Happy (Un)Retirement! (Apex and Neon)

Neon watched as Apex stretched and moved her hips, which wouldn’t be much normally but considering the girl was in a tight bodysuit the action was a tad mesmerizing. The Speedster’s eyes unable to resist sizing her up in that outfit. “Uh… Yeah… I guess we will..” She managed to get out before Apex turned around completely, Neon’s eyes admittedly wandered downward, and bade her farewell. “..Later…” It took a few seconds for Neon to snap out of it, arching an eyebrow. “...Lightbike…?”

Apex bolted at lightning speed and Neon reacted quickly be sprinting after her, matching her speed. Why was she following her? She’s a heroine with similar skills, wanting to take down criminals, had a nice… No! That wasn’t it at all! Neon is following the other speedster to ask for a team up! Yeah, that’s definitely it. She’d let out a doubtful sigh while the purple bolt of light followed its target.

The chase ended on top of a rooftop, some random random apartment building in the city, and for some reason Neon decided to be a sneak and use the fire-escape. Convincing herself she was being on her guard, she’d slowly edged her way up the iron steps until she reached the roof. What she saw next was a shock to her; Apex without her mask out in the open.

There was a flash of bright purple light and Neon was suddenly right infront of Apex, her body dangerously close to the other girl’s to the point of almost touching. But this wasn’t Neon coming on to Apex. The black-clad Speedster had her hand on Apex’s mask and was personally placing it back on the girl’s face. “Yeah… taking this off on a rooftop out in the open is not a good idea, Apex… Never know when a drone with a camera might fly by and catch a glimpse..” She said calmly and quietly, not realizes just then how awkward her closeness was.

"Gah! Holy stick in Legos!" Apex did so often have a way with words when she was startled. To suddenly have the flash of purple appearing before her before the feel of her mask being yanked back down by someone in such close proximity; it surprised her. To say the least. It took a second, and a little superspeed-flailing, to recompose herself. "Drones? ... Oh crap I forgot those are a thing now!" She pulled the mask back down herself, pulling it out flat to keep the tight material bunching up. "It's.... probably a good job I'm a nobody huh? You might've seen my face but it's... not like you suddenly know exactly who I am right?" She would give a nervous laugh, realising for herself she had just majorly effed up in front of another more successful hero. "And do you gotta stand so close? Makes a girl nervous y'know. Makes her think 'why is Neon here when I just left her?' and 'oh my god was I being stalked?'"

“Oh! Uhm.. sorry..” Neon got the hint and quickly took a step back from her, placing a hand on her hip before letting a sigh escape her darkened lips. She looked around herself to make sure any of those drones she spoke of was actually in the area before turning to respond to Apex’s questions. “No… of course I’m not stalking you.. I was.. Going to suggest we team up.. Since we’re both speedsters and all..” She said, but not in a completely convincing tone. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out Neon was pretty attracted to the other Speedster.

She looked around herself again and let out a sigh, “Listen… I did see your face.. And I don’t recognize it.. So I still don’t know who you are. But, I really don’t like being out in the open like this… and since you took off your mask on this roof, I can assume you live here.” Neon spoke with a nice sense of deduction, looking back at Apex, “So, can we get off this roof or what?”

Apex continued to fumble a little with her words, glancing behind the lenses of the mask between Neon and the roof door. "... Didn't you just tell me off for unmasking myself? I'd think inviting a stranger in to my apartment would be that much worse for hiding my identity from potential threats," She put her hands to her own hips as she stared her back down, contemplating just what to do. She might not know this girl, but she had at least seen enough from the news to maybe drop her carefulness. "... fine. Maybe drop the whole light trail if you can though? I can slip in and out easily, you attract a little more attention." She would then turn and begin to speed away through the door. Along the way she would leave specific doors open to make it clear where she had gone, although even then she only went down two floors, and the door was opposite the stair well. As a final 'this is the place' she had pecked the door, knowing nobody would really catch on to the silver lipstick who hadn't seen her, and it wasn't a completely unseen colour. But it would be enough of a signal for Neon. Once in she had her mask off again to let her skin breath.

Neon let out a huff and crossed her arms defiantly as she looked away from Apex, “Tch… We don’t exactly have much choice in the matter now, do we?  I just stopped you from taking your mask off completely, so that clearly shows you that I don’t really want to hurt you..”  The Speedster looked back at the girl when she agreed, letting out a chuckle at the comment that followed, “Yeah, I’ll dry not to leave a big glowing trail that leads right to your house..  I’ll follow at a normal speed, just leave a trail for me to follow.”  She nods her head before Apex darted off.

