snot from her face with her forearm, and looked around. The darkness had fled, replaced with the light of the noon sun. It revealed a parking lot full of smashed and burned cars, and below that, temporary aid stations that were crawling with Abyssal monsters still, even under the light of the sun. She spat to the side, then grinned over at Mualani. She looked like hell: torn and stained clothes, hair coated in goo, her machete snapped at the handle.
“Well?” Victoria prompted. “Think you can kill more than me?”
“Shoots, sistah! We call this one even, but no way I evah lose to one army brat like you!” Mualani laughed.
Amy groaned. “W-we should help the people in the hospital…”
“WE WILL! BY KILLING EVERY ONE OF THOSE BASTARDS!” Victoria screamed, and with a burst of flames, took off for the field, Mualani racing to keep up with her.
Victoria did her best not to see the bodies. She focused on the few knots of people who were still alive in the wreckage, groups of PRT Troopers desperately defending doctors, nurses, and Victoria’s classmates who were volunteering to help. She screamed, “E HELE MAI!” and landed with a burst of flames right in the thick of things.
There were dozens of monsters, and while Victoria was now blessed with Pyro, she was not suddenly a battle hardened veteran. Very quickly, the monsters identified the three Vision Holders as the real threats on the battlefield. Rift hounds popped out of portals, hilichurls snarled and turned towards her, and a giant lawachurl turned aside from a doctor trying to fight it off with a broken IV stand and made for her.
A sane pre-teen would have realized her mistake. Victoria Dallon only said, “PERFECT!”
Still, a Vision didn’t make you invincible. She did manage to punch a hilichurl hard enough she spit its mask, and did her best not to look at the twisted face of the man it had once been. Then three more came at her, and Mualani was behind her, fighting for her life with only a broken lawn tool, Amy screaming behind them. She began to take more and more hits and cuts, her blood spattering the churned mud of the field. The flames of her Vision began to flicker and dim.
It should have ended there. Fate, however, was currently smiling on reckless fools.
“ Pour la justice et la vérité! À l’attaque ! “
Bolts of Cryo energy and arrows imbued with Hydro hit the monsters from the side, and there was a flourish of drums and the blow of trumpets. Even in the middle of battle, Victoria had to do a double take as a young woman with a camera in one hand and a strange book in the other led a squad of glowing hydro constructs at the monsters to the tune of the French anthem. At the weird reporter’s side was what could only be described as a French Princess in full plate armor, wielding a gleaming silver bow.
“Aw, darn it. It’s the cheese eating surrender monkeys!” Victoria complained as she punched another hilichurl.
“Dey don’t look like they ready for one surrender,” Mualani commented, burning a rift hound to ashes. “Ain’t dey da famous actors who come for make one play? Dey was on Maui fighting last we hear.”
“Yeah, but they’re FRENCH. If you don’t make fun of them, their heads get too big!” Victoria pointed out at the top of her lungs.
The weird reporter, who actually looked like she was barely in high school herself, grinned and responded, “ HON HON HON! What is zis? I am hearing ze peoples making ze complainings about ze rescues zey are not appreciating? Mes dieux ! Barbara, come, I shall simply make a few photographies, write my magnifique article for ze veedeo, and continue on my merry chemin~!"
“No, no, we like being saved!” Amy cried desperately, falling in with the frogs and still trying to keep Victoria and Mualani alive. Indeed, Victoria could feel the wounds she’d acquired being soothed away by her sister’s spells as dendro seeped into them.
The Princess sniffed and nocked another arrow, paused, then sniped a rift hound Mualani had just hit, causing it to Vaporise and whine with pain. "Zey are merely children, Charlotte. Frightened children. It would not be Just for us to abandon ze field now.”
“HEY!” Vicky snarled, throwing a fireball at the lawachurl to cause another vape from the Gardameks hitting it. “We’re in middle school! You’re what, freshmen? You’re barely older than us!”
"We are sixteen. You are still ze leetle babies. In ze, ‘ow you say eet? Ze junioring ‘igh school, yes?" Charlotte sniffed, throwing a ball of ice and causing the lawachurl to Melt from Vicky’s punches. The creature let out one final whimper, then crashed to the ground and began to dissolve.
The Princess didn’t lose focus, motioning the robots to turn about and sweep the field. "Ze Americans call Sixième 'Junior ‘igh,' Charlotte. Not 'Junioring.' Please, focus. We 'ave a 'ospital to save."
"Oui, yes, zat is what I saiding, Barbara,“ the reporter sniffed, and dismissed her book to pull out the camera and point Victoria. "You! Ze blonde tall one! Move closerings to your friends. I am needing a photography for properly documenting zis!"
