Red and Black

by Nancy O'Toole Meservier

  Christ! He still had that cop’s gun.

  As the realization hit me, Noel pulled out the weapon and aimed it at the center of Dana’s face.

  It’s strange. It was normally hard to look at Noel and not think about how ridiculous he looked. With that big, poofy hair, his long, gangling limbs, and the visible Adam’s apple, the kid had always kind of seemed like a joke. Now, there was nothing funny about him. His face was carved in hard, determined line. And there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he would have pulled the trigger the second Calypso gave him the say-so.

  “Shit,” Dana said.

  He tried to pull back, but Amity stopped him from behind, placing a hand on the small of his back.

  “Seriously, what would be the point in killing me?” Dana said. “It’s not like I can do anything once I’m dead.”

  “Would still be satisfying, though,” Amity said, her voice a dangerous purr. “You were such a pain to catch, after all. Although Bonnie would miss you so much.”

  Dana’s gaze slid back toward hers.

  “What do you know about Bonnie?”

  “Mrs. Bonnie Peterson. Everyone assumed that she was responsible for that miraculous turnaround you had right after college. What was it they said? Just needed one good woman to set you right? Of course, they weren’t completely wrong; it just wasn’t Bonnie who changed you. I changed you.” She laughed. “The amount of reworking I had to do on your sick little mind just to make sure you’d lay low. What it must be like to have both sets of memories dancing around in there.”

  “It’s fucking messed up, that’s what it is!”

  “Of course,” she said. “But if there’s one thing I didn’t touch, it was your sense of self-preservation. Put into a scenario like this, being forced to choose between saving your life and another, you could only ever make one decision.”

  As Amity spoke, the Mistress had made Her way back toward the three of them. She took back Her original place on Dana’s left, while Dawn stood on his right. I watched as Dana hesitated, really hesitated, standing there between the Mistress and Dawn, with Amity behind him. She wasn’t the one holding the gun to his head, but it felt like it.

  And then Dana’s face crumbled.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, stretching out one arm to the Mistress and the other toward—

  “Wait!”

  Dawn, who had been silent up until that point, spoke up. Her voice was small but clear.

  “Callie Saunders,” she said, half-breathless. “Calliope Saunders. I know that’s your real name.”

  The Mistress blinked in surprise.

  “How did you…”

  “I saw you…on a video recording. One that Arthur H-Hamilton made of his first meeting with you.” She nodded toward Dana, biting on her lower lip. “Dana was there. You offered to make them both coffee. Said that you were used to making it on Mr. Kent’s machine.”

  “I…” The Mistress shook Her head. “I barely remember.”

  “Well I remember, because I’ve watched it more times than I can count,” Dawn said. “And that’s how I also remember why you went to that meeting. Because you wanted to be a hero, because you wanted to protect Bailey City. Just like I do.”

  Dawn reached up and patted her chest, grabbing at her own shirt.

  “And then they took that from me,” the Mistress replied, voice strained. “Raising up my expectations with fine words. ‘Think of how many lives you could save.’ ‘No one but you can keep this city safe.’ ‘We need you Callie.’” She shook Her head, Her gaze going distant, then sharpening again. “And then at the last moment, they turned me over to the Forgers.”

  “Wait,” Dana said. “That doesn’t—”

  “Nine years behind bars, feeling as if my head was going to burst from all of the noise inside. One endless, unbroken scream, and all because of you.”

  A sob wracked the Mistress’s voice, Her anger hitting me like a wave. I could see sparks of light at the corners of my vision. I could hear what sounded like growls coming from the drones. In front of us, Dana flinched back as Noel shoved the gun closer to his face.

  Amity reached forward from behind Dana and rested her hand on the gun, gently forcing him to lower it.

  “Let’s…try to keep things calm, shall we?” she said.

  “Fortunately,” the Mistress said, “you can set things right. Transfer those abilities over to me. With those healing powers, the screaming can finally stop.”

