Chapter Four – When the Bough Breaks
As Kim had expected, Jacques wasn't home for another two hours after their meeting. When he did come home, she found him in a rather strange mood. He came into the bedroom where she was sitting, reading a book quietly, and rather forcibly made love to her. They actually hadn't done it for about three weeks, so it struck Kim as odd, but she made no move to resist. Once they had finished, he begged her to sing that old French song. She had to pretend that she knew nothing of their meeting, so she feigned ignorance, asking him why he wanted her to sing—she hadn't for years! He didn't give her an answer, just asked her again to sing it. "Kim, please. Please sing that song for me."
Jacques never asked for anything, as a rule. In the past, it had always been "Kim, do this" or "Kim, do that", but he had never truly asked. She wondered if he was suspicious of her. "Le château est dans le ciel. Le bateau est sur l'eau. Les oiseaux volent. Les poissons nagent. Et vous êtes ici avec moi." Kim finally sang, though it was obvious even to her that she sounded completely different from before. She lacked the energy, the confidence that she had earlier, and the song lacked the spontaneity that it had had in that moment, which had given her inspiration.
Reassured, Jacques sighed, leaning his head back and sinking into the large, fluffy white pillows. Kim wrapped her body in a sheet, and sat up, intending to go turn off the light, but Jacques suddenly grabbed her by the wrist. "Leave it." He ordered, his voice husky.
"You can't possibly sleep with the light on like that!" she argued incredulously.
"Watch me." He snapped, moving his head to rest it in her lap, and then closing his eyes. Within a few moments, she knew that he was asleep. With a sad smile, Kim thought that he had to have been very tired when he got home, and yet…he had still persisted. She wondered bitterly if satiating his lust was more important to him than his well being, and came very close to crying again.
--
He was gone when she woke up the next morning at around nine o'clock, and Kim chided herself for waking up so late. She quickly changed into her supersuit, made sure all the doors were locked, and headed outside into the sunlight.
It had evidently rained a bit the night before, because the streets were covered with a layer of water, and the grass looked damp. Kim didn't mind in the least—now she had more hydrogen to draw from the air. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, marveling at how little fear she felt. During the combat training, Kim had experienced all sorts of simulated scenarios, and learned how to do all sorts of things she had never thought herself capable of.
Agent Dicker had told her that being a super was special, because there were altered genes in your DNA. Aside from having superpowers, which were unique to each super, there were a few other things like heightened senses, and a capability for great physical prowess. So even though some supers had rather feeble powers, such as Stormicide's own, or others like Apogee, Downburst, and Everseer, their combat skills could still be trained well, and the powers would just be used as a clincher. Kim had been given various tools to be carried in a pouch on the left side of her waist, such as the super-knife, that would help in any situation.
Suddenly, she heard screams, and quickly ran in that direction. There was a building on fire, and Kim sighed. Some things just keep coming back. She thought, running up to it hurriedly. There were firefighters trying to combat the flames, but their water hose was doing little. "Is there anyone inside?"
"No, we got everyone out," they told her. It was a Sunday, and the building was an office, so few people had been in it to begin with. She nodded, and motioned for them to move away. Kim took a deep breath, and concentrated on pulling the oxygen away from the fire. Slowly, but surely, the flames started to die down. The firemen were watching her in wonder, and after just a few minutes, the fire had completely stopped. The building was still pretty burnt up, but Kim had managed to keep it from collapsing.
"Wow…" one of the firemen said. "If this keeps up, we won't have a job anymore!" he joked. They gave Kim a little radio so they could call her whenever they had a big fire on their hands and needed help. Knowing that they all needed jobs for money, Kim promised to stay out of it if the fire was just a small one that they could handle. The firemen thanked her profusely, and Kim walked away with a sense of great accomplishment.
--
Nearly three hours later, Kim was walking past the Metroville Bank, where a pair of robbers had been apprehended. She poked her head inside to see if everything was ok, and saw Gamma Jack speaking with the policemen. He saw her, and mouthed, "Wait".
