by Wyatt Kane
“Analgesic applied. Commencing foreign object removal,” said Gregory.
“Nice and gentle,” Dinah said.
“Understood,” the robot replied, and Ty learned that the analgesic somehow managed to take the pain away without making his burns entirely numb. He felt the delicate brush of thin steel on his skin in the damaged area. Then the needles carefully slid around the edge of the disc and his skin suddenly felt cool air as the disc came off.
“Foreign object removal protocol complete,” Gregory declared. “Recommend disposal of removed foreign object.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Dinah said, holding out a hand to the machine. “I’ll take that, thank you.” The robot handed it over.
“Cleaning affected areas,” Gregory said. “Request antiseptic hand towel.”
Dinah took her cue. Ty was facing her as he lay on the bed, and saw the deerkin gather not just the hand towel from the shelves, but also various creams and a roll of bandages off the shelves. She placed each item on a stainless-steel surgical tray attached to the Gregory’s extendable arm.
At the same time, Tempest started pacing back and forth on Ty’s other side. He couldn’t see her, but sensed her anger with every step she took.
The med bot took the towel and gently dabbed it against Ty’s back. Once again, Ty heard a hissing noise and felt something on his skin. This time, it felt slightly warm.
“So what kind of weird chemicals did I just get sprayed on me this time?” he asked, trying not to worry about Tempest’s anger.
“A couple of exotic substances you may have heard of,” Dinah replied. “Purified water and antiseptic soap.”
Despite himself, Ty let out a laugh, and the med bot moved to work on his leg.
Then Tempest’s anger boiled over. “I ought to fly over there right now and rip Rubio apart,” she growled. Ty turned to look at her, and thought she was no more than three seconds away from punching a hole in the nearest wall.
He also thought he understood the source of her rage. “This isn’t your fault, Tempest,” he said, hoping to cool her back down.
“I know it isn’t. That’s why I want to kill the man whose fault it is.” The glare in the blonde superhero’s eyes made Ty very glad he wasn’t Rubio Vecoli.
“If you’re going to be that mad at somebody, be mad at me,” Dinah said quietly. “Information Control, remember? It’s my skill. And yet I couldn’t spot a textbook ambush when it was right in front of me. If I’d done my job, none of this would have happened.” There was more than a hint of regret and disappointment in her voice.
Tempest stopped pacing and looked at Dinah with a torn expression. There was a lot of truth in what the deerkin had said. Yet Tempest’s anger was far from satiated.
A wave of coolness washed over Ty’s shoulder as the med bot applied something soothing.
“How could you have known it was an ambush when you couldn’t see inside the warehouse?” he asked, then continued without waiting for her to reply. “Look at it this way. Maybe we didn’t win today, but we’re still here. There will be other days.”
“They could have killed you, Ty!” Tempest yelled back, her voice filled with anguish.
The med bot seemed to pause in its ministrations at Tempest’s outburst, and Ty finally understood what this was really about.
Zach Kennedy, known as Bolt. The third member of Tempest and Dinah’s team and previous wearer of Ty’s device. From Ty’s perspective, everything good that had come into his life over the last few days could be traced back to Zach’s death at Bain’s hands. He even wore the man’s clothes! Or at least, those few items of Zach’s collection that didn’t include furs, sparkles, or pink.
But for Tempest and Dinah, the man’s death was still a raw and open wound. A telekinetic superhero, Zach had been part of their lives since the start. Of course they grieved for him.
Yet it was more than that as well. Ty had grown very close to Tempest and Dinah. He loved them, although he had yet to admit it out loud. And he had ample reason to believe they loved him back.
They didn’t want to lose him as they’d lost Zach.
Ty smiled. “They could have, but they didn’t,” he said gently. “Thanks to you, I’m still alive. You saved me, Tempest. I’m still here. Lost a little HP, but maybe gained a few experience points in its place. I’ll be fine.”
