by Ben Bequer
I didn’t say anything. I was kind of homeless at the moment, though I had a series of growing bank accounts. It was hard to own property or go grocery shopping when you were one of the most wanted people on Earth.
“I didn’t think so,” she said, herding me back to the medbay. “Come on, get you back into the healing pod.”
“I’m fine here, Ruby. Seriously. Look, it’s stopped bleeding already.”
She knelt to look at the wound, “Maybe, but I’m going to have to change this bloody bandage.”
“Later,” I said, turning to the console beside me.
“Now, dammit!”
“I need to make a call,” I said, bringing up the proper window. I punched in the only phone number I knew into the machine.
“Hello?” said a voice from the tinny speakers.
“Do you mind?” I said to Ruby.
She crossed her arms, “You’re a wanker.”
“Who’s that?” said the voice.
“It’s me, Jason,” I said, giving Ruby a look. She shook her head, returning to the pilot seat, muttering.
“Dale, dude!”
Jason McKeown was my older brother. “Hey, man. Sorry for the surprise call.”
“I was thinking about you today,” he said. “Hang on, let me go to the office.”
“Did I call at the wrong time?”
“Hold on,” Jason said. It sounded like he was moving, shifting, then walking across a hallway. “I don’t want to wake up Luanne.”
“Fuck, man. I didn’t mean to call so late. I’m on the other side of the planet at the moment.”
“Headphones, dog,” Moe said.
“What?”
He pointed at a pair of headphones mounted on the side of the console. I pulled them out of the wall and threw them on, turning the mouthpiece toward my mouth. “You hear me?”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “Hang on, I’m…let me turn on video. Two seconds. There,” he said, his image flashing on the screen. It was night, alright, and he was sitting in a very nice home office.
“That the same house?”
“This?” he said, looking around. “This is our pad in Connecticut. You should come visit us. Outside it’s like a whole real-life thing going on. The seasons changing, leaves are brown, about to fall. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“I’m not that much of a fan of the cold.”
“Put on a sweater, man. Anyway, you have to come for Thanksgiving. Please tell me you’re free.”
I was unless someone was threatening to take over the world, or some alien warlord was invading…“Uh, yeah. I could do that.”
“I’m dying to see you, man. And the girls! They’re like Blackjack fans. Susy’s using it as a threat to every kid that screws with her. ‘Mess with me and my uncle Blackjack will come and beat you up.’ It’s actually pretty funny.”
“Aw, man. I don’t know if I’m up for all that.”
He laughed, “No pressure, okay? They’re just little girls, they’ll be into the Pokemon thing in a month and forget you exist. Besides, Luanne has like fifty family members that come every year, I don’t have anyone. Just a few buds from work and stuff. Promise me you’ll come.”
It was early November, so I was sure I could clear my schedule a few weeks away. Besides, I wanted to see him. He was the only family I had left. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Oh, and the invite is open to…Apogee, am I right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I can’t promise anything.”
“If you need security or something-“
“No, no,” I said. “It’s not that. I’m sure she’d love to come. And…” I laughed, “she’s kind of her own security.”
“Very true,” he said.
“I just can’t speak for her,” I said. “I promise I’ll ask.”
He smiled wide. Man, I was dying to see him, to give him a back breaking hug.
“I miss you, little brother.”
“Me too,” I said, not realizing I was getting emotional.
“I’m going to have to get a decent chess set!” he said. Jason leaned forward and grabbed a sticky, writing himself a note. “All I have is a cheapie one I use to teach the girls.”
“Anything’ll do,” I said.
He looked up, “Nah. I need a good set for the house anyway. Okay, so I’ll text you the address. I can send it to this…” he paused, looking at the screen. “Is that even a number? It says +1 then it has like twelve zeroes.”
“I’m talking to you from Superdynamic’s ship, the Cicada.”
He beamed, “You’re kidding.”
