Hello!
I just checked the posting date on issue #38, and was stunned to
discover that it's been a little over three months since the last
issue appeared on the newsgroup... blame it on RealLife Christmas
Chaos and the sheep, along with a bunch of nasty prep for grad
school getting in the way. I'm trying to avoid more gaps like that...
Since the arc picks up right after this issue, most of the guys'
appearances in other series occur between scenes in this issue,
particularly Paytan's bit in Teens in Trenchcoats #8 (which is is
incidentally, really good stuff) which should be showing up on
the net pretty soon...
Thanks must go to those who commented on the last issue, namely
Rory Bryant, Kelly Anderson, Jamas Enright, JT, Ken Schmidt and Jaelle,
with particular thanks to Ben Rawluk or putting up with my poking and
prodding for the last few months.
Enjoy!
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DERELICT Press Presents
The thirty-ninth issue of
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" Joyride "
Crowns: Part 1 of 5
A psuedo-Acraphobe title
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.'COVER`._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
The hoverbike floats a few feet off the ground. Paytan stands
laughing on the handlebars, arms flung up high. Brittany is sitting on
the back of the bike, staring distantly out into nothing. And Savannah
leans against the bike's midsection, watching the reader silently through
a brand-new pair of glasses.
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
I read a book and it said death
Dead it said, dead the seagulls
dropping from the clocktower
on extended wings, dead the watchman
running his stick along the ribs
of a fence at the dark factory, dead light
squeaking over the horizon to play
for a last red minute on my body
bent on a green bench by the gazebo.
And with each dead chime of six o'clock
I shook like a flower under the large rain.
And with each dead chime of six o'clock
I considered eating something greasy and bad,
quesadillas and mu-shu, backribs and gravy,
and I walked uptown past the theatre
on dead streets through dead time,
and a dead child smiled exactly at me
and the night smelled like orange trees
and I said hello to a perfect dead stranger
gave a buck to a homeless man
and I was happy, I was happy.
-- Tony Barnstone "I Read a Book and it Said Death"
A cool wind came in from Net.ropolis, rushing over the roof of
the LNHHQ.
Brittany sat and stared up at the stars, arms covered in
goosebumps, the patchwork trenchcoat laying at her feet. She hadn't had
goosebumps in years. Not since she was seven and they modified her
skeleton, took her body and made it their own. But no needles sprang
from her fingers now. Every bone was calcium, without a trace of metal
or high-density ceramics.
She had been dead. And now she _wasn't_.
Overhead, the moon hung bright and round, surrounded by a panoply
of stars. The city beneath was a mirror image of speckled lights
stretching out into forever. Brittany traced one hand over the name that
Kismet had carved into the LNHHQ roof, the golden-winged girl's way of
saying goodbye. Brittany wished she could have been there to send her
off, hoped that she had made it home safe and sound.
Hopefully Paytan was still safe and sound, sleeping downstairs.
Brittany resisted the urge to go down and check on her, make sure she
hadn't been swept grabbed up from the peaceful night and into Hell, into
the hands of the demons. Time was short and very precious, but she
doubted Paytan would appreciate someone checking up on her every fifteen
minutes or so.
So she stayed up on the roof, and did her best not to feel that
somehow she shouldn't be breathing.
She had been DEAD! And now she was ALIVE, and the whole world
shone through like a cascading carousel of glorious motion, everything in
extremes. And she was standing still. Life was about movement, and she
had stopped.
Before... she had been the Avatar, broken. Her destiny, fulfilled
and fouled at the same time. But she wasn't an Avatar now. She wasn't
even a cyborg. Just another member of the Reeves family, as she had
learned when she returned for the funerals. After everyone had
determined that she was okay, the only thing they asked about was Sarah.
And what was wrong with that? Why not be concerned about a new
Avatar who wouldn't even come to her family's funerals? Brittany was
concerned, but she didn't know what to do about it. Binky wasn't hers
anymore. She didn't have a say.
She felt out of place, as if she had gotten on a train after it
had already left the station, and no one expected her to be there. She
hadn't done anything to merit a second chance. This was no three day
resurrection, no blessing from on high. She was back for one reason
alone.
Paytan wanted her here.
And Brittany could not help but glory in living again.
The sky was clear tonight, though it felt like there should have
been clouds on the horizon, heavy and black. The future coming closer
every minute. As if these few days were simply the gap between the second
an arrow is loosed and the second it slams through flesh with a sickening
thud. The space of a single breath. But what a beautiful breath it was.
