by Wyatt Kane
It seemed to be too much for Lilith. She blushed even harder, looked at Ty as if trying to work it all out, started to say something, then stopped. Ty understood. He still wasn’t entirely sure he understood how it all worked.
“How?” Lilith said, then shook her head. All at once, she stood up with the stool between her and Ty. “Sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t … I’ve got to go.”
Ty knew she was about to teleport out of the workshop. It seemed that he had indeed pushed her too hard, too quickly. But there was something he needed to say before she did
“Wait, before you go, there is something you need to know.”
It was enough to make Lilith hesitate.
“All this,” Ty said. “Us, me, Dinah and Tempest, that’s just a bonus. I don’t know if either Tempest or Dinah have said anything directly, but from my perspective, you would be more than welcome to join us. In the team, I mean.” Then he smiled again. “And the other thing, but that’s not what I mean. We need you. The city of New Lincoln needs you. And your alignment, who you are, it seems like you really like to help people.
“But it isn’t all fun and games. You already know how dangerous it can be. And it’s getting worse. It used to be that Tempest was the strongest one of us. Now there’s this Steam guy, and Massive. And you. We don’t know how bad it could get. It’s dangerous, but that isn’t going to stop us. We—Dinah, Tempest, and me— we’re still going to do all we can to help.” Lilith was already nodding before Ty finished. “If you really want to help, you would be welcome.”
“I understand,” she said. “I’ll do what I can. You’ve been good to me, despite the things I did to you. And I want to help. It’s just—I don’t want to hurt anyone either,” she said.
Ty didn’t have any answer to this. The deaths he had caused since putting on his device were no longer in the single digits.
And perhaps that was why the Architect had gone for the alignment he had. Could a lawful good person be a superhero? Sure, there were examples in the comics where they could. But this was real life. Would Lilith be able to help them and remained true to who she was?
Only time would tell.
Surprisingly, Lilith offered Ty another of her quiet smiles. “I have to admit, benefits of joining you guys are appealing,” she said. Then she shook her head. “But I really must be going. Say goodbye to Dinah for me. And Tempest.”
With that, the demon popped out of existence, leaving behind only a faint odor of ozone, and a smile on Ty’s lips.
29: Unexpected Delight
Ty stayed in the workshop for some time, trying to get his brain to work on the problem. In the end, he started to wonder if the tasks he’d set for himself were beyond him. The healing nanites in particular seemed too complex for him to deal with. As for being able to stand up to Massive and Steam, while he had come up with a few ideas, he had nothing concrete.
What could defeat Steam? Ice, maybe? Could he somehow tweak his energy shield so it acted like a freezer of some kind? As for Massive, all he could think of was to increase the power of his shield cannons.
He could do that easily enough simply by adding more power converters. But at what cost? He could conceal the ones he already carried fairly easily. They weren’t particularly bulky or heavy. But if he tried to carry twice as many, he wouldn’t be able to walk around in public without getting funny looks from passers-by.
Unless he put them all in a backpack? Maybe as a temporary measure, that would help. But he didn’t want to have to carry a backpack everywhere either.
It was a conundrum.
In the end, he put the questions aside and started working instead on his pet project. He wanted to learn how to fly.
But even that wasn’t simple. There were all sorts of aerodynamic calculations he had to account for, as well as angular momentum, direction control, and other considerations. Tempest was able to just fly in whatever direction she chose, but Ty needed to program the calculations into his shield.
He figured it was best to start simply, and within a matter of hours, he was confident that he could perform a low, vertical glide. It would be leaping across maybe 50 yards. Not true flight, not exactly, but it was a good start.
He would have to be satisfied with that, for now.
With a sigh that mixed equal parts frustration and satisfaction, Ty decided to call it a day and headed back upstairs.
<<<>>>
He found both Tempest and Dinah in the kitchen, and was relieved to see that the blonde superhero seemed back to her usual self. Without Lilith there, Tempest seemed happy as she aided the deerkin. Ty didn’t know what they were making, but the air was heavy with the odor of fish, as well as a number of spices Ty knew he wouldn’t be able to name.
“Hey,” Ty said in greeting. “I thought you were restricted to bedrest.”
The blonde made a rude noise. “I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “And bed is for sleeping. And,” she said, smiling broadly, “maybe a few other things. Neither of which I was engaged in. Look, the bruise is nearly gone.”
Ty saw she was right, and once more envied her capacity to heal. The wounds on his shoulder and leg were starting to itch abominably, and the skin on his face and fingers had started to tingle despite the cream Dinah had applied. No doubt he would lose some of it over the next couple of days as the dead cells flaked away.
But Tempest’s bruise was almost gone. He could just make out a yellowy smudge at her temple.
“She isn’t a good patient,” Dinah added with a grin. “Never does what the doctor orders. But still, I can’t complain. I’m glad of the company.”
Ty could see she was telling the truth. It seemed that they were back to normal. Whether they had answered the question of Lilith, Ty didn’t know, nor did he ask.
He didn’t have to. “Did Lilith find you in the end?” Dinah asked.
