Chapter One Hundred and Eleven
...
"I worked it out," Ethan said, a wild look in his eye that scared more than one person. "The numbers in the first section were actually dates written in the Julian date format, but also included the time down to the millisecond and included the time zone. That was the easiest part to work out," he said to the disbelief of some. "The next section of the file name corresponded to the contents of the file: reports, lists, transcripts, minutes, business plans, memorandum of understanding, surveillance, grant applications - there were more than you'd expect," he added. "The last part is the initial of the agent or agents who are being recommended to handle the proposal. The letter after the filename is the agent who wrote the file, but it was the third section that had me stumped for almost two hours," Ethan said, gesturing to the pieces of paper strewn about the room, all with incomprehensible scrawls written on them. "It didn't make sense to have two dates on the document; I thought it could have been when it had been updated or reviewed or something. Then I actually read one of the documents and found out it's the country that the document impacts. So Agent F might've written something here in Ohio, United States, but it impacts Johannesburg in the Gauteng province in South Africa. The date and time is when it needs to be completed."
Seeing that no one had understood his explanation, Ethan grabbed a piece of paper from the pile on the floor and wrote the first file name he'd seen, then beneath it:
1223109421543MOHUS4EDT-RcF-1300111595900JGSASAST2-G
yydddHHMMSSmmCityStateCountryTimezone-DocumentTypeAgentWriting-yydddHHMMSSmmCityStateCountryImpactedTimezone-AgentRecommended
"Year and date in the Julian date format, with the hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds stating when the document was created. Following that is the city, state, and country: in this case, Maxville, Ohio, United States. Then the timezone, see EDT? The 4 is on the left as it's minus 4 EDT, whereas the other timezone is plus 2, so it's on the other side of the timezone. Right, then R means report, but Rc is a recommendation, which I realised at two in the morning. Agent F wrote the recommendation. JGSA is Johannesburg, Gauteng province, South Africa. The recommendation, if approved, needs to be completed by the first of January in 2013, midnight, South African Standard Time. Agent G is recommended to be the one to implement the idea."
"Holy shit."
"Yeah."
"So, do we actually have the documents to read?" Grant asked, a little hesitantly considering the look in Ethan's eye. "The file naming structure is great, but if we don't have the files themselves, it doesn't really help right now."
Ethan laughed, sounding hysterical, and Zach took a step forward in concern. "I printed every single document. I included the file names on the footer so we can try to match them. It's all in the lower Hive; thank you for creating a wireless printer at three in the morning, Terrence," he added.
"It printed okay?" he asked. "I woke up in a cold sweat, thinking I'd forgotten ink."
"Oh, believe me, it printed. I started reading them and there's more jargon and acronyms and ciphers in the documents than anything I've read before, and that includes the 12-volume cryptography book series I read last year. I'm truly sorry about the amount of paper it used, Layla, but I attempted to print one as a PDF and lost an hour as a result. I did use recycled paper, though," Ethan added, leading them down to the lower Hive.
Adam's room had been a mess of paper and scribbles, but it was nothing in comparison to the room Ethan led them to. The room had a printer in the corner, though that had paper stacked on top of it as well. The walls were covered in paper, pins holding the paper into the walls, colours on some papers, others stacked alternatively, and some were glued or stapled together. From what Layla could see, some of the papers were written entirely in symbols, others were written in different languages, and some were written in font so small she doubted she'd be able to read it without a magnifying glass or possibly a microscope. On the other side of the wall was a large document with strings attached to it, leading to other documents around the room.
"Holy shit."
"This is just what I could fit on the walls," Ethan admitted. "Agent H writes their documents entirely in symbols. It's their own version of webdings, except the meaning can change entirely depending on the country. Agent G writes everything in size 2 font. Agent C writes everything in foreign languages, though I discovered they write in the language for the country they're impacting rather than the one they're writing the document in. Agent F writes somewhat normally, but refers to other documentation often enough that their reports are confusing without the context of the others."
