With respect to my ex, things couldn’t have gone better if I’d planned them. In almost no time at all, we both seemingly fell back into our old roles as boyfriend and girlfriend – in word and deed, if not name. We tasted each other’s food, shared knowing glances, whispered silly comments to each other… Electra even reached over at one point and held my hand for a second; it was plainly out of habit, because she hastily let go when she realized what she’d done and looked away in embarrassment for a moment. (Mentally, I gave myself a high five and did a fist-pump, because it was evidence that there was hope for us yet.)
In short, the night was going far better than I ever could have hoped. Vir and I not only seemed to be getting along, but – from what I could read of his emotions – he genuinely liked me. That alone made the evening a monumental success in my book. And then, things came to a rather abrupt end.
Basically, we were just about to order dessert when a familiar tone sounded from Esper’s purse.
“The office,” she muttered as she pulled out her phone and pressed a button. The tone stopped and she merely stared at the screen for a second before putting it away. “Something’s up. I have to go in.”
“Emergency?” Vir asked.
Esper shrugged. “Don’t know yet, but a car’s on the way.”
“Ahem,” I muttered, clearing my throat. “If it’s helpful, I could…?”
I trailed off, but raise my eyebrows questioningly.
“Would you mind?” Esper asked.
I shook my head. “Not at all.”
“Okay, great,” Esper said, coming to her feet, which prompted us all to rise. She then turned to Vir and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “See you at home later.”
“You hope,” Vir added, a subtle indication that – depending on whether there was a crisis and how extensive it was – Esper could be gone for days.
Rather than reply, Esper simply gave Electra a hug goodbye and then said, “Come on, Jim.”
With that, she began heading for the door; moments later, we were behind the restaurant. At that juncture, I teleported her, sending her to the main conference room at Alpha League HQ.
A second later, I felt her open a telepathic channel to me and announce,
When I got back to the table, I noticed Vir handing a credit card to our waitress, a sure sign that dinner was over.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Vir began, “but Amp said there’s a specialty ice cream shop a few blocks away, and she’d rather have dessert there.”
I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out who he was talking about, and then I remembered: “Amp” was his nickname for Electra.
“No problem,” I assured him. “I think I know the place she’s talking about.”
“Great,” he said. A few minutes later, the bill was paid and we were heading outside.
Not knowing where they had parked, I let them take the lead. As I walked behind them, I found myself wishing that Esper hadn’t had to go. With her present, there had been a sort of balance to our group: two couples. Two males, two females. Two adults, two teens. One man and one woman, one boy and one girl. Without her, things felt askew and off-kilter.
For instance, we were apparently about to take their car to the ice cream shop for dessert. Had Esper been with us, it would presumably have been either her and Vir in the front seat with me and Electra in the back, or vice versa. Thinking about what the drive would be like now, I imagined Vir behind the wheel, with me and Electra seated behind him. Somehow, however, I didn’t think that would fly (plus, I didn’t want him envisioning me and his daughter in the backseat of anything.) I thought of me sitting in the front passenger seat while Vir drove, and didn’t really care for that. Even less palatable was the notion of Electra driving and me next to her, while Vir sat in the backseat – probably directly behind me.
It turned out, however, that I was worrying for nothing. As if he had been reading my mind, Vir had a solution to my problem.
Turning unexpectedly to his daughter as we reached their car, he said, “You know, sweetheart, the ice cream shop’s only a few blocks away. Why don’t you drive on over and grab us a booth? Jim and I will walk. I need the exercise, and it’ll give us a chance to talk.”
Electra looked nervously from her father to me and then back again. “Uh, I don’t know, Dad. Maybe we should just skip–”
“No, Amp,” he stressed, shaking his head. “My baby wants ice cream, so we’re getting ice cream. Plus, I’m sure Jim doesn’t mind, do you, Jim?”
He looked at me as he asked his question, plainly putting me on the spot. With my brain screaming at me to say that I absolutely, positively, categorically, and unconditionally did mind, my mouth said something else.
“No, I don’t mind at all,” I uttered woodenly.
“See?” Vir intoned. “We’re all good.”
“Okay,” Electra mumbled, sounding unsure. “I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
With a look of concern on her face, she leaned forward and gave her father a hug. Then she stepped in my direction and shocked me by giving me a kiss.
It only lasted a second or two, and then she suddenly pulled back. I realized then that she was as shocked by her actions as I was. Reading her emotions, it was clear that she had never intended to kiss me, but – apparently distracted by what her father had said – she had unwittingly reverted to what had been customary for us when parting ways.
Shaking her head in disgust at her own actions, she got into the car and drove away without another word.
At that juncture, Vir turned to me, asking, “You ready?”
Chapter 19
We walked in silence for about a minute, both of us wrapped in our own thoughts, it seemed.
“Thanks for dinner,” I finally said. “I really enjoyed it.”
“It’s Esper you should be thanking,” Vir replied flatly. “It was her credit card I used. I’m kind of a kept man at the moment.”