At the demon woman’s name, Tempest’s smile lost a little of its depth. But it didn’t fade completely.
“She did. But she had to go. She asked me to pass on her goodbyes.”
The deerkin nodded. “Oh, well,” she said. “I guess we can’t expect to take over all her time, now could we?”
“Did she give any indication as to what her plans were?” Tempest asked.
Ty shook his head. “Not really. She’s willing, but still uncertain. If she hadn’t been forced to do so, she wouldn’t have wanted to play any part in the Master’s earlier game.”
Both Dinah and Tempest accepted this, but kept their thoughts to themselves.
Ty decided to change the subject. He inhaled deeply and asked, “What’s cooking?”
Dinah beamed at him. “We figured that with everything that has happened over the past few days, it was time to take a break from it all. Pretend the bad guys don’t exist, and everything is right in the world. Tempest suggested we go on a date, and just have a good time for the evening. What do you think?” she asked
“A date?” Ty responded. “What, just the two of you?” He didn’t know what he thought about that. Sure, they could do what they wished, but he would have liked to be part of it too.
“Of course not, silly!” Tempest said. “You as well!”
Dinah laughed out loud.
“Oh,” Ty said. Yet he was still confused. “But then, what’s all this?” he asked, gesturing at the activity in the kitchen.
“We thought we’d have the date here,” Dinah said.
Ty thought about his financial situation. “That sounds fantastic!” he said. “What can I do to help?”
Tempest grinned at him. “Your timing is just about perfect. We’re just about ready to serve the first course.”
The first course was a small salady-type thing they had already plated onto three separate plates. Yet this was like not a boring, shriveled lettuce and careless tomato affair like the Concubine Club might serve if anyone asked. Instead, it was a riot of different colors and textures that had Ty salivating.
He could recognize only a few
of the ingredients. Fancy lettuce and sprouts of different kinds, and a smattering of chopped cherry tomatoes. But there were other things he couldn’t guess at. Perhaps a soft cheese? Something purple? The whole had been drizzled with a dressing that, to Ty’s senses anyway, seemed spicy, and even as Ty watched, the deerkin added a sprinkling of pepper from a grinder.
“Grab a plate,” Dinah said. “The table’s all set.
Tempest and Ty both did as the deerkin asked, but Dinah herself took a moment to check the oven before doing the same.
“Where to?” Ty asked. He was thinking the formal dining room, but wouldn’t have objected to the more intimate den.
“The conservatory,” Dinah said.
“The what?” Ty asked.
Dinah raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t seen the conservatory yet?”
At the question, Ty realized he had. Every time he and Tempest landed on the bridge over the koi pond, he’d seen the large, glass-and-ironwork enclosure full of green that jutted out from the side of the mansion. He’d just never thought about it until then, and had yet to see it from the inside.
“No time like the present,” he said.
The three of them made their way to one of the most stunning parts of the mansion yet.
‘Conservatory’ might not have been the best word to describe it. It was too small a word for a structure so huge. As large as a school hall and then some, it was a match for the tropical house of the New Lincoln botanical gardens.
And not just in size. It had the humidity as well, and overwhelming sense of green. It was like someone had planted a forest, complete with full-sized banana trees, winding vines, and a wide assortment of broad-leafed, smaller plants that were no less spectacular in their own way. Everywhere Ty looked, there was a hidden pocket of color, with orchids and bird of paradise flowers competing for his attention. Somewhere within the forest depths, Ty could hear water, and he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear chittering monkeys or brightly colored parrots calling in the distance.
“Wow,” he managed.
“Are you going to stand there all day? Because I want to eat!” Tempest said from beside him.
Ty laughed, realizing he had been standing in place for some seconds with his mouth open. The blonde superhero’s words were enough to bring him back to the present, and it was only then that he saw the small table right in front of him, in a clear patch before the forest truly began.
It was a circular, elegant table set with three chairs. It seemed as if Ty’s presence was expected, but Lilith’s was not. Whoever had set the table had outdone themselves. It looked amazing, like Ty might have expected in any high-end restaurant, complete with glasses of water, a bottle of wine cooling in an ice-bucket, and a small but decorative flower arrangement in the middle. Each setting already had a side plate with thick wedges of dark, rich-looking bread, and Ty’s mouth was already starting to water. He chose a seat at random and placed his salad in front of him, and the two main women in his life did likewise.
As they settled themselves down, Ty expressed his amazement. “This is incredible,” he said. “How come I haven’t seen this before?”
“I guess you haven’t been looking,” Dinah said, grinning broadly. “Or maybe you were too busy in the Architect’s workshop.
“One day, one of you is going to have to give me a proper tour of this place. Every time I think I’ve seen all of it, I stumble across something new.”
“Of everything my father created,” Tempest said, “this mansion was the thing he cared about most. It was his sanctuary, a place where he could escape from the rest of the world. You know what it’s like out there, with New Lincoln itself tearing you down until you have nothing left. This whole place was my father’s antidote for that.”
It was easy for Ty to forget Tempest’s connection to the mansion ran so deep. For her, everything in it was a memory of her father.
“Tempest,” Ty started. “How long have you lived here?”
