Jane lifted the little mirror up in front of her. Instead of her own reflection, she saw Doc’s bespectacled face.
“My beard is coming in nicely,” Jane said.
Doc laughed.
“In case you were wondering, wizards invented video chat thousands of years ago,” Doc said. “It became a cheap magic trick right around the time the first silvered mirrors were created, but wizards have been calling each other through polished stones or still water for thousands of years.”
“Thanks for the history lesson, Doc,” Jane said, raising a sarcastic eyebrow. “This is glass. Can I break this?”
“Magic glass. You’d have to try really hard to break it.”
“So don’t let Emily touch it.”
“Do not let Emily touch this mirror, no,” Doc said.
Jane wagged the still-sheathed planar knife around in the air.
“And this thing? Last time you gave me crazy instructions for finding you with it,” Jane said.
Doc shook his head.
“The place I’m going to is… to put it simply, it’s layered on top of this space right here,” he said, gesturing at the empty place where the town used to be. “If you cut through with the planar knife, it’ll be like peeling back the skin of an orange. Where I’m going is just one layer down.”
“That makes no sense, but okay,” Jane said.
“This is why I never got around to teaching you much about magic,” Doc said.
“Your job is basically entirely based on nursery rhymes and fairy tales, isn’t it,” Jane said.
“Yeah,” Doc said. “Now you know why there are so few people with my job anymore.”
He reached out and put a hand on Jane’s shoulder, but she pushed past him and grabbed him in a hug instead.
“You call the minute you need help,” Jane said.
“I will.”
“Don’t catch a cold.”
“I won’t.”
“Call and check in,” Jane said.
“I feel like our roles have been completely reversed,” Doc said.
“Your job is the weird stuff. My job is to keep the whole world safe,” Jane said. “That includes you.”
Doc hugged her back, then stepped away and drew the planar knife from the sheath.
“See you soon,” he said. With an upward slash, he cut a man-sized hole in the air. Reddish light filtered out, like an aggressive sunset. He stepped through, and the wound in reality sealed up behind him.
“These things never go according to plan,” Jane said.
Chapter 17: The picture of caution
Titus stared out the window, head pressed against the glass as they circled the half-buried wreckage of the Tower, searching for a landing spot. In a rare spot of luck, Kate had taken one of the small vehicles that had always been stored in the Tower’s landing bay—the flying crafts that looked like something out of Buck Rogers that Emily had dubiously dubbed the Indestructicars—and left it parked outside her apartment building before the battle with the Nemesis fleet, so they had one fully functional and undamaged transport to rely on. The others weren’t completely destroyed, but nobody was willing to take an alien flying machine for a test drive without knowing if it would crash or not, and none of them were even remotely confident they’d know how to fix it if they found a problem. So the others remained, knocked around like broken toys, in their home inside the Tower.
Luck, Titus thought. Well, better than not being able to get back and forth from the Tower to the City, but he hated flying, and Kate was… well, she wasn’t a bad driver, but if it were possible to ignore speed laws while flying an impossible machine, she did. He white-knuckled it every time he rode with her in this contraption.
Our poor home, he thought, looking at the battered outline of the Tower. This was his first trip back since they’d first all assembled here, when Doc found the crash site. It looked better than it had then. Clearly Emily and Henry and Solar had been busy.
But still. The starship looked like it would never fly again. Not like before. He suddenly regretted all the times he complained about living in a flying base.
Kate picked out a particularly flat space in the sand and set the craft down. Titus popped the hatch-like door beside him and stepped out. The air hit him immediately, the way his overpowered senses always did—the dry, mysterious scent of this place, the heat rising off the ground, flowers in the distance, and of course closer, the sharp tang of broken machinery and hot metal from the Tower wreck.
Kate strode ahead, not giving him time to soak in the new sensory input. He rushed to catch up. They entered through a doorway that had become the makeshift main entrance. Inside, the air was cool—they’ve got the HVAC running, Titus noted, smirking—and the lights were bright, though they flickered a bit, as if still indecisive about how they felt being operational.
Kate stopped just inside the doorway, but Titus pushed past her, following his nose toward the rest of the team.
They found Henry and Emily bickering over a pile of cables, Billy and Bedlam sitting hand in hand, watching the fight. The moment Billy saw them he leapt to his feet.
“My man,” Billy said, crashing into Titus with a bear hug. “You look like hot garbage!”
“Better than being dead garbage,” Titus said, laughing as he hugged him back ferociously.
“True that. I am so happy to see you,” Billy said. He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder at Emily and Henry. “Maybe you can get Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to stop arguing.”
“Did you seriously just make a Shakespeare reference?” Bedlam said.
“Why is it surprising I know who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are?” Billy said, looking offended.
“Because you play up your reputation as being an idiot,” Bedlam said. She nodded at Titus. “Good to see you again, wolf-man. Hi, Kate.”
Kate nodded solemnly at the cyborg. She put a hand on Billy’s shoulder.
“Welcome back to Earth,” she said, not without warmth.
“That’s Kate’s version of giving you a hug,” Emily said, stepping away from her argument with Henry to push Billy out of the way and hug Titus herself. “I missed you. I need someone to tell Henry I’m right.”
