Inflammation 3.4
Being avoided like a leper doesn't exactly make me feel like a superhero adored by the public, I thought as I leaned against the graffiti-covered brick wall surrounding the park entrance, anxiously waiting for Revenant to arrive.
My costume and my gathering swarm scared away the group of loiterers that had been hanging out near me, and a few dog-walkers and joggers steered clear as well once they caught sight of me and my swarm. That was probably for the best with the influx of powers that was about to meet here. At least two people got their phones out and took pictures, that I noticed, but they kept their distance.
I was really starting to appreciate the old soldier's saying of 'hurry up and wait.' As soon as I'd made a scene to the bus driver about needing to get off immediately, I'd started running into Prescott Park looking for a place to change into my costume, as well as searching for bugs to gather. I'd only slowed down when I was out of earshot of anyone else so that I could call the PRT directly instead of Armsmaster's number. The operator was surprisingly impassive about the whole thing, but helpfully told me that they'd be diverting a van with Triumph riding along just to make sure that Über and Leet made it into custody. It had already been en route to the scene of the shootout, so it would be here in only a few minutes.
Once I found a particularly private thicket of bushes, I changed into my costume and gathered a decent swarm. The park was full of insects, most hidden away from the chilly weather, but accessible nonetheless. I'd only just left my backpack behind when Revenant's texts came in, telling me to meet him at the north gate, which fortunately had been only twenty yards away when I got the message. I set the various spiders and caterpillars to spinning lines of silk in preparation.
For lack of anything else to do while my bugs worked and I waited at the gate, I called home, leaving a message on the answering machine for my dad, explaining I was staying after school to talk something over with 'Lisa.' It was somehow just as guilt-inducing as lying to his face, but there was no way I'd make it back in time before he got back from work unless he stayed late today, which I couldn't count on.
I didn't have long to dwell on that thought before I spotted the green sedan Revenant had described approaching the park's entrance, with the costumed villains in the front seat and Revenant looming behind them.
The car parked across the street from me, and the doors opened up a moment later. Über, Leet, and Revenant got out at the same time. Leet turned to Über, and reached into his belt pouch.
Before I could shout a warning, Leet had already tossed a silver cylinder to Über.
"Run!" Über yelled, activating the instantly-recognizable lightsaber.
Revenant backpedaled as the red lightsaber sheared straight through the car's rear door window frame with a terrible shrieking noise of tortured glass and metal, missing him by bare inches.
"Bug! Don't let Leet get away, I'll handle Über!" Revenant bellowed, not even turning to look at me. I obeyed, splitting my swarm and sending one after the fleeing Leet and another after Über.
Luckily, Leet's helmet and visor didn't cut off my access to his face, so I was able to send my bugs swarming into his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears almost instantly. Über, by contrast, was wearing armor that covered almost everything, his face included, so I used my bugs to search for any chinks or cracks in the armor they could fit through.
Über rushed forward to press the attack on Alex, largely unimpeded by my bugs. The red lightsaber flicked out noiselessly, so quick I could only see it as a blur. The lightsaber beam was weightless, and seemed as insubstantial as a flashlight beam. It crossed Revenant's right forearm with a hiss, and his arm immediately fell to the sidewalk, both cut ends blackened and steaming. Über dodged Revenant's retaliatory left hook and made a third, fourth, and fifth strike with spectacular skill and speed that made the choreography of the actual Star Wars movies look like children playing with sticks in comparison.
Almost too quick to see, Revenant's left hand joined his right arm in hitting the pavement, and then he was suddenly missing his right leg below the knee, nearly causing him to trip before tendrils sprouted out of the stump to form a hasty, incomplete facsimile of the missing limb. Über took advantage of Revenant momentarily staggering off-balance to make a deep horizontal slash across Revenant's chest. The black-and-red wound yawned open, showing Revenant had been nearly bisected, the cut reaching nearly to his spine.
Total shock and horror rooted me to the spot, and for a heart-stopping moment, I thought I'd just witnessed Alex die. Über was really trying to kill him, I belatedly realized, and the dangerous reality of the bizarre situation crashed down on me.
In the blink of an eye, Revenant had pulled the two halves of himself together with black tendrils and closed the wound seamlessly, but in the tiny fraction of a second it took to heal himself, he was debilitated for long enough that Über made a follow-up strike that lopped off Revenant's good leg, sending him crashing to the pavement.
