Roxy spent a decent amount of time chewing out the techie for invading our privacy, equally frustrated that Clara had managed to make it this far into adulthood while still thinking people wore swimwear in the bath. Something I wasn’t sure I believed at first until I saw how earnestly embarrassed she was. Apparently they only had showers in the League dorms as well as her current apartment, so her disdain for baths came from the misunderstanding that it was adjacent to swimming.
She was dismissed, and the door was closed, leaving us feeling in a different mood than before - for various reasons.
[This is unusual, right?]
Roxy pressed her face against my back and sighed. “Nothing about today has been particularly usual.”
[I meant my first trial being a live exercise. No training with Crawford or… other mundane things.]
“Yeah, it’s fucking weird. Maybe they think you’re competent enough already?” She sat back away from me, her hand running down my spine. “I mean, you definitely are.”
[If they’ve had eyes on me for a while… perhaps watching me perform in the field would be more valuable data.]
“I’d watch you perform in a field,” she murmured. “We’d best get finished up and go make sure Clara isn’t chewing through the furniture. Hopefully her computer shit comes soon to keep her occupied.”
I stood up, sad to leave the bubbles so soon, and turned to face the super. Still seated, her eyes ran up my dripping body until we made eye contact.
[Perhaps later we can see if you can avoid being stabbed by me?]
Her eyebrows raised. “Twice…?”
Our amused flirting drained away quicker than the bathwater as we got out and dry. Shorts and shirt for me, as usual. Roxy put on her black gym wear, with a baggy white t-shirt on top.
We emerged out into the real world once more, and descended the stairs. Clara was in the kitchen, chewing her way through a stack of toast like some kind of rodent. Either excitement, nerves, or lingering embarrassment fueling her need to consume. At least it wasn’t the furniture.
[I’m surprised they accepted your sidekick application so quickly.]
She wiped crumbs from her mouth and put down the current slice of toast back on the pile. “They know that a tech super having a dedicated technician improves their performance and survival by a significant degree. As I’m one of their own and we have worked together before, it was a simple process, Gunquake.”
Her words came out of her mouth quicker than usual. Now that she had placed her food down, her fingers instead gripped at the edge of the counter.
Roxy went over to the fridge, still narrowing a glare at the techie. “It’s not official until Dubs completes his training.” She paused as she looked around for something to snack on. “Of course, I have no doubts he will fucking ace it… so, whatever.”
[Did they tell you much about the villain?]
Clara shook her head. “The three of us need to go see your manager tomorrow, and after that I’m spending the day with Dr Jarl… unless the League needs you to go on the same day.”
Part of me considered the likelihood of that. Given that my life was in a near constant whirlpool of escalating physical or emotional turmoil… I saw it as an inevitability.
[Manager… that would be Stacy, right, Roxy? The woman you hoped would felate a cactus?]
The techie snorted as the woman turned away from the open fridge to tilt her head at me.
“You remembered that bullshit?”
[Of course. It was important to you. I can’t wait to meet her for myself.]
A little bending of the truth, as I had tuned out most of her rant from the wastes when she had told me I was previously a super solider. It was enough to know that she was not a fan of her manager, treating her as a toddler - which was possibly because Roxy had become so disenfranchised with the League and what was required of her.
“If you end up sweet talking Stacy into being part of your fan club…” Roxy narrowed her eyes at me, but slowly turned to focus back on her search for food.
“Miss Stacy is very unfriendly,” Clara clarified. “If you thought I was neutral and dry when you first met me, well… our manager has less enthusiasm and personality than this very edible toast.” She lifted a slice and wiggled it at me.
“Basically a living rulebook. Or like an instruction manual.” Roxy closed the fridge door, now with a bottle of something in her hand. “She’s going to have her work cut out with the three of us assholes on her books at once.”
[She’ll be in charge of you too, Clara?]
“Partially. I’ll have my usual manager on the tech side who will oversee my education and work as your sidekick, but Miss Stacy will also be in charge of the missions that we are both assigned.”
Burning the candle from both ends started tomorrow, it seemed. With the techie now helping me in an official capacity, as well as being beholden to her new education, she wouldn’t have a lot of free time. That said, I assumed my usual patrols and downtime super-work wouldn’t require her being alert and on call to assist me.
[We get any extra funding or assistance being paired together? With what tech I can get?]
“To a degree.” She nodded and took a bite of toast. “Depends on what Rank you end up assigned to. Higher is better access and more funds… but as your personal everything I won’t let them restrict our progress.”
Her eyes then went up to the corner of the room. “Oh, delivery soon.” Without saying anything else, she grabbed her plate and went out of the house.