"What's that one?" Grant asked curiously, nodding towards the document with strings.
"The villain watch list. Some of the documents refer to villains on the list, while other documents are to add villains to the list. I was going to start checking the news for the names on the list that were mentioned in recommendations, but then you all arrived. I can still do it, I just need - "
"Sleep. That's what you need, Ethan," Honey said, her voice stern and not allowing for argument.
Ethan looked between Honey and the walls of documents, sighing and rubbing his eyes, exhaustion slowly creeping in. "Fine."
"I can start looking into the names, if you don't mind help?" Grant offered.
"Yeah, that... that would be good," he said, yawning widely. "Most of the documents linked to the villain watch list with string only started in the last year; I'm sure there's something that set them off, I just haven't found it yet. There's also an increase in Montana and Mississippi documents. Oh, and the UN has its own section, it's, uh," Ethan trailed off as he looked around the room, trying to remember where he'd put the documents almost six hours ago. "Oh, over there. The blue ones. I tried to colour code everything, but I ran out of colours, I need - "
"Sleep," several people said.
"C'mon, Eth. I'll cuddle with you," Zach cajoled, leading his boyfriend to a room with a bed.
Layla closed their chosen room with vines to block Heidi's light bulbs from the corridor, then looked around at her friends. Grant was already searching for the villains' names from the linked documents; Wendy was trying to work out the colour coding Ethan had already begun; Honey was looking through the UN stack of documents with determination; Craig and Jewel were talking to each other quietly as they read the villain watch list to see if they recognised any names; Robin was making their way over to the other side of the wall while Terrence checked over his printer to make sure everything had printed correctly and it was still working. Adam went upstairs to make sure the corrupted files on the USB hadn't done anything to his computer. Heidi took a stack of Agent H's documents to try to work out the images. Ry walked around the room, trying to follow one colour to determine where it had started and the significance or event that might have triggered almost three years' worth of documents.
Taking a photo of the room and her friends, Layla sent it through the group chat for Warren and Donny to see; Warren was doing the firefighter cadet training and Donny was working at the ice creamery.
Donny: what happened?!
Jewel: we got allllllll the documents from the Super Bureau
Craig: Eth happened
Zach: shut up, he just fell asleep!
Craig: turn your phone on silent, dude
Zach: I did; I can't reach Eth's
"Does anyone want to ask why he can't just get up and get the phone?" Craig asked, snickering when they all shook their heads. "Aw, damn. Turn my phone back on, Ace."
"No. Shut up," Adam's voice echoed from several phones.
Craig looked around the room, frowning at the ceiling. "Anyone know where we are in relation to the Hive? I reckon I can steal his fridge again."
"Don't even try it, Cee. Oh, hey, I found it," Ry said, holding a piece of paper and comparing it to three others on the wall.
"What'd you find?" Craig asked.
"The start of this whole thing. It's actually ten years, not three. What's the point, though? They're in prison," Ry murmured, not making any sense to anyone. He sat down and tried to read Agent G's report using a magnification app on his phone, squinting even then.
"Okay, my computer's fine," Adam announced as he entered the room a few minutes later.
He didn't get a response, but Adam hadn't really expected one on seeing his friends in various states of reading, talking, highlighting, or attempting to find something that they swear they saw only a moment ago!
"Hey, Terrence; can you create a photocopier to hook up to my computer? If we can scan the documents, I can use OCR to read them for us. I might even be able to create a program to make an index and cross-reference documents or villains."
Terrence set his documents aside and nodded firmly. "I'll do it in a different room; this one's getting a little cramped," he said.
"Thanks," Adam said, smiling.
Terrence almost tripped over his feet as he left the room, his heart skipping a beat, and his cheeks red. He really hoped that Adam hadn't seen that.
"What's OCR?" Jewel asked Adam curiously.
"Optical character recognition. It's a way of scanning documents so you can search for words in the PDFs. Well, it was originally made for people with vision impairments so their tech could read the words properly," Adam amended, "but I tend to use it for finding things instead," he said with a shrug.