My horror ebbed away, replaced by a cold fury and the buzzing of my power encroaching on the corners of my consciousness.
I had to do something.
I still had my pepper spray, but if my bugs couldn't get past the seal and filters in Über's helmet, I doubted my spray could, and he might try to slash me to pieces if I got close.
With a start, I realized I didn't need to attack Über directly. Just like in the sparring session earlier, I only needed to distract him for a moment. Misdirection was my weapon.
I ordered my first swarm to divert from trying to find chinks in Über's armor and take flight, forming a dense living barrier all around him and congregating on his helmet, effectively blinding him even as he wiped frantically at his faceplate. I cloaked myself in a cloud of bugs, running across the street as fast and quietly as I could manage.
Revenant took the opportunity to regenerate his missing limbs and roll to the side of the disoriented Über's swing, which carved a trench in the concrete where he'd just been. At the same time, I reached the sedan and picked up the only weapon I could find—the piece of metal Über had sheared off the top of the car's rear door, which was about two feet long and shaped like a curved number 7. It would have to do.
Sneaking up behind Über under the cover of my swarm, I gripped the piece of metal with both hands and swung it like a baseball bat as hard as I could at the back of his head.
Über stumbled forwards clumsily, in stark contrast to his flawless technique earlier. He recovered his balance almost immediately, but it wasn't enough. This time Revenant was prepared to strike from his prone position, and his left hand changed somehow, his fingers growing longer and sharpening into silver blades, before he slashed at Über's right hand that was holding the lightsaber.
Revenant's last two sword-fingers caught on Über's heavily armored forearm, gouging deep in the armor and stopping there, but his middle finger blade hit its mark and cleaved straight through the tip of the lightsaber hilt like a hot knife through butter. The part of the hilt Über still held exploded with a loud pop like a fuse blowing out, and he cried out in pain.
Revenant leaped to his feet and immediately followed up with a right hook to Über's helmet that shattered the bug-covered plastic visor and made his head bonelessly whiplash in a half-sickening, half-comedic way like a speedbag. Über dropped to the pavement in a heap like a marionette with its strings cut.
For a frozen second I was afraid Alex had snapped Über's neck or something, but Über scrunched up in pain a moment later, cradling his head and hand. I remembered my first aid training about head and neck injuries, but I was hesitant to get any closer to check if he was okay.
Alex wasn't done, though. With two quick strides, he went around to Über's side and kicked him viciously in the ribs, hard enough to lift him bodily off the ground. Über gave a choked, wheezing cough.
"Revenant, stop!" I shouted. "He's down! If you break one of his ribs, he might puncture a lung!"
Revenant rounded on me, and I flinched back a step, instinctively afraid he would hit me. His body language was beyond wrathful, fully animalistic. His left hand was still transformed into three-foot-long claws like swords, and they splayed out as he flexed open his hand.
"What are you still doing here?! I told you to get Leet!" Revenant raged.
"Leet's down!" I said quickly, backing away further. "I've got my bugs on him! He's just past that corner, he didn't even make it fifty feet! More importantly, are you all right? Are you hurt?"
After a moment, Revenant lowered his hand, transforming it back to normal. "No. Yes. Fuck, that goddamned lightsaber burned. Just—just give me a moment."
Revenant left Über lying on the ground, making his way over to his severed limbs, which were still twitching spasmodically on the ground like a lizard's tail. A few had disturbingly sprouted tendrils that were aimlessly waving about. One by one, Revenant picked them up and reabsorbed them into his body in a grotesque process that looked like masses of worms sliding together.
After he finished doing that, he stood up straighter and sighed. In a much calmer voice he said, "There. Now I'll be fine."
I just stood there awkwardly, staring at him. I didn't even know what to say to that, it was as though Revenant had temporarily lost his mind. "Are you sure? Are you still in any pain?"
Revenant shook his head. "I'm—I wasn't myself, okay? My power puts me in a weird state of mind when I take too much damage. Think along the lines of fight-or-flight instinct, turned up to eleven... Besides, Über shot me earlier with a Tinker gun, even before he knew I was a Brute and could take it. Pretty sure he was trying to kill me just now, too. Fucker deserved to get kicked."
"I guess," I said, sparing a glance at the downed cape in question. "I always did think these two were somewhere between pitiful and despicable."
Revenant snorted in amusement. "Couldn't have said it better myself. I'll stay here and guard Über, you go collect Leet."
