Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Eight
...
Bader liked holding Quentin's hand. He was warm even through his thick glove, and Quentin sometimes rubbed his thumb against the glove like it was skin which made Bader shiver in the best way. He had to remind himself that they were in the aquarium's mini stadium now, surrounded by families and young children, and his thoughts about kissing Quentin senseless weren't appropriate with so many witnesses.
"You were saying?" Quentin prompted when Bader trailed off, looking at their hands.
Bader cleared his throat and thoughts, remembered what he'd been saying, and continued his tale. "Right, sorry. When we were younger, Pepe didn't get to spend much time with us, so Aleph did all sorts of things to get his attention."
Bader didn't mention that his parents had been concerned whether Barney would even survive playing with their children, whether or not he was shifted. Green tree frogs were very different to poison dart frogs, and since baby poison dart frogs didn't have control over their poison, they could have seriously hurt Barney with their play-fighting. They hadn't wanted to risk it, and Barney had basically worn a hazmat suit to protect him from their skin until they were three years old and able to start their lessons on control with Decima.
"One of those things was to call Barney 'Pepe' instead of 'Papa' because he would always go on a mini rant and encourage Aleph to call him Papa for, like, four hours. Then I got jealous of his attention being on Aleph, so I started calling him Pepe, too, and so did Candra, Daren, and Eos. By the time we were older and grew out of the need for constant attention, the name had stuck, and Freya, Gala, and Hagen had started to call him that, too. It was also around the time we were introduced to Looney Tunes. You know Pepé le Pew, the skunk?" Bader asked, receiving a nod from Quentin. "Well, Pepe makes the same heart-eyes face if he's anywhere near Mami, and he's probably just as amorous as that skunk, too, but now Pepe says he had the name first. We kept calling him Pepe until it stopped being a joke or attention-seeking, and Aleph makes it his mission to teach our youngest siblings Pepe's name before Barnabas can. I think he's just given up and is letting Al do it, now."
"Barnabas? I thought your father's name was Barney? How many names does he have?" Quentin asked, head tilted.
"Four that I know of. The fourth one is one Mami calls him and I will never repeat it," Bader said with a full body shudder. "Barney is a nickname."
Quentin considered it for a moment. "How many names do you have?"
"Two, usually: Bader or Bade. Oh, and Aleph calls me Bastard sometimes. It's all right, I call him Asshole - uh, sorry, ma'am," he said when one of the parents scowled at him, several children looking at him with wide eyes.
"Do you have a preference? I don't think I can call you the third one," Quentin admitted.
"I'll answer to Bade or Bader, I don't mind. You don't have a nickname?"
Quentin shook his head adamantly. "My name is Quentin. I don't have siblings to change my name."
"It's a good name," Bader said with a smile.
Quentin smiled, then frowned. "You're not going to call me Quen or Q, are you?"
"No. Quinn, my sister, goes by Q sometimes, it'd be weird. Your name is Quentin, so I will call you Quentin."
"Just how many siblings do you have?"
"Eighteen."
Quentin looked like his mind had rebooted and struggled to process the concept. "Eighteen siblings. That... that's a large family."
"Si, and that doesn't include however many Mami is pregnant with now. She won't tell us, but we're trying to guess anyway. I made a bet for three."
"Shh!" the woman that had been glaring earlier shushed them before turning her attention to the front where the aquarium's staff were still setting up for their educational show.
Bader wondered if it would be worth ruining their date if he poured his drink on the woman's head for being rude. The show hadn't even started yet, and they were having a quiet conversation, not shouting into the microphones. He'd even stopped swearing, for fuck's sakes.
"I don't know how much quieter I can be," Quentin whispered.
The feel of his breath against his skin had those internal shivers starting up again, and Bader struggled to control himself so he wouldn't leak poison and really ruin this date.
"We could text instead?" Bader offered in a whisper, adjusting his jeans and hoping he was subtle.
"Welcome to Maxville's Aquarium Conservation! The show's about to start, and we here at MAC are excited to have you participate and join in the fun! We're going to tell you all about the ocean, its inhabitants, and how we're taking care of these wonderful creatures, even this far from the ocean. Thanks to yearly donations and sponsorships from various businesses across Maxville, we've even been able to hire Ani, the super who can talk to aquatic animals! Ani will be here later in the show, so be sure to stick around."
