by Drew Hayes
“Would you even want to?” Ivan asked. “I imagined this would be more akin to opening a cage than handing you an eviction. You’ll be free to go where you like and live in whatever way pleases you, which I imagine will involve a cluttered, messy lab with little more than two plates, a microwave, and a miniature television.”
“That’s a weirdly accurate description of my last few places,” Tori admitted.
“Don’t feel bad; I based the guess on Doctor Mechaniacal’s first apartment. Anyway, the point is, I’m not kicking you out the door as soon as your last trial is over. You’ll be free to apartment hunt and figure things out as you need to. While neither of us might have precisely wanted this arrangement, it’s not so bothersome that I can’t hang on for a little while longer.” Ivan smiled at her, betraying the fact that he’d actually just said something bordering on nice.
“Yeah, you’re not as bad as I expected. At least you can cook.” Tori decided it was best not to push her luck; after all, she’d gotten permission to help her friend and a kind word out of Ivan. Best to quit while she was still ahead. “All right, boss, time for me to head back to work. After a week away, there are a ridiculous number of meetings for me to schedule.”
“Oh, that reminds me, don’t make any plans for lunch,” Ivan told her. “The office is throwing us a surprise ‘welcome back’ party. My understanding is that they got Thai from that place three blocks over.”
“That’s really nice of them.” Tori found herself unexpectedly touched by the gesture, in spite of the fact that she’d seen how close the office was when they were taken hostage.
“The people here are good, decent folk,” Ivan said. “And they tend to look out for their colleagues. Which brings up another thing: have you seen Donald today?”
Tori shook her head; Donald had been stuck in meetings all morning. The rumors around the break room were that he was having his project load assessed and reassigned in order to free him up in case the AHC had to call him in for an emergency. A lot of people thought it was the first step in getting him to stop coming in to the office. They speculated that after this he’d be given the “opportunity” to telecommute as much as he liked, and eventually, he’d likely get paid for doing nothing. Capes weren’t exactly attacked in the street, but the non-guild criminals out there sometimes tried to hit them when they thought their guard was down. The bigger Donald’s profile got, the more risk there was that someone would try to come after him while he was on Vendallia’s clock.
“You may want to reach out to him and see how things are going. From what I understand, things have been a bit tough for him around here since he became a cape. A little friendship might go a long way.”
“Nice as that sounds, you’ll understand if I’m a little suspicious about why you want me to reach out to a superhero,” Tori said. “Putting up with a friendship is one thing, but that borders on you encouraging it.”
“Of course I encourage it.” Ivan turned back to his computer, the rhythmic clacking of the keys resuming. “The continued existence of our guild is predicated on us being more trouble to fight than to tolerate. A few friendships across the moral lines only make us less tempting as targets.”
“I guess that’s true, even if it feels a bit manipulative.” Tori regarded her teacher carefully as he punched away at the keyboard. “Does that mean you’ve got a few friends over at the AHC as well?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Who on earth in that organization would have wanted to befriend Fornax?”
“Well, Lodestar—”
“Lodestar reaches out to everyone she thinks she can help,” Ivan said, cutting Tori off. “And it paid off in the form of us stopping Orion. She was the only one who saw recruiting me as a good idea, though. Trust me: Fornax has no friends at the Alliance of Heroic Champions, which is why it’s all the more important that his apprentice keep the one she managed to make. You never know when you might need someone over there to speak on your behalf.”
“Let’s hope it never comes to that.” Tori left the office, though her mind stayed with Ivan. Stoic as her teacher was, she’d been around him long enough to get a bit of a read on him. Something told her he wasn’t revealing the whole truth about having friends among the capes. It was something she’d dwell on later, when there was time.
For now, she still had a whole Monday to get through.
* * *
It wasn’t until lunch—which was both delicious and heartwarming; the rest of the floor had gathered to wish her and Ivan a happy return—that Tori finally found herself free at the same time as Donald.
He emerged from a conference room with the telltale combination of weariness and relief that spoke of a long meeting that had finally come to an end. She hadn’t noticed in the chaos and surprise of the club, but he seemed different than Tori remembered him. Not physically—he was still a wiry young man with red hair and freckles—but the way he held himself had shifted. No longer did Donald Moss merely trudge through the hallways, visibly counting the minutes until he was free of their fluorescent-lit cage. Now he had an air of confidence about him. He moved like a man who knew his surroundings were temporary, and that something far greater awaited him on the outside.
Donald noticed Tori in her cube and smiled, giving her a nervous wave; suddenly the illusion vanished. But Tori knew what she’d seen. Donald was changing, bit by bit. And really, how could he not? He was a cape now. No one could take on a job like that and remain the same as they were before.
“Glad to see you’re all right,” she told him, standing up from her seat and giving him a brief, office-appropriate hug.
“That’s supposed to be my line,” Donald replied. “I was really worried you wouldn’t make it out of there, but I didn’t have your cell, so I couldn’t check in to make sure you and your friends were okay.”
“We all escaped fine, thanks to you and that other guy… Medley, I think the news said his name was?” Tori knew perfectly well what the other cape’s name had been. She also had a sneaking suspicion that in another form he resembled Ren, Donald’s friend, but she had an image to keep up, even if it meant playing dumb.
