by S. J. Delos
My father wasn’t in the hallway outside her room this time, so I knocked softly on the door.
“Yes?” The voice that came through the door was faint, weak, and nothing that I’d expected. A heavy sensation blossomed throughout my stomach and the hand that reached for the knob shook slightly. I turned it slowly and pushed open the door to peek inside.
The head of the bed had been elevated, allowing her to sit up and see the television. A light pink headwrap covered her thinning hair and made her look like a swami or fortune teller. Step inside and let Madame Hashimoto reveal your fate! I smiled with my teeth pressed together to keep from laughing at the image of my historically no-nonsense mother waving her hands over a crystal ball.
“Hello, Kaori,” she said, giving me a tired smile. “Please come in.”
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Suddenly, I was fifteen again and asking permission to go out with Reggie Hanes. I glanced down at my boots and scrambled around for some dura-steel to stick in my spine. It would have been so much easier to stand there if we were still hating each other. Then it would be a quick-draw contest to see who could be the most verbally abusive in the shortest amount of time.
“Can you stay a while?” she asked and muted the news program. “Or are you working?”
I glanced up, swallowing the lump in my throat. Her face held an expression I wasn’t even sure she’d been capable of. Worried hope. I nodded slowly and then shook my head. When her face faltered, I realized I was throwing out confusing gestures. “No, I’m not working at the moment. I mean, I guess technically I’m always working.” I forced one foot to move forward, followed by its partner. “I can stay for a bit. If you want.”
She smiled and looked at me. It took a moment for me to comprehend that. My mother was looking at me. Not down on me, as she’d done for most of my life. Nor through me, which had been the norm after the SAT incident.
Of course, after Tomiko, she hadn’t bothered to look in my direction at all.
“How are you feeling, mother?” The words sounded like those of a stranger. Hollow and distant, as if spoken from someplace far, far behind me.
“Tired.” She gave me another smile. “But then again, I’ve been tired a lot lately.”
I nodded, not trusting that my voice wouldn’t crack. Seeing her sleeping form had been rough. The animated Rebecca, still frail but fighting vehemently to live, was almost impossible to look at. I walked a little closer and noticed she was staring at me with an interested expression on her face. I stopped a few feet from the bed and regarded her carefully. “What?”
She gestured to me slightly with one trembling hand. “I like your, uh, outfit?”
I looked down at my black and yellow attire and then back to her, trying to judge her sincerity. This was the same woman who couldn’t resist adding an insult to any compliment. “Thanks. And we call them ‘uniforms’.”
She nodded. “Isn’t it a little tight?”
I sighed. “It has to be. Because of my powers.” If she’d been watching my exploits on television, she was probably well aware that regular clothes tended to get destroyed in the process of fighting crime.
“I’m not a fan of the gold. Blue or green would look better with your hair.”
I sighed again. “Mother.”
“Well, at least you’re not wearing that ridiculous mask anymore. And you don’t have your butt hanging out like that Omega-Girl person. Seriously, would it kill her to put on a pair of pants?”
I laughed despite myself and shook my head. “I’ve pretty much said the same thing. She says she prefers the freedom of movement.”
“She looks like a slut.”
I shrugged. “She’s not that bad.” I leaned over to look into her eyes. “Can we talk about something else?”
She looked at me and then down at her hands, resting on her stomach. “I’m sorry. It’s just … I don’t remember how to talk to you. Not about anything substantial.” When her face came back up, heavy beads of wetness clung to her eyes. “And I’m worried that I’m not going to have the time to learn about the woman my little girl has become. So many years wasted and I want them back.”
I wanted to gather her into my arms and squeeze her tightly. As if a hug could erase six years of animosity. I didn’t trust myself to keep control—the bent bedrail being a prime example—and crushing her ribcage probably wouldn’t help her condition at all. Instead, I put one of my hands on top of hers carefully. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run off. If I’d stayed and dealt with things …”
She captured my hand and held on tightly. “No. I drove you away, Kaori. I blamed you for Tomiko. I couldn’t see past my own pain to realize that you were hurting too.” The tears that had been waiting in the wings began to slide down her cheeks. Some of them were stopped by the oxygen tube. Others drifted beneath it and continued down to her chin.
