by Lexie Dunne
“But you do such an amazing job at looking pretty,” I said. “You are definitely the hot one in this relationship.”
His ears went red. “Now that’s a downright lie.”
“Aw, you think I’m pretty. So what are you going to do in Chicago?”
“Pretty is putting it mildly. And I was thinking culinary school,” Guy said.
I raised my eyebrows.
“It’s better for me to have the powers,” he said. “Not being able to back you up? That sucked. But I don’t need to sacrifice everything in my life. I can find a way to make something work, right?”
“Selfishly, I am going to support any and all endeavors you make that involve food.” But I smiled and grabbed his hand. “Since I’m pretty sure I lost the job I probably shouldn’t have gone back to in the first place, though, I won’t be able to support you in the manner to which you’ve become accustomed, just to warn you.”
“I think I can handle it,” Guy said, laughing. He kissed the back of my hand. “I suspect you’ll be plenty busy with other things.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, squinting.
He refused to explain, though, only smiling when I badgered him and poked at the spot on his side where I knew he was ticklish. When I got up to do the dishes, he followed, leaning his hip against the counter as he sipped his second cup of coffee. “Sam wants to help Brook,” he said.
“He wants to start looking for Petra again? Didn’t that destroy him the first time around?”
“It’s a mystery that I think all of us want solved. Brook more than any of us. She deserves some closure in something after what Lodi did. It can’t have been easy on her, being held by Elwin again.”
I shoved a dish into the water with a little too much force. “Douchebag didn’t even care that he’d been complicit in torturing her. He only wanted money.”
“Davenport’s lawyers will hang him out to dry.”
“I hope so.” But it wasn’t enough. Remembering the devastation and fury on her face as she stood over Elwin at Wrigley Field, and knowing that she’d wound up under his power once again, made me realize that I’d never fully be satisfied. Prison wasn’t enough for that monster. I finished up the dishes while Guy checked the news on his phone, but the antsy feeling in my chest hadn’t abated. I needed to hit something.
“I’m going to go to the Power House. Want to come with?”
“I promised Sam I’d help him out with some stuff. Good luck with your security guard friend.”
From the way he ducked when I stepped into the lobby at the way station, I didn’t think I’d have a problem with Marsh the security guard again. After he’d been responsible for a massive breach in Davenport, I had the power to get him fired, and he knew it. At least it would be easier to pop into New York and visit Jeremy now. I shot one final malevolent look at Marsh and headed downstairs to catch the train. I could phase my way across Chicago, but I wanted to save my energy for a punching bag or five.
Three had been piled in the corner, busted to pieces, so clearly Angélica had already been here to work through her own issues. I picked a relatively intact bag and worked methodically through combinations, finally letting loose a little of the frustration I’d been suffering ever since Elwin had dosed me.
An hour later, I’d worked up a sweat and the bag swung wildly as I pounded away. A single hand stopped it and I bounced back on my heels, breathing hard.
Jessie Davenport raised both eyebrows at me. “Brought you lunch,” she said, holding up a fast food bag. Grease had turned splotches of it transparent, and I felt my mouth watering when I caught the smell of delicious salty food.
“Thanks,” I said, and she tossed the bag to me. I set it aside so I could unwrap my hands. “You’ve been spending a lot of time in Chicago lately.”
“I have some interests in the area. Is there some place we can sit and talk?”
Angélica wouldn’t mind if I used her office, so I led the way and cleared paperwork off of a couple chairs for us to sit. In addition to having the world’s largest shoe collection, my roommate excelled at avoiding all semblances of neatness whatsoever. That had been eye-opening when we’d moved in together.
“So no powers, huh?” I asked as we dug into our burgers.
“None. No chance of getting Mom’s Villain Syndrome, either, so that’s an upside.”
I eyed her. “Powers or not, you’re insanely terrifying in a fight.”
