Alex turned. “She’s been cheating on me for three months. You came back into my life last month. I wasn’t saying your name in my sleep back then.”
“Still, I’m sorry.”
“First the New York Guardians lied to me. Now my wife cheats on me. And the girl who almost made me kill myself won’t leave me alone. Haven’t you done enough damage? Maybe if I was there when Calvin was born instead of kissing your ass, my life wouldn’t be hell right now.”
Trista bit her lip.
Alex shook his head. “I shouldn’t lash out at you. You were under the Idea Man’s control.”
“Say what you have to say,” said Trista.
“The worst part is, I can’t blame her. I was a shitty husband. I told myself I did everything I did as Agent Exo was for her, but after Calvin was born we drifted apart. It was those stupid missions, Jim Griffin’s attempts to get me killed. I should’ve said no. I could’ve let someone else wear that stupid exoskeleton. Even Stormhead tried to talk me into doing that.”
“What happened, happened. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
“But what she did ... I stayed faithful to her through everything. Even when we were broken up, I still loved Emily. It turns out she was already cheating on me by then. I should’ve seen it coming. I would’ve if I wasn’t so damn stupid.”
“Don’t blame yourself.”
“It’s like with the New York Guardians. I knew they weren't the heroes everyone thinks they are, but I still trusted them. I should’ve realized they were up to something. All the little clues about their weapon caches and hideouts, I ignored them because being Agent Exo was too much fun.”
“They deliberately concealed everything, and you still managed to find it.”
“Maybe I screw up a lot, but I was always honest with the New York Guardians. I was faithful to Emily. They should’ve been those things with me. Instead, it’s been one lie after another. The whole team knew Emily was cheating on me before I did. No one told me. Not even Jenny.” Alex punched the ledge. “Even Jenny held out on me.”
Trista nodded.
Alex leaned on the ledge. “You should leave, Trista. Go back to your family. Being a superhero isn’t worth it. I sacrificed friends, family, and my father-son relationship with Calvin and I’ve got nothing to show for it. I shouldn’t be training the Prospects, I should be telling them to do anything else with their lives. If they don’t get killed, like Pete, they’ll lose everything you live for.”
“Your marriage isn’t lost yet. You can work it out with Emily, if that’s what you want. You’re the one who can forgive, not the one who needs to be forgiven.”
“I don’t know. Part of me wants to never see again. Another part can’t imagine life without her. She broke our vows, so I should divorce her. It'd be hard on Calvin, but it’d be worse if we stay together just for him. I don’t know what I should do.”
“You say ‘should’ a lot. ‘I should,’ ‘they should,’ ‘you should.’ Forget the ‘shoulds.’ We don’t live in a world where things happen as they should, we live in this one. No, this shouldn’t have happened to you. What Sergeant Hammer did shouldn’t have happened to me. It all happened. We have to deal with it.”
“So how do I deal with it?”
“Make the best decision for you and don’t worry about everyone else. Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.”
“Why?”
“You said you’d be there for me, no matter what happens.” Trista took Alex’s hand. “I’m here for you too. You’re the one who saved me from the Idea Man and Sergeant Hammer.”
“I don’t see how you can stand by someone the world always shits on.”
“I don’t care what the world does to you. You mean the world to me.”
Alex looked into Trista’s eyes. He didn’t feel the cool tingling that came from her psychic link, but he still felt a connection when he saw the dusk’s dying light caught in her glittering black pupils.
“Leaders don’t cry,” said Trista, “but I won’t tell anyone if you do.”
She sat next to him. They said nothing as the sun set and the city lights of Manhattan illuminated one-by-one. She encouraged him when he disparaged himself. She calmed him when he fumed with rage. She talked to him about anything else when he wanted to forget everything.
They would’ve stayed there until the sun rose had Stormhead not landed on the roof.
