by R. J. Ross
For the past fifteen years, she’s been haunted by the girl, wondering how she’s growing, who she’s with, if she’s happy. It’s gotten worse since Technico showed her the pictures. But she doesn’t deserve anything, not after what she’d done. That’s why she’s making sure that the girl makes the right decision. Her daughter will be a Liberty. She’ll not carry on the Avalanche line name, and she’ll never even know about the Grim Reaper one.
***
“So you flew across half the country just to tell me… what?” I ask as Trent and I step out of the hotel. The moon is huge. It’s a little windy out, but I don’t think either of us can tell if it’s cold.
“Nothing,” he says.
“You did all that just to tell me nothing,” I say. “Wow, I thought you were the smarter one of the brothers.”
He smiles slightly, apparently not bothered by my comment. “Nico said you were crying,” he says, looking up at the moon. “I wasn’t just going to sit around, knowing that. What happened?”
“Didn’t Nico tell you?” I ask. “My own birth mother framed me for robbing a jewelry store. Now my face—my REAL face—is plastered all over the news. And I can’t even go home until I prove my innocence, because I’m supposed to become a Liberty girl! I don’t CARE about my reputation, Trent! I just want to go back to my room.”
“I should have brought Lance,” he mutters, looking irritable.
“Why?”
“Because he’s got a much better chance at calming you down,” he admits. “At least that’s basically what Jack said. But I’m going to try my best, so give me a second to think…”
I look at him, waiting a bit impatiently.
“I don’t know,” he says slowly, “how much it hurt for that to happen. I don’t know why your birth mother did that to you, either…”
“Wow, how inspirational,” I say sarcastically.
“But I do know one thing,” he goes on, looking me straight in the eye. “When Jack moved in with us, he was a way bigger jerk than you’ll ever be.” My mouth drops open, and he grins. “See what I’m saying?”
“No, I DON’T see what you’re saying!” I say, throwing my arms up in the air. “You come all the way out here to tell me that I’m not QUITE the jerk that Jack is? Wow, that’s really inspirational! Like, oh, you’ll be fine—your future brother’s a jerkier person than you are—”
He’s laughing at me, now, and I push his shoulder. If it was anyone else, it would have knocked him over, but since it’s him, his laughter turns into a grin and he grabs me in a headlock. It doesn’t hurt, even when he rubs his knuckles on my head. I wrap my arm around his waist and haul him off of his feet, grunting loudly. “You weigh a ton!” I complain.
“You just haven’t grown up enough, little sister,” he says, throwing his weight back and pulling me to the ground along with him. He hops to his feet, dusting off his hands as if he’s done a good deed. “You want me to go hunt down your mom for you?”
“What would that accomplish?” I ask, scissor kicking his leg. He falls over with a little yelp, and I grin triumphantly. “All it would do is show that I know someone with a big name.”
“But I’d prove you didn’t do it,” he says, standing and holding out a hand to help me get up. I look at the hand.
“Do you and Metal Butt do this all the time?” I ask.
“Going to complain that I shouldn’t roughhouse with you because you’re a girl?” he teases.
“Heck no, I made you fall,” I say smugly, taking the hand and getting to my feet. “I’ll do it, myself. Well, I mean, Jeanie’s here. I just… I want to get this over with.”
“Yeah,” he says. “Want me to go back and get Lance?”
“Why would I want Lance here?” I ask. “He’s gone through enough family problems of his own, the last thing I want to do is drag him into my own.”
“He’s going to be irritated, though… I think. I mean, I would be, if my girlfriend was in trouble and—”
“Your what?” I interrupt. “You’ve got us all wrong. He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just like that annoying little brother that randomly grows fur or feathers.”
“Yeah?” he says.
“Do you REALLY think—never mind,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t really care what you think. It’s none of your business.”
“Do you not like him?”
“Let it go, Trent. I’ve got more important things on my mind right now.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he says, not looking sorry at all. “Do you want me to walk you back up to your room?”
