by S. J. Delos
So, what does a bad girl who wants avoid getting blindsided by a rival do? She enlists the support of the men around her. Part of garnering that support comes from keeping the perceived competition in their place.
When I first joined Martin’s group, there were already two other women members. For the first couple of weeks, they interacted with me only when it was necessary. It wasn’t hard to tell they weren’t happy about my recruitment. However, I didn’t fully understand how much of a threat to their established hierarchy they considered me until the day they turned on me.
I put one of them, a speedster named Quicken, in the hospital with enough broken bones to require a full-body cast along with months of recuperative therapy. I found out a year later that her legs never healed enough for her to run much faster than the average Norm. The twinge of guilt that attempted come upon me when I found out got squished down hard. After all, it was they who’d come after me. They got what they deserved.
The other, an electrical Enhanced calling herself Overcharge, found herself facing Martin’s wrath. Disharmony in the ranks wasn’t something he tolerated. To this day, I still don’t know what became of her.
When Sarah joined our villainous little coterie, Martin and I were already a couple. However, the new recruit didn’t seem the least bit interested in challenging me. Instead, she slowly broke through my wall of suspicion and distrust.
First, she earned my respect for the way she handled herself on assignments. Then she secured my friendship by covering my ass multiple times. It wasn’t long after, the idea of Thermal and Crushette together inspired more dread than either of us could generate alone.
When I joined The Good Guys, I wasn’t looking for a new best friend. But there was no denying Alexis when her mind, and heart, was set on something. From the first day, she decided that we were going to be close. Regardless of everyone else’s trepidation about having a convicted felon sleeping right next door.
“Thanks, Lexi,” I said. “I needed that.”
“Anytime, K. I’m always here for you.”
Greg announced over the intercom that it was her turn for debriefing, so she turned around to walk backward down the hall. She shifted into ghost mode to keep from tripping over anything or running into any walls.
“Catch you later,” she said, giving me a wave before vanishing through a corner.
I went into my room and flopped on the bed. I unzipped the front of my uniform, retrieving my phone from inside. There were two missed calls from Kurt and a text message from my mother. She wanted to inform me that she took my backpack home with her. I could by to pick it up whenever I wanted. I sighed, deleted the message, and called Kurt’s cell.
“Hey,” he said after the fourth ring. “You okay?”
I could hear a commotion going on in the background, as if he were in a tightly confined, yet crowded, location. “Yeah, I’m okay now. Where are you? It sounds busy there.”
“I’m at General with Jeannie. This place is like a zoo.”
My throat closed. Making me swallow twice to get my voice to work properly. “How’s George?”
Kurt didn’t answer me immediately. Instead, after a few seconds, I heard the sound of a door being closed. The chaotic noises dampened immediately. “Sorry, it’s way too loud in there to actually hear you.”
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” The memory of the way George’s blood sprayed from the puncture wounds was still fresh in my mind.
“It’s bad,” he confirmed. “He’s in surgery right now, got a whole fucking team of doctors and nurses trying to stitch him back together. Right now… I don’t know, babe. Of course, he’s a tough son of a bitch. If anyone can survive that, it’s him.” There was silence for a few moments, then the worry I heard in Kurt’s voice changed into a hardness I never heard before. “I wish you’d killed that asshole, Karen.”
“What?” I couldn’t have just heard what I heard.
“When I saw the footage of the two of you in the street, I hoped that diamond-coated piece of shit would shatter into a million pieces. You came close, though. They’ve got him in the secured E-Ward here. From what the guys guarding the door tell me, you really trashed him.”
“How bad is he?” I asked, looking down at my hands. I didn’t even have so much as a scrape for having punched someone made of the hardest natural substance. If there had been any pain while hitting him, the rage wave I was surfing blocked me from noticing.
