“Well,” Smokey said when I concluded, “sounds like you learned a lesson.”
I nodded. “Yeah – stay out of subway tunnels.”
Smokey grinned. “I was thinking more along the lines of keeping your eye on the ball.”
“That, too,” I said noncommittally. “But trust me, I’ll stay totally focused from now on.”
Smokey gave me a skeptical look. “Totally focused, eh?”
“Completely, from this point forward. Nothing will get by me.”
“Then in that case, you already know you’ve got inbound at eleven o’clock.”
“What?” I mumbled, frowning.
With a sly grin, Smokey subtly tilted his head towards the main area of the lounge. Looking in the direction indicated, I didn’t notice anything initially, but then drew in a sharp breath as I realized what Smokey was trying to draw my attention to – or rather, who.
Vestibule.
Chapter 4
Vestibule was one of those people for whom life had seemingly pulled out all the stops. Born into a family of blue bloods, she’d known almost nothing but wealth and privilege her entire life. Moreover, she’d been blessed with classical beauty and an eye-popping figure, which she had parlayed into a successful modeling career. Last but not least, she had the rare ability of teleportation – a talent that had earned her a spot with the teen affiliate of the A-List Supers, who operated on the West Coast and were typically considered to rank second only to the Alpha League in terms of power and prestige.
Upon seeing her, I let out a slight groan of irritation that caused Smokey’s grin to widen. Vestibule’s presence was not something I wanted to deal with at the moment, but it should have been expected.
In the not-too-distant past, we had needed Vestibule’s help to save the planet. Her assistance, however, had come with a price attached: a date with me. But as luck would have it, I had been summoned to my grandmother’s homeworld before fulfilling that commitment. During my absence, however, Vestibule had apparently come by the lounge regularly looking for me. (Only a handful of people were aware of the fact that I was off-planet at the time, and she was not in the know.) Thus, the fact that she was here now shouldn’t have been a surprise.
For a brief moment, I contemplated teleporting away (anywhere else would have been preferable), but then she caught sight of us and the opportunity was lost. A moment later, she was headed in our direction.
She was dressed in a form-fitting, white-and-gray mini dress that was just long enough to reach an area that could – if one were feeling generous – be classified as her thigh. She also wore matching boots that came up just above the knee, and an unusual shade of metallic lipstick that would have looked odd on anyone else but suited her perfectly.
She strutted towards our table like she was on the runway, effortlessly drawing the attention of almost everyone present. (All the males, anyway.) She certainly knew how to work a room. Seeing her approach, Smokey began to rise from his seat, preparing to excuse himself on some pretext. I told him to stay put; he stared at me for a second, then sat back down.
When she reached our table, she took a seat without waiting for an invitation, then graced me with a smile that probably made most guys euphoric.
“Face-to-face at last,” she said, eyes twinkling as she leaned back and crossed her legs. “You’re a hard guy to catch up with, Kid Sensation – even for a teleporter like me.”
“I typically go by ‘Jim,’” I stated flatly. “And for the record, we’ve been face-to-face before, but you blew me off.”
“That was on a previous occasion when I didn’t know who you were,” she clarified, referencing the fact that the face most of the world identified with Kid Sensation – a label the media had pinned on me – was not my true countenance. Thus, when she’d seen my “real” face, she hadn’t recognized me.
I shrugged. “One of the hazards of cavorting with shapeshifters, I suppose. You never know when we’re around or when you’re dealing with us.”
“Fair enough,” she admitted. “But I think you’ll agree that the last time we met – and I knew what you actually looked like – I didn’t do anything close to blowing you off.”
I frowned, thinking back. What Vestibule was referring to was the fact that she had kissed me – purportedly for luck – during the prior crisis when she had helped save the world. It was an incident I would have been happy to forget about, had it not happened in front of my girlfriend, Smokey, and a score of other people.
“Cat got your tongue?” Vestibule asked, bringing me out of my reverie. “Of course, if you don’t recall what happened last time, I’d be happy to refresh your memory.”
She raised an eyebrow suggestively. At the same time, Smokey began to cough like something was stuck in his throat – an act that reminded both Vestibule and me of his presence. (He had been completely silent up to that point, such that I’d almost forgotten he was there.) Fortunately, he stopped after a moment, making it clear that he wasn’t likely to choke to death.
“Sorry,” he rasped. “I think that last sip of soda went down the wrong way.”
“Anyway,” Vestibule said, crossing her arms as she turned back to me. “You owe me a date.”
“An outing,” I corrected, using my girlfriend Electra’s terminology.
Vestibule waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever. You still have an obligation here.”
“Which I plan to make good on tomorrow night,” I declared firmly. “Didn’t you get the invite?”
“I did,” she answered. “But that’s not a date. It’s an event with tons of people.”
“Well, if I were taking you to dinner, a movie, or a show, barring me renting out the entire venue, there would be lots of other people around. Tomorrow night will be no different, so it counts.”
