The Glass Knight

Vivainne leaned against the counter, tapping her fingers beside the keyboard as Charles continued to inspect the scans, typing an occasional note in something that could not have been English. Some sort of code? That would make sense.

She made a mental note to do some research into codes. If she was going to be a spywork hero, or do research that could be potentially world changing, codes would probably be a good thing to understand.

"You seem impatient," Charles said, not looking away from the screen as she spoke.

She let out a deep sigh and stepped away from the counter, pacing the length of the room. There wasn't much space to move, unless she wanted to move back out into the main research lab. Vanya was still out there, hopefully not getting into trouble. They should probably supervise her better.

"I just want answers. I want… more."

"I understand," he said, his voice calm.

"I also understand that this process is slow and I should just be glad that we know this much already, right? But I just feel useless. I'm a guinea pig, and that's it. I can't do anything else."

"Do you want me to give you a solution, or just listen?" Charles asked.

Vivainne stopped moving, even as she grew agitated, wishing there was somewhere she could go. The same old urge to run away from her problems, to hide in the shadows and wait for someone else to deal with them. But she wasn't satisfied with that anymore. She had to do something about it.

"What should I do to get more involved in this?" she asked, staring at the wall. She couldn't look at him, wasn't ready for his response, even when she needed it.

"Well." Charles tapped the mouse, the sound the only noise in the room for a moment. "The Tower has resources for continued education. You wouldn't be the first hero who had interests outside of hero work, or wanted to advance their education in a field. I'm going to connect you with someone at the New York tower so you can sign up for some classes. You'd want biology, but I'm also not completely certain on how helpful that will end up being. I'm not entirely certain this counts as biology."

He paused, rubbing his forehead for a moment before dropping his hands, trying to hide the pained expression. "I'm sorry, this sort of thing is mildly frustrating to me."

"Same." She threw up her hands and chuckled, then rubbed a crease out of her forehead. "I don't think I'll ever understand how my mother was able to research this much without going mad. Or maybe that's the problem."

"Could be," Charles agreed. He quickly shut down and locked the computer, the screen going completely dark. He let out a sigh as he pushed out of his seat, sliding it back into place at the desk. "I suppose we ought to get back out there, and get you back to New York."

"Do I have to?"

"You have a meeting with the educational advisor after this," Charles said.

She squinted at him. "That was fast."

"I may have scheduled it before our meeting," he said with a shrug. "It's not exactly an odd step for you to make, all things considered. I'd like to say it's my parental influence."

She rolled her eyes as they left the private room, stepping back out to find that Vanya had filled up the papers she had and had moved on to coloring Charles' desk. "No, I don't think that's it," she said, planting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the mess.

He let out a sigh, staring at the crayon marks. "Yeah, maybe not. Vanya, come here, let's send Viv back to school."

They walked her back to the teleportation pad, something she was quickly growing used to, and Vanya clung to her legs like she never wanted her to let go. Vivainne knelt down, pulling her gently away, and squeezed her sister in a hug until the girl begged to be released. Vanya giggled as Vivainne finally released her, then gave her one last hug before rising back to her full height.

"I'll keep you updated on developments," Charles said.

"I'll do the same," she said, then before she could think about it, lurched forward for a hug. He reacted like any hero, reflexes honed over years of hard work, and pulled her in. "Thank you for everything."

"Don't worry about it, kid."

She pulled back, pausing for a moment before she stepped into the teleportation room. She needed to head back, especially if she had some sort of meeting scheduled, but she couldn't bring herself to move. "When did Vanya start calling you dad?" she blurted out before she could think of a better way to word it.

He blinked, looking shocked for a moment before glancing down at the little girl, one hand resting on the top of her head. She suspected it was just to keep her from darting off and getting into some sort of trouble with those crayons still in her hand.

"A few weeks ago," he said. "I'm sorry, I should have told you. I didn't think it would be a problem."

"No, I'm not upset about it," she said, quickly clarifying. It was good for Vanya, to have a parent who didn't just see her as some sort of experiment. Honestly, it was something she should have thought about before, but it just never crossed her mind. She'd never had a father, it wasn't something she thought about. Until now, she supposed. "Just… Curious, is all."

"Okay."

"Jordan and Darcy don't call you dad."

