You are (Not) the Heroes IC

"It's a passing grade!" Daff chimes in cheerfully.

"Am I the only one who understands the importance of not showing our hideout to strangers?" asks Madame Mask. She then glances at the uncostumed Trapshot and the leaving zebra. "Or of our secret identities?!" A Madame Mask Decoy appears in front of Robyn and starts blocking the view between her and Gaia...

Gaia, who is not even looking in Robyn's direction, yawns and transforms into a tabby cat of considerable size, padding over to near (but not next to) Inu and sits down lazily. "I am a creature of the wild, and I have little interest in whatever life you live beyond this hunt. Until I can be sure that Locust is driven out of the city and my territory, your teammates have graciously allowed me to tag along your hunt, so that I may lend my strength to you when you need it, just as you have aided me in defeating the first swarm."

Closing one eye, she glances over Dove Colt. "By the way, little one, is it not getting late for a colt your age? Even a wild spirit of your kind needs rest."

Dove Colt blinks, before looking outside at the fading sunlight. "Oh, poop! Uh... oh, I know!"

Quickly taking out his phone, he dials in his home number and asks, "Hey, mom? ... Can I sleep over at a friend's house tonight? ... Yeah, it's just a friend from school. ... Mhm... Okay, you're the best! See you tomorrow!"

Hanging up the call, Dove Colt beams at Gaia. "Guess what? I can stay here tonight! We can exchange hero stories and talk about our powers and maybe even talk to birds!"

Turning to Madame Mask, Dove Colt adds, "And, uh, Miss Mask, I'm sure Gaia's nice. She can talk to animals and stuff and she's cool."

"Well. That was... irresponsible." Gaia flicks an ear. "I appreciate the company, though. But next time, you should just go home. A dusty warehouse is no place for a colt to stay overnight."

Giving a sideways glance at Mask, Gaia says nothing more, only shifting aside slightly to open up a pegasus-colt sized spot in her corner and patting the spot with a paw.

Crimson took a moment to clear his throat in order to test his how well his throat had healed up. Considering that it didn't feel like it was partly melted, Crimson finally started to speak up. "I am inclined to agree with Madam Mask. We are really going to have to work on the whole 'secret identity' thing with everyone. However, Gaia here can provide us with information on the Locust; What is it? What is it after and how do we track it? No harm in being proactive in fighting crime after all."

"Mmm." Gaia stretches out lethargically. "Can this not wait until tomorrow?"

After a few moments she sighs. "Oh, very well. Just let me shift into something more-" She shifts back into a pegasus. "Active."

"Hmm. Locust wandered into my territory about a month ago, hissing about 'sky ponies' and some 'sky princess'. From what I could tell, they gain power by absorbing run-off weather magic from your artificial weather - so I forced them underground." Gaia says, "I tracked them by following the footsteps of the city's greatest source of weather magic."

Gaia makes a face. "The hero you call Zapp attracts Locust like a moth to a flame. My wild magic can drain Locust's swarms to some degree, which is how I've been keeping them in check, but they're getting stronger. Every time they surface, they gain just a little more power - and they almost always surface where Zapp was last. Track the blasted pegasus, and you're likely to find the swarms close behind."

"But more importantly... Locust has a hive somewhere deep in the sewers. I'm not privy to its location." Gaia grimaces, glancing back at her flank, which bears the marks of numerous clashes with Locust swarms, as well as other beasts. "It's somewhere in there, though."

Robyn follows the conversation passively as she passes the report off to the next pony and starts eyeball-measuring a space in front of one of the warehouse's bay doors.

"Hearing a lot of talk about locusts," she says. "and I suppose they're as big a threat as you say, so I won't doubt it. Course, we've got a problem with dealing with them."

She finishes pacing out her claim, and wanders back over to the group.

"As far as we know, there are only two teams of active heroes in Maretropolis capable of taking down a locust swarm like the one we fought today. The Power Ponies...and us. Way I see it, the more backup we can rally up, the better chance we have of taking this locust problem out for good."

Robyn's card emerges from her Trapshot vest, and hovers in the air in front of her.

"Sunglow." She pauses a second. "Argent? You on? Need a favor."

”We can trust Gaia,” Daff firmly insists. ”We’ve known her almost as long as we’ve known each other-”

He’s interrupted by an angry chittering as Rousseau scampers up a particularly tall stack of boxes and glares at Gaia, fur puffed out. Daff cringes. “He doesn’t like cats!” he warns before separating form the group to stand near the boxes, looking up and trying to talk the squirrel down. He’s only successful when Gaia turns into a pegasus. He returns, holding Rousseau and petting him on the head.

”Maybe we should try to let the Power Ponies know what’s going on,” he suggests as he returns. ”Every pegasus needs to know somepony’s after them.”

As Dove Colt finishes his call, Daff looks suddenly excited.

