Summus Proelium

Obviously, I went by the shop to let the others know that I was going to be out of town for the next week. Honestly, I was pretty sure Fred at the very least was absolutely relieved about that. Not that he didn't like me or anything, we had definitely gotten past that particular rocky start to our relationship back when he had pointed Wren’s gun at me while I was looking for answers about those vials. No, he was just relieved because if I was gone there was even less chance of his niece and the others finding a way to get into trouble. With Paige, Sierra, and me all out of the city, there was little reason to try to go on patrol or anything. They had absolutely no reason to go against the firm request that we take a break. All of them could actually rest for once. Well, rest and work on Wren’s inventions. Which she seemed to see as a break anyway.

Honestly, she deserved this. They all did. That was one of the reasons why I hadn't argued against the forced vacation too much. Because it wasn't just about me. It wasn't only about my break and my sanity. I had been asking a lot from these guys for a while now. Too much, really. They needed this, probably more than they would easily admit.

And, well, to be honest, I was looking forward to having the break as well. Yes, there was a part of me that felt guilty about even considering it, but seriously, I had been running at full speed for so long without actually having a chance to mentally process everything properly. So much had happened, and I had barely thought about it.

Not to mention, I was still giddy about going to see the games. I had watched them online or in our private theater for as long as I could remember. Going to see them in person? That was a real treat, one I couldn't pretend I wasn't excited about. So yes, I might have gushed about how fun it was going to be a little bit.

Of course, I immediately felt guilty about that as soon as Qwerty made some noise about possibly going with, especially when he found out exactly what these games I was going to watch were. Unfortunately, I had to explain to him that there was no way I could keep him with me while staying around my family. He stood out just a little too much. We couldn't exactly put a fake mustache and glasses on him and pretend that he was some other half-parrot, half-squirrel TONI with no relation to the one on Avant-Guard. Even if the idea did make everyone in the room giggle a little bit.

The giggling included all of the Cuddles, who promised their new friend that they could watch the games on television right there in the shop. He still seemed a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to go with and see them in person, but it did help. As did Fred promising they could get big bowls of popcorn and nuts, and that Qwerty could have his very own to swim around in like Scrooge McDuck in his money. Which, of course, meant they had to explain who that even was, and start to play that particular cartoon for the little guy.

Yeah, they weren't going to get much work done for a while. But that seemed okay to me, as I stood in the doorway to Wren’s workshop and watched her, Qwerty, the Cuddles, and even Murphy and Roald perched in front of one of the large monitors there to watch while that earworm of a theme song filled the room. Before it was even halfway done, Qwerty was already bouncing back and forth, dancing. Which made the Cuddles start showing off their own moves as well. They played the song a couple more times like that before even moving on with the actual episode. Something told me this was gonna be a hit with the whole group. And Qwerty wasn't thinking about being disappointed about not going with anymore, which was another big plus.

Peyton was standing next to me, watching the others as well for a moment before speaking in a soft voice. “I sure hope everything has the common decency to stay quiet for the next week while you're gone.”

I snorted despite myself. “Somehow, that particular decency doesn't seem common at all. But it doesn't matter, there's plenty of people here in the city to deal with anything that pops up. The rest of the Stars are on their feet, plus we still have some of those guests who came to help. They haven't left yet. Between them and the national guard who stuck around to help with the cleanup, I think they've got it handled. Just use this vacation.” I turned to face her, my finger poking the girl in the nose. “Are we totally clear on that? You need a vacation as much as any of us. No going out by yourself just because you're still here and you have powers. You don't need to keep up with anything. Let everyone else handle things around here.”

From the somewhat guilty expression that crossed her face, I was pretty sure she’d had that very thought, at least about having some sort of responsibility to go out there since she was a Star-Touched. but she gave a short nod and held her hand up. “I solemnly swear that I will not go out there while you're gone unless it's a real emergency and I don't have any other choice. And even then, I definitely won’t go out by myself.”

There was a lot I wanted to say to that, but it was probably the best I was going to get, especially under the circumstances. And now I knew how Paige had felt when she had made me give basically the same promise before being taken on that trip with her sisters. Maybe we really did have a problem when it came to taking an actual break.

I stuck around for a bit longer, watching an episode or two of the cartoon before saying my goodbyes. I promised to check in every day and keep track of what was going on, and made the others all promise to stick to being on vacation as well. I also promised that as soon as I got back, we would figure out what to do about the whole Cuddles runaway situation. That definitely still needed to be addressed, even if I wasn't sure how it would go.

In the end, I gave everyone a hug, even the tiniest of them (Cherry the duckling had a strong embrace), before heading out. On the way, I dropped off another envelope full of cash from both Paige and me with Fred and told him to use it to get whatever they needed that wasn't in the supplies the Ministry had paid us with.

With that done and the goodbyes to my team given, I met up with Amber for lunch. She had already heard from both Izzy and me about what was going on, and had insisted on meeting up to talk in person. Honestly, I felt like she was probably going a little stir crazy with being on her own in forced vacation. Maybe even worse than me, given she wanted to distract herself from the Whamline thing.

