Chapter 29:
Follow up
So I have to ask," Doc said. "What exactly did you do?"
Somehow, despite the table being a perfect circle, his presence gave it a distinct head. Jane couldn't help but feel like she was in trouble, even more so when the boys walked in a few minutes later to find everyone sitting around covered in scorch marks from the robots' laser rifles.
"What did you do, Ray?" Billy asked, before sitting down heavily and putting his feet up.
"Manage not to get head-butted again, Billy?" Jane asked.
"Yes," he said.
"But you didn't bring her back with you."
"Had a very pleasant conversation and she's going to consider our offer. Why you wearing jeans with your uniform? And what's that smell? It's like someone set a tire on fire in here."
"We fought the droid army and won. Pretty awesome," said Emily. "I can crush things with my thoughts and it's really fun."
"I'll keep that in mind," Billy said. "What happened?"
"We found an executable file among the stuff my contact salvaged," Kate said.
She'd pulled her mask down and held a cold compress on her leg where she'd been nicked by a laser, something she hadn't noticed until the fight was over.
"You clicked on a super-villain executable file?" Titus asked.
"That was my initial reaction," Kate said.
"But fortune favors the bold," Jane said.
"Oh great, they're finishing each others' sentences now," Billy said. "This can't end well."
"Are you angry, Doc? We could have thought it through a bit more I guess," Jane said.
"Honestly," Doc said, pulling off his overcoat and tossing it onto the back of his chair, "I'm more curious about what you discovered when you did it. Other than the robots."
"A symbol," Kate said. "An elongated human skull, but the mouth had tentacles, like a squid."
Doc rubbed his forehead, remaining silent for a few seconds. Jane sensed everyone around her growing nervous.
"What is it?" Titus said.
Doc picked up one of the computer tablets that were scattered around the room. He tapped the screen a few times and then slid it onto the table. The exact symbol Kate and Jane saw earlier filled the screen.
"What does it mean?"
"Ai, ai! Cthulhu f'taghn?" Emily said.
Doc stared at her, eyebrows rising slowly.
"You are so consistently weird in so many inconsistent ways, it's remarkable," he said.
"Thank you," said Emily.
"Anyway," Doc said. "They were a group who called themselves the Children of the Elder Star."
"I was right? They're an end of the world cult like in a Lovecraft story? We're screwed, guys," Emily said. "I was joking with the Cthulhu thing. This isn't good. We're definitely screwed."
"No," Doc said. "The world thought they were these crazy cultists — blood sacrifices, supernatural plots, and some of them did tinker with black magic, certainly. But they hid behind this cult back-story, pretending to want to raise dead gods to destroy the universe. It was all propaganda. What they were really interested in is the manipulation of world events. Finances, wars, governments, political leaders. They wanted to work the angles of chaos and order to their advantage. It was about money and power. The world was a big chess board to them."
"So they might want to control something like, say, a pet hurricane," Jane said.
Doc pointed at her.
"Got it in one," he said. "Now, we have no concrete evidence that the people running that lab were the Children of the Elder Star. Could be someone new using their old technology. My teammates and I tried very hard to put the Elders out of business, but they were like roaches. Every time we picked up a rock we'd find more of them."
"It could be them," said Kate.
"I wouldn't rule it out," he said. "What we do know is that they don't want anyone getting a look at their information. Those robots were simple hunter-killers. They've probably been sitting dormant somewhere waiting for someone to try to open that file, perhaps for years. They certainly weren't state of the art."
"They were flying robots," Emily said. "What do state of the art robots do? Sing and dance while they fly and shoot at you?"
"Wait," Kate said. "So those robots might have come after anyone who tried to launch that file?"
"If that was how they were programmed, yes," Doc said.
Kate jumped to her feet and ran out of the room, pulling her mask up as she went. Doc rushed to the door but couldn't stop her in time.
"Where's she going?" Emily asked.
"Oh, no," Titus said. "I know exactly where she's heading."
Chapter 30:
Burning bridges
Titus found Kate across the street from Andrew's office building, an entire city block ablaze.
She stood on the rooftop watching, a pure black silhouette against the red and gold glow of flames. Below, fire trucks blasted the structure with water and police cordoned off the street.
"I killed him," Kate said.
Titus walked up to the ledge and stood beside her.
She made no eye contact. "This is my fault. I killed my friend."
"No you didn't," Titus said. "You didn't know."
"This is why we can't get close to people, Titus," she said. "Every time we let someone in, we put them in the way of all the bad things in the world we're supposed to be standing up against. We're supposed to protect them from things like this."
"How were you supposed to know?"
"Doesn't matter. I put a regular person in harm's way. I have to be better than this."
Titus crouched down beside her, opened himself up to letting a bit of the wolf through. He heard the voices in the street, smelled everything burning — brick and carpet, wood and books . . . and people. The wolf's reaction to the latter sent a chill down his spine, so Titus reined him in, held him back. Not now, big guy. Not here.
"Maybe he wasn't there," Titus said.
