One More Trigger

Part Five: Dance, Baby, Dance

Emma sat on the floor of the Hebert household, leaning back against the sofa. Taylor lay on her back on the sofa, her legs up against the wall and the back of her head resting on Emma's shoulder. She was resting a sketch-pad up against her legs and drawing on it.

Madison lounged at the far end of the sofa, her legs curled under her as she sketched on her own pad, trying to capture the odd postures of Taylor and Emma. For her part, Emma had some hair strands extended; she had her hands resting in her lap and was trying to thread a needle using only her hair, and was not doing too well at it. Single strands of hair, she could easily insert through the eye of the needle, but manipulating both thread and needle at the same time was harder than it looked.

"How about this, then?" asked Taylor, handing down the sketch-pad to Emma.

Two more tendrils of hair reached up and took the sketch-pad, and brought it to rest in front of Emma. She studied Taylor's efforts critically.

"Not bad," she said eventually, "but there are still some changes that need to be done."

"What?" said Taylor. "Where?"

In the next moment, she found herself being lifted, turned and placed on the floor beside Emma, courtesy of the redhead's hair-tendrils. "Hey!" she protested. "I was comfortable!"

"You were also in totally the wrong place for me to show you where you went wrong," pointed out Emma.

"Okay," said Taylor, "so show me."

"One of the things I learned when I was doing modelling," said Emma, "was that anything you wear should be good for walking, running, crouching, bending over and twisting. Otherwise you can get into awkward situations, with dishevelled clothes at best and wardrobe malfunctions at worst."

She tapped her nail on a point. "See this breastplate thingy? I like how it fills your body out, but it extends too far down, and is too close up to your chin. Crouch down, and you've just jammed it up under your chin, and probably bitten your tongue."

"Oh, right," said Taylor.

"I do like the arm-guards," said Emma, "but they shouldn't extend so far over the wrists. If you want to bring your hand back –" she demonstrated with her own slim hand, " – then that would get in the way."

"Okay, arm-guards smaller, check," said Taylor. "Anything else?"

"Well, I do like the helmet," said Emma. "But the bit hanging down the back, is it flexible, or rigid and hinged? Because you might want to look up from time to time."

"I was thinking flexible," said Taylor.

"Then it's good," agreed Emma. "Gives you protection but lets you move unhindered."

"Thanks," said Taylor. "Now I just have to get the measurements, and start the spiders to work." She paused. "Hey, Mads," she said, looking at the far end of the sofa, "I called you up last night, to see if you wanted to hang, and your dad said you were out. What gives?"

Madison blushed slightly. "I was on a date," she said defensively. "It's no big deal."

Emma frowned. "I didn't know you were seeing anyone, Mads," she said. "I mean, I'm glad and all that you've got a social life, unlike me and Taylor, but ... was he anyone we know from school?"

Madison's blush deepened slightly. "Not from school, no," she admitted. "It was, uh, someone from outside school. And it's a girl."

Taylor and Emma both sat up, staring at Madison. "No way," breathed Emma.

"Um, Mads, I thought you liked boys," ventured Taylor carefully.

"I do," said Madison. "I've kissed boys before, and I liked it. But ... well ... I met her awhile ago, so I sort of called up on Saturday and asked to speak to her, and we got to talking, and she was really nice on the phone, so when she asked if I wanted to go get a bite to eat, I said sure."

"I'm stunned," said Emma.

"Flabbergasted," put in Taylor.

"What happened then?" pressed Emma.

"Yeah!" prompted Taylor. "Was it all romantic and stuff?"

"No!" protested Madison. "We just went to a burger bar and sat there talking. She's really nice to talk to. Told me lots of funny stories about the – the people she's worked with." She stopped talking, her face suffused with pink.

"Well?" said Emma, making 'go on' motions. "Give with the juicy stuff."

Taylor grinned. "Full disclosure. We want it all."

"That was it," said Madison. "I went home, and she went back to – to where she's living."

"Uh huh ..." said Emma. "And what are you hiding?"

