VIII: The Night of Infinite Hours, Side B
Tecton rubs his eyes, stinging now from staring at the twenty-foot screen of the League's supercomputer. He doesn't know why he's doing this to himself. They've refreshed the radar four times already. If there was a change in result, it would have told him.
"You look terrible, Alex. You really should get some sleep."
He looks up, only to find a mug of hot coffee being held in front of his face. "Thanks."
"That's not going to hold you up for long, though."
I know, Tecton thinks wearily. It's turning out to be one of his longest patrol as of yet.
Sharp takes her seat beside him, her own cup of coffee nestled safely in her hand. "Might not be a bad idea to get some shut eye. You never know when Incapacitator will slip and show up."
"That's why I can't go to sleep. I have to wait."
His colleague looks at him a while, analyzing. Then, she leans back on her chair and smirks up to the screen. "I'll give it about seven minutes of good fight time."
"I'm fine."
"You're not."
"Magda, please. Don't do this. I'm already wiped as it is."
The superhero smiles.
Tecton sighs. Nice. An admittance from him.
He can never win an argument with her.
"Geraldine has been down for almost three hours now. Gray Granite's recharging, too," Sharp comments as Tecton takes a cautious sip of his drink. "I can stay up for you, if you need. You know I'm used to pulling all-nighters now."
Tecton smiles. "You're not a prospect anymore. You don't need to do scut work."
"I've only been in the League for three months. I've still got a lot to prove."
Tecton chuckles. "Congratulations, by the way."
She only glances at him, a ghost of a smile on her face.
Silence settles between the two of them for the longest while. Tecton can't decide whether it's comfortable, strained, or a weird cross of both.
As he thinks of ways to fill the void, Sharp speaks again. "What do you think of the new prospects?"
The new prospects? It takes him a while. "You mean the kids?"
"Yeah. The twins. Shockwave..."
Tecton leans back on his seat, pensive. "They're promising."
Sharp scoffs. "Solar Flare isn't here. You can trash talk them all you want – especially the blondes."
Tecton laughs. "You do know you're talking to one."
"Please. This isn't about you. I just mean those particular set of blondes."
"You seem to feel very strongly about Quasar and Pulsar."
"I feel very something about those girls, especially one of them." Sharp looks at him. "I just want to know if I'm alone in this or if you feel the same thing, too."
His brows furrow. "Like…?"
She holds his frown for a long moment, not once faltering in her gaze. When she sees he won't be the first to surrender, she resumes her watch of the screen. "It's a mistake to hire one of them," she comments straight-faced.
He smirks. "Scarlet thought it was a mistake to hire you."
"We both know why."
At that, the smirk on his face shrinks. With so many problems in the world that they have to solve, he often forgets that problems also exist within their ranks.
He really shouldn't be surprised. After all, they're still human too – just like the people they save. "Magda - "
"I'm getting a bad feeling from them," Sharp cuts him off. "One of them is two-faced. At the moment, I just can't pinpoint who."
"Is this because of what you found on the log from the training center?"
Sharp says nothing, but it's obvious that the answer is yes.
Tecton takes a deep breath. It's an issue that Gamma Girl and Spotlight had also asked him to look into. Since Sharp brought to their attention the fishy activities of the twin teenage girls, she and Solar Flare had been at odds with each other.
Scarlet will defend her mentees to the death, and Magda won't back down on her stand regarding the trainees.
Remembrance of that causes his shoulders to feel heavier.
"Forget it," Sharp says, her features distant and pragmatic now. "Have you told the boy's parents what needs to happen after he gets home?"
His brain sputters once again. When it clears, though, he finds that he's once again staring at another problem. "No," he says. "I haven't."
"Can I do it?"
He sighs for what feels like the hundredth time that night. "No, I'll—"
"Alex. You know you don't have to do everything that needs to be done under the sun," Sharp reproves. "That's why you have us. We're a team. You have to divide the load. That's why you're looking a lot older lately. You take so much of what you shouldn't."