“I don’t remember living anywhere else, but I know my father bought this place when I was young. Of course, it wasn’t always like this. The house grew as my father gained in wealth and stature. I remember when it was no more than a simple three-bedroom apartment on the top of the building. Like a seed, my father kept feeding it, kept adding to it as time went by. And now,” she gestured around, “this is what we have.”
Dinah spoke into the silence that followed. “I didn’t know the Architect as well as Tempest, of course,” she said, her voice filled with remembered reverence. “But I see this place as a reflection of who he was. Magnificent from an external perspective, but when you look at it more closely, it’s the warmth and tenderness which you see more clearly.”
Tempest nodded. “He was like that,” she said. “On the surface, he could be closed and forbidding. But this is his heart.” She paused to draw a sad breath, and Ty remembered she still didn’t truly know what had happened to her father. “He spent a lot of his time in the workshop, but he also made a point to wander the grounds outside, to feed the koi in the pond, and to make sure all the plants stayed healthy and grew as they should.”
30: Second Course
As Tempest spoke, Ty realized Dinah was looking at her with a wry grin on her face. “Yes, the mansion is a wonderful place,” she said. “But I’m hungry, so I’m going to eat!” She said it lightly, not to demean Tempest’s reminiscences, but to inject some laughter into the meal.
It worked. Tempest’s sadness over her father immediately lifted, and the three of them dug into the fabulous meal.
Ty couldn’t believe how much flavor Dinah had injected into a simple salad. For a guy whose normal diet had been based around whatever he could get, it was incredible. Never again would he be able to view a soggy, day-old sandwich with anything more than disappointment. He thought that if Lilith knew, like really knew, what Dinah could do in the kitchen, it would make her decision far easier.
Ty would sell his soul to keep eating like this. As he chewed a sensational mouthful, he looked at Dinah with something akin to pride and knew he didn’t need to sell his soul to anyone. He’d already given it away.
Conversation drifted. They talked a little about Rubio and the Master. By unspoken consensus, discussions of greater depth were out of bounds. Ty spoke about what he’d been trying to do in the workshop, but the girls couldn’t immediately offer any helpful advice. They did, however, offer words of support and encouragement, projecting confidence that Ty could do what was needed.
Tempest talked a little more about her father, including the man’s vision for New Lincoln. Ty listened with interest to stories about a city that shone rather than festering in the mire. In Ty’s mind, the Architect’s vision was a close match for what he’d seen in his dream. People who were able to live good lives out from under the thumb of the megacorporations.
As their plates became empty, Dinah began to speak about the various new dishes she had in mind to try.
“Where do you get all these ideas for recipes?” Ty asked. Even the thought of them sounded amazing.
She grinned at him. “Information control, remember?”
Of course. It was obvious, really, Ty thought, and he couldn’t help but wonder what other knowledge was stored away in the deerkin’s head.
“Speaking of which,” Tempest said. “What’s happening with the second course?”
“I’ll have to check,” Dinah said. “It’s a pity Lilith isn’t here,” she said casually as she stood up. “She could teleport back and forth in an instant. No waiting!” With that, she left Tempest and Ty to themselves.
Tempest’s enjoyment of the meal had faded at the mention of Lilith, but not as much as when the demon woman had popped in for a visit. Ty thought the conversation he’d had with her earlier might have helped. But maybe there was more he could still do.
“I spoke with her earlier,” he said.
“Who? Lilith?” Tempest asked.
Ty nodded. “Yeah. She’s going throug
h the same stuff I went through,” he said. Then he grinned. “So many years ago now, it seems”
At this, Tempest returned his smile. To Ty, it seemed as if his life had only truly begun when he put on the device. So much had happened since then that it really did seem like a lifetime ago.
“But the thing is,” he continued, “I had you to help me figure things out. But Lilith has no one. All this is new to her. And you know what she told me?”
Perhaps despite herself, Tempest was interested. “What?”
“She said she’s never been attracted to women before, and now, all of a sudden, there’s you and Dinah. Can you imagine how confusing that might be for her?”
Ty could see he was getting through. Tempest looked a little chagrined.
“That would be kind of awkward to deal with,” she admitted. Then she looked at Ty oddly. “But you mean just Dinah, right?” she said. “Not both of us?”
Ty shook his head. “She didn’t mean to say it, but you as well,” Ty said.
At this, Tempest’s expression became uncertain. “But….” she began. Worry and apprehension fought with her uncertainty for a moment, and won. She looked crestfallen. “I’ve been so cold to her,” she said.
Ty knew he could have left it there, but there was something else he wanted Tempest to know. “Maybe she isn’t exactly the same as I was,” he corrected. “Her alignment is slightly different.”
“You saw her alignment?”
“Yeah. Her entire character sheet. Her skill—it gives her one hell of a buff. It takes her right up to your level. But her alignment isn’t neutral good. It’s lawful good.”
Tempest just stared at him for a moment. “But that means—”
“Yeah. It means she really was forced into working for the Master. It isn’t something she would do out of choice. Which is why she’s having a hard time figuring out what to do now.”
