Interlude: Brian

Interludes are gonna be coming fairly quickly, and they'll be happening in some cases at the same time. But there's a lot of issues that just blew up, and people are gonna be talking about 'em.

****

Right now, Brian could count the things he liked about the Wards on one hand. And not use all of his fingers. The base was locked down, even phones were cut off, and nobody would fucking tell him anything.

He’d been showing Missy how to use some of her moves and powers in the room when the alert came. She was smart, and fast… but wanted to get into fights way too much.

So they were sitting after Brian had decided maybe she needed a talk.

“Okay, our powers, they’re pretty much the same.”

Missy blinked. “Um, how?”

“I make darkness. You make space your bitch.” Because he was dammed if he was going to talk to everyone like he was six. “But both of us? We’re squishy. I use my darkness to keep people from seeing me, you use your power to get them away, or drop ‘em off a cliff.” Brian shrugged. “Sort of the same, because if we get in a fight with… hell, not even Hookwolf, Stormtiger close up, we’re dogmeat. So we can’t play games. You and I, we gotta hang back, get the feel of the territory, and then…”

“They don’t even let me go out,” Missy grumped.

Well, you’re twelve.

Brian wasn’t too thrilled about the image of her fighting the Empire. But Missy was stuck on this… Brian didn’t know, Kid Win had called it “wanting to be Mini-Alexandria”. Maybe he was wrong, but Missy wanted to be treated seriously so badly you could feel it.

“Yeah, well, people just—“ the door slid open, and there was Velocity.

“Tenebrae? I need to talk to you. Alone.”

Brian frowned and headed out with him. “This about the alert.”

“Yes. The E88 tried to hit your sister.”

What? All of a sudden, it felt like the world had gone off-kilter. “They went after Aisha!?”

“Yah. Orb Weaver, Bulwark, and Taylor Hebert managed to help her, but…” Velocity looked at Brian. “She triggered.”

She— Brian had always thought those films were a guy or girl just collapsed were overdone. He’d been beaten up and he’d never—

Aisha. Couldn’t protect her from Mom, she triggered. Like Me. Oh God, I wasn’t there and she fe—

And Velocity grabbed him and kept him from hitting the ground.

Brian got his legs working, but Velocity held him. “I know. I know.” The older man nodded. “This sucks. You know it, we all know it. But she’s alive. She’s not hurt. Hebert got her…”

“How did she trigger?”

“The E88 held her in a bucket of water until they got tired, then kicked her into the bay with a bag of sand tied to her legs. Hebert cut the cord and pulled her out, but she triggered.”

“I’m going to fucking ki—“Smoke was pouring out, and Velocity was shaking his head.

“No. What you’re going to do is go into the infirmary and talk to Aisha. That’s what you need to do. Trust me…” Velocity’s chuckle was nasty. “Orb Weaver knew exactly what to do.”

“What did he do?”

“You’ll hear at the briefing, but right now? The BBPD just closed four murder cases involving minorities or prostitutes, and that’s not the only thing. Seems they think that Orb Weaver might drop back by if they don’t tell everything.” Then Velocity turned serious. “But right now, you gotta be there for your sister. Laugh if she tells a joke, or just wants you to hold her. But I know how pissed you are, how frightened, but you’ve gotta put that in back right now to help Aisha.”

Brian took a deep breath. Holy fuck, am I—shit, I am… Velocity didn’t say anything, just handed him a tissue paper. Brian nodded. Wiped his eyes. “I can do it.”

“Right. We’re good?”

“We’re good.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

And Brian and Velocity were walking to the med bay where…

An off-key quartet was singing?

What the…

And when the door opened, there was Aisha… in a bed. With an annoyed doctor by her, and around them… were four shadowy figures, that looked sort of like Aisha… And they were singing.

“This is the song that doesn't end.
Yes, it goes on and on, my friend.
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was.
And, they'll continue singing it forever, just because... “

“Ah… Ms. Laborn… please?”

