Summus Proelium

Well, it was a damn good thing that I wasn’t supposed to be at school for those finals that day, because it absolutely would not have happened. If I’d tried to deal with that and actually gone in at eight in the morning, I probably wouldn’t have been able to spell my own name, let alone deal with the actual test itself. It was just as likely that I would’ve written down the name Paintball, to be honest. Which would’ve been a pretty pathetic and dumb way for all my secrets to come out.

In any case, boy did I ever need that sleep. Seriously, I was probably completely zonked out and utterly dead to the world for at least ten hours. It was almost noon by the time I finally came to some semblance of consciousness, blinking at the ceiling with the comforting weight of Izzy nearby. I was technically awake, though I still wasn’t exactly jumping right out of bed just yet.

It took me another minute or so to orient myself enough to even comprehend where I was and that I’d actually slept that long. Once I did manage to groggily pick my head up off the pillow to look around, I realized what had woken me up before. I had a text message from my dad.

No, sorry, correction: Paintball had a text message from my dad. As Silversmith. Which took me a moment to actually process even after picking up my Touched-business phone to look at it, since I was still waking up. I just laid there and stared at the bright screen. For a second, I kept wondering why Silversmith was texting--right, Paintball. Me. Yeah, I was okay. I was coherent.

“Something wrong?” Well, that was sort of what Izzy asked. I had to interpret it a bit since her head was buried under the blanket and her face pressed into the pillow. Between that and the fact that she was still waking up like I had been, it came out as an almost indecipherable mumble. Her hand groped blindly toward a glass on the nearby table before she gave up and simply turned her head somewhat. The water in the glass flew out and into her open mouth. Only after swallowing that did she open her eyes and blink over at me questioningly. “Hmm?”

Giggling despite myself, I shook my head and sat up a bit more fully, putting my back against the headboard. Then I adjusted my own pillow so I could sit comfortably. “It’s our--I mean it’s a text from Silversmith, for Paintball. Hang on.” Glancing down again, I read it through before frowning. My head shook slowly as I glanced that way with an uncertain, “Err, I think he’s grounding me?”

That made Izzy blink too, sitting up next to me before leaning over to look for herself. “What?”

We both looked it over. It wasn’t literally about grounding Paintball, of course. The message was, first and foremost, about him thanking not just me but my entire team for everything we had done during the quarantine. It was also about letting us know that they were probably going to have a lot more to talk to us about as soon as they managed to get more immediate things sorted out.

But beyond that, he was telling me--telling the entire team through me-- that after a long discussion with other leaders in the city, they had decided that we had been through enough. It wasn’t just about our team either. They would apparently be telling the Minority the same thing, removing them from patrol duties. We were basically being put on a semi-forced vacation. It was supposed to be for two weeks. The Conservators, with the temporarily-added members who were already here and others who would be coming in now that the quarantine was coming down, would be working alongside other adult groups to put things back on track and clean up. We were minors, so they were telling us to leave it alone and recover.

That was the basic idea. It wasn’t quite as blunt as that or anything. He made it clear that they were incredibly grateful for everything we did. But at the same time, it was also clear that this was about as firm as they could be about telling us to sit things out for a little bit. He said that he was fully aware that sometimes things came up that we might have to deal with, and that this wasn’t a threat to lock us up for being out in costume or anything. But for two weeks, we were not to actively patrol or go looking for trouble if we could help it. If we found out about something that needed to be handled, we were free to contact him or any of the other Star-Touched. We had done enough while they were sidelined, and now it was our turn to take a break for awhile.

Once I’d gotten through all that again, Izzy checked her own phone and found the same message. Well, basically the same. The way hers was written, it had clearly been addressed to her entire team. The Minority as a whole were being benched for the next couple weeks as well.

Okay, yeah, I couldn’t really blame them or argue too much with that. We really had been doing a lot ever since the quarantine went up. Hell, the evidence for that was right in the fact that Izzy and I had both slept for ten hours the moment things started to look up. Our parents were awake, Sleeptalk was being dealt with properly, and we had reacted by falling into our own temporary comas. So maybe we couldn’t really argue effectively against the idea that we needed a break. Especially since this wasn’t just about me. It was about the others too. Wren, Roald, Murphy, Peyton, they all deserved a break. Even Paige and Sierra could probably stand to spend some actual free time with Irelyn to work out that whole situation a bit more. And yeah, I really had no idea what was going to happen with that woman knowing about the Ministry, let alone the fact that she now had a sister-of-her-adopted-sister who happened to look like my twin.

God, that was complicated. Irelyn knew the truth--well, a lot of the truth anyway. She knew enough to really cause problems if she wanted to. But I trusted Paige and Sierra to convince her that making a big fuss about things immediately was a bad idea. The Ministry was too well-connected to try exposing just like that, and if they thought she knew too much and could make a nuisance of herself… fuck, I didn’t want to think about my family like that. I hated thinking about my family like that. I had to believe they would try to talk her down and make a deal with her before going with anything drastic. But either way, it complicated the whole situation. And the best way to handle it was to let Paige and Sierra spend more time with her. Which this whole semi-forced vacation would help with. Those two needed--deserved time with their sister.