"Huh. I never thought of that. Want help scanning?" she asked.
"Yeah. There's a shitton of stuff to scan, so we'll probably all have to take turns so we don't end up with repetitive strain injuries," Adam said, looking around the room with a wince.
Jewel snorted. "Yeah, imagine putting a claim in for that? Had to scan thousands of files we stole from the Super Bureau and hurt my wrists as a result."
"I don't think my insurance covers that," Honey said. "Can we scan the UN stuff first? Babs'll need it sooner than later."
"Why? What's it say?" Craig asked curiously, trying to see the documents that Honey was holding to her chest.
"Nothing you need to know about yet. There's more important stuff for you in there," Honey said, nodding to the rest of the room in general.
"Uh, Honey? This has your name in it," Ry said, looking up and blinking rapidly at the change from the tiny font.
"Oh, I know. I didn't pass the Super Bureau's polygraph either, so they've been watching me on and off since I applied."
"You applied to work for the Super Bureau?" Grant asked in surprise.
"Of course. It's easier to destroy something from the inside than the outside. Not that it's stopping me."
"Yeah, but Honey, this was from last month," Ry stressed. "They followed you when you viewed, like, six places to buy?" he said, looking at the document again.
Honey frowned. "They should have only seen five. What were they?"
Ry listed six addresses, looking at Honey when she laughed.
"Oh, that fourth place was where we had lunch. Daisy saw they were following us, so the last two were decoys; we went to another three places after we'd lost them."
Ry nodded in relief.
"Who's Daisy?" Craig asked, frowning.
"My real estate agent. Well, I own the business so she's one of my employees, but that's just a technical detail," Honey said. "She's a very good real estate agent and will hopefully win the Realtor Sales Award this year. Trixie's giving her a run for her money," she mused.
"Do you own that business, too?" Wendy asked sarcastically.
"Yes, actually, I do. But I don't let most people know that; competition between real estates - whether perceived or real - can be a good thing."
"Is there anything you don't own in Maxville?" Wendy asked, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Oh, lots. I'm sure I'll get them all eventually," Honey said with a teasing smile.
Wendy snorted. "Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. Leave something for the rest of us, yeah?"
"Of course."
Jewel went with Adam to the photocopier Terrence had created to start scanning the UN documents Honey handed them. The room fell quiet as everyone else continued to read and research, the only interruption occurring three hours later when Heidi cried out in surprise because she'd finally worked out what one of the symbols meant. Spurred on by her discovery, she ignored the others' questions and continued to delve deeper into the cryptic documents of Agent H.
...
"Have you heard from anyone since Layla's message?" Warren asked as Donny got into the passenger seat of his car.
"Hello to you, too. Yeah, I had a great day; some kid puked ice cream on the floor right after I'd mopped them, and their parents didn't give a fuck. How're you?" Donny asked sarcastically.
Warren sighed. "Hi, Donny. How was your day? Have you heard from anyone at the Hive?"
"Oh, fuck off," Donny said, rolling his eyes. "And no, I haven't heard from anyone. I just assumed Adam turned their phones off after Zach's message."
"What about Zach's message?" Warren asked with a frown as he started to drive out to the Hive.
Donny snorted. "There's gotta be a reason he couldn't just get up to get Eth's phone to turn it on silent."
"Oh. Fuck, I didn't even think of that."
Donny laughed outright. "Yeah, obviously. You're lucky you've got me around then."
"Of course I am."
"Now, hurry up. I need to eat something and it needs to be savoury. Being around ice cream all day is making my teeth hurt," Donny said, rubbing his cheeks as though that would help.
"What if you just have a toothache?"
"I don't have a toothache. Shut up and drive."
Warren smirked. "If you're gonna be like that, then you can pay for the ride."
"What, your millions aren't enough?"
"Never."
"Greedy bastard."
"Yeah, I know. I brought Chinese for everyone; it's in the back seat if you want it," Warren offered. "I'm surprised you didn't smell it when you got in."