Brittany felt the tears begin then, chill traces down her face,
and pressed her hands into the rough surface of the roof until they hurt.
She bent her head down to touch the ground, the curve of her spine
becoming the highest part of her. The cool air moved across her skin.
The whole night smelled of cold water, the musty stone of the roof, and
Net.ropolis's own perfume of smoke-filled exhaust. She held herself still
and drew it all in, like a drowning woman dragged in air.
Sounds of traffic in the distance. Voices from beneath her,
coming up through the building. The ache from her palms and the way her
breath looked, turning to pale mist in the darkness. The richness of it
rolling through her in wave after wave.
Life.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Savannah leaned in to look at the display case a little more
closely. Inside, pair upon pair of glasses sat nestled on their stands.
She had her eye on a pair with black frames that gleamed under the store
lights. They were probably, she thought with a thrill of excitement,
plastic. Probably! But she didn't know for sure. Maybe if she tapped
them against something, but she couldn't tell by just looking. Not
anymore. She wouldn't know until she actually picked them up and held
them in her hands. No more powers.
In some universal irony, or last cruel trick by the angels, she
was farsighted. The glasses in her hands were for reading, because once
something got close enough to her it got all blurry. Rather like the
current situation with her and Bryan.
She heard him come up behind her with a slow and hesitating step.
They'd been together since this morning, but neither of them had brought
up what they'd both been meaning to talk about for so long. She was a
hero. He was a villain. This wasn't something they could ignore forever.
"So," coughed Bryan.
"So," replied Savannah softly.
"Maybe we should go outside?"
She nodded, and told the woman behind the counter to order the
frames for her, and that she'd pick them up within the next few days.
She glanced up at Bryan, and for a moment forgot everything when
he didn't wince away from her gaze. Ever since her powers had flared into
existence no one had been able to look her in the eye for more than
thirty seconds. She drank in the sight of his eyes until they both grew
uncomfortable and looked away.
She remembered looking into Viveka's eyes during those last few
moments, finding Brittany's body on edge of the sea, the way Kismet
looked just before she left, Nei standing on the edge of the roof in the
Amazon. She couldn't take losing someone again. Not Bryan.
"So, um, how evil _are_ you, exactly?" she asked.
He threw up his hands. "I'm not evil! The Junior Brotherhood of
Net.Villains was the best way to find The Reality."
"And they just happened to run around robbing banks and
sheltering long-time villains like Censor Girl. The LNH would have helped
you."
"The LNH didn't help when we all got turned into Zomkicks. And
Mr.Fossavellus knew about the Reality, even if he didn't say much. The
LNH files don't have much of anything on them."
"Well, you've found them now, right? The Reality."
"But it's _more_ than that, now. The Reality was hunting all of
us, at one time or another. There's a bond... we're a team. They'd fall
apart without me there."
Savannah picked at her fingernails so she wouldn't have to look
at him. "Couldn't you all just become heroes? Transfer over?"
"I'm pretty sure Dust and Mr.Fossavellus wouldn't much welcome
the LNH, first off. But how would being a hero be any different? We're
just going after the Reality, really."
"You robbed banks."
He smiled hopefully. "Maybe we'll stop."
"Bryan, I don't want to go out on some routine mission and find
out I'm fighting _you_! What if one of the other LNHers brings you in for
something you've done? Am I supposed to just spring you when no one's
looking?"
Bryan took a deep breath. "Well, that's what I've been thinking
about. How many missions do you think you're going to be going on,
anytime soon, really?"
"What do you mean? However many they give us."
"Even with the current... situation?"
"Us?"
"Not having any powers."
"Oh." Savannah froze. With all the noise and blunder and Brittany
coming back, she hadn't thought things through that far.
"And anyway, you haven't been on that many missions in the last
week or so, right? I haven't seen you, Paytan, and Brittany together
lately..."
"Brittany's been with her folks for the last few days," said
Savannah, her mind still running on automatic. She hadn't been much of
much use during battle in the first place, but now? Would she be any use
at all? "Now that Brit's gotten back, Paytan's with her or Allen all the
time."
"Can't really blame her," he said.
She stopped for a minute, and thought of Paytan. "No, I guess you
can't. Bryan, I have to mull this over."
