by Wyatt Kane
In addition to all this, in the back of Ty’s brain, he couldn’t help wonder if he could use his talent to make real money. So he wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again. He wasn’t sure exactly how, but he knew there were people about making good money on the back of their inventions.
Surely, with his skill, Ty could come up with something that could make him a fortune?
But before he did any of that, there was one thing he had to do first. Steam’s attack had done more than burn Ty’s skin through his shield. It had also damaged one of the projector discs he wore.
He needed to replace that disc. To reposition it so that his shield’s integrity remained, and he could continue to play his part in their superhero team. Everything else was secondary.
He was already starting to hum happily to himself as he got to work.
<<<>>>
It didn’t take long for Ty to work up a new projector disc for his shield. The original plans were still in the Imager’s memory, and the adjustments he had to make to account for the slight change in position were minor. The hardest part was reaching around to attach the newly fabricated adhesive disc to his shoulder.
The burn on his skin combined with where he needed it to go made it impossible. In the end, he gave up. He would get one of the girls to place it later.
After that, he began to look not at the possibilities for counteracting Steam’s power, but at something entirely different. Something he’d thought about while being treated in the med bay.
Healing. If he could figure out a way to ease the burn in his shoulder for good, that would be fantastic. But he knew it wouldn’t be simple.
He still had Tempest’s information on file. As well as being durable beyond measure, if she ever did get injured, the blonde superhero would heal at a vastly accelerated rate. Where he might normally take a couple of weeks before his burns to fade, for Tempest, it would take no more than a day. Sure, the Dura-Dermis would cut Ty’s healing time down considerably, but he was also thinking about the future.
The work he and the girls were doing was important. None of them could afford to take time out to heal from a serious injury. What if there was something crucial that needed to be done?
He wanted to shorten any recovery time by as much as he could.
But as soon as he started looking at Tempest readouts, he came across a problem. Tempest’s accelerated healing wasn’t a skill. It wasn’t the result of an energy field he could mimic with his shield. Instead, her cells just worked more efficiently than his own.
How could he duplicate that with technology?
After considering the problem for some time, Ty admitted he had no immediate answer. He had to give up. Yet even as he put the problem aside, he knew it was only temporary. He would come back to it, and somehow find a way to do what he needed to do. It was only a question of how, and when.
With a quiet grin, he thought again about how much he had changed. Before that fateful night in the alley, every aspect of his life had been a struggle. Every setback or failure had seemed like a mountain he needed to climb, or like chains that kept him in place.
Now, everything felt different. Easier. Even his and Tempest’s failure against Rubio’s men seemed temporary, a momentary glitch rather than an ongoing pattern. Something they could soon overcome.
Even so, he thought he might try an easier task rather than the more complicated one of combating Steam’s power. Just for the sake of a quick win.
With that thought in mind, he brought out his old-fashioned smart phone and placed it on the workbench.
“Analyze,” he commanded the Stark Imager. “Display in component form, explode and expand,” he said.
Almost at once, a holographic representation of his smart phone sprang into being, each component many times its original size, floating above the workbench.
It might take him a few minutes, but he was determined to integrate its functionality with his device.
It just seemed simpler for him to do it that way.
16: An Incoming Call
Ty was putting the finishing touches on his combined phone and device when Dinah spoke from the doorway. “Good morning,” she said.
He had become so involved with what he was doing that he hadn’t seen her arrive. Yet he wasn’t surprised, either. In the short time since he’d been staying at the mansion, it had become almost a pattern for her to find him working there.
“Good morning to you to,” he said.
The deerkin was as stunning as ever. If she ever looked disheveled from having just woken up, Ty had never seen it. Everything about her was perfect. No hair out of place. Her makeup, what little she wore, was perfectly done, and even though it was early, she looked ready to take on the world.
Despite the hour, she was already working through her first lollipop of the day. The deerkin enjoyed the sugary sweet so much she had a jar full of them on her bedside table.
Just like with Tempest and Lilith, Ty couldn’t help but admire her. As gracefully as the most gifted of dancers, she stepped toward him and gave him a hug and a kiss in greeting.
A few days earlier, Ty might have worried about her reaction to him spending the night with Tempest instead of her. But now, he knew it was okay. More than okay. Both Tempest and Dinah were equal partners in their relationship. He just smiled at her as she moved back and gestured at the saucer he’d brought with him, now empty except for a few crumbs.
“I see you’ve already had breakfast,” Dinah said.
“Yes. Yesterday’s cupcakes. Thank you.”
Dinah acknowledged his thanks with a nod. “And what have you been working on so early this morning?”
The exploded view of both his device and his cell phone still showed above the workbench even though he’d already made the changes he needed. He held out his arm so she could see his device. “This. I integrated my cell phone into it. So now I don’t have to carry them both around with me all the time.”
“Ooh, nice,” she said. “That’s a good idea. It always bugged me that these things weren’t more versatile.”
“I could do the same with yours, if you like,” Ty said. Then he looked at her sideways. “But that’s not really what you want to ask me about, is it?” he added, teasing a little.