Victoria instantly grinned, planting her foot on the head of the decomposing lawachurl and dragging Ami in as Mualani cheered and raised a shaka.
"Closer together, closer together! Oui, parfait!” Charlotte said, snapping a picture. “Ze exposé I shall write from zis will be masterful! Magnifique! Ze views alone shall be, ‘ow you say it? Knocking your socks on!"
“Off,” Amy mumbled, looking embarrassed, but Charlotte just grinned and snapped more pictures.
"Zere will be time for interviews later, Charlotte. Zere are wounded."We 'ave Visions. We must heal ze sick and set ze meks on patrol. We must ensure zere are no more monsters before ze sun sets."
“Uh,” Victoria looked down at her new Vision and frowned. “How do you like, do that? Without, you know, burning someone?”
“Oui, oui, I am knowing zis,” Charlotte said, bobbing up next to Victoria and holding up her own Vision. Victoria could feel the cold, but Charlotte closed her eyes, holding the Vision between her hands. "Cryo, she is not so good at ze ‘ealing. If you are not careful, poof! Frostbite!"
"You must imagine it in ze ‘ead,” Charlotte said, her tone now utterly serious. “You are repairing, not damaging. ‘ealing, not hurtening. Ze Vision is not like a, ‘ow you say eet? Shard? Mes dieux, who would even be wanting such a thing?"
Victoria could only nod. “My parents…they’re parahumans. It’s…not cool. Ugly.”
Charlotte snapped her fingers. "Yes, exactement! Vision, she is a ‘oly gift! So you are praying a little bit, oui? Asking politely. Zen it works. You, ze Dendro girl! Zis is ‘ow you are doing it too, non?"
Amy blushed and nodded, holding her own blessing out. “Yes, I…I pray to…to Lesser Lord Kusinali. I heard her…when she gave it to me…just like everyone says…and…and it helps. Who did you hear, Vicky? Was it…?”
“Ku,” Mualani said instantly, gripping her vision. “I never know Ku was one woman, but I heard her! She say, E koa o nā aliʻi kahiko, ke uē nei ka ʻāina i kona ʻeha!
E hāpai i kou ihe; ua hiki mai ka manawa e hoʻihoʻi mai ai i ke ao!
ʻO kou Hihio nō ka Pīhoihoi o ka naʻau, a ʻo ke Kaua kou Kuleana.
E ala aʻe, e ke Kaikamahine o nā Mokupuni Ahi!
“That mean something like,
O warrior of the ancient chiefs, the land cries out in its pain!
Take up your spear; the time has come to restore the dawn!
Your Vision is of Passion, and Battle is your Calling.
Rise up, Daughter of the Isles of Flame!
Victoria nodded, sensing that the words meant more to Mualani than anything, just as her own Vision had. “Ku. That’s what we said before in the chant, right? When the monster-bulance was attacking. So, like…we called on Ku…and she answered? So, if we ask Ku to help us heal…”
“Eh, small kine? Ku’s not really one healer, dat more Kane…which is what I been calling Lord Kusinali, really,” Mualani said with a shrug. “Some people, dey claiming da Archons are da Old Gods, some say dey different. But I for sure know I hear Ku when I get my Vision.”
That made enough sense to Victoria that she just rolled with it. “Right, so, what do we say?”
“Uh…” Mualani’s brow furrowed, and she said slowly, “E Kū, e kōkua mai. E hoʻōla iā ia.”
It took a couple of repetitions, but Victoria got it right enough for Mualani’s enthusiastic approval. She turned back to the battlefield and ran to the nearest kid who was down in the ruins of a tent. She recognized one of her fellow stretcher bearers: Paul, one of her best friends. They were in Honors English in Mr. Patterson’s class, and played soccer on the school team. He was down in the dirt, trying to hold in his guts, gasping for air as his life seeped from him. She knelt down, focused on the fire inside of her, and doing her best, said, “E Ku, e kokua mai. E ho’ola ia ia.”
It wasn’t quite right, it didn’t sound the way it had when Mualani said it, which irritated Victoria. But that didn’t matter. Because whoever Ku was…she heard.
Flames licked from Victoria’s outstretched hands and wrapped around Paul’s abdomen. The flames burned away his wound, his innards going back where they belonged, the wound sealing shut. He still gasped in pain, even fainting and slumping back. For a moment, Victoria panicked, but she did remember what she’d learned in CPR class, checking his pulse and breathing. The beat of Paul’s heart was steady, his breathing deep and relaxed, more like someone asleep than someone gasping for life.
“YES!” Victoria cheered, pumping her fist and grinning. “Screw you, death! I’ll fight you too, and I’ll freaking WIN!”
