Summus Proelium

We didn’t end up presenting our project that day after all. Not that we weren’t ready, but Mr. Dorn didn’t end up picking us. Privately, after class was over, he told me that all of us looked so tired he didn’t choose our group because he was afraid we’d pass out in front of the class. Which was fair, considering I kept half-dozing off while watching other people present theirs.

On the other hand, I had no idea why Jae and Amber seemed so tired. Amber in particular kept jolting a bit every now and then, as if she’d actually drifted unconscious before catching herself. Maybe she’d gone to a party and taken Jae with her? That was probably it. People liked Amber.

Oh well, it worked out well enough for me. I wasn’t planning on getting into anymore Touched business at least until my body stopped being quite so sore and my costume was fixed. I had to spend some time getting a new helmet and probably a new set of coveralls altogether. I didn’t have much of a chance to go over the old suit with a fine-toothed comb the night before, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to salvage much of it after that near-direct lightning strike.

Near-direct lightning strike. I’d been almost perfectly hit by one of Cuélebre’s lightning bolts and walked away a few minutes later. Sure, it hurt like hell. I still hurt, even with the orange paint that had saved my life. But regardless of how sore I happened to be, I was alive. I survived. And somehow that fact kept hitting me more today, at random points during school, than it had last night. I’d just be sitting in class or walking down the hall and it would suddenly hit me just how close I came to being killed. Once, that fact hit me hard enough in the middle of class that I had to run to the restroom and throw up, with the called back excuse of stomach problems. Which, of course, prompted a couple remarks about my finally reaching puberty. Ha fucking ha.

Anyway, the day went on like that. I had lunch with Tomas and the two of us talked about music for awhile. It was kind of nice, actually. I didn’t think about Touched stuff for a few minutes, like about how close I’d come to dying, or the fact that Eits now knew I was a girl, or any of that. I just focused on talking about random British punk bands and how Tomas wanted to start something up here in Detroit. He wanted to know if I had any idea who he could try to recruit, which… pffft, like I had a clue. The best I could do was point him in a general direction. But even that was still fun. It was relaxing, simple, and… inconsequential. After everything that happened the night before with desperately fighting to get those vials, inconsequential was pretty nice.

We were just dumping our trays and walking to the lockers as Tomas remarked, “So, remember that supper thing we talked about? My parents would like you to come over tomorrow night.” He glanced toward me, adding, “They know you’ve got your whole family meal thing tonight and all that. So, you know, tomorrow. If you’re not busy. And I really hope you’re not, cuz Mum’s planning something pretty special and if I tell her she has to push it back…” He whistled long and low, head shaking as if awe at the storm that would cause. “So please with the RSVP.”

I was about to respond, when another voice spoke up. “Oh, hey, guys.” It was Paige Banners, a tall, blonde girl with perfect hair, a perfect smile (when she chose to use it), and according to every guy in our grade, perfect everything else. Her family was the second richest one in the city, and I don’t think she ever forgave me for that. She was also the one who started joking about male cheerleaders when I’d been on the team back in junior high and had been the first to make that puberty comment earlier when I ran to the restroom. Her smile now was like a viper, as she gave a tiny, insincere wave. “So what’s going on? Are you two starting up a boy band?” She gave a casual nod toward the guitar case held loosely in Tomas’s hand before adopted a faux understanding tone. “Or were you waiting for Evans to hit puberty first? If so, have I got great news for you.”

“Well, you know,” I replied shortly, “for some of us, puberty is a long-awaited, beautiful and patient biological process that makes us all the individuals we’re supposed to be. And for others, it’s a plastic surgeon in the islands who never quite got over losing his job as a Barbie designer.”

Oh boy, Paige didn’t like that one little bit. That was for sure. A snarl twisted that perfect face, as she snapped back, “You think your family’s so perfect? Well guess what, you–”

Tomas stepped in, moving between us with a pointedly cleared throat. “Okay, I think that’s about enough. Let’s keep the claws in and go about our days. Nice seeing you, Paige, as always. We’ll have to catch up later. Just make sure your broomstick and cauldron are nice and put away so nobody trips over them, yeah?” With that, he pulled me by the arm past the glaring girl.

“Well, that was fun,” I muttered as we reached his locker. “Aren’t you glad you came back now?”

Snorting, he shook his head at me while opening the locker. “You know the worst thing? She’s not that bad to everyone else.” When my mouth opened, he held up a hand quickly. “I know, I know, she’s the wicked witch of the west and all. I get it. I’m with you. I’m just saying, call her an evil Barbie all you want, she’s not an awful person with other people. I’ve seen her around when you’re not there. She’s even stood up for some guys that were being pushed around, believe it or not. It’s just…” He offered a helpless shrug. “I dunno, something about you sets her off. And that’s totally her problem, not yours. I just wish I knew why she’s always hated you so much.”