He shrugged. "I've been called lots of things, over the years. But now that we work together, they tend to stick to Charles, yeah. Unless Darcy really wants to get my attention."

Vivainne chuckled. That did sound like Darcy.

"You can call me whatever you want," Charles added on before she could work out what she was trying to say. He squeezed her shoulder, his smile, if she had to name it, awkward.

"Okay, okay. Thank you." She ducked her head, feeling color filling her cheeks as she stepped into the room. This was such a silly thing, and it didn't even matter. But, well, Charles was family now, wasn't he? "So…"

"Go," he said, a note of amusement entering his voice. "You'll be late."

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll see you later, Dad?" She stepped into the room before she could see the look on Charles' face, wondering if she was being completely stupid. She was probably being completely stupid.

A few moments later, and Vivainned was back in the tower, trying to compose herself before she needed to figure out exactly where she was supposed to be going. Every time she thought she knew everything about the tower, she was surprised, and today wasn't an exception. She found herself in an area of the tower she'd never explored before, glancing down at the email on her phone indicating who she was supposed to have a meeting with.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A helpful hero in a costume she didn't recognize—there were too many in the city to keep track of—directed her toward the library, which was apparently where the tower's chief of education set up office. For being in the Tower of Unity, the library was surprisingly mundane, and she wandered amid rows of books before a noise caught her ear.

She spun around, finding a woman who absolutely had not been there before no more than three feet behind her. She looked every bit the librarian she supposedly was, wearing a knit cable sweater and a pair of dark brown slacks. Vivainne did her best not to react, but her mind raced. Where had the woman come from?

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings," the woman said, eyeing Vivainne up and down. "Being in the tower is no excuse to let your guard down. Are you Vivainne Monet?"

She nodded once. "And you're Astrid Lorren?"

The librarian nodded once. "Come this way."

Astrid led Vivainne through the library and into a room at the back, a small office set up with a desk and a series of bookshelves that held as many trinkets and gadgets as they did books. Astrid sat behind the desk, leaving Vivainne to pull out the chair in front of it as she took in the room, trying to gleam what she could by its appearance.

"You're looking to continue your education," Astrid said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "What are you looking to study?"

"Biology?"

"You don't sound certain."

"I'm not, but it seems like a good place to begin."

Astrid stopped typing, looking away from her computer for a moment. She narrowed her eyes, and Vivainne had to resist the urge to squirm under the inspection. "Does this have anything to do with Monet Industries?"

Vivainne opened her mouth to protest before swallowing them down. It wasn't exactly a lie, this was essentially a continuation of Monet Industries' research and development. "Yes."

"Hmm. Well, biology would be a start. I'll sign you up for some courses, though, if I were you, I would wait until you graduate from the program."

"I can handle it," Vivainne said, hands balling into fists. She didn't have the privilege of waiting until she was a hero, and honestly, she didn't believe she'd have more time then than she did now.

"If you're certain." Astrid turned back to her computer, silent for several minutes before looking back up at her. "Biology, then."

They spoke for a bit longer, with the woman asking questions and getting Vivainne's information to sign her up for classes. They wouldn't begin until after Christmas break, which was a relief. That gave her a bit of time to sort out how she would manage all of it, though she was impatient to get started.

With that sorted, Vivainne rose, thanking Astrid before heading back to the apartment. A piece of her said to head down below and find out what she'd missed in power class, but there was so much going on in her head. She needed a chance to just sit down and sort it out.

The apartment was dark, and she let the feeling soak into her bones for a moment before she flicked on the lights. A sigh escaped her lips as the lights flooded around her; this may have been what she was born to, but the shadows were so much more comforting.

Silence filled the apartment and she found herself wishing for more before she took a seat at her desk. Her shoulders slumped as she pulled a notebook close, inspecting the latest note that had appeared. Well, Inkwell would just have to wait. She pushed the notebook away, leaning back and shutting her eyes.

Canvas had given Vivainne a list of meditations to try, changing the way she'd always viewed meditation. She wasn't trying to clear her mind, rather the intent was to feel and understand the thoughts flitting through her mind, so she could focus on what actually mattered.

She shut her eyes, taking in a slow breath through her nose as the thoughts began to break free. Vivainne couldn't help but cringe at the first. She'd called Charles dad. Was that a terrible idea?