“I worked hard at that,” she said, nodding seriously. “I spent years building up that skill. My father didn’t have any powers, either, but he needed to keep up with the rest of the Feared Five. All of whom did have powers. He didn’t want to just be the bankroll.”
“And you took over,” I said, as I knew that much from history. The Feared Five had been the first superhero team. There’d even been a Gail on that team, but I hadn’t been named after her the way I’d thought for most of my life. That had just been a coincidence. “People think the Raptor is immortal.”
“They also think the Raptor is male,” Jessie said with a smile.
“True.”
“In a way, the Raptor is immortal, I suppose.” Jessie popped a fry in her mouth and chewed. “And adaptive. My father spent his entire life making the Raptor stronger. I followed in his footsteps. At times, the lack of powers can be a benefit. But often, it’s a deterrent. I think it’s time for the Raptor to adapt once more. This time, as a powered hero.”
I blinked at her, trying to figure out what she could mean by that. When my brain finally put it together, I wanted to slap my forehead. “You want the Mobium,” I said. “Oh, that makes sense, but I gotta tell you, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. And convincing Dr. Mobius is going to be impossible, unless you do Kiki’s gambit again. And I’m pretty sure that was a one-time thing that . . .”
Jessie started laughing hard. Confused, I trailed off.
“I should be flattered,” she said as I stared at her. She wiped away a tear. “I should be. Like, my age doesn’t even factor into it for you.”
“What?” I asked.
“Gail, I’m fifty-one. My father didn’t even make it to fifty before he gave up the suit. My body is a mess and the villains are showing up harder and faster these days. I’m not talking about getting Mobium for myself. I’m talking about passing the suit on.”
I gawked. I’d heard perfectly, but the words weren’t connecting in my brain. “But,” I said, when it became obvious that she was expecting me to say something. “But—you have kids. Your son, he—”
“He doesn’t have powers. And Raptor’s a heavy mantle to bear. I don’t want him in this life. My daughter, either.” Jessie gave me a serious look. “I want to pass it on to you.”
“But why?”
“Well, most importantly, Audra thinks it’s a good idea, and I’ve learned over the years that she’s smarter than me.” Jessie wiped a dab of ketchup off her fingers with a napkin. “You’re smart, you’re durable, you’re willing to learn. You’ve got a good heart. You’ve already shown me you can make alliances with heroes and villains alike. And when it comes down to it, you can make difficult choices and you’re capable of seeing the bigger picture when you need to.”
I squirmed in my seat.
“But really,” Jessie said, “I’m picking you because making you the next Raptor would piss Eddie off beyond belief.”
Suddenly, it all made sense. I’d been puzzled by Jessie’s random visits to Angélica’s gym to spar with me and watch me train. The carte blanche she’d given me to borrow armor and vehicles from her armory. The fact that she’d had a log-in for me in her computer systems. The Raptor-like uniform she’d had tailor-made for me.
Jessie Davenport had been grooming me, and I hadn’t even noticed. Which, really, should be all the argument she needed against me being the next Raptor, and I t
old her so.
She rolled her eyes. “Observational skills can be taught. I’m asking you to come be my apprentice, not put on the cape and go out to New York tonight. It’d be a full-time job. The Raptor has a venerable history and we’d need to make the transition seamless, so it would take time.”
“When you say a full-time job . . .” I said, feeling weak.
“I mean you’d earn a paycheck, with benefits. Audra drew up a packet. There’s a signing bonus.”
“Are you insane?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“No, just really, really rich.” She reached into the bottom desk drawer and dropped a thick white envelope in front of me. When had she even put that in there? “I’ve already had a talk with your roommate. I may be giving up the Raptor, but Audra comes with me, so you’ll need somebody to manage your life. Angélica’s already doing a pretty good job, from what I can tell.”
She wiped her hands clean on a napkin, balled her trash up, and tossed it in the garbage. “Give it some thought, and let me know what you decide. Audra’s waiting for your call,” she said, and she left me there, sweaty from working out and holding what I imagined to be a pretty lucrative job offer.
