Jane exhaled nervously. She'd done interviews before, with Broadstreet and others, but she'd avoided being on camera as much as possible. She hated the sound of her voice, the hollow and low tones she heard when played back.
"Are you ready to start?" he said.
Jane sighed heavily, her stomach fluttered with nerves. She'd been practicing what to say for days now, ever since they last spoke. She would never be more prepared, yet she also felt she would never truly be ready either.
"Now's as good a time as any," Jane said.
"Should I record an intro?" Broadstreet said.
Jane shrugged again. "I have no idea," she said.
"I'll just do a quick intro for context," Broadstreet said. "Nothing self-aggrandizing."
"You really are a terrible reporter," Jane said, laughing a little.
"I know," Broadstreet said, setting up the camera on a table left behind by one of the other tenants. He pressed record and then jumped in front of it.
"This is Jon Broadstreet of the City Guardian. I am here with Solar, leader of the superhuman team the Indestructibles. Solar has requested the opportunity to speak directly to you, the viewers, about a topic of utmost importance. What she has to say will speak for itself. I think it best if I leave the rest up to her. Solar?"
Broadstreet stepped aside and picked up the camera, and held it steady. Jane looked to Broadstreet, who gestured with his face to direct her attention to the lens.
"My name is Solar," she said. "I apologize for the cryptic nature of this message, but I ask everyone watching to listen carefully…"
Chapter 44:
Awkward
Billy entered the control center and set a mug of coffee down in front of Bedlam. In the room by herself, her head placed in her hands, she looked tired and unexpectedly sad.
The coffee cup clinked against the tabletop and she looked up. "You," she said.
"Of all the flying saucers on all the planets on all the worlds, you had to walk into mine," Billy said, offering an awkward smile.
"That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard in my life. Ever."
"Wasn't sure what to lead with," Billy said. "Since we've never had a normal conversation before."
"And this is normal?" Bedlam said. She nodded at the empty chair next to her.
Billy slid into his chair. "And how've you been?"
"Oh, y'know. Not too bad. Mostly going to the mall with Suzie and Amy, looking forward to senior prom," she said.
"What did you think of McGillicuddy's math exam? Brutal, huh?" Billy said.
"Oh man," she said. "The worst."
They laughed. The sound of their voices echoed in the oddly quiet Tower. Little footsteps clicked across the floor and Watson arrived, the tiny dog jumped into Billy's lap. He scratched at the dog's chin absently.
"Do normal people have conversations like that?" Bedlam said. "I still can't believe you have a dog that fits in a purse."
"He doesn't ride in a purse, and they talk that way on TV, so it has to be true," Billy said. "I went to real normal regular person schools for most of my life, y'know."
"Me too," Bedlam said. She offered her hand to Watson, who sniffed it suspiciously, then licked her metal fingertips. "It's not as if we've never been normal."
"Well, I wouldn't have called myself normal at the time," Billy said.
"Me either," Bedlam said. "We never did have that date we joked about."
"It's remarkably difficult to find time for the movies when you're a superhero," Billy said. "Did you hear we traveled through time?"
"A little something about that," Bedlam said. "On a scale of one to ten, was it more, less, or equal to the amount of fun Back to the Future seemed to be?"
"I'd rate it as Days of Future Past," Billy said. "With a side of the Terminator thrown in."
"Sounds like a party."
"Oh it was," Billy said.
Bedlam sighed and sipped her coffee.
"Like we could've gone to the movies," she said. "Look at us. Your eyes glow like Christmas lights and I've got more metal in my body than a Jeep Cherokee. Normal lives are not in the cards for us, Mr. Straylight."
"Doesn't mean we can't try," Billy said. "Though it might be easier to act like we're normal people if we had normal names. I don't actually know your real name."
"Maybe Bedlam is my birth name," Bedlam said. "Maybe my parents hated me."
