by Ekeke, C. C.
Simon folded his arms petulantly. “Glad you think I'm useful.” His resentment was unmistakable.
Hugo opened his mouth to protest, only for a collage of recent incidents to skip through his brain. And his defense collapsed. “Yeah,” he acquiesced. “I haven’t been a great friend.”
The admission appeared to surprise Simon, and he relaxed his posture. “I don’t have superpowers or armor. But I don’t deserve to get overlooked for being a normie or whatever.”
Hugo winced. “I’m sorry I made you feel that. Things have been crazy, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “You’ve been my ride-or-die for years. That will never change.”
Simon appeared satisfied by the apology. “What about J-Tom?” He nodded upstairs.
Hugo pursed his lips. She was currently asleep in his bedroom. They’d helped clean up Atascadero for two days, returning here each night. Lust kept overwhelming Hugo’s fatigue. And J-Tom was always a willing bedwarmer. It happened many times last night…and this morning. Then there were the long, flowing conversations about anything and everything. Hugo could talk to J-Tom for hours and never get bored.
He leaned forward, sizzling pleasure dwarfing his guilt over Jodie. “It’s nice, having someone in both sides of my life.”
“And your bed,” Simon snarked.
Hugo scowled at him. “That should probably stop now that we’re teammates. And I want things to work with Jodie.” Yet, Jodie hadn’t answered his romantic gesture. And Hugo was still pondering how to wean off J-Tom’s comforts without hurting her feelings. Drama. “Despite Jen’s assets—”
Simon snort-laughed.
“Shaddup,” Hugo snapped. “Despite that, you’re fam.” He held Simon’s gaze. “I’ll do better, I promise.”
That reached Simon. “Thanks.” He cleared his throat, and the tension. “You talk to G-Mama yet?”
“She’s not calling or texting me back.” Hugo feared that their friendship would never recover.
Simon’s reaction was sympathetic. “I’ll see what I can do.”
With all the chaos these last few days, Hugo had overlooked another dilemma. “Another thing. And I’m telling you first.” He lowered his voice. “Briseis knows I’m Aegis.”
Simon stared back for a long moment, teetering between disbelief and anger. “You told her?”
“No!” Hugo denied. “She already knew.” As calm as he sounded, his terror from earlier reignited. Who knew how long Brie had known or who she might’ve told? Hugo felt cold all over. “She handed me my fucking costume that was supposed to be in my gear stash site, right before the Atascadero fight.”
Simon sank into his seat. “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. How?”
Hugo slumped back with him. “Dunno.” Brie knows my secret. He still hadn’t digested this scary truth.
Simon dropped his arms, dawning horror on his face. “What are you going to do?”
Hugo had considered that. “I’m meeting Brie tomorrow morning to get answers and make sure she keeps quiet.” And he had to make sure she kept quiet…unless she hadn’t. Jesus.
Hugo rubbed his temples, filing that away in light of other priorities. “But today, I’m meeting Ms. Ortiz.” Hopefully, they could settle their issues for good.
Simon threw his head back and laughed. “Your life is like a Korean TV drama, with superpowers.”
Hugo doubled over, howling. “There are worse problems to have!” he managed between laughs.
After Simon left and breakfast in bed with J-Tom, Hugo showered before heading to Ms. Ortiz’s house.
She greeted him at the door, wearing one of her ridiculous shapeless caftans, blondish hair in a long braid over her left shoulder. Strangely, he’d missed seeing her airy-fairy fashion.
“Hey, Hugo.” She gave him a big hug, which he readily returned. Inside, energy crystals, rock formation photos, and esoteric paintings adorned the walls. One would never guess this was Lady Liberty’s abode.
Zelda bounced up, bearhugging Hugo’s waist fiercely. Clearly, she’d inherited Titan’s strength. “Hey!”
Hugo chuckled and patted her back. “Hi, ZiZi.”
Zelda then raced upstairs and out of sight. Her attitude had changed since Hugo had learned they were siblings. Almost like a cloud over her had cleared.
Ms. Ortiz gestured to her kitchen at the rear of the house. “Want anything?”
“I’m good.” Hugo plopped down on a lounge chair. “Any word on Spencer and her dad?”
