Chapter Eleven:

Talk

I had more nightmares. I'd fallen asleep from exhaustion before Cole and I reached his rooftop, and he was forced to carry me. Embarrassing? Yes. But there wasn't really any other way to get me to the rooftop, was there?

I had more images of Kessler and that demented version of me, and some other guy who was wearing nothing but black, and a bell hood that perfectly covered his face. I woke up constantly during the night, only to fall back asleep almost immediately.

When I finally woke up (and managed to stay awake), it was noon the next day. I had all of my energy back, but my wounds hurt and I was still drenched in blood.

"Hey," Lucy greeted as she saw me sit up on the couch.

"Mornin'," I replied. "Well, as close to it as you can get, really…"

Lucy smiled. "Yeah, I guess." We were silent for a bit before Lucy sucked in a breath. "So, does Lance and his mother know that you're a Conduit?"

"Nope," I replied. "I kinda wanna keep 'em out of it."

Lucy came to sit beside me. "You know, if you keep them out of it, they'll find out eventually. It's inevitable, and it always happens. They might feel a bit betrayed that you didn't tell them."

"Look, Lucy, I know you're tryin' to help, but no matter how I rationalize this, I always wonder if they'll end up being the people who avoided me instead of clapped me on the back when I lived in Empire City."

"So… You're afraid they'll see you as a freak?"

I hesitantly nodded.

"Hey, I had to walk in the front doors of the NSA to announce my resignation," she said, chuckling. "How do you think I felt? I had to watch as the people I thought were my friends either avoid me, ignore me, or actually tell me how cool I was." She sighed happily. "But those people, Lance and Helen, I mean, they accepted Cole. Why shouldn't they accept you?"

"That's just it—they accepted Cole because he saved everyone's life. Me? I've only blown up a DARPA base that had nothing to do with them."

"They're your friends, Joan," Lucy pointed out. "They'll accept you for who—and what—you are. The good must always come with the bad, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"You know, Helen and Lance are here having coffee inside…"

I sighed. "You invited them, didn't you?"

"Cole did."

I'll murder him brutally later. "Fine. I'll talk to them."

Lucy smiled as I got to the stairs and walked down, trying to put my story together. How exactly do you just come out and say, "Oh, by the way, I have powers kinda like Cole"? Seems simple, but the trick is to ease people into it and find the right words doing so.

Lance and Helen were talking with Zeke and Cole, joking about something. When I came in, Lance grinned and Helen smiled at me.

"Hey!" Lance said. "You look like crap!"

I came over and hit him upside the head. "Great greeting, idiot."

Helen chuckled. "What he means to say is, are you okay?"

"Fine," I replied, taking a seat at the table they were sitting at. "But I need to talk to you guys."

"About what?" Lance asked.

I glanced at Cole, who got the message. "Hey, Zeke. Let's give 'em some privacy."

"Huh?" Zeke looked at my serious expression. "Oh, uh… right. Okay, brother. Lead the way!"

When they'd left, I released a relieved breath and turned to the remaining two at the table.

"It's about me," I told them.

"Isn't everything about you…?" Lance asked.

I nearly drew my nodachi, but Helen beat me in… well, beating him.

"Manners!" she scolded, and then turned to me. I remembered how she'd kinda scared me when we'd first met, and immediately pitied Lance.

"It's about me and my past," I said. "I trust you guys, and I want you to trust me, but that would've been impossible if I decided not to tell you about myself."

Lance gave me a questioning look. "What do you mean…?"

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. "You know who Kessler, Sasha and Alden are, right?"

They nodded.

"Good," I said. "That'll save us time. You see, it all started after the Blast in Empire City. I woke up in a hospital bed, with a Doctor hovering over me. I didn't give it much thought though—I only knew that something was wrong with me. And then a few days later, the same Doctor came in and announced that I had amnesia, which explained a lot, considering I didn't remember a thing before the Blast. I was forced to name myself and guess my age, so I named myself 'Joan'. I didn't know where I'd heard that name before; I only knew that I liked it. I found an apartment in the Warren District, and would occasionally run into the odd Reaper, but one time, I saw two Reapers terrorizing people, and so I made the decision to help them. I think that choice is what set me on this path, because what I did changed my life…"

A few seconds after I'd finished speaking (about an hour and a half after I'd started), Lance, Helen and I were caught in a semi-awkward silence.

"So…" Lance murmured, "what you're saying is; you have superpowers kinda like Cole?"

I nodded. "Kinda."

"And you beat up Sasha and Alden, going crazy on Alden once?"

"Only once. It was weird."

"Not to mention that you made friends with a shadow Conduit, was betrayed by your friend Ben and your half-sister Dana, who both turned out to be DARPA agents tasked with watching you, and you blew up a DARPA facility to let your friends get away, because you'd been shot three times with quicksilver bullets which are your weakness?"

"Well, now I'm pretty sure its all types of bullets, since I don't have my healing factor anymore. Pretty inconvenient."