No, she decided, pushing down her own embarrassment at the idea. Charles was family. He'd taken her in when he had no responsibility to, given her a home and a place to let go of the fear she'd lived in all her life. He'd taken in her sister, never complained about all the trouble she brought to him. And he'd said as much, she could call him whatever she wanted.

Her core stirred as she sorted through her thoughts. The shadow core, as always, was easy to touch, with its sharp edges and jagged lines. There was always pain, a faint echo of it, wrapped up with the shadows it was made of. In the scan, her original core was right behind it, almost like an eclipse. She just needed to reach it.

What happens when I reach it? It was a thought that had bothered her for a while. The shadows made her a perfect spywork hero, someone who could work in the dark, steal secrets, never be in the spotlight. Her powers barely even worked under sunlight. For so long, she'd believed that her original core would be her ticket to a normal career as a hero, but she had no idea what the ability would be, beyond light. And it wasn't like her shadow core would just go away. It was there, inside her, a piece of her after all this time.

It wasn't something she could answer before she reached her original core and discovered what she could do. And there was a piece of her that had come to enjoy what she was learning to do under Inkwell. It was a helpful skill, something she could see herself using in the future.

But she also had always wanted to be a hero like Glitterbomb or Runestar, someone on the front lines, helping people face to face.

Then there was Monet Industries. She'd never wanted to be involved with her mother's world, never even entertained the idea of studying to understand her research or even do research of her own. And now here she was, debating what she needed to study to be able to fix one of the super world's biggest problems: the fragility of power cores. It was a huge undertaking, and apparently one that could put the whole world at threat.

She stifled a groan, eyes popping open. She couldn't keep sitting here and debating this. It wasn't helping her get any closer to her original core.

Vivainne grabbed her notebook and a pencil, flipping to an empty page at the back. Charles hadn't let her keep a copy of the scans of her cores, but that didn't mean she couldn't draw them. She wasn't exactly an artist, but they were, for the most part, two circles. She began there, drawing out her shadow core first. Behind it, she made an outline of the light core, using the white of the paper to shape it for the most part. Around it, she began drawing the rest of what she'd seen on the scan.

The main door of the apartment creaked open, her drawing interrupted as Pip came home. Vivainne laid her pencil down, twisting toward her open bedroom door, making out Pip in the entryway taking off her shoes. She looked a bit like she'd been toasted, the faint scent of smoke clinging to her and filling the apartment.

She leaned back in her chair, calling out. "Pip? Did you catch something on fire?"

Pip startled, spinning around to look at her before a wild smile stretched across her face. "No, but Florence did." She darted into the bedroom doorway, leaning across the threshold like she was afraid of stepping past it. Vivainne just wanted to grab her and drag her inside. "You're looking at the new brawler for our midterms team."

Vivainne's eyes went wide. "Oh my god, really? That's awesome, Pip!"

Pip let go of the doorway and stepped inside. "I know! I just had the best power up ever, you're not even going to believe it. Where were you? I tried to find you to come watch."

"You tried to find me to watch?"

"Uh, yeah." Color spread slowly across Pip's cheeks. "I thought you might like to."

"Oh…" Vivainne opened her mouth to speak, realizing she didn't have the slightest clue on what to say. "I'm sorry I couldn't. I was in LA with Charles."

"Really? What for?"

She shrugged. "Power training."

Pip leaned over her, opening her mouth to say something before her eyes snagged on the notebook. The urge to snap it shut flitted through her as Pip hooked the edge of it, pulling it closer. "I didn't know you drew, Viv."

"Uh, yeah, not very well."

"I wouldn't say that," Pip said, shaking her head. "It's a very pretty galaxy."

Vivainne opened her mouth to protest, then snapped it shut, the shock running through her like she'd just been electrocuted. A galaxy.

"You're a genius, Pip." She grabbed her hand, fingers wrapping around the shorter girl's, and squeezed. "Thank you."

Pip looked down at her in shock. "Well… I have no idea why I'm a genius, but you're welcome, I guess. How'd LA go?"

Vivainne cringed, looking away from her. "I called Charles dad."

"Oh? You know, somehow I forgot that he's not your actual dad."