Chapter 2
The party was a lot of fun. We live isolated lives at HQ, both geographically and socially, so we seize upon any chance for a celebration, especially when we have guests. Today's was a big one.
Okay, let me quickly explain the situation with Bill: Our leader, Commander Windham, was killed about eight months ago, and Shelley, who was Prime Red at the time, was captured and imprisoned by the US military shortly after that. In light of all the chaos that ensued, Wizzit decided that we needed to replenish our ranks with someone who could come up to speed as quickly as possible. He invited a former Prime, Bill Harding, to return to active duty until we got things straightened out.
I have a few small complaints against Bill, mainly his tendency to be awfully full of himself and his often-casual dismissal of me as a young punk who wasn't ready for the big time. And I still held a grudge over what I considered his biggest blunder of all time: to my mind, he was largely responsible for the death of a young woman I cared for very much.
Even I had to admit, though, that he did a bang-up job as Prime Black -- as an advisor, a talented builder of tech devices, a kick-ass fighter, and generally a capable extra set of hands. I think most of my teammates would have liked to see him stay on indefinitely. Still, with Shelley having been released from military custody a couple of months ago and my sister Angela eager to come on board as our new Prime Violet, I think we all knew it was time for Bill to re-retire.
Mike's not especially good at making speeches, but he stood up and said a few heart-felt words, and then Bill said some nice things, and finally Nicolai presented him with our going-away gift. It was a wide, black-metal bracelet, similar in size and shape to the bracelets worn by our other Primes Emeriti. In keeping with our practice of naming our retirees after metals, Bill would be known after today as Prime Blackiron, or just Iron for short. (Or who knows, we might just keep on calling him Black. He seems to like that designation.)
After Bill had fastened the bracelet onto his wrist and activated it for the first time, Mike clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I think the thing I'm going to miss the most is your help with the paperwork," he said. "I don't know how I'm going to keep up with it all without a Prime Commander."
"Prime Commander will be joining you tomorrow," came Wizzit's voice from the overhead speakers.
He said it so casually that it took a moment for it to sink in. Within ten seconds, though, all conversation had died away in response to that bombshell. Everyone looked up at the ceiling. "Say that again, Wizzit?" Toby said.
"I have selected a replacement for Commander Windham," Wizzit said calmly. "The new Prime Commander will join you on a permanent basis first thing tomorrow morning."
"Who is it?" Trina asked eagerly. "Is it anyone we know?"
"Not tellin'!"
We groaned and collectively rolled our eyes. See, the annoying thing about Wizzit is this childish streak of his. He knows a lot about a lot of things, he's given us all this cool alien tech to fight Enclave with, and he even has the occasional deep insight into the human personality, but . . . well, he can be a real jerk sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. I don't know whether all the beings from his home planet are like that or whether he's the exception. I have to think it's the latter; I just can't imagine that an entire race of these long tubes of pink gas would survive for long if they were all like him.
"Don't you think this is something we ought to know?" Nicolai said, trying to sound cool and reasonable.
"You will know -- tomorrow!" Yup, Wizzit sounded just like a little kid who knew something that the grownups didn't.
"Oh, come on, Wizzit!" Padma said impatiently. "Tell us!"
"Uh uh! Not tellin'!"
Nicolai laid a restraining hand on Padma's arm. "Don't bother getting angry," he told her quietly. "Let him have his fun. When he gets like this, the only one who can ever talk him out of it is Shelley."
"He has always been like that," Mayumi added.
Padma turned to look meaningfully at Shelley, who laughed. "I agree with Nicolai," she said lightly. "Let him have his fun. There's no reason you have to find out today."
Mike nodded. "That sounds good to me."
"Let us know when you find out, though," Alvaro said. "We're curious, too."
"But Mike --" Padma began.
He silenced her with an upraised finger. "We can wait until tomorrow morning to find out," he said, sounding uncharacteristically calm. "I, for one, trust Wizzit's choices."
When Padma seemed as if she were going to protest some more, he leaned forward and whispered something into her ear. She frowned and looked quizzically at him. "No! Do you really think so?"
