In Which Patience Struggles and Justina Finds Out Just How Late They Are

~Patience-~

Shut up.

~Okay, but remember I'm here, and I care about you.~

Justina sat on the hard cot in her cell trying to look more calm than she felt. She didn't know where they had taken Patience. Justina hoped the poor girl was somewhere safe and not in a cell like this. She was worried what Patience would do and she was worried that this metaverse might not have a system of law that she understood. But she had some practice dealing with people who weren't sure if you've done something wrong. So, she pushed all her worries off her face and sat on the cot looking bored, unconcerned, and confident that she would be released soon. It had worked when airport security was looking for the pocket knife she had forgotten to remove from her bag and it worked when she'd gone drinking at 19. She hoped it would work again.

She's dead.

~Yeah.~

I should have known. I'm so stupid. So young and naive and stupid.

~I didn't know either, and I'm not as young as you or anything like naive.~

You're stupid then. All the clues were right there. I should have seen it. I should have known. We should have known.

~Unfortunately, I am very familiar with denial.~

You aren't going to disagree about being stupid?

~After some of the things I've done, I cannot argue against that.~

I should have been sooner. I should have been there, stopped this right at the start.

~Self blame is also something I am very familiar with. However, I don't see what you could have done different without being able to see the future.~

Shut up!

~I love you Patience. You are a good person, and you did everything you could.~

After about an hour Justina's back started to ache. She worried that lying down would look defeatist, but eventually her body told her she wasn't 25 anymore and she didn't get a choice. She put her arms behind her head and crossed her legs hoping she looked nonchalant and not like she was settling in. She raised her eyebrows at the young guard outside her cell. He blushed and returned to his crossword.

She sighed silently and kept waiting.

They shouldn't have pushed her so hard. Bastards.

~Who?~

Those goddamn vultures who thought a couple hundred dollars meant they could demand anything they wanted.

~I don't-~

The client! Whoever the fuck ordered that damn statue!

~Ah.~

I'll kill them. I'll find out who they are and I'll kill them.

~Do you think they knew what would happen to her?~

Who cares? It doesn't matter. She is dead because of them so they should die. She deserves justice.

~That sounds more like revenge than justice.~

It's the same thing.

~Is that what your mother taught you?~

I… She… Go away!

~No. I'm right here. I'm here for you.~

There was a knock on the door. The guard started and dropped his paper. He stood looking around nervously and opened a little panel. One of the drunks inside the holding cell across from Justina snickered loudly. The guard ignored him and peered out the little window.

"Who's there?"

"Well, that's a silly question. Aren't you the Lawrence boy?"

The guard visibly relaxed, pointedly ignoring the slurred mutter of, "That's a silly question who?" And snickering from the other cell.

"Hi, Tony. Did my mom buy something heavy again? I can come get it after work but I can't really come away right now…"

"Nope. I'm here to see the woman from the stage. The one looking for Wells."

Justina sat up again suddenly, staring at the door.

"I'm sorry Tony I can't let you in. Procedure, you know?"

"Don't be silly, I don't want to come in. You bring her out here, that's what the room with the tables is for."

"I can't do that without another guard present. It's just me right now."

"What?"

"I would need a second guard here before I could do that!"

"Then call another guard."

"But-"

"Young man. I may be stuck in this town until the auction gets going again and I can get my money for the things that I brought, but I do not want to spend all day in this building. Call someone and let me talk to the girl. And when you get off your shift tell your mother I haven't found a buyer for that vase she liked yet, so if I still have it when we next see each other, I'll accept her lower bid."

The guard blinked at the sudden turn mid-speech. "She wants another vase?"

"Yep."

He shook his head. "Okay I'll let her know. Look, could you come back in about 20 minutes? That's when my co-worker gets back from lunch, and I really do need another guard here before I leave the room. I can't lose this job."

"Alright, however. See you, son."

"No wait!" Justina scrambled off her cot and up to the bars, her calm facade shattered. "Don't go I-"

"He's gone." The guard interrupted, not unkindly. "But he'll be back. Tony likes to poke at things that make him curious. And once he's decided something, changing his mind is really hard."

Why did she do it? Why did she leave me?

~She didn't mean too. She loved you, in all your memories I've seen how much she loved you. She loved you, and she made a mistake, but she never wanted to leave you alone.~

How would you know?

~Because I'm a grown up. And I'm not the one in the middle of this situation.~

It isn't fair, she didn't get a hero's ending, she didn't die killing a villain or in order to save people. She didn't get any last words. No one was there to see her final breath. It isn't fair.

~Maybe. But she died creating, not destroying. And that's how I would rather go.~

What do you know about being a hero?

