April 18th, 1:52 PM
Graceful, athletic, alluring Erin Steele, clad in only a skimpy American flag bikini and matching flip flops, laid in the reclining beach chair, feeling the sun beat down on her tanning skin, sipping on a fruity vodka cocktail, a pulpy romance novel in hand.
She felt good. She felt like celebrating. She had reasons to: summer had come early this year, and in more ways than one. For not only was this April in the city unseasonably warm and pleasant, it had also been an incredible month in the life of the Blue Lynx. Night after night, it was nothing but triumphs for Erin, busting common criminals and less common drug lords. After months of recuperating from a broken arm, and after one wild night of being unmasked by a witch and nearly taken alive by a killer plant, it was great to win again. And again, and again.
Erin let out a heavy sigh, and smiled. The Blue Lynx had made her comeback. And now, it was time to kick back with her best friend.
She peered over her sunglasses at Margot, swimming laps in the deep end of the otherwise empty pool of their apartment building. She was dressed in a swimsuit slightly more modest than Erin's: a white bikini with black polka dots. Erin couldn't help but smile at her, wearing her glasses in the water, a nerd to the end.
"You look like a freak," Erin called.
Margot stopped swimming and looked up at her. "What?" she said, wiping her face.
"Nothing," Erin said.
Margot shook her head and continued her workout. Erin took a long sip of her drink. Margot had saved her life, again and again, in the past half year. She was increasingly ready to help Erin as her superheroine alter ego, the Black Bobcat, a development Erin didn't feel entirely positive about. She admired Margot's enthusiasm, of course, but Margot was just simply not the sort of fighter that Erin was. She didn't have Erin's mental toughness. But seeing her swim, trying so hard to get fitter, so that she could become a better warrior, it was hard to tell her no. She wasn't Margot's mom, after all.
Margot paddled over to the side of the pool and put her arms up on the hot concrete surface. "How's the book?"
"Pretty bad," Erin laughed. "But that's not so bad."
Margot giggled. She pushed herself up onto the ledge, leaving her feet in the water, exposing her slightly sunburned back to Erin.
"You should jump in," Margot said. "The water's great."
"I'm good here, thanks," Erin said, taking another sip from her straw.
Margot shrugged. "Alright. But it won't be long until all this swimming gets me buffer than you. I'd watch out, Blue."
She flexed her small bicep, drawing a laugh from Erin.
"This isn't a day for working out, woman," Erin said. "This is a day for... you know... this." She held her drink in the air.
Margot's phone buzzed in her beach chair, and Margot got up to get it, leaving a trail of pool water behind her. She plopped into the chair and held the phone up, squinting her eyes to see it in the sun.
"It's a news alert," she said. "About Hammerson."
Erin didn't look up from her book. "Oh yeah? And what's Big Bad Brent up to, these days?"
They hadn't seen or heard from him in weeks. It was like he had gone into hiding, forced back into the shadows since the demise of his "Fearsome Five." He still had his drug operations, for sure. But his right-hand woman, Sunny, his most threatening thug, Steve, and that weird witch, Lora, had been buried in a deadly avalanche of house and forest. Which left Hammerson short-handed, to say the least.
"He's made a statement," Margot said. "He says the old paint factory is going to be bulldozed. Says it's a health hazard? I don't know. This is confusing."
Erin looked at Margot. "I think he's saying that we need to meet there tonight."
"You mean, he's sending us a message?"
Erin nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I think Hammerson's ready to play again."
"Huh," Margot said. "It's about time."
"I'm already looking forward to it," Erin said. She smiled, set her book down, and got up from her chair. She walked over to the edge of the pool and plucked her sunglasses off her head. Her red, white, and blue bikini shone beautifully in the hot afternoon sun.
"I guess I'll warm up a little bit," she said. And she dove into the pool.
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