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Chapter 5: Ð ĭ s φ a τ c н e ∂ |
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Silence presided over the five supers. One, slumped over a set of narrow shoulders, due to circumstances - the remaining four due to conflict. They got scared, they got compromised for the first time in a public setting.
Kenny wanted to say something. He wanted to comment on how the politics were probably going to play out and how their identities would probably be concealed until the officials had definite answers. To that token, Joey could have easily rebutted, noting how well they did to keep away from any ways of identifying themselves accidentally: there were no cameras immediately fixed on them and there were no names spoken of any of them.
But no words came. Not even from Ditta, who could have easily coached them back into a group morale. Jobin, usually solemn, was probably the first to speak in their seven-minute flight back to base.
“Kenny, open the gates,” Jobin sounded less present than any of them felt. Ditta was massively muscle, but Jobin never had a problem with carrying him before when they flew. This time was no different, so it must have been something else. What the senator said before they all escaped, the way the senator looked into Jobin’s soul unsettled him. No man ever successfully penetrated Jobin’s cold gaze.
There was a whir as they flew over the turf fields towards the shed that stored all of their school’s recreational equipment. The doors to the storage space buckled and a metal pathway sprouted from it to the hill beside it. That path spread once it made contact with the incline of the hill and turf was peeled away. Their secret hideaway was branded at its metal doors with the insignia of their school, “OP” in a circle, but standing for something other than Oracle Preparatory.
The doors hissed open and the hill swallowed the three flying figures, two with passengers. As they descended into the dull lights, their entrance quickly snapped shut behind them and the rumbling of earth resumed its place above ground. Jobin set Ditta down. Joey landed on both feet and carried Darin in his arms. Kenny landed and his suit started reclining into its stimulant, striding closely behind Joey and Darin. Ditta started off down the cool corridor. It was lit by running extension cords that they stole from the groundskeeper and lamps they accumulated in their time at the school. Occasionally, the teachers would leave doors unlocked. Kenny had the quickest hands but Jobin had the easiest time smuggling larger objects into his backpack. The two had an ongoing rivalry, which Jobin was steadily winning.
The sight of the lights did not bring joy to either of the boys. They marched in silence, the four pairs of feet carrying their heavy thoughts in the soot beneath their feet.
As they turned a corner, the pathway opened up into two corridors, one of which was shorter and visibly presenting an auditorium-like space. Their debriefing quarters. There was a circular bench that looked fashioned for just the purpose it served. The other lead to their infirmary.
“Alexa in?” Jobin chimed up. Joey looked over to Ditta, who had unmasked himself in the safety of their territory. Ditta’s eyes looked tired and riddled with responsibilities - and grief.
“She should be. Her studio’s not having classes today. She said she’d call me if anything changed,” Ditta rolled his tongue over his teeth after a moment, diffusing any tension he gained at the thought of not seeing Alexa today.
“Good.” Jobin looked over to Joey, who was still fully-suited.
Joey nodded, shifting Fore in his arms. The boy’s body was light but he had long arms and legs which made for a bit of an awkward carry for someone as lanky as him.
“Yeah, I’ll bring him over to the infirmary,” Joey strode past the other three and into the debriefing room. He would take a shorter route that didn’t carry them past offices and closets before reaching the infirmary.
“Ditta,” Jobin caught his friend’s attention as he watched Fore get carried away. “It’s not your fault, you know that, right?” Jobin leveled with the superhuman, not breaking focus with Kenny right next to them.
Kenny chimed in.
“If anything, that senator, he’s the one who’s got it coming,” Kenny crossed his arms, looking down the longer corridor. Sometimes he wondered why every direction Joey took was plausible as the shortest route. Obviously, this path led directly to the infirmary, not through the debriefing room.
Something in Ditta stirred.
“I don’t know anything about this Callahan guy. We need to do our homework and make sure we really understand what he’s about. I don’t want anyone else fighting someone, or something, we have no clue about,” his voice was very stiff. He was obviously wrestling with what just occurred.
Kenny nodded; he wouldn't pry, but whenever his friends needed him he would be there for them. “Okay, you got it. Joey and I need to run back to practice now.”