"Just a guess, love. Just a guess." He laid a finger knowingly alongside his nose, then went over to get more punch. Padma remained frowning at the floor for a moment longer, then shrugged and appeared ready to drop the matter.
"What did he say to you?" Nicolai asked her curiously.
Padma hesitated, then gave him one of her thousand-watt smiles. "Not tellin'!"
After that, there wasn't a whole lot left to do until lights-out except eat and socialize. Healing comas tend to make one hungry, and we made a pretty serious dent in the food that Shelley and the others had prepared for us. Each of us approached Bill at one time or another to say our personal goodbyes. When my turn came, I went up to him and shook his hand solemnly. "Bill," I said, looking him straight in the eye, "you are, without a doubt, the best sparring partner I've ever had."
He blinked at me in silence. I think he didn't know how to respond. After a moment, he nodded. "I can honestly say the same thing about you, Trevor." And that was how we left it. Eventually Wizzit started dimming the lights; us regulars bid the Primes Emeriti -- including Bill -- goodnight. Wizzit teleported them back to their homes and we went to bed.
The next morning, I hurriedly dressed and got stuff ready for my trip home. Then I practically ran down the hall and tried the office door.
"It's locked." That was Toby's voice, coming from the kitchen. "Already tried it. Can't tell whether anyone's inside or not."
"Hmph!" I shrugged and went to join Toby, who was eating his favorite breakfast of late, toast with Marmite and cheese. I honestly don't know what he and Mike see in the stuff. I tried it once, and it was awful. Shuddering, I went to make myself some tea and buttered toast.
The others joined us a few minutes later. Breakfast was a silent affair; the six of us kept staring in the direction of the locked office door. Finally, though, we all finished eating, and Mike led the way to the office. He rapped lightly.
"Door open," came a voice from within.
Mike pulled open the door, then held it for the rest of us. Padma stepped in and stopped short. She turned to Mike, astonishment written across her pretty features. "How did you know?"
Mike gave her his most confident grin. "Just a guess, love. But I didn't see how Wizzit could have chosen anyone else."
The rest of us pushed past her, eager to get our first glimpse of our new executive director. For a moment, I think we were all too surprised to speak. Trina was the first to find her tongue. "Shelley?" she exclaimed.
"That's 'Commander Windham' to you, Prime Orange!" Shelley replied with mock severity. Then she grinned at us all. "Come on in and sit down." She explained, "Wizzit offered me my father's old job about a month ago. I didn't have anything better to do, so I took him up on it. I wasn't allowed to say anything about it until today, though."
"I knew it all along." Mike smirked at the rest of us. "Like I told Padma, I didn't see how Wizzit could have chosen anyone else."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Mike." Shelley looked around with evident satisfaction. "I have to say, it's good to be back."
"It is certainly good to have you back," Trina said. "We had been wondering what you were doing with yourself."
She
lley shrugged. "As the only Prime ever to have been publicly outed, so to speak, I've become something of a minor celebrity. The news media have me on speed-dial; they ask me for an opinion every time you guys fight a monster. I've turned down loads of opportunities to sell energy drinks and sports shoes, and you wouldn't believe how many offers I've had to do porn!" She made a face. "For the most part, though, I've just been going on the occasional mission with you guys, helping Mom and Francesca run the ranch, and giving interviews to the press. And, of course, figuring out how Bill and I are going to meet publicly."
"Meet publicly?" Nicolai frowned. "I don't understand. The two of you are already going to get married, so . . ."
"So," I said, "when they do get married, people are going to say, 'Shelley, where did you and Bill first meet?' What's she supposed to tell them, that they got to know each other when they were both Primes?"
"Oh, I see." Nicolai nodded in understanding. "You need a cover story to keep Bill's identity secret."
"Exactly," Shelley said. "The current plan is for us to meet at a martial arts exposition that's taking place in Toronto next month. I'll be there to sign autographs, and Toronto is Bill's old stomping grounds. We'll bump into each other, strike up a conversation, have dinner together, and he'll sweep me off my feet!" She sighed dreamily, then leaned forward, all business once more. "But enough about me. Bring me up to speed on how the team has been doing. I'm probably a little out of touch."
