So it's been a couple days since the blackout, and things just keep getting crazier around here. Today as Jenny and I were on our way out of World History, I heard some random kid in the hallway say something about how Defender Neptune is at our school. Jenny heard it too, and she looked at me in alarm. Somebody was onto the truth about us!
I ducked into the nearest bathroom and pulled out my phone, sending the rest of the team a group text on our messenger app. "We're in trouble. I just overheard someone say Defender Neptune is at our school. Didn't catch who, but someone knows."
A few moments later, Josh texted back. "You sure they didn't say Neptune's going to be at our school?"
> Me: Huh?
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> Josh: You didn't hear? You know they're having an assembly later today?
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> Me: Yeah.
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> Josh: Well apparently Christine Stanton's going to be there.
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> Kawena: Is that the actress who plays Neptune on the show?
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> Josh: Got it in one.
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> Jenny: whew, thought we were busted 4 a min there!
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> Me: ...why would they do that?!?
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> Josh: Why not? What do you mean?
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> Me: If she's going to do some inspirational thing anywhere, why Michael's Landing of all places, where we've got the *real* Defenders?
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> Eden: How many people here have the opportunity to talk with a real Defender?
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> Me: All of them. They just don't know it.
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> Josh: And there's your answer.
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> Me: I dunno, this feels like a bad idea for some reason.
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> Josh: Meh. I'm just fine with it. I've wanted to meet her like forever. 😁
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> Kawena: Her and everyone else on there, fanboy. 😛
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> Josh: Yeah, but she's the hottest one of the bunch. Dunno why all the guys on the show are always after Venus; Lynn Welch is just not as good-looking as Christine.
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> Jenny: bah, u just say that bc she's a redhead like you
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> Eden: *eyeroll* Men! Is that all you ever think about?
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> Me: Hey, don't tar us all with the same brush...
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> Jenny: totally not like u ever think that way, Montague
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> Me: Shut up.
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> Kawena: Montague?
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> Me: Nevermind. She's just being a derp.
Thankfully, she did shut up after that point. It would have really sucked if she'd kept pushing things or if Kawena had caught on to that stupid little nickname!
The assembly started out normal enough. Instead of Chemistry for last period, everyone packed into the gym, or the mezzanines overlooking it on either side, and filed in to the bleachers. Principal Davis came out and said a few words to introduce Christine Stanton, and then the lights dimmed. A few moments later, they came back up, and "Defender Neptune" was standing there. I gotta hand it to them; the people who created the blue costume for Ms. Stanton did an amazing job of making it look like Jenny's real armor.
"WE ARE THE SOLAR DEFENDERS!" the speakers boomed in a big, deep, dramatic voice, going into the voiceover from the show's opening sequence, complete with hard rock music and a few gratuitous explosions. "THE SHIELD OF MANKIND! WHEREVER THE ENEMY ATTACKS, THERE WE WILL BE, VALIANT AND INVINCIBLE, TO DESTROY THE MONSTERS AND PROTECT THE INNOCENT!" Down below, the costumed guest swept through several dramatic-looking martial arts poses, then reached up and undid her helmet. Long, flowing red hair shook loose as she pulled it off and tucked it under her arm, to cheers and applause (and of course a few whistles and catcalls) from the student body. I assume most people reading this know what she looks like: tall, pretty I guess--not the paragon of beauty that Josh apparently held her up as, but definitely not bad-looking--and in good shape, which I bet is basically a prerequisite for a lead role in a TV show about martial artists. Full of smiles and earnestness as she stepped up to the microphone and addressed us.
The first ten minutes or so were your ordinary, standard speaker stuff, with her talking about how excited she was to be here, in the home of the real Defenders, (at least she had the good grace to not say something cheesy like "I'm not a Solar Defender; I just play one on TV,") how she admired those of us who lived here, the hardships we endured and our "contributions to the world," and how excited she had been to get the role on Valiant Invincible Solar Defenders, because she had always dreamed of meeting a real Defender and that was basically the next best thing.
That's when things really went off the rails. And by "things" I mean Josh. A minute or two later, a rift opened and Defender Mars stepped through. "You wanted to meet one of us?" a distorted voice called out.
She had been turned away so she didn't see the rift, but when Mars stepped in she looked over in confusion. "Damien, what are you doing here..." then her jaw dropped as she realized it wasn't an actor. "Wait... are you..." She clasped a hand to her mouth and let out a muffled scream. "You're the real Defender Mars!"