Besides, to be honest, maybe we could use that two weeks to not just recharge, but also do something with that equipment the Ministry had paid Wren with. Pittman was gone, but he clearly still had Biolems around, and probably more non-Biolems who had been working with him. Between that and the fact that even more problems were absolutely going to present themselves soon enough, we needed to beef up security around the shop. And I could stand to spread more of my paint around too, putting up bits of graffiti here and there that I could use in an emergency.

So yes, all in all, there were plenty of reasons to accept this ‘request’ that we take a break, even if I did reflexively bristle at the idea. But again, it wasn’t just about me, not in the least. It was about everyone else too. Hell, look at Amber. She’d been dealing with the revelation that Whamline had been the one who killed her father, and had still been out there on the streets for all this time trying to help people. There was absolutely no way that she’d actually processed and dealt with that. She needed a real break too. But if I insisted on being out there--if I dragged my team, who also deserved a break, out there, of course she was going to feel guilty about sitting things out.

Once I talked all that through with Izzy, she agreed. Even if it was both of our instincts to argue with the idea of being sidelined, it really was for the best. Two weeks honestly felt like forever right now, but would probably fly by. Especially on my end, if my group was actually going to work on helping Wren make use of those new supplies to put some of those defenses and whatever else together. We wouldn’t exactly be lazing around doing nothing. But at the very least, not being in life and death situations, and having time to actually regroup and rebuild a bit--yeah, that was for the best. I didn’t have the right to argue with Silversmith or the other leaders in an attempt to take away everyone else’s chance to have a break. No matter how much my first instinct was to do just that. The vacation wasn’t just for me. And even if it had been, honestly, I needed a real break too.

And speaking of things we needed, Izzy and I both realized we were famished right around then. But we also reeked after everything, so she bounded off to use the shower first. While I was waiting, I sent a message to Paige asking if everything was okay on her end and letting her know about the ‘request’ from Silversmith. She, in turn, let me know that things were still complicated over there, but going about as well as they could. Apparently she, Sierra, and Irelyn were going out for breakfast. It sounded like they had only just woken up as well, after an equally late night.

More importantly, apparently Irelyn thought she might be able to get her hands on one of those Incogniter things for Sierra so that she could disguise herself even more effectively. Which was yet another weight off my shoulders, honestly. If that worked, if Sierra could make herself look completely different, there was much less risk that my parents would see her and realize--well I wasn’t sure what they would realize. But it would definitely complicate the whole situation. If she had an Incogniter and could put a holographic disguise over herself, it would… yeah. Irelyn knowing at least much of the truth was already paying off. Which, to be honest, managed to make me feel even more guilty about the fact that we’d sent her off on that wild goose chase.

Not that I actually needed help feeling guilty about that. I was going to have to go see her as Paintball and… and try to explain things. I was going to have to apologize for my part in that.

Once Izzy was done, I took my own shower. Then the two of us bounded down the stairs. We were only halfway there before starting to smell food. Sure enough, Claudio and his assistants had whipped up an incredible spread, having started once one of the maids let them know that Izzy had started taking her shower. Christiana told us to take our seats and then put a veritable breakfast feast in front of us, with an added note that Claudio was going to be very disappointed if we didn’t eat as much as we could before leaving to visit our parents. But, far more importantly, so would our mother. So that was the point of all this. She had probably called ahead and requested that they make a huge meal like this. The only question was, how much of that was because she was simply concerned that we hadn’t been eating enough while they were unconscious, and how much of it was to keep us busy with this so she and Dad could continue attending to all that Ministry business they’d fallen behind on thanks to the Sleeptalk stuff?

Okay, yes, it was just slightly possible that I was being a little too paranoid about all that. It was a big breakfast, I didn’t need to completely overthink the whole thing. Even if they did have a lot to catch up on, our parents weren’t going to trick us into leaving them alone to do that. It was silly.

Besides, I really was incredibly hungry. The second the food was put in front of us, I put all that other stuff out of my mind for the time being and just dove in. Beside me, Izzy did the same. We didn’t say much for a few minutes there, intent on simply eating. Eventually, I asked about Simon at one point when Christiana was refilling our drinks and found out he had left a couple hours earlier to go back over to the hospital. But Jefferson was standing by to take us to see our parents whenever we wanted. Which was another thing that let me know how unusual this whole situation was. Jefferson didn’t like ‘standing by’ to do things. He liked to find out ahead of time and arrange his entire schedule for the day, if not the week. Being told that he was simply waiting around and would drive us over there as soon as we wanted? That was very, very different.