He could see Tempest was doing her best to hold back tears and was moved. The blonde superhero was the toughest, strongest person he’d ever met, a near-perfect warrior woman who wouldn’t look out of place on Thor’s arm. He’d seen her cry only once before, when Dinah had been taken from them, and even then, her tears may have been an expression of anger more than anything else.
So for her to be so close to crying now reinforced how she felt about him. How she worried about losing him.
Yet even then, she didn’t give into her emotions. As Gregory continued ministering to Ty’s wounds, the blonde superhero cleared her throat.
“You know, Zach’s head was full of quotes from famous people,” she said slowly. “There was one he loved to say all the time, from Oscar Wilde. ‘Experience is the name we give to our mistakes.’” She even managed to smile as she said it.
“I remember how you hated that quote,” Dinah said, her voice gentle and warm.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I guess everything changes.”
Both women were silent for a while as Tempest dried her eyes, leaving Ty to listen to the hum of Gregory as the bot continued its ministrations. Finally, it finished what it was doing. The med bot moved over to a bucket in the corner and dropped the towel into it.
“The burn injuries are clean and disinfected,” the robot said. “Proceeding with Dura-Dermis application and bandaging.”
“No thank you, Gregory,” Dinah answered. “Tempest and I can handle that. Prognosis?”
Immediately, the med bot backed away. “All deceased skin cells have been removed from the affected areas, and there is no sign of infection. With the assistance of Dura-Dermis, recovery time estimated to be between forty-eight and seventy-two hours.”
Ty was surprised at the med bot’s words. He’d heard about Dura-Dermis and knew it could accelerate healing. He just hadn’t realized it would be as effective as that.
Tempest’s reaction was different. She was calmer now, her anger and grief largely having run their course. She gave Ty a rueful look. “If you had a healing factor like mine, it wouldn’t even take that long.”
As soon as she said it, Ty started to wonder what he would have to do to replicate her healing factor. At the same time, he remembered all the hits she had tanked during the fight. “Are you sure you’re okay? You took a lot of blaster fire—” he started.
Tempest’s grin grew broader, and Ty knew she was back to her usual, indominable self. Without saying a word, she unceremoniously peeled off her skintight suit and stepped out of it.
Ty forgot the med bot, his injuries, everything. It didn’t matter how many times he saw Tempest like this, it took his breath away. She was flawless. The type of perfection Ty had previously thought only existed in the minds of artists paid to airbrush magazine photos.
For long moments, Ty just stared, growing ever more acutely aware of his own nakedness. The merest glimpse of Tempest’s body was enough to raise the interest of a mummified corpse, and when she raised her arms and did a slow pirouette, he suddenly found the way he was lying had become uncomfortable.
Tempest had shown herself off this way before, and up until then it had always resulted in sex. Images of the rock in the lake came to Ty’s mind, and a single glance at her smirk told him Tempest was thinking the same thing. The first time they made love, the blonde superhero had pirouetted in exactly the same way.
Yet her words were at odds with her actions. “See? No damage. I’m perfectly fine,” she said.
Ty could see she was telling the truth. There wasn’t a mark on her. Not a single bruise or scrape to indicate she’d been in a fight. S
he was durable beyond anything Ty could imagine, although his imagination seemed to be distracted just then.
“Are you done teasing our Ty yet?” Dinah asked, and Ty could hear the grin in her voice. “Because you’ve made him all tense, and that can’t be good for his injuries. Not to mention, if you don’t put your clothes back on, you might end up distracting me as well.”
Tempest gave a throaty laugh, and Ty knew she was okay again.
8: Friend Request
Tempest did as Dinah suggested and climbed back into her clothes. Even so, to Ty at least, the air retained a certain sexual tension, and Dinah uttered a sigh that reflected his own disappointment as she started work on his shoulder.
To help take his mind off the image of Tempest’s naked body, Ty turned toward the deerkin. “So, you’ve treated injuries before?”