He half-shrugged. "A lot's been going on lately. Maybe we should
talk about this later?" he suggested. She smiled up at him brightly, and
shoved the thoughts of her new powerless state and Paytan's undeniable
future to the back of her mind. She leaned forward and kissed him softly,
pulling back a moment later to look him dead in the eye.
He didn't wince away.
"You wanna go for lunch?" she smiled, and they stood and went
hand-in-hand down the street.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
"She's a monster!" yelled Allen, pushing Paytan away as she got
inside his personal space.
Paytan glared at him, her eyes blazing a bright neon green. His
heart ached as he looked at her, he loved the way she looked when she
was angry. If only she wasn't being an idiot about the creature everyone
seemed to think was Brittany.
"Allen Knewbee, if you even _think_ about hurting her there won't
be enough of you left to fill a thimble!" she snarled.
"You don't get it, do you?!" he spat at her. "She could be
_anything_. If some creature's taken her shape -- "
"Are you hearing me? I will DESTROY you!" she screamed in his
face.
He believed her. Ever since she stood before the two falling
angels, that ancient book cradled in her hands, Paytan had been radiating
power. Sometimes when his hands touched her skin he could have sworn she
was actually on fire. Even now the air around her shimmered just a little,
a pale green like the heat waves coming off cement in the high heat of
summer. He believed she could do it. But believing she would was
something else.
"You have no way of knowing! You have no proof that she is who
you think she is!"
"I swear by every sacred thing that I did this right! I _felt_ it
work. I paid so much -- "
"Just because you sacrificed doesn't mean the universe is going
to give you a break. Payton --"
"Don't you ever speak her name. You think just because she got
screwed, I will too? Trying to be there for the both of us. She died."
"Payton was made into *my* sacrifice for my career," Allen
snapped out, his voice hard. "Don't you dare tell me that paying in
blood makes things turn out all right!" He held her gaze until she was
forced to concede that point.
"And I do have proof." Paytan looked away, going quiet. "She
acts like herself. Little stuff that some faker couldn't get. She's
already named that big bruise she got when the Ewok slammed into her in
the caverns. Leon."
Allen felt his face become a mask. "How would you know? She went
home the morning after you brought her back. She's not due back until
tomorrow."
"She got back yesterday afternoon. We stayed up late. Talking."
"You stupid...!" Allen took a step toward her and raised his
hand, slowly curling it into a fist. Paytan bared her teeth and closed
the distance between them and jammed her face into his. Neon green
flared around every inch of her.
"I do what I choose," she hissed.
"You'll get yourself killed!"
"Too late," she retorted, and grabbed his shirt in both hands,
driving them back a few steps. "I'm gone already. Just think of me like
that. We don't have much time left, so don't waste it!"
"I don't want to loose you any sooner than I have to," he
whispered, his eyes gazing into hers, his body responding to her
demanding physical presence. Her grip loosened.
"Then don't," she breathed, and kissed him. It was only a few
steps to the left, then they were on his bed, their violence finding
other forms of release.
He would deal with Brittany, Allen told himself briefly before
all thought slipped away, later, when Paytan wasn't around.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Sarah Loman was halfway out of the city when her bus stopped at a
traffic light, and never started moving again. The light just wouldn't
turn green.
While she waited for someone in charge to do something, she
cradled Binky in her lap and watched him drift to and fro. She would have
left the fish back with the net.heroes, but it would have been an obvious
tip-off that she'd bolted. And she wanted to be very far away before
anyone even thought of coming after her. Maybe if she got home fast
enough, she'd even have time to lock her doors.
She hated running. She didn't like the idea that they'd come
after her, eventually. But the thought of the Avatar of Skaine's treaty
gave her a sick feeling in the center of her stomach. Signing it was just
as good as admitting she was the Avatar of Binky, for anyone who cared to
find out. Like putting it in big neon lights, in case someone was looking
for the avatar of a minor cosmic power to fight. She'd had enough of that
already.
She stared down into the waters of the fishbowl. Binky was at the
bottom, facing out toward the seat in front of her. He wouldn't look at
her, no matter how she turned the bowl or tapped against the glass.
The light still hadn't turned green, and the traffic pouring
through the intersection showed no signs of opening up to let them
through. Mystified, the bus driver finally just opened the doors and let
everyone off onto the street. Sarah groaned as she stepped out onto the
busy Net.ropolis pavement. Maybe there was another bus terminal nearby.
