Summus Proelium

“You have to take really good care of them, Aunt Hana. Please make sure they're okay? They get nervous when I’m not here.” With those pleading words, the diminutive five-year-old Lightning Bug (Or LB/Elbie) stared up at the girl in question.

Some people thought that because her eyes were compound like a bug’s, it meant she saw lots of different images like a wall full of TV screens. But it wasn't like that at all. The image that was sent to her brain didn't look that different than what other people saw, at least as far as she could tell from how it had been described. It was just one image. Each little part of her compound eyes was like a different lens on a camera, but her brain put it all together into one picture. It did mean that she had really good peripheral vision. Hehehe, peripheral. That was a fun word. She liked fun words. Peripheral. Her mom had shown her what the word meant in the big dictionary when the doctor had said hers was so good. She could see almost all the way around herself, except for the area directly behind her. And she could pick out really good details about everything. Instead of having only one area of focus, her vision focused on everything in its wide line of sight at the same time.

But there was a bad part too. She had really good side-vision, but her forward vision wasn’t so good. The doctor said she could only see about half as far as an unpowered, average human.

Of course, she could see Aunt Hana, known to the rest of the city as Skip, just fine. Not that they would have recognized her if they’d seen her as well. All those people only knew her when she was in her costume, when she was in disguise. Right now, she wasn’t, so she just looked like lots of other Asian teenagers.

Orrrr maybe not lots. Bug’s Aunt Hana tended to dress super-different than the teenagers Bug had seen on TV or when she went out with her family. Those teenagers wore lots of tee-shirts and jeans and hoodies and things. But Aunt Hana almost always wore full suits, or at least really nice slacks (slacks, she liked the word slacks, it was fun and even if Mr. Mornes said the Pokemon Slaking wasn’t named after them, she still liked to think about one of them wearing pants because it made her giggle). And--wait what was she thinking about? Aunt Hana! She wore slackings (hehehehe) and a crisp shirt with shiny buttons. If they were doing something really fun or relaxing that day, sometimes she didn’t wear a tie or even had short sleeves. This was one of those days. Her shirt was dark blue with black pants and comfortable shoes. Which was good, cuz Bug was pretty sure the trio she was going to be babysitting today were gonna keep her really busy.

They were a handful sometimes. But they were her handful.

Hana didn't dismiss her tiny niece's concerns. She met her gaze and responded with the exact same seriousness and sincerity she would have given while in the middle of an important mission with her Star-Touched team. “I’ll make sure they’re safe, and entertained. We have the food you set out for them, and the movie you picked. At eleven o’clock, I’ll take them for their walk. At eleven-forty, they get lunch. Another walk at one o’clock. And they like to listen to Dolly Parton and Elvis songs while they eat.” She paused briefly before finishing with, “When the movie is over, they like to watch Minecraft videos on the playlist your mother set up. But Snugglebug needs his eyes covered and his shell patted when spiders show up.” She recited all of this solemnly, exactly as she would have while repeating serious orders for combating a Fell gang’s plot.

“Thanks, Aunt Hana!” Bug took a quick step forward and embraced the older girl. She was shivering just a bit from nerves, clearly uncertain about what was coming. And not just because she was leaving her friends behind for what would be hours.

Returning the embrace more easily than she would for most, Hana replied, “It’s going to be okay. You’ll have fun.” Her voice was flat and seemingly uninterested, but Bug knew that was just the way Aunt Hana talked. She really did care, but emotions simply weren’t something she tended to show very much. And she didn’t say things she didn’t mean. If she said it would be okay and that Bug would have fun, it was because she really thought that.

“Here,” Elbie carefully reached into her pocket and took out what had once been a toy sheriff’s badge. She had put a small white sticker across part of it and used a blue marker to carefully write, ‘Osficial Insect Babysitter.’ Only afterward did she find out she’d written the first word wrong, but that was okay. After all, she wasn’t sure Aunt Hana could really be called official anyway. What if you had to get a real license for that, like when you wanted to drive? She didn’t want to make Aunt Hana break the law with a counterfeit official badge. So Osficial was good.