~Nothing at all.~

The guard cuffed Justina firmly to what looked like little more than a card table bolted to the floor and sat her in a folding chair. A man was seated across from her, leaning back comfortably in an identical chair. His uneven grey hair jutted out from under a battered broad brimmed hat. He was weather beaten and wiry. His eyes had a shrewd gleam and his face seamed creased in a permanent expression of amused skepticism.

Before she finished sitting down Justina asked. "You said you'd heard of my husband?"

"Heard of him, ha! I had the man ride around in my head for a little while. Turned my whole ship around and delayed my trading route. I don't know how he and his friends got out before the dome went down. All the other supers were stuck in there."

"He's a pilot not a super."

"Don't be silly. Possession is obviously a super power. Not a bad man though, he took me back where I'd been going before he skedaddled. Talked to me a bit once his friends were off in Sentinel City. Wouldn't have minded being one of the first to trade there but he meant well. Heh, Wells meant well."

The man laughed a little at his own joke. Justina smiled uncertainly.

"Oh, but pardon my rudeness. I'm Tony, what's your name?"

"Ah, Justina. Um… Justina Wells."

"Justina. That's a silly name."

Justina bristled, "It's a family name and it's mine."

"Alright, no need to get testy. Your husband was the same way when I called him Tom, you know."

"I can imagine."

"Man talked like an encyclopedia. Yep, he had a thousand ways to tell me to not do that."

"He talked like what?"

"Sore about losing his body too, although he didn't want to admit it."

"Losing his-?"

"Got it all mixed up with his pride in having something called 'Google' in his head."

"Wait, can you go back to what happened to him?"

"What?"

"What did you mean about losing his body?"

"Oh dear. You've been looking for a long time then haven't you. I'm sorry to tell you your husband is dead. Got a real chip on his shoulder over it too."

"But he can't be dead. You met him."

"Yep, met him. Had him pull my puppet strings. Got him to tell me lots of interesting statistics and tricks to make my ship work better. Man sounded like a robot, but his advice was sound."

"I mean, he could be a little distant, but I wouldn't call him a robot."

"Eh? Said he needed to 'reboot.' Talked about his 'operating system,' his 'data banks.' The man talked like a robot. Ha! Thought he knew everything about everything. Had some real silly ideas too."

"I…" Justina shook her head, "Please. I need to find him."

"Hoping to apologize?"

Justina flushed, wondering just how much he knew. "I need to make sure he's safe. I need to make sure I didn't push him into a dangerous situation."

"Don't be silly. Of course you did. But he'll be fine. Supers always are."

"Excuse me?"

"He thinks he's dead, but he doesn't blame you for that. Can't say he thought about you much at all when he was in my head. We had other things to deal with."

Justina told herself that it didn't hurt to hear that. "What did he do?"

"What?"

"Where did you guys go? What happened?"

"Oh, we went to the dome from Elysium, and then back. Had a devil of a time dodging this pirate ship bent on revenge. Why are you chasing after him? Didn't you leave? Seems silly to do an about turn after so long."

"He's my husband. I love him. And I'm not going to leave him in danger. He wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't tried to push him out of his comfort zone."

"That seems a silly way to describe asking for a divorce."

"A separation, not a divorce. And I don't need to justify myself to you. I just wanted him to stop ignoring me, I never wanted to put him in danger."

"Ha! He blames Krieger more than he blames you. If you feel the need to blame yourself though then I guess you'd say his so-called death is on you, then."

"I don't think I like you very much."

Tony shrugged, unconcerned. "Never said I blamed you. Nope. That would be silly. Man made his own decisions. Got caught in someone else's crossfire. It happens."

"Where is he? Please, I have to find him."

"Don't know. He popped up in my head for a little while then evaporated into the ether. All said and done a couple years back. He probably went to Sentinel City, that's where all the heroes live."

"A couple years?" Justina felt like the bottom was falling out of her stomach.

Tony peered at her. "Yup. That's how time goes, you know."

Justina didn't answer.

"Unless you've been stuck in someone's time bubble or something. How long has it been for you?"

She ignored him. "I'm too late. I'm too late, again. I finally found a lead and I'm late by a couple god damn years!"

She tried to stand, but the chains pulled her up short, wrenching her wrists. She sat hard and hid her face in her hands. "I'm too late."

"Hey, now. Don't cry." Tony sounded alarmed.

"Not crying. Just done."

"Giving up?"

"No. I just need a… No, I can't give up. Is there anything else you can tell me?" Justina looked up again, clinging to the life line of her stubborn pride.

Tony looked at her shrewdly. "Is this really about love? Or is it about guilt."

She glared at him. "Is there anything else you can tell me about where he might have gone or not?"

Tony shrugged. "It felt like he was falling and scattering into motes of light. He seemed unconcerned." Tony got to his feet a little stiffly.

"Thank you." Justina bit out. "I wish your answers were different but still, thank you for telling me."

