by Drew Hayes
Helen was taking no chances, though. Raising a child through toddlerhood had taught her the power of persistent gab, especially letting loose questions and refusing to be ignored. She wasn’t quite as bad as Penelope in her prime, but Helen could force a conversation to stay afloat when needed, especially if it meant keeping someone mentally active. Having Tori out this far into the labyrinth was dangerous enough. If she started making poor judgment calls, it could lead to injury or worse. That wasn’t going to happen. Helen would make sure it didn’t. This was simply the easiest method of doing so, for the time being.
“—and then he lets his friend go, watching him paddle off into the fifty-year storm, knowing he probably won’t come back. Throws his badge into the waves as he fades from sight. Seriously, you have to look this one up when we get out of here. True classic. It got me into surfing for a solid five-year stint.”
“I’ll add it to the list,” Tori replied, tone and words both a bit stiff. Helen had been going hard on Multerion movies for the last hour, veering between ones Tori knew about and far more varied fare. While the topic had started out promising, based on that reaction, it was probably time to switch things up. The chatter wasn’t as effective unless it flowed in both directions.
Well… if she wanted to make sure Tori’s brain was active and aware, there was a topic she could skirt around that was sure to raise the woman’s hackles. It felt a tad like cheating, using her Lodestar knowledge as Helen, but with careful wording, she saw a way forward.
“Let me know how you like it. I’ve nagged my coworkers enough that I doubt they’ll ever give it a real shot. Oh, hey, speaking of coworkers, did you happen to know a man named Donald Moss? The superhero called Cyber Geek?” Conversational subtlety was not a skill Helen particularly cared about utilizing, unless it was absolutely necessary. Sometimes boldness was more effective, anyway.
Like a jolt, Tori’s entire body straightened. She really needed to work on that. Had Helen not already known the full story, it would have been a deeply suspicious reaction. Slowly, Tori turned, a forced calm on her face that probably would have been more convincing if she’d had a touch more energy to spare toward acting. “What brought that to mind?”
“Coworkers, sort of,” Helen explained. “I know Ivan used to manage him, prior to the career change, so I thought you two might have been acquainted. Had to ask—I mean, how many people know an actual superhero?”
“At this point, I know too many.” Tori seemed surprised by her own slip of the tongue, hastily recovering as best she could. “After my kidnapping, I got a protective detail put around me, met a few of the capes doing the work. But yeah, I know Donald, too. He was a friend before his change, and we tried to keep that alive afterward.”
“Tried?” That was news to Helen, and Cyber Geek wasn’t the stoic sort. If a friendship had broken, he’d likely have worn some visible reaction around the base.
Shoving her way through a dense patch of undergrowth, Tori spared a few moments to form a rough shrug. “Not like we had a big cursing fight and vowed to stop being buds… lately I’ve been realizing more and more that our lives are heading in different directions. Cyber Geek is going to be a big name one day, and I’ll still cheer for him from the sidelines. Just not sure how much longer our worlds will overlap.”
To Helen, the hardest feat in the universe was to see someone hurting, be able to help, and simply not. Fornax’s life was built upon blood, but Lodestar’s foundation was one of loss. Too many times, she’d been unable to help. Too many failures, funerals, tears, and screams. It was what made her the Lodestar she was, and even without her powers in play, that instinct didn’t fade. She knew what Tori was saying, really saying. A villain and a superhero couldn’t be friends. It was a ludicrous notion—to someone in Tori’s position.
“If you’ll forgive an intrusion from someone who doesn’t know you all that well yet, don’t be so quick to give up. Life takes strange turns for everyone, sometimes doubling back in directions you’d never imagine. Whether you have overlap or not is a passing occurrence. A good friend, one you trust, who trusts you, and who you want in your life? That’s not something to throw away lightly. Even if the circumstances around you change, so long as you value one another, it is possible for a bond to endure.”