Madison's face was now flaming crimson. "She might have kissed me, just a bit, before I came home."

Taylor's lips shaped a soundless whistle. "And of course you fought her off and told her that you weren't that sort of girl."

"No," mumbled Madison. "I kinda kissed her back. It was nice."

"No way!" said Taylor. "I thought you said you were into boys!"

"I am, I am," said Madison uncomfortably. "But ... I think I might like girls too." She lowered her head. "It was really nice."

Emma smiled. "So, are you going to be seeing her again?"

Madison mumbled something into the neckline of her shirt.

"I'm sorry," said Taylor, "but we didn't quite get that." She was grinning broadly.

"I said, next Saturday night," muttered Madison. "We're going dancing."

"And you weren't going to invite us along?" demanded Emma.

Madison looked up. "I didn't think you'd want to come," she confessed. "You don't have anyone to go with."

Taylor grinned. "Silly Madison," she said. "Sure we do. Each other."

Madison stared. "But I know you like boys, Emma," she said, "and I'm fairly certain you do too, Tails."

"Oh yeah," said Emma. "Solid hetero, both of us. But that doesn't mean we can't dance with each other."

"Or with you," put in Taylor. "Or your girlfriend."

"We want to meet her properly," said Emma.

"Give her the third degree," agreed Taylor.

"Make sure that her intentions are honourable," added Emma.

"Or get juicy details if they aren't," grinned Taylor.

"Just so long as she intends to treat you right," continued Emma.

"Or at least show you a good time," concluded Taylor.

Madison stared at them, stunned by the rapid-fire back-and-forth delivery. "But ... you don't mind?" she asked.

"Mind? That our best friend has found someone to be with?" asked Emma. "Why the hell should we mind?"

"What we mind is not being told," Taylor said severely. "We want to meet your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," muttered Madison. "We've only kissed the once."

"Still want to meet her," said Emma cheerfully. "What's her name?"

Madison looked warily at them. "You know, if I tell you, you can't tell anyone," she warned them.

Taylor shrugged. "Okay. We don't tell anyone. Ems?"

Emma nodded. "Cross my heart. Now spill."

Madison smiled slightly. "Her name is Lily."

"Now, here are the ground rules," said Alan Barnes, leaning over the table. He had a map of the city on the table, and he was drawing on it with erasable marker. "Stay away from the Merchants if you can. Those people are really, really nasty. They don't even abide by the unwritten rules that everyone else does."

"Empire Eighty-Eight, too," added Danny Hebert. "I've been reading up on them, and they've got some really big hitters. Hookwolf could chew you both up and spit you out, Purity's a blaster with flight powers, and Kaiser's pretty scary too. Neither of you are on their target list, but you don't want to get them angry at you."

"Wait, wait," said Emma. "Dad ... Danny ... if we decide to never mess with any of the criminal gangs in the city, we'd never set foot outdoors. They aren't going to go out hell-for-leather to avenge one of their thugs being taken down."

"S'right," mumbled Taylor around a mouthful of cookie. She swallowed, and went on. "So long as we only disrupt their small-scale stuff, and don't pose a real danger to them, we should be too much trouble to hunt down and kill."

Alan frowned, but conceded the point. "Okay then. You'll be operating within a radius of our respective houses then, all right?" He drew freehand circles around each of the Hebert and Barnes residences, large enough to overlap and take in a good portion of the city.

"Each night you go out, you inform us. One or both of us will stay on call. We'll drop you off someplace quiet, and if you need help or immediate pickup, call." His face showed his worry. "I know it sounds restrictive, but if you're set on doing this, then we're going to help you as much as we can."

"Me too," piped up Madison from the other end of the table. "I've got my license, so I could drive someone somewhere, or pick someone up if it came to that."

Danny shook his head. "No, Madison. I appreciate the offer – we all appreciate the offer – but it's too dangerous."

"Why?" insisted Madison stubbornly. "They're my friends too, and I want to help." She stared at Emma appealingly. "You know I'm willing to help you, any way I can."

