by S. J. Delos
Alexis blinked and scrunched up her face in a confused expression. “Why would you be the one getting blamed?”
I sighed. “The Good Guys let Crushette join the team and end up blowing their next mission? I wouldn’t be surprised if the talking heads say I sabotaged us on Doctor Maniac’s express order.”
The teen shook her head back and forth, but Manpower frowned and looked away. While I didn’t think he blamed me solely for the fiasco, I could tell that he was disappointed with me. And he would be enough of a realist to know that my assumptions about the press’s opinions would likely be correct.
“Let’s regroup emphatically,” he said, nodding towards the campus. “Once we’ve got our people, we’re heading back to the tower.”
Alexis linked her arm in mine. “I think you did a good job for your first hero outing.”
Her overwhelming support warmed my heart, but I didn’t feel like a hero. Not one little bit.
CHAPTER 10: UP IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO
The post-mission discussion was nearly as painful as the battle itself.
Seconds after Richard landed the hovercraft, Mister Manpower ordered us all straight to the briefing room without the luxury of being able to clean up or change first. Darla was excused from joining us in favor of going to the infirmary so that Daniel could examine and repair her fractured collarbone. Manpower suggested that Rocket go as well, but he refused, insisting that he didn’t have a concussion.
Considering his attitude during the fight, I was tempted to give him one.
Greg stood next to the round table, with Awesome next to him. I sat down in my chair and Rocket took the one furthest away. Alexis slipped into the one beside me. The teen couldn’t stop tugging on her ponytail and from the look on her face, I got the feeling that what was coming next wouldn’t be fun. Since joining, I’d had little sneak peeks at Manpower’s temper a few times. But those had been little trial versions poking through his otherwise stoic exterior.
This was the paid subscription, full-featured version.
“Congratulations,” he said, voice booming. He planted his hands on the top of the table and swept his gaze over all three of us, seemingly at once. “I’m not sure what took place out there, but it sure wasn’t teamwork. Not only did we help the Legion tear up tens of thousands of dollars of private property, we also allowed most of them to escape. With their objective, nonetheless.”
Alexis slowly raised her hand. “What were they after?”
“We’re not completely sure. Daniel’s looking into that now.” Greg’s hard gaze lasered onto Robert. “I ordered you to fly over and provide recon for Karen so she would know where Vaporizer was hiding. When you decided to pass, she ended up getting ambushed and could have been seriously injured.” The smirk that began to appear on my face meeped and jumped into a hidey-hole when that furious look swung in my direction. “And I seem to recall ordering you to stay put, not charge head-first into a blind situation. You’re just lucky Darla overheard Robert’s refusal and came to your assistance.”
Awesome crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “However, that meant that Darla couldn’t be where she was supposed to be,” he said. “Which gave Princess Snow and Turbu-Lance the opportunity to get into the science building, break into the underground vault, and make their escape while Colonel Tank was throwing you around.”
I clenched my jaw and stared down at the table, fighting the urge to put my fist through it. Both of them were one hundred percent correct, of course. When Rocket had refused to help, I should have waited as ordered, not gone off half-cocked. Leaving the strategies to someone else and following them was going to take some getting used to. As Crushette, I’d either follow Martin’s orders or I’d been the one giving them to the underlings.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Won’t happen again.”
“You’re damned right it won’t.” He straightened up, looking at me. “I know this was your first time, Karen. But if you’re going to be a part of this team, you need to trust that orders are given so that we all work as a unit. Understand?”
I nodded and looked down at the table, trying not to sulk. Or at least, not look like I was sulking.
Manpower sighed and sat down. “Now, for the bigger issue. The Legion was after something specific in that lab. And it must be pretty important, since they were willing to destroy anyone and anything standing in their way.”
