Love, Stupidity, And A Break-In

Narrator: Osmium

Part One: Titan Top

The last time I met with Earworm it had ended…strangely. On one hand, she made it sound like she was going to do something dangerous and stupid. On the other hand she had kissed my metal helmet as if she was pecking me on the cheek. I didn’t know what to think about either one, really. This time she told me to meet her at Titan Top, the Carnival-slash-amusement park on the coast of Halcyon City. It was already almost ten at night on this warm Saturday evening and the sun had set. I could see the stars twinkling over the bay, and their reflections in the water.

When we texted she told me to meet at the center of the carnival grounds, in a wide open area set with many picnic tables. The area was adorned with imagery of the Titan, the mascot for the park, and I passed a table full of Titan bobbleheads for sale. The area was also home to a cotton candy machine and a procession of old-timey street lamps. I got there half an hour early, so I waited for Earworm to show up. Tension hung in the air, as I hoped this meeting would be less charged than the last one. I just didn’t want anyone to get into trouble, least of all her. 

While I waited, a stage area filled with a band. Saturdays were open mic night. The management of Titan Top were clearly more discerning than the average club or restaurant, though the crowd of musicians was always classy. As the first song ended I checked my texts. Earworm was at least five minutes late. 

There was a message from her claiming that she’d had a family emergency. She couldn’t meet tonight. Disappointment filled me and some spark inside me died. Of course I’d have to wait even longer to actually talk to her. 

I responded. I’m so sorry. We can meet again sometime soon. No worries.

Almost as soon as I sent the message I heard footsteps approaching. Earworm was running up to me. What? The calm and collection I’d had during my wait had melted and now I was struggling to keep myself on track. She was actually here!

“Oh, Hello. Are you…Is everything okay?” I said, forever grateful that my vocal synthesizer cut out my ums, and ahs.

Earworm was panting from running and she put her hands to her knees as soon as she got to me. “No, I” she paused to take in a breath, “I didn’t. I didn’t think I was going to be able to come but I managed!”

“So everythings alright with your…Emergency?”

“...Yes.”

“Not that it’s any of my business, I’m just saying that you are…?”

“Yes, Yes, no everything’s fine. I did get a new phone number!” She was peppy, more than usual and she seemed genuinely relieved to see me. I was glad to see her.

“Oh, okay.”

She gave me her phone number, and I input it into my computer. One of the benefits of the exosuit was that all my tech was integrated. 

“Thank you! Yeah, was there something you wanted me to talk about or did you just want to…?”

“Um, I dunno,” she said. “It’s a nice night, right? Join me on the Ferris Wheel?”

“I…have some concerns about being too large and heavy but if they let me in.”

“It’s a large enough car. It fits several people usually.”

“Yes, I just hope that it won’t cause any problems, but I’d like to accompany you there.” I was such an idiot with words, even without vocal tics. While I was speaking, Earworm reassured me that it would be fine. She smiled and I believed her. Her charisma was just effortless, while it felt like I had everything stacked against me in that department. Either she didn’t mind or she was good at faking it. I chose to believe her, it would be wrong to assume she was lying.

“Yeah, so…let’s go.” I said awkwardly, but she followed and we both made our way to the wheel. It was a short walk through the cold night air. We followed the path of faux-streetlights across the park to a large open area where there was a short line waiting for a seat. This area had a bayou theme and artificial fireflies danced in the night air. 

“So,” I finally spoke again, “About what you said the last time we talked. I…Are you ok?”

She looked to the ground, and audibly swallowed before she looked back up to me and spoke. “...Yes. I was a little scattered. Um How is… I mean, how are you? How are things with you?”

“I’m. I’m fine.” I managed, “ As far as I know everything’s ok. We’re doing very well.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I mean…yeah.”

“How's the training program going? Y’know the whole intern thing?” She moved in front of me and began walking backwards whenever the line advanced.

“Still, Still doing decently well. Did you…I think you’ve talked about having interest. I don't know if you’re group the Odds and Ends are joining?”