In front of her a storefront window shielded a bank of television
sets, her image centered on every one. A camera from within the store was
catching her image and beaming it back hundredfold. Her hair was frizzy,
tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. The scratch that ran
from her cheek and down her neck had faded to a pale pink line, enough to
distract the eye but nothing more. The golden bracelet she couldn't get
off her wrist was hidden beneath one of the long jacket sleeves. Other
than that nothing had changed. Same old Sarah.
I look like me, she thought, and reached out to touch the glass
store window.
Every screen flared a bright electric blue. She bolted.
Anger helped speed her as she tore through the crowds of
pedestrians, dodging around person after person. The net.heroes were
faster on the uptake than she'd thought. Behind her someone with a faint
Indian accent was crying out for her to stop. Fat chance. She took a
quick left and nearly fell as she ran down the stairs into the
Net.ropolis subway system.
She ducked around a man with a briefcase and hopped the low fence
around the ticket booths, sprinting into the lobby area full of worn down
plastic chairs. She nearly bowled over some poor old woman with two huge
bags of groceries, while unnoticed in the background an ATM in the wall
began to glow faintly.
A massive electric blue bolt roared from the ATM into the subway
lobby and tossed Sarah to the floor. Net.ropolis subway riders, normally
immune to the aboveground daily superhero battles, sprinted for the
stairs. The coruscation of energy solidified into a young man hovering a
foot or so off the ground, still rimmed in blue energy.
"WOULD YOU JUST _STOP_!?" screamed Kalyani Sahay, Avatar of
Skaine. He took a fuming breath and paused to glare at her. "For a
moment. So we can talk?"
"I'm going home," she hissed.
"I will follow you to the ends of the Earth. I will follow you to
your grave until you sign this treaty between our families."
"Why!? Can't you just leave me alone!? Let me go home!"
"Because someday you will die," he said loudly, "And I don't want
another war from your successor. If I have to freeze every traffic light
from here to your doorstep, I will."
"I'm not going to die!"
Kalyani took a deep breath and leaned back a little. "So you're
suddenly immortal, then?" he asked dryly.
Sarah levered herself up to a standing position and closed her
eyes. Energy flared around her in bursts of gold-black-fuscia, and she
rose off the ground until she was eye-to-eye with Kalyani. "Look, if I
die, some member of the family will get the powers, right? So what do you
have to worry about?"
"Exactly that. The Reeves have a long memory, and my predecessors
wreaked havoc through their bloodline. If you die I fear they will fall
upon me and mine like rabid dogs. And I have better things to do with my
life than fight a pointless, endless war for something I had nothing to
do with."
"I didn't have anything to do with all that, either! Why should I
have to pay for it?"
"What's to pay!? Sign the treaty, do whatever you want with the
rest of your life -- "
"I don't want my name on a piece of paper! I don't want it
anywhere!"
They hovered for a moment, watching each other angrily. Then the
blue glow dimmed around Kalyani, disappearing as he settled to the tiled
floor of the subway station. He sat carefully in one of the worn chairs,
elbows on his knees. "May I ask why you're so worried about your name?"
"I don't want anyone to find me," she said, and spoke louder when
he raised his eyebrow. "If you have my name, then all someone has to do
is look me up in the phonebook, or -- "
"Sarah, do you honestly think the world is going to let you be
forgotten? You are an Avatar of a minor cosmic power. Eventually they
will come to you. The Reeves family if no one else. As I understand it,
my predecessor Draen crippled their last Avatar. They haven't had a fully
powered one for thirteen years or so. Do you think they'll let you go
home so easily, back to your old life?"
"They have to," whispered Sarah. "I never wanted this."
"Lots of things happen to people that they never wanted." He
smiled tentatively at her. "Look, I don't care what you do, as long as
you sign the treaty. Disappear to the arctic for all I care. I won't
bother you ever again, and we can even make that a clause, if you like."
Sarah didn't say anything for a moment, simply looked off down
the subway tunnel as she thought. "Make Brittany do it."
"What?"
"Make my half-sister sign your treaty. She used to be the Avatar.
Her signature's probably as good as mine."
"That's honestly her? Not some simulacrum, a golem, but Brittany
Reeves, risen?"
"Yeah," said Sarah. She didn't actually know for certain, having
avoided Paytan, Brittany, and everyone else since they'd returned from
that horrifying trip into the tunnels beneath the city. But she knew when
to lie.
