Thursday, December 10
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The TV in the Student Union Building silently blared out the news, its red-and-blue screen covered in captions and ticker tape urgent warnings about the most recent drama in Europe, India, and all the other places where things were happening. The Power War was worldwide, but I didn’t really care how the East Asian superheroes were handling their villains. I ate my SUB burrito quietly, eyes glued to the screen, with Bee watching an identical TV over my shoulder.
The picture on the screen changed to Yorkston’s skyline, specifically, to a familiar skyscraper’s penthouse. I read the headline. ‘Police Investigation Reveals Thefts.’ Then I swallowed and took a sip of water. “Wonder what that’s all about.”
‘Yorkston Police Department representatives today revealed a list of items taken from Golden Goose’s penthouse at the top of the Independence Building. Included were several items Jasmine Saxton considered personal and private, including jewelry, identification cards, a notebook, and other odds and ends. A complete list is available on our website. The Saxton family and the Ilneat studio Snowball Productions are asking for items to be returned promptly, promising not to investigate further.
‘“We just want our daughter’s locket back,” Alyssa Saxton said on the screen. “We don’t care about the rest of it, but that family heirloom’s important to us. Please.”’
I glanced at Bianca, then back at the TV. She was glued to it, her burrito forgotten as the subtitles kept going. ‘In Golden Goose’s absence, chaos has engulfed Yorkston. Magical Girl Stella-Lunar has rotated her coverage to help, leaving Tokyexico City in the hands of less powerful heroes. To those heroes fighting now-overwhelming numbers of villains and henchmen across North America, we ask you to keep holding the line.’
“Yeah, with what?” Bianca asked.
It was a good question. Things across southeast Tokyexico were looking bad. The Triad had told us not to patrol down there anymore and that they were splitting coverage with the In-Your-Endos. Worse, they’d lost control of their own district—with the exception of their pyramid, the whole place belonged to Lord Destructo and McHammer.
There just weren’t more heroes to hold the line with. Tokyexico needed Stella-Lunar, and it needed her yesterday. Either that, or it needed Mays and Jackson to shut down the villains one at a time. The problem was that the moment they ended their neutrality, the campus was a target for more than an ill-advised attempt at glory from Monologue.
“Come on.” I stood up and bundled the remains of my bacon-and-egg burrito up. My stomach was rolling, and I couldn’t have finished it if I tried. “Let’s go back to my place and try to get some studying in. We’re both behind.”
The truth was, neither of us cared. We’d been in Episodes, patrols, or trying to investigate the SSS’s lair for so long that signing up for the associates’ program felt like a lifetime ago. But Bianca wanted us to do normal college things, and there wasn’t anything more normal than cramming before finals, so we walked through the freezing wind and took the elevator up to 1301 Walnut Tower.
Bianca took her place with her head on my stomach. I cracked the book on Extra Relations and started reading out loud, and she scribbled notes in a light-blue notebook. “The reality is that most Extras interacting with superheroes don’t need a hero to solve their problems. Understanding your role in an Extra/Super dynamic is critical to producing the desired result; to convince the Extra that you’re listening to their problems and maneuvering support their way.”
Bianca shifted, her pencil stabbing at the paper, and I paused to let her catch up. Then I continued, on and on, through example after example. After reading through a story about a man whose neighborhood had been flooded during a fight and who just wanted to know someone was going to help, I yawned. “We shouldn’t have procrastinated this bad. If I get another chance, I’m staying on top of my homework.”
Bianca shook her head; it rolled back and forth across my stomach. “I doubt it.”
“What? You don’t believe me? It’s true! I’m going to grab my classes by the horns next semester and not let go. I want to finish my career at TU strong, get my degree, and move on.”
“To major league work?”
“Why not?” I gently pushed her off of me and rolled off the bed. “Studying isn’t working right now, though. I need some air.”
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I stood on Walnut Tower’s roof in my street clothes, shivering as the wind blew the storm’s first flakes at me sideways. The mountains were already whited out, but the sky to the east was perfectly clear; it was a slow-mover, which meant Tokyexico was in for a big one. And it had happened so fast after last night’s that I’d actually checked for any of the winter-themed villains just to see if they’d been active.
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They hadn’t. As far as I could tell, it was a normal weather pattern.
So, instead of watching it with the anxiety I’d felt last night, I got to enjoy the snow melting in my hair. It felt nice, not worrying about which villains were out there or about my overdue homework and just having a moment in the snow. Below, in the snow from last night’s storm, a few freshmen had started building a snowman. They didn’t look up at me, but I watched them for a while. I didn’t feel like Power Wars was rolling. It felt normal…comfortable.
So, of course, my phone rang.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Aaaaayyy! DuPont, it’s Rocko!”