Quentin's attention was focused on the show now, and Bader tried not to feel disappointed that the hand rubbing thing he had been doing stopped as he focused intently on the speaker.
Bader needed to find out how Key, Lore, Mal, and Naj controlled themselves around Patrick Morton III. The last he'd heard, they were making out and didn't wear gloves or shirts, as Daren had complained after walking in on them once. From what Bader knew, they had less control than him. He hadn't done any play-fighting recently though, so maybe they'd improved? Was it possible to improve to that extent so quickly?
With his determination in place and his libido demanding he find out right now so he could make out with Quentin as soon as he agreed to it, Bader sent a text message to the quartet, hoping he didn't sound too desperate.
...
Pat was seconds away from cumming in his jeans like... well, like the teenager he was. He usually had more control than this. Maleah was doing her best to seduce him since she was sucking on her pen while she studied, her legs crossed and her dress bunched up around her bare thighs. Najair was studying as well, but was tapping his bare feet against Pat's leg while he and Lorcan listened to music. Lorcan had decided being shirtless was the best way to study, his green mottled skin somehow enhancing the abs that were starting to form with all of the exercise and working out he was doing during their training sessions. Kiara had rolled her eyes at her brother's display but it had taken Pat exactly 0.01 seconds to realise her shirt was unbuttoned to reveal more cleavage than he'd seen from her ever, and worse, she was lying down to study, so all he could see were her breasts pressing against the shirt he swore was a size too small for her.
Just when he was about to demand answers, or an orgasm, or perhaps both, their phones went off with a chime. Pat looked at his own phone to see the screen dark, so it wasn't their group chat.
"It's Bade. Aww, he's on a date," Maleah cooed.
"Eww. I'm not answering that question," Naj said, wrinkling his nose and putting his phone down.
"What did he ask?" Pat asked curiously. "Uh, if you want to tell me, that is. If it's private - "
"He wants to know how we control our poison while we're making out with you so he can do the same with his date," Lorcan said.
"We can't exactly tell him to go to Layla and Warren, can we?" Kiara asked, turning onto her back, her arms stretched above her to hold her phone, and pressing her breasts together even more.
"Super fuckin' Jesus, Key. You're killing me," Pat groaned.
"Damn it, Kiara. I was this close! I almost won!" Lorcan complained, balling up his discarded shirt and throwing it at her.
Kiara grinned, fierce and unapologetic. "I don't care about you almost winning, Lore. I came here to win. Hand 'em over."
Pat watched as the three siblings opened their bags to each hand a container to Kiara. "Uh, what in Super Hell is going on?"
"We bet who'd be the first to break you because you look cute and we're horny as fuck. I won, so I got all those suckers' choc-tarantulas. Which I will eat after I make out with you as my prize."
Pat felt honoured that he took preference over choc-tarantulas since they were Kiara's favourite snack and she'd literally fought Maleah for them before. "If I must," he sighed dramatically.
"Oh, you definitely must," Kiara said, jumping across to him and landing nimbly on his lap, grinding down against the bulge in his jeans and kissing him like she was as desperate as he felt.
"I'm next," Lorcan said quickly, Naj pouting at him.
"I'll go last, Naj. What do you think about this response for Bader? He just wants his date to go right and not end up in the hospital," Maleah said with a sweet frown.
Naj and Lore both read over her response telling Bader to wear a power-repressing cuff, then nodded.
"Tell him to try it before a date, though; it's weird as fuck losing your colours and it might freak him out," Lore said.
"How do you know that?" Naj asked.
"Cuff testing for Honey's R&D department, duh," Lorcan said, rolling his eyes.
"You didn't tell me."
"I don't tell you everything, Naj. Besides, it was weird and I freaked out. I didn't want anyone to see me like that."
"Is that when you locked yourself in your room and everyone thought you were masturbating?" Maleah asked.
