To the library!

Victoria darted towards the library, picking up speed with her flight. Parian was a problem, but she wasn’t a potential danger to civilians. Honestly, this Ambassador Victoria was chasing could be the same way. Vista was out of commission, but didn’t look too hurt. The young heroine was lounging on her back now, one arm outstretched to point and count the stars, mouthing each number as she went. If making people lazy was the worst this cape could do then the students studying in the library may not suffer too much beyond failing their midterms. But there were too many unknowns in play not to hurry after the villainess. Victoria would have to keep her wits about her

Victoria reveled in the chase of it all, wind in her hair and adrenaline pumping in her veins as she called out to her colleagues to cover exits in case the cape made a run for it. Some cobblestones came loose as she landed in front of the library’s glass doors. Sure, it was an emergency, but crashing through the building like a bull in a China shop wouldn’t do anyone any good. The only thing worse than dumb blonde jokes were when they were accompanied by dumb brute jokes. The internet would never let her live it down if she acted like a reckless idiot at a library of all places.

The door chimed as she walked in, an eerie quiet except for the light tapping of keyboards and a stuffy smell greeting her. The Ambassador was nowhere to be found, which was worrying. Victoria made her way further inside, using some flight to rise up enough to see over the rows of desks and computers. No dice. I swooped over to the front desk, the woman working blinking a few times behind her glasses before registering who I was.

“You’re the hero!” she shouted, way louder than any librarian should ever allow. Heads turned my way. Well, so much for any element of surprise.

“Yeah,” I whispered, hoping she would keep her voice down too. She didn’t.

“Ooooh, you must, like, be here for something impor-im-import-uh crucial!”

What the hell? Victoria knew people got a little tongue-tied in the face of someone like her, but that was a bit much and her aura definitely wasn’t impacting things. “Uh, yeah, look, have you seen anyone suspicious come in here? Wearing a ballgown, maybe?”

The librarian focused, eyes squinting as if in deep thought before nodding. Her glasses were knocked loose from where they sat on her nose, clattering to the desk. Instead of fixing them, she just giggled a bit. Victoria waited for more information that never came.

“Okay…” Victoria said. “Did you see where they went?”

More nodding and giggling. “You’re blurry hehehe.”

Victoria sighed, grabbed the glasses and then put them on the librarian herself. The librarian squinted again and then her eyes went wide in recognition once more. “Hey,” the librarian yelled again, “you’re the super-!”

Victoria clamped her hand around the woman’s blabbermouth. She was still talking, her voice warm and a little bit wet against Victoria’s palm. Ew. She couldn’t just keep wasting time with someone potentially dangerous on the loose. Victoria released the librarian, wiping her hand on the desk. The librarian was red in the face, which she really shouldn’t be since Victoria had been sure not to cover her nose so she could breathe. Maybe the airhead had forgotten to breathe. Well, no, that wasn’t true, her breaths were so hot and heavy that Victoria could hear her panting, tongue out with a big grin. Victoria made a mental note to give her a wellness check once this was over and done with.

For now, she flew, carefully hovering over some students so that she didn’t hit anything while making sure she stayed modest with her skirt. Not that anyone would see anything anyway, she had layers upon layers going on down there for these exact reasons, but Mom had drilled flight etiquette in her to the point it was all muscle memory at this point. She flew above the common area to the second floor where there were more rows upon rows of bookcases and private meeting rooms than gawking students. Some of the college kids below had pulled their phones out to record her. They should get their noses in a book and out of her business. Still, Victoria noted where they were grouping up and where the exits were in case she needed to quickly tell them to get out if things went south. Until then, she stayed quiet as she floated higher to see over the maze of books.

Sure enough, there was a glow in one of the corners, far enough away from the common area that she didn’t have to worry about anyone getting caught in any potential crossfire. Victoria hated not knowing what this cape did. She hovered closer, watching as the cape stood over a woman on her knees, arms dangling down to her sides and eyes glowing white. The cape played with the woman’s bowl cut, tucking hair behind an ear. A striker vector then? It was still too difficult to tell, but Victoria wasn’t about to let the cape do whatever the hell she was doing any longer!