Emma looked back at her, and recalled the scene in the locker room, Madison standing up to Sophia and her cronies, claiming to be gay in order to take the heat off of Emma and Taylor. She smiled to herself. You were more right than you knew.

She nodded. "I get that, I do," she agreed. "Dad ... Danny ... maybe Madison could ride along with you, be a lookout or a spotter or something. I think she's earned it."

"I'm better at first aid than either of you big-time superheroes too," Madison pointed out. "So I'm useful there, too."

"Well, I hope it never comes to that," commented Danny. "But it makes sense."

"Yay!" exclaimed Madison. "I get to be a sidekick!"

Alan Barnes frowned. "But you do exactly what we tell you, understand? No showboating. None."

Madison nodded. "I'll be good," she said. "If I screw up, my two best friends might get hurt. So I won't screw up."

The underage dance was being held in a community hall, sponsored by Winslow and Arcadia high schools. Teachers from both schools were there to keep order, as were some college students. When Taylor and Danny arrived, there were plenty of people there, and quite a few cars in the carpark.

Taylor climbed out of the truck, wondering if she should have gone with jeans after all. But Emma had insisted on a dress for her. The dress was black, with red trim, and Emma and Madison had spent an hour making her hair look nice. A red hairband completed her ensemble.

"You look beautiful, kiddo," Danny said. "Go have fun. I'll be back at ten."

"Thanks, Dad," she said, and gave him a hug. "Sure you don't want to stay?"

He shook his head. "I trust you to not do anything really stupid, and anyway, I've got some paperwork to sort out." He shook his head. "Fred screwed up the rosters pretty badly, so I'm gonna be up half the night unscrewing them."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and climbed back into the truck. The engine rattled into life, and he pulled out of the parking space.

Taylor walked toward the lit-up community hall, glad she had worn flats instead of heels, as the crumbling asphalt crunched under her soles. She had been running every morning for weeks now, and she could feel that her wind was better, and her muscles were more toned; however, she knew that if she had to run, she would be better off taking off the shoes.

Why am I even thinking like that? she asked herself. This isn't a superhero outing. This is a dance that I'm attending with my friends.

But all the same, she found herself accessing the senses of the insects and other 'bugs' in the area, locating them and building up a picture of the surroundings. She still had trouble making a coherent image with any detail, but she was getting better with practise.

"Taylor! There you are!" called out Madison. Taylor turned, and there she was, wearing a deep sea-green dress with a blue wrap around her shoulders. A necklace made of seashells depended around her neck, each one lacquered a different colour, all contrasting nicely with her dress.

Taylor went over to her, and they hugged; moments later, they spotted Emma approaching as well. Emma had gone with a deep maroon creation that set off her hair, which was itself gathered in fanciful coils on her head, with artfully dangling strands here and there. Taylor would have sworn that it had taken three solid hours to prepare, but she knew that Emma could just concentrate and her hair would arrange itself just so. Which I still think is totally unfair.

"So, is Lily here yet?" asked Taylor.

Madison shook her head. "She said she'd meet me here. It's not past time yet."

As Emma got up to them, she smiled widely at Madison. "I love your dress! Where did you get it from? It brings out your eyes so well!"

Madison smiled shyly. "It was on special. I just liked the look of it."

Emma nodded firmly. "You have good taste. I love it."

"Madison!" came another voice. All three girls turned, to see a tall slim girl with an Oriental cast to her features walking toward them. She was clad in a midnight-black sheath that was split up one side to show an amazing length of thigh. Her long dark hair was arranged in a tasteful fall over one shoulder, and she smiled warmly in greeting.

Taylor frowned. She thought there was something familiar about the girl ...

"Guys, this is Lily," said Madison. "Lily, this is Taylor and Emma." She seemed to be trying to hold back laughter, as if there was a joke that only she was privy to.

Lily smiled. "It's really good to meet you," she said, then continued, "... again."

"We've met before?" asked Emma blankly. "I don't think ..."

The penny dropped for Taylor, an instant before Madison burst out laughing.

"Madison, you didn't!" she exclaimed.