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” she perked up. “I don't know if the odds and ends will be into that but…” She was interrupted by coughing, and I offered her a cough drop, which she took. I tried to make sure to always have cough drops, Narcan, and some other medical supplies just in case. 

After she popped the drop in her mouth, Earworm continued. “I don’t know. My team is a little worried about being too high-profile. I think you know how it is when some who aren’t really prime pure material, however they like to put it in polite terms when they don’t think you’re good enough to be here.”

“I mean frankly I don’t think there’s such a thing as being too high-profile. I mean…I guess…I don’t know, maybe it’s too much for…”

She cut me off, “No I mean, you know a bloodbender and a guy full of shadow tentacles aren't exactly the poster children for whatever people want to make of us.”

“I think you could be though.” I shot back. How ridiculous was her statement? The 2nd place Squash team somehow wasn’t good enough?

“Yeah?” She asked, hopeful and confused at the same time.

“I mean you got to second place for a reason. Like, who are people to say that you, what aren’t good enough to be heroes? You clearly are.” I spoke, more forcefully.

Silence hung for a moment as the fireflies chirped. How did the park manage that? Audio played back on speakers? I’d investigate the frequency but I didn;t want to distract myself from the conversation. Clearly Earworm was invested in it, and I couldn’t let her continue to harbor such an irrationally low opinion of herself and her team. Especially if she was letting that get in the way of joining the V-Tek internship program! 

I started again, “I did a lot worse on Squash.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, incredulous. We were both fighting a war for each other’s self esteem.

“I, my team placed quite low. And we're not really very organized. As a rule. We were kind of ragtag. We didn't really do a lot of core organization because I was trying to be with people who are also in the internship program. But that hasn't really panned out. Anyway, It's... There's Ragdoll, Nightshade, [Insert a couple more names].”

“Well, hey,” she said sympathetically. “You can never do anything alone, right?”

“I. I suppose.”

“All I’m saying is…I don’t know.” She paused, twirling around. “So, do they let the interns do anything fancy?”

“Define Fancy.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Ummm”

“They might be in magazines.”

“Yeah?” She perked up again, smiling at my helmet.

“I mean if you’re…I mean I’m kind of supposed to be the face of the company. I mean-at Hyperion. But we might get enough notoriety to be featured on some things.”

“Wait, wait, you mean like the tabloids and everything?”

“I don’t know about the tabloids,” I said, beginning to laugh. “we hardly have control over that. But I mean, I'm saying, you know, we were supposed to be, you know, if successful enough. I mean, the plan is for us to be, you know, brand representatives. And so that would, you know, come with a certain responsibility in terms of public relations.”

“But like, do you get to try on the tech?”

“I mean, I don't I mean, I would, I would be surprised if, you know, I part of the idea is that you'd have connection with the tinkers at V-Tek and, you know, to be able to get supply, if you requested it and possibly have, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of personal what's the right word? Like an outfitter, or an armor? You know, the idea of being, you know, showing off how our product… can help up and coming capes by being an example of people who are well outfitted and well prepared and so…better.” Before I realized it I was becoming a motormouth. Earworm didn’t seem to mind, bouncing off what I said and asking me another question.

“Because, yeah, we're working on, like, grav boots and light packs, and that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, those are some big projects in R&D right now. Well, I mean, I say R&D, the flight packs are mostly done.”

“A lot of stuff for like, exploring weird terrain, right?” She asked. She put an elbow on my shoulder and leaned on it. It was slightly awkward because of our large height difference but she looked into the visor on my helmet and hadn’t taken her eyes off me. This was great! No one ever asked me about the program! No wonder she was so popular.