"Well, thank you for making my day a little less boring. That was brave what you did on that stage, stupid and brave. Good luck, young lady."

I'm going to be a hero. A real hero. I'll make the world better.

~I never doubted that.~

I'm going to make her proud.

~You already have.~

I miss her. I'll always miss her.

And for the first time since that awful moment on stage Patience moved under her own volition. She curled up on the cot Max had set her on, in a cell that would never hold her if she decided to leave. She cried herself to sleep.

Back in her cell Justina brooded. Too late. Too god damned late. I failed. Again! And it's been years for him! How is that even possible? She finally remembered Skipper talking about time running differently in different metaverses. She buried her head in her arms and swore quietly. The guard ignored her. The drunks had fallen asleep and snored loudly. I hate this place.

Eventually the sun did set and Justina managed to fall asleep. She didn't dream about the girl with the rabbit's ears. She dreamed of Thomas, looking as lost as she felt, and neither of them said a word.

Patience woke feeling sore and gutted. It was dark. She tried to cling to the shredding comfort of sleep.

Are you still there?

~I'll be here as long as you need me to be.~

You'll have to go back to Skipper with Justina soon.

~She'll understand. I'm staying with you.~

Thank you. Patience felt the smallest corner of her heart ease, then she had a sudden thought. Wait, where is Justina?

~Probably in another cell very like this one. We were found at a crime scene you know.~

Uh-oh. What do we do?

~It's fine, we'll be fine. We can just wait for now. Justina can take care of herself. It's okay.~

I can't just leave her there! It's my fault she came at all. A hero doesn't leave people behind.

Xanaria could feel Patience's resolve and didn't argue. The girl had found something to hold on to when her soul was in chaos and Xanaria was not going to take that away from her.

I can get us out. Patience flexed her hands preparing to bend the bars.

~I don't think they locked the doors. Max put you in here because he was told you needed to be detained, but he has to know this place would never hold you if you wanted out.~

Are you sure?

~Try the door.~

Patience put a hand against the flat panel with the key hole in it and pushed gently. The door swung open. She was the only one in any of the four cells and there was no guard in the room. She crossed quickly to the main door. This one was also unlocked.

Out of the room was a hallway. Right across from her was a door identical to the one she had just come out of. At the end of the hall to the right was a barred window showing only Blackness. At the other end was an open door. There was a light on in the room beyond and shadows moved so she guessed there were people inside. She hesitated, unsure what to do.

~We can go out the window.~ Xanaria tried not to sigh. ~I'm getting used to it. You don't need to talk to anyone.~

No. Patience decided. They might know where Justina is.

As she approached she heard quiet voices and the sound of someone's muffled crying. When she stepped through the door she froze.

Max was there. The Albatross. Mr. Mist. The West Wind. Verisimilitude. Wilma Willson, who refused to use a hero name. Every past or current member of her mother's team who could possibly get here. Even Mirror's Echo was in the looking glass set on the table for her.

Everyone was sitting around a long table and they had left the overhead lights off. Instead, the room was lit by a handful of beeswax candles set near the middle of the table. Each had burned down slightly different amounts. The Honeycomb had made them and she kept a pile of fresh ones in a basket by her feet.

Patience had seen this before when the team had lost a member. She had been seven and they had done it at the counter in her mother's house. They would light a candle as they told a story about the deceased member. They had been at it long after her mother had put her to bed and in the morning the counter had been covered with burned down stumps of beeswax. She had left them there for over a month.

The group went silent when she walked in, Max choking mid story.

"Patience." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

She stared at him, fury rising in her chest.

"We set a place for you." The West Wind whispered. "If you would like to join us." They gestured gently, a puff of air making the candles flicker softly.

Patience stared at each of them, getting more and more angry. She had tried to contact many of the people in this room. Those she had been able to reach hadn't believed her. Verisimilitude had told her she had a wonderful imagination. Wilma had told her she didn't have time for pranks. Patience felt her tendons creak as she clenched her fists.

Her eyes focused on Max. Max who had laughed at her, dismissed her, and carried her bodily from the room where her mother had been. Her vision tunneled in on him and the edges went to red. She took a step toward him. She began to raise her hands. But then something made her pause.

Xanaria didn't say anything, but Xanaria wasn't feeling rage. Xanaria felt pity for a man who had lost his mentor and failed her daughter on the same day. Xanaria was looking at the tears sticking his eyelashes into spikes. Xanaria was thinking about how hard it must be for these people to have lost someone they cared about so much to something they had never imagined was a threat. And Xanaria was thinking they must be feeling pretty ashamed of themselves right now.

Patience shook her head, crossed her arms, and took a deep breath. "Where is she?" She asked bluntly, still angry but a little less murderous.

"They took her to the morgue, until they could rule out foul play."

Patience felt her heart stutter for a moment before she realized they were talking about her mother's statue.