“You’re not right!” Henry said. “I… why am I arguing with you? Hi, Titus.”
“Hey,” Titus said. “What are you two doing, anyway?”
“Trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” Emily said.
That was when Titus noticed what all those cables they were arguing about were attached to: the garbage-can-like body Neal now inhabited.
“Oh, buddy! What are they doing to you, brother?” Titus said, running over to kneel in front of the chassis.
“Designation: Whispering,” Neal said. “It has been too long since we spoke. I long for rational companionship.”
Titus looked over his shoulder at Kate.
“He’s happier to see me than you were,” he said.
“Birds of a feather,” Kate said. Emily jumped up to plant a loud kiss on Kate’s cheek. The ballerina vigilante all but ignored it.
“Well, Neal, we came all this way to see you, buddy,” Titus said.
“I am wounded, Titus Talbot,” Emily said. “Wounded.”
“Me too,” Billy said.
“I didn’t even know you were back on Earth,” Titus said.
“Nobody ever visits me,” Bedlam said. “How do you think I feel?”
“I flew seven hundred and forty-six thousand miles to see you,” Billy said.
Bedlam stared at him for a long moment. Billy stared back.
“I think that’s what they call a romantic gesture,” Emily said. “Or possibly a humblebrag. Could go either way. Maybe both.”
“Definitely both,” Bedlam said.
“Not to put a damper on the family reunion,” Henry said, plugging one of the cables into Neal’s robotic frame. “But our boy here is a little tied up at the moment. Hope whatever you came here to ask him to do does
n’t involve… y’know. Moving.”
Kate waggled a portable drive in her hand. She threw it to Titus.
“We’re looking into a couple of mystery locations in the City,” Kate said. “I hit a wall in my research. Hoping we could take advantage of Neal’s brain power to help us out.”
“I’m guessing you don’t get great Wi-Fi out here,” Titus said.
“Designation: Coldwall was able to get our satellite uplinks working quite well, Designation: Whispering,” Neal said. “I should be able to provide you with your research needs without changing my physical location right now.”
“What’s this ‘Designation: Coldwall’ business?” Emily said. “Designation: Entropy Emily busted her butt getting you that satellite uplink.”
“You flipped several switches which were fundamentally helpful, Designation: Entropy Emily,” Neal said. “Thank you.”
“That was sarcasm. Was that sarcasm?” Emily said. She pointed at Neal then looked at Billy. “Did Neal just bust on me?”
“Neal just busted on you,” Billy said.
“Every single one of you is out of your mind,” Bedlam said.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Emily said.
Kate sighed.
“And to think, for a brief moment, I regretted not working alone,” she said.
“Designation: Whispering—find an appropriate port and grant me access to your research. I will do run an extended scan for you,” Neal said.
Titus looked around until he found a matching port and plugged the portable drive in. The socket lit up.
“You can see ownership records, correct, Designation: Dancer?” Neal said.
“I… yes. How did you know that?” Kate said.
“Data is like fingerprints,” Neal said. “I can see where you’ve looked before.”
“I am so glad the crazily powerful AI is on our side,” Bedlam said.
“One moment,” Neal said. The AI went silent. So did the rest of the room.
“So,” Titus said, filling the awkward silence. “Billy, how was outer space?”
“It was…” Billy started to say, but Neal chimed in immediately.
“I have found the previous ownership records you seek, Designation: Dancer,” Neal said.
“Holy crap, Neal, you just startled the heck out of me,” Emily said.
“My apologies, Designation: Entropy Emily.”
“Can you like, cough or something before you do that next time?” Emily said.
“Perhaps if you did not make such prodigious use to our food generation device creating coffee to a nearly toxic level, you would be less easily startled, Designation: Entropy Emily,” Neal said.
“Dude, don’t make me regret advocating for you to get a better body,” Emily said.
“He’s getting a better body?” Titus said.
“Hush, precious. Neal has something to tell you,” Emily said.
“Long story,” Henry said.
“Neal,” Kate said, interrupting. “Please ignore our bantering colleagues and let me know what you found.”
“I have traced ownership to the buildings in question back to a single, suspicious shell company: Innsmouth Canneries, Designation: Dancer,” Neal said.
“Oh, come on,” Emily said. “That’s not even remotely creative.”
“Shell companies don’t really have to be, right?” Titus said. “Any information on who owns Innsmouth Canneries, Neal?”
“This is where the trail becomes interesting, Designation: Whispering,” Neal said. “I traced the shell company back to a familiar source: The Children of the Elder Star.”
Emily and Kate unleashed a storm of quietly uttered but vicious swear words. Billy simply muttered: “Are you kidding me.”
“They can’t… they don’t still exist, do they, Neal? I mean they collapsed because of what happened with the Nemesis fleet a few months back,” Titus said.
“My search indicates that there is new activity in the Children of the Elder Star’s holdings, Designation: Whispering,” Neal said. “It appears the organization is not as dead as we presumed.”
“What were they doing at these buildings you were investigating?” Billy said.
Titus and Kate exchanged looks.
“I think they’re experimenting on runaways and homeless children,” Kate said.