“I don’t know. Technically, I’m the senior agent on site. But the Captain asked me to let Baker Team worry about Carbonado and the rest of the Dipshit Quartet. What I did hear was that they’re keeping him in crystal form until they can repair the fractures. I guess they figure if he shifts back to flesh and blood, he’ll fall apart.”
“I didn’t mean to break him like that. I was just so m—”
“Too bad you didn’t hit him a few more times,” he snarled. “Then we could have just swept up the pieces to dump in the trash.”
“Don’t say that, Kurt. You don’t know how close I came to doing just that. If Greg hadn’t stopped me…” I sighed. “I never killed anyone when I was Crushette. Injured a bunch, but never put anyone in a coffin. Doctor Maniac repeatedly told me that I might be capable of murder, but I just lacked the proper motivation.”
“Karen,” he said in a quiet, near whisper. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have … I’m just all fucked up here.”
“I should come down there. For Jeannie.”
“Not right now. I’ll call you when I have some news, okay?”
“Okay.” There was a tone of finality in his voice. Whether permanent or only temporary, I didn’t know. I could just tell he was ready to not be talking to me anymore. “Bye,” I said, having to practically shove the farewell out of my mouth.
He didn’t respond right away. Some part of me hoped, or dreaded, he was going to say something more. Maybe he would actually say what he was going to say the other day in the hangar. Instead, after three agonizing heartbeats, he spoke just a single word.
“Bye.” Then the connection ended. I let my phone drop out of my hand to the floor before I did something. Like throw it through the wall.
CHAPTER 11:
A FRIENDSHIP SHATTERED
“Are you about done?” I asked the woman kneeling beside me.
Luminosity looked up, the laser beam coming out of her fingertip vanishing.
“I have to make sure this seam is welded tightly,” she said, nodding at the still-glowing area. “You know, because the wing coming off at thirty-thousand feet might be bad for those of us who can’t fly on our own.” A little smirk appeared as she arched a brow, glancing over to where my hands were planted on the side of the craft, holding it up at an angle. “Why? Is it starting to get too heavy?”
I snorted at the teased suggestion, lifting the ship another couple of inches to demonstrate how wrong she was. “No. Just hoping you were almost finished. Or at least getting there.”
She shook her head and resumed working. “Why the hurry? Got a date?”
I clenched my jaw, pushing the thoughts of Kurt pacing in a hospital hallway out of my mind. “Because, Sonya, I really, really need to pee.”
The blonde grinned. “Oh. Well, in that case, I just need you to hold it for another couple of minutes, okay?”
I tapped one foot as I tried to ignore the pressure in my bladder. “Hold which?” I asked. “The ship or my need?”
“Both,” came the reply.
I decided to not drop the two-ton hovercraft on my teammate. The last thing I needed was to be in more trouble with Greg.
Less than three hours after the disaster outside the museum, the news stations began running the footage of the battle from nearly every possible angle. The media outlets with a more amicable relationship with The Good Guys focused their reporting more on the number of lives saved by our actions. As well as the heroism of the EAPF agents who did their best to protect the citizens of the city.
The vide
o of my assault on Carbonado was heavily edited on those channels, appearing less frequently in the rotation than other scenes.
Of course, that didn’t stop the raw footage from showing up online, where anti-hero, anti-EAPF, and anti-Enhanced websites used it as proof of the “dangers that ‘normal’ humans faced.”
Our own PR team, bankrolled by Richard’s company, was working overtime to make sure that the story on top highlighted our history of cooperation with all law enforcement agencies. For every post that showed the aftermath of a super-powered battle, our image handlers retorted with an example of the team assisting first responders in a non-confrontational situation. The most recent testimony came from the woman from the highway wreck. Delores Johannsen’s face was a regular staple in those news feeds.
“Kayo saved me. She saved my little girl,” the woman said, hugging the gap-toothed girl in her arms. “The firemen’s equipment malfunctioned, but Kayo held that truck off our car until they could get us out. I don’t know what anyone else could possibly complain about. Kayo and The Good Guys are heroes.”