“So do I,” I muttered under my breath, frowning as unwanted thoughts about my own family bounced through my head for a moment before I shoved them aside to look at him. “Anyway, I was about to say, sure. I can come over tomorrow for dinner. Wouldn’t want you to have to tell your mom she’s doing all that work for nothing. Especially if she’s near any sharp objects.”

Laughing, Tomas shook his head. “Okay, she’s not that bad about it. Still, good. They’ll be glad to see you, Cassidy.” He offered me that winning smile once more, the one that made my knees weak and drove my heart up into my throat. “I think they’ve missed you even more than I did.”

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered, blushing a little while kicking his foot lightly. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there for dinner. I better get to class now though. You know, before that nice, sweet, oh-so-helpful Paige tells the teacher that I joined the Peace Corps and moved to Eswatini or something.”

“Oh, right, you’ve got another class with her.” Wincing, Tomas offered a weak, “Good luck with that?”

Murmuring a thanks, I headed off to class, stopping by my own locker just long enough to grab the right book. On the way, my phone buzzed. My actual phone, as I hadn’t retrieved the one that Eits gave me. If I didn’t trust the boy enough to have it in my home, I certainly wasn’t going to bring it to class with me. No, it was still safe in its hiding spot for the time being. Eventually I would get my own new burner and return that one to him with a word of thanks. He had saved me from exposing my little secret to his boss, after all. That was… worth something. Worth a lot.

In any case, the text on my actual phone was from Dad. He was letting me know that our own family dinner would be one hour later than usual because there was some big important meeting that he absolutely couldn’t get out of, but that we should definitely be ready for it.

A big meeting that Dad couldn’t get out of on family dinner night? Wow. It wasn’t exactly unheard of to have a late dinner as long as we actually had it any time they weren’t out of town (or ‘out of town’ as I’d recently figured out), but still. It wasn’t common. Something big must’ve come up to keep Dad busy. I wondered if it was an actual business thing, something to do with his Silversmith hero work, or something to do with his evil psychotic monstrous villain work. Christ, my family was complicated, weren’t they? And I really had to find out just how this whole ‘running the city’s villainy’ thing of theirs worked. But how? I knew they had a place under the mall, and there was probably something in one of Dad’s offices (both the ones at home and the ones I knew he kept in the city itself) that might point me in the right direction. And… and I didn’t know. The problem was that I was terrified of my parents finding out or even suspecting that I knew what kind of things they were up to. The only advantage I had right now was that they didn’t know I knew anything. If they did…

“Hey!” Paige voice cut through my musings as she stood impatiently nearby, gesturing until I realized I was standing in the doorway. “I know you think your family owns this entire school. But could you maybe let other people use it still? If it’s not too much to ask.”

Sighing, I headed into class with a dismissive wave. “Sure thing, Princess. Knock yourself out.

“With a bat, preferably.”

******

After taking a little nap once school was out to recharge my batteries, I took an Uber ride to the mall and picked up a new burner phone. Yeah, I was probably being overly paranoid about what Eits could’ve done to the other phone. Okay, I was definitely being paranoid. But still, I got a new phone and transferred the numbers into it.

I also walked past that door that lead into my family’s… what? What was down there? I had no idea, aside from the fact that it was a place where they apparently did business. I had to get a look inside, but how the hell was I going to pull that off? Unless the pink paint offered me some kind of shapeshifting or shape copying powers…

Wait a second…

Ten minutes later, it was official. The pink paint did not offer me shapeshifting or copying powers. I had tried spraying it on myself in the bathroom and thinking really hard about looking like someone else, and nothing happened. I’d also sadly sprayed someone else who came into the bathroom on their back, only for nothing to happen then either. Which, come to think, it was probably a good thing the paint wasn’t some kind of dissolve your enemies stuff.

In any case, minor wishful thinking brainstorm proven wrong, I still had no idea what the pink paint did. And I still had no way of getting into the mall basement. So I was basically just striking out all over the place.

Thankfully, I didn’t have problems with my next two errands, which amounted to buying a new helmet that was almost identical to my old one from a sporting goods store and a couple more coveralls. As before, I covered the purchases by also picking up other things like a whole bunch of painting supplies with the coveralls and some motorcycle maintenance stuff with the helmet. Along with other things to keep it looking as mundane as possible. Of course, in both places I was able to pay at the self checkout, so it didn’t even really matter that much. But still, paranoia was the name of the game.

That done, I had something approaching a normal costume again. So, after finding a private place to pull the new costume and helmet on, I threw myself into the air, used red paint to hit the top of the building, and lost myself in a quick run across the city. I doubled around a few times and kept an eye out for anyone watching before slipping my way through a couple alleys to reach the store. And only part of that was because of how much I enjoyed using my paint to get around.