“We just had a mission,” he said. “I’m kinda recovering.” I lifted my bloody leg and showed it to him.
“Jesus! You okay?”
I waved him off, “Don’t worry, I’ve had far worse.”
“I guess…” he said, then he beamed again. “Damn, my little brother’s a superhero. Who would’ve thunk it?”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Okay, put it in your calendar. Thanksgiving. Wow, the girls are going to be so excited. Shit, I’m excited. Don’t welch, okay?”
“I won’t.”
“I’ll send you a plane if I have to.”
“I’ll be alright. Save me a seat, okay?”
“Will do.” He was actually looking forward to seeing me. “And get that thing looked at. Even supers get infections.”
As if on queue, Ruby joined us.
“Who’s that?” Jason asked.
A small window embedded in the viewscreen showed Ruby lean into view, her giant cleavage inches above my shoulder. Jason’s eyes went wide and I barely held a laugh.
“I’m Ruby, Mr. Mckeown – a friend of your brother’s. You might’ve heard of me.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Of course, I’ve heard of you.”
“Your little brother is a good friend and one of the greatest heroes I’ve had the pleasure to work with. He’s kind, courageous. If not for him – on our recent mission – if not for your brother saving the day, a lot of people would have been hurt. You should be very proud of him.”
“I am,” he said. I don’t think Jason had ever looked at me that way before. I was a pain in the ass kid who became a pain in the ass teenager, who had turned into a nightmare of an adult. I never thought I would see pride directed at me ever again, least of all from Jason, who had done everything right.
I saw him wipe a tear away and got emotional too.
“Now I have to take a look at his leg,” Ruby went on. “Forgive me for ending this nice call.”
“Not at all,” my brother said. “Please take care of him.”
“Nice to have met you, Mr. McKeown.”
“You too.”
“I’ll call you back later so you can give me the address,” I said. “Talk to you later.”
“I love you, little bro.”
“You too, Jason,” I said, and the line cut off.
Ruby didn’t move, leaning into me. “You alright?”
I couldn’t say anything.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s look at your leg.”
I followed her into the medbay and let her help me to the pod. She redid my bandage and left me there, healing. I did my best not to notice Armada, sitting back in her pod, and when Ruby was done, I rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke with Lady Armada standing over me, leaning herself into my pod, her face inches from mine. “What the fuck?” I said, clinching, but unable to retreat further. She was blocking my way.
“I wanted to apologize,” she said. “I don’t know how to do this, and I’m afraid I might’ve come on too strong.” She smelled like sweat and lavender. The thin fabric of her toga left nothing to the imagination. My hands came up defensively, accidentally brushing the side of her breast and she shuddered. She ran a finger along my cheek. “I find you so distasteful,” she said, her voice soft. “But our union will lead to great things.”
I swatted the offending hand. “I d
on’t know about visions or whatever the fuck, but you keep your hands to yourself.”
She flinched. “Why do you resist? I know you like women.”
A little chill went down my spine as I realized I might have to fight this woman to keep her from raping me. Neither Ruby nor Moe seemed interested in what was happening, at all, and Armada seemed undaunted by the word no. There had to be a way to reason with her. “You know what happens if Apogee hears about this?”
“I will explain it to her.”
“Explain what? This shit is sexual assault, woman.”
It took her a moment to process, but once it hit, Armada retreated, horrified. She looked around and blinked hard as if waking from a dream. Adjusting her toga, she became invested in tucking stray hairs into her braid. I leaned up, feeling much better than I had when I fell asleep and noticed that the plane’s engines were silent. “Where are we?”
“Superdynamic’s tower.”
“Where’s Moe and Ruby?” I said, realizing the cockpit deck was empty.
“He went to get a wheelchair for you,” she said. “I don’t care where she went.”
I tried to step out of the pod, but she pressed the disengage button and it slid out from under me, wrenching my bad leg as it failed to hold my weight. Bracing on the pod, I lifted the bad leg, and the relief was instant.