Pat pulled away from Kiara's mouth, letting out a soft groan as she started to bite and kiss at his neck instead. "When did you do that, Lore?" he asked with a soft gasp as Kiara's hand slid between their bodies.
"A couple of weeks ago. What do you mean everyone thought I was masturbating?" he asked, looking between Mal and Naj in vague horror.
"Well, no one in our family locks their door unless masturbation or sex is involved. You were in there on your own, so assumptions were made. Mami and Pepe took us out for ice cream to give you privacy," Maleah added.
"Ah, fuck. If I hadn't been freaking out, I would've masturbated. Damn, think I can lock the door and get privacy again?"
Naj snorted. "Not likely, Lore. Pepe's eyes almost fell out of his head when he heard the price of the ice cream for all of us."
"He let Rain and Storm get double-scoops, it's his own fault," Kiara said, pulling away to inspect her handiwork on Pat's neck.
"Are we talking about food or sex? I'm getting confused over here," Pat groaned, his hips jerking in response to Kiara's hand.
"You don't feel confused to me, cariño," Kiara murmured, kissing him again.
"Ah, fuck! Don't stop!"
"The last time Pat said that, Nigel's door was ripped off," Maleah said, glancing over to Pat's bedroom door warily.
Naj snorted. "Nigel got fixed and enhancements, he's fine, Mal. And so's Bader, if the amount of exclamation marks are any indication."
Lorcan looked over his shoulder at Naj's phone. "Huh. Who knew the aquarium gift shop sold cuffs?"
...
Bader had no idea who had decided to sell power-repressing cuffs at the goddamn aquarium, but he wanted to thank them personally and wholeheartedly. After he finished making out with Quentin. He kissed Quentin slowly, arms wrapped around his neck, taking his sweet time and enjoying every press of lips and tongue, and hoped that Quentin's hands firm on his hips meant he was liking this, too.
A crash sounded behind them and Bader sprung apart from Quentin in surprise when pure daylight streamed into the rainforest.
"Move!"
Bader's eyes widened when he saw a group of people - all wearing green velvet suits? - barge into the aquarium through the wall's brand-new hole. Children and parents screamed further along the pathway, and Bader wondered if he should do something. He barely had a chance to finish the thought before a hero flew into the hole after the green-suited group, arms outstretched, and fists clenched. The hero clad in blue, red, and white pummeled into the few green suited stragglers, punching them straight through the protective railing and into the trees.
"Those are endangered," Quentin said beside him.
"I don't think he cares," Bader admitted, watching as the hero flew around the rainforest, grabbing the green suits and dropping them from a height near the tree tops.
In fact, he didn't seem to care about what that might do to the green suits - even villains deserved better treatment than this, no? - nor to the wooden pathway and precious plants beneath them. The wooden treetop pathway wound around the trees and the green suits were smashing through the wooden planks like they were paper thanks to the hero's strength and gravity.
"He should care!"
"Airborne! Save me!" a citizen cried out, voice trembling from where they were being held hostage by a green suit.
That was Airborne? The boy who was making his siblings' life Hell at school, the one whose sidekick girlfriend had stalked Lore? Lorcan was still having nightmares about that cow!
Airborne grabbed another villain and threw them towards the citizen and green suit, clearly thinking the green suit would let the hostage go in order to duck or escape the incoming human projectile. They didn't. The hostage screamed as they were slammed into by the missile of a body, the force and strength enough to crack their own bones along with the villain's. Several people screamed at the sight, children cried loudly, and Airborne threw Shifter - far more carefully than he had the villain or green suits - to help guide the spectators away before they became hostages, too.
"Yes, he should care. I'll do something, okay? Can you hold this?" Bader asked, unclipping his cuff and holding it out for Quentin.
Quentin took it, his head tilted slightly as he considered what it was or did. Bader touched his arm gently, but by the time he looked up, Bader had disappeared. Quentin felt dizzy, but before he could say or do anything, he slid to the ground, unconscious.
...
"Papa, you need to back me up on this! Honey says we can do it, but we can't! There's no information, even in the Super Bureau documents! It's not like they've just got blueprints in their scary-ass reports about experimenting on supers!"