I began spouting more of the PR line, along with what some of the tinkers had said about V-Tek’s newest gear. “We thought that a big disadvantage to a lot of capes who don't have inherent flying ability is mobility. And the more that…what's the right word… Oh, yeah. Mobility is a compounding factor, right? So the faster you can get somewhere, the faster you can have a good emergency response. And the more time…if you're like flying, right, it's a lot easier to get through the city rather than having to rely on purely being on the ground and also allows you for more maneuverability in fights. You know, basically speaking, the more you're able to move the better chance you have of both being there when incidents occur and also being able to respond to those incidents. Well, you know, think about a grounded hero finding a flying villain, right? You know, they have to rely on if they have long range weaponry, which if they don't again, that's another thing they might be missing. But also, you know, without the ability to catch that villain they're just kind of useless right? The villain can just fly away and so obviously we want to reduce incidence of that matter and I think you know, it's not a coincidence that one of the reasons that Thunderstruck is one of the most accomplished heroes in the city is because she has a very potent mover ability capable of letting her both have air travel and extremely fast distance gone travel. Yeah.” 

“Yeah, that makes some sense.” She said quietly, still looking up at me.

I realized that I’d been filling most of the air. “Sorry. I. hope I didn't talk too much.”

“No, no, no, no. You’re good.” She assured me.

“Thanks.” I said, dumbly.

“Interesting.” She simply said, once again giving me the floor.

“I mean, I know that obviously like your… like, you have an interest in being more in the public eye, generally speaking, and I think that might be something that aligns with what V-Tek would want from you.”

“True, True.” she paused. “And, um, the whole thing with Jess Conway.”

“Excuse me?” I said. Did she somehow know about my mission? It was supposed to be top secret, but then again it was also a Hyperion assignment. Did she also have professor Ravenstill?

“Videodrome.” Earworm clarified.

“Yes, I know who she is. Is there a specific question you have about that incident?” I dodged, trying to get her to focus back on her later appearance in Hyperion.

“Well I mean,  can't imagine everyone's happy about it. I’m the one who posted it.” She said, eyes finally drooping.

Of course! She was talking about the incident where she’d posted one of Conway’s speeches and a demonstration of her power while in Hyperion.

I tried to play it off. “Oh, oh right. Yes. Your video. I mean, she wasn't our employee.”

“No, she was Nexus’.”

“I've had an incident with her.” I admitted.

“You have?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, she tried to,” I stumbled over my words, “Well she succeeded in robbing a train that we ran and I was part of the guarding operation. Unfortunately, she got away.”

“Huh” said Earworm. “Did you talk to her, at all?”

“Talking might be a slight overstatement, but she probably knows who I am. Although it seems like a…you know, I tried to arrest her, but kind of that didn't really work. But it seems like she was the right word. She had a…I characterized it as a hostage in the official record, although that might be slightly harsh on her. She she was trying to obtain a certain device that would allow her to heal someone with a strange injury.”

“A device from who? V-Tek?”

“I think it was Nexus, I believe, although I might be mistaken about that. It was one he was trying to have nose trying to our network. I think it was us then. Anyway. You know, she decided that it was best to better to steal it from us than you know, try and have any kind of, you know, normal aid process. And so yeah. She, you know, she's still definitely a criminal. You know, like she broke into the school, right?”

“Yeah”

“Not, you know, not someone who has much care for the law.” I finished

“So, I heard there's going to be a press conference about that soon. Do you know what's like, going on?”

“What do you mean? In terms of…?”

“I don’t know, do they tell you anything?”

“Not unless it’s relevant to a case I’m working on, or something I've been called to address. I mean, I assume it's probably not good that she was even able to get into the situation where she had the ability to rob a train in the first place and break into Hyperion High. And, you know, irrelevant of what companies you brought, and certainly the attack on legacy Park was, you know, I mean, seriously, right. A bunch of villains got into legacy Park, like, and stole something from our museum. Yeah. So that's bad, right? Like, that's not good. A good look for any of us.”

“Nope, definitely not.”

“Yeah. So that's bad, right? Like, that's not good. A good look for any of us know, that we didn't have, you know, even, a bunch of assembled capes, and basically the entire 2023 Class of Hyperion High was unable to stop like, seven guys?”

“I mean we did stop them. They didn’t take anything important” Earworm argued.

I adjusted my words.“They did steal something. Like that's still not a good look. You know what I mean?”

“True.”

“Like you would think we would be better.” I said, disappointed. Now that I reflected this was pretty much the only time I’d felt able to express annoyance at the failures of the hero system. I knew Earworm wouldn’t reprimand me or get into an ego thing about being a cape herself.