There were also news programs that possessed less professional standards of journalism. These wasted no time in speculating that perhaps my vicious attack on Carbonado was the result of a feud that went back to my days with Doctor Maniac. After all, they pondered aloud, the Doom Quintet did have a history of working side by side.
One “expert” commentator even pointed out the fact that since becoming a hero, I hadn’t engaged in, as he put it, “such a brutal display of unrestrained aggression reminiscent of her days as a villain”.
Greg didn’t find it amusing when I offered to go on their program to show them exactly what a brutal display of unrestrained aggression really looked like.
Of course, it wasn’t bad enough that my public relations were in shambles, my private relations were also going through a bit of a patch. Kurt called me late Thursday night with news that George was out of surgery. The doctors upgraded him from “grave” to “critical, but stable.” I was about to rush to the roof when he suggested that I not come to the hospital.
“It’s a media circus here, Karen,” he said, sounding more tired than ever. “Plus, they keep showing those images on the television of you beating up Carbonado. I don’t think it’s... it’s a good time for you to be here.”
“Okay,” I told him. “But let Jeannie know I’m available if she needs me.”
I tried texting him twice on Friday, but the first one was ignored and the second only contained three words: BUSY. CALL LATER.
His brevity and aloofness bothered me. Was he still upset I hadn’t killed Carbonado? Or was he embarrassed about saying he wished I had? Worried that I would look at him differently now? I didn’t have an answer or an explanation. I certainly didn’t know what to do about it.
Alexis’ voice chirped in my ear, pulling my thoughts back to the present. “Karen, are you busy?”
“Hey, Lexi,” I responded. “I’m in the hangar helping Lum with the hovercraft repairs. What’s up?”
“I hate being called ‘Lum’,” Luminosity mumbled.
“When you’re done, can you come to my room? I need your opinion on, uh, some stuff.”
It seemed like a weird request. Not because she wanted my input, but because she didn’t say what she wanted it on. Normally, Alexis would spit out whatever was running through her mind at the time, regardless of whether it was in a private location or on a team-wide channel. The dodgy nature of her summons piqued my interest.
“Yeah, gimme about twenty and I’ll be there.”
“Great! Okay, bye.”
Alexis’ strange behavior allowed me to focus on something other than my bladder. By the time Sonya announced she was done with the repairs, the urge to go to the bathroom had passed. I set the craft down on the floor with a thud before giving the light-flinging mechanic a hand up.
“Anything else you need me to lift?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No. The only thing left to do is check the circuits in the control panel. Then we should be ready for a test flight.” The door on the side of the ship opened, and the ramp extended to the floor. “You better go see what Phantasm wants. She sounded more than a little excited. For her, that’s saying something.”
“Well,” I said with a grin. “I’ll wager she’s riding the combo wave of a birthday high and an impending date.”
Alexis was finally turning eighteen. She was so excited about it; she could barely stay solid. Originally, I planned a Girls’ Night for us, just her and I. Then she came to me Friday afternoon to ask if we could move it back a day.
“Carl wants to take me out to a really fancy restaurant,” she said. Her eyes took on that love-struck gaze I came to expect when she talked about her boyfriend. “You know, like a real adult date.”
I understood completely, but that didn’t stop me from pretending to pout and sulk about being thrown aside for some goofy guy. No matter how much he seemed to dote on and fawn over my best friend.
Sonya nodded. “Yeah, I remember turning eighteen myself. Of course, I found out years later that the candles on the cake were never lit. See you later.”
A few minutes later, I knocked on Alexis’ door. Rather than open it, the teen phased through to grab me, turn me just as intangible, then pull me inside. When she let go, returning me to my corporeal state, she threw her hands in the air.
“Oh my god,” she said. “That took, like, forever!”
“Easy there, Speedy. I got here as soon as I could. Now, you want to tell me what’s going on?”
She nodded, proceeding to pace in front of her bed for a moment before stopping to look at me.
