‘I… Okay. New Millennium City. Uptown. Seventh and Stephanopoulos.’
‘Right.’ Cygnus pulled Miss Liberty to her feet, wrapped an arm around Astraea’s waist, and took off. Debris sprayed out from around her as she hit Mach five in less than a second and headed for New Millennium City.
New Millennium City, MD.
The apartment block was right on the corner of the two streets. It was fifteen storeys tall and fairly modern, lots of glass and concrete as was the case with much of Uptown. Only the top-floor apartments had balconies. The one Miss Liberty directed them to was a little more sparsely furnished than the others: there was a wooden table with chairs around it for eating outside and a single sun lounger with a tarp draped over it. Thinking of Miss Liberty’s invisibility trick, Cygnus shielded all three of them from sight as she flew in and landed on the balcony, immediately lifting Miss Liberty into her arms and heading for the French windows.
‘Bedroom,’ Miss Liberty said, her voice barely above a whisper. ‘Door on the right.’
They had walked into a lounge which also seemed sparsely furnished, or maybe furnished in a way that left plenty of space. There was a dining table off to one side, two easy chairs spaced oddly in front of a TV set mounted on the wall. There were a lot of framed images on the walls around the room, mostly science fiction and fantasy, a couple of film posters. Cygnus marched through the indicated door into the bedroom and immediately figured out why the furniture seemed oddly placed.
The bed was a double, but there was a single woman lying on it. She looked a lot like she had been in a car accident, a really bad car accident: there were bruises over every piece of visible skin and blood was trickling from her nose. She was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, which let you get the full impression of how thin her legs were. She was not a big girl, maybe five-foot-six and thin, but there was almost no muscle tone in her legs while her arms and shoulders showed more development. Her hair was short and dark with the tips dyed red, her eyes were hazel, and she had an angular sort of face with an upturned nose and slightly thinned lips. If the legs were not enough of a clue, there was a wheelchair sitting beside the bed.
‘Heal her,’ Miss Liberty said. ‘You have to heal her.’ And then she just vanished right out of Cygnus’s arms.
There was a groan from the bed and the unknown woman opened her eyes. ‘Oh… Oh God, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.’ She started to try to lift herself up onto her elbows, but Astraea was there to stop her.
‘Keep still,’ Astraea said. ‘You can explain what’s going on in a minute.’ She laid her hand on the woman’s bare arm and focused her power. This time, it worked.
The woman gasped as the purple bruising vanished. ‘Wow! That feels so much better. I could do handstands!’ She blushed, glancing at her chair. ‘Uh, obviously not really. I-I’m Chantelle, Chantelle Morris.’
‘And you’re Miss Liberty,’ Cygnus said. ‘Or… You created Miss Liberty somehow. She’s like a mental construct or something. Right?’
‘Something like that. Well, exactly like that. Miss Liberty was this OC I developed. Just as a personal project. And then… one day she was real.’
‘OC?’ June asked.
‘Original character,’ Cygnus supplied. ‘You’re an artist? Author?’
‘Artist,’ Chantelle replied.
‘That explains the artwork in the lounge,’ Astraea said. ‘So, you get visions of something bad happening, you go to sleep, and Miss Liberty appears?’
‘Yes, but I go to sleep and wake up as Miss Liberty. It’s really me out there, just in a body that can lift cars instead of one which can’t stand up unaided.’ Chantelle pushed herself toward the edge of the bed where her chair was.
‘I know it’s a little crass to offer,’ Cygnus said, ‘but do you want some help?’
Chantelle opened her mouth to say no, and then frowned. ‘You know, just this once, I’m going to say yes. Astraea’s magic works wonders, but I still feel like a building fell on me five minutes ago.’
‘More like fifteen, but who’s counting.’ Stepping forward, Cygnus scooped Chantelle off the bed with no effort at all and set her into the chair. It was a fairly modern electric affair with well-padded seat and back. Chantelle flicked a switch on the arm and pushed a stubby joystick forward, and the chair glided away around the bed.
‘Come on. I’d imagine you have questions, and I need a coffee.’