Ms. Ortiz’s dismayed look spoke volumes as she sat beside him. “My contacts said that Ezra’s stashed somewhere in San Miguel.” Her face darkened. “Spencer’s living with Steve Olin, Paxton-Brandt’s CEO.”
“So she’s untouchable.” Hugo swore. Now he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop Spencer.
“I’m monitoring your house and your family,” Ms. Ortiz guaranteed. “And I will find Ezra. I owe him.”
Hugo preferred better news. But Lady Liberty’s backing eased his concerns. “Thanks,” he said wearily.
Ms. Ortiz brightened when changing topics. “You and your Paragons did so well in Atascadero.”
Hugo waved off the praise. “Couldn’t have done it without your mentorship,” he deflected, and a lump formed in his throat. How asshole-ish must he have been. “I’m sorry if I came across ungrateful.”
Ms. Ortiz shook her head, her thick braid swaying side to side. “I’m the one needing to apologize. I am so sorry for breaking that trust.” She placed a hand over her heart, growing rather emotional. “I wanted to tell you about Titan after I returned from my trials.”
Hugo looked down, struck anew by the dizzying weight of being Titan’s son. “I appreciate that.” He faced her. “Cuz I need your help. Apparently, I’m leading a team.”
Ms. Ortiz smirked. “I thought teams weren’t your thing,” she teased, toying with her braid.
Hugo rolled his eyes. “It kinda happened once I started training my friend Jennifer.” Thinking of J-Tom and how well she took to being a hero made him smile. “Almost like everything fell into place.” Coincidence or collusion? he pondered, no longer smiling.
“I’m glad you gave Polymer a chance.” Ms. Ortiz looked haunted. “He got bullied a lot on the Warguard.” Her eyes refocused, whatever pain she’d let slip gone. “Teaming up will be good for you both.”
Hugo might have felt the same, if leading his own team wasn’t so scary. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted. “We got lucky in Atascadero.” He mulled aloud his team’s deficits. “Polymer, Ballistic, and I got field experience. J-Tom’s still learning. But Max and Cherry have no formal training.”
“Hugo…” Ms. Ortiz searched his face with doting eyes. “Are you asking for my help?”
He forced the words over this deep resistance within. “If you’re able.”
Her smile was like sunlight parting a cloud-filled sky. “I can whip you Paragons into a well-oiled team.”
Hugo couldn’t agree without a guarantee. “Promise that there will be no secrets about me.”
Ms. Ortiz nodded before he’d even finished. “Deal.” She studied him with maternal affection just like before. “Do you have any questions about your…about Titan?”
Hugo had plenty, one of which he wasn’t sure he wanted answers to. “Are Zelda and I the only ones?”
By Ms. Ortiz’s deep frown, she understood the question. “No. But the executor of Titan’s estate has kept their identities sealed. If they choose to reach out, I gave consent for them to contact me.”
“They?” Hugo blinked and let his head loll. “Wow.” Titan had other children. After sitting with this a few minutes, he lifted his head and asked another question. “When did he tell you about me?”
“A decade ago,” Ms. Ortiz said. “It was his idea to live in Paso Robles so you and ZiZi grew up together.”
Hugo studied the way she shifted in her seat. “There’s more.”
Never had Ms. Ortiz looked so unnerved. “You never asked why I didn’t spo
nsor you to attend superhero academies like Steinholt or Gainsborough.”
Hugo scratched his chin, considering this. “I wanted to protect my identity.”
“An academy would’ve worked,” Ms. Ortiz pressed. “Learning with peers from different instructors.”
Hugo couldn’t figure out where this was headed. “So why didn’t you sponsor me?”
“Titan asked me not to.”
Hugo sat bolt upright. “Huh?” Now he was completely confused.
Ms. Ortiz closed her eyes a long moment. “Titan planned on training you himself when you manifested.”
The revelation threw Hugo back. “Holy shit,” was all he could muster.
Ms. Ortiz ignored the outburst. “Before his passing, he’d recorded videos for his will. I’d put off watching until late October last year.” Her eyes tightened. “His death was still too fresh.” She exhaled. “But once Morningstar got arrested, I found the courage to watch. One of his requests was for me to train you if anything happened to him.”