  “And you can stop hurting people,” Dawn jumped in. “I know. Amity told me how you don’t like the effect your powers—”

  “I never said anything about stopping.”

  Dawn blinked in surprise.

  “Ah…what?” she asked.

  The Mistress’s gaze went distant before speaking again.

  “I was like you once,” She said. “Wanted to help the world. Worked toward that in school, and in life. Constantly putting my own wants aside…And where did that get me? Nine years of hell.” She shook Her head. “No, if I’m going to have these abilities, I’m going to put them toward what I want for once. I will make the five people who betrayed me pay for what they did.”

  “So what…you’re just going to shoot me anyway?” Dana interrupted. “I’m telling you, not the best motivation for giving the crazy woman in the room superpowers.”

  “I’m not going to shoot you. I’m going to turn you into one of them.”

  The Mistress raised a hand and pointed it toward us.

  “But…Amity said that you can only hold so many at once,” Dawn said. “You can’t take five more people on.”

  “Giving away all of my secrets, are you, Amity?” The Mistress shook Her head. “I can’t believe I’m surprised. And anyway, I can if I turn away five of the followers I already have.”

  I felt something tighten in my chest. Turn five of us away? Why would She—

  “That would destroy them,” Dawn said, taking a step forward. “You just called them family! They—”

  “Would do anything for me,” the Mistress said, looking to the ground. “Just like family. And besides, I’ll have to get rid of more than five if I’m to move on to the next stage.” She paused to take a breath. “When we go after the Forgers.”

  I blinked in confusion. Who?

  “Wait! Callie,” Amity said. “They may be sanctimonious assholes, but they serve a purpose.”

  “Keeping all the power for themselves, only letting in those who they deem worthy?” the Mistress replied. “The only purpose they serve is their own. Isn’t it time they served someone else?” She turned to Dana. “Enough talking. Do it.”

  Dana blinked, looking back and forth between the two women, his gaze finally settling on Noel, who raised the gun again.

  “Shit,” he said, jaw tight. “Shit.”

  Dana raised one arm toward the Mistress, and the other toward Dawn. Then the room filled with a bright-green light that made my eyes water.

  This was immediately followed by Dawn’s screams.

  Her cries sent every one of my hairs on end. Dawn. Dawn was in pain. Pain, like when Noel had shot her and she had fallen off the top of the tram. Pain, like when I had knocked her off a skyscraper. Sweet Dawn in pain. Kind Dawn, who had talked to me about my mother’s death. Who had been so adorably awkward all the times we had met on the street. Who had appealed to the good in the Mistress.

  The Mistress. Calypso. Who used people for her own purposes and would toss them aside when she didn’t need them anymore. Including me.

  Anger flared up inside me, brighter than the green light that filled the room. I stomped down on the floor and a crack formed beneath my boot, arching like lighting across the room toward Noel, Calypso, Dana, Amity…

  And Dawn.

  I heard a crack as the floor split around them, causing them to stumble apart. The green light went out.

  I blinked, my vision adjusting to the new light. I felt my breath catch in my throat. Dammit, I had only intended to knock them off-balance,
but I had put too much power into it, forgetting how weak the floors in this ballroom were. Calypso lay on the floor, several feet away from where she had stood, as if she had been thrown back. The same went for Amity, who was now a lot closer to the opposite wall. And in the middle of it all was a giant hole.

  Dawn, Dana, and Noel were gone.

  “Oh no,” I said.

  I took a few steps forward, then stopped. My frustration had activated my powers. I could see the weak points in the floorboards beneath my feet, and I was not a small person. Adding my significant weight could do a lot of damage.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  I looked up at the sound of Dana’s voice. I watched as he crawled out of the hole, pushed ahead by a hand wearing black gloves. He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled forward, the floor creaking beneath him. It was enough to make my breath catch.

  As did the sight that followed. Dawn, pulling herself to safety, dressed as Red and Black.

  “I think you broke my fucking hand,” Dana said.

  “Sorry,” Dawn said with a breathless smile. “I guess I just don’t know my own strength.”

