Trial by Fire

by Lore Graham

  Elena kept her eyes on him while nervously hoping he didn't notice her. Luckily, Chandler didn't even seem to be aware of his surroundings, instead focused on fiddling with his phone. Once he was a few houses down, Elena got out of her car to follow him.

  Elena stuck to her side of the street and walked slowly, careful not to catch his attention. At the end of the block, Chandler made a cursory glance around and crossed the street, turning to head down Pier Avenue. She followed slowly, wanting to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

  When Elena reached Pier Avenue and took the same right that Chandler did, her heart beat faster: there was no sign of him. She felt a pang of disappointment for having lost him so quickly and so easily, but didn't give up hope right away. There were a couple of restaurants ahead, so she'd just peek in, posing as an indecisive customer, and see if he'd gone into either of those.

  There was a gastropub and creperie, and an insurance office a little past them. Walking by the gastropub, Elena couldn't see much of the restaurant from the windows. She contemplated going in, but decided to check the crepe shop first.

  Glancing in, Elena saw Chandler getting seated at the bar of the bustling cafe and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

  "Can I help you?" A waitress in a white blouse approached, tucking some long strands of auburn hair behind her ear.

  "Oh, yes—table for one, please?" Elena didn't see any other way to keep following him, other than waiting outside, which seemed far more suspicious-looking. Besides, this gave her a good opportunity to grab a bite and take a restroom break with minimal chance of losing him.

  Throughout the next hour, Elena kept eyeing new patrons who came in, hoping vainly that Michael might be meeting someone here. She had no such luck. Michael spent a lot of time reading on his phone and nursing a beer, long past when he finished his crepe and salad. Elena decided to be adventurous and try a crepe as well, and then a second dessert crepe when Michael was still working on his beer and making no motion towards departing.

  Halfway through her dessert, Elena saw the bartender handing Chandler his bill. Elena waited for her waitress to pass by again and then asked to have her check. Chandler still seemed in no rush to leave, finishing up the dregs of his beer, so Elena was able to finish her dessert and pay before he finally got up.

  This time, Elena only gave him a slight head start before following. She saw him heading back the way they came, and kept pace behind him until he went into his house.

  Elena got back in her car and people-watched, waiting for Chandler to re-emerge. Hours passed by and she finally spent some time reading, doing her best to ignore the growing cramps in her legs. A couple of times she moved her car down the street, as far as she could while still keeping an eye on him. By seven p.m., she was thoroughly done. Even though she felt like she should stay longer, she was getting frustrated. There was a chance he'd come out again in the evening, but she had work the next day and hadn't gotten any of her Sunday errands done, and on top of that, she'd finished her snacks and really needed to pee. Elena sent a quick text to Val, Alex, and Lacy, asking if one of them could come by to take a shift, before turning on her car to head home.

  Lacy: You were there for a long time! Don't worry; we'll keep watching him. Hell, you want to make a date of it, Tuesday night?

  The text made Elena feel a bit better, and she sent an affirmative reply as she started the drive home. In the meantime, Alex offered to take an early morning shift on Monday and Val would do some time Monday afternoon and night. They might not have the resources to keep someone on Chandler at all times, but they were doing the best they could. Elena just hoped it would be enough, and that they'd come up with something before Consequence struck again.

  *~*~*

  "After that stew, I knew you were a good cook, but damn, these sandwiches are great," Lacy said after swallowing her first bite of the steak, tomato, and green bean sandwich Elena had packed. It was Tuesday night, and just as Lacy had suggested, the two of them were staking out Chandler's house again. Elena wasn't terribly optimistic at this point; neither Val nor Alex had seen any suspicious comings or goings on Monday, but she wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to have a quasi-picnic, albeit in a car, with Lacy.

  "Thanks," Elena replied. "They're supposed to have chili peppers in them too, but I don't like spicy food that much."

  "Defying every possible stereotype," Lacy teased before taking another bite.