“We had a run-in with… something horrible,” Titus said. “A runaway who had been mutated.”
Bedlam hopped out of her chair, her cyborg feet hitting the floor with a metallic clank.
“I’m coming with you,” Bedlam said.
Titus nodded to her. Bedlam’s condition was the result of experimentation by the Children of the Elder Star as well. They’d taken her body, which had been destroyed in a car crash, and used it to build her into a weapon. It was only through the Indestructibles intervention she had been set free.
“I understand,” Titus said.
“I won’t let them do what they did to me to anyone else,” Bedlam said. She looked at Kate, who was frowning. “Don’t say no, Kate.”
“After what we saw in the City, I won’t turn down help,” Kate said. “I’m happy to have you. I’m just thinking.”
“Thinking about?” Bedlam said.
“Where we go next,” Kate said.
“Designation: Dancer,” Neal said. “I have a list of additional locations currently still in the possession of shell companies owned by the Children’s organization.”
“Then there’s our next move,” Bedlam said.
“I’ll come too,” Billy said.
Kate shook her head.
“We need you as backup, and what we’re doing… we need to keep a low profile,” Kate said. “You’re a comet, Billy. You’ll give us away.”
“I have four robotic limbs and a glowing eye,” Bedlam said.
‘Which we can hide with an oversized hoodie and some sunglasses,” Kate said. “We’ve been hiding a werewolf for years. We can help you stay incognito.”
“I want to help,” Billy said.
“Me too,” Emily said.
“Billy, the speed you fly at you can be at our side in minutes,” Titus said. “We’ll call you in if we need a big gun.”
Billy scowled.
“Fine,” he said. “I guess I’ll stay here and help fix Neal.”
Emily laughed, loudly. Billy shot her a dirty look.
“Let Solar and Doc know what we’re doing,” Kate said. “We’ll keep you posted.”
“Be careful,” Henry said. “I know you’ve dealt with them before, but the Children have always been more dangerous than they ever let on.”
“Look at us,” Titus said. “We’re the picture of caution.”
“A werewolf, a ballerina vigilante, and a cyborg literally named Bedlam,” Emily said. “Yup, when I look at the three of you, ‘caution’ is totes the first word that comes to mind.”
Chapter 18: Sage advice
Billy wandered around the Tower’s wreckage alone after Kate and her group left, or at least as alone as he could be with Dude chiming in every so often. They’d been connected long enough now that Dude felt more a part of him than someone he shared mental real estate with. He guessed the bond would only get stronger the longer they were paired up.
The problem, of course, was that Dude could sense his moods and knew he was pouting.
You’re being irrational, Billy Case, Dude said.
I’m not being irrational, Billy thought. In fact, I think I’m being super rational.
“Super rational about what?” Henry Winter said, turning a corner to meet him.
Billy looked around, confused.
“You said that out loud,” Henry said. “You can’t remember if you said it out loud or not, can you?”
“It’s insane how often that happens,” Billy said.
Henry waved a hand in the air.
“I’m used to it. If you didn’t know about their powers, Suresh and Nigel seemed certifiable,” Henry said. “They�
��d talk to each other while simultaneously talking to Horizon and Moneypenny and then to each other again, and since the Luminae could talk to each other silently, there was a whole additional layer of conversation going on, too.”
“Did you just call Dude Moneypenny?” Billy said.
I hate all of you, Dude said.
“It’s what Nigel called your partner,” Henry said.
“I’d heard,” Billy said, sensing Dude fuming in the back of his mind.
“So, you look miserable,” Henry said. They walked together into the galley, where Henry had a pot of coffee brewing.
“I’m… Y’know, I’m feeling kind of useless,” Billy said.
“Don’t tell me you’re bummed out there isn’t a world to save,” Henry said. “Take a vacation, kid.”
“No, I mean—I’m here, and there’s nothing I can do to help. Can’t help you and Emily fix Neal.”
“Emily is not helping fix Neal as much as she thinks she is.”
“Can’t help Kate and Titus. Can’t help… whatever Doc’s working on. But back on Titan I couldn’t help build the base—the other guys have traveled the galaxy, they know things I don’t. So I came back here to be less useless, but somehow I’m even more useless.”
“Kid,” Henry said. “Not every problem needs a hammer.”
“What?” Billy said.
“You guys, you’re a toolbox. Kate’s a scalpel, small and precise. Titus is a hacksaw, low-tech but effective. You’re the hammer. Sometimes that means you stay in the toolbox. Don’t worry about it so much,” Henry said. “Because in our line of work, don’t you worry, there will definitely come a time there’s a nail that needs fixing.”
“Good job with the hokey dad advice,” Billy said. “Doc’s never useless.”
“Doc inserts himself into every problem,” Henry said. “Also… he’s sort of the Swiss Army Knife. Lots of options, none of which is perfect but most will do for now.”
“Yeah,” Billy said. “Well. I could go back, maybe. To Titan. Stay out of the way.”
Tell him about the girl, Dude said.
“I’m not telling him about the girl,” Billy said out loud.
The Indestructibles (Book 5): The Crimson Child Page 9