It also convinced me to hurry up and finish eating. No matter how willing he might’ve been to make this a special occasion, I didn’t want to make Jefferson wait any longer than we had to. Honestly, right then I felt more guilty about making him sit around than I did about making our parents wait for us to show up. After all, they had plenty of things to keep them busy. As much as I knew they did want to see Izzy and me again, they weren’t going to be bored any time soon.

Which, of course, made me think about the whole Bobby situation. How had they reacted to the news that he had executed Pittman like that? Would they be angry with him, or totally accept it? Considering the threat he posed, I was pretty sure it would lean toward the latter, but still.

Either way, they would be looking for him. And I still had no idea where he was. Hell, I wasn’t even sure how much he knew. He’d figured out that ‘Style’ looked like Cassidy, but did he realize… god, I didn’t know. I needed to talk to him. I wanted to talk to him. Which meant finding him, and that was another thing I could use these next couple weeks of ‘vacation’ to work on.

Okay, so maybe this was less of an actual vacation, and more of a way to catch up on other things. Regardless, we needed it. Not being in immediate life and death situations really would be a break, even if we weren't lounging around doing nothing.

After filling up on as much delicious food as we could shove down our throats, Izzy and I took the ride from Jefferson back over to the hospital. Part of me thought I should check in at the shop and see what else was going on, while another part wanted to see what had happened with that whole situation from the night before with the people who had tried to destroy the cure. But if I acted like I had anything I would rather do than visit my parents right then, people would be a bit suspicious.

Besides, to be honest, I really didn't care about that stuff more than I wanted to see my parents right then. Which I might have felt a little guilty about, but there it was. I would be plenty busy with all those other things soon enough. I sure as hell wasn't going to bring it up in front of Izzy and make her feel guilty. No, the two of us would be just fine focusing on family stuff for the moment.

So, that was what we did. We went to the hospital and spent the next few hours with our parents. We caught them up on everything we could actually talk about. Which meant Izzy did more talking than me. She told them about the stuff she knew as part of the Minority, while I was limited to just talking about the stuff that was known to the public. I had to pretend to be a clueless bystander.

On the other hand, that did mean I had an excuse to play up how awesome it was to have a sister with super powers who was a bonafide superhero. And boy did I. It became my goal in that little visit to see just how much I could make Izzy blush.

Was that silly? Yeah, of course. But I still had fun with it. It was just nice to focus on something completely inconsequential like that. Our parents were awake, and as far as the doctors could tell, there didn't appear to be any relapses or serious side effects. All of that was definitely cause for goofing off a little bit and being silly.

Eventually, however, they needed to sleep. The doctors didn't want to let them overdo it just yet. And yes, part of me wondered if this was more about them getting Ministry stuff done, but it didn't matter that much. We would visit them again later.

After getting some lunch, Izzy and I split up. She went in to meet with the rest of the Minority to get their official vacation orders, and I headed over to the shop. Everyone else was already there hanging out and talking about the quarantine being lifted. It wasn't absolutely official just yet. They were waiting until five o'clock this evening for that. But the sense of relief already settled over the city was palpable. They'd had Silversmith on the news letting everyone know that he and the others were back and they would be getting things under control.

Once I walked into the shop, everyone was clamoring to find out how my parents were and what was going on with that. I let them know that my mom and dad were fine, but also that that meant they would be getting back to Ministry work. Which could complicate things.

Paige cleared her throat. “Speaking of complicating things, I told you that Irelyn knows about it now. We couldn't lie to her anymore, not about that. Not after everything that happened.”

That was the other thing, apparently she had caught the others up on the fact that Irelyn was Flea. She had done it with the older girl's permission, of course. Apparently Irelyn wanted all of us here to know that we could trust her, and why she could help with all this.

“She's not going to do anything drastic right now,” Sierra assured us with a slightly distant look, like she was thinking about something else. “And she's definitely not about to try going to the news or anything. We made sure she understood how dangerous they can be.”

While Murphy muttered something about not knowing the half of it, the Cuddles quickly asked what we were going to do with them now that the quarantine was coming down. The rest of us exchanged looks before I answered. “We're not going to force you to do anything right now. We’ll take our time, figure out the best way to handle this without letting anyone use you again, and go from there. One step at a time without rushing.”

They seemed satisfied enough by that, and started a whole whispered conversation with Wren and Qwerty. It sounded like they were planning something.

Before I could focus too much on that, Paige spoke up. “There's something else. As soon as the quarantine comes down, Irelyn wants to take Sierra and me on some sort of trip to visit her-- our parents’ cabin. She thinks there's some supplies there we can use, including that incogniter for Sierra. Plus, I think she just wants to spend time with us talking about everything away from here. It’s a… road trip, I guess.”

My head bobbed. “Yeah, apparently the adults want all of us to stop patrolling for a couple weeks and take it easy. For some reason they feel like we've done too much lately.”

Peyton blinked a couple times, as she and the others took that in. “So Paige and Sierra are going to be gone for a while and we’re being benched because they want us to take a break? What does that mean?”

I offered a shrug. “Honestly, I guess it just means one thing.

“We are officially on vacation.”