“Alrighty, Buggy.” That was her mother, coming into the living room with a backpack over one shoulder. Like Aunt Hana, she wasn’t wearing her superhero costume. Instead, she had a black shirt with the Tasmanian Devil on it, along with shorts, a blue baseball cap over her short white hair, and a backpack over one shoulder. Nobody would ever recognize Bug’s mom as Cash-in. “Do you have your incogniter? Let’s see it.”

Lightning Bug immediately held up her arm while bouncing cheerfully once more. “Uh huh, uh huh! See, it’s my in-cog-neater. Mommy, does neater mean even more neat than neat?” Attached to her small red wrist was what looked like a simple bracelet. One touch of her thumb against the bottom of it, however, made the device come to life. Which, in this case, meant surrounding the girl with a holographic disguise. Immediately, she appeared to be a small five-year-old Asian girl, utterly unremarkable in every possible way. That was the point, of course. She was in disguise, like a spy. You weren’t supposed to stand out when you were in disguise. Unless standing out was the disguise. But she wasn’t supposed to stand out. And she definitely wasn’t supposed to let anyone know who she really was. That was why Simminin, Kenobee, and Snugglebug had to stay here. Even if they did really want to go out too. People always noticed them. “Neat, neater, neatest. Is there an in-cog-neatest?” She gasped out loud with realization. “In-cog. Cog. Cog is like a machine. Is that what it means, Mommy? In-Cog-Neater. A neat machine inside!” She gave a bright, beaming smile then, delighted to have worked all that out.

Her mother laughed while replying, “You know, maybe we do need to pay someone to build an incogneatest, before someone beats us to the punch.” Her hand reached down to ruffle the girl’s hair. Which, of course, also served to check that the expensive and very advanced incogniter could continue to disguise her even through the physical contact. Once she was certain it would hold up, she gestured. “Tell the tribe you’ll see them later, Elbie. We need to get going if we’re gonna get there in time.”

Turning to her trio of giant insect friends, Bug took a moment with each of them. She promised she’d be back soon and that they could have fun with Aunt Hana for the day. Speaking firmly, yet gently, the small five-year-old made the three promise to be good, told them she loved them, and gave each of them a hug. She also made sure they all knew where she was putting her brightly-colored computer pad that was covered in heavy plastic, with a link to her equally-colorful emergency phone. If anything went wrong, or they got too lonely, they could push the big button in the middle of the screen and it would call her so she could talk to them.

Finally, once she was satisfied that her friends would be safe and entertained, Bug took her mother’s hand and walked out of the apartment with her. They took the elevator down to the basement and headed for the car. On the way, Bug’s mom gently squeezed her hand and looked down at her. “Does it still itch?”

“Just a tiny bit, Mommy,” Bug assured her. She’d had problems with incogniters before. The smart science people said it was because she pulled in ‘ambent’ (was that the word?) energy to make her shocky-sparks that hurt bad people and helped good people. She kept pulling in the energy from the hologram thingie and it made her itch. And usually broke the in-cog-neater. But this one was better.

“Good, good.” Ruffling the girl’s hair, Bug’s mom added, “Doctor Lara said she shielded it. That little itch should go away once it adjusts to you a bit. You tell me if it’s still there once we get to the arcade, okay?” She waited until the girl agreed, then opened the back seat and let Bug clamber in.

Situating herself and buckling up, LB looked over at her mom and offered a bright smile. “Don't worry, Mommy, it's gonna be so much fun. You can be a superhero and help ever’body most of the time, but right now, you can just be Mommy. Unless a scary thing happens buh-cuz then you hafeta go stop the bad guys. But right now there’s not bad guys so you don't gotta be worried until there are. You have frowny face.” She put both her index fingers against her own lips and pushed them down to turn her face into a frown, before pushing them back up into an admittedly somewhat demented-looking smile. “You should be smile-face cuz we're gonna play an’ that’s a smile thing!”