“Hey bro!” Aisha said from her bed. “Tell these guys to let me out so I can go kick the ass of some E88 gangers.”

Brian didn’t say anything for a moment. He knew his sister…and she was freaked.

“How about we give ‘em a break. I heard Orb Weaver fucked ‘em up,” he said, stomping the part that wanted to just hug her and never let go down. Aisha didn’t want to let people know she’d… Well, how everyone triggered.

“I didn’t hear much, but yeah, my tutor showed up and saved my ass. Bro, you gotta go date her. She’s smart and carries a knife!”

“Right, so…” Velocity gestured. “These guys?”

“Yeah, my shadow friends,” Aisha said. “I felt… dunno, but they came out. If that E88 asshole hadn’t kicked me in the head they probably would have beaten them.”

“Can you control them?”

“Yeah! And see, and they… it’s weird, you know how you don’t need to think about what your hands are doing?” Suddenly one started dancing, another figure, grabbed some bandages and started juggling an the third and forth came up and offered Velocity and Brian handshakes.

Holy shit, they’re independent…

“And I got another power—“

“Ms. Laborn, please…”

“Nah, I’m fine, you said it, remember.”

“I said you weren’t in critical condition, but you still need—“

And then suddenly the four figures became amorphous clouds and then… Aisha was standing where one had been, the others gone, and Aisha vanished from the bed. “Every shadow can hold Aisha, and I have my own posse!”

“Fine, Ms. Laborn, now can you please go back to the bed?”

“Aisha, do what he says,” Brian said. “The E88 smacked you around.” He could see the bruises on her face, and maybe he’d be able to find the man who had done that…

“Eh, it wasn’t as bad as the asshole who told me I was gonna be just a foot underwater when I drowned,” Aisha said.

“Show me who said that,” Brian said. And I’ll figure out a way to get him in a room alone…

“Let’s hold up on any vengeance,” Velocity said. “And you’ll probably want to just tell the story once when the director and FBI gets here.”

“Whoah, FBI?” Aisha said. “What’d they do, rob a bank?” She paused. “We were doing tutoring—Taylor said that Fed’s could only do federal stuff?”

“They traced the guns. A bunch of them came from out of state.” Velocity shrugged. “Director wants to make a point, and she’s throwing everything that will stick.”

“Hell yeah!” Aisha said. “For once they’re sticking it to someone else!”

And because she doesn’t trust the cops or judges in town, Brian thought.

“You know, Movers are pretty rare. How far can—don’t try it here!” The doctor glared at Velocity as he amended his comment.

Aisha frowned. “Don’t know. I mean, They’re fine in the room but I… don’t know. I can only make ‘em if there’s shadows and I can see’em—oh, hey, get me a telescope! I could see If I could put one on the moon.”

“Really?” Brian asked, his lips quirking involuntarily. “You’re trying to cheat already?”

“Hey, Taylor says that getting more for less work isn’t cheating, it’s being smart.” Then Aisha stuck her tongue out at him. “Can’t get mad, Bro, you were the one who sent me to that tutoring session.”

“Yeah.” Okay, she triggered. She’s… Not wrecked. I don’t know what we’ll do, but I can push through this. I can help Aisha push through this. “But get some rest. Trust me, Director Piggot… She’ll want to talk to you.”

“Right, Bro.”

She’s gonna be in the Wards. I know she might want to go kick ass as an independent, but she needs to be in the wards.

Oh God. She’s going to be in the Wards. Under Armsmaster and Piggot. In the same room as Dennis.

For a moment, Brian wondered if this was a good idea. On the other hand, Assault and Dennis would probably enjoy watching the trainwreck, and Aisha would be safe. And that was what mattered. Now, he’d have to decide what would work better. Telling her she was going to join the Wards, or forbidding her from doing it…

But she was safe. She was alive. Everything else could be handled.