Tales from Silicon City 3: Demeter
#3 of Silicon City
Rated adult for language, minor violence, and Demeter being Demeter
Third of in the series of unrelated short stories dealing with Silicon City, introducing some of the heroes and villains that occupy it. For this time around, we meet Demeter, an Irish expat living in the United States and one of several florakinetics playing the "Great Game" in Silicon City.
Tales from Silicon City: Demeter
The Harvest Queen
By Psion
All Rights Reserved
Silicon City, recession-stricken home of California's many high-tech industries as well as one of the many bastions of the West Coast "Ecotopian" lifestyle. Another beautiful, deceptively peaceful night had fallen upon the city. In the dark back alleys and forgotten side streets of the city, the domain of police, masked heroes, and the villains they hunted, it was business as usual. Crimes were committed, crimes were foiled, and the status quo continued its sum zero games. Except in one particular block in the industrial district...
Rump Roast grimaced as she focused her attention on a particular food processing plant within the city. Not so much because of who owned the facility or what she knew they were doing though both could be seen as the stuff of nightmares to those within the know. No, tonight's discreet vigil was made all the more trying by whom the fat brown-haired vixen was sharing her rooftop with.
Across the rooftop from the masked fox in a ketchup-colored bodysuit was a brown rabbit dressed in a green hooded unitard with cherry red gloves, boots, and a utility belt bulging with seed pouches. This was Demeter, a fellow stout super Rump Roast knew only all too well...
"Oi, nice night for a stakeout isn't it Moira?" The bottom-heavy Irish bunny commented coyly as both of them watched the building across the street. Yes, the big-bootied vixen knew her cohort very well.
"Not nice enough that I'd enjoy spending it with you Kelly, you skinny-arsed bimbo." The vixen replied automatically. Yes, the two of them knew each other quite well.
"Oh Moira, you're just jealous that you're as skinny as a rail standing next to a positively divine-looking Irish harvest queen like myself." The rabbit teased.
"Skinny as a rail?" The vixen replied, taking a moment to stare at her rival. "I think we've both been around the Americans for too long Demeter, we're starting to adopt their- wait, do you see that?" She interrupted herself as activity in the factory suddenly started to pick up. Lights came on as the nightshift got into full swing, making it impossible for the two of them to ignore the deafening roar of machinery.
A delivery van pulled to the plant and parked by the loading docks, the bright colorful logos of the EatRight Corporation emblazoned on the metal sides. A moment later, work crews began to quickly load the vehicle up with bargain-priced health foods... foods bulked with sawdust or promoted with false advertisements. Once the van was filled up, the driver took off to make his deliveries just as another one took his place to continue the process. From their concealed position, the masked girls continued to watch and take careful note license plate numbers, the apparent amount of security, and whether or not they successfully spotted anyone they recognized.
After a few hours of this, the girls left and went their separate ways. EatRight was undoubtedly a vile company, one that had to be taken down. But not tonight and not without a lot of planning and a fair bit of cunning; the health food company was very well entrenched and both girls suspected that there was more to it then meet the eye. Better to just quietly gather information then either head off to return home or generate some goodwill foiling some more readily apparent and more easily defeated evil.
Demeter stayed just a few minutes longer to watch her rival saunter off, big red spandex-clad vulpine rump swaying beneath that big bushy brown tail, the vixen's long brown hair blowing in the night breeze. The rabbit smiled and headed towards her home in one of the city's working class neighborhoods. Towards the city limits was the little "township" of Briar's Brook, a little clump of apartments, row houses, and small businesses like her greenhouse that the growing Silicon City all but completely absorbed. Her little brick and glass greenhouse... with a huge hole in the wall she distinctly remembered not being there. The whirl of motorized blades echoed from inside, whomever broke into her home and business was no ordinary thief...
As the green and red-clad rabbit crept closer, wondering if she should try to take the intruder down herself or call the police and disappear into the shadows, the trespasser made the decision for her by walking out just as the hooded Demeter started to approach her home. A short lapine woman in a 5'5" suit of power armor painted black with hints of forest green, an insect-like helmet over her head, thick "antenna" to protect her long ears, and an array of menacing-looking blades strapped to her gauntlets. Of course it had to be her... another person the Irish plant-controller knew only too well and would have been only too happy to never see again.
