Chapter 8: When you know ace bandages are deadly

When you know ace bandages are deadly, but you wear them anyway because you're body is not your own. The team has another practice and Paul convinces them to go to a fitting.

 

Paul stood outside a tattoo shop. The windows of the shop were covered with graffiti, promoting the shop. “South Side” was written several times in different texts, the primary one being edgy with jagged edges on the letters. Paul knocked on the door, knowing the shop didn’t open for another couple of minutes. “Hello?” Paul called.

            A woman opened the door. “Paul?” The woman asked. “Your appointment is soon. Please come in, Graham should be ready for you. Did you tell him what you want?”

            Paul walked into the shop. “I did,” Paul said after a pause.

Graham was behind a small counter, looking at a piece of paper. He glanced up and smiled at Paul. “Hey buddy,” Graham greeted, standing up. “You ready? This is going to be a long one.”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Paul answered, wringing his hands. “What does the design look like?”

Graham handed Paul the piece of paper. Paul examined the drawing for a second before smiling. “This is perfect,” Paul said.

“Great, then let’s get started,” Graham responded, gesturing to a clinic bed.

Paul unbuttoned his collared shirt, slipping it off, and pulled off his undershirt. Paul laid on the bed with his back facing up. Graham went to a drawer to put on latex gloves, and to get alcohol wipes and sanitary ink packets. Graham put on the gloves as he walked over to Paul.

He wiped down Paul’s back with several alcohol wipes. He sat down before prepping the needle and dipping it in the black ink. “Alright, Paulie boy, you know the drill… This might hurt.”

With that said, Graham stuck the needle in Paul’s skin.

+++++

            “Hey, Kris?” Q asked, walking into the living room.

            Q stood beside the couch, where Kris was lounging and watching a movie. “Yeah, Q,” Kris said, looking up at her.

            “I was wondering if you had any bandages,” Q asked.

            Kris sat up, concerned. “Why? Are you bleeding?”

            Q shook her head as her face became red. “No, it’s just,” Q mumbled, gesturing to her breasts. “These are bothering me.”

            “Oh, yeah,” Kris said awkwardly, blushing slightly. “I think I have some, somewhere in the bathroom. I’ll go check.”

            Kris got up and walked to the bathroom, Q following close behind. “Are you going to need help, uh, wrapping up?” Kris asked, cringing at how she awkward she sounded.

            “We’ll find out,” Q answered.

            Kris opened the cabinet under the sink and shuffled stuff around. “Ah, found something!” Kris declared, pulling out a long strand of gauze-like fabric. “Will this do?”

            “We’ll find out,” Q repeated, taking the bandage from Kris.

            Kris stepped out of the bathroom, saying, “If you need any help, just call for me.”

            “Sure,” Q muttered before shutting the door.

            Kris paced in the hall for a few minutes, waiting. Q eventually opened the door. Kris peeked in to see Q with bandage wrapped around her chest. “How does it look?” Q asked.

            Kris looked at it from multiple angles before deciding, “It looks a little loose. Do you mind if I?”

            Q raised her arms and said, “No, go ahead and fix it.”

            Kris searched for the end of the bandage and pulled on it, tightening the rest of it. Q breathed in as Kris messed with it. Kris tucked the bandage back in and checked it. “It looks better,” Kris commented.

            “It feels tight,” Q replied.

            Kris laughed uncomfortably. “It’s supposed to.”

            Q bent side to side and touched the bandages pressing on her ribs. Her brow furrowed. “Are you sure this is safe?” Q asked. “This hurts.”

            Kris shrugged, her face mimicking Q’s concern. “I don’t know,” Kris answered, running a hand through her hair. “I wouldn’t know; I’ve never had to do this. Maybe we’ll do this for now and then hunt down a binder for a more long-term solution.” 

            Q nodded. “Okay.”

            Q tried to take a deep breath and then groaned lightly. “Ah, can we do that soon?”

            Kris patted Q’s arm with her gloved hand. “Sure, of course. You want to see what they have online?”

            Q tilted her head. “What’s… online?”

+++++

            “Tae, you’re late,” Felicia chided as she gestured for him to hurry up.

            He dropped his bag under the makeup table before sitting on the stool in front of it. He looked in the mirror to see his soaked, windswept shaggy hair. Bad weather made it impossible for him to walk to the theater today, and he missed the bus that would normal pass by it. A lot of bad luck piled up on him today, making him fear what other mistakes he would make. “Sorry.”