"That, uh, might be kind of difficult. I've already been encasing his wrists and ankles in silk," I said sheepishly.
"Whatever. I'm not leaving you alone with Über, so we'll go to him." Revenant said.
Revenant bent over Über, tore off the utility belt he was wearing with his bare hands and tossed it aside, then manhandled Über to his feet. Über groaned and clutched his wounded hand close to his chest, and despite the armor shielding his hand from the worst of the small explosion, I could see that some of his fingers were bent the wrong way. Revenant grabbed him by his left arm like a living shackle, roughly pulling Über along like he was a child throwing a tantrum.
I led Revenant and Über over to Leet, and Über stirred with concern upon seeing the prone form of his friend lying covered in bugs in front of a nursing home.
"Oh, God. What'd you do to him?" Über slurred, sounding almost drunk.
I frowned behind my mask. Über might have been concussed, they'd need to let the PRT troopers and Triumph know that when they arrived.
"He's fine. I'm just restraining him with spider silk," I told Über.
"Get 'em off me! Fuck, they're everywhere!" Leet complained in his annoying, nasally voice, spitting bugs out of his mouth and trying ineffectually to move.
"You deserve worse," Revenant said, using his free hand to frisk the squirming Leet, though this time he was much more thorough than with Über. He ripped away Leet's glossy, carapace-like black backpack and crushed it underfoot. Leet moaned in despair as Revenant destroyed piece after piece of his irreplaceable technology, sparing only the helmet that hid his civilian identity.
I almost felt sorry for Leet—I knew what it was like to have to work around a weak power. Then, I remembered what he and Über tried to do to Revenant, and all the other awful things they filmed themselves doing, and although that thought didn't make me feel good about this, it did make it seem like justice. Über and Leet liked to style themselves as misunderstood underdogs, but they were really just bullies like any other, terrorizing people for their own gain and their audience's sick amusement.
Once he was satisfied, Revenant scooped Leet up with one arm and tossed him over his shoulder. Leet tried to complain, but stopped with a wheezing squeak when Revenant squeezed his chest. I could hear several loud cracks and pops as he did so, which gave me a disturbing mental image of Alex making a living as a chiropractor.
"Shut up, you pathetic little shit. If you stay quiet, I'll let you breathe. Come on, Bug, let's go," Revenant said gruffly.
We returned to the park entrance with our prizes, and I could hear the siren approaching off in the distance.
Despite having committed a bunch of crimes, Über and Leet apparently warranted only a single PRT van. The white-and-green flashing lights flicked off as the purple-striped black van eased up to park a little bit away from us.
The back doors of the van opened up, and two people got out. One was Triumph, the former Wards captain and current Protectorate hero who could manipulate sound into concussive blasts. He was dressed in a skintight Greek-inspired costume that was decorated with lion imagery, including a golden lion helmet and lion's-head pauldrons, and though it might have looked silly on someone else, he definitely had the physique for it.
The other person was a PRT trooper, decked out in chain mesh and body armor and holding an assault rifle. It was impossible to tell for sure behind the face-concealing helmet, but I got the impression the trooper was female.
Revenant unceremoniously dumped Leet on the ground at their approach, and forced Über to his knees.
"Identify yourselves," the PRT trooper said, her voice confirming she was a woman.
"Revenant. Rogue." Revenant said laconically.
"And I'm a hero, going by the temporary name Bug," I said, wilting slightly as everyone's attention turned towards me. "I already told the dispatcher who we were and what we looked like."
Triumph stepped forwards, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture. "Yeah, Armsmaster briefed the team about you two the other day. Don't worry, Sergeant, I'll vouch that they are who they say."
The PRT trooper relaxed somewhat, but still kept her finger near the trigger of her big gun.
Triumph put a hand on his chest. "Nice to meet you both. I'm Triumph, and this is Sergeant Richardson. Sergeant, let's get these two villains into proper restraints."
Triumph and the Sergeant got closer, and I felt a little self-conscious about how bloody and badly beat up Über and Leet looked, versus how relatively pristine Revenant and I looked.
"Be careful with Über, his hand got badly injured in the fighting, and I think he might have a concussion and maybe whiplash," I warned them.
"They've also got neck wounds from where they cut Bakuda's bombs out. It wasn't either of us who did that." Revenant added.
"Good to know," Triumph said, looking the villains over. "Eugh, his hand really is all messed up, isn't it?"
