Snap out of it, dickhead

Young Daisy flung herself onto Volta's leg, making small noises of excitement.

Volta was relieved he hadn't greeted her like he had Velvet.

She was in her school uniform, bag swinging from her back as she moved around to look at the woman who had followed her out of the library.

Volta stood up straight as he saw the woman.

She was beautiful.

Large brown eyes, freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders, a sunkissed sandy brown.

She was as tall as Volta, wearing a flowing dress and boots.

She couldn't be that much older than him, maybe a few years at most.

She smiled warmly, motioning for Daisy to come to her.

Volta's heart stopped in his chest when he felt it.

A massive wave of energy rippled through his body.

It was her, she was what was inside the library.

Not an old white guy, not someone with an evil motive.

He could feel it now, she was safe.

"Sorry," she said to Volta, shaking her head, "she doesn't usually act like this."

She tried to wave Daisy over again, but Daisy wouldn't budge.

"Mum, this is the superhero I was telling you about," Daisy peeked up at Volta, "isn't he cool?"

Volta tried not to smile.

"Volta." He introduced himself, holding his hand out to the woman.

She smiled but didn't take his hand.

"Karen," she nodded her head, "I'm Daisy's mum."

"You just moved here from out West?" Volta tried to shuffle closer to her to feel more of the energy.

Karen smiled again.

"Yes, I grew up here but moved to the city when I was young. Then went out west for work," she looked around the forecourt, "and now I'm back here to teach at the university."

Daisy tugged on Volta's shirt.

"Volta will you play with me?" she asked with a big smile.

"Oh..." Volta patted her on the head, unsure how to respond.

"Come on Daisy, we should go home now." Karen started to move around Volta, giving him a wide berth.

"Do you know what happened to the Gubbi Gubbi peoples?" Volta said softly, looking down at the ground.

Karen paused, now behind him.

"Daisy, you've got three seconds to come with me," Karen said, her voice rising.

Volta turned to look at her, Daisy shuffling to stay in place on his leg.

"You know something, don't you?" he said, louder this time.

Karen looked away, tapping her foot on the ground.

The energy waves were stronger now, no longer warm and safe, they were warning him to back off.

"Daisy," she growled.

Daisy squeaked, unsure of what to do.

"Can we meet?" Volta took a step towards her.

Karen took a step back.

"Please?" he was desperate.

She knew something about his people, his family.

She must have the answers.

"I can't get involved," she took another step back, "I can't put my family in danger."

"D-danger?" Volta stuttered, confused.

She looked him up and down.

"You don't get it, do you?" she pursed her lips.

Volta's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

She marched up to Volta, grabbing Daisy by the arm and pulling her back.

Volta could feel her energy prickling against his skin like electricity.

She was angry, but most of all she was afraid.

"Please..." he said again.

But it was no use, she was already leaving.

Daisy waved to Volta as she left the forecourt, smiling, blissfully unaware of what was going on.

Volta's breath quickened as the shock wore off.

He paced back and forth, trying to gain composure.

She had a power.

She knew something about his people.

But she was scared, she didn't want to get involved.

Volta needed to get to the bottom of this, and fast.

Right on queue, Joey pulled the Discovery into the street.

They rode in silence back to the homestead.

No Baker Boy, no Wu-Tang.

Joey pulled into the garage and left the car without a word, Volta still deep in thought.

He slumped back in his seat.

He blinked and was in the living room as Joey and Sage excitedly paced around, trying to pitch an idea to him. He forgot how he had gotten into the house, vaguely remembering leaving the car. His head was a mess, he could still feel Karen's energy from before.

"Oy Volta, you need to listen to us," Joey tapped Volta on the shoulder as he walked past.

"We got some big ideas--"

"But you have the final say," Sage interjected, pulling Joey over to the middle of the floor in front of the television.

Bob tapped the space bar on Sage's laptop, bringing up a poster on the screen of the television.

It was black and white, large block letters and a raised fist in the middle.

BLACK MAGIC it read, DECOLONISE NAMBOUR.

At the bottom of the page was a location, date and time.

Volta's eyes ran over the poster, no expression on his face.

"So we were thinkin'," Joey stepped forward, "seen as we don't get up to much 'cept trying to find your special water, we should do something about all these Nazis in town."

Sage gave Joey the thumbs up and took over from him.

"We have already received countless messages from locals wanting to support our movement after seeing what went down at the forecourt today," she motioned for Bob to click through the slides which showed correspondence, "so Joey and I would like to hold a meeting to get the ball rolling."

Volta blinked at them, struggling to focus on what they were saying.

"Oy, it's going to be good shit, we have some people from the university coming to do a talk," Joey started.

Volta sat upright in his chair.

"Who?"

Sage and Joey looked to Bob, who raised his eyebrow at Volta.

"The indigenous department, ironically not indigenous..." Bob flicked through the university website until images of the indigenous department showed on the television.

Three white men, overweight and balding leered out from the screen.

"Oy, who's that then?" Joey pointed excitedly at the screen.

Volta stood up and moved closer.

"It's Karen," he breathed.

His friends looked at him, surprised.

"Dr Karen Dean," Bob read aloud, "senior lecturer in indigenous study specialising in local indigenous history..."

Bob trailed off as he, Sage and Joey looked to Volta, waiting.

Volta moved back to his chair and sat down hard.

"It was her," he said, "that's who was at the library."

"What?" Sage turned to look at Karen's image, frowning.

"Did you talk to her?" Bob asked.

"She wouldn't say much," Volta rubbed the side of his face, "but she knows something."

"Do you think it's about what happened to the Gubbi Gubbi?" Sage asked softly, sitting down in the armchair next to Volta's.

"She must know something about powers at least," Bob pondered, "she was putting off enough energy to be more powerful than us," his eyes flicked to Sage.

"That wouldn't be hard." she scoffed.

"Volta, bro, this is your chance!" Joey mashed his fingers on Sage's keyboard until the image of the poster was on the television again, he pointed to it excitedly.

Sage nodded, grinning.

"She'll be there, Volta, you can ask her again."

"You can offer her our protection, make her feel safe..." Bob stood up and paced back and forth.

Volta drummed his fingers on his leg, thinking.

He wasn't usually a fan of establishing large groups, having meetings or having a poster, let alone having an official name. But this was different, this was a way for him to see Karen again and get the answers he needed.

Plus, he wouldn't mind seeing her again in general. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Powerful, strong, smart... he didn't think it was possible. She was like him, she would understand him. He liked that, he wanted to come home to someone who would understand him no matter what.

Wait...

Come home?

What?

He shook his head.

"Snap out of it, dickhead," he muttered to himself.

Bob, Sage, and Joey had their eyes glued to him, waiting for a response.

"Ok," Volta gave a worried grin, "let's do it."

The living room erupted into whoops and cheers as Joey punched the air and the lovebirds held hands and did a little dance.

"Gross," Volta rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile.

They were cute... kinda.

"T-minus 52 hours until Black Magic convenes," Bob said in a robot-like voice, "prepare for a lot of supporters... and a lot of protestors."

He and Volta shared a look.

They were going to be ready for them this time.

Neo-Nazis and the Seamus' of the world were going to rue the day they try to mess with Black Magic, Volta would make sure of it.