            Blinking, he dove under the table as Felicia opened a foundation palette. He dug his script out of his bag and sat back, flipping open to a midway point. “What are you practicing before this run?” Felicia asked, picking up powder on a big round brush.

            Tae tried not to flinch as she began swathing the foundation on his forehead. “Act III, Scene 1,” Tae answered. “Where I talk to the jester.”

            She nodded, and she gathered more makeup on her brush, rubbing it vigorously on the palette. Tae straightened up while shutting his eyes. Felicia took the opportunity to coat his eyes and temples as he concentrated on the scene. “Save thee, friend, and thy music,” Tae began in a curious tone. “Dost thou live by thy tabour?”

            Felicia responded as she finished applying foundation to Tae’s face, “No, sir, I live by the church.”

            Tae quirked an eyebrow before opening his eyes. He looked at Felicia as if she were a strange creature. “Art thou a churchman?” He asked her.

            Felicia shut the foundation palette, while looking bluntly at his face and examining her handiwork. “No such matter, sir,” Felicia said then cutting the line short, “My house doth stand by the church.”

            A smirk quirking wryly up one side of his face, Tae retorted, “So thou mayst say, the kind lies by a beggar, if a beggar dwell near him. Or, the church stands by thy tabour, if thy tabour stand by the church.”

            Felicia nodded appreciatively as the wit of the line was amplified by Tae’s pacing and tone. She faked a laugh quite like how she directed the jester to before asking Tae a question. “How does the foundation look? It doesn’t make you look sallow, right?”

            Mirth faded from Tae’s countenance as he checked himself out in the mirror. Lightly executed, he thought; the foundation was almost unnoticeable. “It’s perfect,” He assured before sliding off the stool.

            “Wait a tic,” Felicia said, picking up her contouring set. “We need to add highlights, blush, bronzer. Then eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick…”

            Tae turned to face her, his expression unreadable except for his slightly thinner lips. “I do not want to wear makeup as part of my ‘Sebastian’ character.”

            Felicia lowered the set but didn’t seem to put out. “I understand,” She responded calmly. “However, you start the play as Viola, which is where we are starting tonight.”

            Tae twirled in a tight circle before pointing at Felicia. His eyes were narrowed with distrust, anger, or disgust, but a smile gave him away as he sat back on the stool. “Would it be better, madam, than I am? I wish it might, for now I am your fool.”

+++++

            The team met up in the clearing on Saturday. Paul and Theo were the first to arrive, followed by Alicia, then Kris and Q. “Good evening, team,” Paul said, standing in front of a rock as the others grouped together before him. “We have a few things to cover before we get started.”

            Kris pursed her lips at Paul’s serious expression. “First off, names and costumes,” Paul started. “I have decided names for us, or at least it was mostly me with the assistance of the witty Q.”

            Q took a bow as Paul continued, “Theo, you are Light, because your power involves laser beams of light.”

            Theo nodded like he couldn’t think of a better name. “It makes sense.” He mumbled.

            “Kris is Coral. We decided this a while ago when,” Paul said, glancing at Theo, realizing no one told him about Kris’s condition. “We found out she had venomous nails.”

            Theo looked around, surprised, and suddenly aware of how out of it he was with this group. “Sorry, Theo- I mean, Light,” Paul commented. “We were discussing it when you weren’t around.”

            “It’s fine,” Theo replied, not sounding entirely fine. “I’ll try to be more involved in the team, then,” Theo faced Kris. “How does it work?”

            Kris ran a hand through her hair. “Uh, it’s a neurotoxin that kills a person by blocking all nerve activity in the brain. It can freeze all the muscles in the body, stopping their breathing and their heart.”

            Theo’s eyebrows raised with concern. Alicia stepped in, “However, we, at the Institute, are working on… reducing that effect.”

            Kris showed him her gloved hands. “Until then… uh, gloves,” Kris said awkwardly.

            Theo nodded. Paul decided that this was a satisfying conclusion to that tangent and continued his previous discussion, “Alicia, the brilliant person she is, is Queen B, able to control all the little things like a true queen bee. I am Ink because of my ink. And Q is… Q. Cause,” Paul paused to think of an explanation. “Cause why the hell not?”

