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“I’m… going to be honest, that thing concerns me.”
“All mine.”
“I think he put some of my hair in it. I felt this weird patch of short hair on the back of my head earlier today.”
“That makes it even more special.”
“And he cut a square out of my cape for the cape.”
I start laughing. “God, I love it.”
“Well, I guess I’m glad something that’s supposed to be me gives you so much joy.”
“Beyond joy,” I assure him. “So on nights you’re out saving the world, I can squeeze it to me and wish you home safely.”
He kisses me gently as he brushes my dark hair off my forehead. “I’ll always come home to you.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
AUGUST
“Look, look, look!” Lex says as he comes running into the room where we’d been sitting at the table talking about our next course of action—oh, and Landon showing absolutely everyone who will even look his way his new doll of me. Lex pops his laptop down in front of us. “There’s a live update going on where Valerie is being interviewed by that Dennis guy.”
They’re already in the middle of talking, the focus on Valerie who is currently speaking. “It has come to my attention that on July third of last year, some reports were tampered with. For years, Chronobender has held this city up on his shoulders and has dealt with its protection alone as the primary superhero. July third of last year was no different. As many of you recall, that was the day that Alloy had taken four people hostage in the Atlas shopping center. Accounts state that the damage and injuries that took place that day were caused by Alloy when he attacked Chronobender, but recent events have brought to light that the extent of what happened was covered up by the state in order to protect Superheroes United across the country.
“The truth is that this city and many across the country—and possibly across the world—are being overrun with a lack of control. The heroes who are capable of standing at the forefront after making it through the rigorous training required are extremely rare. But in recent years, we’ve had an influx of people who believe that they are powerful enough to take on people like Alloy.
“When a group of citizens took it upon themselves to attack Alloy, they caused the building’s collapse. The hole one citizen blew into the side of the building caused the supporting walls to drop, which resulted in a shifting of the building that led to multiple people who’d chosen to stand outside to watch the scene to come under harm and even caused two deaths. I repeat, the building’s collapse was not caused by Alloy, neither was the death of the two bystanders when the building collapsed. Because Chronobender was forced to deal with this event to save the lives of others who would’ve fallen to the same fate, it gave Alloy time to prepare for the fight and lost Chronobender the upper hand.”
Valerie takes a deep breath and rubs at her face before starting again. “We cannot place full blame on these citizens either. Because it is our job as law enforcement and members of Superheroes United to secure the area so that people cannot reach the crime scene. Instead, what I saw was these citizens being allowed past the security line. What is even worse is that the collapse of the building forced medical personnel to remain fixated on the injured people and left no one to help Chronobender who kept Alloy busy while we should have been saving the hostages. No one went in for the hostages that day. A mistake that caused the death of four people: two women, a man, and even a sixteen-year-old girl, all who lost their lives due to our negligence. And instead of allowing these families to grieve, it was covered up in an attempt to keep fingers from being pointed at law enforcement and Superheroes United. We are just a small part of the whole system that protects cities across the world, but we need to protectourcity andourcitizens. I have just recently learned that these families were paid off to keep quiet, and the victims’ deaths were rewritten.
Valerie turns and stares right into the camera. “I want to say that things have gotten better, but they haven’t. The city continues to run wild with hero wannabes and people who think simply having powers gives them the right to take action. From this point on,anyperson who interrupts a crime in progress will face jail time dependent on each individual case. If any citizen stops to watch an attack, robbery, and so on, they will be arrested and removed. You expect us to keep the city safe; we expect you to help us so that you will not get caught up in what happens. This city is going to make great strides toward a safer community, not only for the citizens but for our heroes who risk their lives every day to keep it safe. We will honor the dead and those whose lives were lost in one of our biggest mistakes. We cannot let this happen again. Superheroes United will not be taking questions about this. As we learn more, we will make sure you are kept aware, but for now, we need to remain focused.”
The screen shifts off Valerie and Dennis and onto an “in memory of” concerning those who died.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Landon says.
It was. “So like Deus said, if the woman who died was Ned’s wife… we can speculate that the others he was working with were possibly related to the other victims,” I say.
“Right,” Ellison says as he slides his phone over. I pick it up and look down at Dave’s face. “His sixteen-year-old daughter supposedly died in a car accident on July third.”
“Fucking hell,” Landon says as he grabs the phone and stares at Dave’s picture. “But then who killed him? And why?”
Deus leans back in his chair. “Like I was saying before, a game of revenge isn’t always what people think it’s going to be. They want revenge for something that’s happened to someone they care about, but if they were raised without the capacity for violence… there’s no saying that they can actually do what it takes. Many people break when they’re forced to kill, which is why they’d do something like have a middleman hire supers to kill you guys, like the man who put the price on your head.”
“But why August?” Landon asks. “They’re clearly targeting us.”
“They’re targeting the people who made the death of their loved ones a joke,” I say. “Yeah, they could target some head of state that no one sees and interacts with or even cares about, or they could target me. The face on everything to deal with Superheroes United in this city, and honestly, beyond this city.”
“True,” Landon says. “I just hate it when people point at you like you’re to blame even though you’re one person. Makes me want to grab them and fucking chuck them out into the ocean and—”
“Yesssss,” Deus says, looking excited, while on the other hand, I feel like Deus’s reaction should show Landon that such an idea is a very bad one. “And then what?”
“I would—”
“Stay on task,” Ellison barks, derailing the Landon and Deus sadist train.