Connor blinked at Ry's outburst, looking between his son and the rest of his gathered friends (including Layla and Warren on video call, it seemed), and held up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Can you tell me what I'm meant to back you up on, son? I've got no idea what you're talking about."
"That's because you didn't answer the group chat," Honey called out.
"Maybe don't send important information through the group chat? Half the time it's memes or pictures I still don't understand," Connor said, thinking of the bus on fire with a frown, "and the other half, it's cryptic or about high school. Sometimes both."
"All right, I'll send a group text next time. Just come and look at this. We've managed to get a satellite image thanks to Adam, NOAA, and some ground tremors from Robin to distract the people in the building. They were very useful to give us time to get the images," she said appreciatively.
"Doing that by satellite image is not pleasant, Honey," Robin called, curled up on a training mat and looking pale beneath their blanket.
"I know, sweetie. You did good. Now, what do you think, Connor?" Honey asked expectantly, guiding him to the table where the printed satellite images waited.
Connor didn't know what he was expecting, but an A4 piece of paper filled with dirt, grass, and trees with a single triangle on the far bottom corner was not it. It was only due to his time in the Army and SEALs that he realised the triangle was actually the edge of a building.
"There's more, don't look so horrified. I got them to do a few sweeps, and we've almost got the whole roof."
"NOAA took control back after ten minutes. I was busy moving the thing and couldn't stop them," Adam said, tugging on one of his dreadlocks in annoyance. "Is it enough?" he asked, looking between the spread of images and Connor hopefully.
"You have to take a step back. Not literally. I have no idea what you're talking about. Is this enough for what?" Connor asked, looking between the almost complete shape of the building and the people around him.
"We're planning a break-in. Rescue mission, maybe? It's unclear."
"Yeah, like the images," Ry muttered.
"I can get a satellite that's higher in the atmosphere for a larger range of images. The radio one was the lowest, and we're lucky it had a camera on it."
"Why can't Terrence - "
"I tried. They're built with super-repressing beams to stop shit like this. Not even Royal Pain could tamper with them, and while I'm juiced up thanks to Layla and Warren's brand, I'm still not strong enough to get past a cuff from the Sweet Spot, let alone military- and space-grade suppressors in fucking space!"
"Breathe, Terrence," several people called at once.
Terrence ran a hand through his hair, and trudged over to the training mat to join Robin, muttering under his breath.
"Hey, you tried. Don't beat yourself up for not being able to succeed at something on the first try," Justina said firmly, sitting and wrapping her arms around both Robin and Terrence.
"Okay, why are we breaking into this building? You mentioned experiments, Ry. Is it more kids?" Connor asked, trying to get the conversation on track so he could get some understanding.
"We're not sure," Layla said from the video. "Honey can't see anything properly, and there's only five reports from the Super Bureau. The building's too big to have just five people in there," she added.
Connor looked at the images again, trying to determine just how large the building was in relation to the trees around it, all of them no more than specks on the paper. "Yeah, definitely more than five. I think there's a guard here, too. Is there any way we can get something to enhance the image? Or do another sweep? We can work out what weapons they have, at the very least. It might help narrow down if they're private, government, or otherwise."
"But the Super Bureau is in there, wouldn't that mean it's the government?" Craig asked curiously.
"Government bodies sometimes employ private security firms. Usually if they want them to take the fall for some underhanded shit they're doing, if it comes out in the open. The government has a half-baked excuse for what they were doing there, the private security are the ones who did the dirty, and all's right with the world."
"Bleak. Okay, so what does it matter if they're private or government goons, then?" Craig asked, chewing on a Red Vine and pulling it sharply between his front teeth before chewing obnoxiously.
"Dude, where'd you get those?" Zach asked, looking around while Craig just grinned and kept chewing.
"It matters because if they're private, that means they only have access to certain weapons. They'll be a higher grade than anything civilians get, but still manageable and all will be registered so Adam can find out what we're up against. On the other hand, if they're government goons, then that means they've likely got access to military-grade weapons, as well as whatever they're cooking up to use against supers, which we know fuck-all about," Connor said, his voice firm and even swearing to ensure they all listened and understood that this was serious.