            “Kay, now that we got the names down, we should refer to each other by those names in certain situations, like Saturday practice, or when we’re out on patrols. Speaking of patrols, we are going to patrol in costume.”

            “Costume?” Theo repeated before shaking his head. “Never mind, keep going.”

            Paul smiled. “My good friends, Soman and Bree, are creating our costumes. I have already hammered out the designs with them. But tomorrow, we need to go to their boutique for measurements.”

            “Because skin tight leather needs to fit, right?” Kris asked sarcastically.

            “Yes,” Paul answered seriously. “But it’s not leather, I do believe it’s going to be a polyester and cotton blend.”

            “Great,” Kris responded, unenthused. “When do you want us to show up?”

            “Noon would be good,” Paul said. “Their boutique is at 222 Riverside Drive. The main downtown bus line stops a few blocks from the place, just south of it, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

            “We can discuss costumes and redesigns there,” Paul continued, changing the topic. “Now that we did all the boring talking, let’s get down to practicing.”

            Paul immediately summoned his vines. They shot up into the trees, pulling down a small branch. The vine holding it retracted, so that Paul could grab the branch with his hand. “Target practice, Light. Let’s see you light up this branch.”

            Light rubbed his hands together as they started to glow. Aiming both hands at the branch, which Paul held out from his body, Theo fired at the branch. The beam struck it, setting it on fire. “Kris, can you go get us some more branches?” Paul requested, dropping the branch and stomping on the fire.

Kris flew up into the trees as Alicia waved her hand. “Out,” She commanded.

            The flame extinguished itself before it could get out of control. Paul took off his coat, revealing a tank top. He grabbed his scythe and pulled it out of his skin. He swung it a few times experimentally to get a feel for it while Kris dropped several branches from the trees. Alicia cracked her knuckles, thinking. “Paul, you mentioned a utility belt on my costume?”

            Paul swung his scythe down on the larger branch, slicing it in half. “Yeah, but we have no idea what to put in it. What do you think?”

            Alicia picked up a branch and ordered, “Bend, make a weapon.”

            The branch twisted to create a scythe, the blade made of leaves. She swung it quite like Paul did his, however, her weapon broke as it hit the ground. “Well, it should be something stronger than wood,” Alicia commented. “Some malleable metal.”

            Paul swung his scythe sideways, cutting through the air with a whoosh. “But we don’t want to kill these criminals, just capture them.”

            Alicia nodded, and used what was left of her branch to make a cane. She hooked it  around Paul’s leg and pulled. Paul fell over. Kris snorted and laughed up in the canopy. “I don’t think that would work on a real criminal,” Kris called down.

            Paul got up, his scythe disappearing. He brushed off his undershirt. “She’s right,” Paul said. “You could use a whip instead. Or a net…”

“I think a bit of glue might work, stick them to the ground,” Q offered. “Handcuffs would be good too.”

Alicia contemplated it. “Sure, why not?” Alicia responded. “I can have an excessive amount of stuff in my utility belt… a boomerang, a whip, a human-sized flytrap, a weighted rope thing you see in TV shows, the possibilities are endless.”

Theo blasted another beam, hitting the hook in Alicia’s hand and knocking it out of her hand. Q applauded and walked up to Theo, patting him on the back. “I think you’re getting better.”

He pointed at her pleasantly surprised and replied, “You too.”

Q smiled as a tall, broad-shouldered Theo clone before holding out his hands and pretending to fire beams. “Pew! Pew!” Q mimicked.

“My beams don’t make noises,” Theo commented.

Kris dropped from the sky, landing lightly on her feet. “Don’t rain on Q’s parade,” She chided lightly. “She rarely gets to have any.”

Q skipped over to Kris, linking their arms together. “It’s true,” Q said, changing into Kris. “Unadulterated transformations aren’t appropriate in any other context.”

Q turned to Kris and asked, “Do you think you could carry me as you’re flying?”

Kris seemed astounded by the sudden idea, and answered, after a second to think, “Potentially.”

Q wrapped her arms around Kris. “I’m ready.”

“Okay,” Kris responded reluctantly. “I’m not sure how the mechanics behind my power works, but…”

Kris jumped up and hovered in the air. Q was still on the ground, gripping Kris as tight as she could, but stuck at her hips and unmoving. Kris willed herself to go higher, but the couple of inches required to lift Q off the ground nearly pulled of her pants. “Hey!” Kris said. “Watch the pants.”