“Trista,” said Stormhead, “Gale Force said you were close to finding where the spyware's information flowed before Vijay was shot. The CIA gave us twenty possible sites associated with the Handler’s network of shell companies. Even with other teams helping us we will not be able to search every one simultaneously. Pinwheel salvaged the hardware from Vijay’s computer, and the surgeons say he is in critical but stable condition. You must read his mind, extract what remains of his hacking skills, and find where he is.”
Trista held Alex. “Go away, Stormhead.”
“I did not request your assistance, I ordered it.”
“I’m not a New York Guardian, I’m a Prospect. I don’t take orders from you.”
“The Handler may attack again.”
“I don't care. You shouldn’t have lied to Agent O’Farrell for years.”
“That wasn’t my decision.”
“You should've let him know about his wife.”
“This is not the time to argue. Lives are at stake.”
“Then they’ll die because you treated Alex so badly. He trusted you, and all you’ve done is lie. You could’ve told him about his wife or the secret bunkers or at least warned him that Mister Griffin wanted him dead.”
Electricity crackled over Stormhead. “I. Saved. Him. From. You.”
Trista’s lips tightened to a smirk.
Alex stroked Trista’s hair. “You should go.”
The smirk vanished. “I won’t leave you alone.”
“I can call Gale Force,” said Stormhead. “Will she be a sufficient replacement?”
Alex nodded. “The world needs you, Trista. Whatever the Handler’s up to, we have to stop him. This isn’t the time to be selfish.”
Stormhead pulled out his smartphone. “Gale Force, I need you on the roof to keep Agent O’Farrell company.” He hung up. “Trista, I will escort you to the hospital. A team of MAB agents will stand guard while we prepare to strike the closest of the Handler’s facilities.”
“I want Pinwheel or Knockout Rose there too.”
“Pinwheel is setting up a laptop in Vijay’s room. He won’t mind staying.”
Trista slowly broke the embrace. “I’ll keep my phone on.”
Stormhead rubbed his arm. “I am sorry about this situation, Alexander. All I can say is there wasn’t a good time to tell you about Emily. First there was the attempt on your life, then the prison break-in, then the hostage situation, and then the CIA arrived.”
“I asked you to tell me everything about the New York Guardians and Griffin Industries,” said Alex. “Emily doesn’t fit into those categories.”
“Be that as it may, I regret how you learned about her infidelity. After you left, Arbalest and Gale Force voiced their anger at Professor Photon. Magna took Professor Photon’s side. Mister Knapp said something about how we're not like we are in the comics on the way out.”
“It’s not the first time a team meeting ended with shouting.”
Stormhead pushed his long silver hair back. “I don’t know how James managed this team. We’re expected to save the world, but we can’t even stay in the same room together.”
“Jim was drunk most of the time.”
“His minibar is empty. I already checked.”
“Still you’re the best choice for our leader. Bart is hot-headed, Harry is crazy, Jenny is new, and let’s be honest, we’ll never take orders from a robot.”
The elevator doors opened. Gale Force hobbled out.
Trista stroked Alex’s hand. “We’ll talk more after this is over, Agent O’Farrell.”
“Call me Alex. Whatever else we are, we’re friends first.”
On the way to the elevator Trista made eye contact with Gale Force. Both women paused for an instant.
As the elevator door closed on Trista and Stormhead, Gale Force hobbled to the air conditioning duct and sat down. “Trista sent me a thought about how I should’ve told you about the affair. I’m disappointed that Emily didn’t tell you first.”
“So am I.”
“I know how you feel. My last boyfriend cheated on me.”
“How did you handle it?”
“With lots of ice cream and alone time. Not the best way.”
“Better than going on a drunken bender. That’s how my dad handles problems. I followed his example too many times.”
After a quiet moment Gale Force said, “Thanks for standing up for me at the meeting. It took guts to call out Magna.”
“Stupid freakin’ tinker-toy. She’s nothing like Mindy.”
“She is more useful than me. I mean, x-ray vision, vibration blasts, armor, and everything else, she’d beat me in a fight easily.”
“We do more than fight. Or at least we should.”