She spoke up again, “And you don't know anything about, like, the other worlds right? You know, I mean, you know, cuz when we talked to her, she didn't really tell us much. She just kind of, you know, had me post the images she was showing.”

“Oh, by the way, are you…She didn't like threaten you, right? Sorry. I don't know.”

She waved me off. “Sorry, Sorry.” I repeated.

She continued speaking as if I hadn’t said anything. Another mercy. “Did you…? Did she say anything to you? Do you know? Does she have access to anything?”

“What do you mean access?” I asked.

“To the other dimensions?” she pressed.

“As far as I understand how her power works she can visualize these places, but she can't transport to them.”

“Is there anyone in her gang that can do that?”

“As far as I know, the only other ones are that metal brute and a medical tinker. I don’t think either of them can transpose. I mean, the ability to, to, to teleport into other parallel worlds. Well, first off, we questioned the validity of her tech at all. Are these worlds things that she’s envisioning or something that is actually really extant. She claims that they’re real, actual dimensions that exist.”

“Yes, yes exactly.” She made an odd face that I didn’t know how to interpret, but she didn’t seem annoyed with me so I kept going.

“But also the ability to actually move to those places, if they were real,  would be…unprecedented. I don't know of any cape who can do that. I know There's a local tinkerer who works with subspace dimensions that we tried to get into the program a little while ago but he was unreceptive.”

She jumped up, “Oh right yes Spacetime ok yeah I know him!”

“Oh you know him?”

“Yes. Yeah, um, yeah, he's in my homeroom.” She answered.

The more the conversation went on the more aware I was that she was prodding me for information about V-Tek and it’s inner workings. I thought that I might not be the best person to deliver that information,and I wanted to be cautious not to let anything classified slip.

“If you don’t mind me asking,Earworm. Is there any particular reason you’re asking me about this? Like I know it might be partially curiosity about the program, but it seems…I might not be the best person to tell you these things. I might be better to…If you are joining the program to just hear it from the actual engineers if you’re curious about this. Like I think it makes sense for you to considering the video I’m just saying that I can’t necessarily tell you anything important?”

“The Engineers could?” she asked, not skipping a beat.

“I mean theoretically. I mean it depends I mean it’s really about whether or not it’s your jurisdiction and if you have a…”

“Yeah, that was what I was concerned about. I mean…” she sighed and trailed off.

“Look as far as we have any evidence to prove, Ms. Conway is not legitimate and whatever she’s saying is deliberate misinformation.” I tried to reassure her and she nodded. “I…You shouldn’t be too worried about it, if that’s your concern.”

“Ok.” It seemed like it worked. “Yeah, I mean I guess I was a little bit worried that if I were to try and join the program that they’d like…Y’know. I was the one that posted the video.”

“I can’t speak for the opinions of any individuals but  It’s more that you were tricked than anything else I think. I certainly don’t think that we’d throw away your application just based on that. You’re a very accomplished cape despite not being on the scene that long.”

“Thank you.” She said, earnestly.

“You’re welcome.” I responded, quietly.

“What?” Earworm said. She must not have heard.

“I said ‘you’re welcome’.” I spoke slightly louder. We had reached the front of the line and the crowd around us, including the ticket guy, looked at me. Too loud!

Earworm laughed, relieving the tension. “Thank you.” 

She briefly spoke to the ticket guy and got one for each of us. We quickly settled into the large chamber on the ferris wheel. I successfully stepped inside without any issues and the mighty machine held my weight. I was glad that I was so large, because it meant no one else tried to get in the same gondola and Earworm and I.

I tried to compliment her as we headed aboard. I struggled for the right words. “Yeah. You are…Good.” 

Definitely not my best work.

As we began to ascend she looked up at me and then turned to gaze at the moon, which had risen over the scene.

Turning off my voice projection, I issued an order to my suit. “Temporary shutdown of camera and recording equipment, personal information.”