Roxy flipped the cap off her bottle and took a few gulps. In seeing my raised eyebrow, she showed me the label on it. “Pre-workout,” she said.
[Oh? Going to go to the gym?]
“Fuck no.” She grinned. “Grab your gauntlet because we’re going to go spar, you hunk. If you’re working soon, I’m not letting you go into it half-cocked.”
“No comment,” Clara’s voice came from outside.
Not exactly a rest-day activity, but the truth of it was we had the spark of conflict lighting us in the background even when we tried to push it all away. We had power running through our bones, and power didn’t like to go uncontested.
A few minutes later and the techie was lying on a deckchair, angled so that she could watch us. Roxy and I squared up on my lot. Fists raised, we brawled. Started out pretty basic to warm up, but then she started warming up.
She was gradually putting some of her actual strength into her strikes. Not enough to break bone or dent my metal parts when I blocked - but I had to move quicker and be careful about when I attacked or blocked. Clouds of dust circled around us as we persisted. Her face was serious and concentrated, the burning in her eyes almost making them glow against the surrounding haze.
I understood why she was pushing so hard. Now that I was stepping up in an official capacity, there was a risk of my dying against a supervillain. Although I had a handful of kills under my belt, each one had brought me right to the edge of death. The only reason I had survived the Five Eyes was because they came at me one at a time, and my old abilities kicked in just at the right moment.
Luck could only take me so far, and Roxy wasn’t keen on scooping up my destroyed carcass from the ground anytime soon.
In my mind, I had decided it was very unlikely I’d be made an A-Rank hero. Roxy was on that ladder and it would only take her flipping a switch and she could pop me like a blood-filled balloon, even without her volcanic powers. B-Rank would put me alongside the rest of the group, but I had a feeling that was still hopeful thinking. Anything less than C-Rank and I’d reconsider starting a life of villainy instead.
I slid back as I blocked a kick. Sweat ran from my head, my back already soaked from the aura of heat that followed Roxy around. She growled and bared her teeth, hands blooming into bright yellow light.
As lava ran from her closed fists, she lashed forward with three attacks. I dodged, dove, and rolled away from her. Back up to my feet and she had stopped - realizing that I wouldn’t be able to do much against that kind of attack. Concentrating, a sharp hiss filled the air as her hands cooled down to solidify into dark brown rock. Rather than it crumbling away like prior occasions, it stayed in place.
Her head burst into flame, and she flashed forward, swinging these hardened attacks against me. Gauntlet and then gun-arm rang out with clangs and sparks as we clashed. My arms sagged, slowly numbing from the unrelenting combat. It was against my nature, but I had to stop this before I got injured.
[I yield.]
The next swing stopped in mid-air as she saw my limbs hang slack. Roxy took a couple of steps back away from me and braced herself. Head-flame snuffed out, but the rock encasing her fists started to glow with light again. Her eyes were completely ablaze as melting stone dripped and fell to the dusty ground, revealing the glowing light once more. But as she focused and snarled at her own limbs, the light started traveling up her extended arms.
Gradually it met her wrists, before edging along her forearm millimeter by millimeter. It made it about a third of the way to her elbow before she shook. Muscles twitching, she eventually gasped, a louder hiss filling my ears as the lava cooled to rock again. A flex and it all crumbled away, including that around her hands. The super leaned over, putting her elbows on her thighs to not irritate her raw-looking skin.
Despite gasping for air myself, my voice came out as calm as ever.
[Not bad. I certainly prefer it when you don’t almost kill me.]
“Fuck you, Dubs,” she panted. “I was close to getting you with lava again. I’m such a dumbass.”
[Alternatively, I see it as being impressive that you were able to adjust your new power on the fly to something more advantageous to your position in your fight. Certainly A-Rank line of thinking.]
She looked up at me, still slightly hunched as sweat ran down from her short hair. “You’re damn fucking sexy with those sweet words, asshole. More of that shit, please.”
I nodded politely. Although my abilities seemed to function via increase synapse and brain function, her new powers clearly turned part of her thinking mind slightly mushy. I knew that promotion was a big thing for her, but the response was a little more feral than I had expected. Didn’t dislike it, however.
We turned to see the techie approaching. At some point during our prolonged scuffle, Clara had acquired a sunhat and a glass of water which had a straw in it. In her other hand was a tablet device that she had been presumably prodding at.
“Interesting news, Gunquake,” she began, half ignoring the super. “Your reaction speed and comparative strength compared to the previous simulation we recorded data for is up a good fifteen percent.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
[So I’m improving?]
