by Drew Hayes
Mr. Greene was on the phone, shouting loudly at someone about defamation and lawsuits, while a myriad of people clustered and scuttled around him, all on phones or laptops of their own. From down the hall came an occasional bout of shouting, which quickly died away into what Owen thought might be sobs or angry screams; often the two were hard to distinguish at a distance. The only member of his team in the living room was Hexcellent, who was playing one of her video games in spite of the people who kept darting in front of the television. Given the expression on her face, Owen wouldn’t have been shocked if Huggles or Big Henry soon made an appearance to enforce the sanctity of the screen.
“There is no way I fucked up bad enough for all of this,” Owen said, standing next to Hexcellent as the crowd parted and ignored him.
“For once, my favorite scapegoat, you are not the cause of today’s drama,” Hexcellent replied. “That honor goes to Bubble Bubble, who has had the dubious honor of an internet scandal all her own.”
“Did she scowl at the wrong person?” Owen asked.
“If only. Seems someone might have made a little whoopee with one of her commercial directors, and a very incriminating tape leaked online. Since he’s done movie work and she’s actually becoming well-known, the media decided to run with it. Probably doesn’t help that, at the time, he was supposedly dating a well-known actress as well.” Hexcellent scowled as a dark-haired woman in a pantsuit strolled in front of the television, causing her to miss the jump to her next platform. “Also not helping that she’s on a team with you. Let’s just say parallels are being drawn.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me.” Owen heard another bout of shouting, though this time he had a more accurate guess as to what might be the cause. “I assume Zone and Galvanize are comforting her?”
“More like trying to coax her out of her room, which she locked herself in,” Hexcellent corrected. “I thought it best if I stayed out of the way for now. She and I don’t have the best dynamic anyway, and I wouldn’t want to see someone as bitchy as me during all this.”
“Good intentions,” Owen said. “But unfortunately, the wrong strategy.” With a single motion he scooped Hexcellent off the couch, knocking the controller to the ground and sending her character off to die. It was enough of an event to draw attention from Mr. Greene and the suits, though only the former bothered addressing it.
“What are you doing?”
“Fireman’s carry, I think,” Hexcellent chirped from over his shoulder. “Also, holy shit you are tall. I never really noticed looking up at you.”
“I’m going to help my teammate,” Owen replied. “And we all need to be there. Don’t worry about it; you stay out here and keep doing damage control. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”
Mr. Greene didn’t even bother to conceal the sneer on his lips. “I’ll certainly keep that in mind.”
“Please do, because I mean it.” Owen rested a meaty hand on Mr. Greene’s shoulder, sending ripples of confusion across the leaner man’s face. “You and I might not get along, but if there are some PR hoops I can jump through to make this easier on Bubble Bubble, say the word.”
“I. . . I will actually keep it in mind,” Mr. Greene said, this time with exponentially more sincerity. He still didn’t seem to trust Owen in the media’s eye, but the man was too powerful of a tool to ignore entirely.
“Thanks.” Owen adjusted his grip on Hexcellent and waded his way through the sea of people and into the hallway.
“You know, I would have just come along if you told me to,” Hexcellent said from flopped over his shoulder.
“I know. I just thought you’d have more fun this way.”
“You’re like the big gay older brother I always wanted.”
They quickly arrived at Bubble Bubble’s door, where Zone and Galvanize were pleading their case. Since the door was firmly wedged closed, he could see how well that tactic was going.
“Owen, we’re glad you could make it back,” Galvanize said. “Things are a bit hectic right now-”
“I brought him up to speed,” Hexcellent said as Owen set her carefully on the ground. “Even told him B.B. had locked herself up.”
“We’ve tried everything to get her out,” Zone told them. “She just keeps yelling at us to go away, so maybe she wants to deal with this in private.”
“Oh, I don’t have any doubt that’s what she thinks she wants,” Owen said. “But as the only one here to have been on the other side of that door, I also know how important it is she have people reminding her that she’s not alone in all of this. Now pay attention: if you ever have kids one day this is a technique you’ll want to use when they inevitably try to lock you out of a room.”