  Elena felt an unpleasant twinge in her gut. "Actually, I'm not unusual—a lot of white Latino people from Chile don't like spicy food." She knew that Lacy wasn't trying to be rude, but she'd heard those sorts of comments so many times that they were flat-out annoying.

  "Oh, yeah, you probably do—sorry."

  "It's okay," Elena replied, shrugging. "It's just come up way too many times."

  "Yeah?" Lacy looked at her expectantly, but didn't press.

  "Yeah." Elena sighed, thinking back to her college girlfriend. "It's not a huge deal, but one of my exes was particularly rude about it. She loved spicy food and didn't believe me at first when I said I didn't. She kept pressuring me to try the stuff she ordered at restaurants. Eventually she stopped—until I came out to her about my superpower, and then she started all over again."

  "Oh, that sucks."

  "Yeah. I don't know why she wouldn't take it seriously, but it really bothered me because she brought it up over and over again. We almost broke up on Valentine's Day because the fancy chocolates she bought me were all flavored with different types of chilies, and I didn't know until I popped one in my mouth. Thank god the one I bit into first was jalapeño and not habanero or ghost pepper."

  "What a jerk!" Lacy exclaimed.

  "Yeah, she had some weird ideas about what was and wasn't okay." Elena grimaced and continued eating her sandwich as silence fell between them. A woman in large sunglasses walked by the car with her Chihuahua, but paid them no mind.

  "How long do you think we should wait?" Lacy asked after a few minutes, half-stifling a yawn. It had long since grown dark, with no sign of movement from Chandler's house.

  Elena checked her phone; it was 10:34 p.m.

  "Well, no one can do a late-night shift, so we should stay a little later, if we can. Ideally, I should stay the night. I feel bad leaving him unwatched for too long, especially when this is my idea."

  "But you have work tomorrow, and burning yourself out on this isn't going to help anyone. Let's just stay another half-hour?" Lacy suggested.

  Elena nodded, simultaneously relieved and feeling guilty for feeling relieved. She didn't really want to pull an all-nighter, but she didn't want to shirk her new superhero duties either. "Sounds good to me."

  "Or we might not even have to stay that long." Lacy nodded in the direction of the house, and Elena looked. One of the garage doors was opening. "Where's he headed off to?"

  Elena waited until Chandler was pulling away before turning on her engine and following him. She did her best to remain calm, but still felt a faint prickle of anxiety: what if she lost him? Fortunately, he didn't appear to be aware of them or trying to shake a tail, instead driving out of the neighborhood to the I-405S.

  At least on the freeway, it was easier to keep up with Chandler without being too obvious. Elena's nerves only heightened with every minute they followed him. He headed towards East Compton, through unknown streets to a large industrial park.

  Chandler had pulled in to one of the first buildings: a boxy, gray warehouse. There was already one car in the parking lot: a black Mercedes-Benz. Elena drove on past, only to take the first questionably-legal parking spot that was out of eyeshot of Chandler's car.

  Before the engine was even off, Lacy was stripping off her skirt and blouse to reveal her costume underneath. They both pulled on their masks and Lacy reached for the passenger door handle, but Elena grabbed her hand.

  "What's our plan?" Elena asked.

  "We go find out what the hell he's up to!" Lacy replied with a grin.


  They hopped out of the car and ran around the building they had parked behind, towards the warehouse.

  Both cars were still in the parking lot, but as Elena approached, she saw they were empty.

  "I wish we knew someone who could turn invisible, or walk through walls," Elena commented as they furtively hurried across the street and over towards Chandler's car.

  "Well, I can pick locks," Lacy said as they neared the warehouse.

  Elena hesitated when she spotted a small security camera on the side of the building peering down at them, but Lacy grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

  "We aren't doing anything illegal," Lacy said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along. "Not yet, at least."

  They circled the building. Apart from the main entrance, there were only three doors, all of which were exit-only thanks to the lack of a handle on the outside. Once they reached the main entrance, having gone the long way around, they looked at the door and then to each other. It required both a numerical keypad entry and a key, and Elena was hesitant about trying to get through, not just for practical reasons.

  Lacy stared at the door with a grimace.