Madison, still laughing, nodded her head vigorously, sending her shoulder-length brown hair dancing about her face.

Emma blinked a couple of times, then held up her hand in front of her eyes, as if shading them. "Oh, wait!" she said. "You're ..." She bit back the next word.

Lily nodded. "I am, yes," she agreed. "Madison wanted to see how long it would take you to realise, but she let the cat out of the bag by laughing, I'm afraid."

"I got it, just before she laughed," said Taylor. "I thought your voice sounded familiar." She smiled at Lily. "So, you and Mads are a thing, huh?"

"Well, not as such, not yet," said Lily with a private smile. "But ... we shall see."

She took Madison by the arms and leaned down slightly to kiss her gently on the lips. Madison closed her eyes and sighed, putting her arms around Lily and holding her close.

"For someone who's never kissed a girl before last Saturday, you're certainly taking to it," observed Emma with a grin.

Madison opened her eyes and turned to face Emma. "The boys I've kissed have all been about shoving their lips at mine, and then groping me, like it's a videogame and kissing me unlocks the ability to grope. I mean, I really enjoyed the kisses, but I wanted them to last, you know?" She smiled, leaning her head into Lily's shoulder. "Lily knows how to make a kiss last."

"It certainly looks like it," grinned Taylor. "You look like your feet are about three inches off the ground."

Madison giggled, then disentangled herself from Lily so that she could take the taller girl's arm. Emma courteously held out her elbow for Taylor to take, whereupon Taylor smiled and took it.

"Let's go dancing," said Emma, and led the way.

Emma danced with Taylor at first; it was a fast-moving, flowing dance which required both participants to be fast on their feet and quick with their reflexes. Nearby, Lily and Madison were enjoying themselves immensely; Taylor noted that Madison was leading and Lily was following her movements exactly.

After a while, they stopped to get something to drink; Madison's wrap had proved unnecessary in the warmth generated by perhaps a hundred dancing teenagers. They got cups of punch from a large bowl; Taylor was dubious about this, until she noted the teacher who was keeping a careful eye on it.

"Wow," said Madison, fanning her wrap in front of her face. "This is lots of fun!" She smiled at Lily. "Thanks for inviting me. This is a real blast."

Lily grinned in return. "I'm enjoying myself too, Madison. You dance really well." She reached out and caressed Madison's cheek with one long-fingered hand. Madison turned her face into nuzzle Lily's palm, then reached up to put her hand on the back of Lily's neck, and pulled her head down for a kiss. Lily was just reciprocating when someone cleared her throat just behind them.

"Excuse me," said a severe adult voice, "no inappropriate displays of affection on the premises, thank you very much."

All four girls turned to look; a teacher stood there, accompanied by a dark-skinned girl of Middle Eastern appearance. The girl looked at them apologetically. "Mrs Howell," she said, "it was only a kiss, really."

"It was still inappropriate," said Mrs Howell sternly. "This dance is supposed to be about young people meeting and socialising in a safe environment. Hugging is permitted; kissing and fondling is not. You should know that, Sabah." She turned back to Lily and Madison. "One of you must take a dance with someone else, to give your ardour time to settle."

Madison and Lily looked at each other, then Lily turned to Taylor. "Would you like to take this dance with me, Taylor?"

"Sure," said Taylor. "Anything to get you out of trouble."

"Thanks," grinned Lily. "See you soon, Mads."

This dance was a slower one, and couples circled the dancefloor in rough approximations of a waltz. With Lily's hand on the small of her back, guiding her through the steps, she found herself rather enjoying it.

"You've done this before," observed Lily.

"Yeah, Emma made me get lessons," confessed Taylor. "Even dragged me out to a few dances, so we could meet some nice boys."

"And how did that go?" asked Lily, sweeping her through a turn.

"About as well as you'd expect," grinned Taylor. "She met a nice boy. I didn't."

But I still had fun, she recalled. Just not enough fun to make it worth going again.

"I notice she doesn't have a boy on her arm tonight," observed Lily. "Are you and her ...?"