Jobin concurred, “Yeah, and I’m supposed to be on the clock. I’ll swing back around when I get off.”
“Do not go near that building.” Ditta looked both Kenny and Jobin in their eyes. He did not waver, even after he received an “okay” from each of them.
“Joey and I’ll check out the library and what his dad has on the projects that they’ve been keeping under wraps. Maybe my sister will know something if her paper’s writing about it.”
This piqued Ditta’s interest. “Alright, good. You keep me in the loop?”
Kenny nodded again, like a good friend would for a promise. “You got it.” And off he went.
Jobin watched as Kenny followed Joey’s route, but did not wait for him to be out of earshot to continue their conversation.
“I need you to say that it wasn’t your fault. So that you know.” Jobin scowled, waiting impatiently. “Because he’s going to wake up and either know everything that happened or nothing that happened and he doesn’t need to feel like you owe him anything because of it.”
“It’s not like that, Jobes.” Ditta turned back the way they came, surveying the wires fixed to the ceilings of the dirt-mixed stone walls. He was grateful for his friends, but he wasn’t completely convinced that they were all capable of being what they needed to be sometimes.
“If it was anyone else, I’d feel just the same. That ******** a*****e senator is coming after us because he’s afraid of us,” Ditta seethed, staring at the wall. He wanted to lay his hands on the man and just be in a room alone with him for a good hour. Oh, the wonders he could do with that hour. The pain he could cause.
Jobin shook his head disapprovingly. This wasn’t what they were about. “Darin knew what he was getting himself into. We all do. That’s why we’re all still here. I have a feeling, though, that they also know why we’re getting ourselves into this. He said something really weird to me before we took off: ‘who protects you?’” This confused Jobin, visibly. “Protect us from what? Him? He knows we can beat him up. So what does he have up his sleeve?”
Ditta was not as racked by this as Jobin had anticipated. “I don’t know. I’m going to check in with Lex.”
“Alright,” Jobin watched him wisely. “You good?”
“Yeah. I know, ‘it’s not my fault.’ I’m fine. I’m good.” Ditta offered a hand for their departing shake. When Jobin smacked it, grabbed it, twisted it and pounded it, Ditta felt the same warmth in his arm as when he felt Fore’s energy surge through the base. He woke up.
“He’s good,” Jobin beat Ditta to the punch line. “I’ll let you know when I get to work.”
“Alright.”
Jobin took off towards the offices where he could change and then would exit through their secret tunnel that lead to a stall in the basement bathroom of the school on the other side of the turf fields.
Meanwhile, Ditta arrived at the infirmary, moving aside to allow Joey and Kenny, in their cross country uniforms. As they left, Ditta’s focus was brought back to a dark-haired figure walking to and from. Hair was up in a bun, though with a few strands spilling out. Ditta walked a few paces towards Fore on the table, breathing steadily but still unconscious. So, he wasn’t awake.
“Hey,” she sounded very sweet, very delicate.
Ditta looked back to her, though she met his eyes only for a moment. Her eyes were brown, like his. Her skin pale but a bit fairer than his. She had a beautifully angled face, round in the cheeks and a happy chin that made her features so much more proportionate. When he arrived close enough to her, he pulled at her waist in an endearing embrace which she turned to complete with a kiss on his lips. The kiss was short and purposed, though her mind was engaged on taking care of their friend before anything else.
“Hey,” he sounded a bit more vulnerable, like she had done something to change the man he was.
“He’s in good shape. He just needs to sleep,” she wanted to ask what happened, but felt it in the room how heavy his attention was. She also felt the same way. Something had happened.
“Right,” Ditta found a place to sit and leaned forward, wringing his wrists in his hands.
“Something eating at you, Chris?” She knew her boy better than anyone else did. That was much more impressive than most people believed it. Her hands folded a few bandages that she would normally use on all of them, but since they didn’t want to waste any time getting taken care of, she would save the resources. Her mind, however, was fully engaged on Christopher. For one reason or another, he didn’t want to tell her what happened.