The orphanage had been a fuck-fest, especially with those Wardens, and that was a tiny two-storey building in the middle of nowhere, France. This building was huge, had armed guards patrolling, and if the kids were right about it being a place where they were experimenting on supers, then it probably meant they were experimenting with weapons against supers as well.
"You really think they'd do that?" Zach asked curiously, slowly peeling his Red Vine apart, string by string.
"Dude, just eat it. You're creeping me out."
"Do what, Zach?" Connor asked.
"Make weapons to use against us. Evil plans aside, we're just kids," Zach said, eating one of the strings and ignoring Craig's horrified expressions.
Connor snorted. "Yeah, you are, but the supers graduating college aren't, the ones already active aren't, their parents aren't. They're making weapons to use against supers because they know as soon as we all realise we're stronger than them, we'll stop letting them make the rules."
There was a moment of silence and Connor hoped he'd gotten through to them, to make sure they understood this was dangerous and was only going to get worse.
"Huh. Just like A Bug's Life. We're the ants, they're the grasshoppers," Ry said.
Honey burst out laughing.
Connor sighed. "Sure, son, whatever analogy works for you."
"So, you agree with me, don't you, Papa? We can't plan this with just this, can we?"
Connor looked from the papers over to his son, the scar on his eyebrow prominent and making him wonder how far he'd go and how many scars he'd end up with before it was too much. "You're right, Ry. We can't plan anything with just one satellite image. Not on our own, at least."
Honey's laughter settled and she looked over to Layla and Warren on the screen. "I'm still in the process of organising the Special Forces guys. It might take longer than any of us would like, but I promise they'll be on board by the time we're ready."
"You have a date now?" Warren asked, sitting up. "Did someone organise a calendar?"
"Sort of? I saw you all in snow jackets, so it's likely winter."
"It could also be Wendy," Warren pointed out, frowning.
Honey frowned back at him, then her eyes widened. "I promised to pick Wendy up from her internship. Oh, shit!" she cursed, already running for the training arena door.
"Do you have any ideas, Connor?" Layla asked.
Everyone looked at him and Connor tried not to let the pressure get to him. "Adam, you mentioned you can try for a satellite higher in orbit. Can you do that now?"
"I'll give it a shot. Same coordinates?"
"I want to go around it. There's roads here, see? There aren't many towns around, so they'd be able to take any bigger vehicles down there without being noticed. We might be able to see who they are."
Adam looked at the road Connor pointed to, considering it for a moment. "Let me try traffic control first; they're easier to get into than a satellite. There might be a speed camera out there, y'know, one of those ones that time truck drivers between two spots?"
Connor doubted that, especially if the building really was government or military, but he had to let Adam try and find that out for himself. "All right, let me know what you find. Craig, you've got the coordinates, can you teleport there?"
"Nope. Honey won't let me. I tried anyway, but I think they've got one of those force fields like the orphanage had, except it's for people instead of animals," Craig said, stretching and biting off another part of his Red Vine.
"Okay, and what about around it? How close can you get? We could figure out the circumference of the force field and have something to work with," Connor said.
Craig thought about it for a moment. "I dunno how to work it out. Either I go too close and get barbecued by the force field, or I go too far and get arrested and/or killed by whoever's patrolling an outer perimeter. Not all of those shadows are trees, dude."
"We can't do a drone in case it's spotted and we lose the element of surprise; we can't teleport for the already-mentioned reasons; Layla can't feel the trees while she's still drugged up; Ace can't access their computers since they seem to be on a closed network, uh, thing; and Robin's already done one tremor that made lights flash in the building when we went over, which is why we don't have the whole picture," Ry listed. "I can't think of anything else we can try, unless we go to Montana physically and see how far we get by driving in that direction."
"I'm the only one here who can legally drive a vehicle, so I don't see how we're doing that as a group. Warren, you're still on heavy drugs, don't argue," Connor added. "Not to mention, most car rental places don't hire out vans that will fit all of us, let alone however many we'd end up rescuing. If there's even anyone there to rescue."