He stares at her. "I look old."
"Yes."
"Lately."
"Sí." She grins at the screen. "Muy viejo."
He chuckles humorlessly. There are so many things he want to say: he takes on so much because he has to; he takes on so much because he needs to. He takes on so much because the world needs him, and he takes on so much because that's what he needs to do with his gifts.
But then, Sharp looks at him with a soft, warm smile and says, "You're not alone, you know" – and all of those thoughts cease.
"I know," he acquiesces.
Sharp nods. She takes another sip of her coffee.
"The program seems to be very important to you."
"We're giving children the care they need, and we're giving them a second chance. What's not to like about it?"
He smiles. "You know, half the League is still not comfortable about you eyeing Katrina Lee as your sidekick."
"Trainee," she corrects. "Are you not comfortable about it?"
Tecton thinks about it. He shakes his head. "No, I am," he says. "The things her father did are not the same things she's doing."
"Mm, I believe that, too. Plus, Dr. Farrow says she's been doing well and comes to all their appointments." Sharp shoots a smirk his way. "Kat is a smart girl, very promising. It won't be fair if she's just forever known as Megahertz' daughter."
Tecton agrees. He thinks about the program, thinks about the two girls currently being helped. He also thinks about The Incapacitator, his negative opinion of superheroes, and then his son. "I want to tell them," he says.
"Tell...who?"
"The Davenports," he says. "I know we can't change the minds of all supervillains, but maybe we can try again with another one. Incapacitator became who he is because no one came to help his family when they needed help. But maybe, if we take care of his son, maybe that would change his opinion of us."
"I don't know. That may be a bit of a long shot," Sharp says. Still, she smiles at him. "It's a pretty good idea, though."
"Worth the shot, right?"
"Always."
Tecton smiles down at his coffee, thrilled at the ray of light the action might shed on the world.
"Still, that's cheating. You're still not dividing responsibilities."
He grins. "Alright, how about this? How about I go to sleep, so you'll stop nagging me, and then I tell the parents about the program?"
"Sounds great. Your face is making me feel sleepy anyway."
Tecton scoffs, getting on his feet. "I'm still the leader of the league, you know."
She leans her head back to look at him. "Yeah. Your eye bags totally scream authority."
Tecton can't help but laugh. The other members of the league rarely crack jokes, and he'd say the relationship between all of them is more business than a real friendship.
Secretly, he likes having someone who pushes against the norm. "Thanks, Sharp."
"You're welcome, Tecton."
At that end of the conversation, Tecton leaves.
A soft trill from the supercomputer stops him in his tracks. "Uh oh," Sharp says. "Hold up on that sleep, Blondie. Alley Cat just sent us a message."
"What does it say?"
"Watchdog tip. Junction City, Kansas. Seems like there's some villains on the way to this one house." Finding him reading beside her, she frowns. "What'd you ask me to read it for? You're right here!"
Tecton switches from the message to the general energy anomaly register radar. There, they see two dots coming in towards their target destination. "This isn't good," he says. "Civilian neighborhood. We can be looking at casualties."
"I'll wake up Geraldine and Gray Granite."
"I'll contact Blue Tornado."
"Alex," Sharp calls after him as he speeds out.
He stops, spins around. "What?"
She gives him an impatient look. "Two on the radar, but there may be more," she says kindly. "You're tired. You can't get in a rumble in your condition."
"I'm fine."
"The people in that house," she reasons, "they can get hurt if you're not in tiptop shape."
Tecton pauses. She's right. As much as she joked, he knows her estimate of there being only seven minutes of good fight is accurate. He's tired, and in a rumble exhaustion is a weapon that the opposing team can use.
Once again, she wins the argument. "I'll go as backup."
"Alex."
"I promise," he nods, his feet already taking him towards the action. "Message us if something comes up on Incapacitator!"
Inside the Core, Magda only slumps to her seat, dreading what the unheeded warning might bring.