  "Can't we break in?" Elena asked.

  "We can, and I have my lock picks," Lacy said. "But the Hollywood Heroes don't have the best relationship with the police, and I don't want to make it worse. Especially when we have zero evidence so far."

  "True," Elena agreed.

  "Archive would be furious." Lacy sighed dramatically. "Not to mention the possibility of prison. So, yeah, it wouldn't be a great move for us or for Hollywood Heroes. So, what, we wait out here and try to get a look at the other dude when they come out." She nodded towards the Mercedes-Benz.

  "I think that's our best bet," agreed Elena. She shared Lacy's visible frustration at waiting yet again, but she knew breaking in wouldn't help. Even best-case scenario, where they caught Chandler and the other person actively doing something criminal, it's not like they could turn that information in to the police without incriminating themselves.

  Lacy leaned against the side of the building, stowing her lock picks reluctantly. Elena took her phone out and snapped a picture of the Mercedes-Benz, making sure the license plate was clearly visible.

  "We should probably stand somewhere less obvious," Lacy said, once Elena put her phone away and went to join her. "Maybe against that wall." She yanked her chin over at the left side of the building, the wall furthest from the street.

  The two of them moved over, doing their best to remain in the shadows while keeping a view of the parking lot. The building was large enough that it was tricky, and after a few adjustments, the two of them ended up fairly close to the front, just barely around the corner so that they could still see the cars.

  "I really want to lay my eyes on the other guy," Lacy said, putting an arm over Elena's shoulder. "I can't shake the feeling that Chandler is the right-hand man, and the Mercedes-driving asshole is the real one in charge."

  "I wish I knew what they were doing," Elena replied. "What are they doing that they're meeting in a warehouse for?"

  "Maybe it's just the most discreet location?"

  "No, it looks more suspicious than an after-hours office meeting or dinner. Look at this place, it's clearly maintained but there's no sign, no indication of who owns the building. Industrial buildings usually at least have the name of a business on a sign somewhere."

  "Well, this place is a lot less trafficked at night than downtown L.A. is. It looks super sketchy to us, but we went looking for them. If no one sees them, no one can find it sketchy."

  "True."

  Minutes felt as if they stretched into hours as Elena and Lacy waited. Once, she perked up upon hearing a distant noise, but it turned out to just be a car zipping by on the road. The dull anxiety of suspense soaked through Elena's skin, making her muscles sore with tension as she fought the urge to shift often or simply sink down to sit on the concrete ground. Her shoes were relatively comfortable, but standing in one place for a long time, waiting, was not.

  They'd been waiting probably been around twenty minutes when Elena finally heard the faint sound of a door opening, followed by two voices bidding each other goodnight. Both she and Lacy leaned forward at once. They peered around the corner and saw Michael and another white man. The other man was much shorter and wore slacks and a black dress shirt, with a large bag slung over one shoulder. He had brown hair and a round face, and as he walked to the driver's side door of his Mercedes, he glanced around—and looked right at them.

  "Michael, you idiot, you must've been followed!" the man cried, dropping his bag with a heavy thud. Elena froze, scared and uncertain. He glared at them as she waited—wasting precious seconds with indecision, she realized, yet she couldn't quite bring herself to move. Lacy had started forward, but glanced at her with concern, and a split second later, air billowed towards them with a shimmer like venting heat.

  The impact hit Elena in an invisible gust of force. She staggered backwards, nearly falling to the ground, as Lacy stumbled too, clutching at the wall for support. Worse than the immediate impact, with a sharp snap like a rubber band, was the searing ache it left, not just on her skin but resonating through her skull and down through the rest of her bones.

  Elena struggled to right herself, body aching, while Lacy pulled herself together as well. Lacy was grimacing, no doubt experiencing the same pounding headache.

  Whatever arrangement or loyalty Chandler had with the man who must have been Consequence, it apparently didn't extend to combat. He threw himself into his car and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as he could. Elena saw Lacy's eyes narrow, but grabbed her.

  "Let him go; this one's clearly our guy," Elena said.