“I mean, it’s hard to find people to connect with sometimes. To feel like you really belong here.” I joined her in gazing at the moon. She continued, “It’s the other reason I’m asking you instead of some engineer.” 

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.

“Yeah.” she said, not looking away from the pale moon. It’s reflection was beautiful in the water of the bay.

“Last time we met, why did you kiss me?”

She gave a little scoff, and I quickly tried to course correct. I’d offended her in this monet of vulnerability. 

“I…I Sorry I don’t mean to come off as being.”

She laughed.

“That was…it’s hard to communicate tone correctly with a synthesizer.”

“No, no, it’s ok.” She spoke softly, still full of a little laughter. She finally turned away from the moon. She looked straight at me and kissed me on the forehead of my helmet.

“Cause I like you, is why.”

I was at a loss for words.“I…I don’t understand. Why?” 

“What do you mean, why?” She asked, still holding my helmet in her hands. 

“I don’t know,” I spoke slowly, hesitantly. My words dripped out of me as I carefully formulated each one. I was on unfamiliar ground. “I feel like…I was. You left earlier for your own reasons and then... I haven’t changed but now you’re back. And it's not that I don’t want to be friends or that I don’t want…I just don’t…I don’t know…You don’t know anything about me.”

There was a flicker. She almost laughed and then she said, “Well you don’t know anything about me either. And I figure everybody’s got a couple layers to them. Might as well give it a second shot.”

“I…I’m not really sure what to feel sometimes. I just don’t want to feel like I’m fooling you. Or, or like and I’m sorry if I’m completely misreading this situation. Please, I apologize but I don’t know if I make for a very good partner.”

She laughed again, still soft. “I don’t know if I would either.”

“What?” I asked, incensed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, glancing up at me.

We spoke over each other. I passionately stated, “You’re perfect.” and she froze, silent.

“Look,” she said, “I’ve had one ex and it…What do you mean ‘I’m perfect’?”

“You are…I’m trying to figure out how to phrase this correctly. Standby.”

“Ok.” she giggled.

“There is so much good in you. You care. You are very attractive. You’re very self-assured. And passionate, and creative. I…I’m…maybe they exist but I can’t see any flaws in who you are. And it feels like you are more the person you want to be than anyone I know.”

“You’re too nice. I’ve only had one real relationship, it didn’t end well. I went into a talent show and I fucked it up, and I’m…I’m barely starting to make friends now. I’m not perfect. And you aren’t either.”

“No,” I admitted.

“But we’ll figure this out together.” She finished.

“So you want to be together?” I asked, suddenly more anxious than I’d ever been before.

“Yeah.” She said simply.

I extended my hand to her. “Sorry I’m a lot bigger and made of metal, so it might not be a very, uh, comfortable.”

She laughed. “I like it.”

“Thank you. I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“I don’t…this is a alot for me, and this isn’t a bad thing. Thank you, genuinely. This is a lot more than I hope for. I just don’t know. We’re both capes and that means there’s complications in being involved as a thing in our cape identities…” I stammered, my synthesized speech ending up with a myriad of pauses.

“Yeah. There’s a reason we’re up in the ferris wheel.” she said.

“I want to be with you.” I started.

“Yeah.” she said, even quieter.

“Just, you know we can talk about this. And if you are joining the internship which, that would be amazing..we can talk about it and we can be involved in that and I don’t know if there’s a specific way you want us to be when we’re at school and doing stuff but if you want to meet more, we can do that. I’d like that.” My robotic voice was gentler than ever as I told her.

“Yeah. The publicity is kind of a concern. But it would be nice.” She said, squeezing my metal hand.

“I agree.”

The Ferris Wheel stopped and the doors opened. We’d made a full rotation. We stepped off and into the night air.

“Do you want to keep hanging around the park?” I asked, secretly hopeful for more time with her.

“Sure,” Earworm said with a smile. “I do have to go in a little bit.”

“Do you mind if I ask where?”

“Family stuff.”

“My suit has a jetpack.” I offered, “So if you wanted I could take you maybe not all the way but I could fly you across the city. It’s usually faster than a car or a bus. We would have more time to talk.”

