Plasma Frequency Magazine: Issue 13 (6 page)

H
e called after in a hushed voice, "What about the bank robber?"

I
whispered, "Go home."

On the street
, I waited at the hard edge of a shadow for the would-be robber to make a move. Felt Glint's presence materialize behind me. "I do not need your help."

"
That's not what it looked like on the news last week."

I turned to face him. "
Have I ever come to any of your towns and critiqued your work? Ever? In ten years?"

He had no answer.

"Look, I've got this. Please just go back to wherever it is you're working now." I didn't say that I knew he was partnered with Pascal's Wager upstate. Didn't want him to know I kept tabs on him.

Glint
's body heat radiated into the space between us. His clean scent tinged the night air. The urge to lean into him, to press my bare palms against his mesh-textured suit, rose up from a place ten years past. I tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go without stepping into the light.

A
rumble
vibrated deep in my chest, shaking my insides.

We turned
to the bank. To the alley. A trench coat on the ground. A purple costume with silver piping. Long flowing locks of golden hair. Acoustic Calamity.

I'
d never encountered Acoustic Calamity before, but I'd studied the Conference's archives. Called her power to mind: Sound Manipulation.

Her hands were cupped around her mouth and pressed to the brick wall of the bank as the world shook around them.
The woman could make everyone in a seven block radius deaf in a heartbeat. This was her attempt at subtlety.

T
he bricks turned to dust under her focused voice. As she pushed through the wall into the bank, I darted across the street. The bank's alarm would've already alerted the police. I had to subdue her before they arrived and she popped the eardrums of every officer on the Nevils Borough payroll.

I pressed
against the cracked bricks next to the gaping hole in the wall. Glanced back but didn't see Glint. Hoped he'd listened and left town. More likely he was moving in on Acoustic Calamity on his own, concealed terms.

The
lobby was empty. With quick, silent steps I made my way to the back of the bank.

Acoustic Calamity stood before the vault
, considering the dense metal. She didn't notice me sneaking down the hall as she cupped her hands around her mouth again, pressing her face close to the vault door. I stumbled when the
quaking
shook the ground. Rattled my bones.

I
decided against my knife. If I could get an arm around Acoustic Calamity's neck, or could overpower her and compress her chest . . . Well, Sound Manipulation isn't much use when you can't draw a breath.

I crept up behind,
raising my arms to snake them around her body. Just when I coiled to pounce, the vibration of the building paused. Acoustic Calamity stopped to draw a deep breath. She glanced back over her shoulder casually, as though she knew I wouldn't have arrived on the scene yet.

I
threw herself at her. Clutched her windpipe closed as I tried to leverage her legs out from under her.

Acoustic Calamity stumbled backwards
, but kept her feet on the ground. Just as I was beginning to wonder why she was defending herself with only one hand, I saw the stun gun.

Too late.

The muscles in my abdomen contracted. Breath filled my lungs in a
whoosh
. I lost my grip on Acoustic Calamity's neck and tripped backwards, falling to the ground.

She
bent over me, taking a deep, menacing breath.

A single
, electric-blue line of light cut between us, cleanly slicing off several blonde locks of hair that had spilled over Acoustic Calamity's shoulder. A laser. Glint and his Light Manipulation.

I gritted my teeth. Lunged. A
shoulder tackle and we tumbled down in a heap of gold and purple. I clamped both hands around her neck, blocking off my enemy's powers. Pinned her shoulders to the floor with my knees.

As if on cue
, sirens echoed down the street. Glint materialized beside me as I worked to keep the suffocating villain under control. Acoustic Calamity gave one last wrenching twist before surrendering.

After
Acoustic Calamity was secured, I disengaged from the officers on the scene. I had to travel to the detention center again and the prospect of another long, sleepless night followed by a shift at the diner made me anxious to be rid of Glint. I didn't need him snooping around my town.

I
found him on the roof of Nevils' Auto Loan, across the street from the bank, the same place I'd found him before.

"
See?" I said, "I've got everything under control."

He appraised
me. "It looked sketchy there for a minute."

"
I don't have time to deal with you. If you have a problem with the way I manage
my
Borough then file a complaint with the Conference."

I spun on my heel
to leave, but then he was beside me, gripping my arm, turning me to face him. "Remy, please just talk to me for a second."

I
pulled away from him but stayed, crossing my arms over my chest. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

"
I went to see the Laudable Ladybug."

My
second partner, after Glint, though it had been seven years since we'd worked together. "How is she?"

"
She saw the fight. She was worried."

"
Right. Everybody's so worried. After years of no one caring how I got on, now everyone's concerned."

"
Us not caring? You're the one who walked out on Lady. Hurt her feelings, I think."

That was true. Lady had gotten too close and nearly found out about Conley on more than one occasion.

I said, "Aren't you the one who taught me that you can't trust anyone? Even your partner? She wanted to know my identity, so I asked to be reassigned."

"
You asked to go solo. That's not something that healers do."

"
I'm not a normal healer."

"
Maybe. Or maybe you're hiding something other than your identity."