"Well, if it isn't the Iron Locust. To what do I owe the pleasure if I didn't already know?" Demeter asked dryly, her normal demeanor evaporating like a split drink on a hot sidewalk.
"Why if it isn't the Irish thunder thigh queen herself, so nice to see you finally get off your double-wide throne your majesty. Nothing personal, just business; namely the business of getting paid to put another whiny mom and pop shop out of business." The battlesuit bunny replied, jerking her thumb at the building behind her. Clearly she didn't know she was addressing its owner.
"All the brainpower that went into making that suit and you can't spare enough to come up with an insult for me to get worked up over. Clearly your partner was the real brains of the outfit." Demeter fired back. Her opponent was armored and had a collection of sharp-looking blades that would have been impressive if she was into that sort of thing. Not exactly the most ideal opponent for her plant-based powers.
Her remark had the desired reaction. The full helmet made Iron Locust's expression impossible to read but her tone did not. "Never mention him again, he was nothing ..." She snarled, taking a step closer towards her opponent and unintentionally towards a particularly thorny rose bush the heavier rabbit had been cultivating in her spare time.
"Oh, so are the rumors true then? That the other powersuit inventor chasing after you is your old partner feeling responsible for what you're doing? Poor lad, feeling responsible for such a money-grubbing little witch." The brown lapine asked with a probing smirk.
Iron Locust responded by sheathing her wrist blades, a move that surprised Demeter, and trying to charge the large female. The botanakinetic unleashed the full strength of her powers, causing the rose bush to swell and surge around her attacker. The foliage seemed to develop a mind of its own as it wrapped itself around the armored mercenary. Armored servos whined as Locust fought to break free. With a defiant roar and a reapplication of her motorized saws, the crop-wrecker got loose and nearly ripped the shrub out by the roots before lunging. The other costumed figure stepped back at just the right moment, turning what could have been a deep gash into a shallow slice that barely drew blood.
The stout rabbit gritted her teeth and tried to keep her focus. That slash hurt but she knew it came with the territory of being a superhero. Yet apparently something made her opponent change her mind about fighting, the armored villain stopped and suddenly backed away. Abruptly running off before Demeter could attempt to capture her in a snare, she left the stouter female feeling confused and bewildered. What had just happened? Looking around, the street had been empty except for the two of them and a hobo that had been passed out drunk before the fight even began. There were no other threats, no one else. She then looked down at where she had been cut on her softened tummy. Could it be that Iron Locust got squeamish at the sight of blood? No... it couldn't be that simple could it? No matter, she needed to get out of her costume, call the police to report the vandalism, call her insurer to get a claim started, and then start cleaning up whatever mess that twit left for her. Oh well, good thing she had her powers otherwise this would be a rather expensive restocking....
The next day, after having the police visit her to file a report, a visit from the claims adjuster to appraise the damage to her building, and a visit from the contractor coming by to see the job for himself, Kelly O'Connor was finally able to start cleaning up and stitch up her Demeter costume. Iron Locust had left her with an enormous mess to clean up, not really a surprise given that was what she was paid to do, but still extremely irritating. Plant tables had been torn apart or flipped over, potting soil was spilled all over the floor, and seedlings were either shredded or tossed aside and crushed beneath an armored boot heel.
Dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a green t-shirt, Kelly sighed as she swept up split dirt with a broom and dustpan. Refilling pots with soil and repotting plants, she was grateful the discussion about whether or not her stock was insured never came up. Considering all the other interesting events in her life, she wasn't entirely willing to flirt with unintentional insurance fraud. Besides, it wasn't a difficult task to revitalize her stock, just a tiring one. Broad hips swayed ever so slightly as she tended to her "garden." Withered vegetation was gently coaxed back to life and severed ones grew into two healthy plants for every one torn asunder. Her eyes glowed with a pale green half-light as the foliage grew at an accelerated pace, her greenhouse exploding with flora like the scene of a time-lapse video.
The greenhouse's stock of flowers, vegetables, and other plants restored to their full vigor, the contractors returning to get started on rebuilding her busted brick wall and replace the broken greenhouse windows in a couple hours, and her stomach audibly demanding sustenance after putting her abilities through one of their more physically taxing uses, she had some time for a snack. Perhaps she earned a trip to that bakery in the University District, Little Treats Kelly believed it was called. That kangaroo Cassie Witherspoon always did make excellent pastries...