Smiling at her daughter, LB’s mother reached out to touch her face. Her hand was warm and she snuggled up into it. “Oh, my little Buggy. Yes, today is definitely a smile day, and we’re absolutely going to have fun. Let’s go see your new friend.”

“Do you think she’s gonna be busy with superhero things?” Elbie asked a little uncertainly.

“She better not be,” her mom assured her.

“Or Avant-Guard is gonna be so grounded.”

*******

As soon as Bug and her mother parked and started to walk across the lot (holding hands tightly, of course), they both saw a red-haired girl bouncing up and down in front of the massive arcade complex, eyes darting eagerly back and forth in every direction. She was a few years older than the girl who was already pulling at her mother’s hand. “Mommy, Mommy, that’s her! That’s the--” She almost said ‘in-cog-neater’ but stopped herself from blurting that out in public at the last second. Instead, she settled on, “--that’s Tee!”

Bug had been instructed very carefully about what she should call her new friend. They had to keep their secret identities safe, so Trevithick would be Tee, and she would be Elle. It would be easy for her to remember Elle from Elbie. And since they had to help Tee keep her own secret identity, Bug’s mom was letting the girl borrow one of the Ten Towers in-cog-neaters for today. One of Trevithick’s friends had picked it up from the front desk downstairs for her earlier, and now here she was!

Despite her excitement, Bug knew the rules very well. She stayed right with her mother, hand in hers as they crossed the parking lot. Only once they were standing on the sidewalk did she look up at her mom pleadingly.

“Oh ohhhkay.” Her mother played up the reluctance, but Bug could see the hint of a smile and heard the amusement in her voice. “I suppose you can go say hi.”

With a delighted squeal, Bug ran straight to the girl in question. She had to be careful to keep her wings down. They might have been hidden by the disguise, but it would be hard to hide her flying off the ground. No matter how much fun this place was, people would probably notice that. Even if it just made them ask what booth she had gone to inside to get a toy like that.

If anyone had been watching them very closely, they might have seen a very slight flicker in their respective images as they collided in a tight hug before the incogniters adjusted properly. But, of course, no one was paying that much attention. They were simply two other children excited to be at the enormous, two-story high arcade, just like any of several hundred more who were already inside, or currently making their way there. This front area itself was surrounded by an assortment of enormous statue figures of various video game characters, as well as the mascots for the arcade itself. In the center was a fountain with multi-colored lights, which were more impressive in the dark. A few children were playing in the water before running over to one of several drying stands that had been set up. The drying stands looked like simple arches. When you walked through them, you and your clothes would be instantly dried. They were really neat. Which, of course, Bug had to show Trev immediately, pulling her along with a quickly-babbled, “It’s really cool drying thing but you gotta get in the water first or you’ll already be dry then they don’t do anything but that’s okay cuz the water is fun!”

Giggling at first as she started to follow after Bug, Trevithick pulled up short just before they went into the fountain spray. “Oh, uh, is it okay to get the things wet?” She sounded worried, holding up her own wrist to show the matching bracelet there.

LB, who had been pulled back by her grip on the other girl's hand, started to respond eagerly. “Uh huh, it—uhh... Mommy?” That came as she pivoted to face the woman in question. She knew it was safe, but she couldn't quite figure out how to explain that without saying the stuff she wasn't supposed to say in public where the wrong people might overhear.

Her mom, in turn, walked right up to them and addressed Trevithick fondly. “Well first, good afternoon. Elle and I are both so glad you could make it. Aren't we, Ellie?”

Impatiently, the five-year-old bobbed her head. “Uh huh! So glad, but also so dry! Too dry!”

A chuckle escaped her mother before the woman agreed. “Yes, you're so very dry. But it's okay if your jewelry gets wet. It won't break.” She was focused on Trevithick then. “That case it's in protects it, I promise. You could jump in the middle of the ocean and it'd be right as rain.”