"Fine," said Kalyani. "If she agrees."
halfway through her sigh of relief, Sarah stopped. "If she
_agrees_?"
"If she agrees to be your proxy, then I will accept her signature
in lieu of yours. You'll have to convince her."
"How!?"
"Perhaps you should try speaking with her."
"I don't even know where she _is_!"
"Well, who would know where to find her?"
Sarah thought for a moment, glowering. "That demon chick, Paytan.
The one who brought her back. They spend most of their time together
lately."
"One who has just returned, and one who will soon be gone," said
Kalyani. "Of course they have a bond."
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Paytan found Brittany standing on the front steps of the LNHHQ a
half hour before midnight, watching the night. The stars gleamed
overhead, the city lights glowed around them. They stood shoulder to
shoulder and looked out over the city.
"How are you feeling?" asked Paytan.
"Very zen."
They watched as a lone car rounded the corner and sped down the
street in front of the LNHHQ, running a red light in the process. The
faintest of pale green glows hovered around Paytan's skin, washoff of the
power she held within her.
"You said you wanted to talk?"
"Yeah," said Brit. "Let's go for a ride."
"Now? All I've got is a T-shirt -- " Everything went dark as a
fabric was flung over her head.
"Here," she heard Brit say, then pulled it off herself. Brit's
trenchcoat, the patchwork colors worn and soft in her hands.
"Oh perfect. Now _you'll_ freeze."
"No, I'll be cold." Brittany grinned. "It'll be neat!"
They pulled out onto the road, Brittany's hoverbike throwing a
yellow glow on the road beneath them. Brit kicked up the hover
capabilities until they were sailing off the ground by eight feet or so,
and hit the gas. Paytan hung on, and tried not to feel weird as the
trenchcoat flapped behind her in the wind. She never wore trenchcoats.
But it _was_ warm.
They passed into the suburbs of Net.ropolis a few moments later.
Tall buildings were replaced by residential streets and strip malls,
roads with fewer lanes and more trees along the sides. They pulled up to
a train crossing with the bars down and lights flashing, and Brit let the
hoverbike rumble to a stop. Paytan felt the other girl shift nervously
back and forth.
"Paytan?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to be here, anymore."
Paytan didn't reply. The train arrived in a roar, windows
flickering by almost too fast to see, the people inside sleeping,
reading, or looking out the windows at them. Hundreds of lives, here and
gone in seconds. Then it was past, the bars raised up, and they were off
again.
The buildings got more run-down, and eventually disappeared
entirely. They were rushing over a long road, and the air, no longer
drowned in city stench, smelled of the sea.
"Look," shouted Paytan, "Did you ever just charge on into
something, and halfway through it realize you looked like an idiot? But
you stayed, right? Until you got better at it?"
Brittany nodded.
"So stay in the damn game now, then!"
She knew Brittany smiled at that, even though she couldn't see
it. Then the other girl really kicked in the engine, and the air roared
around them, ice cold and salty. It really was a beautiful night.
In a flash the road bent out for a moment over the waters, so
close that it must have been threatened during high tides. Brittany
gunned the hovercycle, holding it to the curves even though it could have
headed out over the water just as easily.
Paytan stood suddenly, calves clenched around the body of the
bike to keep her steady, head thrown back so she could see the stars. The
wind battered her, slammed into her cheeks and beat against her chest
like a live thing, but she held on and opened her arms to the night sky.
Let the wind do as it wished.
She could see their reflections in the water, Brittany leaning
into the handlebars, working her way against the road and the gears,
playing games with gravity and friction to nurse more speed out of the
great black hovercycle that was already howling across the dark pavement.
Paytan could see herself, the trenchcoat caught by the wind and flung out
behind her in a wave of patchwork color.
Then the clouds moved and moonlight washed across them, set the
colors on fire with a wild inner glow until it seemed she wore a cascade
of lights, bright even in the pitch of night, flung out behind her and
glowing even through the darkness, even then. Like wings.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
She hadn't meant to be avoiding Brittany, but that was what it
boiled down to. Every time she saw her Savannah felt a wave of grief rise
up inside her.
The sight of Brittany called up images in her mind like
bomb-blasts. That silent, bloody, seashore and the bodies lying there,
linked with loss strong enough to jolt her heart. They were always
quickly overtaken by relief, but that didn't matter. Though she knew in
her head that things had changed, she couldn't seem to convince her
heart.