"This psycho killed my pet and fucking mutilated me!" Über said, still sounding a bit dazed. He kept trying to pull away from Revenant's iron grasp as Richardson put him in special, thick handcuffs that encased his entire hands.
"Don't listen to a word he says," Revenant said coldly, letting Über go when the sergeant was finished. "He tried to use lethal force on me first, twice, and that hand injury came from his own weapon exploding. You can ask Bug or look for any witnesses around here."
I looked quickly between Revenant and Triumph, wondering if I'd be forced to tattle on Revenant about kicking Über while he was down, but Triumph only nodded. "We'll definitely want to get your side of the story, especially concerning the explosions reported on 6th street. Besides that, I have to say, this was good work, taking useful tools away from Bakuda is definitely welcome. Thanks to her, the city's cops and heroes are only being kept running by caffeine and pure spite at this point. Richardson, can you handle the arrest from here? I want a word with these two capes."
The sergeant nodded. "I'll mirandize them and see about first aid. Those neck wounds are pretty bad."
Triumph gestured for us to follow with a polite sweep of his arm. We did, albeit hesitantly.
Once we were out of casual hearing range from Über and Leet, Triumph turned to face us. "So, I'm not trying to criticize, but this looks like it was a lot more serious of a fight than Über and Leet usually engage in. Can you tell me what happened? Even off the record?"
Revenant chuffed disdainfully. "There's no such thing as 'off the record.' I'll tell you on the record that those two were forced to fight for Bakuda, but Über still shot at me on sight with a weapon that would have killed a non-Brute. After that, Leet managed to get them both free of the bombs before they detonated. Then Über tried to kill me again, even after they were no longer under duress from Bakuda."
"It's true! Über attacked Revenant with a lightsaber. He cut Revenant nearly in half, and cut off his limbs multiple times. I've never seen anything like it," I interjected.
Triumph looked Revenant up and down and gave an impressed whistle. "Lightsaber, huh? I guess I can't be too surprised, coming from the likes of Über and Leet, but I see you've had a speedy recovery from your dismemberment. I heal a little bit faster than usual myself, but it looks like I've got nothing on your regeneration."
Revenant crossed his arms. "The damage may be gone now, but it still stung like a sonovabitch."
Triumph frowned. "Wait a minute, I can buy that you healed up just after getting sliced and diced, but what happened to your clothes? Did you just happen to have a spare costume lying around and change into it last-minute...?"
"No. My power affects my clothes, too." Revenant said, his tone telling Triumph to drop the subject.
Triumph shrugged. "Huh. Well, I've seen powers do weirder, but that's still quite something. Useful, though. Are you a Breaker, by any chance? Never mind, rude question—I'm just glad there doesn't seem to be any lasting harm."
"It doesn't matter that there wasn't any lasting harm. Those two still need to go to the Birdcage for what they've done." Revenant said hatefully, jabbing a finger at the two villains.
I felt like objecting to that, having watched a few of their videos before giving up, but again the image of Über repeatedly dismembering Revenant gave me pause. The idea of them getting a life sentence to the inescapable cape prison didn't sit well with me, but after all they'd done, maybe they did need to go.
"I can't exactly promise that will happen, but I'm pretty sure this would count as their third strike. This kind of extreme violence is surprising, coming from them, but people do terrible things when pushed to the edge." Triumph mused, rubbing his chin.
"Why wouldn't it count as a third strike? They stole and damaged that car over there, and they also released monsters out into the city," Alex said flatly.
Triumph looked up at Revenant in sudden alarm. "Monsters? What monsters?"
"That 'pet' Über was so upset about me killing? It was a fucking seven-foot-tall alligator," Alex said scornfully, making air-quotes at the word 'pet.' "Somewhere out there is a giant Cerberus bird, and also a three-foot-long snake-wasp hybrid that I'm almost certain is made up of at least one species that reproduces asexually. I interrogated Leet about it, and he didn't take even remotely proper precautions to prevent any of his creatures from breeding. They also have human DNA in them, so they're a lot smarter than normal animals."
I stared at Revenant in shock, and Triumph seemed to be at a similar loss. Thoughts of the famous S-Class threat Nilbog briefly ran through my head, but Leet wasn't capable of making things like that, was he? Even if he was, I couldn't imagine they'd be nearly as dangerous. All the same, I wondered if I could control something that was both a snake and a wasp. After all, my power reacted at least somewhat to Alex, and he wasn't a bug at all, unless you counted the squirming, worm-like tendrils inside him.
