by Simon Archer
I told myself that I still forgave him, still loved him on a deep, untouchable level. He was the guy who spoiled me rotten every birthday, and the one to comfort my every nightmare. I would always think of death-by-chocolate ice cream when he came to mind. His insistence that I was happy had ruled a good portion of my life. He didn’t just conquer the world because of what had happened to Mom, he did it because he wanted me to be safe. I knew that.
I also knew that he’d murdered Matt and Kristen’s mother in cold blood, had destroyed an entire city when they refused to bend their knees to him, and had nearly cost Kara her life when he’d sent one of his most powerful lieutenants to ‘test’ my progress. I’d watched him burn people alive with a single gesture.
Triton was right to encourage forgiveness, but Matt was right too. Maybe some people were simply beyond redemption. Brad had been utterly vile, and his intentions were still unclear.
I couldn’t lie to Matt and tell him what I wanted to. Instead, I relented with a sigh and admitted, “I’m not sure.”
Matt was content with that, and he and Kristen traded a look. A moment later, they both headed out of the building in silence. I watched their backs with a frown and glanced at the nurse.
“Thank you for your patience,” I said. “They’ve been through a lot of trauma at that jerk’s hands.” I thumbed back towards Brad’s door.
“You’re welcome, and I understand.” She bowed. “Still, you should keep encouraging your friends to move on and heal. Trust us, we have Mr. O’Connor safe and secure for the duration of his rehabilitation.” With that, she headed back down the hall.
As she did so, Aylin floated up next to me, biting her lip and looking as if she wanted to say something. I arched a curious eyebrow at her.
“Go ahead, Aylin, say whatever’s on your mind.”
It took a long moment before she did so, the hesitation plain in her eyes. “I… I am not sure, Starlight, but I think I may have seen something when Brad O’Connor began to speak.” When my eyes widened at that, she began to stutter. “I-- It is probably nothing though. It was only a m--momentary flash of energy. Perhaps just a small surge in the electrical systems. It is something I am sure you see all the time.”
The others had gathered around her by this point, and Andie giggled at that. “Aylin, I think you keep forgetting that we don’t have alien energy vision.”
“Oh, yes,” Aylin said with a tinge of what I took to be pity and embarrassment. She blushed a shade of darker purple and lowered her eyes. “My apologies, it was almost certainly that. I see such irregularities all the time with the primitive power grid you Terrans have. Never mind me.”
“Hey now,” I argued, “don’t be that way, Aylin.” I smiled at her as she looked back up at me. “We’re your friends, and even if it sounds like it’s stupid or nothing or whatever, you can always talk to us.”
Kara and Andie nodded in agreement while Eric bounced up to pat Aylin on the shoulder. “Yeah, they listen to me all the time and half the stuff I say is stupid!”
We all got a good laugh out of that and decided it was time to get the hell out of this strangely oppressive place. Still, even though Aylin was certain it was nothing, I’d let Triton and Gemma know about what she saw. They would make sure, and the important thing was that we all saw that Brad was really taken care of. As we made our way out of the building, I fell in step with my girls again. I slung my arms over their shoulders and kissed them both again.
“I need some levity after all that,” I insisted. “What’s on the agenda? We could head to the beach--”
“Too cold,” Kara interrupted. “Actually, I have a bit of a pickle to sort through.”
“Oh?”
We left the entrance to greet the roar of the falls nearby. They were magnetic, and instead of heading to a hover tram terminal, we found ourselves headed for the overlook to admire the natural beauty of the crashing water.
“Gemma isn’t happy with my fish tanks,” Kara explained. “She thinks that they’re taking up too much living space, but she was going to let it go, but I’ve kinda had my eye on this puffer at the pet store, and there’s another tank on sale…” She gestured helplessly. “I want my puffer.”
“You could always just keep the tanks you already have,” Eric pointed out. “They’re already full of life. Why do you need another?”
“Never be satisfied with the mundane,” Kara huffed. “I get what I want, okay? Andie said I could have one, and I want one.”