We picked up tacos from a stand and took them to a park. It was full of people, everyone taking advantage of Sleeptalk being cured and the quarantine being lifted to get the hell out of their houses. There was a youth baseball game going on on the nearby field, and the bleachers were almost completely full. Everyone was taking any excuse they could to get out. And from the sound of things, they were really getting into the game.

While the stands were full, Amber and I had found a picnic table past the outfield where we could sit and eat while keeping half an eye on the game.

Even the gangs seemed to be taking a little break, considering I hadn't heard about anything more than the occasional small crime happening in the past couple days. Part of me wondered if that was thanks to strict orders from the Ministry to chill out and let people get their heads on straight again.

Whatever the reasoning, I wasn't going to argue with it. I just hoped things stayed relatively quiet for the entirety of the next week. I wasn't going to entirely count on that, but still. It was nice to dream. And either way, whatever did happen wouldn't be for us to worry about. It was like I had said before, they had plenty of people here who could handle things. We just had to accept that and relax.

Amber, for her part, informed me that she would be leaving for a few days as well. Apparently her mother was taking her on a trip to see her grandparents. That was, her father's parents. Now that they had answers about who had actually killed Amber’s dad, they were going to tell his mother and father about it in person. Which was obviously a big deal. Amber was trying to stay calm about it, yet I could tell she was kind of freaking out anyway. It was made somewhat easier by the fact that they knew Amber was That-A-Way, but it still wouldn't exactly be the smoothest conversation. Especially not when they got into the details of all that.

Unfortunately, I really had no idea what I could say to make her feel better. The best I could manage was to say that I was sure her grandparents would be glad to have actual closure on the subject. Which sounded lame even as I was saying it, but Amber still thanked me. Then we ate our tacos in silence for a minute or so, each of us lost in our own thoughts about what we were going to be doing over the next few days. Somehow, I felt like Amber would almost rather have been in another life and death fight than look her grandparents in the eyes and tell them that she had spent a year on a team with the boy who killed their son. I was sure they wouldn't blame her or anything, but that didn't stop Amber from being afraid of their reaction. Or even just their silent disappointment. I really couldn't blame her for being nervous. Especially when I considered the sort of serious conversations I was going to need to have with my own family someday.

But hey, at least I wouldn't have to talk to Grandpa Jacopo. Not after my father had cut his head off for trying to have me kidnapped while my best friend and his entire household were executed. Clearly, I had come out on top of that situation.

Okay, yeah, even that thought was a little too dark. My brain really needed to shut up, because it was seriously failing at lightening the mood.

The good news was that I was suddenly distracted and didn't have to think about that anymore. The bad news was that the distraction came in the form of an armored truck that went screaming past the park with its emergency lights and siren blaring. A figure was flying just overhead in obvious pursuit.

Amber and I looked at each other and blurted, “Deicide?”

My head shook. “We’re supposed to be on vacation, they’ll chew our hides if we get involved in that. Whatever it is, it can't be a big enough deal for us to violate that.” I could just imagine myself having to sit at a table across from all the people who had told me to take a break. The thought of having to explain why I had jumped in the very second situation presented itself wasn't great.

But on the other hand, did that even matter? Who cared if I got in trouble for helping? What if that truck hit someone? What if one of Deicide’s attacks happened to catch a civilian accidentally? Would I feel good about following instructions and avoiding disappointed looks if someone got hurt or worse because of it? Yeah, this was just an armored car chase at this point, but who knew how it could deteriorate? Anything could happen with this.

Amber was standing up, grabbing my hand. In the background, the baseball game had stopped for a moment while people stared after the truck and the figure that had been following it. A few people who had been using their phones to record the game were playing back the footage. And there were a few uncertain murmurs. I even saw a couple fans head for their cars to leave. But when there didn't seem to be any sort of immediate follow up and it was clear that the chase had continued on past the park, the game got back underway.

Amber, by that point, was dragging me toward the restroom. “We won't get involved unless we have to, but I've got a couple of private teleport places I’ve plotted out across the city, we can follow that truck and see what's going on. We don't even have to change.”

Yeah, I did want to know what the hell that was about. I couldn't imagine what could possibly be in some random armored truck that would make Deicide chase after it like that. There was something going on, and I couldn't help but be curious. Still, I made Amber promise that we would stay out of sight. Neither of us needed to get in trouble just a couple days into what was supposed to be our vacation. And I definitely didn't need to be caught out as myself following some sort of armored car robbery. I couldn't even imagine the type of discussion with my parents that would lead to.

We ran to the restrooms. I was pretty sure we didn't stand out at all, since anyone looking would just assume we had gotten nervous like those other people and were leaving. Either way, as soon as we were out of sight, Amber took my hand and teleported both of us to a concealed spot on top of a building several blocks away. Apparently she had memorized a fair number of locations like this, hidden areas she can teleport to without easily being seen. That one had a vine-covered trellis around three sides and over the top, and faced the blank wall of the nearby taller building.