After waiting a few minutes, Neon slowly ran down the steps from the roof while keeping an eye out for open doors and clues to show her the way.  It didn’t take long for her to figure out the right floor, trying not to use her powers even though she was in quite a hurry.  She didn’t want any residence of the building to see her running around the apartment building in a full hero get-up.  Something finally caught her eye, something brightly colored and glittery.  “Lipstick on a door.. Really..?” She said under her breath, “That’s like something you’d do for a booty call..” She let out a soft chuckle.

The door quickly opened and Neon spun inside, shutting the door behind her and locking it.  She turned to see Apex, once again, without her mask.  Neon would be lying if she didn’t find the girl attractive, but she shook off those thoughts and let out a sigh.  “I saw your face, and I guess that’d make you uncomfortable.. And you seem like a cool girl, so..”  The Speedster slowly dug her finger right below the bottom of her goggles and slowly pulled back her cowl completely, revealing the face of a rather attractive looking japanese girl.  Along with what Apex already saw from her mouth, Neon had dark brown eyes, dark eyeshadow and liner surrounding them, and a head of messy, short black hair with a purple streak of dye running through some of her bangs.

“My name’s Hikari.. Its nice to meet you..”  She said reluctantly, having never boldly revealed her identity to someone she had just met, and slowly extended her gloved hand to Apex in greeting.

"Ok, who do else have you met tonight who wore silver lipstick. It's conspicuous because... yeah it doesn't really stand out, and you know I was wearing it," Apex poked her head from behind the door as she answered the muttered comment, showing she'd been waiting just behind the door, zipping back away in to her living room whilst she heard her door shutting and locking behind Neon. The realisation that she was letting someone in to her world wasn't lost on her, but as she saw it, this was one way towards trusting other heroes in general.

As she came completely face to face with Neon, she cocked her head as she was truly thinking perhaps odd things to herself. Namely that she didn't realise Neon was japanese. But when she really thought about it, it did make her think of other things. "Funny, now I've seen your face all I can see is more of the whole Akira biker gang look." She needed just another moment to break down her own mental barrier. "Well... It's still nice to meet another speedster. My real name's Samara, or... just Sam." She met the hand with her own, showing that the torso piece of her costume was all one piece, including the gloves.

“Akira?  What you mean like, cyberpunk?”  Hikari looked to Samara with her hand planted on her own hip and an eyebrow arched.  “Yeah, I guess you can call that my style.  Always been a fan of it.” She let out a chuckle as she shook the girl’s hand before pulling back, “Nice to meet you, Sam.  Sorry to have to barge into your home like this..” She slowly looks around herself and pursed her purple lips a tad, “It's a lot cleaner than my place, that’s for damn sure…”  Her dark brown eyes continue to scan the room around her before settling on the woman who lived in it, looking her over again.

“So…  Now that we’ve.. Uhm.. met properly.  We could join up and fight on a more general basis?”  She slowly walks about the room and looks out the windows, checking to see if anyone actually noticed her walking in.  Then she’d walk over to the sofa and plop her ass right down onto the cushion.  “So… you want my number or something?” She looks up at Samara.

"Yeah well... there's nobody able to look in through my window so superspeed really comes in handy for cleaning, huh," Sam answered her, watching Hikari exploring her home. "Besides, I've gotta keep it clean or I trip over things because I'm not looking," she would continue in joking, wandering to the attached kitchen to grab herself a cola and offering another over to her. She surprised herself at not reacting too much over the offer to 'team up'. "Wow, I mean... y'know normally I don't get someone asking for my number without a drink involved," It was another taunting joke, not that she didn't give the prospect a second thought, and joined her sitting on the couch. "But... yeah... having someone to learn from... might not be so bad,"

“Yeah, I just don’t have time to tidy my place up.  When I’m not running around kicking the shit out of bad guys, I’m working to pay my rent.  When I’m not working, I’m passed out on my bed trying to get a few hours sleep.  Not a lot of time for cleaning, and I can’t exactly afford a maid..” Hikari sighed softly as she watched Samara walk into her kitchen and back, trying to fight back a blush from hearing what she had to say.  Comments like that isn’t making it easier for the poor speedster, “Well.. I certainly wouldn’t mind getting drinks involved..” She said quietly but loud enough for Sam to here as she scooted over on the couch to allow the other girl some room.  “Though… if we go out, I’d probably need to borrow some clothes..”