"No. Where's Justina?" She saw them exchange confused looks. "Where is the woman who helped me when all of you were too busy to answer your damn phones?" She kept her voice low and felt a vicious sort of pleasure as they winced.

"She's down stairs." Max choked out, then buried his face in his arms.

"You know," The West Wind breathed. "It would be horribly illegal if someone were to help her escape. It's a good thing you slept in that cell all night and only came out in the morning." They took a steady drink from their cup, colorless eyes not looking anywhere in particular.

Patience nodded shortly. She hadn't thought to go to The West Wind. They were oddly forgettable, despite the raw power that ran through their slight frame.

For a moment Patience considered stopping to share a story and light a candle for her mother, to make peace. But this was their ritual not hers, and she didn't think she would make it through the night without laying into someone if she didn't leave soon. So she just nodded to The West Wind, swept a last look around the rest of the room, and left.

~I think you handled that really well,~ Xanaria felt like comfort and strength to Patience's raw nerves. ~There aren't many adults who could have had half your restraint.~

Thank you. Patience thought quietly, hoping Xanaria would know it was for more than her kind words.

Justina woke suddenly to the sound of the hallway door door being ripped free of it's deadbolt. She blinked, disoriented, and flinched as a small form made a beeline for her cell. She rubbed her eyes and the blurry dark and glowing gold figure came into focus in the low light.

"The Buckler's here?" She mumbled.

"Sure am." Patience didn't pause before yanking the door open. There was a sound of screaming metal and the lock plate was left behind as the rest of the door tore free.

Justina wobbled to her feet. "Where's the guard?"

"He went to pee and I locked him in the bathroom. Come on we don't have much time."

Patience pulled her along, ignoring the drunk mumble of, "Hey, sweetheart, let me out too."

Justina shook off her grogginess and gently extracted her hand from Patience's grip. She was clearly trying to be gentle, but Justina knew her wrist would have bruises soon.

"Where are we going?" Justina asked as they hurried out onto the dark and silent street.

"You need to go back to Skipper. I'm sorry, I know you want to look for your husband but you can't do that from a jail cell and even though you did nothing wrong there are some very rich people mixed up in all of this and I don't think they were going to let you out any time soon."

"No, that's fine. I had a visitor. I've learned all I think I can from this world." She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, Patience had much bigger problems right now.

As they ducked into a park Patience slowed down to a regular walk, still keeping a wary eye behind them. "What did you learn?"

Justina shrugged and tried to seem okay. "I'm too late. By a couple of years. He isn't here anymore."

"But that's something right? More than you had before?"

"Yeah," Justina did her best to smile and changed the subject, "How are you holding up?"

Patience shrugged, and Justina felt a pang as she noted that the motion was almost identical to her own. "I don't think I'll turn evil and go on a murderous rampage."

Justina's eyebrows went up. "Is there anything I can do?"

Patience smiled, a little painfully. "You've done a lot for me. What you can do now is disappear so no one can take their frustration out on you."

"And leave you to deal with it?"

"In their eyes, I'm a child, and a super, and…" her voice broke but she cleared her throat and continued, "and… her… daughter. I am protected in ways you are not."

"But Xanaria, you'll stay with her, right?"

"Yes. I'll stay with her as long as she needs me too."

"Good."

They came out the other side of the park and Patience hesitated. "Um, where exactly did you come out?"

Justina looked around. "I don't know the street name. It wasn't far from the market, and the houses looked like patchwork. I know that doesn't narrow it down much. Lets see, there was a woman with a taser… Oh! And I came out on a patch of grass with this ancient arched door thing on it."

"Ah! The Timeless Door! That actually makes sense."

"The what?"

"The Timeless Door. It's in a lot of local folk tales. Weird things happen around that arch."

"So you know how to get there, then?"

"Blind folded."

Patience led the way.

It took them a little longer to get there than it needed to, Patience was careful to avoid bigger roads that might still have people on them this late. When they did see someone Xanaria had to keep her from diving suspiciously into a bush. They kept their heads down and walked normally and no one looked twice at them. Eventually they reached the arch on it's patch of grass with one street light flickering nearby.

"Now what?" Patience asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. Now Skipper has to notice we're here and open the door. Sometimes it's visible, sometimes it isn't. I guess we say goodbye and then I walk back and forth through the arch looking like an idiot until I disappear?"

Patience snorted. "Well, good bye then."

Justina smiled and impulsively hugged the girl. Surprised, Patience hugged her back.

"Goodbye. You'll do great things in this world, I know it. Take care of each other please. And Xanaria? Stay as long as you need to."

Patience and Xanaria didn't say anything, just gave her one more squeeze. With a wave Justina stepped toward the arch and, with a familiar bump and falling sensation, right back into Skipper's domain.