"It's the ice cream. It's screwing with my senses," Donny muttered, reaching back to grab the food.
"Yeah, I get that. I swore I could smell Chinese food for a week straight when I first started working."
Donny laughed. "I don't know if that's better or worse."
"Neither do I. Leave the black bean one; that's for Layla."
"Sure thing. I'm not stealing your dinner, am I?"
Warren gave a shrug. "Nah, there's enough for everyone, even with Craig and Ry's appetites. Besides, I can always make more if you are and if not, well, it's not the first time I've gone without dinner."
"That's not healthy, dude."
"Sleep was more important," Warren said, Donny nodding with a mouthful of Szechuan sesame noodles.
"This is seriously good," Donny said when he'd swallowed, already going for the next mouthful.
"Thanks," Warren said, distracted as he saw the Hive's parking lot and Honey's minivan still there.
He tried not to panic, but he must have thought loudly enough anyway, as Donny said, "They're fine, dude. I can hear them from here."
"You sure?"
"'Course. They're reading the documents from the Super Bureau. I swear Heids is thinking in images though, so that kinda hurts," Donny said, wincing.
"All right. Thanks, Donny."
"No problem. Thanks for the food. I'm gonna stick to the forest for a bit, clear my head," he said.
"Sure."
Parking the car, Warren grabbed the rest of the Chinese food, heading towards the Hive. He knocked on Adam's door and handed him a container of food when he opened it warily.
"Fuck, yes. Love you, dude."
"Yeah, I know. You good up here?" Warren asked.
"Yeah. Where's Donny?" Adam asked, looking into his container carefully to determine if he could eat near his computer or not.
"In the forest. He needs to clear his head; he had a shitty day."
"I get that. I'd have a shitty day if I had to wear that outfit all the time, too."
"Hey, leave it alone. A job's a job, no matter what he's wearing," Warren said.
"Yeah, true. Sorry, Donny," Adam called in the direction of the Hive's front door.
Screw you, too.
"Did you just hear Donny's voice in your head?" Adam asked Warren, his eyes wide.
"Yeah. Okay, not going insane?"
"Fuck, I hope not. Donny's voice would be the worst voice for a conscience ever."
Warren snorted. "Better than yours, dude."
"Rude. But you also gave me food, so I'll let you live."
"Thanks," Warren said, rolling his eyes and heading down to the lower Hive.
"I smell food. What did you bring me?" Craig asked excitedly, meeting Warren in the corridor.
"You'll find out with the others. C'mon, out of that... seriously tiny room; Super Jesus, how did you all fit in here without dying of carbon monoxide poisoning?" Warren asked, looking to them all incredulously.
"Stubbornness. Hey, there's food, people. C'mon already!" Craig called loudly to get their attention.
"We should eat upstairs; I doubt there's a way to get rid of food smells down here," Ethan pointed out.
"Good point. Come on, lil sis," Ry said, holding out a hand to Heidi.
She grinned and took his hand, laughing as he pulled her up with a smooth motion.
"Race you upstairs," Craig called, already running.
Ry and Heidi ran after him quickly, their friends following. Honey grinned and grabbed the bag from Warren on her way past.
"Black bean is for Layla; don't eat it!" Warren called after her.
Layla was reading intently and hadn't stirred despite the noise and her friends' exit. Warren stood next to her, frowning at the document she was reading, several colours highlighted throughout it, and sent a pulse through his vine tattoo to get her attention.
Layla looked up, blinking, and smiled widely at him. "You're here already?"
"It's almost ten, hippie. I brought food for you, c'mon," Warren said, offering his hand to her.
Excited about the prospect of Chinese food, Layla took his hand and stood up in the same motion, her body swaying. "Whoa. Okay, I moved too fast. My legs are killing me," she groaned.
"How long have you been sitting cross-legged on the floor?"
"Since... lunch? No wonder they're sore. Now, more importantly: what food did you get for me?" she asked, keeping hold of Warren's hand as they headed upstairs, Layla trying to stretch her legs and aching muscles with each step.