“At thrice the speed a trained athlete would.” She ran her eyes around me as if the apparent cause would suddenly spring out. “I believe it’s less that you’re improving, and more… your brain is remembering what it is supposed to be capable of.”
I furrowed my brow and looked over at the distant city. Reflex and Analyze had come through my re-attached synapse links from before, but could it also have a general effect on how I functioned? It was likely.
[Do you think engaging in combat is slowly awakening my old capabilities?]
“Yes, and no.” She paused to take a sip of her water. “It is likely that high-stress situations can force those connections to form again, but to fully re-engage it might just take time or something else to prompt it out.”
“Might be sex,” Roxy offered, her brow suddenly furrowing. “Shit, this is worse than being drunk.”
Clara rolled her eyes. “I don’t think proposing that to his nurse, mechanic, and sidekick is a good idea, Rockslide. I can only wear so many hats.”
“Specifically with me.” The super pulled a face and stood up, holding her arms out for inspection. Her hands seemed fine, but the parts of her arm that hadn’t turned to lava before were now pink and sore.
The techie took a step closer to look over the burns, ignoring the wince of the super as if she was considering pulping her. “Normally I’d suggest burn salve, sister - but I think for you it would be best to heal naturally to build up resistance to the lava.”
Roxy pouted. “I was worried that would be the answer.”
[That was a lot more than usual. Was it difficult to control?]
She flexed about, still tired from our bout even if she hadn’t used her ability. “Difficult isn’t really the word. Like physically, other than getting amped up and accepting the power… it’s actually the willpower that’s a struggle. My plan is to do my whole arms, eventually.”
[To match your outfit.]
“Exactly.” She smiled, seeming to return to her normal self. “If there’s more power after that, then I’ll try controlling it into doing different stuff.”
I was happy to see her this driven. Despite my prior existence possibly revolving around erasing people like her from this world, I wanted nothing but her growth. To excel and be a great superhero. Not because… I was cultivating her to be a peak to aspire to. It was a part of it, I could admit - but my support and love were genuine, even if she had never come out with her volcanic powers.
“Computer delivery will be here within the hour, Gunquake. I will start decrypting the chip, and put the fragment of metal Rockslide was shot with in the scanner to determine the properties.”
[Thank you, Clara. Sounds perfect.]
And if I had to choose a word to describe the rest of the day, perfect was possibly a top contender. Aching from our battle, the hours began to speed past me.
Delivery arrived, and after some stilted small talk with Van Michaels, I helped Clara move the boxes into the workshop. She then shooed me away, giving me the assurance that she was perfectly capable of doing the rest and I should spend the rest of my energy looking after the super.
Roxy herself was actually tired from straining her powers. We sat in the lounge and threw on an action/romance flick about a magician who could turn into a demon. Very droll. Despite the two bags of ice we put under her arms, she still managed to fall asleep against me. A well-earned nap.
And I… stared off out the window, mostly ignoring the sharks the movie kept jumping. Looked out at the horizon just over the roof of the workshop as the sky gradually grew hazier. Couldn’t nap, but I let my mind spin idle for a change. Last couple of days had been… a lot for me to take in. Every step forward kicked up more dust, but if I held my breath it would settle, and I could continue onward without choking.
Tomorrow would be my first bite of League work. Roxy woke near dusk and went to make dinner. Clara popped in to say things were in motion and she’d be working late on things so they could run when she wasn’t around tomorrow. I continued to sit, just existing. Feeling both lost and found.
We retired once it started to get dark out, and with a little stim misuse it turned out I could stab the super twice - although she wasn’t exactly trying to avoid it. By the time we’d had another bath to clean off for the next morning, her arms had all but healed up. In the warm bed, we exchanged a few soft words before drifting off.
Yeah, perfect was pretty close.
----------------------------------------
The van pulled up, bumping slightly as Clara moved it up onto the curb.
We were all decked out in our full outfits, the morning a veritable tornado of apprehensive haste. Mostly from the super, but we had arrived in good time in one piece, which counted for something.
“Alright.” Roxy sighed loudly from the passenger seat, before looking at me in the back. “Good behavior, you two. Whatever you think about Stacy, she is our manager and kinda has our balls in her grip on certain things. In some ways, she is our agent, so if you fuck this up you’ll just get shitty missions going forward.”
[Understood. I will play nice.]
“That doesn’t mean use your voodoo charms on her either.” Her eyes narrowed. “This is not a harem.” Roxy’s glare turned to the techie behind the wheel. “And that goes double for you, princess. If you want to ride Dubs’ coattails to the top, then don’t get weird in here. She remembers the last time she met you still.”
“Ah.” Clara grimaced. “Not my best showing. Fine, I will behave.”