"No, they came for us so fast, Titus. Andrew was there. He wouldn't have known he should try to make a break for it. He'd probably have attempted to stop it from launching, but Andrew never would have thought to run," she said. "Who would? What normal person thinks killer robots are going to come flying through their window and burn their lives to the ground?"
Titus shook his head.
"I can scout around, see if I can find anything," Titus said. "Maybe I can — "
"Don't," Kate said. "I'll get the autopsy report."
"Anything I can do?" Titus said.
"Stay here with me and watch," she said. "I want to see if anyone shows up to make sure the robots did their job . . . And then, you can help me find these people and make sure they never do this to anyone ever again."
Chapter 31:
Mom
Billy woke up the next morning to the sounds of an arrhythmic banging on his bedroom door.
Staggering out of bed, he opened the door and found Emily, standing there with a backpack strapped to her shoulders, dressed as much like a normal person as Billy had ever seen her.
"Hey," she said.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"I've gotta see my mom. Was wondering if you would come with me."
Why do I think this is a terrible idea, Billy thought.
You should go,
Dude said.
I want to go as much as I'd like to be kicked in the head by an angry cyborg, Billy thought.
Your friend needs you,
Dude said.
If you do not help her, I will not be responsible for if and when you lose your access to our powers at a most inopportune time.
You're such a bully, Dude, Billy thought.
"You're talking to your alien right now, aren't you," Emily said.
"No. Maybe. Yes. Yes I am," Billy said. "Why?"
"Your eyes glaze over when you talk to him and you look kind of stupid," Emily said. "You should try to work on that."
"Noted," Billy said.
I really glaze over? He asked.
You do take on a dazed expression,
Dude said.
My last partner was able to multitask more easily than you can.
It's way too early to have you guys busting on me in tandem, Billy thought. Also much too soon to be managing multiple conversations.
"Everything okay with your mom?" Billy asked. "Why the visit?"
"I — look, I saw some stuff yesterday. None of it was even like remotely okay and I want to see my mom and let her know I'm fine," Emily said.
"That makes sense. I think," Billy said. "But why ask me?"
"None of the others have . . . well, parents," Emily said. "So it seemed a little insensitive to ask them."
They took the train out of the city. When Billy asked why they didn't just fly, Emily laughed.
"You never take the train?"
"Public transportation was the bane of my existence before I learned to fly," Billy said. "Why would I go back?"
"It's one of the few things that make me feel like a normal person," Emily said.
Billy caught himself nodding, and then leaned back in his seat, letting the rhythm of the train rock him back and forth.
"What does your mom think about you being a superhuman?" she asked.
"I don't know," he said.
"She hasn't said?" Emily asked. "Mine wants me to check in twice a day to let her know I haven't left the planet."
"We haven't talked much since I left home," Billy said. "I didn't leave much of a goodbye."
Emily gave him the stink eye.
"What d'you mean?"
"I left a note."
"A note?" Emily's voice cracked.
Several other passengers looked them both over. One got up, took his newspaper and moved further away.
"Yeah.
'
Off to save the world. I'll call when I can. Love Billy.
'
"
"You just . . . bailed on your mom and dad?"
"Yeah. I bailed."
"Why would you do that?"
"Trust me, Em. Better than saying goodbye. Even better than staying. I . . . I'm a nicer son when I'm not there I think."
Emily stared at him hard for a moment, then looked down, studying her shoes.
"I saw a lot of things that were not okay yesterday, Billy Case," Emily said. "Why do you have to keep piling on the depressing stuff?"
"Sorry."
"We should go see your folks next," Emily said.
Now it was Billy who studied his shoes.
"I'll think about it."
Emily's mom lived in a suburb, one of those towns that was still too close to the city itself to have a big back yard or much by way of trees, but with enough space to have a few bedrooms and a place to call your own. Painted brown and white, the house had a chain link fence that stretched across the front and gated the driveway. Emily opened the gate confidently and hopped up the front stairs, pausing at the door.
"It's weird," she said. "I feel like I should ring the doorbell, but know I don't have to."
"Want me to ring it for you?" Billy offered.
"I can hear you out there," Emily's mother called through the open front window. "Door's unlocked."
Emily scuttled in, looking even younger than she usually did. Billy followed slowly. After overhearing a dozen conversations between them, Billy expected her to be much older, but it turned out she just looked like an older Emily. Sure, she probably dyed her hair to stay blonde as often as Emily dyed her own blue, but otherwise they were so much alike Billy almost laughed.
"Who's this one?" her mother asked.
"Billy," Emily said. "My favorite teammate."
"I'm your favorite?" Billy asked.
"Well, you're the only one who treats me like I belong at the big kids' table, so yeah," Emily said. "You get the favorite label. That okay?"
"I can live with it."
"I'm Melinda."
"Um. Shouldn't I call you missus . . . "
"Melinda's fine," she said, laughing. "As long as you don't refer to me as 'Emily's mom' it's fine. I like to think I still have an actual name."