Somewhere she couldn't control, deep inside, Savannah was still
mourning.
Which was why, when she turned the corner early in the morning
and saw Brittany on one of the fourth floor balconies, she nearly turned
around and went back the way she came. But instead she stopped, and
watched for a moment. Brittany's head was tilted down, as if she were
watching something on the street far below.
Savannah tried once again to convince herself that the horrible
scene on that small island had been... not undone, but counteracted. Then
Brittany turned and saw her, and waved. Savannah waved back, and went out
on the balcony. They stood quietly while Savannah stared at her hands,
trying to think of something to say.
"You're bringing the gingham quilt, right?" she finally asked.
Brit clapped her hands together. "And juice! See, those people
over there?" Brittany leaned over the edge to point at a couple walking
down the sidewalk. "They just went into the flower shop, but didn't buy
anything. And those people in the cars... on their way home from work -- "
She nattered on, clinging to the conversation like a life raft.
Savannah remembered the look on Brittany's face just before the other
girl had turned and realized she was being watched. So distant. It
occurred to her that Brittany might still be mourning, too, somehow.
Which made her think of something else, and in the weirdness of
the whole situation she just blurted it out.
"What are we going to do without Paytan?"
"No." Brit shut down, all the light leaving her face.
"Brit, we're going to loose her eventually."
"We won't."
"They'll summon her, and without Dirmarw -- "
"We'll go after her."
"Brittany..."
"We'll go after her!"
Savannah gave her a sad look. "Us and what army? We're
considerably weaker than the last time we went in." Paytan made things so
that it was either you or her, thought Savannah, and then made the
universe choose her. But she didn't say it.
"We can't just let it happen," said Brittany.
"We'll die, Brit. We've been lucky, so lucky. But you weren't,
and the reason this is going to happen is because she brought you back.
You're going to waste it?"
Brittany gave a little smile. "Every second is a gift," she said.
"It was worth it already. I'll go without you, if you like. I'm going to
go in now, and look at the orchids."
And she did.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
"You're back. I found you," said a voice behind her on the stairs
outside of the LNHHQ. Brittany turned and came face to face with her
half-sister.
The girl had Binky under one arm, her face screwed up into a
grimace of displeasure. There was a pale scratch line running across her
cheek and down her neck, and she looked tired. The last time Brittany had
seen her, she'd been in a crib.
"Hey Sarah. How are you?" she asked softly.
"I had to go ask Paytan where you were. She told me to go blow
myself."
"Yup, that's Paytan."
They watched each other awkwardly for a moment, until Brittany
started again. "Sarah, how _are_ you -- "
"You just disappeared."
Brittany stopped, gave a small smile. "I had to go home."
"And leave everyone here?"
"There were funerals to attend," said Brittany quietly.
"Then you came back pretty fast, huh?"
"I was there for the ceremonies, but no one was sure what to do
with me," said Brit, fingering the buttons on her trenchcoat but watching
Sarah. "They kept asking after you."
"I don't want to be the Avatar, you know."
"Neither did I, not then," whispered Brit, and Sarah stopped.
Brittany looked inquiringly at the fishbowl in Sarah's arms. "Are you
feeding him?"
Sarah was horrified. "Am I supposed to?"
"No. Cosmic powers don't need to eat. But lately he's had these
ice cream cravings." Brittany turned and started to walk down the main
path, with Sarah a few steps behind. The other girl glanced at the fish,
then at Brittany.
"What kind? Of ice cream, I mean?"
"I always gave him butterscotch ripple. But I noticed he had his
eye on the daiquiri ice last time." Sarah looked at the goldfish, then
glanced quickly away.
"He doesn't even look at me."
"He will." Brittany stopped at one of the benches that lay
scattered across LNHHQ grounds, leaned against it and watched Binky. "He
wouldn't look at me for months after Mom died."
Sarah turned the bowl this way and that, but Binky wouldn't face
her. Finally she just set him down on the bench seat and flopped down
beside him. They both looked out at the city for a moment, the sun
beating down on them with the fresh insistence of a new day.
"What was she like?"
Brittany looked at her hands, folded with one thumb resting over
the other. Then she shoved them into her trenchcoat pockets. "Perfect."
They didn't say anything for a while. Brittany hunkered down next
to the bench until she was on eye level with the fishbowl. "How's Ron
doing?"