He bowed forward slightly, reaching out, taking her gauntletted hand in his and raising it, pressing it to the faceplate of his helmet as if in a kiss. "At your service, m'lady."
While everyone was watching the melodrama down in the middle of the floor, I looked over at Principal Davis. She looked a bit freaked out; this had clearly gone way off-script, but what exactly was she gonna do about it? Tell a real Solar Defender to please leave? I looked around for Sensei Billingsley, wondering what he thought of all this, but I couldn't see him.
Down below, Ms. Stanton was practically gushing, talking about how much she admired the Defenders and drew inspiration from them. I couldn't help but wonder how she'd be responding if she knew the person under that helmet was a decade or so younger than her and belonged up in the audience!
But then Mars said something he really shouldn't have said. "I kind of know how you feel. It was you and your fellow actors, more than anything else, that inspired me to want to become a Defender."
She gave him a totally confused look. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Oh, I guess you didn't know. Not everyone does. Because it's such intense work, Solar Defenders only serve for a term of a few years. When the last Mars was done, I was chosen to take his place."
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Hoo boy. Kawena was going to kill him, if she wasn't already! That's not "something not everyone knows;" as far as I was aware that wasn't something pretty much anyone outside of our own little circle knew about!
I looked around, just on the off chance someone nearby would react in a strange way to that, that might tip me off that they were one of the former Defenders, but I didn't really catch anything; everyone was too busy gawking.
"Really? So, what did you do to get... chosen like that?"
"Years of training, mostly. I really can't go into the specifics, unfortunately. We have to be careful about revealing information about ourselves. If the Masters find out who we really are, they could go after us, or our families or loved ones. That's actually something that's happened in the past."
"Oh! That's horrible!"
"That's war," Mars said, "against an enemy who never signed the Geneva Conventions."
Ms. Stanton nodded quietly. After a few moments, she asked him, "there's something I've always wondered." She began removing her costume. The armor plates came off easily enough, revealing blue jeans and a navy blouse underneath--she was totally playing up the "color coded character" trope from the show, wasn't she?
The way Mars's head turned to look at her, I could just imagine the look on Josh's face, and I'm kind of glad she couldn't see him ogling her as she "stripped" out of the costume. "What would that be?" he asked after a moment.
She took a half step back and raised her hands, getting into a fighting stance. "I've always wondered what it would be like to spar with a real Defender. Would you do me the honor?"
That got a real reaction out of the audience. A bunch of kids started cheering and whistling at the question. "YEAH! FIGHT HER!" someone called out, prompting a bunch of whoops and cheers.
Mars hesitated, then after a moment, shook his head. "I'm sorry. This armor is designed to destroy superhumanly tough horrors. It would be all too easy for me to accidentally harm you. I'd gladly do so in civilian form, but..."
She sighed and nodded. "But you can't reveal who that is."
"I truly am sorry."
Another rift opened in the air, and a distorted voice came through. "Mars, you're needed back on patrol!"
He looked over at it, then clasped a hand across his torso, giving a dramatic sigh. "I'm afraid I must go. Jupiter can be a real tyrant sometimes..." He stepped towards the portal, then gestured to Ms. Stanton. "Christine Stanton, everybody. She's wonderful!" He gave a big bow, garnering lots of applause and cheers, then stepped through the rift, which closed after him.
Jupiter, though? That wasn't my rift! I couldn't tell which girl the voice belonged to, though, not through the distortion. Probably Kawena.
Ms. Stanton just stood there for a moment, motionless, before raising her microphone. "Wow... so... yeah. That just happened." She raised one hand and fanned her face a little. "Whew, sorry. Kinda flustered after that. It's not every day you meet the real deal." She grinned at us. "Any of you guys ever meet a Defender?"
She looked a bit taken aback when she saw nearly every hand go up, the whole place breaking out in cheers. Principal Davis came over and explained how there had recently been a monster attack at the school, which left her a bit wide-eyed. The whole thing had a bit of a surreal feel to it; it's not every day you sit through an assembly where the special presenter gets more out of it than the audience!
After all this digression, she finally got around to delivering her message of generic inspirational-ness, which we endured with the appropriate generic student patience and feigned attentiveness.