Right then, the wall-screen flared to life, and a giant image of Daniel’s head appeared. “It was an Enhanced Bio-Sequencer,” his voice emanated from the speakers around the room. “Simply speaking, it’s a device that can read pre- and post-Activated genes to identify which ones cause a particular Enhancement and alter it. You know, if someone wanted to.”
“What could they do with it?” Awesome asked, glancing at the screen.
I shook my head and answered for Daniel. “Those guys? Not much.” They all turned to look at me with a puzzled expression, and I held up both hands. “I mean, look who we’re talking about here. Colonel Tank. Vaporizer. Princess Snow. They’re really great at being bad guys. But collectively don’t have enough intelligence to pass the SAT. If they stole an advanced piece of medical equipment, it was either to sell it or they were just the hired help for someone who could use it.”
Manpower arched a brow, the angry expression on his face softening some. “Good point, Karen. Daniel, how many people would be able to actually know how to use this sequencer?”
The genius paused before answering, looking up in a way that made him seem a little less geeky and a little more insightful. “The list would be short, say, maybe ten people in the whole world.” He looked back at the screen and shrugged. “My name would be on that list. So would Doctor Maniac’s.”
Everyone around the table looked at me again and this time, Rocket nodded rapidly as if he’d just solved the Unified Field Theorem. “I bet it was Maniac.” His eyes zeroed in on me and the smug expression on his face screamed to be slapped off. “This is exactly his type of crime, isn’t it?”
I rolled my eyes and settled back in my chair. “This may be his type of crime, as you so succinctly put it. But he’s not behind this.”
“How would you know?” The flier asked. “Have you talked to him since they let you out of jail? How can we be sure you’re not just protecting your old boss?”
“Dammit, Robert. That is enough.” Manpower’s voice boomed again, making everyone flinch. Then he turned to me. “All accusations aside, what makes you so certain it wasn’t him?”
I held up one finger. “Because, A, he would have found a way to get the sequencer without tearing the place apart.” I held up a second finger. “B, he absolutely, positively does not like Colonel Tank. He would sooner have him tortured and executed than hire him for such an important job.” I hoped they wouldn’t ask for the source of said animosity. The last thing I wanted to confess was that Martin had taken great offense to having his girlfriend used as a club by the stupid brute. “And C,” I said, holding up a third finger. “He wouldn’t bother stealing something he doesn’t need.”
Both of Manpower’s eyebrows jumped up at the same time. “Are you sure? This sequencer sounds exactly like the sort of advanced technology that he’s famous for stealing.”
I nodded. “Completely sure. He doesn’t need to steal a machine to examine and manipulate Enhanced DNA. He can do it using only his mind and his own two hands. It’s his Enhancement.”
Only Daniel had a response, one I was sure played on the mind of everyone else. “Well, that’s disturbing.”
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
We spent the next few days attempting to repair our tarnished reputation. Power Brain came up with about a bazillion possible scenarios we might face at some point and various ways in which our Enhancements could work in tandem to achieve success. Then he coordinated with Mister Manpower to design a series of training drills to get us used to working together. In the beginning, these sessions d
egenerated into an unmitigated disasters.
However, by the fourth day, we began to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
After each stint, Daniel insisted on running scans on each of us to analyze our power output. He claimed it would help him effectively coordinate future strategies. I did notice, however, that it seemed that he always wanted me to stay behind to undergo the process, while the others’ attendance was more random. If the poor guy wanted to spend more time with me, he could’ve just asked. Even if he wasn’t really my type, romantically, he seemed nice enough. And I enjoyed his company.
We also increased our patrol rotations, putting ourselves out there on a regular basis so the citizens could see that we were still on the job. Manpower insisted that I take on extra shifts and paired me only with Darla, Alexis, and himself. I asked him, jokingly, if he thought sending Rocket and I out together would result in only one of us coming back. His face told me that it was exactly what he feared would happen.
