Stolen Hearts

Halcyon City, The C-Verse

*Please note that this is not officially canon.*

*A flier pasted on a bulletin board reads...*

The Halcyon City Museum of Culture and History is proud to announce the opening of an exciting new exhibit, featuring artifacts from early superheroics in the city. Don’t miss this limited time exhibit and, for the first time on display to the public, the famed Heart of the Dawn.

Crowds mill about the Halcyon City Museum of Culture and History. The new exhibit opened the day before, and many residents have come out to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon at the museum. The white marble exterior leads into a spacious lobby, where several smiling greeters sit behind a welcome desk, handing out maps and answering questions. The wings to the left and right are the permanent exhibits. While these are always popular, the atrium straight ahead is what has brought in the crowds.

One visitor is a short girl in a pink hoodie. Her masses of curls are pulled back into a high ponytail with a few left out to frame her face. Green eyes take in the art, propaganda posters, costumes, and other artifacts from the early superheroes and villains of the city. Her visit to the museum started several hours ago, and now she only has eyes for the main attraction: the Heart of the Dawn.

That is, until something else draws her attention away from her quarry.

Guarding the exhibit, a nervous-looking figure clad in platemail stands awkwardly clutching a large spear. Her curly blonde hair is framed by a winged headpiece, making her easily recognizable as the next Valkyrie. She scans the room looking for anything out of place, or anyone who looks like they might be fostering ill intent. Her gaze eventually meets that of AJ, causing her to blush and look away without subtlety. *Oh fuck, it's that cute girl from school. Did she see me?*

AJ checks the time on her phone. She still has a little time before everything is set to kick off. Time she plans on spending wisely. With a casual saunter, she walks up to the Valkyrie.

“I didn’t know living art was part of the new exhibit.”

*Was that a flirt? Is she flirting? No can't be, why would she be flirting with me? Friðr chuckles nervously and scratches the back of her head with her free hand.*

"Oh, no, hahaa, I'm just guarding this because my Mom told me to. Not that I- not that I just do everything my Mom tells me to do. I do other stuff sometimes. Haha." *WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?* Barbara blushes nervously. "H-hey you're gay-J I MEAN AJ your name is A-AJ… right?" Barbara breaks eye contact in embarrassment after making the Freudian slip.

*She’s so cute when she’s flustered*. AJ grins. Making Barbara blush was immediately at the top of her list of favorite things to do. “I am, in fact, both gay and AJ. So you’ve noticed me before?” Raising an eyebrow, she leans against the wall next to Barbara and crosses her arms.

Barbara blushes an even deeper shade of red. “What? No, I. I mean yes. I mean, not like more than the normal amount, of noticing, but I’ve seen you at school, and stuff....” An awkward pause hangs in the air before Barbara sticks her hand out in front of her as if expecting a handshake. “I’m Friðr, but you can call me Barbara.”

AJ takes Barbara’s hand, but holds it more than shaking it. “I know. I’ve also noticed you a totally normal amount. So your mom is worried about the museum being robbed or something? Who would do such a thing?” She traces her thumb over Barbara’s palm. “Quite the callouses you’ve got there. I’m sure the exhibit is in good hands.”

“Th-thanks. The Heart is Supposed to be super valuable, I don’t think she’s expecting anyone to take it but the mayor wanted one of us to keep an eye on it, and she thought it would be a good task for me to handle. It’s been pretty boring...” Barbara smiles warmly. “I guess I get to talk to some pretty cool people though.”

“Oh? Anyone in particular?” AJ has yet to let go of the other girl’s hand.

“W-well, um. You seem cool...” *Why isn’t she letting go of my hand?*

“Me?” AJ puts her other hand over her heart. “Half of Halcyon has been through here in the last few days and I’m who stands out? I’m flattered.”

Barbara is silent for a moment longer “Um… you can let go of my hand now… I mean, you don’t have to, but you can.”

AJ squeezes Barbara’s hand before dropping it. “If you insist. You probably need both hands to defend this place against all these hooligans.” She gestures at the rest of the room, where everyone was milling around peacefully.

