Twenty Six
I sleep until noon. I would have slept for longer, but in a hazy state of half-consciousness and half-dreaming, I remember my conversation with D.S. After that, I’m wide awake.
I have to see what’s on the news. The outfit I stole from Arielle’s closet last night lies on the end of my bed, clean and fresh. Brynn must have put it there while I slept. What is it with people coming into my room while I’m asleep?
I pull my hair into a loose braid, which will help me concentrate. Despite a rejuvenating shower and some sleep, my tight hamstrings wobble as I try to go downstairs. Fox’s door is firmly closed.
Arielle sits in the kitchen, looking ready for anything in a pair of jeans and crisp shirt. She’s pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail, and she must have found contact solution, because she can blink normally.
“Thanks for setting the fashion bar.” I slide into a seat across the table from her. “Compared to you, I look like cat food.”
“That’s not exactly news,” Arielle replies, remembering to smile a second too late.
She has to adjust to being a real person again.
“Brynn is at the grocery store. She was going to pretend she hadn’t heard about the travel ban, just to pick up some extra supplies for us.
I also asked for some t-shirts. If we’ll be here for a few days, I don’t want to keep relying on Brynn’s closet. ”
“Is it okay if we rely on her refrigerator?” I ask, “Because…”
“There’s fruit on the counter and cereal is in the cupboard. Coffee’s ready,” she answers, reaching for the TV remote. She clicks on a screen positioned on the wall above us. Brynn must be a serious cook if she has a TV in the kitchen. I stand and search for the apples.
“What’s our plan for finding proof?” I ask. “Is it possible to expose it on camera?” I hope she’ll know what I mean without my having to elaborate. Arielle said to keep Phil’s powers secret, but we need to talk about them.
Arielle shakes her head, her silky ponytail wavering. “Anyone who sees Phil on video suffers the same consequences as being in a room with him. He’s powerful.”
“Did Mom leave you any ideas?” I ask. Dark Static seemed convinced that Mom left something behind. If she was working on stopping Phil, maybe she had a file.
“If she did, I never found them.” Arielle takes a sip from her coffee mug. “I understand you’ve made a new friend. Who’s partial to working at night. Perhaps he can help?”
I face her. She knows about Dark Static?
“I saw you two at Hallowfest, right before I left,” she explains. “I understand he’s not who Phil thinks he is.”
“He mentioned hearing a plan for a monopoly on powers. Getting rid of Supers until there’s only one left.”
Arielle swears. Loudly.
Dark Static remains one of the last people I want to work with, but he seems to be an expert in breaking into Phil’s private spaces. We’ll need to talk to him.
“This just in,” a news anchor on the TV says. “An accident has occurred in the basement of City Hall. A collapse in the foundation has left former head of Community Engagement, Jack Wilson, dead. CCPD found him days after the collapse and no foul play is suspected.”
Arielle scoffs. “What an idiot.” I turn my back to her and pretend to be busy washing my apple. That tidbit had to be part of a cover-up. How else would Phil explain Wilson dying from kidnapping me? He could use Dark Static as a scapegoat, but D.S. had said Phil has another end for him.
“Sorry to interrupt, Tyler,” a woman anchor cuts in. “We’re getting reports of another strike from Dark Static. Our correspondent on all things Super, Flare, has the story. Over to you, Flare.”
Shrill cries and the shrieks of an ambulance drown out Flare for a few seconds. I lean on the counter as I brace for whatever D.S. did this time. If Flare’s reporting it, it can’t be good.
“Overnight,” says Flare, “the Super Dark Static single handedly destroyed Capital City’s food and water supplies.”
I squeeze the apple in my hand and remain facing the sink. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. D.S. had referred to his job as “odd tasks.” He’d failed to mention that they would devastate the city.
“Dark Static has left his calling card, a blue construction paper note, at every grocery store he hit. To attack the water supply, he exploded several key pipelines that pull from nearby reservoirs.” The audio switches to something outdoors, probably wind blowing around a scene of explosions D.S.
created by shooting lasers at a store. “We have his note right here. It says, ‘All tricks, no treats.’”
I cough. D.S. is so not funny.
The newsman explains the consequences of D.S.
’s actions, “Experts estimate that the closest food sources are about fifteen miles outside of the city’s limits.
This will certainly affect us this weekend, as Mayor Bridges has enacted a travel ban on the city, which will be in place until underground testing has been complete.
This will make it impossible for anyone to travel for food, be sure to ration your—”
Arielle mutes the television.
