Blue Sky, Quiet Morning

Woodland Metropolis never truly slept.

Even at sunrise, the city hummed — hovercars zipping between towers of glass and living oak, deer commuters clicking their hooves on floating walkways, morning vendors hawking warm acorn rolls from chrome carts. Above it all, tucked at the city's center, rose Solitude Thicket: a fortress shaped like a dense woodland grove, its walls braided with steel vines and its towers crowned with real leaves that never fell.

Inside, Super Darlene was doing absolutely nothing heroic.

She sat cross-legged on her favorite bench in the upper atrium, a cup of chamomile tea balanced on one knee, her red cape draped over the back like a forgotten scarf. Her small antlers caught the morning light. Her big brown eyes were half-closed.

"Perfect," she murmured to nobody.

Her communicator beeped once. She ignored it.

It beeped again.

She took a long, slow sip of tea.

Then her wall screen flickered on by itself, and the face of Officer Bramble — a wide-eyed young buck with a crooked badge — filled the display.

Broadcast Trouble

Officer Bramble's face on the screen looked like he hadn't slept since Tuesday.

"Super Darlene," the young buck said, his badge sitting even more crooked than usual, "we've got a situation at Cloverbell Market."

Darlene set down her tea. "What kind of situation?"

"Someone in a blue supersuit and a red cape just tried to stop a runaway grocery drone — one of those big delivery models, about the size of a hovercar — by grabbing its propeller."

Darlene blinked. "That's a terrible idea."

"Yes. The drone spun the person around six times and flung them into the cheese display." Bramble glanced at something off-screen. "But here's the thing. Before everyone could check if the person was okay, they bolted. And the drone is still going."

Darlene was already on her feet, cape swinging back onto her shoulders.

"The whole market is on live broadcast," Bramble added quickly. "Ma Kettler's morning show — she streams from her cart every day. Half the city is watching."

Darlene's jaw tightened slightly.

"On my way."