“Forgive me,” she said. “I did not realize that would happen.”
“It’s okay,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s my fault for breaking the pod.”
“I hope this will not delay our eventual intimacy.”
This woman was talking crazy. It was going to get her killed. Apogee wasn’t the kind of girl to put up with that. And when she was done with Lady Armada, she was going to come after me. I’ve fought her before and it wasn’t an experience I would want to repeat.
“I need you to listen to me,” I said. “I understand you have some sort of visionary powers, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, they might be right. But believe me when I say that it’s not something that’s going to happen right now. It can’t. I don’t want it.”
She smiled, “You think I fear the future?”
“Do you fear having your facial features compressed at high velocity by Class-A super strength?”
Lady Armada cocked her head as if she was regarding a small child’s stupid question. “I know what happens, Dale McKeown, and I will recover.”
“Apogee kicks your ass,” I said. “You see it.”
“I have seen it all.”
“Oh, Jesus,” I hid my face, unsure of what to do. Maybe letting her get her face pasted by Apogee was the best way for her to learn. Thing is, it would blowback on me. I could imagine Apogee coming back from giving Armada the beating she was asking for - that wasn’t going to be a nice night for me. “Okay, I won’t argue.”
“That is wise. The gods get angry when their will is denied.”
“Of course they do.”
“So then, now?”
“No, dammit! Stop with that! I need you to do me a favor.”
“I will if I can.”
“Stop talking about this,” I said.
“That will not solve the problem.”
I raised my hand. “Just do this for me, okay? Don’t talk about it, and don’t write me, or anyone else about it.”
“But that’s denying-”
My hand stopped her again. “I’m not denying fate or anything else for that matter. I’ll make you a deal. Do this for me, and if this whole thing comes around, I won’t fight it. I’ll go with it. Fate or whatever. But in the meantime, shut up about it.”
Her brow clouded in thought. She rubbed at her chin before saying, “Fine. But I want your word, before the gods, that you will not fight it.”
I could hear someone coming outside and it took me all of five seconds to recognize Moe’s booming voice, chatting with some of the ground crew.
“Deal,” I said.
She extended a hand, and I shrugged hard, taking it.
“I was ready,” she said. “To have sex with you.”
“A word of advice,” I said. “A couple of words, actually. Don’t stab a guy then try to seduce him. It sends a mixed message.”
“I was actually starting to looking forward to it. I mean, look at me,” she gestured to her breasts, their points jutting through the toga’s thin fabric. “I’m flushed,” she said.
“This is what I was talking about,” I snapped. “You can’t talk like this.”
Moe arrived pushing a wheelchair that looked tiny in his hands. He was still in costume, with those big reflective glasses of his, and it took him one second to recognize the tension in the room. “What’d I interrupt?”
She beat me to the punch, “Nothing, Moe. I was making sure that Blackjack wasn’t alone while he waited for you.”
He smiled, “Yeah, I bet.”
“And now that you’re here, I can go.”
Without another word, she left.
“Damn,” he said, extending the vowel for almost five seconds. “You see how hard them titties were? Bitch is gushing for your ass.” He came up to me and hit the controls, retracting the pod. “You okay to walk to the chair? I don’t wanna have to carry you, but I will if I have to.”
“You’re so sweet,” I said, hopping off the cradle and hobbling over to the chair. “I’m fine, thank you very much.”
“If you’re so fine, then why didn’t you bone that bitch while I was gone. Shit, I gave you extra time.”
“How long have you been gone?”
“Long enough,” he said, rolling me to the ramp and down to the flight deck. “I saw her going all googly on you. And damn, look at her. That’s a dilemma I’d look forward to, hot-ass Apogee or sexy as fuck Armada. Me? I do them both. Nothing like side-pussy if you ask me.”
“That’s the thing, Moe. I’d get caught. I’m not so good at juggling two women.”
