Chapter 37 - Interlude

Amy smiles as she sits back in the armchair as Connor dances to the music of a children's TV program. If she was honest with herself, she hadn't believed Catlin when she told her that she could just call to Selene and ask to babysit.

So she did it during math, and at the end of school her dad had sent her a text message asking her to call Catlin if she was up for baby sitting.

Bert interrupts Amy's silent introspection as he asks "Are you doing ok there girl?"

"I think so, uh, Bert."

"So what's really eating at you? Don't worry I ain't going to tell anyone."

Amy shakes her head, there's no way she's going to tell anyone her secrets. Not even a crazy old man who has no filter, "It's just, everything."

Bert chuckles, "Ain't it always. When I was growing up, it was the blacks wanting equal rights, then it was the gays. Then people started getting powers. You know what I think? I think that we're all human, we all bleed red, 'cept some of those monster capes, but even they're still human. Black, white, gay, straight, hero, villain. It don't matter, we all have things we love and things we hate. We all need a full belly and a place we feel safe. Take away the things we need to feel safe, or fill our bellies, and we start acting out."

As Bert's talking, Amy's phone starts to ring in her school bag. As she leans down to grab her phone, Bert says, "Don't forget you're babysitting, and Catlin's not going to be back for a bit."

When she sees that it's Carol, Amy almost presses the ignore button, but prudence wins out and she puts Carol on speaker, "Hi mom."

"Amy, where are you?!"

"I'm babysitting Connor."

As if on cue, something in Carols voice causes Connor to burst into tears as Carol says, "We need you at the hospital."

Amy scoops Connor up off the floor starts to jiggle him around as she says, "Mom, I can't leave Connor."

"There's been a gang fight and you need to help there. I think the old man can look after Connor until Catlin gets home."

"Mom, Bert's nearly 100, he can barely look after himself let alone a toddler."

"Amy, Victoria was caught up in a bomb. We need you at the hospital."

Amy's phone drops out of nerveless fingers and Bert reaches over with his grabber to pick it up. After a couple of tries, he lifts it to his ear and says, "Amy just dropped her phone, which hospital is Victoria at?"

When the phone goes dead, Bert looks at it like it's some arcane device, "Amy, your mom just hung up on me. How do you look stuff up on this infernal device."

Amy shakes her head, "I need to go!"

"Now hold on a sec, you can't leave Connor on his own, and you can't take him with you. Now before you speak to Selene, you need to have all the facts."

Amy looks at Connor's face and back to the door, "But Victoria's in trouble."

"That may be, but do you know where she is? Your mother didn't tell me before she hung up. So sit down and make this thing work."

When Amy doesn't move he gently adds, "Amy, do you even know what bus you'd need to get?"

Slowly Amy takes the phone and steps back to sink down into the chair, still holding Connor. As she awkwardly unlocks the phone with her off hand, and starts to search for breaking news, Bert grabs his walker and levers himself out of his chair to stand beside Amy.

Eventually she finds a rapidly growing topic on PHO about a cape fight on the border between the Docks and Downtown. Front and center is a note about being respectful about Glory Girl and Berenike's identities even though they're both out of costume. Rather fatalistically, she clicks on the picture link, and the two of the stare at a photo of the two floating in the air like a moth suspended in resin. At the edge of the picture is half of Oni Lee, wisps of ash floating away from the body.

Bert puts his hand down on Amy's shoulder, "Sometimes the hardest thing you learn is that there is nothing you can do to help. Call Selene and tell her what's happened. Catlin will want to know."

Amy just sits there staring at the photo, even when Connor starts to fuss.

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Miss Militia leans against the doorway to Armsmaster's lab as she says, "Armsmaster, what are you working on?"