“Stop,” I said, wiping at my own eyes with the back of my free hand. “I should have known he was following me that day. If I’d paid more attention to my surroundings than trying to get Photonic’s attention.” I squeezed my eyes shut as the memories slammed to the forefront of my mind in living color. Each emotion a snapshot scene forever seared into my brain.
Excitement as I tried to help Photonic take down Excavator. Hope that I could use my unwelcome new abilities to help others. Surprise when the hero’s energy beam missed his opponent and struck me in the chest. Disbelief as I was slammed backwards into and through the side of a nearby building. Fear as I looked into my little brother’s eyes as he watched from his hidden spot inside the store. Panic seizing my heart as the bricks, steel, and mortar came down in a torrent, burying us both beneath a ton of rubble.
Despair as the paramedics loaded his sheet-covered body onto the ambulance.
I felt my hair being stroked and I forced my eyes open to see her looking at me. The hatred and disdain I’d grown to expect were gone. No trace of animosity remained. Instead, she managed a smile through the tears. “I’m sorry I blamed you, Kaori. If I’d been more receptive to your Activation, you wouldn’t have felt you needed to prove yourself to me. Tomiko followed you because he always wanted to be like you.”
I shook my head and opened my mouth, but she shushed me and continued to stroke my hair.
“We have to forgive ourselves. For Tomiko. For each other. I don’t want to die knowing that my only remaining child hates me.”
“I don’t hate you, mother. Now, I’m not sure I ever really did.”
She smiled and patted my cheek. “Yes, you did. You’re too much like me to not have hated me for how I behaved. It’s okay, though. I deserved it.”
I wiped at my eyes again. “I have to tell you something. Something only a few people know.” I swallowed and tightened down on my courage. “About something that happened while I was in prison.”
She nodded, tucking some hair behind my ear. “You can tell me anything, Kaori.”
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
Alexis was waiting for me at the elevator when I got back to the tower. I’d called her when I left the hospital and told her that I was on my way back home. However, before I could give her an update on my mom or my evening with Detective Braddock, Greg stepped into the room.
“We need to have a meeting,” he said in a tone that was more serious than normal. “Daniel’s found some disturbing information.” His eyes slipped over to Alexis. “The whole team needs to hear this.” Then he walked off to round up the rest while the teen and I looked at each other.
“What was that all about?” she asked, looking back at me.
“I don’t know,” I said, standing up. “But something in the way he looked at me makes me think it’s not good news. At least, for me.”
We went into the briefing room to find Daniel waiting for us. A few minutes later, the rest of the team joined us and we all sat down in our seats. Greg nodded at us and then laced his fingers together, resting his hands on top of a m
anila folder.
“As I’m sure you all remember, we attempted to stop the Legion of Bedlam from acquiring a bio-sequencer designed for Enhanced physiology. Since then, both Vaporizer and Colonel Tank, both of whom were at the university battle, have come after Karen.”
“Did they go after her because she’s a Good Guy?” Darla asked. “Or was she specifically targeted?”
“It was first believed that it was a coincidence that Vaporizer’s disturbance took place near where Karen was having dinner,” Greg said. I appreciated that he didn’t put the focus on my being out on a date. Especially with Daniel in the room. “However, when Colonel Tank assaulted her in the Queens Memorial parking deck, he indicated that he’d been hired to do so.”
“He was supposed to make me bleed,” I added. “His words, not mine.”
Richard looked from me to Greg. “Hired by whom?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “Well, Greg asked me to look into that matter. So I compared known sightings and associates. I cross-referenced the activities of those two with those of the other members of the Legion.” He sighed softly. “It took a fair amount of analysis, but eventually a pattern emerged that hinted at the identity of the person who had sent Vaporizer and Tank after Kayo.”
