Chapter 61:
The round table
Billy found himself staring at the empty seat near the head of the table where Jane should have been. She had come back to the Tower some time after Plague had died — they knew this because they found Titus's knife left behind in the landing bay — but no one had heard from her since.
Good, Billy thought. Let her take the time she needs. Leave her alone.
She has never liked the idea of killing, has she, Billy Case.
No, Dude. Neither have I, but . . .
We do what we have to sometimes,
Dude said.
And the boy's death saved many lives.
It did. Doesn't mean I have to like it, Billy said.
None of us do,
Dude said.
Look around the table. There are so many heavy hearts.
Winter, Alley Hawk, and Agent Rourke joined the Indestructibles around the table, as well as Bedlam, who refused to sit and instead stalked behind everyone, metal legs clanking loudly on the polished floor of the command center. Billy had to admit, Bedlam's nervous energy was strangely attractive. She caught him watching her and winked broadly at him.
I have trouble reconciling how you can find the cyborg so interesting and yet be so terrified of her, Billy Case,
Dude said.
Yeah, if you figure that out, you need to explain it to me, he thought.
"We managed to lock down the Labyrinth with the help of the remaining guards and agents," Kate said. She was still in full costume, arms folded, leaning back in her chair. "But . . ."
"But Prevention got away," Rourke said. "I'll admit it. My men couldn't hold her."
"Couldn't, or wouldn't?" Kate said.
"She's a psychic who knew those men backwards and forwards," Rourke said. "They never stood a chance. We should have sent someone else."
"Any leads on where she might go?" Titus said.
He hadn't bothered to hide his face in front of Winter or the agent, and just sat there in an old hooded sweatshirt. His body language was completely different from before, Billy thought. He's a changed person.
"We're working on it," Rourke said. "She had extensive contacts in the black ops community, but we want to bring her in."
"And how do we know you're really working to bring her in?" said Kate.
"Because the Department is under new management," Rourke said.
"You?" Kate snapped.
"No," Rourke said. "With everything that happened, we wanted someone from the outside to take over. Our first choice would have been to bring Sam Barren back out of retirement, but since he's still so unwell due to the experimentation . . ."
"Meet your new head of Department," Winter said sheepishly.
"Well this is like putting a lunatic in charge of the asylum," Emily said.
"Hey," Winter said.
"Viva la revolution?"
Emily said.
"She's really always like this, isn't she?" Winter said.
"Sam Bat-time, same Bat-channel," Emily said.
"Every single day," Billy said.
"Anyway," Winter said. "Sam would have been my first choice as well, and I'm hoping he'll be well enough to act as my advisor, but I've been working with the Department — under duress — for years. I know the ins and outs of what they've been doing under Prevention's leadership."
Kate looked at Alley Hawk, who was observing the entire exchange with a slightly bemused smile on his face.
"What do you think of this, Hawk?" Kate asked.
The Alley Hawk shrugged.
"Might be nice to have one of ours in charge there," Hawk said. "You up for it, Henry? You're in rough shape yourself."
"I'm sure as hell not in good enough shape to get back out into the field," Winter said. "Between my injuries and not having seen any action in ten years . . . Even I'll admit I belong behind a desk more than I do out there in the Coldwall armor."
Titus leaned forward onto his elbows and jumped in.
"What about Plague's victims," Titus said. "How are they doing?"
"We were there, Titus," Billy said. "It was amazing. As soon as they were free of the virus, they started to bounce back. Some of them are in pretty rough shape from being so sick for so long, but nobody's getting worse, and most of them are recovering quickly."
"So we made the right call?" Titus said.
He was looking right into Billy's eyes, looking for a straight answer.
Billy nodded at him knowingly. "We did what we had to do to save those people," Billy said. "Jane did what was necessary."
"And Sam?" Titus said. "How's he doing?"
Titus really has turned into a bit of a leader, hasn't he, Dude, Billy thought.
He has always had the empathy for it,
Dude said.
He lacked the confidence to lead. Perhaps he has found something in himself during his time away.