“The hell it does!” Vestibule practically hissed, leaning forward angrily. “First of all, you’re not picking me up, which is what I’d expect – even for an outing, as you call it. I’m providing my own transportation. Second, I’d anticipate at least being by your side, if not on your arm, when we do this, but I doubt I’ll see you for more than five minutes tomorrow. Third, I don’t envision your little lightning rod being anywhere around when you finally decide to man up and keep your promise.”
There was silence for a moment as Vestibule and I sat there scowling at each other. She had just voiced the reason for her displeasure, plainly stating her case. In addition, I felt frustration rolling off her in waves. On my part, I didn’t care for the way that she was implying that I was trying to duck my obligations.
“Ah, just to be clear,” Smokey said, breaking the silence, “a lightning rod doesn’t actually create electricity, as was implied. What it actually does is…”
Smokey’s voiced trailed off as Vestibule gave him a withering look that would have felled an oak. Her expression made it clear that she wasn’t in the mood to entertain comments from the peanut gallery.
“Fine,” I finally said, drawing Vestibule’s attention back to me. “You don’t like the arrangements I made for resolving this, so tell me how you see it playing out.”
Her eyebrows shot up momentarily in surprise, and I could tell from her emotions that my comment had caught her a little unprepared. However, she recovered quickly.
“Well,” she said, smiling impishly, “word on the street is that you took your little girlfriend to Paris a few months back.”
Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “You’re kidding, right? You can’t possibly want me to repeat the same date with you.”
Vestibule shook her head. “No, but it shows you’ve got imagination. What I want is for you to apply that same creative spark to our…” – she spent a moment searching for the right term – “…jaunt.”
I chuckled at her choice of words, which elicited a giggle from her in return. In addition to its traditional meaning, “jaunt” was a term that was generally accepted as a synonym for “teleport” in the realm of science fiction.
Vestibule’s use of it implied that there might be more to her than there appeared at first blush. (Plainly speaking, I had always considered her to be a bit vapid, but perhaps I needed to reassess that opinion.)
“Alright, we’ll do it your way,” I acquiesced. “Tomorrow is out of the question, so how about Sunday afternoon?”
“Sunday night would be better,” she replied. “But I’ll take what I can get. And who knows where the day may take us?”
I didn’t respond to that directly, preferring instead to suggest we exchange contact info. (To be fair, Vestibule had actually written down her relevant information for me on a previous occasion, but Electra had taken possession of it almost immediately, and, well…enough said.) We were still in the process of entering our respective phone numbers on each other’s cell phones when I heard a familiar voice.
“Please forgive me if I am interrupting, but I was hoping I could join you.”
The speaker was Li, another friend and fellow member of the League’s teen affiliate. Unlike the rest of us, however, Li wasn’t human; he was an AI housed in an android body. That said, he looked like a typical teen and was ordinarily accepted as such (at least by me and my peers).
“It’s fine, Li,” I said as Vestibule and I returned each other’s phones. “Have a seat.”
“Yes, please do,” Vestibule added as she rose from her chair. “I was about to leave anyway.” She turned to me. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’re on for Sunday.”
I gave a terse nod but didn’t say anything. In reply, Vestibule gave me a wink, then vanished.
Chapter 5
“Well, that was interesting,” Smokey said after Vestibule was gone.
“That’s one way to put it,” I offered. “At least now I can finally put this ‘date’ thing to bed.”
“You know, I would have been happy to let you guys speak alone,” Smokey assured me. “Why’d you tell me to stay?”
“Because when I tell Electra what happened, she’s not going to be happy,” I stated. “I’m going to need a witness to back up my version of events.”
“Your version?” Li said, sounding nonplussed.
“Yes, my version,” I replied. “Which is basically that I don’t want this outing with Vestibule, and I’m doing it under protest.”
“Electra knows that,” Smokey chimed in. “She also knows that you need to honor the deal that was made.”
“Speaking of Electra,” Li said, “I assume that the lack of heated words while Vestibule was visiting means she is not here?”
“She mentioned something earlier about shopping for a dress,” I answered somewhat sulkily. “Although I assumed she’d be back by now.”
Smokey laughed. “What you really mean is that you thought she’d be so worried about you that she’d be waiting to make sure you made it back okay.”
“Not exactly,” I protested, although Smokey had accurately picked up on my mood. “I just–”
Still smirking, Smokey cut me off with a wave of his hand. “You’ve got a lot to learn about women. For instance, nothing interferes with shopping – not even boyfriends on deadly missions.”
I chuckled slightly at that. He may not have been an empath or a telepath, but Smokey often displayed an uncanny ability to read the room.
“If I might offer my own analysis, Jim,” Li added. “I think that Electra – being aware of your power set – feels little need to worry regarding your well-being. You have displayed on multiple occasions an innate ability to take care of yourself.”
“Thanks, Li,” I said. His words, however, reminded me of an oversight on my part.
“I’m sorry,” I continued. “I didn’t even ask – how did things go on your end today?”
“Very well, thank you,” Li replied. “We encountered some issues, but nothing that jeopardized our ability to complete our assigned task.”
I nodded. “Good to hear.”
