by Simon Archer
“Does that mean that he’s right?” Kara inquired.
“It is hard to say at the moment,” Triton replied. “Though it does seem rather odd that all of this has started to unfold around the same time as the treaty signing. It is possible that it is all connected, but let us not rush into hasty conclusions. It is important to take each obstacle one at a time as not to get overwhelmed.”
I exhaled slowly, then took a long, deep breath and repeated. Triton’s words mulled over in my head as I concentrated. Although it bothered me that I didn’t have all of the answers right now, it was nice to be free of the burden that trying to connect the dots brought upon me. Perhaps I was thinking too hard about it, and there wasn’t anything connected at all.
After all, I wanted to believe that my father was on his way to becoming a reformed hero. There was no sense in tying miscellaneous crimes to him when he wasn’t necessarily at fault. If he were, then the proper actions would be taken, even if I wasn’t prepared to face the reality.
In, out, repeat. If Kara and Triton were still conversing, I didn’t hear them. I was lost in a world of color again, allowing the earth to fall away under me, and swimming in the clarity that took me to another level of calm. It was much easier to find my center this time and having Kara there just to be by my side helped with easing my mind.
My fingers began to tingle, and it was as though they had the power to make anything before me vanish. Then, something showed itself before me, a proverbial door of static that buzzed in the back of my mind. I reached out with my fingertips and pressed them into the noise. Just like that, the static vanished, and instead, there was a blinding light, one that forced me to look away mentally.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the ground with Kara looking over me, concern written in her expression.
“What happened?” I asked as she helped me sit upright.
“You just gasped and fell over,” Kara replied. “Nothing else happened, and you weren’t breathing funny or anything, so I wasn't sure if I should interrupt you. You’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I replied quickly. “I think I unlocked something deep inside of me.”
“Like what?” Kara looked between Triton and me, searching for an answer.
“It’s like that little gate that opens up to my powers got a bit bigger, stronger,” I answered. “I think… I think I can use my power longer.” I couldn’t be sure of that, of course, but it was just something I could feel racing through my veins.
“You are well on your way to unlocking more and more of your potential, Nick,” Triton informed. “You’re doing much better with this than I had anticipated.”
“Thank you, sir.” I smiled and looked out over the wildflowers again. I did feel lighter, but for how long? Maybe there were just some questions that didn’t need answers right away. If I had taken anything away from this, it was that dwelling on it wasn’t going to produce me anything more than what patience could.
I sighed and closed my eyes again.
Later that day, after Triton had returned Kara and me to the Academy, I found that despite the deep meditation that I had undergone, my mind still wandered to the events at the communication tower.
More specifically, my thoughts lingered on Akemi. She had been in excruciating pain with a potentially life-altering injury. I wanted to be there to support her in the absence of her teammates. I didn’t want to call them friends because I didn’t know the extent of the relationships she had. She was one of those people that were wildly ambitious, and though she was respected, I had a feeling that her desire to please and be the best didn’t grant her many people in her life she could call friend.
“Sir, have you heard anything about Akemi’s condition?” I asked Triton as we stopped outside of his office once again.
“Hm,” he hummed thoughtfully, “I did hear that she is in the infirmary and that she might be there for a bit while the nurses work on her.”
“Do you think it would be all right if we went to see her?” Kara piped up. It was endearing that she was concerned as well, likely due to the fact they were ride-along partners.
“I don’t see why you can’t,” Triton confirmed. “I’m sure she would like to see some familiar faces in this hard time.”
I smiled and bowed my head. “Thank you again for this afternoon, sir.”
“It was my pleasure,” Triton chuckled and waved us off.
The infirmary wasn’t far from the dining hall and thus wasn’t a terribly far walk from Triton’s office. It was less common for supers to use a hospital unless the wound was something a regular physician could heal. Usually in cases where a hero is injured by another super’s power, they went to a more focused healer who specialized in powered medicine, such as the infirmary staff that we had on campus. They were the ones who specialized in iced arms and other unnatural wounds.
As Kara and I walked in, the first thing I noticed was how vastly different the decor was. Where most of Valcav was stark white, silver, and blue, the infirmary was filled with different vibrant plants in every corner and hanging from the ceiling. Earth tones were painted on the walls, and the floor was tiled in what looked like wood. There was even a little plaque that explained that the plants helped promote healing, thus why there was such a stark contrast.
A small wooden desk was stationed a few feet from the door. Behind it, a girl who looked to be only half my age sat in a tall stool. Her white-blonde hair was braided down her back, and her eyes were so blue that they bordered being the same shade as her hair. A wooden nameplate on the desk read, “Leigh Arlo.”
“Hello, Nick Gateon and Kara Johnson,” she greeted in a small but cheery voice without looking up from the tablet she’d been working with.
“Uh, hi,” I replied with uncertainty. “We’re here to see Akemi.”
“I know.” She smiled and glanced up from her tablet. Something about her piqued my curiosity as she hopped down from the stool and came around the desk. I held in a surprised chuckle when I noticed her mismatched ballet slippers, one black and one pink, and her dress was white with little yellow flowers. All in all, she was the cutest hot mess of a little girl, and I was smitten.