Hugo’s brain sagged. “But you said nothing.” He sat up, anger blooming in his chest. “You attacked me!”
Ms. Ortiz was unremorseful. “I didn’t think you could control your powers. And for Titan’s sake, I would’ve preferred you lived a normal life.” Her lovely features softened. “But your role in catching Morningstar and Titan’s request changed my mind.”
Goosebumps prickled Hugo’s forearms. A nagging buzz built at the back of his neck. “Why was he against me attending an academy?”
Ms. Ortiz took a long, deep breath before answering. “Titan said…because Saracen warned him.”
Chapter 46
“This city has been through enough,” Gerald Sweeney, mayor of Shenandoah, declared in front of city hall. The older man was lean yet carrying a slight paunch, with buzzcut grey hair. He looked exhausted. But passion burned in his eyes as he spoke. “From this day forward, superheroes are banned from Shenandoah.” That drew an eruption from the audience and officials behind him, like Senator Huntley, cheering him on.
Greyson reclined in his chair with a smirk. Sweeney had to denounce the Thrillers and heroes in general. He’d been the team’s biggest advocate, so the press conference and lawsuit against Seneca International were damage control.
Connie clicked off the TV. The pair were at Paxton-Brandt’s DC offices, in a fancy conference room. Her satisfaction was palpable and infectious. “They’ll be the first.”
“And not the last.” Greyson spun in his chair away from the blank screen to the laptops before him. “On to our investigations. The Paragons.”
Paxton-Brandt had been helpful in gathering intel on Aegis and his Paragons. He and Connie skimmed through Aegis’s, Ballistic’s, and Polymer’s profiles. “We need more on these three,” Greyson stated. Onscreen were images of pint-sized Sakura, ferocious-looking Loba, and the armored Arclight.
Connie made a disapproving face. “Sakura’s a toddler. But from footage of that fight, she’s insanely powerful.”
Greyson nodded, eyes locked on Loba. “They all are.” He’d never seen a real werewolf before. Most animal shifters stuck to rural parts of the Southwest, the Dakotas, the Louisiana bayous, or the Northwest forests. “Maybe Paxton-Brandt can investigate the Alpha Pack and see if she’s connected.”
Connie swiped the screen to the silver-and-blue armored Paragon. “Then we have Arclight,” she remarked, running fingers through her sleek hair.
“Definitely not a robot,” Greyson decided. “The armor looks like Ramon Dempsey’s work.” If Arclight was half as powerful as Dynamo had been, then that hero would be a formidable enemy. “There’s clearly a close relationship between him and Aegis.”
Greyson waited for Connie to chime in, like she always did. Silence. He turned to see his wife zoned out on the screen.
“I don’t think Arclight’s a he.” Connie leaned in and jabbed at the screen. “See how slender the armor is? And the way they move?” She straightened confidently. “Arclight’s a she.”
Greyson had no dispute with that. “Maybe she’s Aegis’s lover.”
Connie rolled her eyes. “Not everything is about sex.”
They laughed. But Greyson's mind kept returning to why Paxton-Brandt kept stalling on Aegis.
Connie slipped an arm around his shoulders. “What are you thinking?”
Greyson pecked her cheek. While he wasn’t a conspiracy theorist, this issue needed voicing. “Paxton-Brandt has been very…passive against Aegis,” he murmured, scanning the room. “After he attacked their properties.”
Connie nodded in agreement. “You know what else is odd?” she whispered. “I think the doctor who betrayed them was working with Aegis.”
That blew Greyson’s mind. “And might know Aegis’s identity.”
“Yeah..." Connie bit her lower lip suggestively, so cute when she pondered. “Why are they protecting one of their enemies from us?”
Greyson stroked her face with the back of one hand. “That’s something I’d like to find out.”
The door opened before Greyson could ponder further.
In walked Gwyneth Pierce with long strides. Olin’s special assistant wore a tucked-in white blouse and wide-legged black pants, dark hair spilling down in lazy and liquid curls. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Hirsch.” Her smile warmed those cold grey eyes, giving her a more predatory appearance.
Greyson stood and shook Pierce’s hand when she rounded the table. Connie did the same.