The worst part was that I was gobsmacked, but absolutely none of my friends were surprised, Guy chief among them. When I called him, he only laughed. “I saw the writing on the wall months ago,” he said. “It’s not a bad idea. You’re never going to stay out of the field, you know.”
I sighed. “I tried my hardest!”
“You’re trouble. I love you for it, but you’re trouble.”
He had a point. “I love you, too,” I said. “I’m going to go think about it.”
“Say hi to Jeremy for me.”
It took me a couple of hours of talking into the silence of Jeremy’s room before I could really wrap my brain around it. Going through the paperwork made my mind boggle. No wonder Jessie had said Audra was smarter than her: she’d thought of every angle in the paperwork. There were schedules, anticipated conflicts, financial projections. The only reason the kitchen sink had been left out probably had to do with weight limits or something because the paperwork definitely had everything else.
“This is ridiculous,” I said to Jeremy’s impassive form. “I am crazy for even considering it.”
And I was considering it. Angélica had pointed out that even if it didn’t work out, even if I didn’t become the Raptor, training with Jessie was an opportunity I shouldn’t pass up.
I looked at Jeremy’s prone form and poked his thigh with the toe of my sneaker. “I get an offer to be the world’s most famous superhero’s apprentice and you’re sleeping. Lazybones. You need to be awake so you can mock me for even considering not taking this job. Raptor used to be your favorite superhero.”
A little flare of static bubbled up the tip of his index finger. Other than that, no change.
“Fine,” I said. “See how you like it when I become the Raptor, and you miss it.”
And I was, I realized. I was going to take Jessie up on her offer. I’d liked the armor she’d given me, even if I hadn’t been nuts about the color. And wearing a mask . . . it really had been inevitable. Still my hand shook a little as I picked up the phone to call.
Right as I unlocked it, though, a text message arrived. I read it with a frown, and then an idea began to form.
I’d take the job, I decided, and hopefully Audra wouldn’t side-eye my conditions too much.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later, I grimaced as one of my boots caught the edge of a puddle, splashing icy water all over my uniform pants. The cold didn’t bother me, but the damp would stick around for hours, and that was aggravating. It couldn’t be helped, though. I was already late. Making sure I knew how to use the suit had taken longer than either Audra or Angélica had anticipated.
“It’s a loan only,” Audra had said.
“Which means don’t break it,” Angélica had translated for me.
I looked between the two of them. How Angélica had managed to mimic Audra’s unimpressed look in the space of a few hours was still perplexing to me. She had her own arsenal of those, but she had Audra’s body language down perfectly. “You were just telling me that Jessie breaks the suit all the time!”
“That’s Jessie. She breaks the suit doing serious things and fighting serious villains.”
“This is a serious villain. Well, no, okay, she’s not, but I owe her one,” I’d said, stubbornly, and Audra had given in with a sigh.
Their caution would probably save me trouble down the road, but right now it made me late. And the person I was meeting wasn’t always smart about dressing for winter. So I hurried, phasing from rooftop to rooftop. I reached my destination eight minutes late, and found her hovering despondently in the air, listlessly kicking her feet.
She’d upgraded to her winter outfit at least, so that was a small mercy.
I crouched in the shadows and studied her for a moment, evaluating. In the end, the rocket boots were the best strategy. I reached into a pouch, scowling as I picked the wrong one and had to withdraw my fingers before I activated a taser disc and shocked myself again. The correct pouch netted the little device I needed, which I lobbed at Raze’s left boot.
It hit with a fzzt and a shower of sparks. Raze yelled as she dropped about ten feet and transferred all the power to her right rocket boot. As she decelerated, she yanked one of her guns out and swung it about wildly. “Who’s there?”
I leapt up onto a balcony railing and remained crouched, doing my best not to wobble.
