{Earth}

A massive crowd gathered in El Paso, Texas to air their concerns during post-war reconstruction. People of all ethnicities and ages rushed the train. Karter grinned. Jack beamed. And Chris tried not to panic.

This was tight. He didn’t like it. Too many opportunities to rush in and take Jack. That’s right. Take. The Brethren was concerned the King Regent made a target for abduction and control. To lure Rayne out.

These visits unnerved Chris. He went to the door and looked at Karter. She nodded to him from behind Jack and Ross. He trusted the Valkyrie at his six. He spoke into his earpiece, “Ready, Colton?”

“Ready, Batman.”

The door opened, and people shouted. So many things. Some of them nice. Thanking Jack as he rushed out with his entourage surrounding him to the local leadership’s facility. In secrecy, they informed only the “mayor” or whatever he called himself of their arrival. But apparently he took it upon himself to share. He might have a beat down coming to him.

Some shouts weren’t so nice and doubly unnerved Chris. “King Jack! Sir? What will you do about the criminals consuming nacres?”

Chris’ head snapped around, searching for the source.

“The Tritans will kill us for idiots eating them, right?”

Batman shook his head and shouted, “Don’t answer that,” at the same time Karter did.

She winked at him amid this mess. Beyond her beautiful face, he spotted the culprits. About four people with signs. They varied in verbiage but ultimately they pitted “Nacre Humans v Natural Humans.” Whatever the fuck that meant.

As three humans imbued with nacres, Chris gripped Jack and Ross, accelerating the “get the fuck out of here-ness” of the situation. Karter caught on and before long they arrived at a courthouse with its columns blown to bits. The roof begged to cave in. And all the windows lost their glass.

Nope. Didn’t like it. Too exposed.

Colton, another nacre imbued, melanin-endowed human, appeared at his side. The vehicular-genius knew how to move through a crowd. He nodded to the shitty building and said, “We’ll do what we can to provide cover, but the team doesn’t like it.”

Karter led Jack and Ross inside, shouting over her shoulder, “What’s to like?”

Local security finally wrangled the public back from the entrance, allowing Chris and Colton to pop inside and sweep the place. Ugly green carpet like billiard cloth. Chartreuse cushions lined the benches like pews. To add insult to design injury, someone approved paneling the entire room in a pale oak that clashed with the dark walnut furniture.

Oh, and there wasn’t any electricity.

“Welcome King Jack!” The “mayor” stood at the judge’s bench in the back. He sounded appropriately jovial for the occasion. “El Paso is eager to speak with you.”

Flanked by Karter and Chris, the teenage world leader approached the stranger. Jack smiled generously and spoke with an eloquence beyond his years, “Thank you for the warm welcome. I appreciate the preliminary introduction to El Paso’s concerns regarding reconstruction and Tritan compliance. Even if we weren’t expecting an audience immediately.”

Smart kid. His hazel eyes even scanned the room for vantage points and exits. Survival instincts switched to “on.” Almost like he fought in an interplanetary war or something.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Karter whispered in Batman’s ear, “You’re grumbling.”

Oops.

Ross covered her snicker with a cough.

“The people are fortunate to meet their King.” The “mayor” stepped down and stood as close to Jack as the Shadow guard allowed. Even Ross stepped closer, gripping the chain around her neck. Hopefully, now wasn’t the time for that.

Short, the man had to look up at the teenage boy. “We listen every Tuesday and Saturday for Story Circle. Brilliant strategy to include entries and contributions from all over the globe. It seems we are well on our way to re-establishing society.”

Jack beamed at him. “What can we do for you here? We may not meet every demand, but we will work to the best of our resources. Nothing will stop us from integrating the Icari and humans. From forming a stronger Earth. To obtain the future we fought for.”

The leader—Denton, that was his name—searched Jack’s face with sharp brown eyes. What was he looking for? Sincerity? The kid had that in spades. Capability? He was growing into it. Whatever he wanted, he found because the man suddenly broke into a thousand watt grin that popped off his brown skin.

He reached out a hand. Jack took it. And with a shake they opened a friendly dialog that gradually assuaged the tension in the ruined space. Ross visibly dropped her shoulders. Karter never truly relaxed, but her jaw unclenched. Glancing up at the busted rafters, Colton’s sniper gave a thumbs up. The man’s boss muttered discretely into his earpiece.

Good. This was good.

Several hours passed during which selected representatives entered and shared their concerns. Food, supplies, technology, communication, etc. The Tritans promised a printing tech that would address most of these issues.

The Brethren currently worked with the Dwarves of Pil to solve the worldwide communication drought. Those amazing engineers constructed a quantum communication facility powered by the Hoover Dam. They expected to go online within the year.

The final issue chilled Chris to his bones. A tall woman approached. He recognized her as one of those sign holders. She swept her ass-length mousy brown hair over one shoulder before speaking, “King Jack. First, I’d like to thank you…”

Chris tuned out the repetitive platitudes—and there were many—until she reached the point.

“…And that’s why we’re concerned with the overwhelming amount of people who illegally harvest and ingest nacres. Will the Tritans not see this as a violation of our treatise and retaliate?”

When she blinked, one blue eye closed and then the other. It made the hackles raise on the back of Chris’ neck with immediate distrust. Nope. Not good.

He whispered into Jack’s ear, “This is not an issue we were prepared to discuss.”

Jack nodded and leaned to Karter. “Is there any threat?”

Karter glanced from the possibly inbred woman back to the King regent. “I wish I had a solid answer. The Tritans are unpredictable, as you read in the anonymous Verse.”

Again, Jack nodded as if he could shake his brain hard enough for the right thing to say. He turned back to the woman, who smiled crookedly. He answered with more confidence than Chris expected, “I meet with The Tritan Officer monitoring our planet within a few days. I can pass your concerns along and communicate an answer during an address in one week.”

The speaker’s eyes didn’t reflect any light, but somehow conveyed glee. “So, the law stands, and we can begin arrests—”

“—Until then,” Jack interrupted her just in time, “We will not take action against those humans in possession of a nacre. We have every reason to believe the Tritans will grant us that technology soon. At least this way, we have volunteers to study the effects on human biology.”

He glanced back at Chris, who cut at his throat with one hand. Time to wrap this shit up.

“That will be the last question for this visit. I hope to return before too long. Your community here is thriving. You’re doing monumental work, and I’m proud to count myself among survivors such as yourselves.”

Mayor Denton stood and addressed the locals.

Jack stepped back, looking exhausted, almost as gray as an Icarus. Despite that, he did outstanding work.

Karter clasped the kid’s slumped shoulder and muttered reassurances. Ross drifted into space as one does when missing part of their world.

“The best time would be now,” Colton announced over their earpieces.

Right. They slipped out the back, attracting one or two stragglers. Chris called into the mic, “We need a better method for the surprise drop-ins. They haven’t been much of a ‘surprise’ lately.”

Colton responded, “Agreed.”

“We’ll nap first, then get to it.” Karter sounded genuinely concerned. “I’m two seconds from picking Jack up and carrying him back.”

Codename Robin groaned, “I’m fine.” And he almost made it to the train without fumbling. “Why am I so tired?”

Colton, badass train conductor, launched without hesitation.

Ross took Jack’s hand, making him duck his eyes. The girl sat him in a booth in the dining car. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were sick.” She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead and recoiled. “I think… I think he’s running a fever.”

“With a nacre?” Karter looked aghast as she checked. She whirled to Chris with a confirmation of horror.

Well, shit.