“I mean if you could drop me off on the corner of DeLancy…” She stroked her chin.

“DeLancy and?” 

“Marigold.”

“Yeah I could do that. Like right now?” 

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine. We can talk!” I was secretly excited to get right to the ride. It was new, something I’d never done with her before and I know she’d love it and maybe I’d get kissed again and that thought lit a fire in my chest.

I spoke again. “I have to like, pick you up.”

“Oh, uh.” she started to laugh.

“I don’t know if there’s a specific way that you would be more comfortable doing… I don’t have a harness or a seat. I could carry you. I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Whatever you think is going to work the best here.” She said, laughter still in her voice.

“Just stand straight.” I asked, and after she did I approached and scooped her into my arms, easily lifting her body with my robotic musculature. 

I added, “Also it might be nice to hold onto something you do not want to fall. I’m not going to let you fall but just in case It might be a good idea. Wait, I think I have something.” I dug in my utility belt and got a carabiner, which I connected from my belt to hers with a short strap. 

“So you don’t fall. You’re safe, I promise.” I assured her.

“Ok,” she said and I could hear the trust in her voice. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I could hear her voice with more detail as she got closer to my external microphone array.

I started my rockets and after a couple seconds and building up speed we launched into the sky and began to speed over the city. I held her close and tight, to make sure we wouldn’t need that carabiner.

“So yeah, you know. In the sky, there’s no one around to hear you y’know.” I said, after the wind had calmed down.

“Yeah the publicity is a bit of a concern.” She said, leaning into my microphone array and holding me. “I don’t know, I just…I.”

“Oh I apologize if any of this is…”

“No, it’s ok.” She stopped me. “It’s ok.”

We kept flying for a couple of minutes, passing out of the docks and up the hills until we were squarely on the east side of the city. Roads slowly shrunk as the area grew more and more residential, and trees covered more of the skyline than glass, metal, or concrete.

“It’ really nice out in the night. Not having to be around anyone else.” I offered.

“It’s,” Earworm laughed, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the spotlight. It’s a little suffocating sometimes.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “I hope everything with our song was ok. I know it was kind of a wedge.”

“It’s fine.” she said, not letting emotion into her speech.

“I hope you know that I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No, no. It’s good. I get it.”

“It was good. It was a good song.” I stopped talking and the conversation lulled. “Sorry. This is a lot for me…Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“I…We can try.” She let out another giggle, but her voice had gotten lower, more intimate. “If it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out. But I would like to do this again, at least.”

“I gotta warn you I’m not a great kisser. My face is made of metal and I don’t have lips or anything. I hope that’s ok.”

“It’s fine.” she said, still laughing.

I moved my head, and imitated planting a kiss on her cheek.

“I’ll text you?” I offered. She nodded. I let her down at the street corner, just like she ordered me to. 

“Very Chivalrous.” she complimented.

“Thank you.” I said.

She turned away and began to walk to the sidewalk. “Bye.”

“Bye.” I said.

She sped around, running back to me and kissing me on the forehead. I leaned into her, trying to make it as easy as possible. Our foreheads touched, and it felt right. 

“I’ll see you around.”

“See ya.”

She took a step back, and I took off before either of us could say anything else.

 Osmium’s jetpack rocketed him into the sky, until he was nothing but a speck in the dark. Earworm briskly walked into an alley, between two towering apartment buildings. She held an earpiece, and spoke into it.

“Ok, he’s gone. Meet on Exeter Street?” She takes the earpiece off, and crumples to the ground. She pressed her back against the wall and laid her head against the cold bricks. She let out a sigh. A desperate, sad, lonely sigh. Her skin melted away, and her true eyes shone in the dark. Large, round eyes in a scaled face.

Part Two: Karma

I returned home, the V-Tek Headquarters. I landed on a helipad, and then took the long track from the roof down into the bowels of the below-ground labs. After an elevator, a tram ride, and a flight of stairs I finally made it into my transition chamber. I stood stock still in my armor in the middle of a room coated wall-to-ceiling in a bright-white substance I knew was heat resistant, blast-resistant, and could probably withstand orbit on the Sun. It was the same substance that my undersuit was made out of.