Owen leaned in and tapped lightly, but firmly, on the sealed door. “Bubble Bubble, it’s me, Titan. I’m here with the rest of the team, and just the rest of the team. We’re here to talk things out with you.”
“There’s nothing to talk about!” Bubble Bubble’s voice cracked halfway through the scream, a telltale sign she’d probably cried herself partially hoarse. “I’m packing up and quitting. My career is ruined.”
“If that’s what you decide to do when you calm down, then we’ll help you pack, but first you need to get some perspective and let the initial wave of panic wash away. That’s what we’re going to help you with.”
“I’m not opening the door!”
“Suit yourself; I’m sure maintenance can get a replacement in the next couple of days. You might want to stand back, though. I’d hate for you to get clipped by any debris.” Owen reared back and closed his hand into a sizable fist.
“What are you. . . are you breaking my door down?!?”
“Or you can open it, but we’re not going to let you be alone. I’ve been where you are, kid. I mean, almost exactly where you are. I know firsthand that right now you’re scared and ashamed, and the idea of talking about it literally fills you with stomach-churning dread because it will make it all become real. But you have to talk about it. If not with us, then with someone we can bring here. You can’t sit alone and let it fester, because you’re going to make snap choices. Decisions that will have much bigger impacts than you expect. You’ll do things that, years from now, when you finally do get that clarity, you’ll realize you regret even more than the thing that stirred you up in the first place.”
For a long moment no sound came from the other side of the door. Owen pulled back his punch a bit further, then a small click came from the door and it opened several inches. Bleary- faced and red-eyed, Bubble Bubble stared back at them from the small opening to her room.
“You can come in, but only for a few minutes.”
71.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Owen said. He scanned Bubble Bubble’s room, having never been invited in before, and noted that it was significantly larger than his own. She’d decorated it tastefully, save for the fact that most decorations featured her promoting some brand of product. It reminded Owen of the rooms a new Hero usually had when getting their first taste of fame and public adulation.
“There’s not much to tell.” Bubble Bubble shut the door behind Hexcellent as the tattooed girl scurried past. “It was two years ago when I was just getting real endorsement deals. Corbin Calhoun was charming and handsome, plus a real director to boot. After we wrapped the commercial he asked me out for dinner and one thing led to another. Two days later I was reading a magazine that talked about him and his girlfriend, who he’d failed to mention existed, going on a vacation to Paris. I never took his calls or worked with him again. Of course, whoever leaked the hotel footage of us making out in an elevator and going into a room didn’t add in those details.”
“I’m going to make a wager that he isn’t telling that version of the story,” Owen said.
“Sadly, no,” Galvanize said. He settled into a computer chair Bubble Bubble had left out while the others settled cross-legged on the floor. “According to Mr. Greene, the story is tha
t Bubble Bubble seduced Corbin, leading him astray. There have even been some sources trying to claim that as a Super, she had some unnatural sway over his actions.”
An all-too-familiar vein throbbed in the back of Owen’s neck, but for Bubble Bubble’s sake he kept his face neutral. Despite decades of research and a well-controlled government program, people still liked to trot out the “who knows what a Super can really do” card if it made life easier on them. Heroes were usually spared the indignity, if only because no one wanted to piss off the people stopping the real bad guys from laying waste to a city. Other Supers weren’t quite so lucky.
“From what I heard, Mr. Greene is launching defamation suits against every news outlet that tries to report that angle. Bubble Bubble’s powers have been on record and used in public for years, so there’s no foundation for such claims,” Galvanize added.
“He can sue whoever he wants to, as long I don’t have to show up at the hearings,” Bubble Bubble said. “It doesn’t matter how this shakes out. No matter what, I’m fucked. All my brands are about being upscale, desirable, and classy. Screwing some director makes me look like a desperate slut. I’d be amazed if most of my sponsors haven’t already dropped me.” She lowered her head and leaned against the far wall, small droplets of tears running down her face anew.