I even attempted to get the flyer to at least give me a clue as to why his dislike of me seemed border on absolute hatred, but he traded snide comments for ignoring me completely. Surely it was more than just a bruised ego from a single encounter over two years in the past. No one could hold that kind of a grudge. Alexis did her best to help, but any attempt to engage him in a conversation with me as the topic only led to his acidic attitude being poured onto her. After the first few times, I asked her to give it up.
The press bashed us pretty hard for the first twenty-four hours after the fiasco at the college. Some reporters even questioned if the addition of a super-criminal to the Good Guy’s roster was to blame. Fortunately, I assisted with stopping a couple of crimes with little or no damage to property and it didn’t take long before our defeat by the Legion was chalked up to growing pains.
About a week later, after spending most of the afternoon having Daniel push me and my powers to their absolute limit, I headed back to my room dripping with sweat, aching in several spots, and in dire need of a hot shower and a nap. As I cut through the dining area, Darla intercepted me. “There you are,” she said, sounding as if she’d been looking for me for hours. “The EAPF is downstairs for you.”
I stopped in mid-stride. “What do they want?” There must have been concern in my voice because the blonde shook her head with a little grin.
“Chill, okay? I don’t think they’re here to drag you back to the Max.” She shrugged. “I’m pretty sure if you were being arrested or anything, they’d have done more than just have Joelle call up and ask for you. Maybe they want to thank you for keeping the Minotaur from eating the mayor, or some shit like that.”
I sighed and nodded my head towards the dorms. “Think I have time to take a shower first? I smell pretty ripe.”
The blonde shrugged again, looking even less interested than a few seconds before.“That’s up to you. If it was me, I’d just go on down, see what they want, and get it over with.” She drifted past me towards the stairs leading up to the penthouse. “I doubt the EAPF cares if you smell nice or have on makeup.”
“I guess you’re right,” I replied and headed towards the elevator. “It probably doesn’t matter anyway.”
On the way down, I tried to guess why the EAPF wanted to talk to me. The only thing I could come up with was that I’d missed my appointment with Fredrick. But I was pretty sure that Manpower had told me that he’d taken care of explaining my reason for not checking in as scheduled. In the grand scheme of things, keeping Commander Corpse from hijacking the Metro superseded meeting with my parole officer.
“I hope this doesn’t take long,” I said softly to myself as the elevator slid to a stop and the doors swooshed open. The smile of professional greeting I’d put on my face melted away when I stepped out to see Kurt standing next to Joelle’s desk. The ding of the elevator had obviously informed him of my arrival and the grin that appeared on his face when he saw me made me want to spin around and flee. If I’d known I’d come downstairs to meet Detective Hunk, I wouldn’t have shown up disheveled and wearing sweaty workout clothes and a towel.
I made a mental note to punch Darla a few times when I got back upstairs.
“Uh. Hi, Kurt,” I said, acting as casual as I could while turning my head slightly and sniffing to see if I stank as badly as I feared. “Nice to see you again.”
Joelle smirked and rolled her eyes at me before going back to typing on two keyboards. I wrapped my hands around the ends of the towel and wondered if I could strangle myself with it to put me out of my embarrassment. “Is there something I can do for the EAPF?”
He ran a hand through his hair—I swear the action slowed down to an overly dramatic pace—and smiled even wider. “Actually, I’m not here on official business.”
“Oh? Then what can I do for you?” Other than assault your eyes and nose.
He nodded. “What are you doing this Saturday?”
I bit down on my lip and tried to remember if there was anything on my schedule for Saturday. Other than a training session in the morning and my patrol shift with Greg in the afternoon, I was relatively sure I was free. “Nothing, I think. Why?”
The amused smile remained on his face. “I was hoping to convince you to have dinner with me.”
My mouth dropped open but for some reason, words were on a coffee break. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Joelle stop working to look up at us. There was a rushing sound in my ears and it took me a few seconds to realize it was my heartbeat. “You mean, like dinner as in a date?” I asked when the power of speech was returned to me.