They sat in the living room a while, and Emily unloaded, talking of the meeting with the Snow girl's parents, which Billy hadn't heard about, and then about the rescue of Kate and Jane, which Billy only caught bits and pieces of after everyone had returned to the Tower.
Kate's gonna be okay, right Dude? Billy asked. I mean, I'd lose it if I got my friend killed, but I don't really have any friends to get killed. Will she be okay?
Everyone grieves differently, Billy,
Dude said.
Especially when someone dies violently, and particularly when you feel they died because of you.
Have you ever lost anyone like that, Dude?
I have been partnered with heroes like you for hundreds of years, Billy Case. It always feels like my fault when one of them is killed in action.
So you've lost a lot of partners, huh? Wait — when they get killed in action? Does this happen often?
You should listen to the conversation, Billy Case.
We are talking about this later, Dude. I'm not dropping it.
"Everything okay, Billy?" Melinda asked.
Her voice possessed the unmistakable tone of motherly concern. Billy hadn't realized how long it had been since he heard that.
"He's talking to his alien," Emily said. "You can tell because he goes all slack jawed and it looks like he's going to sneeze."
"Thanks, Emily. But, um, yeah. I was asking Dude a question."
"Your alien's name is Dude," Melinda said.
"His name is Straylight too, but he didn't tell me that until I'd been calling him Dude for like, a year, so he's stuck with it. I'm not entirely sure he's happy about it." Billy paused and took a deep breath. "I have to ask you something."
"Go ahead," Melinda said.
"You don't seem even a little bit freaked out that your daughter's a superhuman hero who can control gravity with her mind. And, I'm sitting on your couch talking to an alien in my brain. You're totally unfazed. I don't get it."
"What's not to get?"
"No disrespect, missus . . . Melinda, but the average person would be a little freaked out right now."
She started laughing, then looked at her daughter.
"I suppose now's as good a time as any," she said.
Emily's mother stood up and crossed the living room to a bookshelf lined with photo albums.
Of course they have pictures all lined up on bookshelves, Billy thought. They're normal people. Normal people have photo albums. Melinda returned, opened to a specific page, then handed it to Emily. Billy looked over her shoulder.
"You were in the circus?" Emily asked.
In the photo, a much younger Melinda was dressed in a leotard and cape, a half-mask hid her eyes. She was smiling and leaned on the shoulder of another caped woman. Behind them, a bruiser of a guy in body armor and a mask stood grinning, a hand on each of the women's shoulders.
"Sixteen years of this and I still can't tell when you're playing dumb," Melinda said. "Em, I was one of you."
"What?" Emily said.
She bolted up out of her chair so fast Billy scrambled to catch the album so it wouldn't spill onto the floor.
"I mean I wasn't one of you, up in the Tower. Wasn't nearly as strong as you are. But I had my fun."
"You're teasing me," Emily said. "You're doing this to get back at me for all the times I dyed my hair when you told me not to."
"Nope," Melinda said. She tapped the photo. "That's me. I was Sparrow."
"Does Doc know?" Billy asked, studying the picture intently, trying to recognize faces. He flipped to the next page and saw a few others, their costumes a bit out of date, a bit too colorful despite the fading quality of the photos. Heroes from another era.
"Doctor Silence?" Melinda said. "Of course. Doc knows a bit of everything. I always thought that's why he looked so sad all the time. He's privy to too many secrets."
"But . . . what did you do?" Emily asked. "I've never seen you do anything more super than make awesome brownies."
Melinda smiled. Her smile was one of the most joyful things Billy had ever witnessed.
I remember her, Dude said. I know her face now.
"I could fly, baby," she said. "That's why they called me Sparrow. All I could do was fly."
"No offense, ma'am — I mean, Melinda, but flying is the best thing any of us can do."
"I know, Billy."
"But," Emily said, still standing, seemingly trying to pace and stand still at the same time, "Why'd you stop?"
"I had you, Emily," she said. "Didn't quit right away, of course, but it's really hard to risk your life every day when the most important thing in your whole universe is back home. And then your father passed away and, well, it was just me and you against the world. So, I stayed home."
Billy watched as Emily attempted to process all of this. It was as if the hamster had fallen off the proverbial wheel; she could barely form sentences. Her oversized steampunk goggles were askew on her head, practically falling off.
"Can you still fly?" she asked.
"I can."
"And you don't?"
"Oh no, I still do," she said, her smile absolutely radiant. "I didn't, not for a long time. But when you were a little older I'd wait for you to fall asleep, and then I'd go for short trips. Just to remember what it was like."
"Do you think Emily's powers came from you?" Billy asked.
"I don't know," Melinda said. "It's hard to say for sure one way or the other. Those of us with special powers tended to have special kids more often than those without powers, but it was never anything we could count on."
"If you can fly, and I can control gravity, what does that mean my kid'll be able to do?"
"Maybe your daughter will get to see the stars," Melinda said. "But somehow I think you'll do that yourself."
"That's what I keep telling these guys," Emily said. "I want to touch the stars."