"That's, uh... Wow. I'll definitely call that in," Triumph said, shaking his head. "Oh, man. The Director is going to crucify Über and Leet for letting those things go free. They're the ones that are supposed to be Pokémon, right? I had no idea they still had more after their robbery of the Brockton Zoo. That was a total disaster, even by their standards. They're going to need one heck of a lawyer."
"I hope I won't be needing to get a lawyer too just for defending myself against Über's attempted murder," Revenant said sourly.
"Wait, is that even a thing? Can they sue us for how we captured them? I helped catch a bunch of ABB thugs and Armsmaster never said a word about how I handled that," I said, feeling a familiar distrust of systems and institutional bullshit starting to rise up inside me.
Triumph made a placating gesture with his hands. "Don't worry, I really doubt either of them will press charges. They've got their own legal defense to worry about now. And technically, since you called it in both times instead of booking criminals yourself, it's the PRT and our legal team that takes responsibility for how the arrests are handled after this point, so you're pretty much in the clear, legally speaking. If we found something objectionable in how you handled the villains before handing them in, we'd bring you in ourselves, but I can tell you right now, that's not going to happen here, Bug. This looks pretty cut-and-dried to me."
I cringed at Triumph calling me Bug, and he tilted his head questioningly at me. I noticed he was remarkably adept at getting across his body language, probably from long experience with people wearing masks that covered most of their faces.
"Sorry, it's just that I really hate the name Bug, and I'm worried it's going to stick at this rate. I haven't come up with a real name yet, that's just what the Undersiders and then Armsmaster and Revenant have been calling me." I explained.
"Oh, yeah, picking names is hard. I was really lucky that a good noun like Triumph wasn't taken already," the hero said with a good-natured chuckle.
"Or you can be like me and not give a shit if the name is taken or not," Revenant said curtly.
"Yeah, but you're a rogue mercenary, right? You don't have to worry about things like branding and copyright," Triumph pointed out. "Plus there's the prestige to consider. Sharing a name puts a damper on that, you'd just be one of a crowd."
"I've tried to come up with something unique that fits, but most of the bug-themed names sound weak, stupid, or evil," I said defensively.
"You tied up Leet pretty good with those cobwebs, I saw. Have you considered the name Arachne, from Greek myth? I'm a sucker for Hellenic mythology, as you might be able to tell from my pseudo-centurion getup," Triumph said with a winning smile.
Having that smile directed at me, I was suddenly very glad that my mask made it so that no one could see me blush. "I did consider that name, since it was one of the few good-sounding ones that wasn't taken, but I don't like being associated with someone who was so stupidly proud that she needlessly antagonized the gods, lost a weaving contest, and got cursed to become the first spider for it."
Triumph shook his head. "That's only one version of the myth, and I always hated that version. Strikes me as the kind of thing grownups tell little kids to keep them in line. The other version is a story about censorship—in that version, Arachne actually won the contest against Athena. Not only that, but she did it with a tapestry that showed a bunch of times the gods were cruel. Things like, you know, Zeus going after women, and other gods being sore losers in similar contests with mortals. It's still a story about power and hubris, and Arachne still got punished, of course, but in doing so, she—well, her tapestry's point that the Greek gods are bastards was proven right in the end, so she really got the last laugh, don't you think?"
It was surreal, getting an enthusiastically nerdy lecture about Greek mythology from a superhero, but I'd be lying if I said the story didn't strike a certain chord in me. I'd struggled against cruel, unjust authorities for years, and had only been punished for it, never rewarded or even taken seriously. Before I could second-guess myself, I nodded firmly.
"Okay, then. You've convinced me. I'll take the name Arachne from here on out." I said.
"Wow! I'm honored, truly. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your official debut, Arachne," Triumph said, sounding so sincere it made my heart flutter a bit.
"Sounds a damn sight better than Bug," Revenant said with a grunt of approval.
I couldn't hold back a small laugh at that. Coming from someone like Alex, that backhanded compliment was the equivalent of high praise.
"Okay then," Triumph said, rubbing his hands together. "I've got to get these villains back to the Rig, call in the bioweapon containment squad, block off a segment of 6th street, and then file a report on all this, but let me know if you need anything. The city's in a lot of chaos right now, and we heroes need to stick together. That goes for rogues, too." he said, nodding respectfully to Revenant.