Kurt nodded his head. “Something like that.”
“You’re asking me out on a date? Me?” I nearly added ‘Crushette’ to the question, but stopped myself in time. My mind was having a hard time wrapping itself around this sudden revelation. Not only had I come down to meet Kurt looking like something that had just been rode hard and put up wet, he had shown up to ask me out.
Now I really was going to punch Darla.
The smile on his face faltered slightly. “If you don’t want to, I certainly underst—”
“Yes,” I yelled far louder than I’d intended. Joelle snickered and my face grew extremely warm. “Sorry. I mean, yes, Kurt. I would very much like to go on a date with you.”
He clapped his hands together. “Okay then. That wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d imagined it was going to be. Do you like Italian? Because I know this place over in Uptown that has some of the best Italian food ever.”
I smiled, still holding onto the ends of the towel. Now it was because I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do with my hands. “Italian is fine. What time?”
“Pick you up at eight?”
I shook my head. “How about we meet there at eight?”
“I’m usually a traditionalist,” he said, holding up one finger. “But just this once, I’ll concede. Amalfi’s on Trade Street. Eight o’clock.”
“I’ll be there.”
The walk back to the elevator and the ride up were done practically on autopilot. Back upstairs, I headed towards my room with what I was positive was a loopy grin plastered all over my face. Alexis was sitting on the sofa watching a movie in the recreation room when I passed through. She took one look at me and hopped up to follow. “Karen, are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Why?”
She gave me a worried look. “You seem all … all floaty and happy,” she said, phasing through the furniture to stand in front of me. “It’s a little scary.”
I shrugged, continuing down the hallway towards my room. “I went downstairs because I thought the EAPF wanted to talk to me about something. Instead, it was only Kurt.”
The teen jogged a little ahead of me and turned around to walk backwards so she could look at me. She remained in her ghost-like form. “Detective Dreampants?” She had spent more than one patrol being my sounding board concerning the handsome Mr. Braddock. “What did he want?” She blinked before I could answer and pointed
at me. “You didn’t go down there like that, did you?”
I sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately. I didn’t know it was him. He came by to ask me out.”
Her mouth dropped open and she became solid again just in time to whack her shoulder on the wall. “Ow.” She rubbed at the spot, grinning despite the pain I was sure she felt. “That’s awesome. Oh, we have so got to go shopping again.”
“We do?” I asked, already dreading yet another trip to the mall. “I’m sure I’ve got something nice I can wear.”
Alexis whipped her head back and forth. “Nope! We haven’t bought anything suitable for a date with Detective Hot Pants. We can go after our patrol shift on Friday.”
“Fine,” I agreed.
Darla stepped out into the hallway as we passed her room. She stopped with her hand on the knob of the half-open door and looked at me. “So, did you go down and talk to Braddock?”
She’d known that it was Kurt waiting for me in the lobby? If she had mentioned him by name, I wouldn’t have faced him looking like yesterday’s trash. “Yes. I did,” I said. Then I punched her in the shoulder, only putting a fraction of my power into the blow. It was still enough to send her reeling back into her room to land on her ass on the floor. “I did, thanks.”
Alexis blinked several times, looking from the fallen blonde to me. “What was that all about?”
I bit down on my lip for a second and then shrugged before going into my own room. “A promise I made myself downstairs.”
CHAPTER 11: THE UNBURIED PAST
I spent the next three days alternating between being really excited about the impending date with Detective Braddock and feeling as if I was constantly on the verge of throwing up from terror.
I pushed my attempts to reconcile with Rocket aside in favor of spending my downtime playing various what if? scenarios in my head. Dating, well, actually going on a date, was something I wasn’t too familiar with. Believe it or not, Martin had never been a big fan of the whole “Dinner-and-Movie” date night. Our romantic evenings had generally revolved around either plotting or performing a crime. And I had the feeling that Kurt wasn’t going to be in the mood for anything like that.