Armsmaster puts down his soldering iron and removes his helmet. Colin shakes his slightly graying hair and points to three MRI print outs that are hanging on his wall. "I'm trying to find out anything I can about the energy that Berenike uses for her power. She's already unique because she's the first parahuman we've found that categorically doesn't have a Gemma in her Corona Pollentia. We're lucky that she was using her powers while undergoing the MRI otherwise we couldn't be sure. I've already created the two new case files for this."

He points at the circuit board on his workbench, "When this is finished, it should be able to detect the presence of this energy without needing to be exposed to it."

Miss Militia unclips and pulls down the bandana covering her face, "Colin, what about the ABB?"

Colin points at another workbench that has a pile of dismantled phones, a microscope, a plastic container with neatly labeled sections that have a variety of microchips in each one, and a monitor that's currently focused on a glittering silvery light. "Have a look through the microscope, I've degloved the different microchips from all the failed devices around Berenike's portal. Each and every one of them failed in a similar manner, but in a different place. If I can reproduce this energy, maybe I can use it to disrupt the bomb that's still going off inside…"

Hannah looks up at the display as she walks over. Then she reaches out and touches it to zoom the display out until it shows the two teenagers hanging in midair above the device.

"There were four other devices found on different rooftops. Three of which we only identified due to the exotic elements left in their remains, as presumably Berenike crushed them with one of her powers."

Hannah turns around, "What bout the last one?"

Colin frowns grimly, "It's still on the rooftop, we can't risk anyone getting too close just in case it goes off. The bomb squad should be here tomorrow to attempt remote removal during daylight. Until then the PRT has moved all of the residents into temporary accommodation."

"Colin, we need…"

"No we don't! Assault and Battery are currently watching over Emissary as she works to rescue people from the exotic effects that went off there. Both the Empire and ABB have withdrawn, and we're all stretched too thin. She's already saved three people we thought would die because they were either encased in crystal, or had 3/4's of their body turned to glass. We need to understand the source of her power. How she can do that!"

"Did she free Berenike and Glory Girl?"

Colin leans back against his desk with a slump, "No, from what Assault reported, she said Selene has never come across something like that before, and it would be too taxing on Emissary for her to channel this being long enough to figure out how to save them."

"But she can save them?"

Colin shrugs, "Emissary says it's possible. But we've been investigating the Greyboy loops for decades now, and we're no closer to understanding them than we were."

"And if we can't do it, some nebulous entity that may or may not actually exist can't do it either. Colin, go on your patrol and get some sleep. Even Emissary knows when to call it a night, as I originally came to let you know that Assault and Battery were back."

"Fine, just let me finish…"

Hannah shakes her head, "No Colin, we need to be seen, especially now."

Colin sighs, "Fine, fine. Any news from the hospitals?"

Hannah laughs, "The administrator categorically told us that Panacea is babysitting, and that nobody is so badly injured that they can't wait. From what I understand, from the troopers that are currently stationed there, Brandish was absolutely fuming when the administrator told her that and immediately pulled out her phone."

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"Let me go! I'm going to rip that fucking dragon's heart out and force him to eat it!"

Kurt takes a stronger grip on Danny's arm as Sarah and Lacey do the same with the other arm and his legs, "Danny, you can't you're not good enough! What would Taylor think if she came back to find you dead."

Sarah adds, "Danny, she's not dead! She's not even like Selene, we will get her back, but you can't charge off and get yourself killed."

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Neil holds Sarah as she sobs into another tissue, "I should have disabled her access to the tracking app. Why didn't I notice?"

"Shh, shh, you didn't know. You couldn't have known. You saved dozens of lives today. What happened wasn't your fault. All four of you kept the fighting contained,"

"But they're worse than dead, and it's my fault. If I hadn't called Berenike…"

"Those bombs would have gone off at street level and killed how many civilians?"

"You can't know that!"

"You're right, I can't, and maybe it would have been you, Crystal, and Eric that were caught in the bombs. You did not choose to use bombs like that, they did."

Neil glances over at Eric and Crystal, who are both sitting glassy eyed on the couch, hoping that his words are getting through to them too.