He laughed, “What’s juggling got to do with it? Shit, maybe you like to fuck weird. Not my business. But you’re fucking Apogee, right?”
He waited for me to acknowledge him. I shrugged. We crossed the deck and went to a hallway that led to a central hub with a cluster of elevators. “So fuck this Armada bitch on the side. Or don’t. I’m not telling you what to do. But just so you know, Apogee ain’t a girl to be staying with no one for long. So yeah, work the other girl and have a backup plan.”
It was his favorite thing to talk about these days; About when Apogee would dump me. He was convinced it was imminent. “Anyway, you need your own thing. You still living with her, right?”
“For now,” I said as we reached the elevator hub and took one heading up to the medlab.
“That’s what I’m talking about. You need your own place, your own money. All that shit. I’m gonna hook you up with my people, dog. Get you set up.”
“Yeah?” That was the second favorite of the topics for him to talk about and it always ended with him pushing his management team on me. “See, your problem, dog, is that you ain’t good enough for a woman like Apogee. Hey, me neither. Both of us are two ugly-ass motherfuckers. Especially you with that angry face of yours-“
“Angry face?” I said.
“What do they call it? Resting bitch face?” he leaned in and tried to mimic my look. His version of me was eyebrows furrowed, mouth turned down in a growl and eyes like slits. “Yeah, like that. I know, you’re probably thinking about butterflies and unicorns, but to someone outside, looking at you, it’s like you’re thinking of murdering some babies - then eating them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, man. Maybe you need to think about smiling more. And like, laugh. You know, from time to time. Tell jokes and what not. Think about happy shit, feel it. Like how you ain’t in jail no more. Like how you’re almost a hero. There’s shit to be happy for if you’re you.”
“I’m usually thinking of things.”
“Oh, you don’t have to convince me, dog. No way. I know you’re a
cool motherfucker. But people, you know? Like Apogee, she’s got people. You barely know them, I bet. Like her manager, accountants…all that shit.”
He was right, she always had a cadre of people following her, and more business calls and meetings than the President. There was Marcy, the personal assistant. She was small and tended to avoid me whenever I was around. I also saw Carlos a lot. He was her secretary. Those two buzzed around her at all times, handing her a cell phone every couple of minutes. They had rooms in our New York City apartment - well, Apogee’s apartment - and from 6 am until around midnight, they were always in our lives.
Then there was Erik Hayes, her manager. It seemed like that guy called her every hour on the hour, and he was awful friendly with her. You never saw Apogee giggle like a little girl as much as she did when she got on the phone with Erik. I’d seen the guy a couple of times, too, and he was a little too handsome to be a manager-type, a guy behind the scenes.
Not that I was jealous or anything. I’m not like that. Apogee’s a big girl, and I knew she had a past. Hell, she’s seen more action than I have, easily, and I had my fun. I didn’t care about the past, anyway. I was only looking forward these days, and I had a lot to look forward to.
“What about them?”
Moe laughed, “What do you think? Hey, do you even think? These are the most important people in her life. People she can trust. People she’s trusted for years and years before your sorry ass came along. Well, I doubt they like you at all, what with that shit look you’re always carrying on your face. At some point they get to talking, you know? And what about her friends? You think they’re saying nice shit about you? Fuck no. They’re telling her what a motherfucker you are, and all that shit.”
He stopped as we reached the medlab and he rolled me out. A pretty nurse passed by and said hello to Moe. “See, I’m tapping that shit,” he said once she was gone. “Anyway, where was I?”
“The world was going to end,” I said.
“You joke all you want, but when she leaves your ass, it’ll be good old Moe you’ll be calling, crying and shit. But yeah, she’s surrounded by people telling her, ‘what you doing with that fool?’ Eventually, that shit will stick. And she’ll see some pretty boy hero and she’ll start to wonder what his dick tastes like. Next thing you know, you’re out on the street.”