"You don't have to tell me," Billy said. He paused for a few seconds, realizing how quiet Dude had been the past few minutes. He could sense the alien there in his mind, but withdrawn. Giving him privacy, Billy realized. He couldn't explain how the alien was able to accomplish it, but somehow Dude had pulled down a virtual curtain in his mind, leaving him alone with his thoughts, and with this strange and sad girl.
"Slippery slope, that," Bedlam said. "I tell you my first name, then we have to treat each other like actual people… "
"You know my real name," Billy said.
"That's because your teammates are horrible, horrible, horrible about using codenames. I know all your real names. You never stop saying them," Bedlam said.
"And yours is?" Billy said.
"I'm actually pretty good at aliases," Bedlam said.
"You don't like it, do you?" Billy said.
Bedlam shot him a dirty look.
"What?" she said.
"You're not refusing to tell me your first name because you're being secretive. You hate it," Billy said.
"Listen, William Byron Case, just because everybody knows your secret-not-secret identity…"
"Who told you my middle name!" Billy said.
"Give you three guesses and the first two don't count," Bedlam said.
"Emily. It's always Emily," Billy said.
"Of course," Bedlam said.
He scowled. "This isn't fair."
They locked eyes for a minute, the silence turned from charming to awkward and back to charming.
"I know what you're thinking," Bedlam said.
"And?"
"You want to tell me I have a pretty eye," Bedlam said.
Billy's jaw dropped.
Bedlam laughed, a straight on, filled-with-happiness laugh.
"Do you have any idea how long I've sat on that joke?" she said.
"That's so inappropriate!" Billy said.
"Not if I say it," Bedlam said. "Come on, what's the upside of having a cyborg eye if you can't tell that joke."
Billy joined in her laughter. He put his head down on the table, his ears turned red with embarrassment. Then, he raised his eyes back up at her
"I really do think you're pretty," Billy said.
"You're pretty too, flyboy," Bedlam said. "It's not much to go on though, is it? Thinking we're pretty."
"Not really," he said.
"How do normal people do this stuff?" Bedlam said. "How do regular people make friends? Meet people? I forgot how to do it. All I know is weird now."
"Forget normal," Billy said. "I hated it. Did you like those days?"
Bedlam's face softened, her expression becoming almost distant.
"I wasn't a happy normal person," she said. "There are days I hate this. Hate being this thing. Can't stand what I look like and who I've become. But you know something funny? I have more happy days now than unhappy ones."
"Being able to punch through brick walls must help with the unhappy days," Billy said.
"Destruction therapy," Bedlam said. "It works. I highly recommend it."
They both sipped their coffee, didn't speak, didn't seem to feel the need and to speak. I've had worse days, Billy thought. I really have.
"Hey listen," Bedlam said. "If we get through this alien invasion thing, I'm taking you out."
"You're taking me?" Billy said.
"Yeah. I know a junkyard where they let me break old cars for fun. You're coming with me and smashing some stuff. Group therapy."
Billy smirked and thought back to the night Doc found him. He remembered Dude chastising him for bei
ng destructive and shooting tin cans with light beams.
"You do know how to make a guy feel special," Billy said.
"Is that a no?"
"It's a yes," Billy said.
The duo laughed again, awkward and unsure, yet warm and welcome. Bedlam's mouth broke into a grin. For just a moment, she looked shy.
"Kimberly," Bedlam said.
"What?" Billy asked.
"Before all this," Bedlam said. "My name is Kimberly."
"Never in a million years would I have guessed Kimberly," he said.
"Try not to tell everyone," she said. "I'd like to do a slightly better job at the secret identity stuff than you guys do."
Billy offered her a mock salute. "Aye aye, Bedlam," he said. "Can I call you Kimberly though?"
"Let's hang out a little bit more first."
"Okay," Billy said.
Abruptly, their conversation was interrupted by the monotone voice of Neal coming through the room's speakers.
"I beg your pardon, Designation: Straylight," Neal said. "But there is an incoming call from Sam Barren. Shall I patch it through?"
