The Indestructibles

by Matthew Phillion

  "Where are you?"

  "You haven't given me a reason to show my face yet."

  "Doc Silence sent me."

  The voice stopped.

  She could almost hear him formulating his response.

  "He's not dead," the voice said.

  "We don't think so," Kate said.

  "We?"

  "My friends and me. Doc's students. He's gone, but said he didn't know how long it would take him to get back," she said.

  "Magic," the voice said. "Most dangerous thing in the world. Stay away from it. Another tip for having a long career."

  "Doc said you might help us."

  The voice went quiet again.

  "You were the Alley Hawk, right?" she said. "One of the heroes who stayed. Doc's friend."

  "He used that word liberally," the voice said.

  "You weren't friends?"

  "I didn't say that," the voice said. "Just don't believe everyone who says they were once his friend. Doc trusted too many people. Never wore a mask. Never hid his identity."

  "Wait. His real name was Doc Silence?"

  The voice laughed, sounding like car tires on a gravel road.

  "I don't think Doc even remembered his real name. It's a magician thing. Stay away from magic."

  "I'll keep that in mind," Kate said.

  She lifted the goggles off her eyes and blinked as her pupils adjusted. When she opened them again, a man stood in front of her. Shorter than she expected, and powerfully wide. He wore a khaki jacket with a hooded sweatshirt underneath, the hood pulled up to hide his face.

  "You're the Dancer," he said.

  "Why did you quit?" Kate said.

  "Didn't quit," he said. "But things got too hot. I was getting older. Slower. Figured there was a better way to do things. Tried to set up a legacy. Failed on that count."

  "And now you hide here."

  "Not hiding," he said. "Waiting."

  "For what?" she said.

  The man pulled back his hood. His face was carved out of a cinder block — hard lines with tired eyes. Small scars marked his skin; a large one cut from above his right eye and into his hairline. His hair had been shaved down to stubble, but more because of that scar than for vanity. The man resembled a gargoyle.

  "I've been waiting for a world worth throwing my life away for again," he said.

  "Well, it's not, really," she said.

  The Alley Hawk laughed his car-on-gravel laugh again.

  "At least you're honest," he said. "Doc said you needed help."

  "He just said you'd help us."

  The Alley Hawk shook his head.

  "With what?"

  "We . . . we don't know what to do next," Kate said. "Without Doc."

  The man sighed. He sounded tired, but not angry.

  "You're doing fine, you know," he said. "I've been observing. Just keep doing what you believe is right. It's the only way to stay sane in this job."

  "But what if we screw up?" she said. "What if we make the wrong decision? We're a bunch of kids. We don't know anything."

  "That's a lie," he said.

  He turned and began to walk away.

  "That's it? That's all you have for me?"

  The Alley Hawk stopped and turned around.

  "It's what we all did, kid," he said. "But I'll be watching. If you need a hand . . . I'll do what I can."

  Kate's eyes followed him as limped into the dark, the pain of each step evident in his every movement. And she wondered, was this the future she had to look forward to?

  Chapter 69:

  Those left behind

  Jane sat in her same chair, next to Doc's empty one, as the others shuffled in. With everyone dressed in their dusty and disheveled street clothes, costumes now abandoned, they seemed weary and more than a little haunted. Kate, in particular, looked like she'd seen a ghost.

  Jane wished she knew how to communicate with Kate. She understood it was something she must learn. They were going to need each other from now on, more than ever.

  Titus relayed his battle with the werewolf hunter and her silver-plated knives, which had more than slowed down his normally miraculous healing. He still patched himself back together better than a normal human could, but these cuts would leave scars. They all worried about the shoulder wound, in particular, but he assured them that he was healthier and stronger every day.

  Yet watching him fiddle with his sweatshirt, Jane could see he was still struggling. He flexed his fingers often, to keep them from tightening up with pain.

  Billy stopped glowing. Mostly. His eyes weren't the same, though. His irises, now closer to silver than their former blue, shined faintly in the dark when his eyes opened. Nothing like Doc's fiery gaze, yet still unearthly and strange.

  Emily was just Emily, texting on her phone when she stumbled in and barely looking up when Jane opened the meeting. "Do we know where Valkyrie went?" she asked.

  "We tracked her for a bit over Europe," Titus said. "But she seems to have the storm under control — there was an unseasonable snow squall in London a few days ago, but nothing terrible. We lost her yesterday, no strange weather patterns have been reported . . . "

  "Can we leave her alone for a bit?" Emily said.

  "We've got to at least keep an eye on her," Kate said. "If she loses control of the storm, we're back to square one."

  "I'm just sayin', she has some crap to work through."

  "Noted," Kate said.

  "We'll try," Jane said. "What about the others?"

  "Bedlam's dropped off the map entirely," Billy said.

  "You must be heartbroken," Titus said.

  "I was hoping she'd come in and at least let us help with the bomb," Billy said.

  "She'll show up if she wants to," Jane said. "Sorry your charm wasn't enough to woo her back to the Tower."

  He shrugged, a scowl lined his face.

  "And the other names on the list Kate found are . . . nowhere," Billy said. "I guess we'll just keep hoping they show up."