I can guess what she’s thinking: Brynn is out and about, dangerously close to the residue from D.S.’s explosions, because of us.
“Mother of Aces,” Arielle curses. “Phil’s let this go too far.”
Ding chimes the doorbell. We both jump at the sound, and Arielle leans back in her chair so no one can see us through the door or windows at the front of the house.
“I’ll get it,” Fox calls groggily. His footsteps thud down the stairs.
Arielle and I dive behind the kitchen island. She lands on top of me, and I land hard on the tile floor.
“Sup’ man?” Fox greets our company. “Yeah, come on in.” He wanders into the kitchen, followed by the one and only Damian Scott Jr.
“Really, Levine?” Arielle stands, dusts herself off, and glowers at Fox in a manner so menacing it’s almost funny. If Damian tells anyone he ran into us here… we’re all dead.
Damian sees me and gives a small, thankful wave.
He throws his hands into his pockets like everything is normal.
Something bigger has changed for me since I saw him with Zane—not jealousy or disappointment that he’s with anyone besides me, but more of a disappointment that he didn’t turn out to be Dark Static.
“Oh, right.” Fox turns to Damian. “Yeah, you didn’t see these two here, okay, man? Brynn’s planning a surprise party for Mayor Bridges. If you tell anyone, it’s going to get back to him obviously, and that’d suck.”
“How did you get here?” Arielle asks. “Isn’t there a travel ban?”
“I live next door.” Damian explains.
I nod. I know that already. I also know he’s supposed to work at League of Comics on Saturday mornings, but today nothing is normal.
“You guys see the news?” Damian asks, taking the seat across from Arielle. Fox comes over to where I am to examine his cereal options.
“Nah,” Fox says, reaching to grab a box from the cupboard. His elbow hits me on the way down, and I move a step away from him, only for him to move a step toward me. Pure glee illuminates his face.
“Good morning, Maddragon. Sleep well?” Fox asks, then calls to Damian, “Anything interesting happen? I mean up to the normal standard of these last few days?”
Arielle’s skin pales, and she looks ten times angrier than when we lose a swim meet. “Other than all the food and water supplies in the city being destroyed? No.”
Fox stills. “All of them?”
“I hope your husband has a great emergency plan,” Damian says to Arielle.
“I wrote a paper on the subsidies that Capital City gives farmers. Without food, many people in Capital City are basically going to go bankrupt as inflation rises with few resources left. And there will be no food… We’re all relying on him now. ”
I remember that paper from Damian. Mr. Meyers had entered it into a nationwide economics contest. “Did that paper have any solutions for what to do when food supply diminishes?” I ask. “And demand, say, goes way up?”
“Not really. That’s the thing about destroying all the food—we don’t have a back-up.
It’d require some sweeping legislation from the mayor to convince the city council to liquidize Capital City’s assets to purchase from additional sources.
Or, the Feds could help, but they’re likely waiting to see how the Supers respond.
I mean, there are a few other minor options, but if Dark Static keeps wreaking havoc downtown, we will have no choice but to turn to Phil. ”
“Unless Golden Ace can somehow fly in warehouses full of vegetables,” mutters Fox.
“Sure,” Damian jokes. “Let’s go call him up real quick and suggest that.”
I toss the apple from one hand to the other as I think—an answer is coming.
The pieces D.S. had talked about. “Damian, you’re a genius.
That’s his plan,” I say, specifically to Arielle.
“That’s Phil’s plan. To impoverish the people of Capital City and use Dark Static to turn everyone against the Supers.
Phil’s trying to make it seem like he’s the only hero left. ”
Not to mention, the only Super.
“Which he will be,” Arielle finishes for me. “Last week, he mentioned drafting unprecedented legislation that would keep elections from happening during a state of emergency, which could last forever.”
“Um.” Damian looks from me to Arielle. “I thought you were planning a surprise party for your husband?”
Arielle doesn’t acknowledge him. Fox crunches his cereal.
Damian is a genius. Everyone knows that, which is why we’ve inadvertently let him stay for this conversation. Fox, as he’s proven, is smarter than he lets on. Despite having to fill in the blanks between what Arielle and I are talking about, I’m certain the boys can figure out what we mean.
Damian drums his hands on the table. “Stuff just got real.”
The back door pushes open, and Brynn and Jamie come in with bags and bags of groceries. “There’s more in the trunk,” she says to Fox. He salutes her and goes to help. Arielle and I move too, but Fox stops me.
“Host duties,” he says.