  “The fuck you don’t,” Dana cursed. “Thanks for the catch, though.”

  And then Dawn’s body did something strange. It blurred, just like it had on top of the tram after she had taken one too many hits before going back to her regular, costumed self.

  Only, she didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she moved into a crouch and reached down the hole again, this time grabbing Noel. He placed his hand onto the floor to help push himself up, only to have the floorboards snap beneath him. I watched as his eyes went wide and he let out a yip in fear.

  “It’s okay,” Dawn said, her voice soothing. “I got you.”

  And she did, pulling him out of the hole and onto a (thankfully) more stable piece of floor. She helped him to his feet.

  “What are you—” Noel began.

  “What, did you think I was going to leave you down there?”

  “But I shot you!”

  “Oh well, that changes everything—”

  “Traitor!”

  Calypso’s voice was soft, but it grabbed my attention even though I was no longer under her control. How had I not realized I was under her control? It was so obvious now.

  She looked right at me as she spoke.

  “Traitor,” she repeated. “Again, even with—”

  Her voice cut off, and I watched as she raised a single hand up to her face. I didn’t realize what she was doing until I saw a streak of blood across her fingers.

  She was bleeding.

  “It didn’t work,” she said, shaking her head. “For the second time, it didn’t—”

  And then she took a step backward. I felt myself jerk forward at the same time the floor gave out beneath her.

  “Callie!” Amity cried.

  Her shout was echoed by cries around me. I watched as Calypso’s drones began to surge forward.

  “Wait!” I raised my arms, my voice echoing around the room. “The floor can’t take much more weight. It’s damaged as it is.”

  They froze in place, but I knew logic wouldn’t hold them back for very long. Noel was the closest to Calypso. His muscles tensed in anticipation.

  From down the hole, I heard what sounded like a sob. Calypso was alive!

  “I’ll do it.”

  I blinked and turned to Dawn, in her Red and Black costume. God, how different she looked now that I knew it was her. Her form blurred once again, and I bet I knew why. Her powers might be back, but she was running on low.

  She took a step forward regardless.

  “Circle around, toward the wall,” I said.

  She blinked and looked toward me, gaze wary.

  “The floor is weakest at its center,” I explained. “If you keep toward the edges for as long as you can—”

  “Then I’ll be on stable ground,” Dawn said with a nod. “Right.”

  And with that, she began to move, an arc that took her away from the larger hole in the floor, toward me, and then away. From across the room, I could see Amity, her eyes wide as her gaze darted back and forth between the Costume and where Calypso had fallen. Dawn’s pace was slow, careful, circling toward her goal.

  “Careful,” I said as she drew close.

  I watched as she nodded, her gaze firmly on-target. She came down to a crouch, then lay on her stomach, spreading out her weight like I remember Dad saying I needed to do if the ice started to give out beneath me during winter.

  But why was she doing this for Calypso? An enemy? Someone who had tried to take away her powers? What did she owe Calypso?

  Summoning a scrap of my anger, I took a closer look at the floor. I made my way forward, paying attention to those weak points, sticking to the edges of the room. Eventually, I found a spot that was close enough to see, but far enough away that I wasn’t in danger of falling through myself.

  Calypso was very much alive.

  Her right arm seemed to have gotten stuck on something. Maybe it was her sleeve. As if confirming my guess, I heard the sound of fabric ripping as Dawn drew closer.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, pushing forward on her stomach. “I’m almost there.”

  But why? What was the point in saving someone like Calypso? What was to stop her from trying to hurt Dawn again once she was safe? Nothing, from what I could see.

  For a second, I thought it might be because Dawn felt bad for her. Hell, I kind of did too. From the bits I had learned, it sounded like she hadn’t deserved the hand she had been dealt by life. I could understand why Calypso had been so upset. But I also hadn’t warned her about stepping back and onto that weak spot.

  Only…

  Dawn had saved Noel too. Not to mention me, when I had fallen off that tram. And that was before she had known who I was. Back then I was just the big lug who kept getting in her way. There had been no reason for her to save me. But she had.