“Who is it?” Alexis asked.
Daniel looked at Greg and gave him a slight nod. The assistant leader turned his eyes to me. “We believe it was Doctor Maniac.”
I blinked several times, feeling as if I’d just been slapped. There was no possible way that Martin had been the one to sic Tank on me. Even if he’d had a reason to. “That’s got to be some mistake.” I looked from Greg to Daniel. “I’m telling you, I know Doctor Maniac. He wouldn’t do this.”
Richard held up his hand. “Daniel, how sure are you about this?”
The genius held my gaze for a second and then looked down at the table. “Probability is around ninety-two percent.”
“Then let’s find him and kick his ass,” Darla said, slamming her fist into her hand.
I shook my head. “It wasn’t him. Daniel, you have to have missed something.”
Greg sighed. “Karen, whoever hired the Legion wanted the sequencer. They also wanted to make sure you were out of commission, probably to keep you from helping us stop them. Both of those signs point to Doctor Maniac.”
Darla nodded. “The problem is, no one knows how to find him. Or what he really looks like. He’s always using minions,” she said, gesturing at me. “Or wearing that ridiculous goggles-and-surgical-mask outfit.”
I cringed inside, remembering that I had been the one to suggest that costume to Martin. I’d told him it made him look mysterious, dangerous, and a whole lot of sexy. Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have suggested it after all. On this side of the law, it made him look cartoonish.
Greg shook his head. “Not true. Karen knows what he looks like and she might have some idea where we can find him.”
“What?” I snapped my attention back to him. “Are you serious?”
“Very,” he said as the rest of the room became tomb-silent. “Do you have a problem with going after your ex-boss?”
I stabbed my finger on the table, creating a dent. “It wasn’t him. He didn’t hire the Legion to steal the sequencer. And he certainly didn’t send Colonel Tank to beat me up.”
“Karen, is there something you’re not telling us?”
I tilted my head to the side. “Like what?”
“Why were you in prison?” His face held none of the warmth I’d come to expect. It was the cold stare of an inquisitor.
“Because I was a super-powered criminal. Where else were they going to put me?” My eyes moved down to the folder beneath his hands.
“It should have taken a squadron of EAPF officers to arrest you.” Now there was a tone to go with the look. If he’d pulled this routine when he was a guidance counselor, I bet every student paid attention. “Funny that not one person was injured during the process.”
“Greg…” I knew what was in the file before him. Something that shouldn’t have seen the light of day. “I can explain.” I could feel everyone’s eyes zeroing in on me, attempting to guess at what Manpower and I already knew.
A flick of his wrist sent the folder out of his hand and onto the table. It spun around twice before stopping, a few loose sheets of paper slipping out. The top left corner of one of them had bold, red lettering: E.A.P.F. CASE FILE: 47885325-5: HASHIMOTO, KAORI; A.K.A CRUSHETTE.
My arrest report.
Greg continued to stare at me. “You know what that file says, Karen? Some of it has been redacted, but most has not. It states that you walked into the Shack and turned yourself in to the EAPF. There wasn’t even an active warrant out for you.” I heard Alexis gasp, but my focus was on the angry hero across from me. “So, my question is ‘why?’ Why surrender out of the blue like that, when you knew it meant you would be sent to the Max?”
I arched a brow and settled back in my chair, crossing my arms. Apparently the main event was on and had a tight grip on everyone’s attention. I was sure that some, Rocket at least, imagined that I had faked my reform just to gain the team’s trust. Of course—logically speaking—wasting two years of my life in the Max hoping that Mister Manpower would recruit me out of the blue would have been stupid.
“I’m sure you know why, Greg,” I said. “Or you have a theory at least.”
“You did it to get away from Doctor Maniac. You fled to the one place where he wouldn’t try to get you.”