Billy looked up at the ceiling to Neal's disembodied voice, his face a wrinkled mask of annoyance.
"Is there anyone else who can take the call?" he said.
"Designation: Solar and Designation: Dancer are both off-site and you are sitting in the control center. You seemed like the logical choice. Mr. Barren said: 'I guess Straylight will do.'"
"Well that's a resounding endorsement," Billy said. He shrugged apologetically at Bedlam.
"I'm beginning to see why we never met up before," she said.
Sam Barren's face appeared, oversized, on the main screen.
"Hey, kid," Sam said.
"So you calling with bad news, worse news, or really awful news?" Billy asked.
"Considering I just got a call from NASA asking if the Department knew anything about the unidentified objects someone just saw with one of their deep space telescopes, I'm going to call it really awful news," Sam said. "Where's the rest of the gang?"
"Everywhere," Billy said, running a nervous hand through his hair. "I'll put out the call and get them back here."
Chapter 45:
The tools at my disposal
Kate saw the surprise on Henry Winter's face when she stopped him in the hall at the Labyrinth. The older hero stopped dead in his tracks, leaned back and thumped his cane against the floor.
"You look like someone on a mission," he said, glancing back and forth between Kate and her mostly unwanted tagalong, Emily. How Kate allowed herself to be talked into taking Emily with her she'll never know, yet here the odd couple stood, waiting on the director of the Department.
"We need things, Henry," Emily said, folding her arms across her chest.
"Okay then," he said. "Step into my office."
Winter led them just around the corner to his private office, the smaller one he maintained at the Labyrinth when he didn't need to be in Washington or on the road. He sat down and waited for the two young heroes to join him, a pair of empty chairs stood unused in front of him. Neither girl took advantage of them.
"So we're in a rush, I take it," he said.
"I need the Distribution suit," Kate said.
"The what?"
"The suit the Department took off Elliott Smoot back after our first mission," Kate said. "I know it ended up here, because before you were director someone reverse-engineered it to make their own versions."
The Distribution suit was a strangely high-tech bodysuit used by a local drug dealer the Indestructibles had apprehended very early on in their careers. It absorbed kinetic energy, then redistributed it back, empowering the wearer, thus essentially granting limited protection and a sort of temporary super strength.
"I know the Department reverse-engineered it," Winter said. "I was a captive here then. I actually led the team who did the work."
"So you know where the suit is," Kate said.
"I can do you one better," Winter said. "Would you rather one of the improved suits? I can just give you one of those. Do you really want the sweat-stained original we got from Smoot? That guy was extremely sweaty."
Kate fired one of her impenetrable stares at him.
"I don't have time to learn a whole new fighting technique," she said. "I don't need the latest fancy tech. I just want the kinetic redistribution."
"Didn't realize you were a tech person," Winter said, his tone curious, not judgmental.
"I use the tools I have at my disposal," Kate said. "You of all people should understand that."
Winter chuckled softly, nodding in agreement.
"Understand it and approve it," he said. "I can get you a replica suit. No bells and whistles, just a straight reconstruction in your size. Trust me, I worked on the design—you want one that fits properly to maximize the effectiveness. Baggy won't do."
Kate bowed her head slightly in gratitude.
"And you?" Winter said, turning to Emily. "What do you want from Santa this Christmas?"
"I liked that glove you gave me," Emily said.
"I'm glad. Be sure to thank Dr. Bohr for that though," Winter said.
"I need more," Emily said.
"More gloves? Did you break the first one?"
"What? No," Emily said. "The glove is fine. But it's not going to do me any good in outer space."
Winter turned his eyes to Kate, who raised one eyebrow imperiously.
"You're going to need something… to help you fight in outer space," Winter said.
"I'm sorry," Emily said. "I didn't realize you were suffering hearing loss issues. I always forget how old you guys are."
"I'm not—my hearing's just fine!" Winter said. "I didn't think you'd… never mind. You need to fight in space."