"And to top it all off; you're Kessler's daughter, who happens to be Cole from some sort of alternate timeline, who forced you to become a fire Conduit and named you Kayce, and helped Dana plan your 'escape' just before the Blast—which was caused by Cole—and your powers were heavily augmented because you were caught in the Blast?"

I nodded. "Yep. That about sums it up."

Helen shook her head. "You forgot the part where her fire turned from red to silver, and her eyes used to be green."

"Yeah—that too."

I stretched and took a few sips from my hot chocolate. "So, there you have it."

Lance frowned, then started laughing. "I'd be more inclined to believe you if I had proof!"

I held out my palm on the table and activated my fire, but only so it rested in my palm.

"I'll bet it's a hologram!" Lance continued, unfazed. "There're all sorts of special effects around these days!"

"Touch it, and we'll see," I told him.

He shook his head. "Or it could be fire being coloured and activated by a miniature flamethrower!"

I looked at his mother. "How many times did you drop him on his head as a baby?"

"One too many, it seems," she replied, shaking her head sadly.

I sighed and shut my fire off. "Come up to the roof then. I'll show you."

They followed me up, Lance snickering too much for me to be comfortable with. With every step my feet got heavier, but I pressed onward.

When we finally reached the roof, Cole, Zeke and Lucy looked at us.

"How'd it go?" Lucy asked.

"Lance doesn't believe me," I replied, frowning. "So I'm gonna show him properly."

"And how're you going to do that?" Zeke asked.

I stepped to the edge of the roof. "The funnest way I know how."

Lance grabbed my wrist. "Woah there! Suicide isn't the answer, Joan!"

I shook him off and turned to face him, the heels of my shoes over the edge. "Chill, dude. I've got it covered."

"Um, you're about to walk off of a seven story building. I don't think that's covered."

I laughed. "Oh, wow. You're pretty observant, aren't you?" I started to fall backwards. "Don't worry."

Lance reached for me, but too late. I fell a few stories before I activated my fire and started to fly. It felt nice to feel the wind again. I flew up to the roof and hovered casually, crossing my arms.

"Proof enough?" I asked.

He shook his head in disbelief. "Special effects, special effects…"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I deactivated my fire and landed gracefully on the roof. "Now, I need to change clothes and go for a shower. Dried blood is really hard to get out." I hit Lance softly on the head as I went past. "Now you know why I didn't want to talk about it."

It didn't take long for me to shower. I got dressed fairly quickly, wearing nearly the exact same outfit (it doesn't hurt to have spares, does it?), and drying my hair with a towel.

Lance seemed to think it was weird that I dried my hair with a towel. "There's such a thing as blow-dryers," he chided, smirking.

I frowned at him. "It kills hair."

"I didn't know you cared about your hair so much."

"I don't. I would just rather keep my hair and not have bald spots."

Lance grinned. "Why don't you just use your 'fire'?"

"It has the same effect, idiot," I replied dryly. "Are you so dense that you don't believe me?"

He shrugged. "I guess its just hard for me to accept that my best friend has superpowers, and had been protecting me from monsters only yesterday."

"It isn't that hard, actually…"

I sat on the floor ahead of the couch. I liked to lean against couches, but not sit on them. I was weird like that (and ten billion other ways).

Lance sat behind me. "Here—lemme dry it."

"No," I said flatly.

"C'mon! I'll be careful!" I could almost see his puppy-eyed look.

I frowned. "… Fine."

He released the towel, and he quickly took over. It was weird and strange, but it somehow felt… nice. Lance started to hum Dead Reckoning by Clint Mansell, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Does drying my hair really require dramatic action music?" I asked.

"Of course it does!" Lance exclaimed. "Girls never let guys near their hair!"

"Then doesn't this count in the 'victory' category?"

He paused. "You're right!"

And just like that, he started humming the Indiana Jones theme. I was pretty sure it didn't fit into that category, but I wasn't about to correct him. He'd probably just hum something stupid next.

"So…" I eventually said, as the towel went over my eyes. "If you're such a big musician, why haven't you worked on any songs lately?"

"I have," he replied. "But I don't like working in California. When I lived there, separate from my mom, fangirls would hound her until she gave them my number. I didn't really like that, so we moved to New Marias, hoping for a fresh start, but continuing my music career. At least this way I can make sure my mom's safe from the extremists." He sighed. "And what about your mom?"

I shrugged. "When I talked to Dana about it the first time, she said our mother was dead. And when I talked to her a second time, she said she was alive. I don't know if she is or not, but she probably wouldn't want to see me. I was the 'necessary' child after-all. Just another sick science experiment for Kessler."

"I don't think you're a sick science experiment," Lance said quietly. "I mean, sometimes you do act like you've been in a cage all your life, but other than that you're not."

I almost punched him, but resisted. "Thanks, I think."

"I guess you're welcome."

I chuckled. "As much as I say it already, I still think you're a bit of an idiot."

"Why do you say that?" Lance asked. "You haven't even seen my IQ! It's pretty high!"

I shook my head. "You're sitting on a wet spot. You look like you peed."