by Danny Bell
“You’re right,” I conceded. “It’s just that, I have everything I could want in this moment. The sun is perfect, no one is trying to kill us, and I’m doing hero shit with my best friend. Everything is wonderful and I’m not afraid. So, why do I feel guilty?”
“Nope, you’re not doing this today.” Olivia’s words were not exactly harsh, but definitive. “The world doesn’t need you fighting nonstop. If you can’t enjoy five minutes of quiet in the park before this day inevitably turns south, you’re not going to last. Save the angst for when you need it, you know? That’s why you brought us here, right?”
I blinked at the question. “What do you mean?”
“Come on. New York, in a superhero world? Problem solvers absolutely surround you, and frankly, they’re all better equipped to handle things here than the two of us combined. If there was somewhere you could relax, this is it. We don’t really need to be investigating this.”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” I admitted.
“See?” Olivia smiled, sliding on her sunglasses. “You’re smarter than you think and almost as smart as I look. So, let’s do something fun while we can. What is it you’ve always wanted to do over here?”
I mulled it over. There were a lot of answers, but most of them weren’t appropriate. “We have to be careful here. It’s not my first time in an Always comic, but I’ve never made a splash in the story, so I’m still pretty much good to come and go as I please. I’d rather not screw that up for an afternoon with The Impossibles.”
“Is that a team or something?” Olivia asked.
I nodded. “Of super scientists, yeah, but let’s not meet them.”
“So, then what are we doing?” she pressed. “You know this place better than most people who live here. What’s good?”
I had it. Something tasty and entirely drama free. “Pizza. Gigantic Sal’s. Slices as big as your head.”
“I can eat. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Olivia asked, standing up and patting me on the shoulder. “Which way?”
Given that New York was huge, and I’d seen almost none of it, there was no way for me to know any better than her, but that didn’t stop me from guessing. The sidewalk path at the bottom of our hill ran in two directions, and I figured both ways would lead out of the park eventually, at which point we could just ask for directions. We were going east. Or west. Presumably.
It was a pleasant stroll, as far as strolls went. When we encountered a particularly adorable squirrel, I had to remind Olivia of our “no pictures” rule. Even something as harmless as a squirrel was still evidence of where we were, and at best, we’d have to explain how it was we were in New York if someone ever recognized a tree or something. At worst, we might have a Gardener or something else waiting for us the next time we took a trip. Memories would have to be enough.
“So then, theoretically, how does this work?” Olivia asked as we followed the path. “If you can get back here earlier than you arrived, does that mean that, if you waited around long enough, you could meet yourself?”
I blew out a breath and felt my eyes widen involuntarily. “Big question. Hell if I know. I’m definitely not stupid enough to try it, though. Feels like some Bill and Ted stuff.”
A thought hit me that, not so long ago, questions like that were enough to send me into the sort of panic that hid me from the world. Now, I was getting better at the idea of just not thinking about it if I didn’t have to.
“Well, someone has to have tried it, right?” Olivia continued.
I actually had an answer for this one. “Maybe not. I’m a savant, right? There’s not many of us. Even the people who can travel don’t always do it since the Knowing is so dangerous. I don’t know for sure what makes me better at this than most, but maybe when other people get to a world like this, their access is a bit more limited than mine. We got our ability to travel from Lucia, best that I can tell. Maybe everyone did? Maybe not? Like I said, lots I don’t know.”
The answer seemed to frustrate Olivia and, behind her sunglasses, I saw her brow crinkle. “Well, what about when someone wants to follow you here? Why couldn’t they—?”
A shriek, not quite a scream, interrupted Olivia’s question and I froze. I gripped my friend’s arm without thinking, and her hand shot up to meet mine.
“Down there,” I whispered, motioning to a hill that led under a small bridge.
In unison, the two of us crept to the edge of the slope and peered over. About ten feet down the hill, a woman in her thirties with copper brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and wearing workout clothes was being menaced by two men in baggy clothes that looked like they hadn’t met water in months. Also, their greasy hair. And presumably their armpits if that body odor was any indication. Okay, just two guys seemingly allergic to water.
“I thought this was supposed to be a nice world!” Olivia hissed back at me.
“It’s a comic book world, of course there’s crime! You just made that point!” My reply was laced with frustration, though I hadn’t meant for Olivia to be the target.
She took a breath to steady herself before she spoke again. “Fine. How are you handling this?”
I put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. “Maybe we don’t.”
“What?”
“I’m not saying this to be heartless. You said it yourself. This is a comic book world. Someone might be coming along any second to take care of this.” I had my doubts of how convincing I was just then given that I wasn’t entirely behind the idea myself. Might be coming along just might get someone killed, but again, the ripples and whatnot.
Just then, one of the men pulled a switchblade and slowly advanced on the woman as his partner spoke. “Your money or your life, doll. We ain’t asking twice.”
I’d almost forgotten how corny comic book dialogue could be.
“Yeah, okay, maybe not,” I admitted.
“Let me,” Olivia said, and I put my hands up in surrender.
