![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"The Chimera Is Back!":
Mar. 21st, 2023 06:22 am"The Chimera Is Back!"
6/19/-6/22/2012
I.
Haley's landings needed so much work. Summoning tornado winds to lift her into the sky and even to travel at a hundred feet up was relatively easy with the Air Gem. But lessening those winds gradually and coming down to the ground safely was much more difficult. The concentration needed was so demanding that she couldn't get it right.
So the Windcatcher was practicing over Lake Schoonmaker, eight miles from her home in Glenville, Long Island. Sitting on the white sand shore were her two best friends and romantic couple for more than a year, Gina and Bentley.
Descending to twenty feet, Haley swept back the heavy blue cloak over her shoulders. It was a big help in guiding her flight while in the air, but a real nuisance at the moment. She dropped her legs down, spread her arms out wide and her thoughts wandered for an instant as a fish broke the surface nearby. That was all it took. She plummeted straight down with a mighty splash.
"Drat this anyway!" she spluttered and began stroking toward shore. Tall at seventeen with long legs, she was a strong swimmer who loved the water but at the moment she was vexed beyond endurance. The wet heavy cloak weighed her down like a blanket. Her chestnut hair was tied back in a ponytail but her bangs were too long and hanging in her eyes, dripping heavily.
Standing with his feet in the water, Bentley held a cork lifesaver ring he had taken from his uncle's pool. This had been his idea. He watched Haley drawing nearer without being able to hide his concern. If she seemed to be struggling, he was going in to help her whether she wanted it or not.
Gina Giacomo had come over to stand beside him. Italian on both sides, she was widely considered by the boys to be the sexiest junior at their high school. That day, she was wearing the bottom half of a blue bikini with a fuzzy white long-sleeved shirt. She had no intention of getting in the water after all the time she had spent preparing her long mane of curly black hair.
"It was that fish, Hales!" she sang out. "I saw it. He deliberately screwed up your landing."
Plopping down on the sand, panting after the exertion, Haley unsnapped the cloak and let it fall to one side. "I'm exhausted. My head is killing me. This flying is like doing trig in your head while riding a bicycle uphill. Movies and comics make it look so easy!"
A few feet away were two white beach towels covered with bottles of sunblock, a bag full of empty soda cans and crumpled up potato chip bags, three cell phones and an oversized pair of aviator sunglasses. Getting up on her feet, Haley lurched over there and dropped to her knees to claim the last can of Mountain Dew. "Whew. Thanks for being ready with the lifesaver, Bentley. You're the best."
"He IS. I landed a great boyfriend," Gina added. "Listen, Haley, while you were up there swooping and soaring and whatnot, I saw something on the news that might interest you."
Winging out the soaking wet cloak to let dry in the warm June sunlight, Windcatcher asked, "Like what?"
"Here, I saved it." Shading her phone's screen with one hand, said, "Let's see. Umm, there have been sightings in Danverton of a mysterious man in a purple costume. He beat up three men who were trying to rob an elderly gentlemen on North Wall Street Saturday night. Wednesday at two AM, he chased away a creep who was following a woman walking home from Rustler's Dance Club and made sure she made it to her apartment."
"That's what I should be doing!" yelped Haley. "As soon as I get a little better control, I will patrolling high crime areas late at night. Well, at least until school starts up."
"Sounds like Long Island has another super-hero," Gina said. "Listen to his description. A tall athletic man wearing a purple jumpsuit with black riding boots and a hooded mask which covered his face except around his nose and mouth. On the front of his shirt was a white silhouette of some strange animal neither witness recognized."
"Oh my God, the Chimera!" blurted Haley. "I read all about him when I was little. That was ages ago. He disappeared around the time I was born, late 1995. I couldn't get enough about him. Officially, the police made statements calling upon him to stop his unlawful vigilante crusade but, you know, somehow they never showed up until he was gone. I figured they watched from a distance and only moved in to clear up after Chimera was off the scene."
"There's more," Gina said. "Known from notes he left naming himself as the Chimera, the masked man subdued a gunman who had robbed a liquor store and left the perp tied up with his own belt and shoelaces. In the summer of 1994, he smashed up two Asian massge parlors staffed by underage Korean girls brought into the country illegally. He left the girls at the local FBI office in Manhattan and their testimony led to the arrest and conviction of the owner on human trafficking charges."
"You see why he was my hero?! I still have a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about him somewhere," Haley laughed.
"How come he never got shot?" asked Bentley.
"What?"
"Haley, I know you're nuts about super-hero comics but they've given you seriously unrealistic ideas. I don't care if you're the world's greatest master of kung fu and karate, you can't charge at armed men without getting shot. And it says he did this not once but at least five reported times." Bentley shook his head. "It smells fishy."
"Aw, your feet smell fishy," Haley scoffed. "Maybe he was very very lucky or maybe he's a former Navy SEAL or something. What I want to know is how he can still be active. That was a long time ago."
Gina said, "Hey, suppose he was in his mid-twenties back then. He'd be forty-five today. That's not ANCIENT! My dad is forty-six and he runs three miles a day in all weather. I bet my dad is stronger than any of the wrestlers at our school."
"Maybe your dad is the Chimera," offered Haley in her sweetest, most innocent voice.
"No such luck. Mom watches him like a hawk. If he tried sneaking out at night, she'd bust his eardrums with her yelling."
Haley had that familiar far-away look that warned of trouble brewing in her lime-green eyes. "So where has the Chimera been all these years? Why has he gone back into action now? What's his deal anyway?"