Once it was done, we headed out, off to our lockers before heading back home. I grabbed a couple books I'd need for homework, then headed out towards the bus stop, when I heard agitated voices coming from nearby. Three people, keeping it down, but I recognized all of them: Scott and Blake Underwood, and Kimiko Nomura. She's Scott's girlfriend, the head cheerleader, and... well, every bit the sort of person you'd expect from a cheerleader who's dating a guy like Scott. The kind who thinks everyone less pretty, popular, and wealthy than herself is some sort of slime, whose existence is inherently beneath her exalted station.
"You got nothing?" Kim asked.
"How was I supposed to know where that rift went?" Scott said, sounding all defensive.
Wait, what? I quickly traced the spell of Unpresence and crept closer, as quietly as I could.
"Maybe if you'd been paying attention in Magic Theory?" she retorted.
Blake joined in. "Wow, I can't believe it. He was right here, and he slipped away, just like that!"
"Well it's not like he went far," Scott pointed out.
"Well yeah," Kimiko said, "but that's not the point. Did you see anyone slipping back into the audience after that? 'Cuz I was looking, and I didn't. Who knows when we'll have another opportunity like this to figure out who one of them is?"
Woah.
I slipped away again, not wanting to push my luck after that point.
I suppose it shouldn't surprise me too much, learning that they know the Defenders are students here. Steve Underwood is the biggest, most successful, wealthiest MH around; he's probably privy to all sorts of information that most people have no idea about. But why are those three trying to figure out who the Defenders are?
Wait, no. That much is obvious. We're disposing of monsters instead of leaving them for the MHs to pick over. We're costing them money. But if they can get the drop on one of us in our ordinary, squishy civilian forms... some 'persuasion' would be in order.
OK, yeah. That's not gonna happen. I got out my phone to remind everyone to keep things cool, but it looked like Kawena had beaten me to it. There was a conversation already going on.
> Kawena: OK, everyone, that right there, that's a shining example of what *not* to do!
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> Josh: What? It's just a bit of harmless fun. It's not like we were fighting monsters at the moment anyway.
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> Kawena: That doesn't matter. You don't expose yourself like that. What would Aderan say? What would Sensei say, for that matter?
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> Josh: His exact words were, "I trust you've got that all out of your system now?"
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> Eden: And did you? You all done flirting with the pretty redhead? Seriously, I can't believe you did that!
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> Josh: Oh come on...
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> Eden: Rememeber Spider-Man and Black Cat?
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> Josh: ...ouch.
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> Kawena: Huh?
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> Eden: Just reminding him how these things tend to turn out when she discovers that the hero's secret identity is still a teenager. It didn't go so well for Spidey.
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> Josh: Oy! You didn't think I was actually hitting on her?
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> Jenny: looked pretty srs to me, u were laying it on real thick
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> Josh: That wasn't even me; that was Mars.
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> Kawena: Uhh... you *are* Mars.
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> Josh: Not really. Mars is a Defender. Everyone loves him and thinks he's awesome. He's a hero, a warrior that inspires people.
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> Josh: Me? I'm just some kid, nothing special. No one really cares about me. When I transform, I become someone important, someone who matters. Someone people love. But that's not really me.
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> Eden: That's not true, Josh.
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> Kawena: Oh, get over yourself already.
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> Josh: What do you mean?
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> Eden: Some people care about you.
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> Jenny: hey K, loosen up a little! can't u see he's being vulnerable???
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> Josh: Like who? Mars has got it made. He's a Defender, the dream that everyone would really like to be. *Everyone!* But me? Dave and Jenny are basically my only friends, and it's not like we'll all somehow end up at the same college or something and become lifelong companions.
That last message from Josh was just popping up as I opened the app. There was a long pause, maybe four or five minutes, where no one said anything at all. Then finally one reply came through.
> Eden: *I* care about you, OK? Even if you are a total derp sometimes!
Woah. Does that mean what it looks like it means? I had to go back and reread the whole conversation, and the earlier one, because that sort of recontextualizes the entire thing! Fortunately, no one else was saying anything in that time either, so when I got done, there were no new messages.
I finally decided to weigh in.
> Me: Wow, I wasn't expecting that!
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> Eden: *blush* ...yeah, I kinda wasn't either. Sorry. Taking this to a private chat. Bye all.
So… yeah. That happened. It would seem she likes him. I hope she's able to help him, because I've never seen this side of my best friend before and I don't quite know what to do about it.
I just hope this doesn't end up finding some way of making things worse for the team...