Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

Anna wished she could have known him. She’d read so much about him. Her grandmother only ever said that she missed him, Dad said he was complicated, and Mom never said anything at all. None of them said anything about what Warren West had actually been like. Even the published biographies—all of them unauthorized—talked about Warren West like he was the disguise and Captain Olympus had been the real person.

She ended up skipping over the ghost of Captain Olympus–as-guardian-angel stories because they all sounded the same and had the air of folklore. Once you cut through the fluff, Rooftop Watch really was the best place to get the most recent news on what the city’s superheroes were doing.

The Trinity got written up in the blog four times this week. Espionage, only once. This made Anna furious, because it didn’t seem fair. They weren’t any stronger than her and Teddy, they were just flashier. They froze car thieves in ice, blasted vandals with lasers, and Lew saved a window washer who’d fallen from a building by launching a gust of wind under him until he landed safely. Even Anna had to be impressed at that one. Espionage mostly seemed to be good at voyeurism and running away.

She and Teddy went out on another patrol, like they’d planned.

Teddy was already there when she arrived. He’d been there awhile—early. In the end, he’d go out on his own if she refused to go with him. She was glad she could be here to watch his back, even if that amounted to little more than calling 9-1-1 if he got in over his head.

“Hey,” he said, when she turned the corner and jogged toward him. He was carrying the paintball gun again. “Ready for this?”

For a moment, she didn’t know how to answer that. “Yeah,” she said with a sigh.

He’d made adjustments to his outfit, which was looking more sleek, more official—he’d made himself a form-fitted skin-suit mask, black with a smoke-gray stripe across the eyes, and a smoky black shirt and gloves to go with his jeans. Ghostlike. She was still in a rough jacket and ski mask. When she thought about trying to put together something sleeker, her mind went blank. What would she use as a trademark? A skin suit covered in pink roses? Because that would strike fear into absolutely no one.

She craned her neck, searching the rooftops even though she knew Eliot wasn’t around. He was back on campus. She’d have invited him along, but he still hadn’t e-mailed her, so she didn’t have a way to get in touch with him except to go find him. Never mind.

“What is it?” Teddy said.

“Nothing. Just thinking.”

His lips tightened as he caught her gazing roofward. “You’re looking for the Human Pogo Stick—is he around, is that it?”

“No—” Eliot wasn’t, but another familiar presence was. She tilted her head, tried to focus. Three familiar figures were moving this way, exactly where she didn’t expect or want to see them. Anna hissed a curse under her breath. “It’s the Trinity. Lady Snow and the others—they’re here.”

“What? This isn’t their territory, they always go to the harbor.”

“I know.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Ignore them,” Anna said, but she knew that wouldn’t be so simple. The trio wasn’t wandering but rather moving on a purposeful trajectory as if chasing someone. They’d found prey and were on the hunt.

The trio emerged from a cross street ahead, confident shadows on a street where most of the lights were knocked out. Sam was in the lead, Teia and Lew behind, looking over their shoulders, keeping watch. The temperature dropped, a breeze picked up—Lew carrying a microstrorm with him. They’d gotten pretty good, she had to admit.

Anna stepped forward into their line of sight and crossed her arms. She was pleased when Teddy fell into place next to her, also arms crossed.

Sam spotted them first and, obviously startled, pulled into a fighting pose—feet spread, knees bent, arms raised, hands pointed. The others came up beside him and braced in their own poses, with whatever gestures they needed to use their powers. A lick of wind ruffled the hair that peeked out from under Anna’s mask. She was the only one of the bunch who wasn’t surprised or put off balance by the encounter.

“Lady Snow. Stormbringer. Blaster. Hello,” she said calmly.

Fortunately, none of the Trinity let loose with their powers; even Lew’s breeze faded away, once he realized who they were.

Teia put her hands on her hips. “Anna, what are you—”

“Compass Rose,” Anna shot back. “And what are you doing here? Don’t you guys usually patrol the harbor?”

Lew laughed, Teia shook her head, and Anna wondered what she was missing. He said, “We’ve cleaned up the harbor. All the crooks have moved on because they know we’re watching the place. Pretty cool, huh?”

Sam blew on his fingers like they were the barrel of a gun, and Anna rolled her eyes.

“There’s crime all over the city, why’d you come here?” Anna said. “This is our territory.”

Sam looked around dramatically. “I don’t see your flag planted anywhere.” He turned to the others. “That’s car’s going to be coming up this way any second, we don’t have time to fuck around.”

“What’s going on?” Anna asked.

When Sam pointed at her, a shiver of fear twisted her gut—he wouldn’t really blast her, would he? “We’re busy, you kids step back and watch the real supers work.”

Teia shook her head at that. “There’s a car full of gangbangers tearing up the neighborhood. We came this way to try to cut them off.”

Exactly the kind of thing they could do with their powers. Anna and Teddy, not so much. She was inclined to walk off, leave them to it, and find easier pickings. No matter how degrading that would be.

Teddy stepped forward angrily. “We’ll take care of it, this is our territory.”

“How are we supposed to know that? We don’t know what you do, you never make it into the news,” Teia said.

Did she have to keep rubbing their faces in it?

Lew pointed at the gun. “Paintball? That’s what you guys are reduced to?”

“Cut it out, it works,” Anna said. At least, it worked that one time.

“Tag and bag,” Teddy said, like it actually meant something, and hefted the gun like it actually meant something.

“Look,” Anna said, wanting to get away before she said something stupid, or rather more stupid. “There’s plenty of trouble for all of us. We’re wasting time standing here arguing—”

The slide and wail of a police siren echoed down the canyon of tenement buildings. They all perked up like hunting dogs.

“We didn’t call the cops,” Lew said. “What are the cops doing here, poaching our catch?”

Teia turned to Anna. “This is exactly what I was talking about. We don’t even have to call the cops to clean up our bad guys because they’re always already there!”

“Guys, incoming!” Sam yelled.

The siren was getting closer. A car’s tires squealed against the asphalt, turning a corner at high speed.

“Let’s go,” Lew said and took off running in the direction of the presumptive car chase. Teia and Sam followed right behind.

Anna and Teddy looked at each other. Teddy shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind seeing what they do next.”

“We might want to back up a little,” Anna said. They pressed back against the brick wall.

Another siren joined the first. The Trinity was strung out along the block when the squealing tires rounded even closer than before, and a battered SUV swung onto their street. The pair of men visible in the cab—the vehicle’s headlights were off—must have been trying to lose the cops in the grid of empty streets. But it wasn’t working; the sirens were getting louder. And now the SUV raced right toward them.