“Okay, seriously, how old are you?” Tori suddenly demanded. “That sounded like someone with a lot more experience than your face shows, even considering the slow aging.”
“Old enough to spot a change of topic when I see one.” Helen ducked under a branch, not actually bothered by the question. Tori was more engaged than she’d been during the movie talk, which meant she was also more alert. That was the victory Helen had been after in the first place. “Sorry, I don’t think I’m especially vain, but I’m still not giving out my age. A gal’s allowed a few secrets.”
Together, the pair broke through a tree line, only to spot a slight downward slope leading to more forest. There was a path they were following, choppy and thin as it could be at times. Where it was leading, and what would be waiting for them along the way, were mysteries yet to be discovered.
As artificial dawn rose overhead, light returned, making navigation easier, if not faster. Were Ivan running through this place, he’d have blown past them. Then again, he’d also have been forced to leave the kids. Slow, steady, and safe won the day for Helen over brash and reckless. She’d had too many chances to learn better.
“It’s not like I want to kick friends out of my life. I’ve never... I haven’t had the chance for many, the way my life has broken. Losing one, even by my own hand, sucks. But it’s probably best, in the long run.”
Safer, was what Tori really meant. Safer for Hephaestus, less chances to expose a secret. Safer for Cyber Geek, should her secret ever come out and their friendship turn into an anchor around his heels. Safer for Donald and Tori, because the stronger a friendship grew, the more it hurt when the long-buried truths finally came out.
Helen didn’t just know this story, she was exhausted of it.
“Who you love, trust, and let into your life is ultimately something only you can decide. But if you reject anyone who might cause things to get complicated or gums up whatever future roadmap you had in mind, it’s going to be a very lonely life to live. That’s a steep slope, deciding things are broken before they even have a chance to be tested.”
“It’s better to leave yourself vulnerable?” Tori was starting to get worked up, which was good for her energy levels, though not so great for keeping her focused. “You might have meta-human aging, but you’ve got no idea the kind of shit I’ve seen. I spent years hunkered in holes and hiding in shadows. I’ve seen plenty of what happens to those so free with their trust. Usually, it ends with them bleeding and screaming, if they’re lucky enough to still be alive.”
Helen’s heart broke as she looked at the fury and pain in Tori’s eyes. Though the young villain could have no way of knowing it, Helen had indeed witnessed those sights. When she was new, not yet fully using her abilities, it had been more frequent, but even now, there were times she was too late. Lodestar, for all her power, was still a single person. Even at her fastest, she couldn’t be everywhere. She couldn’t stop every crime, save every innocent—no matter how much the failures weighed upon her.
“Being vulnerable isn’t easy,” Helen agreed. “It’s why choosing who you trust is such a vital part of the process. But no matter how careful you are, mistakes will happen. Hurts, slights, maybe even betrayals. Nobody’s perfect, as a person or a friend. Knowing when to forgive, and how, is a vital part of making those relationships work. Because people can surprise you in good ways, too. You never really know what someone is capable of, who they are, all the way through. People can amaze and astound when given the chance.”
“I’m sure that’s good advice in a general sense, but this is more complicated than hearing Ivan bust a tune. For my situation, this is what’s best for all involved. I think it’s the way it has to be.�
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Through no fault of Tori’s, those final words made Helen’s jaw clench. She’d heard that phrase many a time in the early days, before she got comfortable in her role as a leader. “I don’t believe anything has to be a certain way. This is our world, built by the hands and desires of those who came before us. Now, it’s our turn. Whatever you see out there that you don’t like: change it. Who creates society if not the people in it? Who shapes this world if not its residents? This is your life, Tori. Your slice of existence. Who do you think has more control over it than you?”
“It’s not like I—” Tori was cut off by the long stone spike that shot up from the ground, narrowly missing her left foot. It rose ten feet into the air before stopping completely, reorienting, and slicing down toward Tori yet again. She dodged easily. With so much time to prepare, it was an easy move to make. The stone carved through the dirt, vanishing into the ground. Where it had burrowed, only a small mound remained.