That was about as much as we could say in our current location. Li had been part of the team that had made a direct assault on Dream Machine’s main base. Being an android, he wasn’t susceptible to the AI’s power, which had made him – like me – indispensable to a certain extent. Moreover, it was also his first official mission.
His group had obviously been successful in providing a distraction, and Mouse had relayed to me before I left that they were all okay. (The very fact that Li was here now was another indicator that things had gone well.) Still, he was my friend, and I suddenly felt bad that I had been so wrapped up in my own issues that I had failed to ask about the life-or-death mission he’d undertaken. Thankfully, Li did not seem offended.
“Anyway,” I said, getting to my feet, “I’ve got a million things to do before tomorrow night, so I need to get out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Smokey stated plainly. “Not until you finish that soda.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Do you know what it cost to get that for you?” Smokey asked, pointing at the soda bottle. “And you’ve barely taken a sip.”
“It was free,” I countered, “from a fridge about fifty feet away, that’s kept fully stocked. Exactly what did it cost you?”
“Time and effort,” Smokey said. “But it’s not about what it cost me, young man. It’s about the waste. Do you know that there are little kids dying of thirst–”
“Alright, alright,” I cut in, laughing.
Shifting into super speed, I grabbed the soda bottle, turned it up, and gulped down the contents in about a second.
“Satisfied?” I asked as I placed the bottle back on the table.
“Eh,” Smokey muttered noncommittally, but with a smile. “It’s a start.”
I laughed again, enjoying the good-natured ribbing I was receiving. It made me mindful of the fact that Smokey and I really hadn’t had a chance to talk since I’d been back. Other than my immediate family and Electra, I hadn’t really made time for anyone lately, but I mentally made a note to remedy that situation at the earliest opportunity.
I turned to Li. “What about you? Anything you need me to do before I take off?”
Li shook his head. “No, but with respect to tomorrow night. Are you sure–”
“You’re coming,” I declared, not letting him finish. “Both of you. No excuses.”
“Hey, man, I’m looking forward to it,” Smokey clarified. “And it’s still okay for me to bring my plus-one, right?”
“Of course,” I said with a nod. “Sarah will enjoy it.”
At the mention of his girlfriend, Smokey’s brow creased slightly and I felt an odd mix of emotions from him: longing, sadness, affection, and more. Clearly something was off.
Maybe they’re fighting, I thought.
Whatever the issue was, Smokey hadn’t mentioned it and it wasn’t my place to delve. Besides, he and Sarah had always seemed like a rock-solid couple, so I was sure they’d work it out.
So, assuming everything was fine for the most part (but promising myself I’d see if Smokey wanted to talk about it later), I said goodbye to my friends and teleported home.
Chapter 6
Home for me these days was a three-story mansion in a tony residential district that was reserved for ambassadors and foreign dignitaries. In fact, the place where I now hung my hat was officially the ambassadorial residence of the Caelesian envoy to Earth (which, at present, was none other than yours truly).
The person who had originally filled that role was my grandmother, Indigo. However, due to her prolonged absence, I found myself unexpectedly saddled with the title a few months back. I hadn’t wanted the job, but it had come with some nice perks (diplomatic immunity, for example) and virtually no duties, so I really didn’t have much to complain about.
I popped up in my bedroom – an oversized space that would probably be better described as a suite since it had two connecting rooms (not counting the bathroom). One of those was a sitting room; the other was a small library with built-in bookshelves, an easy chair, and a
small end table. The bedroom itself was about three hundred square feet in size, which was far larger than anything I’d ever had before. Populated only by my bed, dresser, and nightstand, the room looked almost barren.
Needless to say, I hadn’t quite gotten used to having this much space, even though we’d been living here for several weeks now – almost from the moment my grandmother, Myshtal, and I had arrived. The modest house I’d previously occupied with my mother and grandfather had suddenly felt cramped with five people living there. (It had gone without saying, of course, that Myshtal would be staying with us.)
More to the point, my grandmother and Myshtal were royalty (although, technically, my mother and I were as well). They were used to living in opulence: mansions, chateaus, palaces, and the like. Even when she had been under house arrest on Caeles, my grandmother had basically lived in the lap of luxury.
That said, I’d initially had no doubt that my grandmother would be able to downsize. She had done so before (when she first came to Earth and married my grandfather), and presumably wouldn’t have an issue doing so again. Myshtal, on the other hand, had originally given me pause. I didn’t know how she’d react to having to live among the masses, without a bunch of servants at her beck and call.
I needn’t have worried, however. From the moment we set foot on Earth, my involuntary fiancée had made it clear that she was prepared to “rough it” to whatever extent necessary. (And from what I could read of her emotions, she was sincere in that regard.) So if that meant smaller beds (and bedrooms) than she was accustomed to, no servants, etcetera, then so be it.
Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. A few days after our arrival from Caeles (and after we’d suffered through trying to live together in close quarters), all five of us jointly decided to move to the Caelesian embassy. It marked a compromise in size between what Gramps, Mom, and I were comfortable with and what Indigo and Myshtal were accustomed to. Even more, it had accoutrements and affectations of Caelesian high society, which would probably go a long way towards making Myshtal feel at home.
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