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“I need you to look at something,” I say.
“I’m rather busy,” the woman responds. I’m sure she’s busy trying to figure out how to make the situation look more dire than it was.
“I need this now.” The conviction in my voice must make her cave because she nods and looks over at me.
“What is it?” she asks.
I show her the spot. “Landon moves here.”
“So?”
“No, can you play it by frame or slow it down or whatever?”
She tinkers with the computer for a bit before leaning back for me to see, playing it at a quarter of the speed until we get to the moment I was focused on. Landon goes from having his body angled at me, looking my way, to immediately facing Hannah in a split second before he sends her flying.
“Oh shit. It’s like when you freeze time. Did you freeze time?” the woman asks.
“No, I didn’t.”
“But it shows the same pattern, yeah? Canhefreeze time?”
“No… there are no other supers registered that can freeze time besides August,” Valerie says as she rushes forward to watch it again. “But even if someone froze time, why did he think she was attacking?”
“He said she had a knife. Where the hell is Landon? And… what was your name?”
“Jaya.”
“Jaya, can you please clip that and send it to us?” I ask.
“Of course. I’ll get right on that,” she says as she turns back to her computer.
As she works on that, Valerie turns to me. “We need a count of everyone in the building. I need to figure out if the audience already left and then shut the building down. No one else comes or goes without being thoroughly searched and documented,” she demands as she rushes off barking orders, which is what she does best.
Leaving her to it, I pull out my phone and send a text to Landon.
Me: Where are you?
Silence.
Valerie and I will be having a chat after this. A chat she probably won’t enjoy that involves no longer bossing Landon around. But why did helistenand leave? He never listens to her. Did he really feel guilty about it?
When I get outside the room, I find Valerie spitting threats at the security team who seem to have already let the audience go. All that’s left are workers, reporters, and paramedics who are going, “Ma’am, I really don’t think your arm is broken if you’re able to wave it around like that.”
“No, it is! See!” Hannah says as she stuffs her arm into their faces.
They look more annoyed than anything as she climbs onto a gurney without waiting for them.
“Dave! Dave! Get my picture! Hurry!” she says as she dramatically flops down on it while trying her best to look like death.
“Of what?” Dave asks.
“Hurry, Dave! Make me look absolutely crushed.” Hannah quickly sits up, like something life altering has just dawned on her. “I need blood. Janice, I need you to cut your arm! Quickly, now! A good bit would be preferable!”
Janice hurries off like she didn’t hear her. Unperturbed, Hannah splashes water onto her face before flopping down on the gurney as “Dave” grudgingly lifts his camera.
I step in front of the shot, which seems to ruin her entire life as she’s packed up and sent on her way without a single picture. There’s a lot of screaming about “Just one picture!” as she struggles so hard that she ends up flipping the gurney just as they go to load it. Watching the whole scene unfold makes me regret that Landon isn’t here to enjoy it. I don’t even think there’s a mutter of apology as she’s picked up and stuffed into the ambulance like they’re pretending that the gurney hadn’t nearly crushed her. I’m sure she’ll blame the damages on Landon as well.
I look over at Dave who puts his camera away. “I would apologize for Landon tossing you in the river, but I don’t think I’m going to,” I inform him, which is weirdly freeing. I love the realization that I don’thaveto excuse other people’s bad behavior.
