Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

No instant gratification was forthcoming. But the Eye managed to find something to say about Espionage every day for a week. So they were famous, sort of. And once again, the attempt to do good hadn’t worked out like it was supposed to. Maybe she just ought to learn kung fu and start punching people out directly. Somehow, that didn’t appeal.

“We have to go patrolling again. Tonight,” Teddy insisted, during lunch. “Keep up the momentum.”

They were sitting in one corner, and Anna kept glancing at Teia, Lew, Sam, and a couple of other people who were sitting in another corner, laughing about something or other while eating sandwiches and pizza. Probably not superpowered stuff, because of the civilians there. And she was thinking of their nonpowered classmates as civilians. She was going insane.

“I don’t know. I’m really tired,” she said, picking at her food.

“You want to let them keep having all the fun?” His gaze darted to the corner where the sometime Trinity was having an ordinary high-school lunch.

“Teddy, that’s not the point, how many times do I have to say it.”

“We can do more, Anna, I know we can. But we have to get out there.”

He hadn’t asked her about prom again. He’d completely forgotten about it, or he really didn’t have the guts to look her in the eye and tell her he liked her. She thought about asking him about it—reminding him. But a perverse part of her didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. She didn’t want to seem that needy. It all felt so ridiculous.

“If that’s how you feel, why don’t you just go do it on your own?” she said.

“Because we’re a team.” Like it was obvious. His expression was clean, stark, not a lick of deception there. Her heart melted a bit. “Look, we head back to Hell’s Alley and I bring my paint gun like last time, since that actually worked out pretty well…” He rambled on for a little while with an even more ambitious version of the paintball-tagging scenario, while she thoughtfully chewed her sandwich. They made plans about where and when to meet, and whether they should think about putting together some better-looking outfits. Since they weren’t likely to get their pictures taken anywhere, Anna didn’t know why it mattered. But it did, so there.

If they were going to go on patrol, she thought, they needed more than a paint gun. They needed to be intimidating. They needed more power.

They finished eating and gathered up their things to leave for next period.

“So…” she said carefully, testing. “I wondered if it would be okay if I invited someone else along.”

“Who?”

“You remember the guy from the park that one time? The jumper?”

Teddy froze, like he needed a minute to process what she’d said. “Frogger? That guy? Don’t tell me you’ve been talking to him.”

“Yeah, so what if I have?”

“It’s just … we don’t know anything about him. Are you sure he’s a good guy?”

She knew exactly where Teddy was coming from on that one, but she breezed past it. “I think he can help us. We can really use someone powerful. Some muscle.” And boy, did Eliot have muscle. He still hadn’t e-mailed her, though.

“And you trust him?”

“I trust him enough,” she said, which was a terribly evasive answer.

“Well, I don’t. Sign up Toad Man? No way.”

“Jealous?”

He glared. “What? Why would I be jealous.”

“You know, you were supposed to ask me again if I want to go to prom with you. You know, when we’re not wearing masks in a back alley at midnight.” That sounded a lot kinkier than it really was. Her life probably looked a lot more exciting from the outside.

“Okay, um.” He winced, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah. So. Um. Do you … I mean, I guess you’ve had time to think about it and all. So, will you maybe go to prom with me?”

She thought about Eliot, and let that thought go. “Yeah. Okay.”

“Um. Okay. Cool.” He actually looked startled.

What were they supposed to do now? Hug? Shake hands? Make out? Um …

The chimes for next period rang, and they both made nervous, grateful chuckles.

“I’ll see you tonight, then,” he said, waving awkwardly and backing away.

“Yeah, see you.” Her waving was just as awkward.

She started to walk to her own next class, mostly because she felt Teia coming up behind her and wanted to get away. But Teia grabbed her arm.

“Anna, can I talk to you?” Teia said.

“I’m really busy right now.” She sighed, letting more frustration edge into her voice than she meant.

“This is important,” she said, sounding just as frustrated and increasing her pace to keep up with Anna’s retreat.

“We’re late for class.”

“Two seconds. Please.”

At that, Anna let Teia pull her into a corner. “I read the top news on the Eye this morning. Nice work.”

Anna supposed that if you actually knew her and Teddy, the identity of the most mysterious superhero ever was pretty obvious. What she couldn’t tell was if Teia was being sarcastic. A sneering observation of how little they were really able to do. She didn’t want to engage.

“You going to blow our cover?” she said, not able to sound entirely neutral.

“Nope. Code of honor. You haven’t blown ours, right?”

Was that what it was? Honor was what drove Teia to make headlines? No, they were all just making it up as they went along.

“But that’s not what I want to ask you about. When you guys have been out, have you noticed a lot of cops around? Maybe not a lot of cops. But maybe a patrol car driving by, or they just happen to show up right after you bag a bad guy. And I mean right after.”

Not that she and Teddy bagged all that many bad guys, but she didn’t have to say that. “I don’t know. Except now that you mention it…” She’d noticed the cops mostly to avoid them and felt grateful every time a patrol car passed by without stopping. Which happened almost every time she’d been out doing the vigilante thing, hadn’t it? She looked at Teia. “It’s a coincidence, it has to be. Commerce City has a lot of cops.”

“I’m telling you, every damn time we nail somebody, the cops are right there with handcuffs as soon as we call, like they were ready for it. It’s been the same for you, hasn’t it?”

“I don’t know…”

“I think the cops are on to us. I think they’re watching us.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. They’d have to know…” They’d have to know when the Trinity and Espionage were out on patrol, and to know that, the cops would have to know who they all were.

“I know that look, you know something.”

“No, I don’t.” Yes, she did. Her mother knew everything and had recruited the cops to babysit them all. The only reason they hadn’t been arrested yet was because Celia West told them not to.

“Anna—”

“I have to get to class.”

“Anna! Don’t walk off on me like that—”

Anna was too angry—not at Teia, not at all—to do anything but walk away.

MARKPaulson’s drawling snark greeted Celia when she answered the phone. “And who is Espionage?”

“Hello, Mark, how are you today?”

The hardest thing was trying to sound chipper when she felt like shit. She was in bed in her and Arthur’s own room pretending to have the flu after her first chemo treatment. She thought she’d have a grace period before it knocked her out. Not a chance. She felt the burn of the chemical in her veins. She wanted to sleep until it went away. But Mark called, and she couldn’t ignore him.

“Ready to hear what I have to say?”