"Oh, so that's why you love me? Because I bring Chinese food for you?" Warren asked teasingly.
"Of course not. You also make Chinese food for me," Layla said, laughing and kissing him in the next breath.
Hearing her stomach gurgle, Warren pulled away first and ushered Layla upstairs to their dinner.
" - six words," Heidi said.
"That's great, lil sis," Craig said, holding out his hand for a high-five.
She slapped his hand, looking pleased.
"I've almost finished writing the program to create a basic index and cross-reference for all of the documents. We can start scanning the rest tomorrow," Adam said.
"I'm gonna sleep on the floor. Or in the food. Damn, I'm tired," Terrence said, groaning.
"Don't waste your food; I'll eat it for you," Ry offered.
"Hell, no."
"Fight you for it," Ry said with a grin.
"Does that count as a pun? 'Cause if it does, I'm leaving," Robin said, rolling their eyes.
"Nah, it's just a bad joke," Donny said as he came into the Hive, closing the front door behind him.
Ry just laughed and stole a spring roll from Terrence's plate.
...
"If I see one more piece of paper, I'm going to hurt something. Or myself, or someone else, I don't even know," Zach groaned.
"We haven't studied tonight," Ethan reminded him.
"No, Eth. Please, I can't. Scanning all of those documents has killed my arms and brain and everything else."
"If we don't study tonight, we'll have to skip tomorrow's makeout session," Ethan said firmly.
"Ugh, damn it, fine. I need sleep. Sorry, future me," Zach said, yawning widely.
Ethan rolled his shoulders and tilted his head from side to side, wincing at the accompanying noise. "I'll get the Icy Hot and massage you."
"You're amazing, Eth. Love you," Zach mumbled, already starting to doze off.
"Love you, too," Ethan replied, kissing his cheek and going to get the Icy Hot tube from the bathroom.
"Good night, son. Are you okay? You look tired," Richard said, frowning at Ethan from the doorway.
"It was a big day," he replied. "Are you all right, Da?" Ethan asked, frowning when he saw his father shake out his left hand.
"Fine, just a cramp. I forgot how taxing it can be writing on a whiteboard. I'll be fine."
"All right. Do you want Icy Hot, too?"
"No, thank you. I can't sleep with that stuff on," Richard said, wrinkling his nose. "You sleep well, son. Your mother's taking you to the bus tomorrow; I'm taking Heidi to school. She'll be going to Sky High next year. You're all growing up so fast," he said with a melodramatic sigh.
"We can't help it," Ethan said, grinning. "Go to bed, Da."
"I probably should. Might get some work done if I wake up early," Richard mused. "Good night."
"Good night, Da. Love you."
"Love you too, son," Richard said, kissing the crown of Ethan's head. "Ugh, you're growing taller, too. I'm going to be the shortest one in the family all too soon."
Ethan laughed and hugged his father before heading back to the bedroom to look after Zach.
...
"It looks like Jetstream and the Commander have successfully defeated another villain, viewers. The Robot Controller has been arrested, and the Commander has taken another trophy from a successful fight," Brian Anderson said with a broad smile.
On the screen, the Commander pulled a robotic head off one of the smaller robots. The ground around them had been flattened by the marching army of robots. The Robot Controller hadn't realised that the army could topple like dominoes when the first wave was punched by the Commander, and the fight was over before it had even truly begun.
"You okay, Con?" Andy asked, frowning at his best friend as Connor paced back and forth.
"Fine."
"Uh-huh. That's why I've watched you pacing for the last ten minutes. What the hell's going on?" Andy asked, turning off the TV and turning his full attention to Conor.
"It's Ryuu - "
"Is he okay?" he asked immediately, sitting up straighter.
"He's fine. Well, I think he is. I'm not... Hell, I don't know what to think anymore, Andy. He's not - " Connor trailed off, running a hand through his hair and sighing heavily.
He'd already talked to Victor about all of this and thought he was fine, but two days later, Connor's worries and fears about Ryuu's decision had returned in full force.