His shoulders were tense. His jaw was tense. He could feel every muscle in his neck stiffen as he removed the tux jacket which had liners of armor-like materials to make sure none of his vitals were easily pierced. For high school students, their resources were pretty well substantial; they had Kenny’s parents to thank for that. A bit of foraging in their earlier states did well for them too.
His jacket settled behind him and he rolled down his sleeves. His suit was almost always clean and undamaged after returning from patrol like this. Alexa couldn’t exactly say he was always scratch-free after their adventures, but she made sure they were at least patched up before whatever practices they had.
“You know, I was wondering what today was going to be like for you guys. There’s been a lot of buzz about a few things that the Suits have legislated coming into effect,” she didn’t spare a glance to Chris, though she could almost feel his eyes on her. She heard a little bit more shuffling of him getting out of his white dress shirt before she packed up the bandages in a wall unit. Each of the boys had their own section, where she would retrieve their allotment of supplies. If they ran out, she would replenish from their reserves, but this was a better way for her to keep track and to keep them organized when she was absent.
“Sometimes I get really worried,” she admitted, turning and closing the dressers behind her. “But, then I remember that you guys are special, and you’re doing this to make sure that we’re all safe. You have your specific reasons.” She offered a delicate smile to Chris, who was watching her at this point, his shirt only three buttons down.
She strode towards him, not making much of any sound. When she arrived to his perch, her hands found their way to the shirt and she unfastened a few more buttons before pushing it open and examining his bare chest. Alexa needed to know that he was okay. She didn’t see any immediate abrasions or injuries.
“Did you get slammed into things or did things get slammed into you?” She wore a tiny smile, knowing the answer already.
“A little bit of both,” came Chris’s response. This lightened him up a bit. He was distracted from his thoughts. He knew Alexa cared about him, and he really appreciated it, he really did. He rolled his knuckles on either side of him against the surface of the table he sat on. His shoulders rotated forward slightly to open up his elbows so that when Alexa slid her arms into his shirt to rub at his skin and inspect it, the tenderness didn’t need to avert any obstacles.
He was glad she was on his side. He was truly happy with her.
“Thanks, babe.” He leaned in to kiss at her forehead and she relished in it for a moment before pulling away with a smart smile.
“You owe me,” she was plotting something.
“For what?” Chris felt a funny sensation in his cheeks that brought a silly-looking grin pulling at his lips. He fought it, but it won.
“You said Darin and Jobes were gonna join us for the movie tonight. I guess we’ll have to take a rain check?” She staggered away coyly, watching him with low eyelids. She enjoyed playing him around her finger. Pirouetting away, she didn’t wait for his response.
“D and I actually were looking forward to watching you and Jobes cry. In public.” She had a wry smirk on her lips as she walked around the other side of Darin’s snoring comfort. “But maybe it’ll be worth the wait.”
-
Her fingers couldn’t scratch down the details quick enough. She really wished that she brought an extra tape for her recorder. She urged her uncle to let her have a cellular upgrade - or at the very least a device that would have helped her reporting endeavors. But, no, she would have to earn her keep. It never failed. She mutely complained under her breath, trying to look up and catch the scene as accurately as she could. Remi did not glance to the very disdainful people on either side of her. And to think she would have given them her name. They probably would have reared back and spit in her face if they had the slightest inkling of who she really was. Her focus narrowed on Senator Callahan after he finished his snort-chuckles.
After words were exchanged between senator and the few boys that were ushered onstage, her blood went ice cold. It was fully-operational? Well, it had to be if there was a source right in that pod onstage already. It breathed, proved alive and its gaze scanned the audience. She sat still, almost holding her breath with wide eyes. She subtly slunk back in her chair as oohs and aahs were voiced, as if they didn’t drive in miraculously functional vehicles to get here. Its gaze alarmed the audience with a harsh notice: a buzzing noise.
An incredible reveal. They stormed on stage. They were cornered. Those boys. She recognized those boys. At least, she thought she did. Two of them, she saw fighting just outside the building before the whole exhibition began. Why… What were they doing here?
“Very well then. Watch very carefully.”
