The interruption to the world’s communication grid had caught Perfect and Dani out shopping at a department for personalized furnishings for the latter’s room and clothes to expand her wardrobe to things beyond which her ring could conjure for her. In the fifteen minutes that the phones were dead, only the barest ripples of panic began to spread… the systems were restored before true terror could take root. A man standing in front of a DVD display talking to someone on the phone exclaimed when his call was suddenly cut off, only to have his frustration echoed by several other shoppers in the same area. There were other scattered curses throughout the store.
Perfect’s ear caught the murmurs and took note even as she helped Dani find a bra. She flipped out her own smart phone.
“Huh,” she said.
“Huh, what?”
“There’s a total blackout,” she said. “No reception on any network.” She thumbed an icon and held the device up to her ear. “Even the satphone’s dead. Let’s start making our way towards the front of the store,” she said quietly to Dani. “If there’s an emergency announcement… or anything dramatic happens… go invisible, change into something costumey, and take charge of the crowd.”
“Take charge how?”
“Rise up above the racks and call for calm,” Perfect said.
“Why can’t you do that?”
“Because I’m not in costume, I can’t fly, and I can’t make dramatic blue lighting effects,” Perfect said. “If you can make a fluttery cape that will help. Just look heroic and keep the instructions simple. While all eyes are on you, I’ll do a quick-change. Once you’ve established control, you can hand it off to me, but the one with the cape and the powers needs to tell people that everything’s going to be okay before they listen to the one in black with the mask.”
“That actually makes sense,” Dani said.
“Basic crowd psychology,” Perfect said. “Watch the Champion League when they hit the scene of a disaster. Champion or Lady Starshard always makes the initial statement to calm everyone down and assert their authority. It’s the same thing with the Pantheon of Heroes. Zeus appears on high, but it’s usually Thoth actually running the show.”
The phones came back to life before any such action became necessary, though, and the women were able to finish their shopping without incident.
“Let’s walk back,” Perfect said when Dani started heading for the bus stop. “It’s a nice day, we’re both in shape, and we don’t want to be stuck on public transportation if something else happens.”
“Okay. So… what do you think happened?” Dani asked as they started walking home.
“Newsfeeds are saying it was a Portalien incursion, foiled by a 4B counterattack,” Perfect said. “Anyway, we can talk more freely in the open air.”
“About what?”
“I’ve got a meeting tonight,” Perfect said. “Arranged by the Dock Shadow.”
“Who with?”
“I don’t know,” Perfect said. “He plays things close to the chest… he keeps secrets. I’m good at finding things out, even from the smallest bits of information available, but I don’t have enough to go on to even venture a guess. I know it’s a man. He’ll probably be a mystical expert of some kind, since the Dock Shadow found me at the library while I was researching that stuff and said this man could teach me about things I wouldn’t find in books.”
“That could be useful, I guess,” Dani said.
Perfect looked at her sideways.
“If he’s a mystical expert, he might be able to tell you more about your ring.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Of course, if you want any help finding out more about it, it’ll help if you’re not trying to cover up anything about its nature,” Perfect said. “Like, the reason you didn’t know anything about women’s clothing sizes.”
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