“Yeah, he’s another new guy at the AHC,” Donald confirmed.
“He seems like a tough SOB. The news was showing surveillance footage and stuff people shot with their cameras, and it was an incredible fight. Weren’t you scared, though? That thing seemed like a real monster.” Tori didn’t consider this part to be a lie—that rhino-creature had been flat out terrifying. She wasn’t even sure how she would have fought it, at least without her meta-suit. But Donald had managed in spite of everything.
“Oh yeah, I was freaking out during the whole fight.” Donald didn’t seem at all embarrassed about his fear as he sat his laptop down on the cubicle desk and settled into his uncomfortable chair. “There were at least three times where I was a thousand percent sure I was going to die. Only Medley and way too much luck got me through it.”
“You seemed so composed when you told us to leave.” That part was total bullshit and they probably both knew it, but the guy had tried to put himself between innocent people and a monster. He deserved a little bit of flattery for that sort of bravery. “Didn’t you even consider trying to run?”
“Honestly... it was the first thing that went through my mind.” Donald’s pale cheeks flushed slightly, and he busied himself with opening his laptop to avoid Tori’s gaze. “Like I said, I was scared. All I could think of when that thing started coming after me was how to not die.”
Tori settled back into her own chair but stayed far enough away from her desk that she could continue watching Donald as she spoke. “So, why didn’t you? There’s bound to be some gadget in your computer that would have let you get out of there.” This was a question Tori had been burning to ask ever since Donald decided to stay behind in spite of being able to run. She didn’t understand it, simply couldn’t fathom why he’d lay down his life like that. Fighting for friends and family was one thing, but the
y could have evacuated with the rest of the club, and everyone would have probably been safe. Instead, Donald and Medley put their lives on the line to protect the retreat of strangers. The survivalist mentality Tori had spent half a lifetime honing simply couldn’t square up with such actions.
“I mean... I wanted to, really badly. But if I had, then who would have stopped that creature?” The flush in Donald’s cheeks began to fade, and he managed to glance back over at Tori as he spoke. “Medley can take a beating, but he wasn’t able to hurt the monster very much. And sure, the AHC could have dispatched someone else, but there’s no way of knowing how many people would have been hurt by then. I just asked myself what the real superheroes would do, what Lodestar would have done, and then tried like hell to pretend I was one of them.”
“Donald, you stared down a monster with nothing but a computer pad and a weird tiger creature for backup. If that doesn’t make you a real superhero, I’m not sure what bar has to be crossed.”
“Maybe it will feel real once I save the world or something,” Donald replied. He pressed a few keys on his laptop and a screen full of e-mails appeared. “On the upside, looks like I’ll have a lot more time to train soon.”
Tori debated pretending to be in the dark, but Donald knew how gossip traveled in the office. Her acting unaware crossed the realm into unbelievable. “I heard they were transitioning off a lot of your projects?”
“If by ‘a lot’ you mean ‘pretty much everything’ then yeah, that’s what they’re doing,” Donald said, letting out a heavy sigh. “By the end of the month, it will be like I don’t even work here anymore. Which, I guess, is the point. At least I’ll still get a paycheck, though.”
“Wait, you get a paycheck and don’t have to show up to the office? Hot damn, someone sign me up for superpowers and monster-fighting,” Tori declared.
“It won’t be forever, at least not at my full rate.” Donald tapped another key and brought up a calendar for the rest of the year. “Basically, they can’t fire me for volunteering to protect innocent people, so they’re forcing me into early retirement. A few people at the AHC warned me that it might happen, but I thought they were just exaggerating.” Another few clicks and the calendar vanished, the digital reminder momentarily banished from sight if not mind.
“Looks like you’ll have to get used to another cubicle-mate.” Donald’s voice couldn’t have been any more bitter if his mouth had suddenly turned into a lemon.
“We’ll see about that,” Tori replied. “My internship is up in a few weeks anyway. There’s no guarantee I’ll even be able to stay on here. It’s possible I might be gone long before you stop coming in.”
“Pretty sure Vendallia doesn’t want the PR hassle of firing an intern who was heavily injured in an attack on their offices,” Donald pointed out. “Besides, you do great work, and Mr. Gerhardt’s opinion carries a lot of weight around here. If he vouches for you, you’ll get hired. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not one to count my chickens.” Tori reached over her desk to her purse and fished about for several seconds before finding what she was looking for. “And I’m also not one to take pointless chances. So, if either of us ends up leaving, let’s make sure we can still hang out when the mood strikes us. You said you didn’t have my cell number, right? Well, let’s fix that right here and now.”
Tori held up her phone and almost chuckled at the barely constrained joy on Donald’s face. Ivan had been right; a little reaching out did go a long way. Tori was surprised at how happy he was to have one friend that wanted to stay in touch after their office time ended.
Which just went to show that, smart as Tori was, she still had her blind spots.
Chapter 53
With work done and Tori off to the guild for night training, Ivan was just settling in with a good book when his doorbell rang.