The deerkin smiled in return. “No, not really.” She hesitated for just a moment, then came out with it. “How is she?”
“She’s still sleeping, as far as I know. I woke early and came down here. But I think she’ll be okay. You were right. She sees Lilith as being like her, only better,” Ty said.
At this, Dinah looked surprised. “Better than Tempest?” She shook head. “Different, sure. But what does better even mean?”
“Yeah. But she was worried that Lilith might replace her. With you. Us, even.”
Dinah let out a laugh, then hesitated, then laughed again. “That’s ridiculous!” she said.
“That’s what I said.”
Dinah looked uncertain. “And then what? Did she understand?”
“I think so. Or at least, I think she’s starting to. I told her that you loved her, and I did too. She seems to relax after that.”
All the uncertainty faded from Dinah’s expression. She smiled knowingly at him. “You used the L word, huh?” she said.
Despite himself, Ty felt his cheeks start to redden. Yet he didn’t look away. “Well, it’s the truth,” he said.
Dinah looked very pleased with herself.
“But I think,” Ty continued, “if you want to pursue something with Lilith, it might be best to take it slowly. To get Tempest used to the idea.”
Dinah tilted her head to one side and raised an enquiring eyebrow. “Are you trying to imply I’m the only one with an interest there? It seemed to me that you might have one as well.”
Ty laughed. Dinah was perceptive. But then he shook his head. “Only if it doesn’t upset anyone,” he managed. “And … I don’t know. I don’t think I want anything casual. Lilith – I can’t help
but feel she’s a truly good person, you know? And she’s dealing with a lot at the moment. Her father. Bain and the Master. And don’t forget us.” He paused, gathering his thoughts.
“And there’s another thing. When Zach’s device came to me, it was pretty simple. Tempest saved me from Bain, you both figured out I might work out well, and everything else is history. But Lilith? Look what she’s had to go through already. I don’t think I want to make her life any harder than it already is.”
Dinah was nodding as Ty spoke. But all she said when he finished was, “Who said anything about wanting something casual?”
All at once, Ty understood something that both Dinah and Tempest had already grasped. Lilith was one of them. She wore a device, and she wasn’t a villain. If she felt the same sort of attraction for them – and it seemed that she did, at least for Dinah and maybe for Ty as well – then they weren’t talking about a one-time thing.
They were talking about adding her into their relationship. All the way. Equal partners, like each of them.
It was something to think about.
Before Ty could come up with a response, the device on his wrist signaled an alert. He had set it so he could distinguish between a message on his device and a call on his phone, and knew at once that this was his phone.
“Sorry.” He said. “I should take this.” He thought that maybe it was Martin, finally getting back to him about the job.
He hit the answer button on the device. “Hello?”
It wasn’t Martin, but Brad, Ty’s roommate. Ty hadn’t integrated the phone with the device as a hologram matrix, so Brad’s face appeared in miniature on the device’s small screen.
“Hey man,” Brad said. Ty was disappointed. As well as not being who he expected, Brad’s face was a reminder of one of the bigger problems in Ty’s life. He could have done without that reminder so early in the day.
“Hey,” Ty responded.
“Look,” Brad said. Even on the small screen, he seemed excited. “I might have found a solution to our little hole-in-the-wall dilemma,” he said.
Immediately, Ty’s interest was piqued. “You have? What?”
“Get your ass over here and I’ll tell you,” he said.
“Why don’t you just–” Ty began.
“See you soon,” Brad said. He glanced away and Ty got the impression he wasn’t alone. “Gotta go,” he said, and clicked off, leaving Ty staring at his screen.
He realized Dinah was looking at him. “Brad?” she said. Ty had spoken about his roommate before.
“Yeah.”
“What was he talking about?” the deerkin asked. “What dilemma?”
She seemed no more than curious, but Ty shook his head. “Nothing important,” he said. His money issues didn’t have anything to do with the girls. They were superheroes, doing their best to keep the streets of New Lincoln as safe as they could from the worst the city had to offer. He didn’t want to distract them with anything so mundane.
And besides, he had always solved his own problems. He saw no reason why that should stop now.
“Well, how about you go see him while I do what I can to make sure Tempest really is okay?” Dinah said.
Ty hesitated for a moment. “What about the Master?” he asked.
But Dinah just smiled. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been threatened,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep an eye out for anything nefarious going on. And if anything happens, we’ll contact you.”
Ty nodded. “Before I go, could you help me with something?” he asked. He didn’t want to go anywhere without replacing the shield projector disk on his shoulder.
17: Slow Connection Speed
Ty really should have spent the morning adjusting his shield so he could fly, he thought grumpily to himself as he made his slow way through town to his apartment.
He’d become used to travel being far easier over the past few days. He had become spoiled. But just then, Tempest was still asleep, and Dinah’s bike was still parked outside the Concubine Club. So he had little choice other than to use public transport.
He promised himself two things as he rode one of New Lincoln’s grimy, worn-out buses. First, he would prioritize flight more highly, when he got the chance. And second, he would pick up Dinah’s bike on the way home.