This might be a good test. Since Olivia had gained her access to magic, she’d had plenty of practice, but not much in the way of practical application. Meaning, thankfully, she hadn’t had to fight a lot of monsters. Now faced with the prospect of getting the drop on a couple of muggers, she didn’t hesitate. I was about to warn her to be careful, for their sakes more than hers, but there was no time. She was already working with what she had.
In the time we’d been training, it was evident that, magically speaking, Olivia was a powerhouse, which meant that if I needed to evocate the hell out of something, she’d be my first call. Olivia made my evocations, my ability to conjure elemental bursts and such, look like trash. The other side of that coin, unfortunately for us both, was that she had all the finesse of a heavily concussed Thor trying to recite Shakespeare. I didn’t know if this imaginary Thor was the comic book variety or the mythology one, I was using my imagination here. It wasn’t entirely Olivia’s fault, she had never asked for access to magic, but she wasn’t the type to study and figure these things out. I was a reader, our friend, Ann, was a troubleshooter, and Olivia was just impatient.
Still, maybe with live subjects, it might be different. Perhaps she’d show a little restraint when it counted. Or perhaps I’d agreed to let my friend cave in a couple of heads and would have to deal with our shared trauma over that for the next six months. Oh right, yes, I just remembered. This is a terrible idea.
“Actually, maybe I could just—” I tried.
“No,” Olivia hissed at me. “Are you going to trust me or what?”
Hard to argue with that. Maybe I could just keep an eye on her. She has this, right?
I could feel the power effortlessly rise up in Olivia, swelling in her like a tsunami. Maybe if she tried to use magic words, she wouldn’t waste all of it. The suddenness of it all made my stomach drop, and I couldn’t help but be a tiny bit afraid. There was the god-tier power, Freyja and Abarta, and they’ve hardly showed me a thing. Then you had people like Bres, also not
entirely human, so it was what it was. Just below that, you had Olivia; someone who was just as human, frail and finite as the rest of us, and somehow, she had a well of magic that might as well have been the Grand Canyon. The others were entirely unnatural, but her? With her, it was raw power as organic as it could be and, it was for that reason, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to her using it.
She reached out with her will, and a pillar of earth rose out of the ground as a stone ripped away from its peak effortlessly, crashing against the skull of one of the muggers. I gasped and had to remind myself that the laws of the universe worked differently here. In our world, having a chunk of a stone dropped on your head like that meant a concussion or worse. This being a comic book world, getting knocked out was just something you could walk away from. Sort of how getting exposed to radiation in my world gave you cancer, not superpowers. When in Rome, I guess.
All the same, it was a fun spell to watch. When it came to evocations, I was something of a jack of all trades, with fire being a personal favorite. Olivia seemed to take to earth-based evocations. I, at least, had to give thought to how casting fire might work. Whenever Olivia cast earth magic, it was like she’d just always known it. Given that we’ve faced off against a thousand-year-old sorcerer who had the same specialties last year, I would’ve hoped for her to have taken a different lesson away from that nightmare, but I guess not.
The man who remained standing, the one with the knife, looked around wildly, trying to figure out what had happened to his friend, while the woman suddenly looked relieved. She probably felt like she’d just won the superhero lottery.
“What did I say about magic words?” This time it was my turn to hiss. Olivia is once again impatient and bad at following directions, why am I not surprised?
“Not now,” she said, waving me off. Standing at the top of the slope, she called out to the would-be attacker with barely controlled anger. “Hey! Drop the knife or you’re next.”
Maybe comic book worlds made our dialogue corny as well? Should I call someone an evildoer? Seems like a rare opportunity.
All eyes turned to Olivia and, before anyone could say anything, the ground began to quake. The mugger and woman below us did their best to keep their footing. To my horror, an unnatural sinkhole opened under the unconscious mugger, terrifying in its speed, spread until he vanished beneath the earth. I was afraid of something like this. Olivia is stronger than most, but she’s worse about keeping her cool than I ever was. That much power, that little self-control. Maybe even just the righteous anger of seeing someone close to harm. Something triggered her, and it was about to kill someone. And I’m the one who asked her to give it a whirl. I did this.
“What the hell are you doing?” I nearly screamed at Olivia, moving to stop her.
“This isn’t me!” she shouted defensively as she stared at the widening hole. The remaining attacker yelped and tried to move away, only to be pulled into the hole by the briefest flash of a pale hand.
“This way! Now!” My shout at the jogger came just in time, as something seemed to click, and she scrambled up the slope. She flung herself at us, her arms outstretched, and Olivia and I moved to yank her up as the quaking stopped. The peace lasted only a moment before I saw the reality of what was before us: A dozen or so such holes had opened all over the park, and from them, numerous humanoid creatures began to emerge. All of them bone white with oversized dark eyes, none more than three feet tall. Exactly like the one I’d seen in the comic. And the one from back home.
The jogger made a sound like she was searching for words. I found them for her. “You’re a runner, right? Time to run.” To her credit, she didn’t need to hear me say it twice.
