by John McCrae
Jack’s smile dropped from his face. He held the Claymore with one hand, the blade’s point touching the ground, and spread his arms. His unbuttoned shirt parted, showing the whole of his bare shirt and stomach. Showing himself to be vulnerable, exposed.
“Then do your worst, Theodore. Because if you don’t, I will.”
“Dinah,” he whispered.
“With you. Gray boy isn’t near. Nyx and Hookwolf are. Fifteen questions. I had to use one to help the others.“
He nodded slowly.
I don’t like the illusory building faces. Too much poisonous smoke was needed to make that sort of thing, it had to be multiple Nyxes working in concert. They’d be close, probably.
Which said nothing of the other threats that loomed behind the fog. Psychosoma’s creations?
Golem reached up to his gloves, then tore off the protectors on his knuckles. They fell to the ground. Beneath were spikes.
“Nice touch,” Jack said.
Golem spread his arms. “What do you-”
“Red.”
Mid-sentence, still talking, he let his arms fall, driving them into panels at his side.
Jack hopped back out of reach of the hands, seizing his sword. He drew it back.
“Blue.”
Golem created another hand. Not to catch Jack, but to catch the blade.
It had backfired, if anything. The hand caught the tip of the blade, but the sword slid free of the grip and flew around with more force. Golem leaped back, letting himself fall, and let his feet slide into the pavement. Two boots rose from the ground, shielding him as the slash caught the surface.
Weaver’s lessons. Catching the enemy off guard by any means necessary, rolling with the punches, or rolling with the effects of the enemy’s attack.
Had to use Dinah’s ability, divide everything into two equally viable actions, so he wasn’t caught off guard.
Still prone, still shielded and out of sight, he reached into the ground with both hands.
Two hands, flattened, jabbed for Jack’s leg, stabbing at ankle and calf. Jack backed away again before they made contact, slashed again.
This time, the slash caught a section of Golem’s armor that was sticking out of cover. The cut made a mark nearly a foot deep in the ground, but it served only to split the pauldron in half. A section of metal fell to the ground.
He created two connected hands of pavement, then whipped them to throw the section of pauldron at Jack. The trajectory suggested it would fly a little to Jack’s left.
Golem jabbed one hand into the ground, and a flattened hand stabbed out from the spinning piece of metal, extending as the projectile flew.
Jack ducked, but Golem was already thrusting his other hand into the earth. It jutted from the hand he’d created, doubling the length in short order. More of a crude boomerang in shape than a chunk of metal.
It only clipped Jack, just barely.
“Clever boy,” Jack said. “You-”
“Stop talking, Jack,” Golem responded.
For Aster, for Kayden, even for the others…
He thrust his hands into the ground, repeatedly, and they stabbed at the underside of Jack’s feet. He leaped back out of reach and swung his sword the instant he touched ground.
The action cut through the remainder of the shield Golem had raised, but it also kept Jack in one place. He caught the underside of Jack’s foot. Jack stumbled as he pulled himself free of Golem’s grip.
He reached out to stab out with two interconnected hands, the same technique he used to launch himself.
But Jack evaded it, slid out of the way, almost as if he knew the strike was coming.
Golem moved to get into a position to strike again, and realized in the moment that it would take too long.
He was crouched, still, his hands remained buried, and Jack was already drawing his sword back. He couldn’t mount a defense in time.
He braced himself. With luck, his armor could take it.
The attack didn’t come.
No. Jack laughed, instead. His icy blue eyes were fixed at a point beyond Golem.
Golem chanced a look over his shoulder.
He saw a figure dropping out of the sky, trailed by what looked like a comet’s trail of black shapes. Weaver. Her course changed as she flew away, using the Bohu-warped buildings for cover.
And where she’d been, just moments ago, a dull gray light hung in the sky.
Scion. Trapped in Gray Boy’s time-well.
Jack’s laugh rang through the area.
The figure inside moved, but only barely. The well trapped powers within. Kayden’s lasers wouldn’t exit the area. Crusader’s duplicates wouldn’t be able to wander beyond the well’s limits.
And Scion didn’t appear to be any different.
“I’m sorry, my boy,” Jack said.
Golem whipped his head around. Jack had backed up a short distance.
Jack chuckled, as if he still found something funny about the situation. “Ah well. I’m disappointed. I’m not sensing it, your killer instinct.”
“I’m prepared to finish you,” Golem said.
“You’re prepared? Maybe. But not practiced. No. I don’t see this going anywhere interesting. It’s about the ripples. You remember our conversation?”
Theo nodded slowly. The ripples from a butterfly’s wing. The effects that extend out from any event.
“You? This? It’s nothing. What ripples extend from this? You’re weak. That?” Jack pointed at Scion, trapped in the sky.
Golem chanced another look. Nothing had changed. Scion remained fixed in place.
“That interests me.”
He climbed to his feet, eyes on Jack’s weapon.
Jack reached into his belt, then drew a knife.
Golem tensed. Faster than the sword, if not quite so capable of chewing through his armor.
But Jack didn’t attack him. He struck at the building faces.
