Please Don't Tell My Parents I Have A Nemesis

by Richard Roberts

Whatever. Now that I saw Remmy face to face again, something that had worried me a little now worried me a lot. Climbing to my feet, I took a couple of steps towards her. “Remmy, are you okay? You look sick. Really sick.”

  She did. The bloodshot eyes might have been emotion, but not the dark shadows around them, or the oiliness of her hair, or the grime on her skin that tears and sweat had drawn tracks across. Was all that bug-eyed intensity rage, or was she running a fever?

  Mourning Dove said, “She is badly underfed. Enough that her health is deteriorating.”

  Remmy recoiled. “Don’t tell him!”

  Him? And why did she say that to me?

  Turning my palms up, fingers spread, trying to look as inoffensive as possible, I took another step closer. “Let me help you, Remmy.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes. Gritting her teeth, she hissed, “Stop it.”

  No way. I’d beg if I had to. “Please, Remmy. You’re in trouble. Please let me help you. You’re hurting, and I can’t stand to see it. Learning how to deal with Earth is too much even for someone as smart as you. I’ll―”

  “Stop it!” she yelled again. Bawled. The noise that followed was a sob, followed by a sniffle. Tears dripping down her cheeks, she twisted her shoulders. A grappling hook slung out of the complicated, modern-looking engine of her backpack. It fired all the way up to the ceiling, at least fifty feet over our head. As it pulled, pistons on her boots thumped, and in a spray of steam she launched upwards until she crashed through a skylight, which must have been installed to cover the hole Vera had cut around Christmas.

  Vera…

  The little robot hovered next to Apparition, detached ceramic hand patting a ghostly shoulder. Apparition sat in midair, rubbing her own wrist. She must have tried to possess Remmy, and failed. She didn’t look actually hurt, merely sore.

  “Vera, please, follow Remmy. When you find out where she goes, come get me.”

  Her pink crystal ball head turned to look at me, turned back to look at Apparition, and Vera zoomed up into the air, flying out through the broken window.

  “That is also getting personal,” said Mourning Dove. She didn’t have to change her tone. That croak was already full of threat.

  I glared at Mourning Dove defiantly. Ray and Claire took hold of my shoulders, but I didn’t back down an inch. “Remmy is my friend, and she’s in trouble. That’s more important than who is a hero and who is a villain.”

  “If this escalates, I will kill you both,” Dove replied. Her mummified face remained impassive, but how often did she give warnings at all? Or second chances?

  Shaking off Ray and Claire, I clasped a hand to my forehead, then waved it about. I needed to gesture, to act. “If I can’t make peace, I’ll let her expose me, or I’ll confess myself. I knew I’d have to feel trapped to do it. I was just hoping to find a time when my parents would feel forgiving.”

  That got no reply, no change in stance or expression.

  Fine. I could get back to important matters. “Reviled. E-Claire. Apparition. Take the soul sucker back to my lair. That puts us one step closer to resurrecting Polly Icarus.”

  Mourning Dove didn’t argue, but Apparition did. Floating back upright, she set her sad face to stubborn. “Where Vera goes, I go.”

  Ignoring her, Dove asked, “Are you done with me?”

  “Yes. No, wait―here.” I rummaged around my costume. Where was it? I had so many pockets! Finding the bird ring in my coat, I held it out in my palm. “This belongs to you.”

  She looked at it, but made no move to take it. “Useless junk. Not even dangerous enough to guard. A fool tried to turn my powers back to healing, and failed badly. The ring gives a shock of life to the person touched, and of death to the wearer. The living can’t use it safely, and it hurts more than it heals.”

  Her gaze lifted back to mine… no, not quite. She wasn’t looking me in the eyes, she was looking past them. Her hoarse voice softened, slightly. “I repeat my offer. I can burn it out of you.”

  …what? Oh. The first time we met, she’d…

  I grabbed the back of my head, where I always felt my super power to be. “No, thank you. Definitely not.”

  Shadows writhed around Mourning Dove, and when they cleared, she was gone.

  I let go of my head, but maybe I shouldn’t have. My hands shook, and with all the immediate threats gone, I could feel how bad.