A confused expression crosses Barbara's face. "Riiiight… so um. Hey, I'm glad we got to meet. Would you um, want to… hang out sometime? When I'm not busy." She gestures at the exhibit.

“Right. I guess you are working. Defending the exhibit all by yourself. Unless there’s another hero hiding here somewhere in case someone gets too close to the art. The not living kind, that is.” AJ winks. Her time is running out, and while flirting with Barbara is fun, she should try and make sure there are no other heroes around to thwart the mission.

"Oh no, haha, just me tonight. Nothing I can't handle." *I probably shouldn't have told her that… eh, whatever I'm sure it's fine.*

Three minutes. “Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll see you around, Barbara.” AJ brushes her hand along Friðr’s forearm as she heads off toward the janitor’s closet she scoped out to change in.

*I did it. I survived a conversation with a cute girl.* The Final Fantasy victory music plays in Barbara's head. She watches as AJ walks away and breathes a sigh of relief. I wonder if she's into me.

One minute and thirty seconds later, AJ had changed, and Verve was ready for the signal. At exactly the right time, the lights went out, and Verve was nothing but a streak of lightning.

In the atrium, people start murmuring. Panic is always an option when the lights go out. Despite the ambient light from the street lights outside and the calming glow of the Heart of the Dawn, no one can see for very far. Everyone, on the other hand, can see the tell-tale bolt of lightning streak through the room and stop in front of the central display case.

Verve lands in front of the Heart of the Dawn, quickly shorting out the security and taking off the glass covering. And there it was. Her target. No one really knows where the Heart came from, but everyone agrees that it’s valuable. Especially the unfathomably rich asshole who usually kept it in their private collection. It looks like a jewel, about the size of a human heart, and glowing with a bright light that, according to rumor anyway, is actual sunlight. Despite all her prep, Verve can’t help but stand there, face illuminated by the Heart, before reaching out to grab it.

Her hesitation is her downfall however as cold steel presses against the back of her neck. "Verve I presume. So, are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?" Over Verve's shoulder, Friðr smirks with a new confidence.

“Oh no, you’ve caught me, whatever shall I do?” Verve sticks her hands out to the sides and slowly turns around. The light from the Heart gives her a halo effect.

Verve is silhouetted against the glow of the Heart, making the few facial features that are exposed indiscernible. Recognizing the sarcasm in Verve’s voice Friðr readies an attack “Don’t worry, you’ll be knocked out soon enough.” It’s clear from her demeanor that she’s much more confident doing hero work than she is when talking to girls. The runes at the of Friðr’s spear begin to glow a light blue, and the shaft of the spear hums with energy. Lightning crackles along it and into the tip, delivering what Friðr hoped would be a stunning shock.

Verve isn’t sure which version of Barbara she likes more, but both are equally clueless. When the electricity hits her, she flings herself backwards, making it look like the shock did it. She hits the pillar and plows through it. Both she and the heart go flying across the room, nearly hitting several of the now definitely panicking civilians. As she lands, she grimaces. She would feel that tomorrow. Regardless, right now she lunges for the Heart, ready to grab it and lightning out of there.

An angry Friðr stabs her spear into the hardwood flooring between Verve and the heart. Verve’s face is now illuminated by the heart, and even under the cover of a domino mask, she’s extremely cute. Now having seen Verve proper, Barbara hesitates. *Oh no. Why does she have to be so cute, I need to fight her!*

Verve skids to a stop. The backup security and generators would kick back on in less than a minute. She needs to get that gem and get out. “As much as I’d love to stay and dance, I have a prior engagement.” In a flash of light, she turns into lightning again to slip past Friðr and grabs the Heart.

Friðr shakes her head and clears her mind of all gay panic. *Barbara, now is not the time for this.* She runs after Verve and delivers a flying kick, narrowly missing as she turns into lightning once again. “Well aren’t you just having so much fun with this?”