Bug giggled at that despite her eagerness to play in the water. “Mommy, you said ocean and then rain.”

With an audible, exaggerated noise of uncertainty, her mother put her hand to her chin. “Oh? What do those have in common?”

“Theeeeeeeeeeey're water!” Bug cheerfully and loudly announced. With that, she sprang right into the middle of the nearest line of water from the fountain. Immediately, her words turned into a squeal as she was quite thoroughly soaked.

Trevithick, for her part, waited just long enough for Bug's mother to give her an encouraging nod. Then she sprang right after LB. The two of them danced through the fountain, laughing and squealing under the cold water along with a dozen other kids of varying ages. For about ten minutes, that was enough. They hadn't even gone into the actual arcade yet, but this was already fun! Especially when they started up a quick game of tag through the sprays of water with the other kids. Somehow, without actually saying anything out loud, everyone knew the rules. If you were hit by water, you had to change direction and run the other way. Which meant whoever was It could easily catch you.

Eventually, Bug led Trevithick over to the drying stands and showed her how you could walk right through the arch and come out dry on the other side. They played with that a bit, running back into the water, then through the arch a couple times just to try it out. But soon enough, the lure of going in and seeing all the actual games was too much. So, each of them took one of Bug's mom's hands, and they walked through the front entrance together.

“Holy popsicles,” Trevithick gasped out, stopping short just inside the door. The front foyer of the arcade was so loud and bright. Straight ahead were three Dance pattern games. Down the left side was a row of loud arcade fighting machines and shooting games, while the right-hand side held the games you got tickets for, like skiing ball and mini basketball. The smell of popcorn and hot dogs filled the air. Above them they could see the railing around the second floor, where even more games were. Bug knew the ones up there were the more expensive, experimental games. But the most expensive ones were the virtual really games. Those were in their own rooms at the back of the arcade, past a man who made sure you were allowed to go in there. Those rooms were all labeled. Some of them were okay for everyone, but other rooms were off limits unless you were a teenager, or even an adult in some cases.

Seeing that her new friend was really overwhelmed, Bug stopped herself from dashing to the nearest machine. Instead, she stepped in front of the older girl, taking her hands. “It’s okay, T! We can play anything you want. There’s a Ninja Turtles game, an’ a Superman game, an’ oh oh there’s those table hockey games with the disc an’ the flat thing you hold onto and hit it wif! An’ an’ fwooshball!”

“Foosball,” her mother corrected gently, before focusing on their guest. “But she’s right, anything you want to do today. Don’t worry about anything else. Today is a vacation.” She reached out, putting a finger under the girl’s hologram-disguised chin to tilt it up so she could look into her eyes. She did that to Bug all the time. When she wasn’t picking her up to look at her. But that was probably a no-no right now. Bug’s mom was really nice, but Elbie didn’t think Trevithick would want to be picked up like that.

“I know you’re a busy girl,” her mom said softly, her voice quiet enough that Bug could barely hear her. “But you don’t have to think about any of that for awhile. We’re gonna turn that part of our brains off and just have fun, okay?”

There was a slight hesitation before T straightened a bit and gave a firm nod. “Okay!” She mimed a key-turning motion against the side of her head. “It’s all locked up. No more thinking about that. We can play. But… but where do we start?”

“Oh, I think I’ve got a few ideas of what you girls might like,” Bug’s mom assured them, taking both of their hands before starting to walk again. “After all, I used to come here when I was a little girl.”

With an audible gasp, LB blurted, “They had video games all the way back then?!”

Looking over her shoulder, her mother squinted at the girl. “Just how old do you think I am, squirt?”

Bug, in turn, shrugged. “I dunno, maybe like…”

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as Trevithick clapped a hand over her mouth, giving a weak giggle toward Bug’s mom. “Uhhh hehehe, I’d love to see the games you used to play, Miss.”

Seeing the way both girls were snickering, albeit muffledly in Bug’s case, her mom shook her head and turned back to start walking with them once more. “Oh yeah.

“It’s gonna be a great day.”