“Oh,” I muttered softly, not sure what else to say.
Vir laughed. “You don’t approve, I take it?”
I shrugged. “It’s not my place to comment.”
“But you do have an opinion.”
“In my opinion, Esper and Electra are overjoyed to have you home. That’s what’s important.”
“Well,” he droned with a smile, “you’re a lot more tactful than I was at your age. Given what I just told you, I would have called myself a bum.”
I snickered at that, enjoying his ability to poke fun at himself.
“But it’s not quite what it seems,” he went on. “Basically, when I went away, I signed all of my assets away to be held in trust for Amp. I didn’t know if I’d ever get out, but I wanted her to be taken care of.”
I simply nodded at first, not saying anything. I was well aware of the fact that Electra had a trust fund, but had no idea what was in it or how much it was worth – wasn’t sure that I wanted to know.
“So you’re broke because you gave everything to your daughter,” I summed up after a few moments. “Not because you’re careless or irresponsible.”
“That’s how I hope people see it – especially Amp,” he said. “Plus, I’ve got some things in the works so that hopefully I’ll start pulling my weight in the area of family finances.”
“That’s great,” I said matter-of-factly, then looked at him askance. “Anything you can talk about?”
“Yeah,” he declared with a laugh. “Trust me, this isn’t like in the movies, where an ex-con fresh out of prison lines up the score of a lifetime. This is completely legit. In fact, your mentor Mouse is helping me with it.”
“Really?” I blurted out, not bothering to hide my surprise.
Vir nodded. “I wasn’t completely idle during those years I was locked up. I always had ideas about things, and since I got out, I’ve been putting them down on paper. Your buddy Mouse has some friends
in corporate America who he feels may be interested in some stuff I’ve come up with, and if we can work out the details…”
He trailed off, but I understood where he was going. “You’ll sell your ideas for a mint.”
“Not sell,” he corrected, smiling. “License – ownership is everything. But there will be a hefty licensing fee.”
“That’s impressive,” I said sincerely. If Mouse was involved – and I hadn’t gotten the impression that Vir was lying – then this was all completely aboveboard.
“Anyway,” Vir droned, changing the subject, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I wanted to meet you.”
“I suppose because of my relationship with your daughter,” I guessed, “among other things.”
“Not per se. You’ll understand better when you have kids of your own, but the first thing you think when your teenage daughter says she likes some guy is, ‘I need to meet him.’ That’s per the Dad Handbook.”
I laughed. “So there’s a guide for all this stuff that dads do?”
“In all honesty, you mostly play it by ear, but wanting to meet any guy she likes is pretty standard.”
“Well, I don’t feel so bad now, if that’s the only reason you wanted us to have dinner.”
“And if I’m being completely honest, there is another reason that piqued my interest.”
He didn’t say anything else, but I suddenly felt the wind going out of my sails. I had thought we were getting along well, but I should have known this was coming.
Letting out a sigh, I softly said her name. “Myshtal. The princess.”
Vir shook his head. “Jim, I like you, but I have to say I’m disappointed. You just cost me ten bucks.”
I looked at him in confusion. “Huh?”
“I bet Amp a sawbuck that you wouldn’t bring up the subject of your fiancée if I didn’t ask you about it directly. I expected you to dance around the subject until I shoved it in your face.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I muttered, still feeling uncomfortable about this conversation.
“Lighten up,” Vir practically commanded, clapping me on the shoulder. “I’m not here to judge. Hell, I’m the poster boy for getting involved in situations beyond your control, and from all I’ve heard, you’re not in this situation by choice.”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
Suddenly, Vir came to a stop. Looking me in the eye, he said, “My point is that sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t always give us a fair result. But that doesn’t mean you should have done anything differently.”
I looked at him, absorbing what he said and empathically feeling that he was being frank and sincere.
“Thanks,” I intoned. “I really appreciate…”
I trailed off as, for the second time that day, I picked up a familiar emotional vibe, this time rapidly heading in our direction. A moment later, I heard something swish through the air directly above us, and then my father swiftly descended to the ground next to us.
Looking at who was with me, Alpha Prime greeted him with a curt nod and a solemn, “Vir.”
“AP,” Vir stated in return.
My father turned to me. “I thought you were having dinner with Electra tonight.”
“It was actually all of us,” I clarified, then explained that it had been a double date, of sorts.
“Esper left,” Vir added, “but Electra’s waiting for us at an ice cream shop about a block over.”
“I’m sorry,” Alpha Prime said, “but we urgently need Jim for something back at HQ. He’ll have to finish his date another time.”
“Is it the same thing Esper was called in for?” Vir asked.
“That’s classified,” my father replied, then looked at me. “Whenever you’re ready, Jim. Main conference room.”
Speaking to Vir, I said, “Tell Electra I had a great time, and I’ll catch up with her later.”