Andie laughed and nodded gently. “It’s true, I said you could have whatever you wanted. You’re cute when you’re being spoiled.”
“And I want a puffer!” Kara blushed at the cute comment, but then she was stomping her foot like a child.
I laughed at that and then grinned at her. “If you want a puffer, you can have a puffer. I can talk to Gemma. I know there are some larger dorms on campus, and I do have a pretty nice pile of savings if the added expense is an issue.”
“Nah, you don’t need to do that.” Andie shook her head. “You’re already under enough pressure with Mr. ‘Fuck Forgiveness’ over there throwing fits every two minutes.”
“He’s not that bad--” I tried to argue, but Kara cut me off.
“He is that bad. You’re too forgiving, Nick, and as stated, he doesn’t forgive enough. Honestly, it’s no wonder who your dads are because the two of you are literally fire and ice.”
I snorted at that while trying hard not to think about it too carefully. “Maybe so, but it’s still no problem. Let me work my Gateon magic.”
Andie laughed at that. “Okay, okay, do your worst, big man. I guess you’re allowed to spoil our little strawberry too.”
Kara’s eyes grew wide as golf balls. “You think you can seriously do that for me, Nick?”
“Seriously,” I confirmed.
Eric clapped for joy, obviously a big fan of this plan. “That’s a swell idea!”
Andie snorted and playfully shoved him aside. “Listen, Strawberry, we’ve basically been living together with Nick anyway, and a bigger dorm means more room not just for fish tanks, but for fun time.”
While I was still in recovery from the battle with my father’s robot, Andie and Kara had stolen me away to their rooms and refused to let me sleep alone in mine. Even after my body healed, they still found excuses to pull me back into theirs. At some point, we’d moved on from subtext, and all three of us started sleeping together in earnest. To say that I was happy was an understatement.
“Great, it’s settled,” I said as I clapped my hands together. “Of course, now this means we’ll need to get together a moving crew and plan it out.” I raised a finger. “But for now, let’s get back to campus and do that whole unwinding thing!”
3
A gentle chill had fallen over the academy that lazy winter evening, and Andie, Kara, and I huddled together in my old dorm room pondering the exact moving strategy. ‘Old,’ of course, because I’d been sleeping in either girl’s dorm for a while now. We’d long converted my place to a small TV room instead and had dragged in a couch for movie nights. Technically, it was against school policy, but I had the Delacruz medal of honor and the favor of most of the staff. I didn’t often take liberties with my new position, but the girls were an influence I was far too happy to please, so please them, I did.
Moving sucked, even if was one dorm room to another, so despite our best intentions to plan every detail out that night that we could to present it all to Gemma as a total package, we had no real incentive to carry through with it. Training with Matt nearly every hour of every day had filled me with a certain lethargy, and the girls were equally exhausted from intense training of their own, not to mention the tension of the visit with Brad. It had been ages since we’d gotten a quiet moment for just the three of us.
Naturally, we extended an invitation to Aylin, who brought Eric along because the two had been discussing the World’s Finest competition. Eric brought Kristen, who suggested the idea of a wr
estling night, and Kristen brought Matt because he was ‘grumpy’ and needed to ‘take a fucking chill pill.’
I couldn’t bring myself to be annoyed with all the date crashing when wrestling blared on the television, and men and women in colorful attire began pummeling the crap out of each other. Eric and Kristen both bonded over the moves by mimicking several popular examples.
“I love the Claw,” Eric enthused. “It looks very shiny. You like, put your fingers in the other guy’s mouth, grab his jaw, and shake it around.”
“And scream, ‘the Claw,’” Kristen added happily. She was smiling for once, and I was a little bit enamored by that. I couldn’t remember the last time Kristen had smiled about anything or was so eager to discuss a topic. Eric had that effect on people, but even still, it was magical. “That’s important. You’ve got to scream it, or it won’t be as effective.”
Eric chuckled. “That’s true. The louder the scream, the more they sell it.”