Revenant gave Triumph a fractional nod. "Bakuda's a danger to everyone. I'd be going after her even if Arachne wasn't paying me to help get her hero career started."
Triumph looked between me and Revenant at that comment, seeming a bit nonplussed. "Well, whatever the case, stay safe, you two. You've already seen that humor villains like Über and Leet can become much more dangerous when backed into a corner. I hope you continue working closely with us to put Bakuda away for good."
At that, Triumph gave a half-wave, half-salute in farewell and jogged back over to the van. I watched him go, feeling equal parts tired, jittery, and elated. Triumph wasn't a big celebrity, since he only recently graduated from the Wards program and used a lot of restraint with his power, but he was still one of the strongest heroes in the city, and he'd treated me like I was one of his peers. It was a heady feeling.
Revenant gave me a sidelong look. "Even given the situation, I'm amazed that they're just letting us go after we delivered Über and Leet to them in that state."
I cocked my head. "Why wouldn't they?"
"I guess I'm just not accustomed to the whole concept of state-sanctioned vigilantism." Revenant said with a careless shrug.
I frowned. "Independent heroes aren't vigilantes. A vigilante breaks the law to go after villains, independent heroes don't."
Revenant barked out a laugh. "I'm pretty sure the definition changed just like the law did when superpowers came into existence. It's a brave new world we're living in."
I didn't really know what to make of that, so I changed the subject. "So, I'm guessing you want to do all this again tomorrow?"
Revenant paused for a moment before answering. "More or less. Next time, we aren't going to split up, and I don't want you doing any training besides practicing with your power. You've pushed yourself enough today, and tomorrow you won't be at a hundred percent anyway, so it's better to conserve your strength."
I sagged a bit in relief. As useful as the training session this morning had been, it was incredibly brutal.
"So, where and when do you want to meet tomorrow? I'm not sure how long I can get away with skipping school," I said.
"Right, almost forgot about that," Revenant irritably muttered. "I could just pretend to be your parents and call you out of school."
"I'm not sure that would work," I said, frowning. "Your voice sounds too different."
Revenant rolled his eyes. "Aren't you forgetting something? I can look and sound like whoever I want to. All I'd need to impersonate your parents is a DNA sample, like follicles from a hairbrush."
Alex's words took a moment to sink in, but then they hit me like a punch to the gut. The very first thing my mind went to was the memory of mom's old antique hairbrush, which I'd boxed away as a keepsake for the day I could bear to look at it again. I remembered being a little girl, fascinated by the beautiful engraved silver hairbrush that smelled of Mom's jasmine perfume, watching and learning as Mom gently brushed our matching black tresses, still wet from the shower. It would still have some of her hair, I was certain.
Was it even possible? Could I see Mom again?
The thought speared through my defenses, piercing me right in the vulnerable, hidden core of my being. I looked back at Alex, at Revenant, and suddenly felt sick to my stomach. What he was proposing was both a temptation and a violation. The idea of asking him of all people to impersonate my dead mother was something too awful to even consider, but it was still so close to what I'd wanted for the last two years, it took my breath away.
For a brief, shameful moment, I seriously considered lying to him. Acting as though Mom was alive, just so I could see her again.
No. I couldn't. He'd find out, and then he'd lose all respect for me.
I clenched my fists, barely aware I was doing so. How dare he suggest something like that to me in the first place? Even if it was only my dad, what kind of twisted mind would even come up with the idea of taking his body without permission, much less ask his own daughter to help steal it?
"Uh, hello?" Revenant said, cocking his head. "I asked you a question. If you don't want me to do that, whatever. I don't care how you get out of school, so long as you just do it."
I let out a breath. He just didn't get it, not even the slightest bit. It took an inordinate amount of effort to keep in mind that Alex had no idea my mother was dead. He didn't know what that offer would do to me. He didn't know how much he'd hurt me with those simple words, cutting me almost as badly as Emma's worst attacks.
It wasn't his fault. He didn't mean it. He didn't know. I clung to that knowledge, repeating it over and over in my head. It was the only thing keeping me from either blowing up at Alex or starting to cry like a child.
"I could never let you do that," I said, my words coming out thick and stilted. "I'll figure something out, all right? Just don't expect me to run away."