“I used to have to do this with Zach all the time,” the deerkin explained, still a little sadly. “Not just burns, but cuts and scrapes as well. Broken bones, sometimes. He didn’t have Tempest’s durability, but used his telekinesis as a shield. Sometimes he would overestimate the hits he could take. After the third time, I had this med bay set up.”
“Were you a doctor? Or a nurse?”
Dinah shook her head. “Nothing so grand. Information Control, remember? I just took a basic trauma course and have kept up-to-date ever since.”
As she spoke, she applied a semi-liquid, skin-colored goop to his shoulder. It was cool to the touch, and felt like it was moving under its own volition. The sensation was strange but not entirely unpleasant.
“Dura-Dermis?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s a neutral substrate that bonds with your existing flesh, and it’s designed to stimulate healing. Over time, it becomes part of you. In a week, you’d need a geneticist to tell it isn’t your own skin. A few days later and even that wouldn’t work.” She smiled. “You won’t even have a scar. It’s pretty good stuff.”
Ty had to agree. He’d heard of Dura-Dermis before, but only in passing. It was new and very expensive, and he was extremely grateful that Dinah would use it on him. He wondered how she’d got hold of it, but before he could ask, Tempest moved closer.
“Okay if I bandage his shoulder now?” the blonde woman said.
“Just let me make sure the Dura-Dermis is covering everything it should,” Dinah said. “Then he’s all yours.”
That provoked a saucy smile from Tempest. “Really? You’re going to just let me have him all to myself?”
Dinah laughed. “You wish,” she said. “Or—maybe. As long as I can watch.”
This time it was Tempest who laughed. Ty just lay there, blushing slightly and wondering at how much his life had changed. Sure, he had a far greater chance of being killed than before, but it was definitely worth it! He’d never even dreamed he could be so lucky as to have anyone like Tempest and Dinah in his life.
The women got him to sit up, then spent the next few minutes wrapping him in snug bandages that covered both his shoulder and leg. About mid-way through the process, Gremlin appeared in the doorway and offered a mournful meow. Ty glanced over to see his faithless, furry companion looking at him with an uncertain expression. But before he could even try to entice her over, the cat turned and strolled away.
Typical, he thought.
“So, how’s that feel?” Dinah asked.
Tentatively, Ty moved his shoulder about. The analgesic was excellent. He could feel the warmth of the bandage and knew that there was something going on, but there was almost no pain at all.
“Good,” he said. “Really good. Thank you. I feel like I could take on Bain himself without any problems.”
The deerkin smiled and shook her head. “Maybe you should rest for a bit first,” she said. Then she grew more serious. “But speaking of that, what actually happened? How did you get hurt?”
The last of the sexual tension faded from the room. Tempest’s expression became grim, and that grimness reflected Ty’s own mood very well.
“One of Rubio’s men was wearing a device. Called himself Steam. You can guess why,” Ty said.
The deerkin nodded. “How did he get through your shield?”
“He didn’t. Not really. Just heated it up from the outside. My shield stops most things, but heat?” He shrugged his shoulders, and was happy to note that his injury barely offered a protest. “Apparently, not so much.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Dinah asked.
“I guess I have to figure out a way to avoid getting cooked,” Ty said. “Maybe add some sort of heatsink to my shield. But that’s only part of the problem.”
“What’s the other part?”
“I can answer that,” Tempest said. “The other part is that this Steam character isn’t easy to hit.”
Dinah looked from Tempest to Ty, and back again. “What do you mean?”
“He’s insubstantial,” Ty answered. “I hit him with everything I had, and it just went straight through him.” He thought about it for a moment. “Or maybe not ‘straight through’. He felt the stronger blasts, at least.”
Coming up with a way to combat that was yet another project for Ty to add to his list. An important one, to be sure, but so was replicating Tempest’s healing factor, making it easier for them to get through the house shield, and figuring out how to use his talent to repair a hole in the wall of the apartment he still technically shared with Brad. And then there were the tasks that weren’t exactly essential, but which he wanted to do anyway. Like working out how to fly.