“Really?”
“Really,” he says.
“You REALLY think I need an escort?”
“It’s a couple of flights up, you might get lonely,” he says.
“Go home, Trent.”
“You know, Jack would have come, but I fly faster than he does,” he says.
“Go HOME, Trent.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going. But if you do need backup, all you gotta do is call, got it?” he says, slapping a mask on and jumping into the air. He hovers there for a second. “Bye, Sandra.”
“Bye, Trent,” I say with a little smile. I stand there, watching him fly away and wondering if he’s going to get in trouble. He didn’t say he’d met with Marigold. I bet he did, since he’s a lot like his parents.
“Do you really think you’ll be able to catch me?” The deep, raspy voice makes me go still. I didn’t even hear her move, but here she is, standing right behind me.
“Give back the jewels,” I say, turning to face the woman that gave birth to me. “Give them back and then leave me alone! I don’t want anything to do with you!”
“What jewels?” she asks, stepping into the light. It glints off of shining rock. She’s a rose quartz—she’s got variations of white and pink in her skin.
“Don’t give me that. If I could tell they were fakes, you KNEW they were. How did you do it? Did you go in the night before? No. I would have picked up on the fakes, if you’d already replaced them.”
“You’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
“I’d rather just make you tell me,” I say, rushing forward, my fists clenched and ready. I throw my fastest punch, grunting as the punch hits the wall she’d been standing in front of a second earlier. “Stand still so I can hit you!” I roar.
“Turn that illusion off,” she says, “or I’ll do it for you.”
“Never! That’s how I got into this problem in the first place!” I turn, throwing another punch, and hitting only air. She’s faster than I am, but I’m angrier than she is. “How could you do that to me?” I demand. “It’s bad enough that you abandoned me!”
“You were an easy target. It’s irritating being a villain. They expect you to lose on purpose,” she says, grabbing my arm as I throw another futile punch. She taps on my watch and the illusion disappears. “Look at you,” she says, “a spitting image of your grandfather.”
I jerk as hard as I can, trying to get out of her hold. It’s like trying to fight one of the Liberty boys—maybe worse. She’s stronger than I am, faster than I am, and she hasn’t even hit me, yet. I was in a fight with an adult just a little while ago. He hadn’t been a tank, but he’d been strong enough to crack me several times. I don’t have a chance, I realize. I don’t care, I decide a second later. I throw myself at her, swinging wildly, hoping that at least one of them will connect. I feel satisfaction as I finally hit stone—only to grunt as I can’t move my hand, anymore.
“Thanks to you, I’ve got an entire haul of gems to play with,” she says, as I stare at the hand holding mine. It’s as big as my hand is, but much less awkward looking. “You came at such a convenient time, too.”
“Let her go,” Jeanie says. We both turn, looking at her. “I said to let her go.”
“Well, who do we have here?” Diamond Dust asks, not letting go of me. Instead she hauls me closer, using me as a hostage. “You’re Star Spangled, aren’t you?”
“I wanted to
meet you,” Jeanie says, “but I thought the circumstances would be different. My husband said you were a good person.”
“Your husband lied.”
I feel sick to my stomach. I jerk as hard as I can, but I can’t pull out of her hold. “Let me go!” I say, slamming my elbow back as hard as I can. I hear her grunt and her grasp on me loosens just enough for me to get away. As soon as I’m out of the way, Jeanie launches forward, slamming into Diamond Dust. I expect her to stop, but she doesn’t. She just keeps going, taking my birth mother with her.
“What just happened?” Malina asks, making me look over. She’s wearing her pajamas, which have My Little Pony characters on them, and even has her toothbrush in her hand.
“Did you run all the way down here?” I ask.
“The stairs were faster than the elevator,” she says.
“You forgot your shoes.”