Together, the pair looked ahead at the long stretch of grass and the countless small dirt mounds they were only now paying attention to. If each one represented a similar trap, they might be able to walk through without stepping directly on one. However, Helen hadn’t noticed a mound when Tori triggered the first. It was possible those merely represented entry points. The stone spikes were obviously able to navigate this place’s underground.
Meaning that any step could trigger an attack.
Eyeing the tree branches, Helen flexed her fingers. It had been a while since she needed to go hopping around. She’d never even heard the term parkour back when Helen was leaping building gaps and free-climbing old brick exteriors. Luckily, being Lodestar meant never getting rusty. With a running start, Helen hopped up, kicking off the nearest trunk, grabbing onto a thick branch before pulling to a squat. She could already see her next two jumps. After that, things would have to get more fluid and improvisational.
“Tori, you okay to fly?”
“Little worn out, but I can manage.” As proof, Tori was already halfway into fire form, having read the situation for herself. Helen couldn’t help noticing that the change was taking longer this time. Exhaustion was on Tori’s heels. Sooner or later, it would catch her.
But not yet. Tori’s hands formed fists before vanishing into pure flames, her whole body blazing as she lifted into the sky, careful to go high enough to avoid the treetops. Slow and steady was the way to go. They’d get through this one hurdle at a time.
Unfortunately, just as Helen watched Tori crest over the trees, the blast came. It was pure wind, from the looks of things. That was a new attack, which meant they were probably near the site of the next trial. It had been waiting in the air, so this whole area was meant to be a trap, no matter the route they picked. Given how Ivan favored his leaping techniques, preparing for aerial entry was smart, but it also meant the force was strong enough to theoretically knock an airborne Fornax off-balance. Since Tori’s mass was lightened for flight, and she hadn’t been prepared to counterblast, the attack shot her forward, well past their current section of forest and toward unknown threats.
Plans of slow and safe movement fell away as Helen accepted what she’d just seen. While she knew Tori to be capable, the younger woman was also running on fumes in a trap made with Fornax in mind. Whatever plans this place had for her were about to be dashed, however. Even if Ivan hadn’t asked Helen to watch over her, this wouldn’t stand. Tori wasn’t here as Hephaestus. She’d come as a normal civilian helping to plan a weekend. Even if that hadn’t been enough, she was part of Helen’s cluster, and Lodestar’s organization.
An innocent civilian was in peril, and Helen was close enough to see it. There was only one way that scenario could end. This was how she chose to shape the world—into a place where every cry for help carried with it the genuine hope and knowledge that somewhere out there, at least one person cared. For now, she ran, dropping off her perch and dodging the spikes as they leapt from ground. Hopefully, Helen could make it in time.
But if she couldn’t, then Lodestar would.
Chapter 85
It was some kind of vortex, near as Tori could figure. More than just wind, there were small objects being tossed about with her—small bladed ones, from the looks she could snag. Against a normal flying or jumping opponent caught in the wind, these would be a flurry of wounds slicing into one’s skin, a constant, unstoppable assault from all angles. Pitted against an intangible target, they were a minor distraction to steal her attention and complicate the process of descent.
The blast had shot her across the forest, above some massive stone circle that seemed to be generating the wind and the blades. That didn’t particularly explain how it was shooting wind toward itself. Her hunch was hidden remote stations that were used to create the effect—but being bounced around the sky made it tough to discern precise locations. She had to get low, there was no other choice, but she couldn’t manage a clean shot out of the vortex. As carefully as possible, Tori began to solidify parts of herself in bursts, temporarily increasing her weight. The wind could blow all it wanted, gravity always pulled in one direction.
Unfortunately, turning solid even in pieces left her vulnerable. A rogue blade caught her on a solidified shin, while another tore a piece from her shoulder. Nevertheless, Tori was making progress, slowly falling out of the wind’s grasp toward the waiting ground below. As she fell, she took a better look at the surroundings.