“Bravo, Sherlock.” I clapped my hands together softly. “You figured out that I ran away from Doctor Maniac like a big, old scaredy-cat.”
Richard snickered, drawing both Greg’s and my attention. “Are you telling me that you went and hid from Doctor Maniac because you wanted to quit your job? Does he makes a habit out of dragging back wayward employees?”
“Dragging back wayward employees? No, Richard. He just kills them.” I sighed and looked back at Manpower. “Wayward girlfriends, on the other hand.” When he nodded slowly, I realized that he had discovered the depth of my relationship with Martin.
I just wondered how far into the details he’d pried.
“Wait,” Alexis said as she looked at me with a confused expression. “You dated Doctor Maniac?”
I shrugged. “Date is probably not the best term. We never really went out on dates. We had a … relationship. A serious and very intense relationship.”
Richard whistled softly. “Of all the things I would have guessed about you, sexually, I wouldn’t have put ‘banging Doc Maniac’ on that list.” He looked at me. “Didn’t you know he was a bad guy?”
I opened my mouth to ask him just how much more stupid he could possibly be when the alarm in the room wailed into life. We all jumped up simultaneously and Daniel pressed a button on the console beneath the giant screen. The face of the EAPF Director, Kurt’s boss, appeared on the monitor.
“Captain Awesome,” he said, looking at Richard. “There’s an Enhanced situation taking place on the south side of the Commerce District. Details are sketchy, but what we do know is that it’s an Alpha situation.” His expression might have been as solid as dura-steel, but there was a deluge of fear in his voice. “There have been casualties, some civilian.”
“Understood,” Manpower said. “We’re on our way.” The image on the screen vanished and Greg turned to look at us. “We’ll discuss how we’re going to deal with Doctor Maniac later. Right now, we have people to save.” His eyes turned to me. “All of us.”
Richard clapped his hands together. “Let’s go. Liftoff is in thirty seconds.”
Everyone jumped up and ran out of the room except Alexis and me. The teen looked at the doorway and then back in my direction. “Come on, Karen. We need you on this.”
“You still trust me? Even though I’ve kept my real relationship with Doctor Maniac from everyone?”
She smiled, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the hangar. “If I had an ex-boyfriend who wa
s a notorious supervillain, I’d keep it a secret, too.”
I shrugged as I allowed her to lead me to the hovercraft. “I guess.”
“Of course, when we’re done saving the day, you and I are going to get a tub of ice cream, lock ourselves in your room, and you can tell me what it was like dating a super-villain. Okay?”
“You got it, Lexi-chan.”
It was too bad that post-battle ice cream gossip session was never going to happen.
CHAPTER 18: A COLOSSAL PROBLEM
The Commerce District was a war-zone. Several fires raged out of control and I counted at least two explosions on our approach. Richard had to circle and weave around the clouds of ash curling up into the sky. The heavy smoke obscured whatever ruckus was taking place below, making aerial reconnaissance next to impossible. On our second pass, the remains of a Buick, with a ‘CRYMPAYZ’ vanity plate, sailed past us and crashed on top of department store roof.
“We’re going to have to land over on Centennial, near the train station,” Richard said. The craft banked a hard left and turned away from the scene.
“Okay. We’ll come back on foot.” Greg looked over his shoulder at Alexis and me before pressing the button on his comm link. “Rocket? I need you to work with the CPD and first responders. Help them get the injured to safety. Omega-Girl? You’re on In-Bee detail. Keep the reporters and other gawkers at a safe distance. We’ll rendezvous once we land.”
I glanced over at Alexis. “This can’t wait until Richard finds a spot to set down. We have to get into action now, before it gets any worse.” I unclipped my belt and stood up, grabbing the side of the ship for balance. “Can you open the hatch and let me out?”
“What?” He yelled, pulling hard on the yoke to keep from getting caught up in the debris from another explosion. “You want to get out now?”
“Kayo, that’s a two hundred foot drop.” Greg said, staring at me from behind his omni-plex goggles.