Joey heaved a sigh as soon as he left the store. It had a sign on the door under the hours, saying "Now Hiring." He put his tablet in his bag and started home.
It had been two days since Achilles was put in the hospital again. Wednesday. And no matter how much Joey wanted to sit back and breathe for a moment, he had an interview scheduled. Ever since he'd decided (or had it decided for him) to do hero work regularly, he realized that school would not be feasible.
Beyond that...
So much had happened in the past half year. Would he even be able to pick up where he left off? Even talking to Hank and his other friends felt strange. Like they lived in different worlds now.
Maybe they did. He had a Miracle. As far as he knew, none of the others did. Was that all it took? Were these Miracles capable of tearing apart relationships that had held strong for years?
Would this rift extend to his parents? Ned?
Joey shook the thoughts out of his head and started walking faster.
This last interview was a bust, but he had another one next week. That one would be at a restaurant on Tuesday. And then there was a third on the Thursday. A janitorial position at an elementary school. Not the one he'd gone to - that would have been too awkward. He wasn't yet ready to admit to most people that he had no intention of resuming school. Even his parents had convinced themselves it was a year-long break.
Maybe he'd go back someday. But for now...
He just couldn't leave Achilles alone for two seconds. Was this what it was like having a toddler?
Louise glanced up when she heard her bell ring. She expected a customer, but it was just Courtney. Lightning had given her her real name at some point, which Louise took as a sign of trust. And as a sign that they were becoming friends.
"Coffee?" Courtney asked, offering Louise a mug. She gratefully took it and tried a sip.
The stuff she liked. Courtney had remembered.
"Thanks. How's...Achilles?" Louise almost used his real name by accident.
"I know about as much as you do at this point." Courtney sighed, leaning against the counter.
Louise wordlessly took another sip of her coffee. Silence fell between them until Courtney spoke up again.
"Last I saw, he was alive. We couldn't find anything physically wrong with him, except for a couple burns inside his mouth. We only noticed that one because the medic checked after finding the cleaner." She glared at the wall, but Louise was sure Phantasma was the target. "That woman's sick. I'm glad she's locked up, though solitary might be worse than she deserves."
"They put her in solitary?"
"That's what it sounded like they were gonna do. Haven't spoken to anyone from the military since, but she's probably spending a lot of quality time by herself. They're being extra careful this time."
Louise didn't know what to say, and after a long pause, Courtney started talking again.
"I think she snapped, y'know? Her daughter died a couple months ago while she was in prison for petty theft. From what I gathered when I looked into her, it seems they couldn't afford treatment for the kid's cancer. She seemed to have a pretty strong grudge against Achilles too. I figure she also killed her husband, but the case was never really investigated. I'm guessing they'll take a second look at it now."
"So you almost feel sorry for her," Louise said, putting down her coffee.
"Almost. She at the very least attempted murder. Might have murdered someone else."
"I'm glad you and Jumper were there. Although...he's still a kid. Why does this shit fall to him?"
"It shouldn't. I don't know why the Miracle giver is handing out this crap, or why they choose who they choose. It seems kind of unfair."
"If you could ask them one thing, what would it be?"
"Jumper? Or that purple freak?"
"The one who hands out these Miracles."
"Why the hell did they stick their nose in our business? Arx was fine before they started poking around! If someone else is giving Miracles to bad people and we're the good guys supposed to stop them, I could understand that, but...I think the whole thing stinks."
Silence fell between them for several seconds before Louise broke it.
"Thanks for dropping by, Courtney. And for everything on Monday. As much of a pain as he is, he's still someone I was friends with. I wouldn't feel right if he just died like that."
"No worries. Thanks for letting me drop in. You're...the only one I can really sort of talk to about this stuff. My roommate doesn't know, and neither does my family."
"Price of heroism, huh?" Louise chuckled.
"Yeah. Legion meeting on Saturday. Hopefully publicly announcing it like that doesn't bite us all in the ass."
Louise nodded and decided to change the subject. For the next twenty minutes, she told Courtney about all the ins and outs of making a costume.
It was a welcome respite from the dread of whether James would be alright.
"Manifest, how's the practice going?" Paris walked into the room where Manifest was practicing expanding his capabilities. He turned around, breathing heavily with hair plastered to his forehead.
"It's moving. Not sure how much I can stretch it before Saturday, but I'm doing my best."
"At least one of you is." Paris sulked in a corner while Manifest laughed.
"Don't worry. Mist won't let you down. Neither will Itera or Magnetic. They act all lazy now, but I promise they're putting in effort in their own way. Mist especially."
"That really doesn't help my confidence in your team. We need to be able to handle however many show up."
"We've done our research, dude. Phantasma won't be doing anything, but otherwise we know all the actors. Achilles, obviously. Jumper. Lightning. Maybe Light Master. If the poor kid can get away from his minders."
"I know who they are," Paris growled. "I'm worried about our side."
"We have me, the master of creation." As a dramatic flourish, Manifest pulled up a little figurine of Achilles in his hand. "Magnetic, who can transport any non-living thing. Itera, who can rewind an object's time. And Mist, who's completely ethereal when she chooses to be. Last but not least, you - the powerful archrival of Achilles who can clear a room with his gas."
"You're not inspiring confidence. And that gas comment was just uncalled for."
"Sorry sorry. But seriously, Magnetic has been going ham on prep. We'll have our own set of rayguns if all goes to plan."
"What?" Jase hadn't told Paris anything about that!
"Oops. It was supposed to be a surprise." Manifest winked. "Guess you'll just have to pretend to be surprised when Randy and Aubrey show up with guns."
"Then I guess this might actually work out." Paris grinned. "How the heck did you guys get ahold of those?"
"Magnetic, duh."
"That still sounds hella dangerous."
"Not if Mist's on board. Not too much worse than a normal theft. Once you get going through vents, a military base is the same as a normal house or shop."
"I take back what I said earlier. I just wish we had more Miracles suited to combat."
"Relax. They'll come as we increase our fame. Petty criminals who want something more. People with a grudge against Achilles. Achilles doesn't have many on his side either."
"Yeah." Paris sighed. He had to calm down. He alone had almost gotten them all last time. With a team, nobody could stop him.
"You worry too much."
"I wish you'd told me about the rayguns so I could incorporate them into the plan. And then I would worry less."
"Sorry, boss." Manifest saluted with a joking grin on his face.
"And then we'll get started on our next objective."
"You really want Phantasma with us, huh?"
"Of course. She's the first one to challenge Achilles, and strong enough to give them all the runaround without any help."
"But from what you've said it sounds like she might not want to join us even if we do free her."
"Relax. We'll work on her slowly. For now, it's fine if she doesn't join us when we free her. I'll get her to slowly see that we're all on the same side and joining us is her best option."
Paris thought of Phantasma all alone in a cell, and was determined that they'd save her. He would save her. No matter what. And then, like a prince rescuing his princess in a fairytale, they'd...
No, can't get ahead of himself here. One step at a time.
Next step: Demonstrate their prowess at the next Legion meeting.
"Dammit. They got her, and they'll spend a couple years getting evidence together and going to trial. Someone's gonna bust her out before then and they'll all be back at square one."
She spun around in her chair and groaned loudly.
"And they won't even..."
She started typing furiously at her computer, checking security cams and military data.
If those useless idiots above wouldn't do anything, she would.