She looks down at her painted toenails, tilting her head slightly. “Eh, I don’t like shoes, anyway. Where did Jeanie take that lady?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. I’m worried. “We should go find her. Go get your shoes.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Where are we going?” Diamond Dust asks when Star Spangled just keeps flying. She squirms, trying to get free, but the other woman is stronger than she is. “This is abduction, you know. I thought you picture perfect Liberties weren’t into that sort of thing.”
“We aren’t, but we also aren’t in my branch,” Star Spangled says pleasantly. “You see, I really don’t want to break anything unless I absolutely have to. Besides, you robbed a jewelry store, so this is merely apprehending a criminal, don’t you think? Ahh, this looks good.” Before Diamond Dust can even look to see, she’s thrown through the air. She hits the ground hard, creating a crater. She would curse, but the air is knocked out of her. Star Spangled lands on the edge, looking down at her.
“I was hoping that all of this could be solved peacefully,” Star Spangled says. “I know that you weren’t expecting us. I do apologize for that, but how you reacted was just so childish.”
“WHAT?” Diamond Dust roars, jumping to her feet. “I am not acting childish! I’m—”
“You framed a fifteen-year-old girl, DeeDee,” Star Spangled says. “If your father was still alive, how do you think he’d feel about that?”
“You’re lecturing me on my FATHER?” Diamond Dust asks, thrown off guard.
“I’ve heard many stories about Avalanche. Ken’s daddy still tells stories whenever he pops by. He was a legend,” she says. “I was overjoyed to find out that the line was being continued. I should have asked if his daughter lived up to his high standards. But here you are, desperately trying to push your own daughter away—” she stops as Diamond Dust launches herself at her. It’s enough to send them both backwards for a bit, especially as Diamond Dust starts punching as hard as she can. She’s punched through walls before—it hadn’t been like this. She can feel the impact all the way up to her shoulder. This pretty blonde is harder than diamond. She feels hands grab her shirt and she’s jerked up so that she’s looking into bright blue eyes. Before she can say anything, she’s slung away, where she slams into a series of trees before finally stopping. A limb hits her head before bouncing away. To her irritation, Star Spangled appears in front of her, offering a hand.
“You should be happy,” Diamond Dust grits out as she gets up on her own. “You want a daughter. Well, there she is.”
“But I don’t want her like this,” Star Spangled says. “We’re going to play out your little drama, DeeDee, because I think Sandra is smart enough to see through your very bad acting. But if she still hates you by the end of the weekend, well…”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll be extremely sad,” Star Spangled says, honestly. The answer shocks Diamond Dust into silence. “I don’t want her to hate anyone, especially not the woman that gave birth to her. I don’t know what you’re thinking by doing this, but… I won’t stop you. This is the decision that you’ve made, and I don’t think I could stop it now, even if I wanted.”
“You dragged me all the way out here to tell me that?” Diamond Dust demands.
“Well, I might have wanted to try and knock some sense into you, but violence never solves anything.”
There’s a long moment of silence between the two of them as that sentence lingers in the air. “You’re kidding, right?” Diamond Dust finally asks.
“It is a bit incongruous with what I do for a living, isn’t it?” Star Spangled admits. “Now I expect you to speak with Marigold, who will arrange a dramatic showdown for tomorrow night. If you don’t, well, we’ll have to come to you. I really don’t think you’d want that.”
“I don’t,” Diamond Dust says.
“Then we’re agreed. We’ll have this wrapped up tomorrow night. If you want to speak with her without this hanging over your heads, then I suggest you make the ending clean and happy. Now you should get going. The girls will catch up with us, soon.”
“What will you tell her?” Diamond Dust asks. “About me?”
“That you got away,” Star Spangled says. “It’ll be the truth, won’t it?” She turns her back on her, and Diamond Dust stares at it for all of a second before diving into the ground. Something tells her that she wouldn’t win, even if she did attack from behind.
***
*The Arctic Circle*
“So the person who was sinking our delivery ship,” Tatiana says over their late night dessert. “It is this woman?” The table under their food is lit up like a computer screen, and a picture of a woman with octopus’ tentacles is partially covered by a bowl of ice cream toppings. She scoots the dish aside to look at Atlanti. “She is very exotic!”
