Ordinary World/The Call
Kitsune, prodigal daughter of the famous Fire Masters who had disappeared a few years earlier, was left to watch over the city as a super hero at age 14. It was a job she adored doing, but after three years and a hard week of blame, she was completely exhausted.
She flopped onto the sofa of her home. It once belonged to her and her parents, but after they left, she tended to it, making money off of merchandise and government grants to upkeep her home and continue her work. It wasn't a big home three bedroom, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and basement. It might seem lonely living just by herself in such a home, but she has learned to get by.
As if a signal had gone off that she was home, a big warm body picked her up and pulled her into a tight hug, burying her face in a green and white stripped shirt. "Spencer!" She cried. Annoyed, she pushed him away and placed her hands on her hips. "Do you have to do that EVERY TIME I come HOME?"
"You're late!" His brow furrowed, leaving his eyes wide open for a full blown puppy-dog pout. Kitsune's face softened. That boy was so infuriating, yet too cute to be angry at for long.
He had come to her two years ago, after she had saved him from a mugger, and he had followed her home like a stray dog. He had little to no memory as to who he was or where he had come from. He knew how to do every-day taks, but she had to teach him a lot of stuff. If she hadn't routinely taken care of her 8 year old cousin, Amanda, She wouldn't have bothered... Not that she had a choice. He seemed to stick to her like glue. He's said she reminds him of a girl from a dream, but he often called her Katie because of it. He was odd. He often made her promise things, like not to stay out after dark doing the hero business. Problem was.. that's when most of the crazies came out.
Currently, he lives in the basement of her home. It was weird having a boy in the house, but he often keeps the house clean when she's busy, and after a year without her parents, she had been desperately lonely, so it wasn't so bad.
Kitsune sighed, "Well it's not like I can do anything about it," her eyes reflected her exhaustion for a moment before she looked away, finding an interest in a spot on her cape more fascinating than his blue-green eyes. "I've been swamped up the wazoo with missing children reports. Everybody seems to want to blame me! How am I supposed to be able to know where every kid that disappeared has gone?," Her arms flung out in a desperate shrug, "And HOW am I supposed to go looking for them if everybody calls me to tell me their kid is gone!"
Spencer opened his mouth to speak when there was an urgent knock on the door. With a flash of blue and green smoke, he was no longer next to Kit, but in front of the door. She hated when he did that, but she didn't blame him. It was his ability. He had every right to utilize it where he could. The slight drizzle that had plagued them the whole morning burst forth in a constant downpour of water bombs.
When he opened the door, two people she instantly recognized stumbled through the door. It was her aunt and uncle, both looked disheveled and disoriented. Black tears ran down her aunt's face while her husband wrapped his arms around her, pain reflecting off his normally twinkling bright eyes. Kitsune's heart dropped and her eyes widened as soon as she caught sight of the two. "Don't tell me..," she whispered out of some abnormal reaction. It was the only thing she could speak. Seeing them like this only meant one thing.
Kitsune's cousin, Amanda, was missing.
* * *
"This is terrible!" Kit exclaimed, hunched over with her head on the kitchen table and hands stretched out desperately. The group had retreated there to discuss the events leading up to Amanda's disappearance. There seemed to be nothing that had happened before she went missing that was out of the ordinary, but it was though she had been plucked from where she was standing. "This is exactly like the thousands of other stories I've been hearing all week! I have no leads, and somebody disappears every hour! I can't even leave the house without getting mobbed! How am I supposed to even go searching for them if nobody even lets me start looking?"
Spencer wandered to the table from the stove, carrying a pot of hot tea and a hand full of cups. He set down the cups in front of everybody and poured each with as though he were a professional waiter, setting the pot down on a frilly potholder, and moved to sit down. His butt, however, missed the chair, and he promptly tumbled to the floor clumsily. When he attempted to get up, he stumbled over his own feet and fell again. Despite the tension in the air and the urgency of the situation, the onlookers couldn't help but burst into laughter at the boy stumbling over his own long legs and large feet.
"I'll go," Spencer looked serious as he had finally managed to get himself seated at the table. As he spoke, he scooped large tablespoons of sugar into his tea. "If you feel so swamped that you can't leave, I will go look for Amanda and the other children."
"But..," Kit protested, but he waved his hand to stop her.
"I'll be alright. I've been through worse," He lifted his right arm to scratch the back of his head nervously. A large, black metal band was fastened securely to his wrist. Black marks from it snaked up his veins where the electricity pulsing from the band had scorched his skin. Kitsune had no idea what it was for, but she knew that it was broken and that it would never come off of him. It has once been coated with a rubber to protect it from water damage, but that protection had been burned off over the years. It left Spencer incredibly vulnerable to rain and water, because it sent an incredible shock of electricity through his system and causing great pain.
Kit sat back and gave a small chuckle, "You're right. You can handle this. Take care of my cousin ok?"
Spencer smiled and nodded. "I'll leave in the morning, but right now, is anybody else hungry?"