Vir acknowledged this with a nod, and then I teleported myself and Alpha Prime.
Chapter 20
We popped up in the main conference room, as my father had requested.
“Hang tight for a second,” he said. Tapping a communicator that sat unobtrusively in his ear, he then announced, “We’re here.”
Still unsure of what was going on, I took a seat at the conference table and, out of habit, started swiveling from side to side in the chair. A moment later, I began feeling an odd tingle at the back of my mind – like something I was supposed to remember but couldn’t quite get a handle on. At the same time, I noticed my father giving me an odd look. Empathically, he was giving off a weird emotion – an unusual combination of agitation and expectation.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Uh, no,” he said, shaking his head. “Stay here for a second.”
“Will do,” I replied as my father headed to the door and strode from the room.
Still wondering what was happening, I leaned back in the chair and kicked my feet up onto the desk. For Alpha Prime to seek me out the way he had – presumably locating me via my cell phone, which has a tracker – I had assumed I was needed for something important. Yet, here I was, basically just cooling my heels.
A minute or so later, Alpha Prime came back into the room, still giving me an odd look.
“Okay,” I blurted out. “What is it?”
“What’s what?” my father asked.
“You keep looking at me like you expect me to turn into an eggplant or something, so what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he insisted. “Well, actually, there is something, but I’m not sure how to break it to you.”
“Just tell me,” I stated.
“All right,” my father said, then took a deep breath. “Mouse has gone rogue.”
Chapter 21
“I don’t believe it,” I declared flatly.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Alpha Prime said.
“No,” I stressed, shaking my head emphatically. “No way.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Buzz, the official speedster of the League. “You don’t believe what your own eyes are telling you?”
“No, I don’t,” I said defiantly. “There has to be some kind of explanation.”
“There is, and you’ve seen it,” Buzz shot back. “Or would you like to see the footage again?”
“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”
Everyone else exchanged glances, apparently not caring for my skepticism.
We were still in the main conference room at Alpha League HQ, but we had been joined by several other League members. After making his stunning statement, Alpha Prime had called together a number of his colleagues, and then – with us all seated around a conference table – proceeded to tell a story that I found incredulous, if not completely preposterous. However, he had visual aids in the form of video footage to back him up. But even after viewing it twice, I still couldn’t believe it.
“Maybe the third time’s the charm,” Buzz muttered as my father picked up a remote from the table and pressed a button. On a wall at the far end of the table, a white screen began to display a video clip.
The footage began by showing a location that I recognized immediately: Mouse’s lab. In addition to Mouse himself, my father was present, along with two other members of the League: Luna and Solar Surge. Mouse was dressed as I’d seen him that morning, while the other three wore their Alpha League uniforms, with Luna also sporting twin swords that she wore on her back. There was no audio, but from the angle shown, the camera that had filmed this scene must have been placed up high in a corner, because it gave an expansive view of the room.
In the middle of the lab was something I’d never seen before – a large object about the size of two caskets stuck together and standing upright. It appeared to be made of some sort of dark metal, but it was hard to tell on the video. It was also difficult to really describe the actual shape of the object because the outer edges of it seemed blurry.
“Okay,” I said, “what’s that thing called again?”
“The Tristan Construct,” said Luna as Alpha Prime paused the video. “It’s named for the remote volcanic island where it was found.”
“And what’s wrong with the footage?” I asked. “Why is it all fuzzy around the edges?”
“Because that’s the way it actually looks,” noted Alpha Prime. “Mouse said something before about it possibly not being fully embedded in this reality.”
I frowned. “What exactly does that mean?”
My father shrugged. “Different dimension, different timeline… Who knows?”
My brow furrowed as I considered what he said. Despite watching the video two times before, this was the first time I’d really asked any questions. Plainly speaking, I think I was just in shock over what I’d seen – and was about to witness again as the footage resumed.
In the video, Mouse walked around the Construct a couple of times, appearing to scan it with a device that he held while the other League members stood off to the side. Next, my mentor went to a keyboard and monitor situated atop one of the worktables and began typing.
All of a sudden, the screen went dark for maybe two seconds. The first time I saw the video, this was the only part of the footage where I had asked anything. Seeing it again prompted me to voice my concerns once more.
“So explain to me again what happened here,” I essentially demanded.
Pausing the video once more, my father said, “All indications are that the Construct sent out some kind of energy burst that apparently caused the camera to power down for a few seconds. And when it came back on…”
He started the video again as he trailed off. The screen went back to an image of Mouse’s lab, only now, the Construct appeared to be glowing with an emerald light.
Without warning, Mouse suddenly pointed his right arm in the direction of Alpha Prime. At that juncture, I noticed that he appeared to be wearing some sort of metallic brace on the hand and wrist in question. It was a device I’d seen on him once before – when he thought we were being attacked in his lab – and it gave the impression of being a weapon. A moment later, that theory was proved correct when my father suddenly went flying backwards like he’d been rammed by a jet.
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