Remi’s eyes were bulging from their sockets as she strained her eyes to make sure they didn’t lie to her. She needed to see. She needed to understand it. The better she understood it, the better she could help protect herself and her friends from it.
Things happened so quickly even she had to shift and twist to keep up. A frenzy ensued and people were hollering and shrieking in the audience as they were ripped from their seats by fear. Remi tucked away her recording gear into her bag and clutched it close to her. She stumbled out into the pathway made between the sections of chairs, with a sea of people running around her towards the nearest exits. She watched the boys ascend out like a tactical S.W.A.T. team, well-rehearsed and so familiar with one another. A hole in the ceiling seemed like nothing.
She looked off to her right, watching a few people straggle behind, petrified by the chunks falling. She kicked into gear, ready to sprint over at her mach speeds, but they were protected by the energies that Senator Callahan had reserved from the machines.
That was very peculiar.
Her eyes traveled back up to the boys leaving. She caught Ditta’s gaze right before they all disappeared. Her eyes traveled to ground-level and she took a second to process what just happened.
“C’mon, Miss!” She was urged physically to get a move on by large security guards garbed in black suits. “We’ve got to evacuate the premises. Make your way to the emergency exits!”
Spilling outside like running water, Remi made sure to scan the faces around her for anyone she may have known or recognized for whatever possible reason. An article on them, development, follow-ups, interviews - anything! She didn’t recognize anyone. They all looked like strangers and were exactly that. No one would notice her missing. She needed to get this news to her boss before anyone else did.
Turning to start her dash through people without them even seeing her, she caught a glimpse of a collision waiting to happen. She shifted her weight and threw her first stride in the direction of the street where a girl, no older than 12 or 13, was stumbling away from the crowd out in front of a careening vehicle. The black car swerved up and down the street, driven by a fear-crazed man who couldn’t control his wheel.
“Watch out!” Remi reached the girl before the car was close, but while she attempted to knock the pedestrian out of the way, the man floored it out of reflexes. His license plate at the front of his car knocked against Remi’s left shoulder. Remi tucked the girl into her own body and they both were sent, skittering across the black top. Her brown hair flopped over her face. Her vision blurred, her head felt warm and numb. People were shrieking even louder, but she could barely hear them. They sounded like they were slowly fading away.
Remi strained to sit up, but as soon as she tilted her chin to touch her chest, her eyelids fell heavier than she could hold open and she blacked out.
-
Phones were ringing off the hook. A woman with deep, brown eyes assured a caller that rescue was on the way as she watched Jobin’s short head of curly, brown locks bob over the desk. He was probably the shortest person in that office, but at least he was taller than their dirty, gray, metal desks. He didn’t acknowledge the woman, but she was hasty to issue him a few comments once she set the phone down.
“You look like you just got done walking through Hell,” she almost actually sounded concerned.
Jobin chuckled and pulled out his cell phone to avoid eye contact with her. “Cathy, how’d you even know?” He rounded the desk with different sneakers on from earlier to match his uniform: dark, navy slacks with an embroidered navy polo. Jobin was not impressed by her sudden interest in his appearance. She had a tendency to pry for information and then go and tell the rest of the squad. Cathy’s loose lips were two of the main reasons why an old coworker had to resign; incidentally enough, Cathy was the reason why Jobin was always on his toes.
She could never find out about what he did during his free time.
“Just a hunch,” she twirled a pen between manicured fingers, pointing her eyes at him. He felt them boring into the side of his skull, but Jobin focused on the stationery at his desk after setting down the black mobile. A few forms laid unsigned on his desk: reports, waivers, releases and a few task lists given to him by his supervisor. He hadn’t seen the Senior Paramedic in a couple of days, actually.
“Where’s Stephen?” Jobin asked without looking up from his desk as he rifled through the forms. Cathy knew he was directing the question at her because they were the only two in the small, cubicle area.
“Actually, I haven’t seen him since their run this morning. Incident Uptown. What happened?” Cathy crooned, begging to be paid attention to.
Jobin shrugged, setting a few papers off to the side. Fortunately, there was an aisle of tile that separated their desks. He didn’t know how much more he could tolerate of her if she was in his ear and personal space.