‘I wouldn’t say no to some coffee,’ Astraea said as she headed for the door. She reached up to pull her wig off as she went and was taking off the hairnet beneath it by the time she was walking into the little kitchen with its lowered work surfaces.
‘Oh!’ Chantelle exclaimed when she saw June standing there in a plastic swimsuit. ‘Wait, I know you. You’re June Summerfield.’ She paused, blushing again. ‘Which, thinking about it, should have been more obvious than it was, because you’re Cygnus’s girlfriend.’
‘Correct on both counts,’ June said. ‘I got powers when Naryan Tan’s ship exploded. You got them when Captain Freedom lost his.’
‘Yeah. Soon after anyway. I’m still not sure how that happened.’
‘Well, you got them because the national collective subconscious wanted a new national hero. They lost faith in him, but they needed someone else. Why you…’
‘I’m guessing,’ Cygnus said, ‘but if Chantelle had already created a suitably patriotic heroine, the collective subconscious latched onto that character and allowed Chantelle to make her real.’ She tapped a calendar hanging on the kitchen wall and grinned. ‘Not surprised you recognised June.’
Chantelle was blushing again. ‘They’re for good causes. And I told you I was a fan when we first met, remember?’
‘I do. But be careful, June is very good at recruiting for those calendars.’
‘I am,’ June agreed, ‘but I’m not sure about getting the national heroine nude in a swamp. That’s really beside the point. We have adequately determined that Miss Liberty is not invulnerable, especially around massive explosions. I don’t think we can have you rushing to these things on your own.’
‘But–’
‘No buts. We’ll get you an earpiece. When you get a vision, you can signal Denny and she’ll alert us to the situation. Cygnus can be there as fast as you can. Almost. She has to change. I guess you just appear in full costume.’
‘Pretty much. I guess I could take the earpiece with me when I go out. Keep in touch on things like this. I mean, Miss Liberty is the “official national hero,” but Cygnus is too. Sort of.’
‘Except that if the mayor’s office knew how to get in touch with you, they’d be busy setting up a ball to welcome you to the city,’ Cygnus said. ‘And they’ve never even considered doing that for any of the other heroes, as far as we know.’
‘Like the one they did for Captain Freedom? I did think that was a bit… tactless.’
‘You’re not the only one,’ June said.
‘Well, I’m not interested. Um, there is one thing. I kind of got tossed into this without any warning. I have hardly any idea what I’m doing and, well, given my condition, I have no idea how to fight. I can put my fist through a wall. I need–’
‘Training,’ June said. ‘I know exactly where you’re coming from.’
‘Sort of,’ Cygnus said. ‘Andrea and I had been teaching you some basic unarmed combat for a while before you got super-strength. We just worked harder. I guess we can help you. Come over to our place tomorrow. In whatever shape you like. We’ll introduce you to Andrea and set up some sort of training schedule.’ She paused, looking thoughtful. ‘I wonder what happened with Jacob?’
There was a wall clock in the kitchen and June looked at it. ‘By now, Andrea’s probably beaten him soundly and dragged him into the shower in their apartment.’
‘Yeah,’ Cygnus said, nodding. ‘That sounds about right.’
~~~
‘Chantelle Morris?’ Andrea asked. ‘I know that name. She does concept art,
mostly. She’s done a few book covers and film posters, but she mostly does concept art for video games and films.’
‘Well, if you’ve got anything you want signing,’ Cygnus said, ‘she’ll be coming here to learn how to hit people.’
‘Maybe we should start charging for our time. Are you aiming to teach her Capoaira?’
‘I guess. She can fly. Once she’s learned to control her strength, it’ll be someone else for June to spar with. Maybe we should talk to Master Niigaki for some tips on teaching martial arts.’
June smirked. ‘Speak in a bad Japanese accent and hit people a lot.’
‘I’m sure there’s more to it than that.’
‘Maybe, but that’s all he seems to do with us.’
28th April.
‘I am tracking a cosmic energy source moving in this direction,’ Denny announced. ‘It is a strong source and appears to have no visible object associated with it.’
‘That’ll be her,’ Penny said, getting up from the sofa and starting for the door.