  That didn’t matter. I was going to do the right thing.

  y parents were going to kill me, and that’s if this didn’t expose my secret.

  Vera was taking forever. Was Remmy’s hideout in Anaheim? Was she walking to it? I hadn’t told my parents I’d be super late. If I got home past dark…

  There was nothing for it. If anybody had ever needed my help, it was Remmy. Being the good guy was as twisty a knot as being the bad guy, and as hard to give up.

  So, I sat in the back hall next to Mourning Dove’s apartment, my back propped against the wall, as time dragged on. Apparition sat opposite me, although her backside rested in the air and her feet went through the floor.

  I poked at my phone to pass the time, but there’s only so much web browser reading I could do at a stretch. When that gave out, I lowered it into my lap, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed.

  Apparition floated a few inches closer to me, leaning forward to ask, “So… what game are you playing lately?”

  What? Oh, yeah! The Apparition was a game geek too, or at least wanted to be. Helping her get some vicarious enjoyment was fine by me. “I haven’t played Teddy Bears and Machine Guns in a bit. We haven’t given it up, but we play more some times than others. I just picked up Little Reaper Girl, and I’m still early on in it.”

  Gray eyebrows lifted in interest, and a gray face lit up with curiosity. “I’ve heard about that. I met the girl it’s based on, once.”

  That made me sit up straighter. “She’s real? You know her?”

  Apparition scrunched up her nose―I think, it’s hard to tell on a transparent face―and waggled a hand. “I met her, briefly. She’s called Psychopomp. She was going to tell me her real name, but the train pulled away too fast. For some reason, she didn’t want to spend any longer in LA than she had to. I only saw her because…”

  “What?” I asked, then felt dumb, and added, “You don’t have to tell me.” Although what could a ghost have to hide?

  “I thought she could kill me the rest of the way,” Apparition answered.

  Criminy. Heavy stuff.

  Apparition lifted her hands, fingers curled. She stared at them, or perhaps through them. “I hate being like this. I can’t smell or taste or touch without latching onto someone like a parasite. For a while, I looked for ways to end myself, and that little girl wielding Death’s blade was my best chance. When I found out she would pass through Los Angeles, I rushed to meet her. Then we met, and I found out that I want to make things better, not get rid of what little I have. That kept me going until you gave me Vera.”

  She smiled across at me, wan but grateful.

  I, of course, had no idea what to say. What could you possibly follow all that up with? Other than a burning desire to do whatever it takes to restore this poor girl to life?

  Apparition took pity on me, or else her craving for games took over. She scooted another inch closer. “We only got to talk for a few minutes, but Psychopomp was really nice. I wasn’t expecting that. What’s she like in the game?”

  That required my best Thinking Frown. “I don’t know. The game presents story with only a little conversation. In the beginning, she just laughs and uses baby talk like ‘nuh-uh.’ I think the longest speech she’s made so far is ‘You can’t find me here.’ When the fighting part of the game starts, she sighs occasionally, but mostly the bad guys rant and threaten, and the reaper girl slices them up rather than stopping to listen.”

  Gray eyes watched me, wide and enthralled. “Video Spud said that the game focuses on making you feel deadly in close-up combat.”

 
“Oh, yeah.”

  I explained. It passed more time.

  I still just about shouted in relief when my phone rang like wind chimes, letting me know Vera had returned.

  We went out the back stairs to meet her. “You followed Remmy? You know where she went?”

  Vera nodded, pink crystal ball head rotating up and down.

  “Where!?”

  My excited question got little tinkly bell sounds in return. Of course.

  Fortunately, Apparition translated. “Your archenemy is hiding in the museum with the space shuttle.”

  “The California Science Center? And she’s not my enemy. Is… is ‘archfriend’ a thing?”

  Apparition giggled. In a faint, wistful way, sure, but a giggle.

  “Wait… the California Science Center? That’s in Exposition Park! It’s all the way across town!”

  Furiously, I poked at my phone’s map function, calling up… “Okay, it’s not that bad. It’s just outside of downtown. It will only take… uhh…”

  I hadn’t thought about how I was going to get to Remmy’s hideout. This new costume didn’t have the light bike. I’d come here on the subway.