  "No," Emily said. "One of them was called Megalodon. I think we have a pretty fair idea what he's going to look like. I'm not wishing he'll show up."

  Everyone stared blankly. And, she threw her hands up into the air.

  "Megalodon? Prehistoric shark? Ate dinosaurs? Come on, am I the only one who reads around here?"

  Jane sat back and sighed, allowing Emily her minor meltdown. They'd become endearing. Everything was becoming so. Emily's nonsense, Kate's practicality, Billy's cockiness, Titus's sarcasm. She didn't want it to end.

  "So I guess the only thing to talk about is: what happens next?" she said.

  "What huh?" Emily said.

  "For us? Do we go home? Stick together? What are we, without Doc around?" Jane said.

  "We're talking about splitting up? I didn't know this was on the agenda!" Billy said.

  "You and Emily have homes to go to," Jane said. "You don't have to stay."

  "I'm not going home," Billy said. "Finally found something I'm good at. I'm staying."

  "I've stopped annoying my mom," Emily said. "I'm not goin' anywhere."

  "We just keep doing what we're doing," Kate said, her tone flat and authoritative. "I'm in."

  "That leaves you, Titus," Jane said. "What about you?"

  He sighed.

  "I, ah, need to leave for a bit," Titus said.

  Kate sent him a death look that made Jane's heart skip a beat. Titus wilted under the glare.

  "Just need to go home for a little while. The woman I fought on the rig said a lot of things. I want to find some answers. Where I came from. What I am," he said. "I'm not quitting. Just want to check things out. See if I can get a better handle on who I am."

  Jane nodded. "Makes sense. You want any help?" she said. "I bet we could lend a hand."

  Titus looked at Kate and her alone. She shook her head once, almost imperceptibly. He acknowledged it with a tiny tilt of his head. Then, he looked back to Jane.

  "No, I'll be okay," Titus said.
"I won't be gone long. Promise."

  "Well, you need us, you call, furball," Billy said. "We'll be there faster than a speeding — "

  "If you finish that sentence Billy Case I will punch you in the mouth," Jane said.

  "Why is everyone so violent around here?" Billy said.

  "It's how we show affection, I guess," Emily said.

  They dispersed, Billy and Emily both intent on checking in with their families, Jane saying she wanted to look through Doc's notes to see if he left any clues to where he went.

  Titus watched them go, a cold fist in his stomach. He'd been alone a long time before Doc found him. He wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience.

  Kate grabbed him and shoved him against the wall.

  "You skinny little jerk, you're leaving?"

  "Why won't you come with me?" he said. "I want you to come. We could — maybe we'd have fun."

  Kate's face darkened, her mouth twisted in a hard frown.

  "I can't just leave, Titus," she said. "There are parts of this city that I'm the only one looking out for."

  "You could take a few weeks off," Titus said. "Just a few weeks?"

  Kate exhaled sharply.

  "It — I don't want to meet your family, Titus. Don't like what they did to you. And, don't want to know what I'd be like if I met them. Not sure I want to see that part of myself."

  He smiled.

  Kate's eyes flared open. She almost hit him.

  "What are you smiling about?"

  "You care about that stuff?"

  "Of course I care about that stuff you idiot," she said.

  "Will you wait for me, at least?"

  "What?"

  "I mean, will you not go looking for a boyfriend or anything while I'm — "

  "Oh, I don't know, I meet scrawny little superhumans who turn into monstrous creatures all the time, I may find a new one while you're gone."

  "Now I'm jealous."

  "I'm going to punch you."

  "No you're not."

  "Yes I — "

  Titus kissed her. Just a quick kiss, light on the lips. She pulled back and really did look like she wanted to punch him.

  Then, she kissed him back.

  He bit his own lip at the force of it.

  "You're taking me to a movie before you go."

  "Okay," he said.

  "I get to pick the movie. . . . And we're seeing something funny," she said. "I'm sick of everything sucking."

  "Me too," he said.

  For once, she smiled at him, and for just a split second, Titus thought she looked her age, without the world resting on her shoulders.

  Out of a hot Florida sky, a single cloud fell. It moved faster than any cloud should, and with far too much purpose; it had a place to go, and nothing would stop its momentum.

  The cloud took shape. It became a girl. Her eyes glowed like distant lightning, her hair the color of the summer sky, her skin mottled white and gray, ever changing.

  She paused outside a small ranch, a modest home; peered through a window. She saw a man and a woman sitting together on the couch, watching television, but not watching television, the blank-eyed stare of those who are searching for anything, anything at all to distract them from the things that are breaking their hearts.

  She wanted to call out their names. But she knew she was not the daughter they lost, and never would be again, and she was afraid, so very afraid, that she would startle them. She didn't want her mother to be frightened of her. Didn't want to break her father's heart.

  But she wanted very much to say she was sorry for letting them down.

  The sky clouded over. It was subtle, at first, then faster, and later a light mist began to fall. The sky wept, because the girl made of clouds was weeping, and the sky was her body as much as this form she wore to help her feel human.

  Inside, she felt the other presence, the sentient storm, grieve with her. They had talked, the past few days, about their losses. Not spoken in words, but in feelings and memories. The little storm had lost her mother.