Q let go, crossing her arms and pouting. Paul stepped in, suggesting, “How about you hold her hand instead?”

Kris floated a little higher, tilting her body forward, so that she was horizontal. Q held out her hand and Kris took it. Flying higher, Kris dragged Q painfully along. “Ouch! You’re yanking out my arm out of its socket!” She shouted.

Kris dropped Q, who fortunately only fell a few feet. “So, you can fly with other people, on board to say,” Alicia commented. “But the force of gravity stresses those who are on board.”

Kris landed heavily. “We’re not going to do that again anytime soon,” Kris said, audibly breathing. “It also stresses those who are the board.”

Paul patted Kris’s shoulder to reassure her. “That’s a good thing to learn,” Paul said. “Your limits with your ability to fly.”

            Kris crossed her arms and huffed. “Yes, limit is me, and no one else,” Kris replied shortly.

            Q walked over to Alicia, and asked, “What do you think?”

            Q transformed into Alicia. Q noticed the sensations of the drastic change; she felt herself getting shorter like her bones were contracting, and a tingle across her skin as the color changed. “I think you’re getting better,” Alicia said with a smile.

            Alicia waved her hand and murmured something, causing the branches to build themselves into three targets. “You too,” Theo complimented, firing at the targets.

            As the branches burned, Theo turned to Paul. “Ink,” Theo started, “We done for tonight? It’s getting late.”

            Paul checked his watch; it was ten. “Yeah, sure,” Paul answered. “I’ll see you all tomorrow, right?”

            “Yep,” Kris replied. “See you there, Paul.”

            “Ink,” He corrected.

            Kris rolled her eyes and repeated it, “Ink, right.”

            Paul smiled. “Good bye, Coral.”

            “Bye,” Kris said, taking Q’s hand and pulling her out of the clearing.

            Q waved at the group. “Bye guys!”

            “Bye Q,” Alicia and Theo called as Paul waved back.

+++++

            Soman and Bree sat behind two different desks, refining the costume designs. Paul paced in front of the desks. All three were waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Theo and Alicia arrived together. Soman stood up and approached them, holding out his hand, “Hello, I’m Soman.”

            Theo shook his hand first. “Hi, Soman, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Theo.”

            “And, I’m Alicia,” Alicia said, when she got the chance to shake Soman’s hand. “And we’re both kind of anxious to get this over with.”

            Soman laughed. “What? Why?” He said. “It’s pretty simple. We just going to take some measurements and make sure that you’re okay with the design of your costumes.”

            Kris and Q came into the shop. Soman looked over, “Are these the other two?” He asked Paul.

            “Yes,” Paul answered, walking to the pair. “This is Kris, and this is Q.”

            Bree stood up and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

            Q smiled back at her. Soman clapped his hands once. “Alright, let’s get started then. Paul, you first. The others can have a seat and watch.”

            The other team members sat down in the chair at the front of the shop as Soman took out a roll of measuring tape. Soman measured Paul’s height, the length of his arms and legs, the circumference of his hips, waist, and chest. Then Soman measured Paul’s elbow. “Why are you measuring his elbows?” Alicia asked perplexed.

            “We need to know this and his knees, so we can make elbow and knee pads.”

            Bree jumped in. “We thought protection would be great, until we realized the protection would actually hit you and be as painful as hitting concrete.”

            Soman nodded as he wrote down the numbers. “So, we’re adding some padding,” Soman commented. “An absorbent foam that would take the hit for you. We’re putting it between the fluorinated ethylene propylene and the cloth of the costume.”

            “Oh, you’re using FEP?” Alicia asked.

            Paul was finished, and he gestured for Theo. Theo stood up and Soman began measuring him, responding to Alicia, “Yeah, we’re planning on it, but we can’t get it easily.”

            “I work at the Institute,” Alicia commented. “We could acquire some FEP for you. In fact, we could probably help you design and form the armor of the costumes.”

            Bree seemed shocked. “Really?” She said. “That’s great. We could really use your help.”

            Soman smiled, and replied, “We aren’t chemists. We would have no clue how to do this.”

            Alicia waved her hand. “It’s fine. We can put FEP in a 3D printer and form the armor that way.”