Taylor giggled. "Everyone keeps thinking that. No, we are not. He was a nice boy, but he moved out of town."

She looked down at her feet. "How are you doing that?" she asked. "I know I'm not the greatest dancer in the world, but you're keeping perfect time with me."

"It's one of my minor powers, literally," Lily said. "Perfect timing. When I see you move, I can move with you."

"Huh, cool," said Taylor. She took a breath. "So, you and Madison. How serious is it?"

Lily gave her a penetrating look. "You care for her. I can respect that. She's a sweet girl. I like her, and I'm attracted to her." She shrugged. "Long term? Not sure. I'm new in town, and I may meet someone I like more. I don't want to disappoint her or hurt her, but I've made no promises so far."

She looked over Taylor's shoulder and smiled. "And there, I think, is the answer to the other question, the one you didn't ask her."

Taylor glanced backward, to see Madison dancing with a boy she knew vaguely from Winslow. She seemed to be rather enjoying herself; the boy seemed to be having a good time too. Huh, she does get the best of both worlds.

"So I see," replied Taylor. "Well, you've been totally fair and open. I appreciate it." She leaned in and kissed Lily on the cheek as the dance ended. "Thanks for the dance."

Lily smiled. "No, thank you. And thanks for being nice about it."

They headed back toward where Emma had been standing; she was still there, talking with the dark-haired girl who had been with the teacher.

"Oh, hi, Taylor, Lily," said Emma as they approached. "Sabah here's a fashion student. We were just comparing notes."

"It's interesting to find out about fashion from the point of view of the models," said Sabah; her accent was slight, but exotic enough to get Lily's attention.

Madison reappeared, slightly flushed and breathless from the dancing. But her eyes were bright, and she looked with interest at Lily. "Want to get another dance?" she asked.

"Okay," said Lily readily. She took Madison in her arms, and they moved off on to the dance floor.

Madison snuggled into Lily as they circled the floor. "Thanks for inviting me," she said softly. "I'm really enjoying myself."

Lily smiled down at her. "Madison ..." she said quietly.

"Yeah?" asked Madison, looking up at her.

Lily sighed. This is not going to be easy... "What we have ..." She stopped, and began again. "I like you, and you like me, but I think we're looking for different things."

Madison looked at her, a little lost. "I guess?" she said doubtfully.

Lily leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. "Really," she said. "It's fun flirting with you, and I know you're enjoying it a lot, but I'll be wanting to get more serious than I think you'll be really comfortable with." She caressed Madison's cheek with her thumb. "I know you're not really serious about having a relationship with me ... or even sleeping with me, if it came to that."

Madison coloured. "I guess you're right," she said at last. "I hadn't really thought about it. I was just enjoying it too much. But no, I'm not after anything long-term or serious, especially not actually sleeping with anyone, even someone as nice as you." She paused. "Not yet, anyway."

Lily smiled. "A cute girl like you will find someone to be with, trust me on this."

Madison laid her head against Lily's chest. "I guess you're right. I suppose I got all excited over the idea of kissing girls, and forgot that there's more girls than you around. And boys too, for that matter."

Lily grinned. "You'll kiss a lot more, believe you me. And who knows, one day you might decide to settle down with someone nice."

Madison giggled. "Well, I can only keep looking, right?"

Lily smiled and kissed her gently again. "That's the spirit."

Madison kissed her back. "Friends?"

Lily held her close. "Always."

Madison snuggled in to her, and the rest of the dance went by in comfortable silence.

They grabbed a drink when they got back to the punch bowl, then Madison asked Lily hopefully if she wanted to go around again.

Lily smiled politely. "I'm a bit tired," she said. "I think I'll sit this next dance out," she said. "You can go ahead if you want." She moved over to stand near Sabah. "Hi," she said. "I'm Lily."

"Well, fine," said Madison, pretending to pout. "Be like that. Emma, I'm stealing you."

"Take me, I'm yours," giggled Emma, and Madison whirled her away.

Taylor grinned, watching them go, and was startled by a tap on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss? May I have this dance?" said a polite voice ... one that she knew.