“The ones owned by Mordent will probably stick with you,” Zone said. It wasn’t terribly helpful, but at least he was trying.
“It’s just so unfair. I made one mistake when I was younger and now everything I’ve been working so hard, so damned hard, to get is going to burn up right in front of me. I’m so careful, I’m so good, I’m. . .” She turned her head and screamed toward the ceiling, “I’m the perfect pristine fucking mascot!” Her shoulder slumped as the anger seemed to leave her as quickly as it came. “All those years posing, holding my tongue, being demure, all of it is going to be forgotten. . . just because of one stupid mistake.”
“You’re wrong,” Owen said, standing and walking over to his teammate’s hunched form. “Not about all the bad shit coming—you’ve got a pretty firm grasp on that—but about the mistake. You never made one. You’re an adult who had consensual sex with another adult. The only mistake anyone made was this Corbin guy for lying about being single. These next few days are going to suck, and the weeks to come will be rough, but don’t you dare think for a minute that you’re to blame.”
“Maybe not, but I’m going to be the one who pays for it,” Bubble Bubble said. “Corbin’s a successful director and a human. I’m nothing but a corpie and a genetic freak. Who do you think people are going to side with?”
“Probably the wrong person, as they often do,” Owen admitted. “But we can’t control them. No Super can make the world think the way they want it to. All we can control is who you think is really responsible here. Some of the blame goes to whoever leaked that video; most belongs to Corbin for making this a scandal-worthy incident. Tell me the truth now, do you really think you did anything wrong?”
Bubble Bubble didn’t answer. Instead, she began to cry again, leaning forward and pressing her already tearstained face against Owen’s borrowed sweatshirt. It was coated in a thin film of concrete dust, but she didn’t pull back. She wrapped her arms around his sizable torso and pulled herself closer. He hugged her back carefully, marveling at how slender and delicate this woman he’d seen save dozens of people truly was. She was just a damn kid, only a few years older than his sons, and this was what the same media that had torn him down was reducing her to. Anger tried to well up in him, but Owen forced it down. There was no place for rage right now. It might make him feel better but it wouldn’t do anything for Bubble Bubble.
“I once crapped myself during a skateboarding competition.”
Zone’s words broke the melancholy spell that Bubble Bubble’s tears had cast, as everyone in the room, Bubble Bubble included, turned to stare at the chiseled, spiky-haired man who was staring at the floor in red-faced shame.
“Whaaaaaaaaat the fuck now?” Hexcellent’s eyes were so wide they seemed to have physically grown.
“I had the flu, but I was just starting out and it was my first paid gig. I really needed the money. After I did my tricks, and I mean right after, my body let me know that the floodgates were opening no matter what, and I could do with that information as I pleased. I managed to duck behind some bushes, but. . . things happened and then there I was, standing around in a competition with my jeans ruined. I was sure my life was over, so I decided to go big. I stripped naked, fastened my helmet over my junk, and streaked past the stands. I lucked out and people thought I was a bad boy instead of realizing what had really happened.” Zone finally looked up from the floor to find the entire room staring in rapt attention. “I just. . . my point is that we all have things that are embarrassing. Like, career-wrecking embarrassing. It really blows that the media got yours, so I thought it might help if you knew one of mine.”
Bubble Bubble stared at him for a long moment, then snorted out a snotty, half-cough of a laugh. It was a bit disgusting after all the tears, but it was also beautiful to hear. Owen realized it might be the first time he’d ever heard Bubble Bubble laugh, or do anything, without carefully measuring her response.
“I was in a porno,” Galvanize said slowly. “Not as an actor—well, I mean, I acted but. . . I was the guy who found the real performers in the ball pit, and no, that is not a play on words.”
“Holy shit!” Hexcellent yelped. “Mr. Fly Right was in a skin flick. Please tell me you used a fake name.”