"A hero?"
"What?"
"Ryuu; he's not going to be a hero, is he?" Andy asked.
Connor's face fell and he shook his head. "No, he's not. Andy, I don't know what to do about it. I even spoke with Victor about it, but I still... Wait, how did you know?"
Andy snorted. "Well, the fact that I'm here and not dead is a pretty big indicator, but I saw the training arena. That's not the sort of thing heroes tend to have. Also, the kids in ski masks might've tipped me off."
"What training arena?"
"It's in the lower Hive."
Connor didn't know what to say to that, wondering when Andy had seen it.
"Ry's got a family with those kids, Con, just like we did."
"That was different. It was the Army, not high school!" Connor argued.
"So? You and I both know the Army can be just as bad as high school. Besides, there are plenty of people who have friendships with people from school. Look, just trust Ry to make the right decision, and if he hasn't," Andy added before Connor could interrupt, "then you support him and help him fix things."
"This isn't the equivalent of breaking something, Andy. He could end up in prison or dead."
"Depending what he breaks, that could happen either way," Andy said, grinning. His grin faded when Connor didn't look impressed. "Look, Ry's made a decision you don't agree with, right?"
"Yeah."
"So then that makes it your problem, not Ry's."
"But - "
"But nothing, Con. Ry's decision is made, so it's now your problem if you have an issue with it. You need to deal with that yourself, not put it on Ry. You know Doc would say the same thing."
"It's a pretty damn big problem, Andy."
"It's really not, Con. Think of it this way: if anything happened to Sport, you'd help him, right?"
"Of course, but - "
"All right, and if we were ordered not to help, would you still help Sport?"
Connor didn't even hesitate in replying. "Of course I would."
"Right, so no matter the consequences, no matter what other people label you as a result, you'd be there to help your friends, your family, yeah?" Andy asked, looking triumphant and smug as understanding finally dawned.
Connor ran a hand through his hand again, sighing heavily. "I hate it when you're right."
"Yeah, I know you do, Con. Now, you need more time to pace or you good to see the greenhouse now?"
"I'm good," Connor replied, heading to the front door with Andy a step behind him. "Thanks, Andy."
"All good, Con. Anytime you want me to tell you you're being an idiot, you know where I live."
"Thanks, jerk," Connor said with a laugh.
"No problem, idiot."
...
"It's ready?" Magenta asked, her eyes wide in excitement.
"It's ready," Josie confirmed, smiling at the look of anticipation. "I was hoping Will would be here with you to open it."
"Oh, he just went to get us pizza for dinner; we didn't know when you'd both be home," Magenta said, thankful she'd managed to distract her boyfriend with food instead of his idea of sex.
The thought of Josie and Steve walking in on them having sex was so embarrassing that Magenta felt herself blushing as a result, even though they hadn't actually done anything.
"Do you know where he went?"
"Um... Rome?"
"Oh, dear. Well, we'll just record you opening the box and he can see it when he gets back. I want to see your expression," Josie said, looking even more excited than Magenta felt.
Magenta nodded eagerly. She couldn't believe she was finally going to get her first official super suit!
"Great. Steve, put the box on the dining table; I'll get the camera ready," Josie said.
"Okay, dear. I remember when I got my first super suit. It was made out of cotton back then, of course, but it was just as exciting. The new developments for super suits are really fascinating," Steve said to Magenta as he carried the box to the dining room.
"I saw the most recent Super Suits catalogue; did you know there's a suit equipped with defensive rockets? And there's one that has inbuilt evasive manoeuvres for fighting," Magenta said, grinning.
Since Will had purchased her suit with Josie's help (meaning she paid), Magenta was really hoping he'd included some of the newer features, especially since she could only shift into a guinea pig and needed as much help as she could get. Some of the newer developments would really make her a great sidekick and she could even help Will fight against a villain next time, not just get citizens out of a building.
"Really?" Steve asked. "I hadn't heard about those. Here I thought the new reinforced spandex was an improvement," he said incredulously, shaking his head.