"I do indeedy," Emily said.
Henry Winter glanced back and forth between the two women a few times, hesitating.
"You have a bad idea, don't you?" Emily said.
"No I don't," Winter said.
"Yes, you do," Kate said. "Show us."
Winter ran a hand through his hair anxiously.
"Oh, this is such a terrible idea," he said. "Look, it's something I've been working on for years, okay? I built it for me. But I could never figure out how to make it all work. And then we realized… the main problem is it's just too heavy."
"You're talking gibberish," Emily said. "We broke his brain."
"No, no," Winter said. "Look, it's easier if I just show you the project."
He picked up a tablet off the desk and tinkered with it to retrieve a set of schematics. Kate leaned over the table, watching as different projects streamed across the screen. When Winter found what he was looking for, he opened up a set of photos and handed the device to Emily. Kate intercepted though, taking a look first. Emily stood uncomfortably close to Kate and peered at the screen as well.
"Oh. My. Frelling…" Emily said.
"No," Kate said.
"Heck yes!" Emily said.
"That, Entropy Emily, is going to be a last resort," Winter said. "Okay? I only showed it to you in case things get so bad that we need to throw the kitchen sink at these aliens to stop them. If it turns out they're delicate daisies that wilt under an angry glare, there's no way I'm letting you use that."
"You realize you've just put me in a position hoping I need to use that, right?" Emily said.
"All the options available to us," Winter said. "Right, Dancer?"
Kate frowned.
"Within reason," she said, watching the insanity on the screen one more time before handing it back to Winter.
Emily and Kate both startled when Billy's voice came through their earpieces simultaneously.
"Where are you guys?" Billy said.
"You need to be more specific, Billy," Emily said, shooting an apologetic expression at Winter.
"You. I mean you. And Kate. Solar's not answering her radio either," Billy said. "Sam says we've got bad news."
"We're
here with Henry Winter right now, Straylight. Go ahead," Kate said
Billy made a series of confused noises on the other end of the line.
"What are you doing? Never mind. Just get back to the Tower ASAP," Billy said.
Winter gestured to his computer.
"I heard that. I'll patch Sam in," Winter said.
"We'll conference call in," Kate said.
"I hate you just a little bit for saying that out loud," Billy said.
Emily tuned Billy out and returned her attention to Winter.
"I'm going to need that thing," she said.
"I already regret bringing it up," he said.
Emily winked at him.
"Too bad," she said. "No backsies."
Chapter 46:
The stockpile
I've seen a lot of weird things in my time," Agent Black said, while hunched over the control panel searching for alien aircraft. "But this place is something else."
The former Prevention surveyed their haul. Weapons, machines, and inexplicable apparatuses, an arsenal and a lab. They'd moved a few items closer to the exit of the old Department bunker, but the place seemed to go on forever, a graveyard of strange tech.
"The Department comes into contact with all things unexplainable," Laura said. "This isn't even a drop in the bucket of what's been locked away."
"Still," Black said. "It had to be tough to gather all this technology without being noticed."
Laura examined a rig, not unlike a rifle, silver with deep indigo spheres that glowed along the barrel.
"I had a long time to get myself in just the right spots," she said. "Requesting the key assignments, showing an aptitude for the project."
"Your Jedi mind tricks didn't hurt, either," Black said.
"Being able to poke around in someone's mind to find out what they knew and what answers they wanted me to say helped, yeah," she said. "It's easier to give the correct answer if you know the question before it's asked."
"I can't imagine how you got into the espionage business with those powers," Black said sarcastically. He picked up a melee weapon, like a kendo stick; it hummed and sang when he moved it.
Laura shrugged. She'd risen quickly up the ladder in the Department's organizations, in part because of her telepathic powers, but also because she knew how to work people in more traditional ways. Even in an organization full of secret agents, she knew how to push the buttons and make friends.
Like A Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4 Page 22