Mike shook his head. "Not much has changed, except that we've now five times as many monsters to fight, and you already know about that. I've got Trevor setting up some occasional cross-training sessions, but we've been so busy lately that it's hard to schedule 'em. The only real bit of news is the new Prime Violet."
"Let's talk about her, then. It's Angela Chiao, right? Trevor's sister?"
"That's right," I said. "I'm going out today to bring her her new Prime belt, in fact. And Toby's going out with me."
In response to her questioning look, Mike explained, "While you were a prisoner, Shelley, we decided that it would be safer if we went out on our vacations in pairs. It worked out so well that we're continuing the practice."
"We're planning to stay at my parents' house for a day or so," I went on, "until after Angie's high school graduation ceremony. Then we'll bring her back here."
"And that's okay with your folks?"
"Sure. They like Toby. It may be a bit awkward if you have to call us in for a battle, since my older sister and my two brothers will be visiting as well, but my folks can cover for us if they have to."
"That's good." Shelley smiled. "I have to say, I think Angie's a good choice. She's worked with us before, so she won't need quite so much training as a completely raw recruit would. In fact, Mike, I'd think that she should be able to start going out on missions immediately. It's your call, though."
Mike nodded. "Just as soon as she's physically able."
Shelley frowned. "Physically able? What does that mean?"
Mike waved her question aside. "It's a long story; I'll explain later. Now Trina, you had been acting as Angie's minder when she was Junior Prime Pink. Still want the job?"
Trina shrugged. "Sure. She's good to work with. And I will train her to use her blaster as well."
"Good," he replied. "Who wants to work with her on hand-to-hand? Probably not Trevor."
"Not Padma, either," I said. "Angie's a fourth-degree black belt, like I am. I still outrank her, but Padma's only a second Dan. It probably wouldn't work out."
Toby tentatively raised his hand. "I'll do it." He gave us all a sheepish grin. "I mean, she won't need much teaching, will she? Just practice fighting someone a whole lot bigger and stronger than she is? That'd be me."
Mike grinned. "Thanks, Toby," he said. "That's good thinking."
Shelley, I noticed, was leaning back in her chair giving Toby an appraising look. There was no denying that Toby was big; at six-four, he was taller even than Shelley, and he's stronger than anyone else on the team. I wondered, though, whether she was thinking the same thing I had been thinking lately, that he might be getting a little sweet on my sister.
Toby was a decent enough guy, I guess, but he was also about ten years older than Angie. Sure, I trusted them both, but I wasn't sure I liked the idea of him spending hours and hours alone with her.
Shrugging, I decided not to go borrowing trouble; Angela was a big girl, after all, and she was used to guys being sweet on her. And besides, I knew she would not appreciate my involving myself in her love life. The one time I had tried that, when we were still in high school, she hadn't spoken to me for a week afterwards.
I turned my attention to the vid of our most recent battle that Wizzit was putting up on the screen. One of our traditions is that we debrief after every battle. Shelley's dad used to run the debriefings when he was alive; Bill had been running them lately. Now that Shelley was our new Prime Commander, we would be reporting to her.
Mike narrated most of it, since his group had fought two different monsters. Trina described the fight she had led her team on, and Toby talked about the monster he, Bill, and I had taken on. Shelley didn't ask very many questions, even about the parts she wasn't personally involved with. She didn't say much at all, in fact, until we got to the part where I took out the snake monster.
At that point, Wizzit treated us all to a Trevor-eye-view of my attack, slowed 'way down so that it looked like I was moving at only about four times normal speed. As we watched the snake dissolve into sparks, she nodded to herself. "I thought that's what you were doing," she commented.
Mike said, "Any chance you could teach me to do that little trick, mate? Seems like it could come in awfully handy."
I looked over at him, a little surprised. Mike doesn't often speak directly to me like that, at least not lately. He has been treating me with kid gloves for the past two months, in fact, rarely disciplining me or even commenting on anything I do during our battles.
I think he has been avoiding me because he believes I'm still mad at him over Lily's death, and to some extent I suppose he's right. I mean, I'm still hurting over what happened, and I do think he bears part of the blame, although not as much as Bill. But Lily was dead, after all, and all the blaming in the world couldn't change that. So maybe this would be our chance to begin to repair relations.