‘You’re going like that?’ Andrea asked. She was also getting up, but she was going to change into her working outfit, minus the boots.
‘I know who she is. I think we can trust her.’
‘Your choice.’
Miss Liberty became visible as she came in to land in front of the house. She saw Penny standing there in the doorway and frowned. ‘I’m, uh, looking for Cygnus.’
‘And you found her,’ Penny replied. ‘I’m a little like you. My alter ego looks a lot different from the one the public know.’
‘Oh. Cool. Um, you knew I was coming?’ Miss Liberty walked over to the door and Penny stepped back to let her in.
‘Denny’s sensors are a little more high-tech than your average system. She can detect and track cosmic energy. She couldn’t see you on standard radar, but she could still track you.’
‘Denny? Astraea mentioned the name, but–’
‘Good afternoon, Miss Liberty,’ Denny’s voice said from the hall speakers. ‘I am Denny, the house computer. I was originally the computer for a spaceship and my technology is far above the average for this planet.’
Miss Liberty’s eyes widened. ‘An AI? Oh, wow. That’s… Wow.’
‘Thank you,’ the computer responded.
‘Come on,’ Penny said, leading the way through into the lounge.
Andrea was just walking out of her rooms, dressed for combat practice. ‘June’s already gone up,’ she said. ‘And hello, Miss Liberty. I’m Andrea Morgan, or Twilight, whichever takes your fancy. I’m the dark, shadowy one.’
‘The scary one,’ Miss Liberty said.
Andrea grinned. ‘Because I choose to be. Cygnus is plenty scary when she’s miffed. She took on a Leviathan-class and a small army, solo, in China.’
‘Well, you have most of Churchton’s criminal element scared of their shadows, according to ACPN.’
‘And yet they still try it on when they think I’m not looking.’
‘No one ever accused criminals of an overabundance of brains,’ Penny said as she walked out of one of the bedrooms, naked and holding one of her Cygnus suits.
‘Uh, you’re naked,’ Miss Liberty said. There was almost certainly no blood in her body, since it was composed of pure energy, but her cheeks still coloured.
‘You’ve seen lady bits before,’ Penny replied. She dropped her suit onto a sofa and changed. There was a sort of blurring of Penny into Cygnus over about a second, and then Cygnus was standing there in all her glory. She reached for her suit. ‘At first, if I was wearing anything when I changed, it got shredded,’ Cygnus explained. ‘I’ve got a lot better at doing it, but there’s still a substantial size difference. If I was wearing Penny’s clothes when I changed, I’d burst all the seams. That kind of thing gets expensive.’
‘I guess so. Um, how are we going to do this? You’re going to teach me how to fight, but–’
‘We have a plan,’ Andrea said. ‘Ultimately, you’ll be learning a martial art invented by Cygnus’s old boyfriend. It’s the one she uses, and it’s designed for use by flyers. You’ll practise with me, Cygnus, and June. Maybe with my boyfriend, Frostburn.’
‘But first,’ Cygnus went on, ‘we want to know how powerful you are, and you need to learn to control your strength in combat. I’m guessing that if you hit the average human with everything you’ve got, you’ll put your fist right through them.’
‘That’s… probably true,’ Miss Liberty said.
‘Let’s go measure your strength.’
~~~
‘She’s good,’ June commented as she watched Miss Liberty chase Cygnus through the obstacle course of suspended bars and hoops. ‘I think she’s better than me.’
‘Hyped up reflexes,’ Andrea replied. ‘She’s doing it all on instinct. With some training, she could be a lot better.’
‘And she can lift ninety thousand tons and hit really hard. Why didn’t Cygnus get her to do a full-force punch?’
‘Because she’d have broken the machine,’ Cygnus called down.
‘Her baseline punch was on a scale with her baseline deadlift,’ Andrea explained. ‘We’re assuming her punches scale with her lifting capacity. Basically, she could punch her way through Denny’s force screen without too much effort.’
‘You’re good,’ Miss Liberty said as she followed Cygnus down onto the mats.
‘With some practice,’ Cygnus replied, ‘you’ll be just as good. I think I can see a few things which you can improve, but I think our main focus is going to need to be on basic combat techniques.’