The two devolved into wrestling jargon I could barely follow. It was like listening to an entirely different language, and my attention shifted from the two of them to the announcers screaming on the television that someone on the top rope was going to die.
Kara nuzzled her head against my thigh and then giggled when she realized how close she was to my groin. Attention shifted down below instead. I chuckled and encouraged her to sit up, then kissed her on the nose. Andie kissed her on the ear, and Kara’s face blossomed as red as her hair. If we weren’t with the others… well. Things might have escalated in a much different direction.
“I know you’re hungry, but you’ll have to wait,” I promised. The two of them giggled again in response, and I ran my hands through their hair.
Seated next to Kristen on the floor, Matt audibly groaned. “Much as I love knowing that the three of you are very happy, I am in no mood to watch Kara give you a BJ, Nick.”
“Why not?” Aylin was floating by the couch, seated mid-air and looking far too intently at the screen. She glanced at the three of us, then to Matt. “I would very much like to watch that,” she announced, lifting a cool violet brow.
There was a short pause of silence in which we all exchanged looks, and then Andie burst out laughing, so overcome with sudden mirth she couldn’t even speak. Kara joined her.
I shook my head, chuckling a little bit at the two of them. “Aylin, you never cease to surprise me.”
“I have watched a lot of what your people call ‘porn,’” she confessed, then frowned when this made Andie and Kara laugh even harder. She crossed her arms in confusion. “I do not understand the joke.”
“It’s alright, Aylin,” I reassured with a placating hand. “It’s just surprising, that’s all.”
“They joke about this stuff all the time,” Eric said with a roll of his eyes. “They act like they’re the only ones getting some.”
“I do not understand,” Aylin frowned again. “Getting some… what?”
“Sex, that’s what,” I answered her with a chuckle, then turned suddenly back to Eric. “Wait, wait, wait.” I motioned my hands for a time out and shook my head. “What do you mean, ‘only ones’?”
Eric shrugged without answering and didn’t bother to look at the two of us. He’d pulled out his phone and was scrolling through the contents. He paused on something, then passed his phone to Kristen, who frowned.
“Eric…” I almost couldn’t believe it. “Are you dating?”
“Our little boy is growing up.” Andie grinned. “I’m so proud of him!”
“I’m not that young,” Eric insisted with a roll of his eyes. He put a hand on his hip. “I’ve dated people!”
It wasn’t that we doubted him, it was just so bizarre to know there was even a smidgeon of romantic energy in his whole body. He’d seemed so oblivious before. Maybe he was growing up.
“Well, whoever you end up with, they better treat you well,” I warned. “I’m not afraid to play the overprotective, overbearing brother.”
Matt made a noise of affirmation, and I couldn’t help a laugh.
“Him too,” I added.
“Yeah,” Andie cried. She looped an arm around Kara’s shoulders. “We’ll beat the piss outta anyone who hurts you! Lemme at ‘em!”
Eric chuckled again. “Well, here’s hoping that doesn’t happen, then.”
The television screamed ‘oh my God’ as some poor bastard’s face was smashed into a table. Eric hissed in sympathy, but before another moment of action could happen, there was a sudden break as the wrestling match was replaced by a full-screen announcement of ‘Breaking News.’
I found myself sucking in a breath even before the screen shifted to a view of the deck of an aircraft carrier, but it wasn’t decked out for war. No, there was a large stage set up, with the twin flags of Alexandria and the Brand flying proudly.
Triton stood on that stage along with a large assortment of government officials on both sides, a small army of a press corps on hand for whatever was about to happen, and… my father.
The news ticker on the bottom was ‘FINAL NEGOTIATIONS ON CEASEFIRE BETWEEN FREE STATES AND THE BRAND ABOUT TO CONCLUDE.’
At that moment, we all fell silent, and all eyes were focused on the screen.