“I am, thank you for noticing. They say love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life, right?” Verve’s hand closes around the Heart, and she gives Friðr a mocking salute as she dodges another spear thrust. “Until next time. Hope we can dance again.”

In another flash of lightning, Verve arcs up and smashes through a pane of the skylight. As soon as she clears it, the lights come back on and the alarms start blaring.

Friðr grumbles and mutters under her breath. “Not gonna stay and fight huh? Coward.” She crouches down and begins muttering something in Old Norse. She inhales sharply, exhaling as she leaps upwards out of the skylight. As she rises into the air above the museum she holds the spear aloft, charging it with crackling electricity, and slamming it down onto the roof. As the shaft of the spear hits the roof a bolt of lightning intercepts Verve’s path and hits the spear, forcing Verve back onto the roof of the museum and into a solid form.

“Oh we can dance again, we can dance again real soon.”

Well the evening certainly wasn’t going as planned. Verve rolls when she hits the roof and gets back up onto her feet. More bruises for tomorrow. She tucks the Heart into her belt pouch and holds up her hands. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever had quite that enthusiastic of a dance partner before. Or one quite so pretty.” With a wink, she holds out a hand toward Friðr as if offering to actually dance.

Being called pretty paired with the wink kills Barbara. Well, her ability to think straight at least. She blushes and clenches her spear nervously now. *Come on Barbara, don’t let her get in your head.* “S-so, are you gonna run away again or are you gonna fight me fair and square?” she says with a nervous timbre.

“I thought we were gonna dance, but if you want to fight, far be it from me to deny a request from a beauty such as yourself.” Verve knows she has five to eight minutes now before backup arrives, assuming no one with super speed was responding. She’d never hear the end of it if someone else had to bail her out again. Getting the spear far enough away that she can escape is her main priority...closely followed by flirting. Flirting was always a priority when her opponent was a cute girl.

*Okay, stay calm, keep hold of the spear and she won’t get away. Ernie should be here in five to eight minutes.* Friðr lets out a yell as she charges Verve with Gungnir, sweeping it in a wide low arc. Reacting quickly, Verve jumps over the spear and moves in sending a punch towards Friðr’s gut, which she is able to block by grabbing it with her free hand. Verve sends a jolt of electricity through her arm, shocking Friðr’s hand and causing her to release her grip. Friðr retaliates with a kick to Verve’s chest, only to be startled when Verve is unmoving through it, having grabbed her foot and used some spare kinetic energy to counter the blow. A jolt of pain is sent up Friðr’s leg, which Verve capitalizes on by launching a lightning bolt at Friðr’s head. With a grimace, Friðr returns her now injured leg to the ground for stability and pulls up her spear to block the lightning, which harmlessly disperses from the bottom of the spear and into the museum roof. Pushing past the pain Friðr propels herself forward with her good leg and sends a spear thrust directly at Verve. The spear crackles with electricity which is quickly drained as Verve sidesteps the thrust and stands on the spear with her foot. Leaning her weight onto the spear causes Friðr to stumble forward, relaxing her grip on the spear, which Verve wastes no time in wrenching free from her hands.

With Friðr already off balance, it’s easy for Verve to knock her to the ground. As soon as Friðr is down, Verve’s foot is on her chest and the spear is at her throat this time.

There's a tense moment as Friðr realizes she's been defeated. She blushes as the cold spear presses against her throat.

Verve catches her breath for a moment, then smirks. “Well it was lovely dancing with you. You’ll excuse me if I don’t stay for the encore, I have an appointment to keep, and I got the heart I came for.”

A breathless Friðr attempts to protest "Th-this isn't over. Next time, you're mine"

Verve chuckles. “Oh no. I think you’ll find that you’re mine.”

In a swift movement, Verve throws the spear off into the darkness, then turns into lightning and vanishes into the night.

Barbara lies on her back staring into the night sky. She’s stunned, disappointed, and embarrassed at having lost to Verve. But the only thing on her mind as she gazes up at the stars is how much she wants to see her again.