“How do you know our names?” Kara asked her genuinely. She also had a smile on her lips that was equally inquisitive. “Neither of us have been here before.”
“I know everyone’s names, Kara,” she informed. “That’s part of my gift.”
“Your gift?” I pressed.
The little girl nodded. “That’s what my mom calls it. I’m blind, so I can’t see things the way others do, but I can see their auras.”
“Oh! Like Aylin!” Kara exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Leigh confirmed. “It’s basically the same thing. Everyone has their own aura that’s unique to them. I’ve seen you before, though we’ve never met.”
Interesting. That would make sense if she worked here or lived here. I passed by many people every day, though I thought I would remember seeing this girl.
“I’m Leigh Arlo, by the way,” she continued, “and I’m actually a healer. That’s the other part of my gift.”
“No way,” Kara gasped, “but you’re so young! And you work in Valcav?”
“Hmm, it’s not really work.” Leigh shrugged and skipped to the other side of the desk. “It’s more like I’m being mentored. I live here.”
I smiled at Leigh. “Well, I think it’s brave of you to do what you do.”
“Thank you!” she said brightly before she pointed down the hall. “Miss Akemi is down here to the left. Niji is with her, too, so now she’ll have extra company!”
“Thanks, Leigh,” I bowed my head to her. “We won’t be long.”
Leight waved as Kara and I headed down the hallway. On each side were seven doors that lead to other patients, save for one that was a random supply closet. Each door was made of solid, unpolished wood, but was smooth to the touch. A big floor to ceiling window sat at the end of the hallw
ay, and upon further inspection, I could make out that it was a water wall that pooled into a drain in the floor and had different rocks and other foliage that decorated it.
The last door on the right read in white letters ‘Manderu’ on a removable plaque. I knocked on the door and Niji opened it from the other side. He looked different without the eyeliner and eccentric personality. Now, his multicolored hair was a mess, as though he had been running his hands through it constantly, and his normally over the top ensemble simply consisted of basketball shorts, a band hoodie, and flip flops.
“My Lord,” Niji bowed his head and stepped aside. Even his tone of voice was different. He was mellow, and his eyes wore dark circles beneath them.
“Hey, Niji,” I greeted kindly. “Please, call me Nick.”
“Nick,” he repeated timidly, then looked to Kara as well. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” Kara smiled sweetly.
Niji stepped aside and allowed us entry to see Akemi. He shut the door behind us and immediately went back to sitting by her bedside.
“She’s asleep,” he informed, though it was obvious to us as she lay motionless in the bed. Her chest rose and fell steadily beneath the white knitted blanket. “She’s been in and out all day, but Leigh said that was normal.”
“How has she been?” I asked as I stood at the foot of the bed. Kara took the chair on the other side of the bed and sat.
“She’s been in pain,” he answered honestly as he rested his arms on his sister’s bed, “but they’ve done all they can do for her.”
“So her arm is going to be like this forever?” Kara asked with wide, sad eyes.
Niji sighed as he nodded. “Yeah, but it isn’t the end of the world. Not really. She’ll still have a full range of motion and be able to fight, but she won’t be able to feel anything with it. All of the nerves are completely shot.”
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “That’s something, at least,” I said, trying to sound optimistic.
“It is,” Niji agreed as he stared at Akemi’s pink, crystallized arm. “She’s pissed, but I’m thankful it was just her arm.”
“You two are close, aren’t you?” I asked him. I knew what Akemi had told me about being all the other had left from our walk yesterday, but watching him nod and confirm it was somehow more endearing.
“She’s my rock,” Niji admitted with a dry laugh. “We both act like we’re hot shit, but at the end of the day, it’s just her and I leaning on each other.”
“She was truly amazing last night,” Kara told him. “She fought like hell.”
“That’s Akemi,” Niji smiled, “never backs down, even when the odds are against her.”
Akemi stirred but immediately fell back asleep. A peaceful look was glazed over her features, and I was grateful that if nothing else, she was able to rest easy for a couple of days. In the back of my head, I wondered if, once Akemi had stabilized some, I could convince Matt to let her, uh, borrow his regenerative powers for a while. Perhaps that would fix the damage done.
“How are you holding up?” Kara questioned as she watched Niji drum his fingers against the blanket. “Do you need anything?”
Niji shook his head as if that were an answer to her first question before continuing. “Thank you, but no. I’ll step out in a little bit to grab dinner and shower, but then I’ll come by here again.”
“You’re good to her,” Kara said softly as she held Akemi’s human hand in her own.
Niji hummed but said nothing else. I had a feeling he was overwhelmed with emotions and information and that he was barely holding himself together. My heart bled for him and his sister. They reminded me a little of Matt and Kristen in a way just because they were so close to and relied on one another, but also very different. At least Matt and Kristen still had a father, even if Ice Bringer was MIA. Niji and Akemi had no one else.
“We’ll come back to check on her, too,” I assured him as I motioned for Kara to follow me. “If you need anything in the meantime, let us know. Seriously.”