I sighed. It had been a nice fifteen minutes or so as Anika. Then I took a deep breath and let Understudy take over again. “Hello, Rocko. What’s going on?”
“Oh, just checking in with my number one superhero! How’s the superheroing going?” The Ilneat’s voice echoed out of my phone’s speaker, and I turned and headed back down the stairs into the Green Room. It’d be easier to hear them without the wind, anyway.
“It’s going well. We just wrapped up the Student Supervillain Society, but…you know that already, huh?”
“You got it in one, DuPont. Listen, I’m still gone for a while until things stabilize down there. For some reason, the Network doesn’t want us in the Hot Zones while you people figure out the Golden Goose situation. Something about ‘too risky’ and ‘what if they blame us?’ A load of ridiculousness, but it means you’re on your own for the season finale.”
“The…season finale?” I mumbled. “Let me go get Bianca.”
“What, she’s not with you right now? Thought you two were peas in a pod, DuPont. Alright, but make it fast. I’m burning money every second this connection’s open, and that’s all money that could make Heroics 101 better!”
I muted my phone, opened the door, and yelled for Bianca. She showed up on the third yell, and I said, “It’s Rocko. We’ve got a season finale coming up, and I guess they want to plan it out with us or something.”
“Can you tell them to shove it?” Bianca asked jokingly. “We’re trying to do more normal stuff, and finals are coming up.”
“No.” I unmuted the phone. “Okay, Rocko, what do you have for us?”
“So far, you’ve got definitive wins against two of your four rogues, right? You beat Theseus pretty handily, and Livestream turned out to be a pushover, thanks to me. Last I heard, he hadn’t run that promotion again since, which is smart. All the studios are ready to pay him to lose if it comes to that. But your fox-furred rival is still out there, Marino, and she hasn’t lost yet.” Rocko sucked in a breath and exhaled, and even though I couldn’t actually smell the cigarette smoke, my imagination supplied the scent perfectly.
“Yeah, we’ve been focusing on 3V1L this season. They’re the biggest problem, and if we can beat them, we’ll clear the Poudre District so some little league heroes can keep it under control. Then we can focus on Sister Sly,” Bianca said. “Besides, this rivalry’s clearly artificial. She doesn’t care about me, and I really don’t care about her.”
“Yeah,” Rocko said, sighing dramatically, “I guess I’ll explain that one. DeeDee is a new producer, with just enough leverage to get a single minor-leaguer, but not a hero. They’re making a play, and I agreed to add their villain to your rogues. Sister Sly doesn’t care about the Poudre district. She’s not even from Tokyexico. It’s just inter-studio politics, but I need you to deliver another Sister Sly Episode either way.”
“Seriously, Rocko?” I asked.
“Yes, seriously, DuPont. You do the superpowers part of our show, and I’ll take care of all the money and politicking. We’ll both do what we’re best at, alright? Great. Now, tell me about your plan for handling 3V1L.”
I hesitated, and Rocko kept talking. “No plan, huh?”
“We’re in between Episodes with them, and finals week’s here. Cut us some slack, okay?” Bianca snapped. “We’ve got the beginnings of a plan, but it won’t happen overnight.”
“Alright, Marino. Alright. I’m just trying to keep your show on track so that you can climb the ranks. That’s what you want, right? So how about this? I’ve got meetings up to my gripping hands, and you’re both busy with finals. How about by the twenty-fifth? That gives us two weeks to get it together, find a way to make a finale, and get it filmed, and one week for me to get it edited and out there. Easy peasy.”
“Easy peasy,” I said. “Bye, Rocko.”
When the cell phone beeped to let me know they couldn’t hear anymore, I groaned. But before I could start complaining, Bee held up a hand. “Annie, we’re not going to deal with this tonight. Rocko’s going to have to wait until after your super-counseling meeting, at the very least. Ideally, we can make them wait until after finals.”
“Really? They’re our boss, so we kind of have to listen to them,” I said, clenching my fists.
“Yeah, but they also said two weeks. That’s a long time to get something together, and Rocko’s used to us jumping whenever they say to jump.” Bianca grabbed my hand and dragged me back to the couch inside. “Let’s watch something. Not a superhero show, though. Anything but that.”
“Gourmet’s Glutton Hour?”
“No.” She shook her head and pushed me down onto the couch. Then she flopped down beside me and fiddled with the remote until she found an ancient cartoon about a talking lion. “We’re going to take it easy, not worry about Rocko, and be college kids procrastinating our homework.”
“Fuck. The homework.” I tried to get up and grab the Extra Relations book, but Bianca pulled me down, using her super strength to do it. I struggled until she pinned me to the couch and pressed play, then gave up. I couldn’t fight a bruiser like her, and it was pointless to try.
Instead, I cuddled against her and let her play with my hair while all the animals sang a song about the circle of life, and I tried not to think about 3V1L.