  Maybe that was who she was. It didn’t matter who the person who needed saving happened to be. Whether it was the bigwig lawyer, or the regular IT guy. It didn’t matter if they were ally or enemy. Dawn saved people, regardless of where they came from. It was idealistic and potentially stupid, but it was, above all else, fair.

  Shit. The space between us could be measured in feet, but in that moment, it felt like miles. How could I deserve to be with a girl like that? Sure, I had thrown away everything I had with Calypso in my failed rescue attempt, but had Red and Black been any other woman, would the realization have hit me like it did? That what I was doing had nothing to do with helping my sisters and everything to do with my own bullshit?

  Hell, no.

  A breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding escaped my lips as Dawn clasped hands with Calypso. Her form blurred once more.

  “Okay,” Dawn said. “I’m going to pull you up now. And don’t worry. I think I’ve figured out how to do this without breaking your hand.

  She smiled, her form blurring again. But unlike before when her hair had just seemed a shade darker, her costume less bright, this time, I actually saw Dawn for a half a second. Little, fragile Dawn.

  And I knew what was going to happen next.

  I saw her arm muscle flex as she began to pull Calypso up, then her entire body convulsed. She let out a cry of pain, and Red and Black was Dawn again. I watched as blood spread across her side, where her unhealed injury had been.

  Dawn wasn’t strong enough to hold up Calypso.

  The scream as Calypso fell down the hole made my hair stand on end. As did the sharp, snapping noise that cut it off.

  And then, that scream was echoed by the dozens of drones around us. I jerked to attention. Would they run forward again, falling through the floor, trampling Dawn in the process?

  But that didn’t happen. Instead, they remained frozen in place. Several, including Noel, fell to their knees. I frowned in confusion until I got a good look at Noel’s face, at the mixture of pain and confusion there. The same bewilder
ed expression I had seen on Sully back when Calypso had let him go. That expression was mirrored by every other person in the room.

  “Gone,” I heard Noel croak out. “She’s gone.”

  I shut my eyes for just a moment. No, not gone. Dead. Calypso was dead. It was over.

  At least part of it.

  I glanced toward where Amity had stood, only to find that she had vanished. Instead, Dana was alone, looking like the most awkward person at a funeral, not sure if he should be comforting people or running in the other direction.

  And in the middle of the floor, dangerously close to the hole where Calypso had fallen, was Dawn. She had turned over to her back, the gray sweats Susan had dressed her in now stained with blood. And just like the drones, she was crying. I watched as she pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes. Some of it was probably due to the pain of her injury, but not all. I had seen the determination on her face when she had tried to save Calypso. Dawn may have won this battle, but in losing Calypso’s life, she felt she had failed to win the war.

  And how the hell was I supposed to react? I couldn’t even cross the room without the floor collapsing. Instead, I could only stand there as the girl I was falling for cried and bled on the floor, and Noel’s sobs filled the air.

  24

  Dawn

  The day I first discovered comic books was when Wednesday became my favorite day of the week.

  Before that, it had been just another day of school when my awkward adolescent self would do my best to fade into the background. After that, Wednesday was all about new adventures with the X-Men, or the Bat family. Saving the day with the Avengers, or defeating bad guys with Spiderman. And when my father had died, or in the weeks following my abduction, Wednesdays had still been important, those thirty-odd pages of comics the only thing I could concentrate on.

  And now, almost two weeks after Callie Saunders’s death, Wednesdays meant something very different.

  I stood atop the Clarkson Building again, wearing my red-and-black costume. But now, I had a name.

  In my hand, I held an issue of a brand-new comic book series by Hunter Davies. “Hikari #1” the cover said, displaying the image I had seen on Steve’s computer screen at Northwest Comics in all its glossy, full-color glory. I stood in the foreground, looking confident and strong. Behind me loomed Alex, dark and threatening, and Calypso, all sadness. It was official. I was now Bailey City’s first Actual.