“It seems like we spend more time fighting each other than we do villains.”
“Anyone who thinks he or she can save the world has a huge ego. Clashes will happen.”
“And everyone clashes with Professor Photon.”
“Goddamn Harry. It’s like every time I turn my head he’s doing something insane. And it pisses me off he pulled crap on Trista, Deon, and Pinwheel.”
“Knockout Rose said she had to go to his lab for something. Should we be worried?”
“If he tries anything with Kayleigh, I’m sure …”
Alex’s smartphone rang. He pressed the button and heard Kayleigh say, “Get down here fast! I’m in Doctor Von Dyme’s –” before the call ended.
Chapter Sixteen: Human Beings are Unpredictable Things
“Idiots, every one of them,” said Professor Photon as he and Magna entered his laboratory. “My IQ is higher than theirs combined, and they dare tell me I’m wrong?”
“You should have become the leader of the New York Guardians after James Griffin retired,” said Magna.
“I was too busy reformatting you and setting up the life support system for Lady Amazing to ask. I hoped Stormhead would be as aloof as a leader as he was as a teammate. Instead, he takes any excuse he can to boss us around.”
“Then you should call for a vote of no confidence in Stormhead’s leadership.”
“Won't happen. Agent Asshole hates me and now the cowboy-with-a-crossbow is happy to get in a fight. And the fat Asian girl is the reason we’re in this mess.” Professor Photon pressed two buttons on his watch. With a swirl of circular particles his black-and-red suit turned into a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants. This outfit that made him feel like Doctor Harry Von Dyme, genius engineer and scientist.
“Then perhaps you can persuade them into accepting your intelligence as a greater qualification for leadership than Stormhead’s ability to generate lightning.”
“I’m not good at convincing anyone of anything,” muttered Harry. “Mindy did all my talking for me. I hoped you would inherit that quality with her brain waves.”
“I am not Mindy. I am Magna.”
“Obviously. Mindy could’ve made her perfectly reasonable disapproval of that rookie clear without a fight.”
“I let the brainwave patterns you imprinted me with guide me to the most logical choice according to the algorithms you programmed into my decision functions.”
“In other words, you did your best, and it’s my fault that’s inadequate.” He looked at the blast containment chamber’s sealed door. “I feel like I’m forgetting something. Can’t be too important. Remove your eyes. I need to make sure the lowlight receptors are calibrated for night-fighting.”
Magna popped her own eyes out, placed them on the workbench and stood still.
Kayleigh knocked on the door and entered, holding the battered harness and mask.
“Good, you’re here,” said Harry. “We don’t have much time.”
“I bent the harness back into shape, but I can’t recharge it. Could you do that for me?”
“Yes, but you still owe me payment.” Harry pulled a negligee and a black bob wig from his work table. “Put these on.”
Kayleigh put the harness and mask on the table and inspected the negligee. “This is a few sizes too small.”
“I can inject you with micro-macro particles. How much do you weigh?”
“Wait, I have another idea.”
“Wear the wig, or we have nothing to discuss.”
Kayleigh put the wig on.
Harry examined her from side to side. He tilted the wig so the hair fell over the line of steri-strips on Kayleigh’s cheek.
“You don’t look much like Mindy. I’ll have to do this without looking at your face.”
“Can I see that video again? The one where I made the agreement?”
“You know what you said and so do I.”
“Fine. I said I’d do anything your late wife would do for you, right? Well, I passed Stormhead and Gale Force on the way to the elevator. He said you weren’t good at talking to people, and I overheard you tell Magna that Mindy did your talking for you ...”
Harry glared at her with undisguised condescension.
Kayleigh continued, “I mean, that’s something she did for you that Magna can’t do, right?”
“I don’t need a spokesperson. No one cares what someone who looks like you says.”
“But you’re fighting with the whole team.”
“They need me more than I need them.”
“Then maybe I can help in the lab. Can a robot come up with new ideas? Because, in the comics, Mindy helped you brainstorm.”