Moving carefully, power already flowing into him as he prepared for the possibility of an assault, Ivan peered through the peephole at the mysterious person on his doorstep. It was neither a salesman nor a neighbor as Ivan had half-suspected, but instead the gently smiling face of Wade Wyatt. Muttering curses, the vulgar kind rather than the magical sort, Ivan unlocked his door and pulled it open for the man who was both his best friend and the leader of their guild.
“To what do I owe this unexpected intrusion?”
“Certainly not a hospitality lesson, though it seems you could use one,” Wade replied, walking in without waiting to be invited.
“Looks who’s talking. You usually call before stopping over. In fact, you’re downright pathological about it.” Ivan’s annoyance turned to concern as he relocked his door. If Wade was stopping by without calling, it either meant there hadn’t been time to do so or he didn’t trust the phone and the visit was supposed to be secret, neither of which boded particularly well.
“Yes, well, something needs your attention, and I felt it was best to bring the matter before you personally,” Wade said. “You know that during every training session, we make a point of taking the apprentices to see a code-enforcement, correct?”
Ivan nodded. “It’s not pretty, but they need to know what happens to those who break our rules. And it’s a good way to show them what those sorts of jobs are like before they make the mistake of agreeing to take one.”
“Glad you approve, because I just got word that Onslaughter is held up in Guatemala. Nothing too serious, but it’s unlikely he’ll make it back this week, and certainly not tonight, which is when the code-enforcement is supposed to take place.”
“Wade... you can’t be serious.” Ivan waited for the sudden burst of laughter or clapping to signal that it was a joke. Instead, his friend merely stared at him, no mirth to be seen. “You want me to do a job in front of other people? And kids at that?”
“None of them are children; they’re just younger than us,” Wade rebutted. “And anyone with a television screen has seen video of you fighting before.”
“Fighting, yes. Killing, no. Surely there’s someone else qualified to do this,” Ivan said.
Wade nodded, a short, sharp gesture that didn’t reassure Ivan in the slightest. “We have plenty who are qualified and some who are willing; however, the problem is one of seniority. When Balaam heard about Onslaughter, he volunteered to handle the code-enforcement himself. As a councilor and a proven warrior, no one in the guild can say they are more capable of handling the task than he. No one save for our most powerful and renowned enforcer, of course.”
“Fucking Balaam.” Ivan sucked in a breath through his teeth, trying to smother the embers of rage that blazed at the bastard’s name. “You think he’s planning something?”
“It’s always possible,” Wade admitted. “Field training is dangerous in itself, code-enforcement even more so. It wouldn’t be the first time a trainee didn’t make it back, though those incidents are usually not the fault of the instructor.”
“Still, offing an apprentice seems like a stretch. He’s guaranteed to piss off their mentor and maybe a few other members as well,” Ivan pointed out.
“I’m not claiming Balaam plans to lead all of them to their death,” Wade said. “In truth, I have no idea what he’s got planned for the apprentices. Perhaps he wants nothing more than to teach a good lesson and make you worry in the process. It wouldn’t be out of character for him. All I know is that unless Pseudonym steps forward, Balaam is handling the code-enforcement. That seemed like the sort of thing you’d want to be made aware of.”
Ivan stood motionless for several seconds, weighing the risks of each possibility against the other. If he let Balaam go, there was a good chance he’d do nothing more than teach the lesson, meaning Ivan had been fearful over nothing. Of course, he might also seize the opportunity to eliminate, injure, or otherwise incapacitate his own apprentice’s competition. Balaam was usually smart in his scheming, but with pride on the line, nothing was ever certain. On the other hand, if Ivan took over the job, he could make sure t
he rookies were safe the entire time. And all it would cost him is creating four more people who looked at him with nothing but fear in their eyes.
“Better scared than dead,” Ivan mumbled, more to himself than to Wade. “Get me the information about the enforcement and have our recon people do some proper scouting. We’re clear on the cape front, right?”
“This one is on the other side of the country, and we’ve set up the necessary decoy crimes to make sure you’ll have all the time you need,” Wade assured him.
“Then I guess there’s nothing left to do but tell Balaam to fuck off and put on my costume.” Ivan repressed a sigh and tried not to think about the fact that he’d only just gotten the blood out of it from the last time. This was the price he paid for freedom. For him and those he loved.
* * *
Tori was dragging ass as she gathered with the other apprentices in the lounge. Her long day at work had stretched on forever and the brief catnap she’d grabbed in her guild bedroom had only served to make her more tired. Idly she wondered if this would be the sort of training that might lend itself to stopping by a gas station and picking up a half-dozen or so energy drinks. That thought went quickly out the window as a familiar—way too familiar, in fact—figure stepped into the lounge.
Ivan was in his full Pseudonym outfit; bland and nondescript as it was, the change still seemed to alter him. The stoic, detached demeanor remained, but instead of calm, he seemed to radiate the potential for violence. Just from looking at him she knew this wasn’t Ivan showing up to a council meeting or walking around making introductions. He’d shown up to work, and she couldn’t imagine the task before him was a peaceful one. Behind him, Tunnel Vision waited just outside the room, their silhouettes outlined by the hallway’s lighting.