  "Damn right, I'm your guy," Consequence said, striding towards them. Elena barely had time to flinch before she was hit with another psychic blast. The pain drove a spike through her mind, and as she faltered again, Lacy collapsed against her. Elena was barely able to hold her up, her heart beating hard and fast, her mind racing as she tried desperately to think of what to do. She knew there must be something, but the base urge to flee screamed in her thoughts too loud to think of the best way to retaliate.

  "And unlike you," Consequence sneered, "I'm competent at what I do."

  "Fuck you," cursed Lacy, pulling herself to her feet and away from Elena. She started to run towards Consequence, unsteady on her feet but determined, and Elena followed.

  Consequence kept his eyes on Lacy as she headed towards him, but when she was almost close enough to grab him, she screamed and fell to the pavement, one hand clutching her head and the other clutching her torso.

  Calmly, Consequence picked up his bag, opened the car door, stepped inside, and began to back up as Elena rushed to Lacy's side.

  "I'm fine; don't let him go," Lacy groaned, but it was too late. Elena looked up again to see Consequence heading out of the parking lot. There was no way Elena could catch up with him, not with this head start.

  "I don't think I can catch him," replied Elena as she offered Lacy a hand. Guilt settled in her stomach as the acute fear dissipated. "Are you okay?"

  "We can drive after them," Lacy insisted, pulling herself to her feet. She turned to look at the Mercedes heading off down the street. "I'll run after him myself if I have to. I'm faster than a car, even his fancy, rich-boy car." She looked determined, but the wince she gave as she took her first few quick steps told Elena more than enough. "Or I could, if I hadn't just been hit by that damn blast."

  "I'm sorry," Elena said. And what had she been doing while Lacy was trying to rouse the energy to run after him? Standing here uselessly, just like she had the whole time.

  "It's not your fault. Maybe it's for the best. When I caught up with his car, I'd be exhausted and he'd still have his psychic powers to blast me off with."

  "I'm sorry I messed up," Elena repeated, throat suddenly dry. Why hadn't she just used her powers? If she'd moved sooner, she probably could have blasted Consequence,
at least could have distracted him from blasting Lacy a third time.

  "Hey, it's my fault as much as yours, but mostly not ours at all." Lacy took Elena's hand and started back towards their car. "There's not a lot we could have done, I think. Consequence clearly has some bite behind his bark, and I've never fought someone with psychic powers before. Ugh, that's unpleasant. Anyway, you want to just take us back home? We should both probably get some sleep."

  "Sure," Elena replied. Her body was starting to ache with tiredness, but even the thought of sleep didn't make her happy right now. Where her exhaustion stopped, her frustration began.

  They got in the car and Elena stripped off her mask, throwing it into the backseat without looking, before starting the engine.

  "Hey, are you okay?" Lacy reached over and squeezed Elena's knee. Elena gave a weak smile; she didn't feel much better, but she appreciated Lacy's concern.

  "I just feel like I messed up." Elena exhaled. "But, then again, at least we know now that Chandler isn't Consequence. Chandler's working with him, but isn't a physical threat himself. And we know that Consequence has psychic powers."

  "And some sort of suspicious mystery item he might pull out in the future, since he had that bag…"

  "Any idea what it might be?"

  Lacy shrugged. "Well, they met in a warehouse, right? And Michael Chandler was the CEO of a wearable technology company. Maybe Chandler made him some fancy gadget and they were testing it out tonight."

  "Whatever was in that bag was pretty big for wearable tech."

  "Yeah…"

  As Elena drove back to her apartment, Lacy texted the rest of the heroes, letting them know what had happened.

  "Archive just got another message from Consequence. Unlike his previous messages, this one included a couple of typos, suggesting he composed it while using a speech-to-text interface, or some other form of rushed communication. He stated he's 'maintaining his plans despite the predictably clumsy attempts of meddling heroes'. That's a bluff. He wasn't predicting that we'd meddle, not in the specific way that we did today. You saw the look on his face when he realized Chandler had been followed."