With five Vision Holders present, they soon had the aid camp set to rights. Victoria tried to surge to her feet and rush to the hospital to keep working, only to face plant into the dirt as the world spun about her. She felt suddenly like she’d run two triathlons and then been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.
There was a squish of boots, and then someone flipped Victoria over before she suffocated in the muck. She blinked, then saw the smug mug of that freaking pink haired frog, Charlotte.
“Ah, you are feeling eet, oui? Ze elemental energy, she is taking ‘er toll.” Charlotte tapped the side of her nose, then held up her own Vison. “You are 'aving ze power of a god, but we are not being gods ourselves. At least, not for ze moment.”
Victoria could only glare up at the frenchie as she frowned thoughtfully. “I am thinking I must investigate zis later. For journalismical purposes, naturellement. If zat strumpet from Russia is doing eet, zen why am I not doing eet also? It is seeming unfair.”
“She’s the daughter of the Ice Witch. You’re just a frog reporter for some school newspaper,” Victoria mumbled, still feeling woozy as Charlotte pulled out a flask and held it to Victoria’s lips. She expected a magical potion, but it turned out to be red gatorade.
“I 'ave my leetle secrets too, eh?” Charlotte giggled. “But zat video, he is not public yet. Eexcluseev content. You are understanding, oui.”
Groaning, Victoria was able to stand with Charlotte’s help, and found that Mualani wasn’t in much better shape, only on her feet with Barbara’s help and looking as dazed as Victoria felt. Fortunately, she didn’t have to lean on a pink haired frenchie for too long, as Amy hurried over and put Victoria’s arm over her shoulders.
“Thanks, sis,” Victoria mumbled.
“Don’t feel bad. It happened to me, too. My first two shifts. You get stronger with practice, um, but…yeah. It really sucks…”
“Yeah, well, we just kicked death in the dick, and that’s pretty cool,” Victoria giggled. Then she blinked. “Oh, crap! We gotta tell the Colonel. I mean, General. Miss Militia! The Pyro Archon Ku is here!”
"Eet is too late! I am already publishing!" Charlotte said smugly, holding up her phone, which was one of the newest Samsung smartphones. "I am getting ze leetle lizard to help me. I tell him, 'Monsieur Ajaw! I am knowing of a very secret dragon group chat! Perhaps you are wanting to ‘elp spread zee truth?'"
Charlotte paused, a twinkle in her eye. "As a journalist, naturalmente."
"CHARLOTTE!" Barbara snapped. “You were told zat in CONFIDENCE!”
"What? Eet is called investigative reporting,” Charlotte said, taking off her glasses and polishing them on her somewhat grimy jacket.
“Aaaaaand. All done!” Ajaw popped up on Charlotte’s phone screen, rubbing his little pixel fists together. “Now, about that group chat? I will show the others that they must fear THE ALMIGHTY DRAGON LORD K’UHUL AJAW!”
“Hey you little turd, are you leaking Hegemony secrets?” Victoria snapped. “‘Cause my mom is-”
She cut herself off. She’d been about to say, “My mom is 1st Lieutenant Carol Dallon.” But she wasn’t. Not anymore. Her mom was a plaque at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. They called it a cenotaph. Because there had been no body. The Abyss had taken that, too.
Ajaw was still ranting and showing his little puckered butthole, but Amy was squeezing Victoria hard. “We…we still have each other,” Amy said quietly. “And…and dad.”
It was odd. Amy hadn’t called their parents mom and dad until…well, until she got her Vision. It had changed her. Was Victoria going to change? She didn’t feel different. The pain was still there.
Charlotte noticed the two sisters crying, and turned her phone off, silencing the stupid lizard. She came over, and to Victoria’s surprise, joined the hug, squeezing both Dallon sisters, raw emotion in her voice that suddenly didn’t sound like such a stereotype.
"I am understanding. My mother, my father…” Charlotte swallowed, and Victoria squeezed her back. Just a little. “Ze Archons…zey did not come in time... I have a new family now. A good one. But it is still difficult. We keep fighting, oui? Ze night is over, but ze darkness..."
Charlotte sniffled, and her glasses fogged up as she seemed to hold onto Victoria just as much as Victoria was holding on to her. "Sometimes you carry zat part with you."
Mualani was tearing up as well, and Barbara pulled her into a hug. Both of them were crying as well. Had Mualani lost anyone? Crap. Victoria hadn’t even asked. It had just be go go go, carrying stretchers, sand bags, medical supplies…however they could help, even though they were just in 6th grade. She should have, though.
Now though…now Victoria had her Ambition. And she wasn’t going to lay down and cry about it. Not until the battle was over, anyway.
“Right,” she gasped, using her ratty old shirt to wipe her eyes. It was past saving anyway. “So, what do we do now? Are the monsters all gone?”