“She lost the special Swarovski beads that we ordered,” Marie complains, her multi-colored eyes narrowing. “I had the pattern designed and everything for those.”
It is of no worry!” Tatiana says. “We will simply be doing the improvise.”
“Is there any way we could raise my limits? I could get it done a lot faster, or possibly build some of the replacement beads, myself,” Marie says. “Having to live like a norm is extremely frustrating.”
“It’s giving you a taste of what the people you brainwashed had to go through,” Superior says, tapping on the table. “When did the table start doing this, anyway?”
“Oh, you know our son,” Tatiana says, waving a hand. “The last time he was here for dinner, he starts tapping on table, and now we have this.”
“Figures,” Superior says, although he’s now tapping rhythmically.
“No games at the table, Clifford,” Tatiana says, scrolling through the information in the file. “You have bad habit of taking over whole screen.”
“Aren’t you a bit old to be playing video games?” Marie asks.
“It’s a good way to stay in touch with my grandkids,” he says, but his tone is bland, like he’s repeating a lie he came up with to satisfy his wife a long time ago. “Ah, there she is. I didn’t think she’d be getting on tonight.”
“Why are you so interested in a rock mimic, anyway?” Marie asks. “She’s never going to be much more than what she is.”
“Sure she will,” he says. “She’s only just started coming into her powers. She’s going to grow up to be stronger than ninety percent of the capes out there, at least. I’m going to bring her up for specialized training starting next week.”
“I was thinking of inviting Skye and her little friends for dinner, soon,” Tatiana says. “She has yet to be visiting since you moved in with us, Marie.”
“I’ve sent her an apology letter,” Marie says. “I don’t know what else she expects of me.” The other two look at her for a long moment without saying a word. “It was a perfectly good apology card!” she says, when the silence seems to stretch.
“Sandra, you ready to go to Zoe’s workshop?” Superior asks. Marie gives up on her excuses and goes back to eating their homemade ice cream.
“Superior,” Sandra’s voice comes from the speakers that are built into the bottom of the table. “I don’t really feel like it right now.”
“You’ve spent the past two days digging up gold, and you don’t feel like it?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing important,” she says. “I just thought I’d check in on a few things, now I’m going to go to bed.”
“I see,” he says. “Then good night, Sandra.” He watches as she logs off, and then looks at Tatiana. “I think it’s about time I go down and get our teleportation watches.”
“She was not sounding very happy, yes?” Tatiana says. “I will put your dessert in the wall.”
“Thanks,” he says, standing.
“Why ARE you so interested in the girl, Superior?” Marie asks, leaning back in her chair and draping an arm over the back. “She’s a mere child. Are you planning on adding her to the family line?”
He goes silent for a moment, before a tiny smile pulls at his lips. “Avalanche was one of my favorite villains. Since he’s not around to make sure she’s fine, I figure it’s the least I can do.”
“What happened to Avalanche?”
“Old age,” Superior says. “He was well over four hundred by the time he passed.”
“Four hundred?” Marie repeats, her eyes widening.
“They can’t fly, but they’re still an extremely impressive line.” He heads to the back and they hear a creaking sound as he opens a hole in the ceiling to leave.
“We are having a front door,” Tatiana says. “I tell him, we are having front door for reason. EVERY time, I tell him.”
“Come on, I’ll go collect the snow so you can fill the hole,” Marie says, sighing.
Tatiana stands, leaving the file open on the dining room table. The screen blinks a few times thanks to her fork before scrolling down slightly. The words “Caution: Highly unstable venom” blink in red.
***
*Washington D.C.*
I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have gone on the game, knowing that Superior would probably be checking in, even if it is the middle of the night. Superior doesn’t need to be a part of this. He’s retired. No, I tell myself, I won’t worry about him doing something stupid. He’s a full-grown hero. He should know when to stay out of things, right?