  They'd come to understand each other, if only in the most raw and saddest of ways.

  The rain tapped against the window panes. Valerie's mother stood up and closed the window closest to her, and then turned to look at the one Valerie was staring through.

  Her mother's eyes grew wide. She called her father's name. He jumped up quickly, as if to defend his wife, but then he saw the face in the window, the face Valerie realized was not the one they remembered. But they knew. She could see it in their expressions, in the tears welling up in her father's eyes.

  Together, they walked to the window, hand in hand. Her mother pressed a palm against the glass. Valerie put her own on top of it. Their hands stayed there for awhile.

  Nothing would be the same.

  Perhaps some things would be okay.

  Saturday morning. Quiet. Three figures flew above the cloud line, surveying the world.

  "How are we supposed to look after all this," Jane said, in awe.

  She'd flown hundreds and hundreds of times, but she never stopped to look at the enormity of it all. This world went on forever.

  "One day at a time," Billy said.

  "When did you get Zen, Billy Case," Emily said. Her goggles were down, and the pink clouds around them reflected in her lenses.

  "I'm not Zen. Dude's Zen," Billy said. "Just trying to listen to him more."

  Jane breathed in sharply. She looked away from both of her friends. "I miss him," she said. "I never realized how much he was doing for us."

  "We're gonna be fine," Emily said. "You're in charge. What can go wrong?"

  "Everything," Jane said.

  "No," Billy said. "That's what would happen if I were in charge."

  "Or me," Emily said.

  "You always do the right thing," Billy said. "We trust you."

  "That's really comforting coming from two of the craziest people I've ever met in my life."

  "Did she just say we're crazier than a werewolf?" Billy said.

  "And Assassin Barbie," Emily said.

  "I'm okay with that," Billy said.

  "I'll take it as a compliment," Emily said.

  "Great," Jane said, starting to laugh. "Titus leaves and now I'm stuck with the Comedic Duo."

  "Is that our new nickname?" Billy said.

  "I vote yes," Emily said.

  They high-fived.

  Jane laughed.

  "You know, we have no name," Jane said. "We need a name."

  "Team Emily," Emily said.

  "The Unbeatables," said Billy.

  "Invulnerables," said Emily.

  "The Rock Stars."

  "The Indestructibles," Emily said.

  Billy and Jane both looked at her in shock.

  "What was that last one?" Jane asked.

  "The Indestructibles," Emily said. "It's what the ancient Egyptians called the two stars they could always see around the North Pole. One star is in the Little Dipper and the other is in the Big Dipper. They believed the area the stars circled and protected was heaven."

  Billy's mouth hung open.

  "Every once in a while I'm convinced you're the smartest person on Earth," he said.

  "I'm a genius, yo," Emily said.

  "And then you say something like that."

  "It works," Jane said. "It really works."

  "We're not indestructible," Billy said. "Maybe you are, but the rest of us officially don't qualify as indestructible."

  "No, but we do circle the world and keep it safe. We're like those stars."

  "For this one I vote yes," Emily said.

  "That's because you came up with it," Billy said.

  "We'll wait 'til Titus gets back and take a real vote," Jane said. "But I like it."

  They hovered there for a moment, the world going about its everyday business a mile below them. Everything felt very quiet, and easy.

  "I hope he gets back soon," Jane said.

  "He will," Emily said. "Let'
s return to the Tower and call Titus. I don't want to wait 'til he's completed his walkabout to be able to tell people our name."

  "You go on," Jane said. "I'll catch up."

  Billy looked at her with a level of concern that always surprised Jane when she discovered it, those times when his cockiness fell away and she saw real worry in its place.

  "You okay?" he asked.

  "Fine."

  Billy raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

  "C'mon, Em, I'll race you."

  "No fair, you fly, I float."

  "We'll teach you to break the sound barrier yet," he said.

  Billy put a hand lightly on Jane's arm, just for a moment, and winked at her. He took off like a shot, leaving Emily cursing and following in his wake.

  Jane closed her eyes, and let the sunlight's warmth sink into her. She felt her heart beat, and her strength swell. She felt indestructible, brave . . . and yet, very much alone.

  She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and headed west.

  There was a farm she yearned to visit, and two people she loved above all else that she needed to see.

  Jane landed in their cornfield like a falling star, touching down in the same spot Doc Silence chose all that time ago.

  Her parents were waiting on the front porch. They smiled as if she'd never left.

  "We are the stars," Jane said.

  The End

  The Indestructibles

  Reading Group and Discussion Question Guide

  1. While the characters possess special powers, many of the problems they confront are those faced by young people ever day. What are some of the challenges the heroes experienced that you relate to?

  2. How does the theme of family relate to all of the heroes and even some of the villains in the story? How might it impact the characters' actions?

  3. The story arc / journey for each character is unique. Who did you relate the most to during the story? Was there anyone you had trouble relating to?

  4. Which character do you feel had developed the most by the end of the story? How has he or she changed?

  5. Some of the characters need to make difficult decisionsalong the way to do what they think is right. Did you agree with the choices they made? Is there anything you would have done differently if you were in their place?