"Dad? He's okay. He lost his job last year, but he got another
one. The drive's longer." She stared into thin air as if she could see
the man in front of her, her home and town. "He never talks about you."
Binky had begun to brush his side up against the glass, looping
back again and again. Sarah didn't notice.
"You know I held you in my arms?" asked Brit, looking up
suddenly. "I was little, but Mom would let me do it as long as she
watched."
Sarah looked away. "Kalyani won't leave me alone."
"You should talk with him."
"I don't want to. You should."
The traces of a smile fluttered across Brittany's lips. She
touched Sarah's shoulder. "He wants to talk to the Avatar."
From the top of the LNHHQ Allen slowly lowered the long-range
rifle to the ground, and picked up the binoculars again. He focused in on
the two girls on the park bench, then between them, to the goldfish bowl.
And Binky, brushing again and again against the place where, tentatively,
without even really realizing she was doing it, Brittany Marcelyn Reeves
had laid her hand against the glass.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
It was late afternoon, with the western Net.ropolis sky a wash of
magnificent color. Paytan was sitting on a fully stocked picnic basket
and digging her toes into the grass as Brittany walked up. The other
girl's arms were full of fruit juice and a checkered cloth.
"Good smog today," said Paytan. Brit squinted up at the sky, then
smiled.
"This is better than going out to lunch. You don't have to deal
with weird guys refusing to admit from they're from the IRS," she said,
and squinted at Paytan for a moment. "And you were acting kinda funny,
anyway."
Paytan shrugged off the comment and waved as Savannah emerged
from the LNHHQ and headed their way, wearing her new glasses. Paytan
cocked a finger at her.
"Nice specs."
Savannah half-curtsied in response, and tossed her a bottle of
red wine. "This is all I could find in the kitchen. I think
Cheesecake-Eater Lad uses it for cooking."
"Have to do."
"I should have gone," said Brit, setting the fruit juice on the
grass. "I could have scared a whole case of champagne out of him."
"You've _still_ got it in for him? All he did was scrimp on
fish-sitting once," said Savannah.
"Those betrayed have long memories," Brittany intoned solemnly,
until Paytan threw a handful of grass at her. Brit retaliated with two
handfuls. Paytan jumped her, and pulled the tail of her trenchcoat up
and over her head. Things continued to escalate as Savannah carefully
retrieved the bottle and worked the cork out.
She waited until the other two had sufficiently exhausted
themselves, then held up the bottle. "Hey guys, how about a pre-toast?"
"Pre-toast!" yelled Brittany, and scrambled to her feet.
Paytan sat up and pulled a hunk of grass off of her left horn.
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea," she said.
Savannah handed out glasses and carefully filled each one. They
stood quietly for a moment, thinking. The only sound was heavy
breathing from Brittany and Paytan, still recovering from their vicious
hand-to-hand only moments ago.
Savannah finally raised her glass, and let the light from the
setting sun refract through the ruby red liquid. "To Kismet," she said.
"To Kismet," seconded Paytan.
"And all others lost, along the way," said Brittany, softly.
The glasses clinked, a small noise against the approaching night.
They found themselves keeping their hands steady, nearly touching, as if
they could hold onto the moment, and keep it there forever. If they could
fight off time, holding back the coming weeks and months and years for as
long as possible, and be safe. Then the moment passed.
Brittany grinned, and drank down the wine in three large
swallows, soon followed by Paytan and Savannah.
Then Savannah took hold of two corners of the cloth and flung up
her arms so that it spread out in the air, letting it settle gently over
the ground of Brittany's grave.
The headstone read: Brittany Marcelyn Reeves, May She Rest In
Peace.
Then the dates, with the dash in between.
Paytan was the first on the cloth. She reached out, her fingertip
glowing neon green, and burned the last date right off the stone, and
laughed.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Five hours later, Paytan was summoned.
________________________________________________________________________
Binky, Out-of-It Lass, Perdition, Sarah, Weirdness Girl, and Kalyani
copyright Jennifer Whitson, 1995. Explosion Boy on permanent lend. Allen
is Jamas Enright's. Everyone else is someone's.
Next Issue:
Paytan's in Hell, with no protection whatsoever. Brittany's
human. And Savannah's not going to be staring down a Demonlord
any time soon.
Plus, we're showing up in a slew of other titles, namely Tsar
Chasm and Teens in Trenchcoats #8, possibly Easily Discovered
Man #41 as well.
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