"We're going 'round in circles with this. I say we get Eth and Ace to hack something and find blueprints of the place, we plan a daring heist-esque rescue and escape thing, and then stop for more snacks on the way home," Craig said, holding his hand and Red Vine up in a vote.
"Blueprints aren't always kept, Cee. AAA destroyed the designs for the Hive when it was complete," Layla pointed out.
"We can still look. The electrical company might have something on record," Ethan said, though he didn't sound convinced of his own theory.
"All right. C'mon, Eth. Let's go find out," Adam said, stealing the bag of Red Vines away from Craig on his way past.
"Hey! Give them back!"
"You've had too many, Cee; you're already floating off the ground," Adam said over his shoulder.
Ethan hoped Zach wouldn't start glowing red, and hurried after Adam to hopefully find something that would help with this whole mission. They still needed to study and pass midterms, after all.
...
"Where are you going, Honey? I thought we had to go to the Hive?" Wendy asked when Honey turned left instead of right at the intersection.
"We do, but I just need to pick up a few people first. I need this favour for the future," she added, overtaking a car to get through the changing traffic lights.
"A few people? What's going on?" Wendy asked.
As far as she knew, everyone was already at the Hive. Well, Pat and the frogs were on the way, but they were being driven by Nigel, who had been added to the group chat and was very proud of the fact. She'd received more GIFs in the last hour than she had the whole year. Considering Craig and Ry had had a GIF war last month, that was saying a lot.
"Airborne and Shifter made a scene at Maxville Aquarium, and Bader knocked everyone out with his poison. I need to pick up some people so they avoid getting arrested, and therefore, will owe me a debt."
Wendy blinked. "All right. Does this mean Airborne and Shifter are still knocked out? Can I kick them while they're down?" she asked with a vicious grin; she still owed Magenta payback for what she'd put poor Donny through with that awful Crimson Love Letter bullshit.
Honey thought about it, even as she turned into the aquarium's parking lot. "Once each. Anything more and they'll look into why they're in so much pain."
"I can handle one for now. Should I open it to the others about where I kick them?"
Honey snorted. "Up to you. Either way, make sure Adam records it from the aquarium's security feed before he deletes the footage of us being there. Here, wear this to protect against the poison," she said, handing a bandanna to Wendy, wrapping her own around her nose and mouth firmly.
"Thanks," Wendy said, tying it on even as she called Adam.
"You're using the emergency number, Wendy? Did you get stuck in traffic again?"
"No. We're at the aquarium so Honey can get a life debt from someone. I get to kick Airborne and Shifter, and I want you to record it. Oh, and then delete the footage of us being here. I don't have a mask to hide my identity yet," Wendy added, even as she followed Honey around the side of the aquarium and through the giant hole in the wall.
"There you are, Bader. It's all right, it's almost over. They're all knocked out, and Quentin is fine," Hourglass promised to a small orange speck that Wendy would have missed entirely.
The orange speck shifted back to Bader, and he let out a trembling breath. "I haven't used that much before. I thought I'd killed them all. You're sure Quentin is okay?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.
Honey nodded firmly. "Promise. Now, help me carry out the green suits, and then we'll be on our way."
"Where's Airborne and Shifter?" Wendy asked Bader, Honey, and Adam - someone would have an answer.
"Around the back of the Bull Kauri tree. On your left. No, your other left," Adam instructed. "I'm filming and Terrence is projecting, so make the kicks worth it."
"Do I have time to get popcorn?" Craig called in the background.
"Probably not. Make sure Pat and the others get a copy of this, okay?"
"I am connected to the call and live streaming, Miss Wendy. Please, continue," Nigel said, clearly enjoying his new capabilities.
"Nigel, how did you get on this line?" Adam snapped.
Wendy ignored the answer as she found Airborne. He was twitching on the ground, clearly fighting Bader's poison, or perhaps he was fighting someone in his dream and twitching like dogs did when chasing rabbits in their dreams. She kicked him as hard as she could, hissing in pain as her foot throbbed in response. Hopping over to Shifter, Wendy took a moment to consider where she should kick her, also giving her foot a moment to heal. The head would be satisfying and might even shut her up for once, the back was a vulnerability, or a kneecap to make the pain last. Her stomach was easier, of course, but she was curled up in a foetal position due to the poison.