Nearing Wren’s place, I went into that little hiding spot in the alley to retrieve the phone that Eits had given me. There were a few missed messages on it, which I read through. There were a couple from Wren, mostly checking to make sure I was okay after last night, and something about needing to talk to me but that it wasn’t an emergency. There were also a couple from Eits of about the same variety, along with reassurance that he wasn’t going to tell anyone about my grandmother’s recipe. Which was a pretty good way of hiding what he really meant, as far as that kind of thing went.

First, I sent a message back to him, letting the boy know that I would tell my grandmother she didn’t have to worry. My thumbs hovered over the keypad indecisively for a second before I added, ‘is the kid ok?’

I was just about to let Wren know I was on my way in, when the message from Eits came back. ‘All meds good. Boss says owes u.’

Shaking my head, I sent back a quick message that he’d already paid, then sent a message to Wren saying I was basically right at her doorstep.

As soon as I walked in and down the stairs, Wren jumped up from the couch where she had been watching cartoons. “Paintball! Hi, I… oh, hey, you got a new costume.”

Giving her a thumbs up, I replied, “Sure, can’t go around looking all ripped to pieces, can I? What would people think about the Paintball brand?”

Snickering a little, the girl agreed, “Yeah, I guess you did look kind of scruffy last night. But a good scruffy. A triumphant scruffy.”

“Triumphant scruffy, huh?” I echoed with a smile she couldn’t see. “I’ll take it. But hey, you said you wanted me to come over? And where’s Fred?”

“He had some things to do,” she replied easily before adding, “He wants me to do school stuff again, so he’s picking up some books. He said he was a bad student and he’d be a worse teacher, but that he can at least follow the instructions in the book. Except he said it with more curse words and stuff.”

Shaking that off, she pressed on more excitedly, “But yeah, I wanted you to come over because I need your shoe size. And all your other sizes too, while we’re at it. You know, because I’m gonna be making things for you.” Her grin was wide and contagious. “Right now I had ideas about your skates, so that’s what I’m gonna focus on. If that’s okay?” At the last bit, her smile faltered, as if afraid that I would object.

“Dude,” I replied, “you do what sounds best to you. I’m sure it’ll be great.”

Her smile returned in full force, and she grabbed my arm to pull me. “C’mon, I sorta need to take plaster casts of your feet. Having the sizes is all well and good, but I need casts if they’re going to fit perfectly.”

So, with a silent thanks that I wasn’t wearing any toenail polish to muddy the waters, I let the kid take casts of my feet with my socks on and socks off. It felt weird, but hey, if I was going to get new Tech-Touched skating toys out of it, I wasn’t going to object.

Eventually, that was all done and I excused myself. Now that I had a functioning costume again, it was time to pay a visit to Ten Towers to see about picking up that detainment application thing before the judge in Ashton’s case got too annoyed with me. I just hoped Caishen had meant it when she said someone would help me figure out how to fill it out, because the last thing I wanted to do was screw something like that up.

Anyway, I made it to Towers Plaza. Originally, it was called Three Towers Plaza, back when the founding group was known as Three Towers. Three major international companies who had decided back when Detroit first began to get a name for itself as a major Touched manufacturing city that they would work together and invest into a group to protect their assets from Fell-Touched. Tocher Pharmaceuticals, Saito Automotive, and Autry Media Technologies. They were the founding trio, the companies who constructed the original plaza, consisting of three massive office buildings surrounding a large central… well, plaza. One building housing each company.

But more companies had signed into their deal over the years. Patterson Insurance, the Konners And Bell law firm, Rheese Technologies, Gallop Fuel, Fetchings Grocery, En Route Delivery Services, and Aether Airlines.

Ten companies. They didn’t build more office buildings for each additional company, of course. The other companies just took up residence in various parts of the established buildings as their local headquarters, buying out entire floors from the original founders. And the name went from being called Three Towers Plaza, to Four Towers Plaza, then Six Towers, and finally they gave up and just went with Towers Plaza.

That’s where I was, standing on the street staring up the three giant office towers set up at the three sides of this place. The plaza itself was enormous all on its own, with a dozen different well-maintained walkways leading in various directions, a tall black memorial in the center with the names of all fallen Star-Touched from the past twenty years, a restaurant for employees and guests, a small square where street performances were put on, and more.

Taking a breath, I shoved aside my nervousness and stepped off the sidewalk, officially entering Ten Towers territory.

I just hoped this wouldn’t take too long, because it was family dinner night. And while I may have been okay with driving Cuélebre into a frothing mad rage, I did not want to face my mother if I was late to that.