“I’m nervous about tonight. I really want to get your thoughts on my wardrobe choices.”
I shrugged, sitting down on the bed. “Of course. Anything to help out someone who still has a social life.”
She frowned. “Kurt still avoiding you?”
I nodded, then waved my hand in the air. “Yes, but that’s not the issue here. Right now, we have to make sure you look perfect for this big date. What have you got for me?”
“Okay. So, Carl reserved us a table at that place over off Commerce, Level E.”
I grinned slightly. “Hmm, that’s an upscale restaurant. The usual jeans and t-shirt aren’t going to cut it there, Lexi-chan.”
She rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at me. “Well, duh. That’s why I went shopping this morning. While you were playing mechanic with Sonya. Be right back.”
She ran into her closet at just under a sprint. Without bothering to open the door. About five minutes later, she phased back through wearing a royal blue dress with a modestly scooped neckline, cinched snugly at the waist, and flared out into paneled pleats that came down to just above her knee. The outfit made her look about three years older than normal.
“That’s beautiful,” I said. “The color really suits you.”
“Really?” She asked as she turned toward the mirror on the wall. She clasped her hands together behind her back, swiveling back and forth, swooshing the bottom of the dress out. “I wasn’t sure about the shade of blue, though.”
“It’s perfect.”
She gave me a smile. “Okay, so you think I should go with this?”
“Definitely,” I grinned up at her. “Carl’s going to be picking his jaw up off the floor when he sees you wearing it.”
The teen giggled. “If seeing me in this dress makes him all goggled, he’s really going to lose it when he sees me in this.”
She gave me an uncharacteristically flirtatious wink. Then the dress became intangible. The demure outfit floated down to land on the floor, leaving the birthday girl in not much more than her birthday suit.
At first, I wondered she went and raided my dresser. The black laced silk teddy under the dress was exactly identical to one I owned. Then I noticed the top portion of the garment fit Alexis’ less-endowed chest perfectly.
She cocked her hip, turned her t
orso to the side, and looked at me over the crest of her shoulder. I think she meant to broadcast “sultry”. What I received was an image of a little girl playing dress-up. I was completely speechless for a few seconds, trying to decide if my friend was serious, or just trying to punk me.
“Well?” She turned to gaze at her under-dressed self in the mirror. “Sexy, right?”
I shook my head, climbing off the bed. “No. Not sexy. I mean, what the hell, Alexis? Are you planning on wearing that on your date? When the hell is Carl going to see it?”
Her reflected eyes sought out mine. A little pout formed on her lips.
“What’s wrong? I mean, it’s just like the one you have.” She returned to studying the flimsy lingerie. “You told me that Kurt could barely keep his eyes, or his hands, off you when you wore it. So, I thought it might work as well for me.”
“No. No. No. NO!” I grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face me. “You are not parading around in front of Carl in your underwear.” I released her arm to threw both of mine in the air. “Where were you planning to pull this lingerie seduction scheme? At his house, with his five roommates? Because you sure as hell aren’t bringing him back here.”
The joyous expression on her face melted into something akin to defiance. “Don’t be ridiculous. I booked a room for us at the Radisson downtown. I figured our first time should be in a really nice hotel.”
“First… time?” I shook my head, which felt as if it were about to explode. “Negative, Alexis. You aren’t wearing “come do me” lingerie on your date with Carl. You also sure as hell aren’t spending the night with him in a hotel room.”
“I don’t see what you’re getting all upset about,” she said.
I stared at her, my mouth hanging slightly open. “Is this Carl’s idea? Is he pressuring you into having sex with him?” My temper flared, making me wonder what the news would make of my twisting a Norm boy’s head into a balloon animal.
Her chin moved outward slightly, then she crossed her arms over her chest. “No, he’s not. I imagine it’ll be as big a shock to him as it was to you. Hopefully, though, he’ll be more enthusiastic.”