  Total planning failure. Thank Tesla my teammates weren’t here to see me look like LA’s biggest doofus.

  Okay, well, give up on getting home before your parents freak out, Penny. What are your options? Feed the Machine until it’s a vehicle?

  “I could possess someone and drive us there in their car. I had my license before I died,” Apparition offered.

  Tempting. It wasn’t an awful thing to do to someone. I needed more details. “What would they remember?”

  “Possessed for that long? Probably a lot.”

  Hmmm. I nibbled my lip. “Would they remember where they dropped us off?”

  “Almost certainly.

  Ah, well. I shook my head. “That’s too much like giving Remmy’s hideout away to the public. Do we have any other options?”

  Was that a sly smile on her transparent face? “Well, you could always travel the way I do.”

  Time to regretting my decision: Infinitesimal. Possibly negative. I retroactively regretted my decision back to before I made it.

  It wasn’t the acrophobia. If I slipped and fell, I knew what to do. Good thing, because I slipped and fell twice. Quick use of my teleport bracers got me to a rooftop without any hard lessons from inertia.

  No, riding on top of Vera was really, really, really uncomfortable.

  Finding out she could lift me was a surprise. She had plenty enough strength to lift me and fly me between the towering buildings of downtown, and above the much less towering buildings surrounding it.

  There is just no good way to do it. I clung to her by my hands. I curled over her like a ball. I tried to sit on her. Everything exhausted me, stung, or both. I arrived at Exposition Park covered in bruises the size and shape of a tennis ball.

  “There! Put me down there!” I shouted, daring to point, and nearly slipped off for a third time. Vera’s dropping to follow my orders kept me on top of her, until I could slip safely and plant my boots on blissfully firm concrete.

  “First things first,” I announced. Going to my hands and knees, I lifted my gas mask and kissed the ground gratefully.

  “Second things second.” Straightening up, I pointed at the little building next to me―more of a gazebo, really―and shouted, “There’s a light rail stop at Exposition Park?! I could have just taken the train!”

  The sign even said ‘Exposition Park.’ I had a transit pass. I could have just walked back to Union Station, and…

  I let out a sigh. “But then I couldn’t have made a stop along the way.”

  Obligingly, Vera held out the white bag she’d carried for me. Her faint tinkling sounded suspiciously merry. Apparition, who’d weightlessly clung to Vera’s foot the whole way, unmistakably giggled.

  At least my faithful Machine didn’t laugh. Because it couldn’t speak. And wasn’t turned on.

  Exposition is one crowded street during rush hour, but I crossed the traditional way. If it weren’t for the armored corset, I couldn’t have made that trip at all. Weird to feel grateful to the most annoying fashion choice ever.

  Speaking of fashion, once I’d crossed the street, a guy said, “Great costume!” as he and his group of friends passed.

  A minute later, when I found one of the walkways into the park itself, I overheard a girl whispering to another girl, “I’m telling you, it has to be Bad Penny.”

  Everyone was headed in the opposite direction from me. We’d arrived after closing time for the museums, and I only passed stragglers taking their time on the way out. Bad for dealing with my parents, good for keeping Remmy’s secrets.

  Exposition Park is not small. After we’d wandered past the bubble fountain (with its ‘upgraded as a gift by an anonymous member of the super powered community’ plaque) and weaved across lawns and between buildings, Vera pointed at a giant orange cylinder laying on its side. A cylinder as big as the museum next to it.

  “Right. The shuttle fuel tank. You said she was here. Is she inside the tank?”

  Vera shook her head at me, then soared up, past the tank, up to the roof of the Science Center itself. She paused at the edge, a dot from this distance.

  Of course up there. Fortunately, I had my teleport bracelets. I took a step, the world blinking so my foot set down on top of the fuel tank, then another step that took me to the roof.

  Then I fell on my butt and sat there wheezing for a few seconds. I’d used the bracelets so little lately, I’d forgotten how exhausting teleporting could be! Note to Penny: Get back in shape.

  Ha ha ha! Yeah, right, like I’d do that any way besides getting back into active villainy again.

  The muscle ache cleared in a few seconds, unlike the bruises left from trying to balance on a crystal ball for miles.