Revenant looked at me, and even though I couldn't see most of his face, and he couldn't see mine at all, I could tell he was trying to figure out what I was thinking. After a long moment, he sighed and said, "Fine. Do what you have to do, Arachne."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Revenant gave me one last look, then turned and walked away, leaving me feeling conflicted.
The aftershocks of Alex's offer plagued my mind all the way back home. I felt off-kilter, as though the ground had tilted beneath my feet.
By the time I found a safe place to change out of my costume and made it to my street, I saw my dad's car was already parked in the driveway. The guilt settled in me like a hunk of granite in my gut, weighing down heavier and heavier as I got closer to the front door. It wasn't quite late yet, but I still felt like I was going to break a nonexistent curfew.
I paused at the creaky, rotted-out first step, then took a deep breath to psych myself up.
I wasn't doing anything bad. I was not a disappointment to my dad. I was a superhero. I'd just helped capture not one, but two supervillains today, and I didn't even get a papercut doing so. The training had been way more intensive than the real deal. My dad had already caught me after I'd snuck out the first time, so logically telling him ahead of time and not being out nearly as late would be better.
Yeah, right. I could tell myself all that, but I still hated lying to my dad on a visceral level. The only thing that helped was the knowledge that telling him the truth would be much worse.
I skipped over the rotted first step, and made my way inside.
My dad was in the kitchen, busy chopping lettuce for a salad by the looks of it.
"I'm home," I called out, closing the door behind me.
My dad turned around to look at me, but instead of the disappointment or anger I'd been expecting, he just looked distracted.
"Hey, kiddo. You're just in time for dinner. Want to help me out with the salad?" he asked, then got back to work.
"Sure," I said automatically.
I felt strangely offended at the blasé reaction. Had we really grown so distant that he wouldn't even notice anything weird about me making unprecedented changes to my schedule? His near-total ignorance of my life should be cause for suspicion, not trust.
I made my way into the kitchen, shedding my backpack along the way. Looking at the ingredients yet to be prepared, I picked up the tomato and our dull paring knife and got to dissecting it.
"How was your visit with your new friend?" My dad asked casually while we worked side-by-side.
I hummed thoughtfully. "It was pretty nice. We went to that donut shop near the library, you know, the one called Bixby's? It was a nice change. I felt like I was kind of stuck in a rut there for a while, but then Lisa convinced me to come along with her."
My dad smiled tightly as he tossed the chopped lettuce into a big bowl. "That sounds great, Taylor. I know you've been having a difficult time lately, and I'm so glad you're feeling up to going out and about, I really am, but work today... there's been some talk that it's getting dangerous with the gangs these last few days. I'd prefer it if you stayed out of public spaces for a while, maybe find some other way to exercise for a bit. Maybe yoga?"
I nodded to show that I was listening, but I didn't really feel like agreeing to the yoga idea, it struck me as a slippery slope to never being allowed out to run again. "Yeah. I heard about that from Lisa and other people in town, too. Honestly, I think it's even worse than people are saying. You should be careful, too."
My dad's strained smile grew warmer. "Of course. I'm glad you agree with me on this. You really had me worried Sunday night, and you shouldn't put your dear old dad through that kind of stress. It'll make my hair fall out even faster than it is already."
I laughed a little, even though it was a pretty weak attempt at a joke. Already, my mind was racing ahead to calculate the implications. If my dad was going to keep me basically grounded while Bakuda went on her reign of terror, it would be all the more difficult to find ways to sneak out and fight the ABB.
"Maybe we could rent a movie or something this weekend, have some fun while we stay in and wait for the craziness to die down," I suggested, just to keep the flow of conversation moving.
"That sounds good. And there might already be a light at the end of this tunnel—remember how I mentioned Gerry left the union to go be a henchman the other day? Well, turns out Über and Leet just got brought into custody. He called me back and apologized just half an hour later. Hopefully the heroes will catch this mad bomber soon, too." my dad said reassuringly.
I felt a warm glow rise up inside me at that. I'd already helped make the city a little better for my dad.
"Yeah. I'll take that silver lining," I said, reaching out and giving my dad a one-armed hug.
A/N
In which we finally arrive at the long-awaited debut of, as the hosts of the inimitable We've Got Worm podcast put it, Taylor's habit of "description-fucking" guys she's attracted to. Unfortunately for her, Triumph isn't interested, and Brian is on the opposing side now. As always, thanks for reading!