She shut the door and waited outside, leaning against a tree. Jack saw that the criminals were in the police car, and then walked over to where Kim was. "Need something?" she asked, assuming that confident tone again.
"Stormicide, right?" he questioned. Kim nodded. "I wanted—where did you learn that song?"
"The one I sang yesterday?" Gamma Jack nodded, and Kim shrugged. "Heard it somewhere…a long time ago. Why?"
"Oh, no reason at all. Just curious, really," he smirked. "Enjoying the spring weather?"
Kim loved the spring; it was her favorite season. Thus, she had to make sure that Stormicide hated it. "Nah, I have allergies. I'm more of a winter person, myself."
"You're not trying to pull an 'ice queen' on me, are you?" he teased, obviously flirting again. Kim wanted to smack him for his lack of subtlety.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she rolled her eyes. "I've got to go." She said, checking a non-existent watch. As she walked away, she waved backwards. "Don't break any hearts." She heard him laugh, and felt terrible. Well, she knew that he could hit on random girls that he'd only met once, but did he do that to all the female supers?
Kim heard Edna's voice in her head say: "He has reasons for what he does!" Is this what she had meant?
--
The next day, Kim was invited to a female super tea party to be held in a week. There was a tea party four times a year, for various occasions. There was apparently a dance in December, and a tea party happened before that; the other tea parties were spread out, usually happening once a season. This one, in fact, was being held to plan the Spring Formal, which was held by the female supers. (The men planned the Autumn Ball) Kim had winced at the name of the party, thinking that it was very junior-high. There would be just a few women there, Psycwave, Apogee, Stormicide, Elastigirl, and Plasmabolt. Blazestone, as it would turn out, had been put into "rehab" for abuse of superpowers, and could not make it. Apogee was hosting this tea party at a modest little restaurant, and had rented it out so they wouldn't be overheard.
It seemed weird to Kim that, despite being superheroes, they could still lead such ordinary lives. Being a super had become her life, and she spent her entire day on the job, rather than being a housewife. But other supers, like her husband, had two jobs and led double lives. She had no idea whatsoever how they could possibly deal with such stress.
As soon as she got home, the phone rang. Kim answered it quickly and was surprised to hear Jacques on the other end.
"Kim! Where have you been? I've been calling for the past hour and you haven't picked up!" he yelled. Kim held the phone at arm's length as he continued his tirade. When she was sure that he'd finished, she put the phone back in its normal position.
"I was out shopping. Surely I'm allowed to do that?" she heard him sigh. "What's wrong? You've never called me at home during the day before."
"My father…my father is in the hospital. I think…I think he's dying." His words hit her like a slap, and she could hear the desperation in his voice. "Kim, I want you to pack our things. We're going to fly in to see him in New York first thing in the morning."
"You want me to pack your things, also?" she didn't want to argue, not when it was this important, but was only trying to clarify. She knew that Jacques cared very deeply for his parents.
"Yes, yes. I'm…very tired. I'll probably crash as soon as I get home, and we've an early flight tomorrow." He explained, and she could hear him suppress a yawn. "Pack for a week, we'll be there awhile."
"What about your hero work?" she asked.
"There are some things more important than being a hero. The other supers can handle it, we're leaving." He hung up right after that, and Kim put down the phone after she heard the dial tone. She remembered him telling her that supers were superior to humans, but she laughed a little, thinking that that only applied to humans that he didn't care about. Quietly, Kim went into the master bedroom closet and pulled a large suitcase from the shelf. She chose nice clothing for the two of them, and folded them neatly into the suitcase.
When Jacques got home half an hour later, she helped him out of his supersuit and into his sleeping clothes, asked him no questions, and they both got into bed together. But Kim couldn't sleep; she just stared up at the ceiling, listening to the breathing of the super beside her that at that moment wasn't superior to anything.