"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure us getting drink-drinks would kinda violate our heroic code or... I dunno, let's face it so long as I can still consider myself a decent human being after I don't have much of a code," She would answer as she dropped on to the couch, knocking back a good half of the cola she took from her fridge. "Just for the record though, I'm not a big drinker. I also very much know not to drink and speed. You know that light down by the donut place?" She asked and then pointed at herself as she spoke about a post that mysteriously overnight went from standing up tall to having a near 90 degree bend in it just four feet up. "My twenty-first, showing off with my friends after we kinda trashed out cafe by accident, I ran right into it. Like... bam." She leaned forwards to slip the costumes boots from her feet, before superspeeding away in to her bedroom to put them away and out of sight, then back on to the couch. "Also you're a speedster, couldn't you just run back home to change before we go out,"

Hikari listened to Samara’s story and let out a slight chuckle from it, the image of a drunken speedster face planting against a pole cartoonishly made the girl’s dark lips curl in a smile. “Not sure how having drinks with someone once in awhile is against the ‘hero code’.” She said while actually making air-quotes with her fingers, “I mean yeah, running while drunk is a stupid idea. But I literally cannot use my powers while intoxicated, so I couldn’t run if I tried.” She chuckles again. Though the Speedster’s blush returned when Samara said, “Before we go out,” as if it was already decided. “Well.. you said it yourself.. I can’t just run out of here. I’ll light the whole place up, and literally leave a glowing trail straight to your door. And I don’t want to just walk out of here wearing my hero outfit either, a neighbour could spot me leaving your place.”

Sam gave a small sigh as she realised her argument made sense, she couldn't exactly leave so easily, and just having her get in without alerting anyone was pretty lucky. "Ugh, fine." She would give an unserious sigh. She would stand back up, and motion towards the only open door attached to the living room. "You may look through my wardrobe if you would like something else to wear while we go for a drink." She felt a little nervous about letting anyone have free reign around her home, but there didn't feel much harm.

“Uhm.. thanks.. I’ll give them back when I get home.” Hikari gave Samara a smile before walking off into the bedroom, slowly closing the door behind her. “So do you know a place near here? All my spots are on the other side of town..” Hikari called out from behind the door as she unzipped and wiggled out of her suit, not wearing anything underneath it. If she didn’t go commando while wearing it, her underwear would just chafe because of the tightness. Though, luckily her suit has some extra padding in the more private areas to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions.

Hikari opened up Samara’s closet and looked through the choices of clothing, blinking her eyes, “Wow… you really don’t dress that different from me…” She chuckled as she picked out and put on underwear, a black tank top, a pair of black pantyhose, and blue jean short-shorts. To her surprise it all fit nicely on her.

The newly clothed Speedster’d then open the bedroom door and walk out, holding her black bodysuit in her hands. “So… where should I stick this?… I didn’t bring a bag with me or anything..” She asked before sitting down on the couch with the suit on her lap, “I’m ready when you are though.”

"Huh, well it definitely suits you," Sam would answer her once she returned on her clothes. She had used the chance whilst Hikari was out of the room to speed-dress herself with clean clothes she had in her hamper by the kitchen. She had picked her own grey tank top, perhaps a little on the nose for her fellow speedster as it bore the same symbol Apex wore on her chest from her first stint as the heroine. "Don't judge me for wearing my own merch," she would comment then with a laugh and pointing her finger. She had paired it with a pair of black jeans cut off half way up the calf.

“Well, I don’t have a symbol.. Nor do the newpapers know what I look like… so I don’t really have merch.” Hikari let out a chuckle and crossed her arms across her chest, revealing a nicely designed tattoo of a black japanese dragon coiled around her right shoulder and bicep. If Samara would see Hikari’s back, she’d also see the line of japanese script, “長く続く門” going down from the base of her neck and spine. Hikari looked at Sam with a smile, “You look good though, definitely my style.” She chuckled before leaning up against the wall next to the front door, “So… Where’re we going for drinks?” She tilts her head slowly.

Samara just gave a nervous laugh once again at the comment to her logo faded across her chest. "Y-Yeah well... It's still a little awkward that someone actually made these things when I was first around. There still wasn't many though but... ok I'm rambling again," It was still a funny subject for her after all. "But you really think? Cause you kinda stole my outfit choice, not gonna lie, didn't think it would be good to match that closely and all." She suddenly began to race around her small apartment picking up things she'd need, mostly money she had scattered about over time, along with her small shoulder bag, stopping again right back in the same space with the bag now over her shoulder. "There's a bar nearby, plays decent music. No jerks too. Or the pirate bartender will kick them out," She began to smirk just a little at that.