"Reinforced spandex?" Magenta echoed weakly; that had been a new feature back in the nineties. It was practically a standard feature in super suits now.
Steve nodded in response, not seeing her expression. "Helps with chafing. Trust me, that's an important feature."
"Ummm. Okay."
"All right, I found the camera! Ready?" Josie asked excitedly, holding up her camera and pointing it at Magenta.
"Right. Ready," Magenta said, smiling and hoping her smile didn't look as fake as it felt plastered on her face.
"Go ahead. Shifter is opening her first super suit as Airborne's Hero Support!" Josie said for the camera's benefit.
Magenta's excitement overtook her worry and she unwrapped the box quickly, her smile frozen in place when she saw the super suit.
"Don't you love it?" Josie asked eagerly.
"It's... very red," Magenta said, realising she sounded disappointed and ungrateful. "I, uh, I love it! It's so... great, thank you so much. Can I try it on right now?" she asked, putting on a tone of enthusiasm that felt as fake as her smile.
"Of course, dear. Why don't you use Will's room and get a good look at it in his mirror?" Josie suggested, smiling at Magenta's enthusiasm and stopping the recording.
"Great. Thank you," Magenta said, taking the box and heading upstairs.
"Did you get the extra features, dear?" she heard Steve ask Josie as she reached the landing, obviously not remembering that guinea pigs had a keener sense of hearing than humans.
"Will ordered it, Steve, not me. I just paid," Josie replied. "Here, help me get plates out for dinner. Will should be returning with the pizza soon."
Magenta closed Will's door behind her, undressing and changing into her super suit in record speed. If Will had chosen everything for her, then surely he would have included something fancy or - oh, god.
Magenta's eyes widened as she saw her reflection in the mirror. It looked - and felt, ouch - like her breasts were going to fall out of the suit! Not only that, but there were several cuts and strips of material missing that drew attention where Magenta felt it really didn't need to be drawn to. The red colour of the super suit made it look like she was trying to be a temptress, not a serious and mature Hero Support!
"This can't be right," she murmured, trying hard not to frown because Josie said they caused lines that the TV cameras would pick up far too easily.
She looked like she should be starring in a porno, not fighting crime! She couldn't wear this on TV, and certainly not in front of Will's parents.
"Magenta, is everything okay? Magenta?" she called, knocking on the door gently. She opened it when she heard a combination of gasping and sobbing, her eyes widening at the outfit her son had chosen for his Hero Support. The very same Hero Support who was standing in Will's room, sobbing into her hands. "Oh, dear."
Magenta sniffled and lowered her hands, embarrassed beyond belief and loathing her reaction. She was better at controlling her emotions and responses than this!
"I, uh... I can't. I'm sorry, Josie, but I can't," Magenta said, her voice barely a whisper.
Josie's lips pursed at the outfit her idiotic son had chosen; she knew she should have checked the design before Will had sent it through. Honestly, there was no doubt he was his son's father. She could imagine Steve would have chosen the same thing for her had he had the chance. "Well. It looks like it doesn't fit you very well, dear. Get dressed. We'll order another one. I'll help you design it myself," Josie added, her hands on her hips.
"Thank you, Josie. I'm so... I'm so sorry, I just... The fans, the citizens, they can't see me like this."
"No, you're right. We'll put it in the box right now and I'll return it tomorrow for you. Let's design an outfit together after dinner, okay?"
"Thank you so much. I'm sorry," Magenta said with another sniffle.
"You don't need to be sorry, dear. Will, however, needs to explain what on earth he was thinking," Josie muttered.
"I'm home! I've got pizza," Will called out.
In the time it took for Josie to look down the hall and back again, Magenta had changed back into her clothes. Impressed at her fast changing - even she took a millisecond longer than that to get dressed! - Josie smiled and led Magenta downstairs again, the outfit draped over her arm.
"William Theodore Stronghold! You have some explaining to do!" Josie snapped as they entered the kitchen where Steve and Will had already served their pizza and eating their slices.