Kid deserves it, Billy said. It's good to see him like this.
You missed your friend, did you not?
Billy Case.
Don't tell him that, Billy thought. Pretend I'm cool.
"He's . . . complicated," Winter said.
"Go ahead," Titus said.
"He's in rough shape. Trying to heal all those people took a lot out of him," Winter said. "But the experiments the Department used on him . . . he's going to be very difficult to kill for the rest of his life. If that makes any sense."
"So he'll be okay?" Billy said.
"As okay as we can make him," Winter said.
There was a long, heavy silence in the room as Winter's statement sunk in. Billy wanted to ask Dude about the experiments on Sam, if he knew anything about the alien technology used on him, but then Bedlam went and poked the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.
"So where's fire-girl?" the cyborg asked.
"She'll come back when she's ready," Billy said.
"Or not," Kate said. "We put her in a position where she had to do the one thing she never wanted to have to do. And we're going to give her as much space as she needs."
"In the interim, I gladly accept leadership of the team," Emily said.
Again, dead silence. Crickets chirping.
"I can't even begin to fathom the number of reasons that's a bad idea," Titus said.
"I'm the de facto leader of the team with Solar missing," Emily said. "My first order of business as boss is to go bring Sam ice cream. Straylight, go get ice cream for Sam."
"Em," Billy said.
"Are you questioning my authority?" Emily said.
"Emily," Billy said.
"Oh, relax, sugar plum," Emily said. "Solar will come back. She's Solar. She'll always come back. You people just need to give her a—"
"Give me a what?" Jane said, walking in. Everyone stood up at once, but Emily made the first move, bubble-of-floating herself right over the table to jump into Jane's arms.
"I told them you'd come back! Am I ever wrong, guys? Am I ever?"
Jane squeezed Emily tight but looked over her shoulder at Winter.
"I'm sorry to ask, Mr. Winter, but could you change seats? You're in someone else's chair," Jane said.
"No way," Billy said.
And Doc Silence walked in behind Jane, carrying Watson in his arms like a baby, the little dog licked his face as if he'd known the man his entire canine life. He looked around the room, a slight smile met his lips.
"When did we get a dog?" he said.
Chapter 62:
Prevention
The hotel staff were convinced room 1403 was closed for renovations, despite no workers coming and going, no construction noises, no dust from broken plaster or fumes from paint. The employees came and went around room 1403, never knocking, never listening at the door. Yet several times a day meals were delivered and left outside room 1403, empty trays whisked away later in the day, and fresh towels each morning.
Still, the room was clearly unoccupied. They would never put a guest in an unfinished room.
Inside, Prevention nursed her wounds and manipulated the thoughts of those who passed by. She could do this indefinitely, though it was not a comfortable way of living. It took concentration, convincing the world she did not exist.
After several days, she made a video call to her employer from a laptop the concierge left outside the door absently, through an internet hookup no one was charged for.
As expected, the screen on the other side of the call was blacked out. The voice was disguised behind a robotic scrambler, monotone and genderless.
"I'd call that a cataclysmic failure," Prevention said. "I assume you're planning on killing me off at some point. I figured I should call and get it over with."
The voice laughed.
"We will admit, this wasn't the outcome we had hoped for," the voice said. "But you did accomplish the primary goal we had in mind when we planted you there."
"Really?" Prevention said. She was honestly surprised. The entire operation, years in the making, seemed to have unraveled in a single day. She had assumed that escaping with her life was a formality. The sorts of people who hired her rarely allow failure to go without swift reprisal. It was the sort of thing she used to specialize in before the Department assignment, actually — mind-wipes and complete scorched earth operations, evidence destruction, assassinations.
"You prevented the Children of the Elder Star's plants in the Department from taking over internally," the voice said. "You brought about a renewed level of government meddling in superhuman affairs. And with your disappearance, the other plants are now without suspicion and remain free to continue our work. Thank you for your satisfactory performance, Prevention."