She turned to see a student from Winslow High, his hand raised as if to tap again. As she watched, his face changed from polite interest to puzzlement to startled recognition.

"Taylor?" he queried. "Taylor Hebert?"

She sighed. "Hi, Greg," she said resignedly.

Greg Veder was a boy from Winslow, a bit of a geek and a loner like herself. When in classes without Emma – or lately, Madison – he had often been paired with her for class projects, as he had no real friends.

But whereas Taylor was happy to get the work done and end the partnership, Greg had tried to be socialabout it. And he sucked at being social. At best, he came across as so awkward as to make one want to hide under the desk. At worst, utterly creepy. And he had no idea that he was drifting into either extreme.

Also, Taylor recalled belatedly, he had no idea what a hint even looked like.

"Taylor," he was saying, "I heard about the locker thing. That must have been awful!"

And thank you, Captain Obvious, she thought. Because I had forgotten exactly how bad it was, and I so wanted to be reminded.

She felt the trembles coming on, and steeled herself. I will not cry in front of this boy, she told herself. I will not.

With barely a quiver in her voice, she said, "Yes, thank you, Greg. It was just a little traumatic."

He hardly even heard her, his mind leaping on to the next topic like a hamster with ADHD. "And I heard this rumour that you and Emma were lesbians!" He lowered his voice, but hissed the last word so loudly that several people looked around curiously.

She had to get him away from this spot. And so, she chose the lesser of two evils. Sighing, she said, "Greg, would you like to dance?"

Aegis hit the alarm button. Wards tumbled in from all locations; Clockblocker arrived wearing shampoo suds and a towel.

"Urgent call-out," reported Aegis. "Two weeks ago, Empire Eighty-Eight pulled a spoiler on an ABB operation. We just got word that the ABB is retaliating, hard. They lost a lot of mechandise the last time, so they're looking to make it up now."

"Merchandise?" asked Gallant.

"Girls," stated Aegis bluntly. "They're trafficking in girls. Word is, they're going to hit an underage dance, grab the girls, disappear into the night. One of our thinkers just put it all together. Oni Lee's across town causing havoc; the Protectorate's been decoyed out to chase him. This is down to us."

"Christ," said Kid Win. "Anyone seen Flechette?"

"She went out on a date," said Vista. "Said something about ... going ... dancing." Her voice trailed off. Her eyes reflected the horror in those of her teammates.

"Move!" barked Aegis. "Now!"

Once they were out on the dance floor, Greg picked up the conversation where he had left off. "I can't believe you're a lesbian, Taylor. You were always nice to me, and I always thought we had a ... connection."

He lowered his voice and drew out the last word, and Taylor felt her stomach clench. And that's the other thing I forgot, she told herself. Greg thinks I'm interested in him. Oh boy. I really do not need this.

He looked around. "So who did you come with?"

"Greg," she said carefully, "Emma asked me to come to this dance, as her partner."

He stared at her, like a kicked puppy. "You're really a lesbian?" he asked. "Oh, uh ..." Taking a deep breath, he said, "I support your choice. I think you're very brave to come out like this."

Taylor wanted to find a wall to beat her head against. Even trying to be noble, he's so aggravating I want to run away screaming. Everyone else stopped talking about it weeks ago. If I let this go, he will start spreading it all over again. I do not need this.

Trying not to grind her teeth together, she said, "I'm not really gay, Greg. It's just a story that's going around. I don't care if people think I'm gay, but I'm really not."

Rather than quelling his interest, he actually perked up. "So you're still interested in ... boys, then?"

"Yes, Greg," she replied, her patience starting to wear thin despite herself. "That's what not being lesbian means."

She realised her mistake seconds later, when his hand began wandering southward from the small of her back. "So," he said, apparently sounding roguish, at least to himself, "do you want to go and find somewhere ... private?"

Oh crap, was the thought that went through her mind, he thought I was coming on to him.

Such was her consternation that she almost welcomed the sudden burst of gunfire that killed the music.

End of Part Five