“You’ll figure it out,” Dinah said, smiling broadly.
Ty returned her smile. It was nice to have someone in his life who actually believed in him. He was trying to work out how to express his thanks when all three of their devices pinged at once.
Someone with a device of their own was trying to contact them.
<<<>>>
Dinah was fastest. She tapped the button on her device to pick up the call.
It was Lilith. A succubus made flesh in the same way that Dinah had been made into a deerkin, Lilith had the horns, wings, and tail of a demoness, and the hooves to match. It was beautiful work, done by a master, and Dinah’s device projected her in all her glory as a holographic image floating in front of them.
The time Lilith had spent in Bain’s containment cell had left her dirty and disheveled, but even that hadn’t been enough to hide her beauty. Now, she was clean. And her allure was undeniable. She shone like a well-polished diamond.
Ty felt his usual confused reaction to her infernal loveliness. There was no denying how he felt about Dinah and Tempest, and surely they should be enough for anyone. So why did he feel that same pull toward this woman?
“Um, hi,” Lilith said tentatively.
“What do you want?” Tempest asked, full of suspicion.
“I was just … I wondered if it would be okay to come by.” Lilith was visibly nervous, yet seemed hopeful as well.
Tempest and Dinah exchanged a quick glance, and Ty understood why. Their relationship with Lilith was convoluted at best and actively antagonistic at worst. As a servant of the Master, Lilith had fought against both Tempest and Ty, and the device she wore on her wrist used to belong to Dinah.
And yet, Lilith had acted under duress. The Master had held her father hostage.
“Is this you asking? Or is it Bain?” Dinah asked.
“No, no, no, I’m done with them!” Lilith said, her eyes flashing and her expression full of denial. “After you helped me with my father, I’ve got no reason to go back. Except maybe for revenge.”
Ty believed her, but he’d always trusted her more than Tempest and Dinah did. “Why do you want to come here?” he asked, acutely aware that none of them could stop her if she really wanted to. The shield Ty had made couldn’t prevent the demon-woman from teleporting right into the med bay if she so wished.
“I just want a few minutes to talk, that’s all. If you don’t want me there, I’ll leave. And I’ll never come back
, I promise.”
“And what if we don’t want you here at all?” Tempest asked, clearly far from happy with the idea.
“Then I’ll just hang up. And I won’t bother you again.”
Dinah looked thoughtful. “Give us a moment,” she said, and did something with her device that made the image of Lilith freeze in place. She turned to Ty and Tempest. “She’s on mute. What do you say?”
“She’s dangerous,” said Tempest. “That power of hers is difficult to combat. If she wanted to, she could spirit any of us away, and there wouldn’t be anything we could do to stop her.”
Dinah agreed. “You’re right. But she could do that anyway, at any time. If that’s what she wanted, why would she bother to contact us at all?”
It was a good point, and Tempest reluctantly nodded. “Then sure. Why not?”
Dinah switched her focus to Ty. “Ty?”
“I don’t think she wants to do us any harm,” he said. “I trust her.”
Dinah stifled a smirk and said, “I bet you do.” But before Ty could ask what she meant, she continued. “There is also the fact that she wears a device. The Architect didn’t give it to her. Just like Ty was when he gained Zach’s, she is largely unknown. This should give us a chance to find out more about her intentions.”
Both Ty and Tempest acknowledged the point with a nod. When Ty had gained his device, Tempest and Dinah had worried that he might prove to be a force of disruption, like Bain. They’d wanted to keep an eye on him as well.
The deerkin smiled. “All right, then,” she said. She touched her device and un-froze the image of Lilith. “Can you give us five minutes? Meet you at the main door.”
9: Fruit Cupcakes
As soon as the call ended, Dinah suggested to Ty that he might want to get dressed. “Unless you think greeting her wearing nothing but skin has become a tradition?” she asked with a wry eyebrow raised.