The Stupendous Springer

Episode 0: Foundation, Chapter 1

Three-One-Six-One, maybe? Sophia Ritchie thought to herself as she brushed her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror. In her mind's ear, two-note harmonies rang out in G Major. Her brush strokes involuntarily slowed to synchronize with her chosen tempo, then returned to normal speed as she rolled her eyes in rejection. No, that would sound too much like an emotional bridge. I need a steady vibe.

Sophie's gaze snapped to the reflection of the bathroom door as Holly Andreas, her mother's housemate's daughter, and her closest friend, stumbled in half-awake, as she often did. "Up late again, huh?" Sophie asked carefully, trying to keep the mirror toothpaste-free.

"Yeeaaahhh," Holly sighed drowsily, beginning her own dental routine. "I mean, the senior project due date is a week from today, so at least I'll have no excuse after that."

Sophie spat her toothpaste out as Holly unspooled a calculated measure of floss. "You should just pass out when you get home Friday. Just come home and basically die on the bed. Hard-reset that sleep balance, you know?"

"Uh-huh," Holly grunted as she finished up her bottom jaw. Pausing to adjust the coils of floss on her fingers, she added, "That's the plan. Looking forward to it."

Sophie checked her teeth in the mirror, pulling out her cheeks one at a time to get a good look. "I mean, you probably wouldn't have to wait until Friday if you had been getting enough rest this entire time..."

"I knoooww!" Holly said, exasperated, as she prepared her toothbrush for its duties. "Geez, you and mom both, I swear."

Sophie laughed shortly as she gave her taller friend a side-hug around the abdomen. "The truth hurts, Holly."

"Oh, shut up, you dork." Holly chuckled as Sophie went back to the bedroom they shared to change out of her pajamas.

Sophie returned to her musical musings as she dressed, sliding on one of her many pairs of cargo pants. Another chord progression, another rejection. Maybe the vibe she imagined would require a key change? G Major was awfully upbeat for the more emotionally complex tone she envisioned. Maybe F Minor would serve the purpose?

"Hey Soph," Holly said as she entered the bedroom to dress herself. "Did you see this thing about CaNERD?" she asked, referring to the Canadian National Enhanced Responders Division, Canada's nationally-sanctioned Super team.

"Did you tell me about it?" Sophie asked in return, finishing buttoning up her shirt, yet leaving it untucked.

"No, this just happened last night," Holly answered.

"Then I haven't heard about it," Sophie replied. She never checked Super-related news - this was out of no particular malice, but just a lack of interest. Holly, on the other hand, had interest aplenty, which meant Sophie heard the latest Super news regardless. Sophie did not mind per se, and was happy to participate in her friend's interests, but often found herself running another cognitive process in the background regardless. What would be a good key to vibe in, anyway?

"Well, you know how they basically all went missing except Paladin?" Holly asked, snatching up the topmost tee shirt in her drawer without looking at it. "They're back now! Looks like it was somebody calling herself Polymath who captured them, and apparently she wanted to reverse-engineer how their powers worked to gain them herself."

"Wow, that sounds dangerous," Sophie replied, in a tone that was borderline sarcastic, but with words that happened to be quoting something, which allowed it to slip by Holly's notice. Perhaps F Minor was a bit too moody.

"Yeah, for her," Holly said, unfazed, as she slipped out of her pajamas like she was made of butter and threw her tee shirt and sweatpants on just as quickly. "That's completely untested stuff, and she was willing to experiment on herself, just to try to gain 'ultimate power' or whatever. Paladin's powers were 'ultimate' enough to get the team back, though. Polymath apparently tried to vent her device's electro-exhaust at Paladin to stop her, which is a really clever idea actually, but Paladin managed to get off one good shot of her Photon Breath, even though she had essentially been struck by lightning several times before that."