Quickly, robotic arms undid my exoskeleton and a special arm, covered in metal electrical conduits, pierced into my back and linked with my undersuit. Normally the energy that passively surged out of my body would go into my exosuit battery but without it I needed a device which would endlessly drain my power. Voila! The electrical arm. The exoskeleton’s legs opened and I stepped out of the suit and into the wheelchair already prepared in the chamber. Then, I turned and opened the door to my room. The walls were 5 feet thick, lined with the blast-resistant paneling to make sure even in an emergency I’d never damage anything. With the drain solidly connected and my undersuit covering the parts of my body I was safe. This was the one room in the universe where I could take off my armor and be alright.

It was already a long night, and I was contemplating going to bed. However, there was too much to talk about and only one person who I could “safely” talk to. Before I really thought about it I clicked on my computer and the call began.

“Hiii.” Karma purred, her profile picture appeared. White mask, clean black suit, long straight brown hair. “It’s awfully late.”

As always, her theme song was playing quietly in the background. I suspected she either had it on a permanent loop in her bedroom or somehow had a speaker hooked up to her phone to play it whenever she got a call. ‘Cause Karma is my boyfriend, Karma is a God, Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend. It always made conversation just a little odd.

I immediately regretted my decision to call her. “Hi. ugh, why do I call you.” I made some mouth noises while I contemplated hanging up.

“You call me because you don’t have anyone else to talk to.” Karma pointed out, her usual air of mean girl snarky superiority intact despite the late hour. “Unless you’ve made some friends by now.”

I sighed. 

“So how’s that girl of yours,” she questioned as if knowing what I did tonight. “Wasn’t she going to do something stupid, and you were going to come to her rescue? Night in clunky armor.”

“It’s not clunky.” I defended myself. “It’s high tech and efficient. First off. Second off she didn’t do something stupid. Look I don’t have any way to swear this to you but this better be confidential ok, you understand that. We don’t reveal anything.”

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I’m a supervillain. What am I going to do: talk to the cops?”

“You better not talk to anyone. I promise I won’t tell anyone anything about what happened between us.” I insisted.

“Ok. I won’t tell anybody you have a crush on Earworm.” She said it almost sarcastically.

I made a pathetic little noise and squeaked out my confession. “She kissed me again.”

“Yeah?” She needled

“And I mean I don’t have…but I kissed her. Umm and we’re kind of maybe dating now.”

I swear I could hear her leaving into her mic. “Damn, ok. I guess you’re as Ragdoll puts it-”

“Don’t you fucking dare.” I ordered.

“Not completely rizzless.” She finished.

I groaned, then I came back to why I called Karma in the first place. “What do I do?”

“What do you mean?” She asked like I was an idiot.

“She basically asked me out, I guess we’re boyfriend and girlfriend now. I don’t. I don’t know how to go on dates with people, I’m a giant guy in a suit.”

“Well yeah, but she asked you so clearly there’s some level of interest there.” She spoke with her mouth full, probably noodles based on her slurping.

“What do I do, though?”

“What do you mean, right?”

“Go on dates? I dunno, you seem to have experience with this kind of thing. What do girls like?”

“We’re not an alien species, you know.”

“I don’t know what to do in these kinds of scenarios, ok. I’m not…I wasn’t trained for this.”

She burst out laughing, “Yeah, yeah you need to get special boyfriend training from V-Tek. Nobody’s trained, metalbrain.”

“I don’t know!” I was getting more frustrated, “Like I dunno, is this normal?”

“What do you mean?” She asked, incredulous. 

“She asked me out and she kissed me and she said it would be cool…”

She interrupted me, “Yeah that’s what happens when people like each other. Crazy” She spoke like she was instructing a toddler.

“Look, I don’t know what I’m dealing with. This is very fast, ok. The last time we met she…she said she was going to do something stupid and then she kissed me and then she wanted to talk and then we talked and now we’re dating, I guess.”

“Dude, just take her to a show on spectre street or something.” She suggested.