“Fantastic.” The super exhaled once more, before putting on perhaps the most uncanny fake smile I’d ever seen. “Let’s do this.”
There was a slight haze to the morning air in the city. The small areas alongside the sidewalk that were lined with a width of grass had dew on them. As my boots kicked through the tiny droplets after I left the back of the van, something about it drew my attention… but I wasn’t sure why.
Caught the pair waiting for me, and walked to catch up. Our manager’s office was thankfully on the south side of the city, only just beyond the warehouse sector amongst some office blocks. I was still getting used to being out in the city at daytime, and much preferred the quieter areas. Still early enough in the morning, but it was after the rush hour for the people traveling to the offices for work.
I’d have to get used to people if this was going to work.
Roxy was stiff as a board, and I’m sure if given half the chance to leave right now, she’d take it. Clara looked distracted and tired. She’d been a little cagey about telling us when she had eventually gotten to bed, but I was sure she didn’t want to be too exhausted for her time with Dr Jarl later.
“I’ve left the computer trying to crack that drive, Gunquake,” she mentioned, as I caught up to walk between them. “Apologies in advance for the electricity bill.”
Roxy shrugged, a put-on smile struggling to stay on her face. “One of the perks of the League is free housing and utilities.”
“For supers,” the techie pointed out. “The auxiliary helpers are part subsidized, but we don’t get such an easy ride. That said, we don’t have to go punch inhuman criminals on the regular.”
Although that last part sounded like it was added to placate Roxy, it made some sense. Supers didn’t just have the stick of join-us-or-become-villains, but there were also carrots that made their normal lives easier. It was no wonder people like Clara’s parents had traveled to Goldarch, if being even a small cog in the League meant an easier life. In saying that, she hadn’t told me if they had been part of it or not. Best to not assume.
We turned off the main sidewalk onto a pathway leading between the tall, gray office buildings. Rows of windows reflecting the morning sunlight. Reasonably well-kept. Reminded me of the contract where I killed a man to steal back a League disk drive, just so they could watch me do it. I hadn’t been the only one working in the shadows.
Roxy took us around another corner, before moving up to a door just ahead. They all looked nondescript to me, so I was glad she knew where she was going.
I heard her sigh again, before she pushed it open and led us in.
A small reception room. It seemed this door led straight into the manager’s quarters rather than leading to a main lobby or stairwell.
Gray carpet and drab eggshell walls, a few hanging frames displaying diplomas or other official certificates. A group of waiting chairs sat to our right, while a water cooler hummed away in the corner of the room. Old-fashioned, although I wasn’t sure where I was drawing that frame of reference from. The noise it generated competed with the equally monotone buzz of the computer sitting on the brown desk ahead of us, just beside a closed door.
Presumably, the receptionist - a young man with pale blue skin and white hair that seemed at odds with his otherwise baby-face. The two horns growing from his head, I let slide. Diamond-bright eyes turned from his monitor to greet us, some familiarity lighting his expression.
“Rockslide-ko! It has been a while.”
“Hey, Benny.” The wide smile on Roxy’s face fizzled into something more genuine. “You’re looking well. I’m sure you know why we’re here.”
He gave a brief nod. “Naturally. And this must be Gunquake-ra and Miss Clara-ko.”
The young man had an interesting accent and inflected our names with a designation that… part of me couldn’t quite recognize, despite it feeling familiar.
[Pleasure to meet you.]
Clara gave a brief curtsy, which didn’t quite work with her dungarees.
“Such manners.” He grinned, revealing short, sharp fangs. “Rockslide-ko must have given you lots of forewarning. I am Miss Horton-ko’s personal assistant, and you may call me Benny… because my actual name is exceedingly long.” Benny rolled his diamond eyes and gestured to the computer beside him. “I screen any messages and calls for Miss Horton-ko, so if you hear from me, that’ll be why.”
“Gunquake is pretty new to this,” Roxy offered. “I’m not sure he is ready for the amount of paperwork this involves.”
[Perhaps I need a personal assistant as well, then.]
I could see Clara squirming in my peripheral, but Benny continued grinning.
“I have more work than hours here, but I’ll sync calendars with you and will assist in any administrative queries you may have.”
[My first question is: What is a calendar?]
Roxy nudged me, a brief scowl across her brow. “Enough small talk. We’re ready when Miss Horton is.”
“You can go right ahead. She’s been… eager for this.”
Roxy moved in a way that I was almost convinced she was about to throw up, before her normal poise returned and she half-robotically led the rest of her band of oddballs over to the door. In trying not to appear rude by staring at Benny to try to recall why there was this aura of familiarity to him, I looked at his computer screen as we passed instead.