The lack of an answer drove Cathy to drum her fresh nails against her desk. The repeated clicks irked Jobin, which she was well aware of. About ten seconds passed before Jobin turned sharply.
“Can you cut that out?” His jaw was tense and his eyes were very sharply aimed at her. He could very well shoot flames from his nostrils with how much they were flaring.
Cathy’s smart aleck attitude dug beneath Jobin’s skin. Brown skin rose with goosebumps as he exhaled deeply, letting out a hiss of stress. Cathy opened her ruby red lips to reprimand him for speaking to her that way when the phone rang again. She was too preoccupied with her standard response to keep her attention divided. She offered a wink and blew a raspberry at him.
Jobin disengaged her childish behavior and went back to the papers at his desk. His mind started to wander momentarily while he filled out the first form. It didn’t take long for him to finish the form and while he was writing, the images of his best friends sat in his mind. They were quiet on the flight back, but Fore wasn’t usually the most talkative. Sometimes Chris would speak to them about how things went with feedback, they’d all pitch in, they’d decide whether or not they had time to grab something from the diner later in the evening and then get back to their business. But today was a curveball for all of them.
This made things so much realer.
Jobin’s attention ripped away from the paperwork when he heard hurried boots flying down the hallway behind him.
“Kalappura, let’s go!” A strong tenor commanded. It was Davids, one of the paramedics. He didn’t even realize what was happening. Jobin, momentarily confused, looked at Cathy as he grabbed his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. Cathy darted her eyes in Davids’ direction as if to goad him with a ‘go on, stupid!’ He met her gaze with bared teeth and rolled eyes.
Jobin careened around his desk and jogged after Davids.
“I’m comin’!”
-
While Davids was in the ambulance, there was cruising party in the flyer car, where Jobin and the driver were listening to a classic rock tune over the radio. Jobin watched Rogerson sing to the melody with incorrect lyrics. His singing drowned out the background static of their communications system. The sirens wailed outside of the car, though they seemed a bit muted from the inside - perhaps it was due to Rogerson’s powerful pipes. The song came to a conclusion and Jobin’s friend dialed down the volume with his large hand.
“Sorry, man I had to. Aerosmith is All-American,” Rogerson excused his jam session. Jobin, pulled his eyes from the man after a brief silence and looked out the window with resentment. Maybe he should not have come into work today.
“So are you going to tell me or not?” The call they were on was still a mystery to Jobin. Usually, he rode in the ambulance with Davids and Rogerson, but all Jobin knew was that there was heavy traffic where they were headed. Of course, that was anywhere in Raygate, especially in Lacrowd Province, where most of the urban population existed. More downtown than anything else, Jobin recalled that the wonderful display he experienced was just outside of Lacrowd and closer to Coal Belt Province. Coal Belt had a lot of the adverse crime activity that their squad had to respond to.
Jobin’s eyes widened as they neared the scene. He immediately started investigating the people in the street. He recognized the path they were taking, but he didn’t think it would end specifically where he had left less than an hour ago.
“I thought Davids said it was Downtown?” Jobin immediately shot out of the parked car, parting people away with Rogerson over his shoulder.
Rogerson waved people away and ushered both himself and the shorter Indian to the center of attention. “I mean,” Rogerson started, “this is Downtown,” he gestured to the dilapidated buildings. The one to their left was the same exact one that he and the rest of the Oracle boys made their incredible exeunt from. Much to his chagrin, there were many people he recognized, but none seemed to recognize him. Jobin snapped back to the scene.
“Well, I just assumed we had to go to Coal Belt. Never had a call from Lacrowd,” Jobin argued. He flanked Rogerson, who finally breached the wall of folks. People gave and also didn’t give. Most stayed their distance from the incident. As Jobin finally could see clearly what happened, he sprinted forward to check and see if the victim was okay.
“Hey, are you alright? Can you see me?” He asked the little girl who shifted slightly. She groaned and he noticed her eyes were wet with tears. There was a black Acura less than ten yards away. A few people stepped farther away, though they looked like they were comforting the little girl. Jobin heard Rogerson asking people what happened and kept his attention divided.