She found herself reaching for a gun she'd left just within reach, and allowing her mind to probe people within reach for suspicious thoughts. This can't be right, she thought. They have to have someone coming for me.
"We think you will be a valuable asset in the future, Prevention, and would like the option of keeping you on retainer. A large fee has been deposited to your account. We suggest you seek out a new false identity and leave the country for the time being."
"I . . . okay?"
"Thank you for your assistance, Prevention. We look forward to working with you again."
The screen went blank when the call disconnected. Prevention looked around, wondering briefly if this was some sort of black ops version of a practical joke. She quickly checked the status of her offshore accounts and learned that indeed a deposit had been made.
She tucked her gun into the back of her pants, draped her shirt over it, and pulled on an overcoat. She sent a psychic suggestion to the concierge that any sunglasses and fashionable women's hats in the lost and found should be disposed of in front of room 1403.
"Seville is beautiful this time of year," she thought, and waited patiently for her disguise options to arrive.
Chapter 63:
The peanut gallery
Billy and Emily strolled side by side while Watson the wonder dog walked jauntily in front of them as if on a mission. They both waved goodbye to Emily's mother and Billy's mom and dad, who had hosted all of them for dinner, under the pretext of meeting the dog but mostly to make sure they were both alive after the most recent fiasco. Billy's mother was particularly concerned that his time in the Labyrinth would go on his permanent record and prevent him from ever having a normal job, a comment that had sent both Billy's dad and Emily into a fit of laughter so intense they both had to leave the room to catch their breath.
"I still can't believe you make me walk everywhere like this," Billy said.
"I told you, it makes me feel normal," Emily said. "It should make you feel normal too."
"I can't feel normal. Dude talks to me the entire time," Billy said.
I do not,
Dude said.
"You do to," Billy said.
Why did I ever come back for you?
Dude said.
"Because I'm your partner," Billy said.
"I really can't tell what's weirder, when you answer him back out loud, or when you make that face like a baby with gas when you silently think your responses," Emily said.
They turned a corner and suddenly the Tower was visible in the sky over the city, quietly drifting back in its old orbit.
"So our parents met," Emily said. "Does this mean we're practically engaged?"
"That's not even remotely funny," Billy said.
"It's funny to me and that's what counts," Emily said. "So your cyborg girlfriend isn't sticking around?"
"First, not my girlfriend," Billy said.
"But you're going out for coffee," Emily said.
"She agreed to it, but I'll believe it when it happens," Billy said. "My guess is I won't hear from her again until we need her to help stop an alien invasion or something."
"Always going after the girl who plays hard to get, Case," Emily said. "You have horrible instincts when it comes to girls."
"Not the first time I've been told that," Billy said.
They stopped to let Watson explore under a shrub, his fluffy tail wagged furiously as he sniffed the morning news off low hanging leaves.
"So Doc's back," Billy said.
"I know! Best thing ever," Emily said. "Ever."
"He seems different," Billy said.
"Lay off the man, he's been in another dimension for a year," Emily said.
"I'm not laying on him, just saying he's a little different," Billy said.
Emily used a bubble of float to move Watson out from underneath the shrub and nudge him back onto the sidewalk.
"Any idea what Jane's planning for the meeting later?" Billy said.
"She's planned a group trip to Disneyworld to help us get our morale back up," Emily said.
Billy stopped walking just to stare at Emily.
"What?" Emily said. "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer."
"It wasn't a stupid question."
"It was," Emily said.
"You're obnoxious."
"You get crushes on Transformers."
"You are so mean," Billy said.
"And I'm your best bud, so shut up," Emily said.
She linked her arm through Billy's and made him walk side by side with her.
"I'm thinking of dyeing my hair mauve," she said.
"I don't even know what color mauve is," Billy said.
"Fuchsia then," Emily said.
"Still don't know," Billy said.
"What do I even keep you around for?" Emily said. "You're useless."
"But I'm your best bud," Billy said.
"Are there no backsies on this?" Emily said. "I need someone with a richer color palette to hang out with."