“And what are we going to do?” Olivia asked, eyes darting between the hole and me. “We’re not running too, are we?”
I glanced down at the ominous pit before answering. “Would it make it any better if I called it racing?”
I didn’t give her time to argue as we rushed down the path towards the edge of the park. After about two or three minutes at an all-out sprint, and with my friend maintaining a steady pace and controlled breathing, it was obvious that Olivia was keeping up with her cardio far better than me. I ducked off the path into an area dense with brush. When I stopped, exhausted chills that only come with being completely out of breath shivered through me. If this had been anything more than a warm-up for my friend, she certainly didn’t show it. For the sake of my pride, I decided to blame my current exhaustion on my coat and bookbag.
“Are we clear? Are we going to fight them? What’s the deal?” Olivia, judging frown and all, seemed to be searching my eyes for answers.
I held up a finger to indicate I needed a moment. My wheezing might’ve also indicated that.
“Dude, you really need to get in shape. This isn’t super heroic. You’re twenty-six and the least healthy person I know.”
“What about Bard?” I panted.
“His name is Jeff, and he benches two-fifty.”
That was honestly a bit surprising. “Really? Dang.”
“Haven’t you been training with Chalsarda?”
I had, but, you know, off and on. I get busy. I swallowed hard and tried my new excuse out for a test drive. “It’s the coat,” I gasped before remembering the other half of the excuse. “And the bag.”
Olivia looked unconvinced. “I know this isn’t the first time you’ve had to run away from something. How are you still alive?”
“Don’t worry; I’m still dead on the inside.”
“No, you’re not. You’re sunny as hell,” she deadpanned. “All full of light and warmth.”
“And sometimes gas,” I wheezed under my breath. My friend waited patiently for me to find my wind. “Right, okay. Good. We’re going home.”
“Just like that?” Olivia asked skeptically. “There’s monsters or whatever. Isn’t saving people sort of what we do now?”
“We did save someone,” I corrected. “The jogger. And now we’re done.”
Olivia shook her head. “I’m confused.”
“No waves, right?” I asked. “Look, this is the sort of thing that can just happen here. It probably happens every Tuesday. And here in this world, it happened in New York. Not some flyover state, but New York where all the superheroes are. It’s fine. This place is about to be swarmed by people coming to save the day. If we get involved, we become part of the story. We came to find out more about those mole people, and we did. If those things become a bigger problem back home, we’ll be better equipped to handle them.”
Olivia gave me a look like she suspected I was a shapeshifter. I mean, I understand why. Everyone looks at me like the lunatic who rushes in headfirst all the time, but I really am trying to be more responsible and not just throw fire at everything. This might not have been the best place to explain all of that.
“Give me a minute,” I said. “I’ll need at least that to take us home anyway. We don’t see a superhero; we run in and save the day. Promise.”
To my relief and Olivia’s, we didn’t need to wait even half of that before a dozen superheroes descended on the park. I was still catching my breath by the time the Avatars of Justice arrived and in absolutely no shape to be action packed. Olivia and I sat back and watched the show for another few minutes before I took us home. Gigantic Sal’s would have to wait.
Chapter Two
Traveling as much as I have has made me a better planner. Returning from my dimension-hopping jaunts always made me feel like I hadn’t eaten in days, and we’d discovered the same for Olivia. Before the trip, I had laid out a variety of snack options and, while I’d tried to go healthy with the veggie tray, I didn’t stop myself from leaving out a sleeve of Oreos too. I was loading up plates for the both of us when I asked the question that I knew I needed to ask.
“It’s different when you see it up close, isn’t it?”
Olivia took a moment to answer. She was intentionally not looking at me, and it was moments like
this, the kind where you see someone clearly, that I wished I’d blinked or been distracted by a spider or something. Best you can do in these moments is convince yourself you didn’t see it. We were safely back in her home now, all danger behind us. Olivia sat on her couch, looking out into the backyard where Chalsarda looked to have nearly trained Ann and Jason into exhaustion. I didn’t envy them.
“I just didn’t expect you to run away.”
“Oh, I run away all the time!” I laughed sardonically. Olivia gave me a sideways look, and I relented a little. “Look, yeah. I’ll fight whatever; it’s the dumbest thing about me, but when I ran away earlier, it wasn’t because I was afraid. It’s because there was nothing left to save there. We got that woman to safety and, short of jumping to our deaths, there was nothing we could do for those two creeps who tried to mug her. Beyond that, use your eyes. What did you really see?”
Olivia looked annoyed at the question but made an attempt to answer it regardless. “Mole people invasion? They killed a couple of dudes? I don’t know.”
“Did you, though?” I asked. “Yeah, they were probably mole people, but we don’t know what they were. We don’t know if they grabbed that one guy to eat him or make sure he didn’t fall in after his friend. Maybe this is how they get to the surface because they don’t know a better way. We did the right thing pulling that woman up, but if we’d just declared war on an underground civilization without knowing more than we did? Who knows how bad it would have gotten? There and here. Besides, we were surrounded by superheroes. That was their deal, not ours.”