4
Lord Inferno
You know, I had to give it to Phil in the Propaganda Department because he was really on his game with this one. My honor guard of red-and-black uniformed soldiers was at the height of spit and polish, and to the last man and woman, they were all smiles and waves for the international press. I mean, the last impression I wanted the Brand to give off on such a momentous occasion in front of the entire world was that we were an army of jack-booted thugs.
More importantly, I didn’t want to give Nick that impression. Not after my… misstep with Petey. Maybe I should have tuned the obedience algorithms a little tighter on that one. Still, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, and in the end, Nick didn’t just win, he earned himself the Delgado medal in the process.
That was my boy. Now, I just had to get him to talk to me again.
“So, Nicholas,” Triton arched an eyebrow, “I know what the diplomats say, but why are you really doing this?”
He was as decked out like everyone else on the Alexandrian carrier in his best dress costume, all navy and ocean blues just like the water he commanded. Most people would have stopped at that, but me and Doug, we went way back, so I was probably the only one who noticed how his suit was padded and reinforced to make him look younger and stronger. That made me grin behind the faceplate of my power armor.
“Well, Dougie,” Triton hated it when I call him that, so I always called him that, “what’s to say that I’m not sick of all this, you know, war stuff myself? I mean, have you ever had your blood bent?”
“No.” He smiled at me. “I haven’t. Do you enjoy it?”
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could in my amazingly sweet spiked pauldrons. Phil had said I should have ditched the spikes, but then I dangled him over molten lava, and that was the end of our argument. I was a little sad it had ended so easily. I mean, had he stuck to his guns while hanging over boiling hot magma, I might have listened, but alas…
“It sucks is what I’m getting at.”
Triton turned fully towards me and gave me that look he has, the one that pierces right through you. The guy always had a way of figuring people out which was one of the reasons I was happy he was Nick’s mentor despite the goody-two-shoes crap, and I had the bad feeling he was doing the same to me.
“And what happened to Nicholas has nothing to do with it then?” the old man asked with a knowing tilt of his head. “Or the fact he hasn’t answered any of your letters?”
The fire boiled up inside my veins as my fists clenched with a whine of servos. It took all my willpower not to turn the smug bastard into barbeque. “Think about Nick,” I told myself. “He won’t see how great the Brand is now if you don’t pull this off, get the World’s Finest into your
country like you want.”
Out loud, I answered Triton with a chuckle. “Guess you guys really upped security since last semester, huh?” I somehow unclenched my hands and waved them in front of me. “Look, look, I love my boy, and I’m damned proud of him, so maybe… mayyyyybe, I get a little personal bennie out of this because I’ll get to see him. But really, Dougie, it’s all about peace and love, man.” I flashed him a peace sign. “Enough killing of innocents in our crossfire, right?”
Hey, the best lies are based on the truth. Dougie didn’t need to know all my reasons for having my diplomats make the overtures for a ceasefire.
“Gentlemen,” the master of ceremonies said as she turned towards us, “it’s just about time for the public announcement.” She tilted her grey-haired head towards Triton first then to me. “Uh, who would like to make the first statement?”
Neither of us got a chance to answer, not when klaxons started going off like crazy across the ship and the entire aircraft carrier rocked. Instantly, my tactical displays came online, sensors scanning for the threat I knew had to be coming, while Dougie’s eyes narrowed as he held his hand out. He was probably doing that water thing, both sensing disturbances in the waves and trying to calm the seas.
He definitely succeeded on the second, because the carrier’s surface went perfectly smooth in a moment. As the press corps started to panic and both the Alexandrian soldiers and my own guard readied their weapons, I picked up a big blip off our port bow, well, I think it was port, I always get those mixed up, and it was one I recognized immediately.
“Hold on, folks,” I boomed out over my loudspeakers. “This is only a minor little thing, so keep it calm.” I clapped my chestplate heroically. “I can go take care of it really quick, and Dougie here can do what he does best and take care of you innocent people.”
“Nicholas,” Triton whispered harshly, “do you know what you’re doing here? That isn’t simply a small problem, that is--”