An odd rush of déjà vu filled Greyson’s brain. He’d met with Gwyneth Pierce a handful of times. Today, maybe because of room lighting, her face jarred loose childhood memories—of The Vanguard. He shook the nostalgia off. “Ms. Pierce.”
“I have news,” Pierce announced. “Your actions in Shenandoah sparked quite a buzz.” She tilted her head mischievously. “Mr. Olin was so impressed that he sent me here immediately.”
Greyson didn’t bother hiding his disappointment. “A phone call would’ve worked.”
Pierce continued. “We found excessive chatter on the dark web from certain elements of society.” She arched an eyebrow pointedly.
Greyson had no answer, but Connie did. “The kind of elements not found on a periodic table?”
Pierce nodded. “From different parts of the country. Cincinnati. Tampa. Pittsburgh to name a few.”
Recognition doused Greyson like cold water. Criminal organizations and supervillains.
“Weeks before,” Pierce stated, spreading her arms wide, “most were sniffing for help with their superhero problems.”
Greyson made a face. “Villains-for-Hire is a terrible name.”
Pierce ignored him. “But now, most of them are requesting you.”
Greyson had to laugh. His life had become bonkers. “They want me as a consulting supervillain.”
Pierce’s smiled turned greedy. “Wait for Aegis, or hunt these heroes now.”
Greyson ogled. Where he’d seen Pierce before smacked him in the face.
Connie gripped his arm, regaining his attention. “You made a splash,” she noted. “Now we can control the ripple effect.”
Greyson forced himself to focus on the present. Destroying more heroes and refining his craft was alluring. “I want more intel on Aegis’s crew and how they operate,” he requested. “Too many unknowns right now. What better way to build up my experience than to strike where anyone least expects?”
Pierce clapped eagerly. “A wise choice. Olin will be pleased,” she purred.
Once she left, Greyson faced Connie. “I know why she looks familiar.”
“Where?”
Cold dread crawled down his back. “Gwyneth Pierce is Severine.”
Connie was incredulous. “Vanguard’s Severine? She died fifteen years ago.”
“I know,” Greyson realized. “But hasn’t aged a day and works at Paxton-Brandt.” Paranoia reared up again. A dangerous game was afoot. And Greyson had no clue what roles he and Connie were playing.
Chapter 47
“Everyone say cheese!” the nurse in blue scrubs called out, holding the cellphone camera up.
“CHEESE!” over a dozen young patients cried around Hugo, who remained stone-faced while cellphone cameras flashed. Aegis wasn’t a smiler. And if Aegis smiled on camera, then someone might recognize Hugo Malalou’s smile. And too many fucking people knew his secret already.
Hugo spent two hours at Atascadero State Hospital this morning visiting patients and doing vocal imitations for kids. Giving hope to residents of this suburb whose lives had been so affected was a trivial expense.
“I have to leave,” Hugo said in his Aegis cadence when the clock neared eight. “You kids be good and be brave.” He hugged many patients and thanked the medical staff present before zooming off.
Hugo honestly could’ve stayed for hours. But he was meeting Briseis El-Saden later.
After returning home, then changing from his costume into a tee with striped sleeves and jeans, Hugo raced off to the meeting.
Countless fears gripped him on the way to the old Liberty High campus.
Had Brie told anyone?
What did she want?
Was this a trap? Analyzing a friend this way gutted him, but he had to.
Crisp and chilly air tickled his skin on this semi-cloudy morning. The campus stood frozen as he cased it twice, checking every corner.
The parking lot was empty. A few vagrants were squatting inside the buildings. Satisfied, Hugo zipped toward the track field.
Briseis sat hunched forward in the middle bleachers, staring off at nothing. Her attire looked fit for a pep rally; white tank top, black short-shorts under a crimson and white Paso High letterman’s jacket with the school logo. Brie wore no makeup, not needing it. Wavy auburn sheets spilled just past her shoulders as she puffed on a cigarette with shaky fingers.
Hugo wrinkled his nose at the smell and braked.
So zoned out, Brie didn’t notice until he was a few feet away. She yelped and leaped up.
“Hey.” She hastily stubbed the cigarette on the bleachers, then tossed it.
Hugo kept his distance. “Hey.”