We made another couple jumps like that before eventually stopping as Amber turned to point down the street. Sure enough, the truck was approaching from that way. Deicide was still pursuing it, while the driver swerved erratically to avoid the paper blades she was sending at it.

Yeah, this whole thing was still confusing. What the hell was in that truck that was so important, and why didn't it have any sort of escort? It was marked with the logo from Ten Towers, so it really could've had anything. But there should've been more guards with it. Maybe they had already been ditched? I couldn't figure out what was going on here. My best guess was that Ten Towers had been attempting to ship something important under the radar by not surrounding it with as many guards as they should have. But apparently that hadn't worked, considering Deicide’s presence. Did that mean that she was going against what I had assumed was an order to stand down for a while? Or had she received permission for this? She didn't really strike me as someone who would directly go against the Ministry like that. Then again, I was just assuming that they had given that order, I didn't know for certain.

There were a lot of assumptions going on. Part of me wondered if we should be changing into our costumes anyway, vacation be damned. But I had no idea what was in that truck. If it wasn't a big deal, and this little chase wasn't endangering anyone directly, we probably couldn't justify jumping in. Not to mention the fact that Amber didn't have the convenient costume transport bag that I did. I wasn't sure she had anything with her at all.

Just in case, after another moment of consideration, I grabbed my mask and helmet from the bag and put them on. Then I took a breath and let it out, melting into a puddle right next to Amber after giving the other girl a quick warning. A second later, I reformed, this time in a more… masculine form. I had all, uhh, boy parts. Which was just-- not something I could dwell on right then. But at the very least, if I had to jump in, I wouldn't immediately expose my secret.

Amber, looking sidelong at me, gave a low whistle. “Now that’s impressive.”

My blush deepened as the truck and its pursuer drew closer and closer. I was trying to think of some way to do some sort of subtle intervention. Maybe I could hit the truck with some green paint and her with yellow to give them some more separation so it could escape? I didn't have to jump in openly and publicly. If there was a chance that I could help without being obvious about it, that could work. And if anyone did notice me, I had the mask and helmet on, and was in my masc form.

Beside me, Amber put a hand on my arm and pointed down the street in the opposite direction, away from our hiding spot. “Look, they're ready for them.”

Sure enough, I saw a roadblock set up there with several other Towers guards and Touched. They were ready to intercept. Right, good, so we didn't have to piss everyone off by violating our vacation and jumping in. This was okay. It was all okay. Most likely, Deicide would take off as soon as she saw that the truck had reinforcements. That was a load off our shoulders. I really hadn't been looking forward to having to explain to everyone, including my own team, how I had been dragged into another situation like this. I didn't think they would believe that it was completely random and not my fault at all.

Unfortunately, just as I had that thought, Deicide flew ahead of the truck and hovered in front of it, almost directly below us. The driver suddenly swerved around her, taking the truck through a chain-link fence and toward a small auto shop. The vehicle went through the doors with a loud screech of tearing metal and the scream of protesting brakes. Fortunately, it looked like the shop was closed. There were no other vehicles around.

But that was where the good news sharply ended. Because just as the Towers people started to react to the crash and head that way, Amber and I watched Deicide land on the ground behind the part of the truck that was still sticking out the shop. She used her paper blades to cut into it, making a hole in the door. So whatever she was after, the woman was about to get it. At the same time, the driver went running out the side door of the shop. He was aiming his gun that way while firing repeatedly. It looked like he was just blindly shooting. Not that that was likely to accomplish anything, considering the strength of Deicide’s paper armor.

Or at least, it shouldn't have accomplished anything. But Amber suddenly made a noise, lunging to her feet while snapping something about gas. My eyes snapped to where she was looking. Sure enough, there were several barrels leaking gasoline nearby, apparently damaged when the truck crashed through the garage. We could see the liquid pooling under Deicide’s feet.

This was bad. She hadn't noticed what she was standing in. Hell, it looked like she had barely noticed the fleeing man shooting at her. All of the woman's attention was on getting into the truck. She didn't care about anything else.

Amber and I didn't care about getting in trouble or anything else anymore. It didn't matter. Yes, Deicide was a villain, a Fell, but she didn't deserve to die. We couldn’t just sit there and watch.

And yet, before we could even move, a figure appeared between us, hands grabbing our arms.

It was Skip. She held us tight, her voice firm. “Wait.”

We couldn't argue. We couldn't say anything at all. There wasn't time. In the next second, the fleeing guard fired one more shot. That was enough. Suddenly, the gasoline erupted. The whole garage exploded into a massive fireball. Deicide was taken completely by surprise, standing right there at ground zero, in the center of that explosion. There must've been a lot of gas in that place, because it went up like a bomb.

Amber and I were both left staring that way in shock as the explosion settled, revealing what very little was left of the building and truck. As for Deicide, she… she was gone. There were a few scattered burning papers fluttering through the air. Other than that, she had been completely annihilated. All while we stood there and watched.

All while we were made to stand there and watch.

“So,” Skip announced slowly and flatly while Amber and I both turned to stare at her, “I imagine you would like an explanation.”