”We’re having a sleep-over? Oh, oh! We can tell ghost stories and-“ he gives a giant gasp. ”We could make the best fort ever with all of this stuff!”

after a few moments, Inu comes over to Dove Colt and Gaia and barks at them thus: can one of you translete please: Zellbriq says that he worries more about failign his classes thus losing his student visum then you guys knowing who he is. And from me to you pidgeon, Zellbriq sometimes tutors school-students in biology for a little extar money so maybe keep that in mind if you need an excuse for your parents. She then lays down in front of them and looks at them as if she wnats to get pet a bit, tail swishing from one side to the other and ears slightly perked up.

Madame Mask rolls her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure she's nice, and I'm sure we can trust her," she lies, "But the more that ponies know about you, the more likely it is somepony is going figure out who you are. Not to mention what could happen if one of us was kidnapped and tortured for information. Information about how we are is valuable and must be protected for a reason. It's called a secret identity, darlings, not casual wear."

Robyn glances at the windows with an eyebrow raised. Afternoon?

"Think we can get info on the inactive heroes still in Maretropolis?" she asks in her Tra-...Sunset Raider voice. "Gaia's been tellin' us a bit about what we fought at the bank, and we think we should know who to call for backup if things go pear-shaped on us out there. Oh, and did anypony have a look at the security footage at the Marebucks a few blocks from the bank? I had to go in without my mask to buy coffee for the civ without anypony thinkin' I was robbing the place."

Robyn rolls her eyes.

"I was dressed up as a bandit, Mask," she deadpans. "It woulda done a lot more damage if I hadn't. Which reminds me. Argent, who do I talk to about gettin' a new costume that won't get the cops called on me?"

Robyn smiled and dipped her head, momentarily forgetting she wasn't wearing her hat.

"Appreciated. I'll keep an ear out for 'im. Raider out an' moonbright."

And I just found my new sign-off.

The card darkens and disappears into one of her saddlebag's pockets as she turns to look at Madame Mask.

"This ain't my first rodeo," she says, keeping her natural accent in full force. "I spent my formative years wagin' a one-mare war against a corrupt system run by my very own pop while makin' sure he and his dumb-jack sheriff never caught on to who I was. I had to fight and scratch to stay ahead of every petty crook, crooked lawman, and syndicate boss that ever set foot in Río Caballo County, all the while makin' sure none of 'em did the math and ratted me out. And I had to do all that as a public figure outta costume, without the luxury of havin' somepony else coverin' for me. I know what I'm doin' whenever I take my mask off.

"Now how's about we call Dominique's and order up a first-win pizza party?"

Dove Colt skips over to roost next to Gaia. "Yay pizza!"

Daff nods at Madame Mask. "Gaia's good. I can tell. I guess we can try to be more careful after today," he agrees. Then, realizing he can win a few points, he adds, brightly, "I haven't taken off my costume, yet, though!" He points at his ballcap with a hoof. He interrupts himself just long enough to call, "I want mushrooms on it! And Rousseau likes hazelnuts!"

Despite the fact that he was wearing a mask, Crimson's face was the definition of a deadpan expression. "Sure. Order a pizza why don't you? After all the pizza delivery ponies are famous for being able to keep a secret... Seriously, I could MAKE a couple of pizza's without announcing to the food industry where we are setting up base. In fact..."

Taking a moment to look to see what the kitchen had to offer, Crimson was determined to prove that he was better then some take out cook... Pride was on the line!

Despite the fact that it's a warehouse, there seems to be a small, brand new kitchenette set up in the corner, featuring the standard array of basic cooking equipment. The mini-fridge is stocked with some vegetables, fruits, pre-prepared pizza dough, and several tins with the label 'ethically sourced chicken' stuck on top. There's a reasonably stocked spice rack, as well as a respectable array of sauces and other miscellaneous cooking supplies. Overall, despite the cramped space in which the kitchenette is positioned, it's actually fairly decent, if a bit on the dinky side. A note can be found tacked onto the stove top.

"Not sure what you need so I just bought the basics. There's probably enough for a pizza party - ponies like that, right?
~A"

"Oh my gosh! Home made pizza! I never even had that!" Dove Colt says excitedly. "This is gonna be the best sleepover ever!"

His expression changes slightly when he processes what Daff said, however. "W-wait. Ghost stories? Can- can we not do that please?"

Robyn watches Crimson with a smirk.

"I was gonna order carryout, pay in bits, and just not give any specifics when I picked it up. But hey, I guess your way can work, too."

She saunters over to the warehouse light switches, finds the switch for the lights over where Crimson is working through trial and error, and turns off the rest. Then she comes back to the overturned-crate table holding the items they'd found earlier and switches on the electric lamp.

"In the meanwhile," she says in her country accent, "who wants to hear about some of my adventures in Rio Caballo? This talk about ghost stories brings one o' my favorites to mind..."

Dove Colt leans in closer to Gaia at the mention of ghost stories, but still peeks out at Robyn between his hooves.

Gaia wraps a wing around Dove Colt absentmindedly as she continues to look at the group's activities silently.