‘Yeah,’ Andrea said. ‘Pardon the phrasing, but you punch like a girl. A girl with excellent coordination who’s able to hit like a crashing jet, but a girl all the same.’
‘Just to play Devil’s advocate,’ Miss Liberty said, ‘isn’t that good enough?’
‘Frequently,’ Andrea replied. She stepped out into the middle of the mat and trails of shadow began to form around her legs. ‘However, hit me.’
‘I might hurt you.’
‘I’m betting you won’t. And June’s there if you do.’
‘Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ Stepping forward, Miss Liberty drew her fist back and swung it in a long arc which would likely have knocked Andrea’s face to the back of her head, if Andrea had not taken a single step back. Frowning, Miss Liberty stepped in again, her fist swinging. Andrea ducked under the blow. The same thing happened again, and again, until the national avatar let out a frustrated roar and threw a massive punch, light flaring around her fist as it moved. This time, Andrea pulled her shadows up around her, vanishing into the darkness, and Miss Liberty’s fist slipped through the column of black without hitting anything.
‘Enough,’ Andrea called from the darkness. ‘That’s enough. Do you see my point?’
‘I couldn’t even lay a hand on you,’ Miss Liberty grumbled.
‘And you got frustrated and threw a punch that could level the building, which we’re going to need to work on.’ The shadows fell away, revealing Andrea again. ‘But you were making it easy for me. I could see your punches coming a mile away. Now, I’m basically just a street fighter, a brawler. If you’d been up against someone trained in judo or something like that, they’d have been tossing you about like a rag doll. I doubt they’d hurt you that way, but it would be horribly embarrassing. If I’d had my sword and I meant it, I could have whittled away at your strength until you dropped from cold and exhaustion.’
‘You just have some bad habits you need to get rid of,’ June said. ‘I had to do exactly the same. I was swinging away, thinking all that build-up meant I hit harder, and it just made it easier to avoid my punches. Plus, yeah, you need to learn not to get angry.’
‘Oh, she can get angry,’ Andrea said. ‘Sometimes that’s good. But you can’t let it rule your tactics, and you can’t let it push you into accidentally killing someone.’
‘I don’t want to do that, no,’ Miss Liberty said.
‘No, I didn’t think you would. If you’re going to kill someone, you should do it on purpose.’
Eddyville, IL, 29th April.
Heather was feeling somewhat despondent, if she cared to admit it. She had spent two and a half days driving between small towns and finding no evidence of Jolene Beck anywhere. She had never once got the impression that anyone was hiding the girl; no one had recognised her picture, she had not been there, and it was as simple as that.
‘So much for being lucky,’ she grumbled as she drove south on the 145. Her stomach chose that moment to add its own grumble just as she saw a sign for a restaurant along with the sign for the settlement it was in, Eddyville. It was two in the afternoon and she had not had lunch yet. ‘Okay, so I eat.’ She took the turn and not long after she was pulling off into the parking lot of a low building which looked like it was more bar than restaurant. If it served food, that would be fine.
Inside, the place was a little rough and ready. There was a deer’s head over the bar, along with various beer signs and some shelves with bottles on. The bar itself was built of whatever wood had been available, as far as Heather could tell, and had aluminium siding as a facing. There was a menu on the bar, however, and Heather glanced over it with growing enthusiasm. Okay, so the place looked like it was run by a family where everyone married their cousins, but the menu looked good.
‘What can I get you?’ The woman behind the bar gave the impression of being able to bench-press cars, and ‘get’ came out as ‘git.’ She was dressed in a checked shirt and jeans. The sleeves on the shirt were rolled up and stretched around beefy biceps. Blonde hair was yanked back into a severe ponytail.
‘You do coffee?’ Heather asked.
‘We do coffee.’
‘Great. Biggest mug of that you’ve got and, uh, do I order at the table or here?’
‘I can take your order.’
‘Okay…’ Heather scanned the menu and then looked up. ‘If I ask for a recommendation, are you going to pick the most expensive thing on the menu, or give me what’s best?’
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