"We need to go!" Honey called.
Her decision made, Wendy kicked Magenta in the ass, hard enough to make her hurt even with super healing, and ran out after Honey. She helped carry out the last green suit to the minivan while behind them Bader shifted to his frog form and hopped over to Quentin.
"Feel better?" Honey asked with a grin, taking her bandanna off.
Wendy took her own off. "Honestly, I could've kicked Magenta a few more times. She's been making Donny nauseous for months. Are you sure I can only kick her once? We can go back and... never mind," she said with a sigh as police sirens sounded and she could see the flash of blue and red lights in the distance.
"Sorry, Wendy. Maybe we'll have more time next time."
"Is there any point asking when next time will be?"
Honey tried not to grin too much. "Probably not."
Wendy rolled her eyes, then settled onto her seat more comfortably, folding and unfolding the bandanna. "Thanks for this, Honey. You probably could've done all of that without me, right?"
"Probably. But don't thank me yet; we've still got to get this lot to a safe place," Honey said, glancing at the back of the van where the green suits were still unconscious.
Wendy looked over her shoulder at the group. "We're not taking them to the Hive, are we? Eth would have a meltdown if we tried inhabiting the rooms without his input first. We barely got away unscathed with Andy, Yuki, and the kids."
Honey winced at the reminder. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry, we're not taking them there. The Blue Hearts gang will take them in, and lucky for me, Jester is visiting them for a money laundering inspection. You might want to put the bandanna back on when we arrive."
"Wait, what? Money laundering? Like, bad guys money laundering?"
"Someone's gotta do it. Robbing banks doesn't just end when you get the money, you know. Banks can trace the serial numbers so it has to be processed before it can actually be spent."
Wendy frowned. "I... I didn't think of it. Who's Jester?"
"Head of the Suite Quartet. We're lucky Jester decided to go with that name instead of Ace; this could've been a very confusing conversation otherwise."
"That is what's lucky about all of this? Super Jesus, Honey," Wendy groaned, covering her face with her hands.
Honey snickered. "All right, we're almost there. Bandanna on and let me do the talking, okay?"
"No problem, Hourglass," Wendy said, tying her bandanna on and hoping it would be enough to conceal her identity. She'd heard enough about the Suite Quartet to be nervous about meeting any of the gang members, let alone the boss.
...
"Warren, do you know who Jester is?" Layla asked, frowning at the message she'd received from Wendy.
"Hmm? No, I don't know the name. Why?" Warren asked, distracted as he worked on his essay for Communications for Supers.
"Honey got a life debt from them and two gangs in the Suite Quartet."
Warren looked over abruptly. "The Suite Quartet? The citizen gangs that Earthstone arrested?"
"I think so. Did we need permanent citizen gang members?" Layla asked, sounding incredulous.
"I guess we did. Honey wouldn't do it without a reason. Well, unless the reason is to piss off Earthstone and the Strongholds," Warren mused.
Their phones went off with another notification and Layla frowned again, then turned on the TV, flipping through to Channel Five.
" - viewers, breaking news: a fight between Airborne and the Green Spades of the Suite Quartet just occurred at the Maxville Aquarium Conservation. We go live to the scene and get a report of what happened from people who were there," Brian Anderson said, a terse expression on his face as the camera changed to Candice Jenkins at the MAC.
CJ was their fashion and entertainment reporter, not the live and important super news reporter, but she'd been the only one in the area. If Channel Five's ratings were affected by her over-the-top reporting, Brian Anderson would fire her himself.
"Thank you, Brian. The Maxville Aquarium Conservation recently saw a sea of trouble. Not only did a fight between Airborne and the Green Spades crash through the aquarium's rainforest tree-top walk, but many endangered plant specimens were destroyed as a result, and several animals were traumatised by the experience. For those who have visited MAC, you'll know the rainforest enclosure abuts the Really Cool Reef, and a clear wall between the two allowed the animals to see the fight. Ani, the super who can talk to aquatic animals, was here as part of MAC's Educational Experience and is currently counselling the traumatised animals and getting a report for the police.