  Not far away, amid the expected vents and roof detritus, a hatch lay welcomingly open. This was how Remmy got in and out.

  I rested my chin in my hand. Hmmm. “The museum hasn’t been closed for long. There have to be people in there. Staff, at least. On the other hand, if they’re ignoring Remmy, they’ll ignore me, and the last time I broke into a museum, I found out they have a policy of trying to ignore supervillains in the hope we don’t break anything.”

  This last I directed to Apparition, who had drifted up next to me. She dipped her head. “Yes. I like to explore museums at night, when no one’s around, but I would hate to steal from one.”

  The hatch contained a ladder. The ladder let me climb down into…

  …a really big room. A huge room. A giganto-enormous room. It turns out, space shuttles are not small, and you need most of a building to store one!

  The shuttle took up most of the room, sitting on the floor, or at least on platforms and supports barely above floor level. Other exhibits, engines and modules, decorated the edges. Nobody seemed to be around.

  I climbed down the ladder. When that got boring, and I had enough breath back, I teleported to the top of the shuttle and peeked inside the bay. Nothing inside, but… HA! I was standing on a space shuttle! If only I had time to enjoy this. Remmy was hurting, and needed my help.

  Step-blink. I teleported down to the floor.

  Apparition and Vera hovered over. “Where is she?” I asked.

  They both shrugged.

  Team leader time, even if this wasn’t my usual team. I looked around and made decisions. “I’ll check the SpaceHab, then search the shuttle properly. If she’s not there, we’ll think about broader search options.”

  The SpaceHab, helpfully named by its display sign, was the closest thing to the ladder besides the shuttle itself. Plus, as a big funny-shaped box designed to fill the shuttle cargo bay, it had room not just for a person to hide in, but hide in comfortably. Logical first choice, right?

  Remmy must have thought so. When I got near, I heard a cough from inside. Not a harmless clearing of her throat, and not convulsive, extend
ed hack, but definitely phlegmy.

  The SpaceHab is a funny looking thing, like the lower half of a cylinder but squared off. It’s all covered in lumpy white fabric, with a tube entrance. An adult would have to crouch to get through that, but be able to stand up easily inside.

  A light shone from the entrance. Teleporting past the protective railing, I peeked inside.

  Remmy sat against the back wall of the SpaceHab, knees pulled up and face in her hands. She’d shucked her power armor, which lay in bits amidst a pile of tools and clutter, most of which looked so technical I’d have to look close to figure out what belonged in the exhibit. Under the armor, she’d been wearing a lumpy, badly stained blue jumpsuit. It looked a little NASA-y, and a lot like something an auto mechanic might wear. It also didn’t fit, but everything looked bulky on Remmy’s tiny, noodle-limbed frame.

  So. Next step, I took off my gloves. Then my tool belt. Remmy looked up as I took off the backpack, dumping it all on the floor outside and behind me.

  She glared at me. Without her armor, she looked even more haggard. I just kept disarming, removing my mask and goggles, and slipping my bracelets out from under my sleeves. Last, and feeling very uncomfortable doing it, I peeled the Machine from my wrist and set him atop the pile of my equipment.

  “You followed me here,” Remmy hissed. If looks could kill, I’d be burned to a cinder. I swear I actually felt hot little pinpoints where she stared. Her eyes held that much anger.

  Sitting down in the entrance tube, I said, “I just want to talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you, villain.” Her mouth pulled back in a freakish grimace, but at least she didn’t grab for her own weapons.

  “Then don’t. Just eat.” Vera handed me the white bags filled with fish and chips, and I leaned in far enough to deposit them within Remmy’s reach.

  Remmy glared at me.

  Quietly, trying not to show emotion, I said, “You’re hungry.”

  “I don’t want your help,” she growled back.

  My composure broke. “Please, Remmy. Please. You’re starving. I’ll beg. I am begging. Please, eat.”

  By now, the smell of fried cod filled the small room, which is all SpaceHab was, a little white room lined with cabinets. It wasn’t all that great stuff. I’d stopped at the first fast food drive-through I’d seen. It still smelled delicious and greasy.