The sounds of police investigation on the street below faded into nothing.
My stomach did odd loopty-loops. Did he know? It wouldn't be hard to figure out. The child looked little like me–I figured if Glint got one good look at Conley, he would see his own face.

He asked
, "Are you sick? Were you afraid that if the Conference found out you'd get benched? Is that what you're hiding from me?"

"
Me
hiding secrets from
you
?" I almost laughed I was so relieved. "I'm the one who showed you my face. I trusted you. You're the one who wouldn't so much as look me in the eye.

"
Well, you were right. It's safer not to let anyone know who I am. And the easiest way to do that is by working alone."

His hands clenched
, his posture tensed, but he didn't deny it. I might've been the one who walked away, but he was the one who had ended our relationship.

"
Why are you even here?" I asked.

His voice was quiet.
"I was worried about you."

Worried. Because of one stupid broadcast and yet never concerned all those years
I managed to stay out of the headlines.

"Okay,"
I said. "You were worried. Now you see–I'm fine. Go back to your new partner." I could see that my words stung, but I had more important things to worry about than my ex-boyfriend's feelings.

"
Remy–"

"
Take off your mask."

He froze
, uncertain. I must've caught him off-guard, because he'd never hesitated before. The answer had always been
no
. His hands clenched and opened, clenched and opened.

Was he actually considering it?

"Please, Remy just–"

"
Go, Glint. I don't need you."

When
I walked away this time, he didn't try to stop me.

~

Conley was late.

A week after
Acoustic Calamity, my injuries were healed but Conley was still sullen. It was too dangerous for him to be out alone, so during summer break he was stuck with our neighbor, Ms. Ruth, while his friends were off to summer camp. I compromised by letting him walk by himself to the diner for lunch every day.

I
checked the clock on the wall again. Asked if the cute old couple in my section needed coffee refills without really seeing them. Ran my thumb back and forth over the familiar groove in the coffee pot's handle as I refilled the mugs at a table of off-duty cops I knew, but who didn't recognize me in civvies.

I w
andered into Julie's section and refilled the mug of a man sitting alone without bothering to ask if he wanted more. I checked the side-street outside the diner's window. Conley waited at the crosswalk for traffic to clear.

"
You're late," I chided when he entered.

"
Sorry, Mom."

I
crossed the diner to guide him toward my section, happy to feel his small shoulders beneath my fingers.

"
Can I have some chocolate milk?"

"
Did you finish your reading assignment?"

"No
."

"
If you work on it right now, I'll score you some chocolate milk."

"
Thanks." He unzipped his backpack.

I
maneuvered around the diner's long counter to fish a bottle of chocolate milk out of the cooler.

Julie
was speaking to someone. There was something about the pitch of her voice that drew my attention.

When I
turned to see what had startled her, a man was rushing out the door. One of the off-duty police officers eyed the diner's still swinging door, but seemed to lose interest when Julie lifted a twenty-dollar bill from beneath the coffee mug.

How could I have been so distracted? I
hadn't even looked at the man's face when I filled his cup.

I
ran to the door, Conley's milk in hand, and stepped onto the sidewalk. The man was jogging. Already up the block. His head of short-cropped, dark hair ducked down as he turned the corner, out of view.

Something familiar about his movements . . .

No. It couldn't be, but–he was Glint's height and Glint's build. Conley was on the sidewalk next to me now, his face creased in confusion.

"
What's going on?" he asked.

I
looked down at the son who looked so very little like me.

~

Every night for the next two weeks I gave Glint the slip.

I understood
his abilities the way few people did. On my home turf, he had no chance of finding me when I didn't want to be found. He seemed to give up. At least, I hoped he'd given up.

The summer months passed with little activity.
Taking down Acoustic Calamity had repaired the damage to my reputation. No more villains challenged my small Borough. No more heroes visited to question my abilities.

Conley had calmed down too.
I hadn't offered him a reason when I'd told him he wasn't allowed to eat at the diner anymore. Taking away his bit of independence should've caused an epic struggle, but he'd recovered after a couple of days.

I
came home early one August night to spend a few hours helping Conley finish his summer assignments before school started again.

O
nly Conley wasn't there.

Ms. Ruth should have been in
our apartment with him, but I found the gray-haired neighbor at home, in the apartment next door.

"
Wait. What did he say?" I asked.

The woman weaved her arthritis-swollen fingers together just to untwine them again.
"He said that you found a scholarship for the day camp at that park."

"
How long has this been going on?"

"
Weeks. Almost two months. I thought you knew. We have breakfast when you leave for work and I wait with him at your apartment after he gets back. I'm so sorry."

I
waved away her apology. It wasn't her fault–it was my responsibility to take care of Conley. "When does he normally come back?"

"
Any minute now."

"
Thank you, Ms. Ruth." I shouldered the door into my own apartment. How long had he been gone today? Seven hours? A little longer? How far away could he travel and still make it back? I considered all of the communities surrounding Nevils Borough. The drugs in Meilanville. The gangs in Wilstin Borough. Maybe he really had gone to day camp.