            “That sounds perfect,” Bree said, smiling. “When can we get together and figure this out?”

            Alicia pulled out her phone and a notepad. She scribbled down her name and number on a sheet. She got up and handed it to Bree, sitting behind the desk. “We can talk later this week and plan with Dr. Pagel, my ‘boss.’ With him helping, we can do anything. 3D printing wouldn’t even take long; planning and programming would take most of the time. Do you know what you’re using for the absorbent foam?”

            Theo sat back down as Soman gestured for Alicia to go next. Alicia stepped up and Soman answered, “A non-Newtonian, shear thickening fluid.”

            Alicia nodded as Soman wrapped the measuring tape around Alicia’s elbow. “That’s a good choice. Can you acquire it on your own?”

            “No, well yes, but only in specific shapes and stuff,” Soman said. “We need it as raw as possible, so we can shape it to you guys.”

            Soman wrote down Alicia’s measurements. “I’m sure we can get it for you,” Alicia reassured, walking back to her seat.

            Q got up and stood in front of Soman. Paul perked up suddenly. “Soman, we need to be careful about crafting Q’s uniform.”

            Soman kept measuring, but commented, “Why, because she’s a shape shifter?”

            Q held her breath as Soman measured her bound chest. Kris responded, “But her clothes change when she transforms. When she transforms, her previous clothes disappear until she can return to Hazel, even then her clothes only come back half the time. She can’t control it. I’ve lost a significant portion of my wardrobe because of it.”

            “What if you take a picture of me in my costume, so I can use that to transform back into me and keep my costume?” Q suggested, raising her arms as Soman measured her arm span.

            “Sounds like a good idea,” Theo responded. “Or at least a manageable one.”

            Soman was done with Q and Kris stood up, taking her place. “You guys can look at your designs, if you want,” Bree said, pulling out the illustrations.

            The others got up and surrounded Bree’s desk. Paul stood aside with his arms crossed, looking proud as if he knew they would like his artistic choices. The four of them stood in silence even after Kris joined them. Paul slowly lost his composure, growing frustrated at the silence. “Well?” He asked.

            Kris laughed. “They’re fine, Paul,” She said, reaching to pat his arm, but stopping short.

            “Where’s mine?” Q asked, moving the drawings around.

            “Well, we didn’t design yours yet,” Paul admitted. “We also hadn’t designed masks yet. What do you think?”

            “For your costume, Q,” Bree said, pulling out her sketchpad. “We will probably have the same structure and color scheme as the others. It will be black and…”

            “Purple,” Q supplied.

            “Sure,” Bree replied. “The purple will be there for a few key accents points. Like how Paul has vines, or Kristen has stripes.”

            Q didn’t say anything for a minute. She requested curved lines, though it sounded like she had lost interest in the subject. Bree complied, adding curved lines to the body of the design. Q declared that it looked good and Bree happily tore it out of her sketchbook.  

            “Now, about masks,” Paul suggested.

            “They should cover most of the face,” Alicia said. “Maybe not the mouth and the eyes.”

            Bree picked Paul’s costume from the pile and drew a face in the blank space. “Would you want them to be distinct, or match each of your outfits?” Bree asked.

            Bree outlined the eyes and the smile lines, drawing a trapezoid-like shape along the smile lines and leaving the underside of the nose and the chin exposed. “Match the outfits,” Paul responded. “Like mine could have vines from the brow down to my cheek bones.”

            Bree drew a vine that followed the left eyebrow to the temple to under the cheekbone then dragged down to the chin along the edge of the outlined mouth. She drew another line symmetrical to that on the other before moving on to the next design. With input from the respective owners of the costume, she designed the rest of the masks in short time. She took special care of Alicia’s to accommodate her short, but irrepressible afro.

            “Great,” Soman spoke up from the side. “Now that we have your measurement and solidified the designs, we can get to work.”

            Kris turned to Paul. “Does that mean we’re free to go?”

            Paul nodded before smiling at Soman. “You’re sure you don’t need anything else from the team?”

            “Nope, I think we are good,” Soman said, walking to his desk and checking some papers. “You can probably come back in a month for fittings.”

            Theo walked to the door, Alicia following him. “Thank you,” Theo said.

            Soman went to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s nothing,” Soman said with a smile.

            The rest of the team headed for the door and said their goodbyes.

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