The forest ended a short way back, leaving only plains of fake grass leading up to the stone circle. Now that she was closer, Tori could see that it was actually several rings laid together, like someone had chopped a section out of a ridiculously oversized rock-redwood. The wind and blades seemed to be drifting up from the cracks between sections—hopefully, this whole thing was just one giant wind generator. Except this place was made with Fornax in mind, and while he did have the ability to fight and travel through the air, this sort of trap would be little more than an annoyance. Then again, wasn’t that the point of this entire labyrinth? Even the voice they’d heard hadn’t expected it to actually stop him—the whole thing was about sending a message.
Suddenly, the world turned more peaceful as Tori fell out of the wind’s grasp. She was below the swirling mass of air, only a few feet from the ground, and the moment was almost serene. Had she been better rested and fed, Tori’s sharp mind might have realized how precious such a place was and paused there momentarily before risking any additional movement. Sadly, the toll of her efforts was making itself known, and Tori dropped heavily to the ground, shifting back to human form as she took a dearly needed rest.
No sooner had her feet touched the ground than the noise started, of course. The grinding of stone was like a loud buzzer blaring at the sound of her mistake. In the air, she’d been caught up by happenstance. Landing had obviously tripped some sort of sensor, and having mass when she came down probably didn’t help. Part of Tori was glad that Helen had been left further back, even as she wished there was someone else around the help. Limited as that powerset was in terms of scale, Helen had proven adept with it. Still, this would be easier without having to worry about a semi-normal person to keep track of.
That was Tori’s thought until she saw the first huge stone leg rise from a rising section of the outermost ring. Ten feet long, with a square, unbalanced body following, along with four more multi-jointed legs. Worse, there wasn’t a scrap of greenery she could see on it, meaning that there would be little to burn. Way worse were the dozen other legs she saw exiting from around the ring. The last test had been designed to pit Fornax against one massive opponent. This time, it seemed one had to survive being overrun by what would be small fries to someone on his scale. With her suit, Tori felt she could have made a serious go of surviving this. Given her current condition, even escape would take some lucky breaks.
Rustling from behind her had Tori whipping around, fireballs already formed in her hand; however, there was no stealth force approaching from the rear. Instead
, she found the dashing form of Helen, who’d sprinted out from the tree line and was racing over. Tori’s heart fell to her stomach. This was too dangerous for the kind-hearted cluster leader. Even if Ivan hadn’t screamed his request across the sky, she liked Helen. Tori didn’t want to see her hurt, or worse, which was looking increasingly likely as more and more crawling cubes came up out of the ground. And that was only the first ring—there were still eight more to go.
“What are you doing?” Tori demanded as soon as Helen made it into earshot range. “Get the fuck out of here! Can you not see those things pouring out?”
The words appeared to catch Helen momentarily off guard, after which she reacted quite oddly. A warm smile was not what one expected in this kind of situation. “Tori, are you trying to put yourself between me and the danger?”
“I’m trying to do what Ivan asked and keep you safe,” Tori snapped, eyes darting over to the advancing stone troops. “Go around this area. I’ll handle it, but I need time. While I deal with these punks, you sneak ahead and try to find whatever mechanism will end all this. I might not even have to scrap all of them.”
It was bullshit, pure and simple. These things would overrun Tori in no time, and with the skies turned chaotic, she couldn’t snipe from the air, whatever good that would have done. At best, her fire form would protect her from their attacks, and she could keep them distracted enough for Helen to get away. The woman was shockingly capable. Maybe she actually would activate the exit before Tori’s stamina ran out. It was the best chance for everyone, including Ivan and Beth. Tori would figure out a way to survive somehow—it’s what she did. That’s what she told herself, anyway.
“You want to go charging into an army you’ve got no way to damage, just because of what Ivan said?” Helen was somehow unaffected by the advancing forces, the entirety of her focus still on Tori.