( the rest of the story )
6/19/-6/22/2012
I.
Haley's landings needed so much work. Summoning tornado winds to lift her into the sky and even to travel at a hundred feet up was relatively easy with the Air Gem. But lessening those winds gradually and coming down to the ground safely was much more difficult. The concentration needed was so demanding that she couldn't get it right.
So the Windcatcher was practicing over Lake Schoonmaker, eight miles from her home in Glenville, Long Island. Sitting on the white sand shore were her two best friends and romantic couple for more than a year, Gina and Bentley.
Descending to twenty feet, Haley swept back the heavy blue cloak over her shoulders. It was a big help in guiding her flight while in the air, but a real nuisance at the moment. She dropped her legs down, spread her arms out wide and her thoughts wandered for an instant as a fish broke the surface nearby. That was all it took. She plummeted straight down with a mighty splash.
"Drat this anyway!" she spluttered and began stroking toward shore. Tall at seventeen with long legs, she was a strong swimmer who loved the water but at the moment she was vexed beyond endurance. The wet heavy cloak weighed her down like a blanket. Her chestnut hair was tied back in a ponytail but her bangs were too long and hanging in her eyes, dripping heavily.
Standing with his feet in the water, Bentley held a cork lifesaver ring he had taken from his uncle's pool. This had been his idea. He watched Haley drawing nearer without being able to hide his concern. If she seemed to be struggling, he was going in to help her whether she wanted it or not.
Gina Giacomo had come over to stand beside him. Italian on both sides, she was widely considered by the boys to be the sexiest junior at their high school. That day, she was wearing the bottom half of a blue bikini with a fuzzy white long-sleeved shirt. She had no intention of getting in the water after all the time she had spent preparing her long mane of curly black hair.
"It was that fish, Hales!" she sang out. "I saw it. He deliberately screwed up your landing."
Plopping down on the sand, panting after the exertion, Haley unsnapped the cloak and let it fall to one side. "I'm exhausted. My head is killing me. This flying is like doing trig in your head while riding a bicycle uphill. Movies and comics make it look so easy!"
A few feet away were two white beach towels covered with bottles of sunblock, a bag full of empty soda cans and crumpled up potato chip bags, three cell phones and an oversized pair of aviator sunglasses. Getting up on her feet, Haley lurched over there and dropped to her knees to claim the last can of Mountain Dew. "Whew. Thanks for being ready with the lifesaver, Bentley. You're the best."
"He IS. I landed a great boyfriend," Gina added. "Listen, Haley, while you were up there swooping and soaring and whatnot, I saw something on the news that might interest you."
Winging out the soaking wet cloak to let dry in the warm June sunlight, Windcatcher asked, "Like what?"
"Here, I saved it." Shading her phone's screen with one hand, said, "Let's see. Umm, there have been sightings in Danverton of a mysterious man in a purple costume. He beat up three men who were trying to rob an elderly gentlemen on North Wall Street Saturday night. Wednesday at two AM, he chased away a creep who was following a woman walking home from Rustler's Dance Club and made sure she made it to her apartment."
"That's what I should be doing!" yelped Haley. "As soon as I get a little better control, I will patrolling high crime areas late at night. Well, at least until school starts up."
"Sounds like Long Island has another super-hero," Gina said. "Listen to his description. A tall athletic man wearing a purple jumpsuit with black riding boots and a hooded mask which covered his face except around his nose and mouth. On the front of his shirt was a white silhouette of some strange animal neither witness recognized."
"Oh my God, the Chimera!" blurted Haley. "I read all about him when I was little. That was ages ago. He disappeared around the time I was born, late 1995. I couldn't get enough about him. Officially, the police made statements calling upon him to stop his unlawful vigilante crusade but, you know, somehow they never showed up until he was gone. I figured they watched from a distance and only moved in to clear up after Chimera was off the scene."
"There's more," Gina said. "Known from notes he left naming himself as the Chimera, the masked man subdued a gunman who had robbed a liquor store and left the perp tied up with his own belt and shoelaces. In the summer of 1994, he smashed up two Asian massge parlors staffed by underage Korean girls brought into the country illegally. He left the girls at the local FBI office in Manhattan and their testimony led to the arrest and conviction of the owner on human trafficking charges."
"You see why he was my hero?! I still have a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about him somewhere," Haley laughed.
"How come he never got shot?" asked Bentley.
"What?"
"Haley, I know you're nuts about super-hero comics but they've given you seriously unrealistic ideas. I don't care if you're the world's greatest master of kung fu and karate, you can't charge at armed men without getting shot. And it says he did this not once but at least five reported times." Bentley shook his head. "It smells fishy."
"Aw, your feet smell fishy," Haley scoffed. "Maybe he was very very lucky or maybe he's a former Navy SEAL or something. What I want to know is how he can still be active. That was a long time ago."
Gina said, "Hey, suppose he was in his mid-twenties back then. He'd be forty-five today. That's not ANCIENT! My dad is forty-six and he runs three miles a day in all weather. I bet my dad is stronger than any of the wrestlers at our school."
"Maybe your dad is the Chimera," offered Haley in her sweetest, most innocent voice.
"No such luck. Mom watches him like a hawk. If he tried sneaking out at night, she'd bust his eardrums with her yelling."
Haley had that familiar far-away look that warned of trouble brewing in her lime-green eyes. "So where has the Chimera been all these years? Why has he gone back into action now? What's his deal anyway?"
( the rest of the story )