“A woman just tackled her and took the impact of the car!” One lady claimed, seemingly bewildered. Jobin looked over the girl, checked her pulse and any major areas for bruises and internal bleeding. Once she looked okay, he inspected her minor lacerations while glancing over at the driver of the car, who was still in the vehicle, frantically and inaudibly screaming on the phone.
He noticed a dent in the vehicle, though no blood, no broken parts? The car must have been going pretty slowly. Rogerson asked around for the girl. People described her, but she was nowhere to be found.
Jobin looked back to the girl, curious. Who was this mysterious savior?
-
The lights in the back of the ambulance were a little too harsh for the little girl. She looked tired, her half-lidded eyes dilating because of the fluorescents. They were so strong, Jobin was told, so they could see everything clearly - so they could tell if a patient had any internal bleeding and discoloration of the skin or of there were any obstructions to the airwaves. Jobin also figured it helped the patient remain alert if they were threatened by falling unconscious and worsening their condition. He watched the IV attached to little Sarah drip some cool fluids into her sweating body. The reason why he got involved in putting on a mask and risking his life was to try to prevent things like this, to protect the people that the Enforcers didn’t care about, the people that the Suits didn’t care about.
He looked away from Sarah and sat on the uncomfortable seats they had to offer their few passengers who could sit upright. The clanging of metal rang all around, supplies clapping against their containers. These sounds smacked against Jobin’s thoughts, jarring him every now and then.
There were other supers, he knew that much. He had met them, even. He fought against them, he recognized a few of the people he treated as supers - he promised to keep their identities secret if they discovered that he knew and revealed he was the same as them. The countless nights Jobin spent trying to make sense of the things he saw in the daytime that could have been resolved if he or the boys could step up and prevent… it unnerved him.
The ambulance careened around a corner and Jobin used an outstretched foot to stabilize the gurney so it wouldn’t shift. The vehicle slowed and he inspected the locations where he fastened her in and checked her vitals again. She was doing pretty alright. He stood instinctively when they pulled into the emergency lane and the doors opened as Jobin reached Sarah’s feet. It was second-nature now: he knew how deep the step behind him was to the ground and where Rogerson planted himself to help pull out the gurney. While Rogerson took the length of it, Jobin lunged in to unravel the wheels and set Sarah down so that she would roll just above the height of his hips. To shorter-than-most Jobin, this was normal - if Sarah’s eyes were opened, she’d probably think Jobin was just as young as she was.
They turned her so they could enter the sliding doors and shut the ambulance door behind them with one hand each. The assistants came to make sure the ambulance was out of the way. Rogerson rambled off the details of the scene, since Jobin was obviously distracted, and when they left her to the care of the residential nursing staff, Rogerson doubled back to pat Jobin on the shoulder.
“You alright, man?” Rogerson continued to walk back to the driver side of the ambulance. He looked back at his little bud, but just had to make sure Jobin wasn’t going weak on him over some little girl.
Startled, Jobin realized he was looking after Sarah a little too long. Running his hands over his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose and retreated after Rogerson.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good,” Jobin replied. He climbed into the passenger seat and they coasted back onto the main street for some number of miles, Jobin watching the residential district melt away into his faint memories.
-
He furiously pressed the graphite into the paper at his desk, scratching with hollow strokes of lettering. His fingernails could have used a cleaning, but when his dark knuckles turned a little dry from friction. Cathy’s gum smacking and her incessant ping of her voice and her breathing, even - it all bothered him. She was talking to some dumbass who didn’t know where he was going or who he was looking for, he sounded so uncertain when he was asking where the EMTs were.
They’re everywhere, dumbass. Jobin reprimanded the man for not knowing that walking into a squad rescue house meant that everyone there was trained and certified to do their jobs. He didn’t even bother looking up when Cathy cleared her throat. There was a brief lilt in the conversation and he could feel their energy focusing on him.
“What, Cathy? I’m busy right now.” Jobin barked. Cathy was gonna speak, but then the guy started walking towards him. Jobin tried everything in his power not to incinerate the guy.