The surfaces dissolved into rolling clouds of smoke. Golem vaulted himself back twice in quick succession to escape it, then continued to back away for good measure.
“You’ve failed to amuse me. A shame your sister’s been shot, and there’s nothing interesting to do with the hostages,” Jack called out, his voice ringing along the length of the street. With no details or features on the outsides of the buildings Bohu had altered, the voice carried in an odd way.
A shadow emerged. Jack, riding atop a massive six-legged beast.
As Jack approached, he became more visible, and the nature of the beast became clear. He stood on Hookwolf’s back, between the creature’s shoulders.
Other shadows appeared in the mist, and they, in turn, clarified as they approached. Crawlers. Mannequins. Crimsons. Others.
Done in by my dad’s lieutenant, Golem thought. No way he was walking away from this.
“I suppose we’ll kill you,” Jack said. “And you’ll just have to take me on my word when I say I’ll find something suitably horrific to do as punishment for your failing our little game.”
Theo raised a hand as a shield even before Jack used his power in conjunction with Hookwolf’s. A hand of pavement, struck by a thousand slashes in a matter of a second, whittled to nothing. Then he had only armor, and that, too, started to come apart.
The cuts that followed parted flesh.
26.b (Interlude B, Golem part 2)
The house was bustling with activity, even this early in the morning. Ten children, aged four to seventeen, were doing their utmost to get ready for their morning activities. It was a rule, that everyone had to keep busy. A way, really, for the Gails to have a chance to breathe.
“You all set?” Mr. Gail asked, looking at him.
“Yeah.”
“Need a ride to your co-op?”
“No. Takes about as long to take the bus.”
Mrs. Gail smiled. “Thank you, Theo.”
He shrugged, feeling awkward. It had only been a few nights ago that she’d brought him an ice cream
sandwich, something she hadn’t done for the other foster kids the Gails were looking after. She’d thanked him ‘for being one of the easy ones’.
He hadn’t eaten the ice cream sandwich. Getting fit was too important, and it was already an uphill battle.
Still, it had been nice.
As he’d started habitually doing, he took time in front of the mirror to check his appearance before making his way out the door.
It was all too surreal. Endbringer attacks every two months, punctuated by periods of mundane life and intense, focused training. Life continued as normal, with just a little more fear. It wasn’t the reaction he might have expected, but it was a reaction. Everyone was a little different, animated, as though they sensed the encroaching danger, the ominous, inevitable end. Just like one person might react to a near-death experience with a new gusto for life, society as a whole reacted to each Endbringer attack.
Not celebrating, not with the inevitable death tolls, but perhaps breathing a collective sigh of relief.
In a way, Theo mused, people seemed to sense that there was a dark cloud on the horizon. Beyond even the Endbringers, there seemed to be an unspoken acknowledgement that things were well beyond their control. That this thing with capes and parahumans wasn’t going to turn out alright.
The illusion built up around the whole ‘cape’ thing had broken, but people weren’t talking about it.
Surreal, as though everyone was spending more time pretending than they were spending focused on reality.
Odder still, that he’d been one of them. He’d grown up with the reality of what happened when powers came in contact with the people who shouldn’t have them, but he’d pretended. He’d wrapped himself in delusions and false assurances.
Getting off the bus, he arrived at the PRT building before many of the employees. It was easier that way, because it meant he didn’t need to go through all of the usual precautions.
Taylor was awake when he arrived, her hair damp from a recent shower.
“Want to run?” she asked. She was already stretching her arms. She had little enough body fat that the muscles stood out in her arms and shoulders. Her long black curls were tied back into a loose ponytail, with some strands already slipping free to frame her face.
Muscles or no, she was still narrow, still tall. If he didn’t know her, and if the situation called for it, he might think he could take her in a fight. Building muscle came easily to him. Building fat did too, unfortunately, but the end result was that he was physically imposing, even at sixteen.
Yet if they scrapped, he suspected he’d be left crumpled in a heap on the ground. It was the way she fought. The way she thought.
“If it’s okay with you,” he said, “I was kind of thinking I wanted to do some sparring first.”
She didn’t give any indication that it bothered her. “Sparring’s fine. You’ll be sore for the run, though.”
He shrugged.
“Well, maybe that’s good, learning to exert yourself when you’re hurting and tired. Stretch well, though. We don’t want you to lose more time to any injuries.”
He winced. Few things set him back in his fitness regimen like a twisted ankle or stubbed fingers.
“Yeah. I’ll stretch after I’ve got my stuff on. Meet you in the gym?”
“Sure,” she said.
He was about to leave and do just that, but Taylor spoke up. “Theo?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you still getting anything out of this sparring? We’ve come up with techniques, you’re stringing them together, but there’s only so much you’re going to learn from me. You might be better off working with the others.”
“I’m… no. I’d like to keep sparring with you. I’ll let you know if I don’t think I’m getting anything out of it.”
She nodded.
All business. Hard. So focused she was almost cruel, at times.
He left, heading to his quarters to collect his gear.
Spider silk bodysuit on. Heavier weave fabric over that, followed by the armor, which went on in layers.