Will choked on his pizza at his mother's tone. Beside Josie, Magenta wished the ground would swallow her whole.
"What is the meaning of this?" Josie asked, holding up the super suit.
"Uh, it's... I don't know?" Will said, confused by the red suit that his mother was holding, and mozzarella cheese stuck to his chin.
"The super suit you designed and ordered for Magenta, for Shifter. Will, honestly, what were you thinking when you designed this?" Josie asked incredulously. "Or should I ask what were you thinking with?"
Will burned as red as the super suit. "Mum! What's wrong with it? It's not as bad as Gemstone's super suit; I've heard you complain about her suit before."
"No, Will. It's worse," Josie snapped.
"What? How?" Will asked, looking between his mother and his girlfriend, cheese flying off his chin.
"Magenta, change, please."
"I... okay," Magenta said with a forlorn sigh, ducking behind the kitchen island to change and stepping out with her face as red as the super suit.
Will and Steve's eyes both widened at the sight of her. Feeling especially awkward, Magenta hurried to get back into her regular clothes, almost wishing she hadn't said anything in the first place.
"Holy... I swear I didn't design that. At least, it didn't look like that on the model in the Super Suit program!" Will added.
"Show me your design," Josie said. "If they've sent the wrong suit, then we don't have to pay for a replacement."
"Uh, sure. It's... I've got it on a USB," Will said, hurrying from the kitchen to get it from his bedroom when he realised that his mother was waiting impatiently and obviously not caring about his pizza going cold.
By the time Will had found a spare USB - and checked to make sure no porn was on it - his parents and Magenta were eating their own pizza slices without him. Will tried not to get annoyed at the fact, since he doubted expressing that annoyance would bode well for him until the whole super suit fiasco was sorted out, and offered the USB to his mother.
"It's on there," Will said, picking up his half-eaten slice and taking a large bite, trying not to pull a face at the cold cheese.
Josie plugged the USB into the TV, using the remote control to navigate to the files and open the PDF of Will's design. The model from the Super Suit program had been modified to be blonde, leggy, and far too big-breasted without some serious back pain involved. The suit he'd designed barely covered the model on the screen and Will's eyes widened at the sight. It had been one of his earlier attempts to get used to the Super Suit program and when he was still thinking of Tasha instead of Magenta.
He hadn't really sent this to the Super Suit company, had he?! Will didn't know what to say and hoped he wouldn't be in too much trouble with his mother.
Unfortunately for Will, the model he had designed looked far too similar to Lustful for Josie's liking.
"This is... disgusting, Will. I am ashamed and disappointed. Go to your room. I'm changing the wifi password right now and don't even try to argue," Josie snapped.
"I swear I designed something so much better, and it was in purple, too!"
"What did I just say about arguing, young man?"
Will looked to the other four slices of pizza on his plate and sighed. "I... All right," he said, hanging his head and hoping no one would notice the pizza slice he'd stuck up his sleeve.
Will flew up to his room and ate the slice so fast his chest hurt.
Magenta felt so awkward during dinner that she was tempted to leave as soon as they had finished eating. Josie, however, was intent on designing the super suit and dragged Magenta to the lounge room with her to help her design her suit. A lot of the design options and preferences that Magenta had were overruled by Josie, as she had more experience with these sorts of things, dear, but she wasn't entirely dissatisfied with the end product. At least it was purple this time. Josie apologised on her son's behalf once more and even ordered the super suit with express shipping so she would have it as soon as possible.
Magenta thanked Josie again and called goodbye to Steve and Will, neither of whom were in sight and the USB from the TV mysteriously vanished. The back of Josie's neck turned red at the realisation and she flew Magenta home as fast as possible so she could return to her own home and destroy the USB and image of the Lustful-like model.
She would probably have to deal with a horny husband as well, Josie thought with a grimace, wondering if she could get away with feigning a headache since she was seriously not in the mood for sex.
...
End of the hundred and eleventh chapter.
Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it!