“Too busy for a friend to come visit you?” Familiar-sounding voices were never Jobin’s strong suit, so when he looked up, he was surprised to see one of his best friends and partners in justice, Christopher Patricks standing across his desk with his backpack looped over one shoulder. He wasn’t wearing his tuxedo mask or his three-piece suit armor or even his dress shoes: he just had on his casual, civilian clothes.
“I thought you were still with Alexa and Darin?” Jobin seemed even more stressed out, knowing it was Ditta. Cathy lived to butt into his business and any clues they gave her that he was doing stuff outside of school and work that he virtually didn’t have time for was another round of ammunition she could hold against him.
“Well, yeah, but he needs rest, not everyone hovering over him. Besides, he farts when he sleeps and I can’t deal with that and Lex.” Chris joked. He leaned over the top of his cubicle, resting his wide forearms at the edge while his round biceps and wide shoulders drooped in the space between. His back curved a little as he crossed one foot in front of the other and casually watched Jobin return to work; this was commonplace when the boys were in class and they were given a free period to catch up on any assignments they needed to complete.
Jobin nodded his response as he flipped the page. He really didn’t like paperwork, but what he didn’t like even more was Cathy’s hawk-eyes peering over at Chris’s fit frame. Chris idly glanced over at Cathy, watching her discreetly return to filing her nails or whatever she was doing behind her divider, then chuckled and threw a thumb at her when he returned his focus to his friend.
“She always this nosey?” Chris let his forearm fall on the other after he asked.
“Always, man.” Jobin mumbled, not even looking up. He rushed through the last parts of the page he was on and slammed the pen down. “Okay,” he pushed out his chair and looked Chris right into his eyes. Reclining, Jobin found a moment of peace between them that he probably cherished the most about their friendship. Maybe it was because they’d known each other since the fourth grade or perhaps it was because they spent almost three years together fighting crime and saving each other’s behinds. Whatever it was, it made for an incredible brotherly bond.
“What time do Joey and Kenny get out of practice today?” Jobin asked. He had run cross-country before. He knew the answer and Chris knew that.
There was a layer of hesitation in Chris’s voice that helped Jobin understand that the boy genuinely was thinking of the time they were planning to all reconvene.
“I don’t know, maybe like in a couple of hours?” Chris shifted his backpack so it wouldn’t fall off, then remembered something. “Oh!” He disappeared when he doubled over and bent behind the desk. They both were short, but at least Chris was a little more massive than his best friend. He reemerged with a tupperware container that had a blue lid. There were more foods stuff into it than Jobin could probably tell apart. Thankfully, it was compartmentalized and neatly done so thanks to Alexa. Chris set a plastic for Jobin on the desk too with a few napkins. These went unnoticed.
“Lex wanted me to give you this since you rushed right after school,” Ditta rose his brow at the tupperware. He ate already, but such a nice display for Jobin got him a little jealous. Jobin saw this and grinned as he reached forward to take it from his friend.
Momentarily, Jobin got to glance past the rim of his workspace to see the television that Cathy muted for the past three days. He saw an anchor with wiry bronze hair move her lips about something seemingly important. When his eyes scanned the rest of the frame, he grew subtly alarmed. Chris picked up on this and turned to face the television. It was the building in Lacrowd.
“Cathy, turn on the T.V.” Jobin demanded.
Cathy took her sweet time distracting herself from her nails to find the clicker. She turned the volume up a few times and Jobin’s attention floored to the little picture they displayed just to the left of the anchor’s large head. Jobin didn’t glance at Ditta. Ditta didn’t look back at him. They didn’t need Fore to link their thoughts or anything to know what they were thinking.
“Whoa, that’s pretty crazy,” Chris admitted, surprised. He leaned with his back against Jobin’s desk, making sure to support himself so he didn’t knock it over like an empty plastic bottle. “In Lacrowd? You guys don’t get a lot of traffic there, do you?” Chris projected his attention to Cathy. The more she believed they were civilians, the simpler this would be to resolve - Callahan was probably eating this up right now.