The weight of it was a comfort. It was familiar, just a touch musty.
There was a knock on the door. “Theo?”
Theo turned, then opened the door before returning to his armor. He tested where the panels at his hip were placed, then adjusted the position on the belt before locking it in place. “What’s up? You’re here early.”
“Had a thought on the suit last night, knew I had to come in early to implement it or I’d be distracted all day, trying not to forget about it.”
Theo smiled. “Tinker life is hard.”
Tecton chuckled.
“So you just wanted to say hi?”
“No. There’s something else,” Tecton said.
Theo strapped on his pauldrons. They consisted of more panels, and in a pinch they could be strapped to a point on his side or at his hip. Backup, in case others were removed.
“I guess it’s kind of like the armor tweak thing. I’ve got to bring this up now or I’ll never be able to find the right time, or I’ll forget, or whatever.”
“It’s serious?”
“Serious-ish.”
Theo turned, giving Tecton his full attention.
“It’s come up with the others, because there’s been points where things got uncomfortable, awkward, and we had to talk. You’re the only one I haven’t discussed it with.”
“Weaver?” Theo guessed.
“Weaver.”
“I think I can guess where this is going.”
“She pushed Cuff a step too far, back when we went after Topsy. It worked out. Grace found herself at odds with Weaver when we went up against Deathadder. There were hard feelings for a bit after that. I don’t think Weaver knows she’s doing it.”
“I think she knows,” Theo said. “I don’t know if she cares.”
“That’s not better.”
“Wasn’t saying it was.”
“Listen, Theo. I’m not going to tell you to stop being her friend-”
“Is that what you told the others?”
“No. But she isn’t exactly buddy-buddy with anyone else on the team, is she?”
“She’s not good at making friends. I’m not either. I get what you’re saying.”
“I hope so.”
“But we came from the same city. We’ve got common background. And we’re maybe the only people who are buying into this end of the world thing.”
“That’s- that’s good. That’s fine,” Tecton said. He didn’t manage to sound convincing. “But…”
Of course there’s a but.
“…I can tell you, she pushes herself hard. We’ve all seen it. She expects everyone to match her in that, up until you demonstrate you can’t. She’ll back off then, but… that’s not a guarantee that there won’t be some permanent damage.”
“Permanent damage,” Theo echoed his team leader.
“Physically, emotionally. Or even to your relationship with her. I hate to put you on the spot, but… do you like her?”
“As a friend, sure.”
Tecton didn’t respond. He waited.
Theo shifted his weight, felt the armor at his shoulder shift, and turned his attention to adjusting the clasp. It made for an excuse to break eye contact. “Nobody else is here, right? Nobody’s going to overhear from the hallway?”
“Just me and you. I ran into Weaver as she was heading upstairs.”
“She can hear through her bugs.”
“I know. I asked her not to listen in. I’m going to hope she won’t breach that trust. And if she does, if she is listening, then maybe hearing what I just said will be a wake-up call for her.”
Theo nodded. He ventured, “A little.”
“A little wake up call?”
“No. What you were saying. I like her a little. But that’s not really me and her. That’s me being a big enough loser that I fall in love with any girl that spends more than five minutes with me. We wouldn’t work out
, I know, because I know how hard she can be to get along with.”
“You’re not pursuing anything?”
“If I like anyone, it’s Ava. But she has the boyfriend-”
“Not anymore. It was another point of contention, Weaver keeping us so busy she couldn’t maintain a personal life. We’ve… geared down on that front, made sure we had downtime, but that didn’t fix the rift in her relationship.”
“Oh.”
There was a pause.
“Wait a while before approaching her,” Tecton said. “You’d make a good pair, and I think you’re both nice enough you’d make it out okay after a breakup. Anything more, anything that happens after this, do your best to convince me and the bosses it isn’t happening.”
Theo nodded.
“But on the subject of Weaver, I don’t think it would be nearly as good or welcome. I’d even recommend you back down. I can arrange training schedules with the others, if you want to maintain your regimen. Work on your versatility.“
“I appreciate the offer-”
“-Hear me out,” Tecton said, raising one gauntlet. “You like her. Maybe you’re a little in love with her. That’s normal. I’ve been there, had that phase where I fell in love with girls really easily, ’bout a year ago. I’m glad I came out of it in one piece. So to speak.”
Tecton laughed a little at that, self-depreciating. Theo smiled in sympathy.
Tecton continued. “But there have to be times you’re… not so keen on her. You said it yourself. She’s hard to get along with.”
“Yeah,” Theo said.
“I’m worried that if this training continues, a rift will form. You’ll stop being able to function as a team.”
Theo nodded. “I understand where you’re coming from. I do. But…”
“But you’re going to keep doing it. The training.”
Theo only nodded.
“Good luck, then. I should get going to school.”
“Later, Everett. Thanks for being straight with me.”
“Later, Theo. Patrol tonight. You and… Cuff?”
Theo smiled, shaking his head a little. “Sure.”
With that, Tecton was gone, his heavy boots making surprisingly little sound as he walked over to his own quarters to remove the armor.