"Probably," I said with a nod and a grin. "I'd be willing to try, anyway."
In fact, as Prime Red, Mike ought to find the speeding-up trick easier to learn than I had. Nicolai says that each of us Primes is equally powerful, in theory. Practically speaking, though, things become easier, more intuitive, as one progresses from Violet to Red. Still, Wizzit seems to think that I have a special talent for things like this. Who knows, maybe Mike wouldn't be able to learn it at all.
"It's harder than just generating a shock wave, Mike," Shelley warned him. "I did the same thing a couple of times when I was Red. I could never do it when I wanted to, though, only by accident."
"How fast was Trevor moving, Wizzit?" Nicolai asked.
"His personal time frame was speeded up to one hundred twenty-one times normal," Wizzit replied.
I frowned. One hundred twenty-one? That was oddly exact, and the number itself sounded familiar . . .
Nicolai was obviously thinking the same thing, and as usual with math, he was a couple of steps ahead of me. "The number associated with Prime Blue is eleven," he mused, "and one hundred twenty-one is eleven squared. So, if I, as Prime Five, learned to do this, I would move at only twenty-five times normal?" He sounded disappointed.
"You could speed yourself up to five times normal, twenty-five times, one hundred twenty-five times, or, with practice, even six hundred twenty-five times. Any power associated with your prime number. That last speed, though, would not be practical; paradoxically, the air resistance would keep you immobile."
/> "It's a big enough problem when I do it," I added. "It feels like I'm wading through molasses."
"Ah, I see." Nicolai nodded with satisfaction. "Thank you."
Shelley looked around at us. "Anything else? No? I think we're done, then."
I had a couple of hours before Toby and I would teleport to the small town in Ohio where my parents live. At HQ, Wizzit keeps us on Greenwich Mean Time, which, taking daylight savings time into account, put us four hours ahead of my folks. I knew Angie would be eager to get her Prime belt, but I didn't think my parents would appreciate being woken up in the wee small hours of the morning.
I didn't want to work out in the gym and get all hot and sweaty before going home, so instead I retreated to my room for some serious piano practicing. My mom teaches piano, and she still gives me lessons whenever I come home for a visit. I've been working on Gershwin's Three Preludes lately, and I was hoping to move onto something else, so I decided to put some extra polish on them today.
I tend to lose track of time when I'm practicing, so it seemed like no time at all had passed before Toby was knocking on my door and telling me that he was ready to leave. I grabbed my overnight bag, and Wizzit teleported us out to a corn field beside a gravel road that led to the Chiao family home.
My mother's face lit up when she answered the door. "Trevor!" she exclaimed. "And Toby! It's good to see you. Would you boys like some breakfast?"
She was speaking English to us. If it had been just me, I'm sure her greeting would have been in Mandarin Chinese; she and Dad have always wanted us kids to get a good grounding in the language of the homeland, so we spoke the mother tongue at home whenever possible.
They weren't fanatics about it, though. We also learned Cantonese as a courtesy to my Aunt Min, and whenever Grandmaster Park, the owner of the local Tae Kwon Do studio, came over for dinner, we spoke Korean. Since my dad teaches East Asian languages at the local college, I guess growing up quadri-lingual never seemed like a big deal to me.
At any rate, it was getting near to lunchtime according to my stomach, and I decided I wouldn't say no to congee or even another meal of tea and toast. "Sure, Mom. Sounds great.
She lowered her voice. "Your younger sister is in the dining room," she told me. "She asked to see you just as soon as you got here. Your older sister is with her. Mark is upstairs with the baby."
I nodded. My parents and Angie knew that I was a Prime, but Joy and her husband Mark did not, and I wasn't allowed to tell them. I knew Angie would want to get her Prime belt as soon as possible, but I wasn't sure how I would be able to present it to her with Joy in the room.
My mother led Toby and me to the dining room. Angie smiled up at us. "Hey, big brother. Hi, Toby."
"Hi, Angela," Toby said soberly. He stood there staring at her for a long moment. I don't think he had seen her since that day she had fought Indra alongside us as Junior Prime Pink.