Her phone rang, and she gasped. She hadn’t had service since the Abyss started, and she was down to only 8% battery. Praying it was her dad, she lifted the phone to her ear.
Then just about melted it when Ajaw’s voice came out.
“Funny you kids should mention that. How do you feel about doing a crime, Vicky?” the AI purred.
“Crime is wrong, my parents are heroes,” Vicky said stubbornly. Then bit her lip. “Unless, it’s like…a good crime? You know, like uh…maybe lying a little bit to the President about praying to the Archons and stuff?”
“Pfff, my sister is a dragon, you don’t gotta pray to them! You should pray to me! After all, am I not the one who will show you the path to legend and glory?” Ajaw’s voice needled.
“You’re a chatbot with delusions of grandeur,” Vicky said, putting the phone on speaker and holding it up as the others crowded around.
Her sister was biting her lip and looking nervous, but wasn’t objecting. Mualani looked curious, but not convinced. Barbara looked like she knew exactly what was about to happen. And by the manic grin on Charlotte’s face, Barbara also knew she would also have to manage the clean-up afterwards.
“And you’re just some brat who got a sparkly gem!” Ajaw snarled, then went back to silky needling. “Now, are you going to save the damn world or are you going to argue with the guy who just put a video on Daily Motion AND Youtube of the very first pair of Pyro Vision holders kicking serious ass? Congratulations, by the way, you’re internet famous!”
That really shouldn’t have made Victoria grin as much as she was, but she nodded and said, “Yeah, OK, like, we’re listening…”
“So, it turns out, there’s like, a super secret base where they’ve opened up a literal portal to hell like they’re Weyland-Yutani or something, and wouldn’t you know it, that’s where all the monsters are coming from! Still going after Lahani, too. So, I, in my infinite power and wisdom as THE ALMIGHTY DRAGON LORD, have assembled a team of teenagers with attitude to solve the problem!”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “That’s just the Wards. Ew. No thanks, they don’t even get to do real missions.”
“No, because unlike the Wards, you don’t all have sticks up your butts! Also, you’re way cooler. I would order you matching outfits, but shipping is a real nightmare right now with Apep running about still, so they’re on backorder.”
"I can get zee outfits. My step-mother, she is an actress, oui? We were being in Hawaii for her and Barbs performing Les Misérables." Charlotte mused.
“We don’t need ze outfits,” Barbara groaned.
“No, we for sure do, but dey gotta be cute, yeah? I want mine for look like one kick-ass Hawaiian warrior! You know, da kine!” Mualani insisted.
Amy groaned, but looked at Victoria to be the deciding vote.
“Ok, we totally need costumes. But like, not lame spandex. We’re freaking badass babes, not a bunch of dorks in their underwear,” Victoria decided.
“Um, are we really going to invade a secret Hegemony facility?” Amy asked nervously. “Maybe…we should tell dad? Or, at least, an adult?”
“Zis is not un invasion!” Charlotte said, sticking her finger in the air. “Zis is JOURNALISM.”
“More importantly, if zere is an Abyssal portal, the attacks won’t stop unless we close it,” Barbara added. “Maybe we should tell…you know…she’s already going to vary mad we stole a boat and some gardemeks, zhen came to Oahu without telling ‘er.”
“We tell an adult, and they’ll make us go sit on our hands because we’re kids or some crap. Screw that! Ku just gave me this!” Victoria declared, holding up her Vision. “Or do you want to spend the rest of the war healing people instead of fighting? Uh, no offense, sis.”
“No, I want to fight, too,” Amy agreed, gripping her Vision. “Mom did.”
“Hey, you wanna save da world, or you wanna go tell auntie so she can make you stay home and cook rice?” Mualani demanded of Barbara. “Cause for sure plenty people gonna die if we wait for da adults.”
Barbara hesitated, then squared her shoulders. “The ‘ouse of Orleans ‘as not yet run from a fight. Where Justice must be done, zere you shall find me. Alright, Ajaw. ‘Ow do we get to zis facility?”
The phone turned itself on, and the little AI’s grinning mug appeared on the screen. “Well, it’s a good thing you stole a boat, because you’re going on a trip to…drumroll, please…KAHO’OLAWE!”
The five girls listened seriously, even Amy’s expression growing determined as Ajaw laid things out.
An hour ago, Victoria would have experienced doubt. Concerns. She may have even backed down when the time came to change into her Hawaiian Warrior themed armor and board the “borrowed” boat.
But now Victoria had a shining gem of Passion and Glory flickering at her breast, and it told her one thing:
Burn bright, and be a hero.
And that was exactly who Victoria Dallon had always wanted to be.
Corona Gloriae