Possibly equally a faux pas, as he quickly tabbed away from what looked to be some erotica he had been writing to instead bring up today’s scheduled appointments. I raised an eyebrow back at Clara to see if she had noticed, but her eyes were focused on… well, probably idly looking down absent-mindedly rather than specifically at my butt. She looked concerned, however. Again… hopefully not by my butt.
Doorway immediately led us into a similarly small room with identical drab gray tones to it. A couple of metal filing cabinets in the left corner, and a large potted plant desperate for attention grasped at the shuttered window in the right corner. Three chairs sat this wide of a wide wooden desk, a name plate sat proudly just before them - as if we didn’t know why we were here.
Miss Stacy Horton.
The woman herself was also present. Sitting on the other side of the desk, face partially illuminated from her own computer screen, she turned to greet us. Probably mid-fifties, at a guess. Blonde bob-cut with a few grays running through it, pale and wrinkled around the edges, but it was the expression on her face that aged her beyond her years. Tired eyes looked over the top of circular glasses, her mouth already slightly down-turned as if we had just told her a terrible joke.
“Rockslide, Gunquake, and Miss Blanklin,” she greeted us - although it sounded more of a dry statement than anything welcoming. As if we were being called up to be executed. The tension coming off the super was almost tangible.
“Just Clara is fine, Miss Horton,” the techie requested, giving her a curtsy.
“Likewise, Stacy is appreciated, too. I like to keep a casual rapport with those who I work with.” She managed to say this without changing expression or tone.
I was impressed.
[Pleasure to meet you, Stacy.]
Somehow, we had taken seats in our usual positions. Clara on my gun-arm side, Roxy on my normal-arm side. I supposed this meeting was for me, to some degree, so being center stage made some sense.
“I have heard things about you, Gunquake.” She tilted her head to the side. “I haven’t worked with a vigilante-styled hero before, nor a hero fast-tracked through induction like this.”
[Then I hope I do not disappoint.]
“That remains to be seen.”
Much like my arm yesterday. Part of my brain was jumping up and down, willing me to introduce some levity or win this woman over. Instead, I sat silent, and she turned to her computer to read through something as though we weren’t there.
There was a clock ticking, filling the silence, but I couldn’t see where it was - not without physically turning myself. Currently, I was keen on seeing which of the three of us could act like a statue for the longest. It was neck and neck.
“Well,” Stacy eventually said, breaking the spell. “I suppose congratulations are in order, Rockslide.”
Roxy’s eyebrows raised, and she gave a brief nod, but wasn’t willing to commit to the bit until she knew the statement was genuine.
“In addition to your newly discovered powers, it seems the rest of the group are slowly coming around to taking their work seriously. Well, Captain Snaps, at least - once he returns from his enforced holiday.” Stacy adjusted her glasses. “Some irony that your calling as a leader was lying dormant.”
“Like a volcano.” The super nodded slowly.
“And I’m to understand that you are part cause of this change, Gunquake?” The manager’s eyes peered over the top of her glasses at me.
[Right place at the right time, perhaps. I take no credit.]
“Modesty. Not what I expected, given your details and appearance.” She tilted her head back to the monitor for a few quiet seconds. “You are all listed under the same address. Do you have anything to report?”
Roxy immediately froze up, tongue caught in her mouth. Clara was silent.
[No. If I may, Stacy - you seem experienced and competent. I am betting that you knew about Rockslide’s mission to befriend me?]
She paused for a second before giving a brief nod.
[I lived a miserable life, within a room smaller than this office, with a simple mattress on the floor to sleep on. It was the compassion of Rockslide to offer me her spare room which in turn became my desire to lead a life as a superhero.]
The manager continued nodding, her hands going to the side to tap out some notes on her computer as I spoke. “So you have nothing but a working relationship with both these women?”
I nodded my head and lowered my eyes to the floor, unable to meet her gaze.
[Half of me is cold hard metal, and the other is scarred muscle. I lived so long alone in the darkness, that even these cordial friendships are vibrant and overloading…]
My eyes moved back up to her, making eye contact.
[I hope to find love one day, should I be deserving. My past is mysterious and troubling, more than some could handle. Hopefully, there’s a woman out there patient and understanding enough to guide me through such a turbulent sea.]
Stacy stared at me for several moments, before blinking a couple of times. She turned back to her computer screen slowly. Her brain seemed to be stuck processing my words. “Yes… well, that was a… detailed enough answer… thank you, Gunquake.”
The red glow in my left peripheral, and green glow in my right peripheral told me that I would probably be walking home.
Probably without either of my legs.