Raze’s jaw dropped. “Raptor? Oh, shit, sorry, I’ll go. I didn’t realize this was your territory, your Raptorness. I’ll go right away—”
“Gail Godwin sent me,” I said, trying not to grimace at the way the voice modulator made me sound. Creepy kidnapper had never been my aesthetic. I’d have to talk to Angélica about that.
“Sh-she did?” Raze’s face had gone bone-white.
I grinned. “She couldn’t make it. She sent a hero worthy of fighting you in her place, she said.”
Puzzlement reigned supreme over Raze’s face, even with her bulbous helmet blocking most of it. She edged her fingers along her half cape. “Gail said that?” she asked, her voice rising to a squeak at the end. “Really?”
I shrugged.
“Oh my god. I knew it! You’re going to fight me? Like, for reals?”
“I can leave, if you want me to,” I said, standing up as though to go. It nearly knocked me off balance. I had no idea how Jessie always clung to those narrow ledges.
Before I could turn, though, Raze shot at me. She missed, but it was close enough to sizzle at one of the backward tufts on my cowl. “I’m not going to miss fighting the Raptor,” she said.
“Good enough for me,” I said, and jumped off the balcony at her. She let out an actual yodel and dove at me in return.
An hour later, we’d destroyed a few rusty cars and had busted up some walls in foreclosed buildings (there was a reason I’d picked the area that I had). I was covered in bruises and sweating, but Raze’s smile as she flew off had been worth it. No doubt she’d be blowing up my phone—hopefully not literally—with a wildly exaggerated account of the time she totally kicked my friend the Raptor’s ass. I’d owed her one since she’d taken a bullet helping me out. And it was good training.
Good training that left me starving. I made my way back to where I’d left my new car, pulling out my phone to text Guy that I was finally on my way over to his place—after I dropped the armor off, of course.
The phone shocked my hand.
Cursing, I dropped it. Had something gone wrong with the suit? Raze had landed a couple of surprisingly heavy hits. Maybe one of the myriad devices I was learning to use had somehow supercharged my phone. Annoyance rose up. If I had to get a new phone because of this, that was ju
st going to be a pain. At least it hadn’t cracked when it fell on the concrete.
Warily, I bent over and reached for it, hoping it wouldn’t shock me a second time.
It didn’t. Instead, it exploded into a shower of blue sparks and static. I yelped and scrambled backward. Currents of electricity engulfed my poor phone, shaped like a mushroom cloud and glowing. I scurried back farther when the glowing cloud of static grew. The static fizzled and popped and crackled, filling the air with the overpowering scent of ozone. A blue cloud that sparked with energy sprouted outward from the phone, crawling along the concrete until it was waist-high and spreading lengthwise.
My brain pointed out that I should run, and run fast. Audra hadn’t told me about anything in the Raptor suit that could do that, which meant this was clearly something else. But I remained rooted to the spot. The static burned the weeds struggling up through the cracks in the pavement, little puffs of smoke. At its center was a globe of blue light so bright that I couldn’t look directly at it, but I also couldn’t look away. It was beautiful and mesmerizing and terrifying.
I had just enough time to wonder at this before the bright cloud abruptly turned white and burst outward. A concussive wave knocked me back, shattering streetlamps and plunging the street into darkness. I could barely make out a body in the dark where my phone had been. Male. Tall. Wearing what looked like smoking hospital scrubs. And when my brain finally processed what my eyes were seeing, I grabbed the flashlight out of my utility pouch and shoved my cowl off.
The man coughed as I shone the light in his face. He was covered in sweat and he had a couple of shiny burns on his face. He lifted a hand to block the light and I saw a little blue spark travel up the length of his pinky. He was out of breath and he absolutely shouldn’t have been lying on the street in Chicago, not when he was supposed to be in a coma in New York.
“So,” Jeremy Collins said when my mouth bobbed uselessly, no sound coming out of it. “What did I miss?”