Jobin shrunk back to his desk, snatching up his phone and sending a message instantly to their group conversation. Ditta’s phone flickered to life in his pocket, but he didn’t notice because he was too busy with Cathy.
“Actually, Jobey just got back from responding in Lacrowd!” She sang. Chris already knew this, but he feigned astonishment. Whirling around to his original position at the cubicle, he leaned over into his friend’s face.
“You did?” He subtly teased the boy, wondering what the odds were that he’d been there twice in less than three hours and no one noticed him. The wonders a uniform and mask could do. “Did you get a good look at what happened?” Ditta asked.
Jobin glared up at Chris, obliging in their front. The jock knew what that glare meant: pure unamusement. “Yes,” Jobin sighed. “Me and Rog actually reported to a pedestrian and auto-collision.” Jobin watched Chris’s eyes spark with worry. If there was a chance Chris could have protected little Sarah, Jobin believed he would have made it happen.
“The girl is alright. The driver was just frenzied. They were talking about a woman who jumped out in front of the car to save her or something.” Jobin waved his hand, mumbling so Cathy didn’t hear him. Much to his chagrin, her bony finger ripped through the sky, presenting her interjection with a shrill voice.
“Actually, I heard about that girl!” Cathy’s lids lowered in sudden pleasure of the gossip.
Jobin cut his eyes at her desk and was very tempted to set her ablaze. “How’d you hear anything? It just happened.”
Cathy had her ways, she would let it be known, and she was going to meddle as long as she could manage. “People, Jobey. They talk. Words get spread and, y’know. Those things happen!” It was commonsense, how could he be so foolish?
The fire maniac looked back at Chris, pleading for his best friend to knock her into next week so they could just leave. Chris took the signal and nodded, retreating from the cubicle.
“Wow, that’s crazy. And she didn’t want to get into the ambulance?” Chris watched Cathy and Jobin exchange a glance. The woman was enjoying this silence way too much but Chris honestly just wanted answers. He clenched his jaw as she rose out of her seat to walk outside of her cubicle and lean against its wall with her arms crossed.
“I heard,” she spoke with a softer tone, looking momentarily over her shoulder and leaning in slightly from her waist, “the girl disappeared on contact!”
Jobin rose from his chair, his wheels yelling all of his frustrations. “No, no, that’s all wrong,” he wanted to insult the woman but that definitely wasn’t appropriate. “She was laying with the girl in her arms and then she woke up, inspected the girl and by the time someone approached her in the street, she had vanished. That’s what happened,” Jobin corrected.
Chris locked eyes with Jobin and Jobin nodded. They had another super to look out for. Not too many were surfacing in civilian settings, so the few that did ensured that the Oracle Protectors had an obligation to keep them safe. At the very least, as best the Protectors could manage. Chris backpedaled, inspecting his watch and then pulling his phone from his pants pocket. He slid it open and inspected the message Jobin sent.
“Oh, Alexa just called me,” he lied to cover up any suspicions that Cathy possibly could have and threw his thumb over his shoulder, shrugging his backpack to a more comfortable spot. “I gotta run, but text me when you get off alright man?”
“Thanks for the dinner,” Jobin called. He didn’t look at Cathy and sat back in his seat, nodding to Chris when the boy opened the door and looked back. “See ya.”
The door shut and Jobin was left with only the murmuring of the television and Cathy’s hard heels to battle against his thoughts. Cathy seemed satisfied by this moment of gossip, but Jobin’s mind was reeling.
If that woman was still out there, she knew she wasn’t going to be caught. Which meant she was either working for the government or working against the government. Jobin hoped it was the latter, because if she was against the government and against the Protectors, he wasn’t sure how well they would be able to recover from the episode with Callahan.
He opened the tupperware and dug in with a plastic fork Ditta left on his desk. The text messages bubbled on his screen from the group all because of one thing he sent.
News on Lacrowd. OP Media alert. Stay away. Center later.
They would suit up to go to the city center later and check out the machine Callahan was showing. Hopefully, they’ll be able to stop it completely.
 Montferer - Maestro · Mon Sep 19, 2016 @ 03:36am · 0 Comments |
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