“I didn’t choose one, but they listed me as Rock Thruster.” Galvanize hung his head in shame while the rest of the laughed and hooted nearly uncontrollably. “It was before I decided to do rescue work, and I had a friend on set. You all get the idea.”
Eyes turned slowly to Hexcellent, who was enjoying her chuckles so much she didn’t notice until the stares had gotten awkward. “Oh! Um. . . shit. You all pretty much know my dark and dirty secrets. Drugs, sex, rock-and-roll, all paired with a nice side of petty crimes.” She looked at Bubble Bubble who, was, in spite of everything around her, smiling just a touch.
“But. . . oh fuck it. Like most Supers I got my powers when I was a kid, so my first summon wasn’t Impers. It was a bunny I named Hopcules, because he was strong and brave, and I called him up because I was afraid of the dark.”
“You are shitting us,” Bubble Bubble said. “You, you had a summon that was a fluffy bunny? I have to see this to believe it.”
“Sorry, but I can’t call it up anymore,” Hexcellent said. “Summons are pretty tied up in who summoners are mentally, and I haven’t been that naïve little kid for a long time. I swear on my tattoos and vintage albums, though, it’s the god’s honest truth.”
“As for me, everyone here knows my big secret: destroyed my own marriage because I couldn’t be honest about who I was, even to myself,” Owen said. “I wasn’t like you, Bubble Bubble. I fucked up my own life; you’re just caught in someone else’s blowback. If it’s too much and you have to go, I definitely understand. But if you want to stay and fight to keep that image you worked so hard for, know that everyone in this room has got your back.”
Bubble Bubble looked around to see all of her other teammates nodding and a fresh set of tears came to her eyes. It had been so very, impossibly long since anyone had ever looked out for her. Ten minutes earlier she would have bet all her money that no one cared about her beyond what she offered business-wise. Now that she realized she might be wrong, Bubble Bubble wasn’t quite so keen to give these people up just yet.
72.
“I need a favor.”
“Are we going to just replace ‘hello’ with that now? First you’re trying to set me up on a public speaking gig at Zero’s behest, what can be worse?” Lenny sounded tired, which surprised Owen even with the late hour. Given that the city had seen some actual Hero action during the day, he imagined Lenny would still be up, wheeling and dealing and making sure his clients ca
me out looking great.
“That one wasn’t even for me; I was just passing along the message since you don’t take phone calls from retired Heroes.”
“Now, now, be fair. I take them if they’re from my old clients,” Lenny reminded him. “But I can’t go returning every message I get during the day. I’d spent all my time talking to wanna-be clients instead of working for the ones I’ve got.”
Cold as it seemed, Owen knew Lenny was actually being more honest than arrogant. There were tons of agents in the Hero world, some okay, some awful, and a few tremendous. As a man who fell into the third category, Lenny was in high demand. He could have taken on every Hero that was willing to sign. Others before him had. But it would have dropped the amount of attention he could give each one. Lenny had chosen quality of clientele over quantity throughout the years, and his reputation had flourished for it. Unfortunately, that meant if he actually did grant Owen’s favor then Owen would owe him huge.
“It’s actually kind of about that,” Owen said, gathering up his nerve to charge the verbal hill. “I’m assuming you saw what happened to my teammate, Bubble Bubble, on the news today?”
“Sadly, yes. Scouring tabloids and skeevy news sites is one of the many fringe benefits of my illustrious job. Give the gal my condolences, by the way. She’s getting a raw fucking deal and anyone with half a brain in their head knows it.”
“Maybe so, but I want to drill it in to the ones with less than that half.” Owen idly ran his fingers over the battered sweatshirt he’d taken off, getting more concrete residue on his hand. It was now or never; the worst Lenny could say was no. “That’s the favor I need. I want you to take her on as a client.”
Silence screamed at him through the phone for several long, lingering seconds. When Lenny finally spoke, it wasn’t with annoyance, as Owen was expecting. In fact, even the weariness seemed to have disappeared from his agent’s voice. If anything, he seemed to be barely holding back chuckles of mirth as he responded.