"Sir, you were in the rainforest when the Green Spades were thrown through the wall, correct?" CJ asked, holding her microphone out to the tall man beside her.
"Yes. They were thrown in there by Airborne, and he dropped several more on the trees. They're endangered and protected species, and shouldn't have been squished like that!"
"Oh, those poor trees. Do you think Ida will let me go visit them?" Layla asked.
"You'll have to ask her, hippie. Isn't that Bader?" Warren asked, frowning at the man with orange hair beside the taller man being interviewed.
Bader raised a hand to wave at the camera, and Warren saw the cuff on his wrist, which explained the lack of mottled colouring that he was used to seeing.
"There's four groups in the Suite Quartet, right? So how did Honey just get life debts from two of them if two groups have already been arrested and the Green Spades just fought Airborne?"
"Something happened while they were fighting and we all fell unconscious. I think the Green Spades used one of those gas bombs to knock everyone out while they escaped," Bader said firmly.
"Never mind... Do you think Bader knocked everyone out? Does he have that kind of range even without being at full power?" Layla mused.
"Maybe; he looks tired. Want to ask him later?"
"Yeah, I think I do."
"The police are here and medical services are looking over the citizens that remain, as well as Airborne and Shifter, who were also knocked unconscious by the gas bomb," CJ said, unwittingly confirming Bader's story about the gas bomb. "Once they're cleared by medical services, I'll be talking with Airborne and Shifter about the fight with the Green Spades and how they were allowed to escape."
Brian Anderson indicated to the camera to return to him and not CJ. She wasn't doing an awful job, but accusing the son of Jetstream and the Commander of allowing the villains to escape wouldn't end well for anyone at Channel Five. "It sounds like a spectacular fight was had, CJ. If we can get a report on the animals and what they saw from Ani, that would be exciting, I'm sure."
"Oh? Of course. I'll be right back with Ani," CJ said eagerly, determined to prove her use as a real life reporter to Channel Five.
She loved covering Maxville Fashion Week and the entertainment news, of course, but the pay scale for her job in comparison to Brian Anderson's was severely lacking. They basically did the same job, and Brian Anderson sat behind a desk while she almost got trampled during the Super Friday Sales!
"Thank you for your time," CJ said to Quentin and Bader, smiling briefly before heading towards the Really Cool Reef to find Ani.
"Think she'll need to interview us again?" Bader asked.
"I don't believe so," Quentin said, watching as the cameraman hurried after CJ. "Did you see a gas bomb?"
Bader swallowed hard at the question. "No."
"You... You said you would do something, then gave me a bracelet, and I was knocked unconscious. Did you do something, Bader?" Quentin asked, curious rather than accusatory.
Bader glanced around them. They were in the parking lot and while there weren't people right next to them, it was still more public than he'd like. "Can we talk somewhere? In private?" he added nervously, twisting the cuff on his wrist.
Quentin nodded. "You can drive me home. The bus won't be here for another thirty minutes, and I doubt the aquarium's afternoon show will go ahead."
Bader nodded quickly, far too eager to keep spending time with Quentin, even with the upcoming conversation. He was about to tell Quentin he was a shifter, had purposely knocked him out with his own poison, and would probably be broken up with as a result. Damn it.
Layla was about to turn off the TV when CJ returned to the screen, looking out of breath but determined with Ani beside her. "Warren, do you recognise him?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's back on. Wait... " Warren trailed off, leaning forward to look at Ani more carefully. "Is that Geir?"
"The mask does nothing to hide his identity, does it? It's see-through!"
"It's green cellophane, right?"
"No idea, but you can still see his face!" Layla said, not knowing whether to laugh or groan.
"Do we text Malik or Zach? I'm sure Zach would make a mask for free, just on the principle of the thing."
Layla laughed then. "I don't think we should offer Zach's services for free. That's no way to run a business, after all."
"Good point. I'm still offended by that mask. I'm texting Malik and Zach," Warren muttered, taking a photo of Geir on the TV to send along with his text.
Layla grinned. "Send the text to me, too. I want to know what they say."
"Of course, hippie."
...
End of the hundred and sixty-eighth chapter.