She had saved Toby's life that day, standing protectively over his unconscious body, shooting her triple-blaster up at the faux Hindu god as he attacked. She had paid dearly for that act of bravery, though. Indra had thrown her hard against the corner of a building, fracturing her spine and causing numerous other injuries. I think Toby has always felt a little guilty about that.
At the time, we had not been sure that she would even survive, but between my force shield, her Junior Prime Pink badge, and the fact that she and I had lots of genes in common, Wizzit had been able to rig up a healing coma for her. He had managed to get nearly everything healed up before the power supply on her poor little badge burned itself out.
He hadn't had time to fix it all, though; the spinal nerves leading to her legs were still damaged. She was able to walk, but just barely. The last time I had seen her, she had been leaning heavily on a cane. Now, I saw two canes resting against the wall behind her.
Joy got to her feet, nodded a brief hello to Toby, whom she had met before, and took hold of my arm. "We need to talk, Younger Brother," she said in a low voice. "Right now."
"Uh, sure, just let me put my stuff down." I set my overnight bag on the floor. "Toby, how's about if you show Angie the present we brought her?" I said, giving him a meaningful look.
Toby nodded, and I saw Angie's eyes light up as Joy led me from the room. We went into the den, and she closed the doors. "Our younger sister needs to see a doctor as soon as possible," she said without preamble.
"Really? About what?"
She made an exasperated sound. "You know what. Her legs. She can barely walk, and she's getting worse."
I stared at the floor, shaking my head. "She's going to be okay . . ."
"No, she's not! Anybody can see that. Geez, you sound just like Mom and Dad. Do you know, they haven't had anybody check her out since the accident? Not even an acupuncturist, and you know how strongly they believe in that!"
I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Look, sis, she slipped and fell in the parking lot at school after the musical, and she wrenched her back." Yeah, that was the story that Angie, my parents, and I had cooked up to explain the trouble she was having walking. It was pretty thin -- even I could see that -- but it had been good enough for Grandmaster Park and the principal at school. And besides, we had to stick with it for only one more day. "That's all it was," I went on, "just a simple injury; there's no need to take her to a doctor. She just needs a little more time to recover, that's all."
"It's not a simple injury, little brother," Joy insisted. "She almost couldn't make it down the stairs this morning; I had to help her." She was shaking her head, and I could see tears forming in her dark brown eyes. "This is serious. I don't want to see my baby sister spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair just because Mom and Dad don't trust American doctors."
"No one wants to see that," I assured her.
"Then help me convince them to take her to the hospital and get her checked out!" When I hesitated, she said bitterly, "What's wrong with you, little brother? You used to be so responsible, so level-headed. The rest of us always figured that you would be the one to make Mom and Dad the proudest, the one they would point to and say, 'That's our son; isn't he wonderful?' But ever since you joined that stupid Tae Kwon Do demonstration team, it's like you don't care about anyone any more!"
Okay, that stung. I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath. I wished I could tell her that there was no international Tae Kwon Do team, that I was saving the world as Prime Blue instead. But I couldn't. So I did the next best thing. "Okay, big sis, I'll tell you what," I said, trying to sound as reasonable as I could. "Let's not do anything to spoil her graduation celebration, all right? But I promise you, if Younger Sister is not any better by tomorrow evening, then I will make sure she goes to the hospital if I have to carry her there myself. Okay?"
I could see that she wasn't happy, but she nodded. "Okay." She turned to go, but then she stopped with her hand on the door and turned back to look at me. She hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "You've let Mom and Dad down big-time these last three years. I hope you realize that. Ever since you decided not to go to college after high school, they have been so disappointed in you. I mean, the rest of us think you're throwing your life away, but we've got our own lives to lead, you know? I can't even begin to tell you how unhappy Mom and Dad are right now."
Not any more, they aren't, I thought. Not since I told them I was Prime Blue. Aloud, I said formally, "I am aware of their feelings, Older Sister."
"Then why --?"
I held up a forefinger. "I would prefer not to discuss it."
She bowed her head in acquiescence and left the room.
Attack Doll 5: The End of Lily Lee Page 2