It was a considerable distance from the mansion to Ty’s apartment. A single bus ride wasn’t enough. He had to change services twice, and stand in the ongoing New Lincoln drizzle for half an hour in between.
By the time he made it to his apartment building, he was wet, irritated, and tired of the smell of wet hair and body odor that seemed to be a perennial part of every bus ride. There had even been a hint of vomit and urine in the air.
“The life of a superhero,” he muttered to himself, and laughed at the thought.
The building was just as he remembered it. Filled with the hopelessness and despair of ordinary people doing their best to make ends meet in a world that treated them like commodities. The New Lincoln megacorporations were too good at extracting every last coin they could, while paying largely insufficient wages.
It was no wonder so many people supplemented their income by selling drugs or committing other petty crimes.
Idly, Ty wondered how he might redress that balance. He was a superhero, wasn’t he? Sure, there were villains to deal with and everyday problems to solve, but the real problem beneath it all was the megacorporations. The greed of the few at the top who had the power and will to shape the world in a way that benefited them at the expense of everyone else.
Above all else, Ty’s purpose ought to be fixing that, shouldn’t it?
Once again, he thought about his dream. Not his nightmare where he was battling Steam, but an earlier one. His dream of a shining future where he was flying, a league of heroes by his side, working together to cast a net of safety and happiness around the whole world.
Surely, freeing the world from the shadow of the megacorporations would be a primary goal for such a league?
Even the thought was enough to bring a smile to Ty’s lips. But, as reached his apartment, he acknowledged that he had no idea how to even begin.
Ty placed his hand on the sensor to unlock the door and went in.
He took a single step and stopped dead. It was like he’d been frozen in place. His first thought was that somehow he’d managed to open the wrong door entirely. The door hadn’t yet closed behind him, so he turned to stare at the number, just to make sure. But it was right. Apartment seven thirty-six. Same as always.
Yet the apartment was in no way, shape, or form what he expected.
It was clean.
Before, the kitchen had been a jumble of disused appliances, the toaster and microwave in pieces from when Ty cannibalized them to make his first weapon. Now, it was recognizably a place where people could cook. The bench tops were clear, everything had been put neatly away, and there was even a faint smell of orange blossom in the air, as if someone had been using cleaning products.
Beyond the kitchen, the lounge also seemed tidy. It still contained the same lounge suite and screen as before, and it was still small. Yet even from where Ty stood at the door, he could see that there was less buildup of dust in the corners. The walls looked as if they had been washed. Even the sofa and carpet looked freshly vacuumed, with the cushions arranged neatly instead of being bunched into corners.
But the biggest difference Ty could see was the wall. Last time he’d been there, the large hole through which Tempest and Bain had fallen had been covered by no more than a flattened cardboard box.
Now, a casual glance wouldn’t be enough to tell anyone there was a Bain-sized hole there at all.
Perhaps the cardboard still covered it. If it did, Ty couldn’t tell, because someone had hung a large poster over everything, effectively hiding it all.
Goku and Krillin stared at Ty across the lounge, with Master Yoshi looking on from behind them. A throwback from the past, but still one of Ty�
�s favorite franchises.
Having assured himself that despite appearances, he was indeed in the right place, Ty let the door close behind him. “Brad!” he called. “Brad, where are you?”
Bradley Fletcher, professional gamer of middling ability, emerged from his bedroom door and stood grinning at Ty as if he knew how surprising the change in their apartment would be.
Brad was the ultimate slob. He habitually worked in his pajamas, and used his dressing gown as an all-purpose cleaning rag. He could go for weeks without shaving or even a bath, and Ty wouldn’t have cared to guess how long it had been since his teeth had been brushed.
The gamer was an absolute slob, and the while Ty had tried to do his share, he wasn’t about to clean up after his friend. The general state of their apartment was due, in no small part, to Brad’s habits.
Yet the figure who emerged from Brad’s bedroom was at least as surprising as the rest of the apartment.
Brad also was clean. So clean he was like a new person. His raggedy beard was gone, and his hair had been cut. Instead of his habitual pajamas and gown, he wore casual pants and a button-down shirt. The only evidence of the original Brad that remained was his hair, which was a shorter version of his unruly ginger mop, and his favorite fluffy slippers on his feet.
Ty stared at his friend for a moment. Then he quirked a half-grin. “Who are you and what the hell have you done with my roommate?” he asked.
Brad laughed. “You stole my line!” he said. Brad had said the same thing when Ty first put on his device. The physical changes he’d gone through at the time were even more striking than Brad’s.
“Well, it seemed appropriate,” Ty replied.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “Well, it turns out you’re not the only one who has met someone.” He grinned broadly.
Ty felt his eyebrows both rise up in surprise. “Really?” he asked.
“Seriously, dude, you look like you’ve just been taken out by an opponent on 1% health. Is it really that surprising? Can’t I strike it lucky as well? It’s not like you have a mortgage on that type of thing, you know.”