Niji stood and walked us out, as any gentleman would, and he bowed his head. “I appreciate it, Kara, Nick. I’ll tell you her that you both stopped by, too.”
“Thank you,” I said to him and extended my head, which he hesitantly took. I pulled him into a half hug and clapped his gently on the back. Before I pulled away, Niji mumbled something into my ear.
“You are just like him.”
I froze, but only for a moment, then nodded awkwardly. What was that supposed to mean? I brushed it off long enough for Kara lead the way out, and Niji again closed the door behind us. I pondered on his words as we walked quietly down the hallway and back out to the main lobby of the infirmary, where Leigh awaited us.
“Did you have a good visit?” she asked as she swung her legs back and forth from the stool.
“We did,” Kara smiled brightly at her, “thank you!”
“No problem!” Leigh waved again as we were leaving. “Come back soon!”
“‘You are just like him,’” I repeated.
“What?” Kara glanced at me from the corner of her eye as she texted someone, probably Andie.
“Niji told me that before I pulled away.”
Kara shrugged, and I frowned. When she realized I wasn’t satisfied with her nonverbal answer, she pursed her lips in thought then hummed.
“Maybe he means you’re like Inferno before he went crazy,” she offered. “He wasn’t always a bad guy, Nick. You know that. Maybe Niji was referring to what good remains of your dad.”
I considered her words, but I wasn’t convinced. I thought that part of my father had long since died, and a little part of me was hurt that he allowed others to still see that side of him, but not me. Still, at the end of the day, he was family.
“Maybe I am like him,” I admitted quietly.
Kara smiled and slipped her hand into mine, her phone forgotten as she pocketed it.
“Maybe you are.”
14
After our last visit to Teneheim, I made sure to keep up with the meditation and did my best not to let myself become bogged down with every single thing that was out of my hands. I hadn’t really thought much about it, but there was definitely some amount of pressure with having my father around this semester that was keeping me mentally weighed down. Maybe I was afraid that he was working under a guise, and that him trying to come back to the side of the heroes was a devious, deeply thought-out plot to overtake Alexandria finally and bring about the fall of Valcav. It sounded crazy the more I thought about it, but the little voice in the back of my head insisted that it was a possibility that could come to pass.
And that was what the meditation was for. If that were the case, then I needed to be able to let go of it, because it was out of my hands. I’ve reached time after time out to and pleaded with my father to see the good in things again, but if he was that far gone, then there was nothing I could do about it, and I needed to be okay with that.
It was with that in mind that I had opened my dorm room door at three o’clock in the morning to Judgment standing menacingly, arms crossed and looking rather annoyed with his brows knitted.
“Something troubling you?” I asked, still coming down from my meditation high, so to speak.
“It seems our good friend Diamond is up to some shenanigans again,” Judgment yawned. His movements were rather sluggish, perhaps bored even.
“Are we not so concerned?” I asked hesitantly. There didn’t seem to be any sort of urgency in his demeanor.
“Just get dressed, Gateon,” Judgment commanded.
I closed the door just enough to change into my uniform, then reappeared seconds later at his side to fetch Kristen. Knowing her, she was already dressed and ready to go thanks to her having a scanner.
When we arrived, she was ready, just as predicted, but she had a strange expression on her face. We were already several steps away from her door when I asked her about it.
“Is
there really something going on? You both look strange.”
Kristen shot me a bored look but then realized that I was serious. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
“You’ve heard that Diamond is kind of a joke, right?” She stifled a yawn as she asked, but I nodded all the same. “Well, he’s locked himself in an ice cream parlor down in the Peridot district.”
I nearly tripped over my own two feet at that. “What?”
“It is as she says, Gateon,” Judgment confirmed.
“But… why?” I looked between them hoping for some kind of logical answer.
This was a joke. It had to be. This was some elaborate scheme set up by my father for some unholy reason because there was no way that some fat bastard with gemstone body armor was holed up in some ice cream parlor at three o’clock in the fucking morning.
And yet the silence that followed after my question only confirmed that this was in fact not a drill and was absolutely serious.
“What the shit?” I groaned and smacked a hand over my face. “What is wrong with him?”
“I have been asking myself the same question for years, Nicholas,” Judgment answered with about as much strain as I was feeling. “Nonetheless, this is something that local police cannot handle on their own.”
“Why is that?” I frowned, already unimpressed with the entire situation. “It’s just an ice cream parlor. If there are no innocents endangered, take the collateral damage and capture the idiot.”
Kristen snorted with laughter. “It isn’t that simple, unfortunately. The Peridot district is almost entirely made of brick buildings and wooden doors. It’s the oldest part of Alexandria’s history. Those buildings are built like fortresses.”
“Then how the hell did he get inside?” I asked curiously. The more I heard about the situation, the more confused I was. Amused, but very, very confused.
“That’s the question, no one knows,” Kristen added. “That in of itself is a mystery.”
“I am so tired of mysteries,” I moaned as I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. I just wanted to go back to my room and meditate, or sleep. Sleep sounded good right about now.