Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(38)
“What do you think, Abby?” Jess asks.
Abby’s shoulders are hunched, and she’s staring at the list Brendan is making, at the words lit up in the air. There are a number of skills under each of their names but there’s barely anything written in Abby’s column.
“Sorry, you guys go ahead. I need a minute,” Abby says, stepping out of the room.
“Abby…” Jess frowns and follows her.
At the sight of Emma’s frown, Bells, says, “They’ll be fine. We’ll give them some time and meet up with them later.”
When they step inside Abby’s front door later that day, Ch? the MonRobot leaves its charging dock with an excited meep! and heads toward them, only to be distracted when Jess stands up.
Ch? vacuums in a noisy circle until it bumps into Jess’ feet, and she chuckles. “There’s a spilled bowl downstairs,” she says, and the MonRobot cheeps happily and buzzes off.
The living room is a jumble of many still-unpacked boxes and wires and tech. Next to Brendan’s vintage setup and Abby’s sleek new consoles are Brendan and Abby in a heated conversation; the plans for a mecha-suit float above them.
“I’m just saying, if we add this component you could fly without your powers—”
“I’m not going to wear a mecha-suit with a live nuclear reactor! Haven’t you learned anything from X29!”
“Maybe the radiation will help you get your powers back! Maybe even stronger!”
“That’s not the way it works!” Abby puts her hands on her hips and looks to Jess.
Jess gestures at Emma and Bells. “Look, everyone’s here. Come on, come on. And Brendan, if Abby doesn’t want a new mecha-suit, don’t build one for her, okay!”
Brendan fidgets, looking at his feet. “What if I already started…”
Abby throws her hands up. “It’s hopeless; this design won’t work,” she says, but it looks as if she’s biting back a smile.
Bells listens to the thump, thump of Ch? slowly making its way down the stairs and settles on the couch. Emma is on her DED, flicking through newsholos and magazines.
“You would think with the public knowing Captain Orion was behind all these terrible things, people would think differently about the League,” Emma says, stopping on the latest cover of STARS TODAY!. Starscream has a new haircut, the headline announces, and Bellevue and Starscream have been seen together, and it’s possible that they’re dating.
Bells eyes Emma’s holo. It’s not that he thought the trivial gossip would come to an immediate end… but isn’t there more news? After all, people were talking about Captain Orion kidnapping people and experimenting on them. Even without mention of the League or the hero-villain conspiracy there’s no way to deny that this happened.
Jess does a quick search on her own device. “That’s weird… There aren’t any mentions of Captain Orion at all.”
“Typical,” Abby says. “Ignoring, ignorant—”
“No, that is significant,” Emma says, raising her hand. “Complete dismissal of Orion, their favorite? She was the darling of the country, easy paparazzi fodder. Ignoring her entirely? That’s a statement.”
Bells nods. “I agree. I don’t know what it means, but it’s ominous.”
Jess’ eyes widen. “They’re not just dismissing her. They’re not talking about her at all, and soon… I bet this ugly blip in the League’s history will soon be rewritten just as they want it.”
Ch. 7...
Power outages don’t happen often; after all, the weather in Andover is blazing sunshine almost year round. As is true for most cities in the NAC, Andover relies on a combination of power sources: mostly solar and wind. They don’t have the advantage of the larger cities on the coasts with their tidal power stations or those near rivers that power hydroelectric dams. Relying on solar power, landlocked cities charge batteries during the day to last through the night.
Everyone knows the drill: if storms cause solar panel failure, all alternate power generation goes toward emergency services and citizens are expected to have their own supplies.
Bells’ first storm seemed like such an adventure, stocking up on candles and eating rations. He’s been through quite a few power outages since then and he always thinks of them as a time for fun, not dangerous. For the last few storms, he and Jess went to Emma’s house to hang out. They built blanket forts, watched holovids until the battery ran out, and ate way too much junk food.
Today’s storm warning is typically ominous:
STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6AM JANUARY 8. SOLAR PANELS WILL SHUT DOWN PRODUCTIVITY IN 90 MINUTES. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION WILL SHUT DOWN. CENTRAL STATION WILL REMAIN OPEN SHOULD YOU HAVE A HOVERTRAIN TICKET THIS EVENING.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR SEVERE STORM DAYS, VISIT THE FOLLOWING HOLOPAGES.
Almost everything in the house is powered down when Bells gets the message on his DED. Thunder rumbles, but the sky isn’t quite dark.
“You still have your DED on? You know you won’t be able to charge it later.” Simon teases.
“Have you heard anything from Ma?”
Simon nods. “Yes, Sean got a message yesterday; they just made the drop-off to our Grassroots contact in Middleton.” He claps Bells on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, they’re making lots of progress getting all those meta-humans to safety.”