“What education do you have?”
“I went to college for a while. I majored in chemistry before switching to psychology and then history.”
“How cute.” Harry put a pressurized air can against Magna’s eyes and pressed the trigger. “Mindy had a doctorate in mechanical engineering. You would be worse than useless as a lab assistant.”
“But I could …”
“Stop wasting time. Put on the negligee.”
“Isn’t there anything else I can do for you?”
Harry put Magna’s eyes under a microscope and picked up a soldering iron. “Why? Do you find me repulsive?”
“I didn’t until you blackmailed me.”
“It’s not blackmail. You’re using me to get what you want.”
“How am I using you?”
“You have no superpowers. You're not an ultra-athlete. You’re not smart enough to build your own weapons. I have the technological know-how to make anyone into a superhero. The Golden Gryphon battlesuit? I’m the one who turned that from a flying advertisement to a practical weapon. The Agent Exo exoskeleton? My idea from conception to self-destruction. The micro-macro particles that make me Professor Photon? Those let me shrink myself until I can create amazingly complicated machines at a microscopic level, which no one else alive can do. You want a service from me, I demand payment.” He popped Magna’s eyes back into its head and patted the robot’s shoulder. “Go into the charger and power down.”
“But I don't want do to this. I could've gone further in modeling if I was willing to sleep with people for better gigs. I joined the Young Sentinels to get away from that.”
Magna walked into a human-sized chamber and pressed a button. Its eyes went dark when a blue aura of electricity engulfed her.
Harry said to Kayleigh, “Do you want to be a superheroine or not?”
Kayleigh looked at the negligee one more time. Of all the men who tried to manipulate her into sex, Harry was by far the creepiest and the meanest. At least the others made some pretense of romance or lied well enough to make her consider it. To Harry, this was a cold physical transaction.
It was also the only way she co
uld be a superheroine. If she didn’t do this, she wouldn’t be able to save lives or possibly even her own life.
She swallowed hard. “Is there a place I can change?”
“Why bother?”
“I want to keep all the dignity I can.”
“Says the girl who wore only paint in public.”
“I fought to wear that much.”
Harry pointed to the blast containment chamber’s sealed door. “Don’t close it all the way. It locks automatically and is airtight and soundproof. I use it when one of my inventions explodes.”
“Let’s get this over with.” She went to the blast containment chamber and turned the latch.
The door swung open. Bosillos’s cybernetic body fell on top of her.
Kayleigh found herself on her back with an unlit glass eye in an ashen face on top of her. She shrieked, wriggled out from under Bosillos, and ran out of the laboratory so quickly the wig fell from her head.
Harry was also shocked until he remembered fighting Bosillos earlier in the day. He threw the Iron Pirate in the blast containment chamber. He meant to get him out and report the intruder to Agent O’Farrell, but then that hacker boy got shot in the head, and then Stormhead called an emergency meeting, and then that CIA bureaucrat droned on about history he revised his notions about sub-atomic anomalies relative to the speed of light. Somewhere along the way, he forgot about the cyborg he took prisoner in an airtight container.
Agent O’Farrell was not going to like this.
Outside the lab door, Kayleigh pulled her phone from the back of her belt, dialed Alex’s number, and said, “Get down here fast!”
Harry ran into the hallway right after she said, “I’m in Doctor Von Dyme’s Lab. There’s a dead body.” Magna’s eyes glowed light blue the instant the call dropped. “Are you there? Hello? “
Kayleigh ran to the elevator. She pressed the call buttons. “Stairs. Where are the stairs?”
“Behind me,” said Harry. “Listen.”
Kayleigh raised her fists. “Come any closer and I’ll pound you.”
Harry spread his hands. “Let me explain.”
Magna took long steps to get to Harry’s side.
The elevator’s call button went dark. Kayleigh pressed it again. It wouldn’t light up.
The Prospects (Book 2): Nothing Poorer Than Gods Page 17