“Ok, yeah that sounds like a good idea.” I decided that taking the initiative was the only right move. I got out my phone and texted Earworm.

Osmium: Hey, want to meet on Spectre street sometime?

Earworm: I’m a little busy this week. Next saturday night?

Osmium: I’m pretty sure I’m free.

Earworm: Ok

“I don’t know, it just feels like I’m missing something.” I protested to Karma

“Missing what?” She asked. The worst thing about our conversation was how I could always tell she was having fun seeing how lame my inner truth was.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think she’s fucking with you?”

“No, no. She wouldn’t trick me. I just don’t know what to do in these romantic scenarios.”

“Already told me that, genius.”

“This is a lot more than…I wasn’t expecting someone to ask me out!” I pleaded.

“After she kissed you?” She needled.

“It was all very weird.”

“Weird?”

“I don’t usually have people expressing physical affection to me! Or wanting to ask me out!” I said, and in that moment I felt weaker and lonelier than I thought. Like I hadn’t realized how deep in the hole I was.

“Well, clearly there’s something in that old suit of yours. Or she wouldn’t have done it.” She laughed again at my stupidity.

“I should probably tell my PR team shouldn’t I.”

“Mhmm. What if you didn’t?” She helpfully added.

“They’d probably find out eventually!” I pointed out.

“Oh. Yeah ok that’s fair. But seriously, stop telling your dad everything you do. It’s bad for you.”

“I don’t tell him about this! You fuck!” I objected.

“Damn alright now you’ve got a mouth on you.” She said approvingly.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“No, no. It’s good!”

“No it's not!”

“You could use a bit more of a backbone!”

“I shouldn’t swear at people! And I have an excellent backbone. No pun intended.” I snapped back.

“Really? Because I make fun of you all the time and you don’t often snap back.” She argued.

“I also don't break the law.”I refuted harshly.

“Ok, who cares?”

“You break the law all the time and you’re going to end up in prison because of it.”

“It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught, as they like to say.” She retorted.

“No. It is very much still illegal. I have a number of charges against you that I could rattle off.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Theft, Grand Larceny, Grand Theft Auto, Assault with a deadly weapon, Assault with a parahuman ability.”

“Have you played GTA V? Ragdoll’s into that one.”

“No, I haven’t.” I stated flatly as Karma almost broke down laughing at how pathetic I apparently was. When she finished laughing we were both silent. It was the perfect opportunity.

“Kidnapping of a minor,” I continued in my stoic voice, “

“Hey, when did I kidnap children?”

“Remember, you had a fight with…”

She cut me off before I could remember the name, “I’m also a minor, is my point.”

“You can still be charged with kidnapping a minor if you are a minor.” I said, getting more exasperated. But her antics were starting to make me chuckle.

“I mean ok, I guess. Just that seems kind of stupid.”

“Possession of drugs,” I continued my list of her crimes, “In terms of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines.”

“Wow. Ooo. I smoke weed, crazy. The worst thing a teenager has ever done, smoke weed. Do drugs.” Her sarchasm was stronger than ever.

“Your father sells a lot of them, I hear.” Of course, her father was the notorious supervillain SafeZone, leader of an entire criminal empire. “Anyway yeah, a lot of criminal charges could be laid against you, Karma.”

“Ok.”

“I.e. I have a backbone.”

She stammered. “You haven’t…That’s… Sorry. Telling…Listing the charges that you could bring against me and haven’t is proof that you have a backbone?” She couldn’t believe what I said.

“No, I’m saying there’s a difference between you and me. You commit crimes and I don’t.”

“What’s that have to do with having a spine?” She asked, still confused.

“You clearly don’t!” I accused.

“How is it spineless to break the law?”

It was my turn to stammer. “I don’t know how it’s not?”

“That’s lacking morality.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, how was obeying the law lacking morality? Nonsense.

“No, no, no. In your book.-”

I cut her off, “It goes against principle, yeah not having backbone.”

“You can have principles and still.” She sighed in annoyance mid sentence. “What I’m trying to say is that…”

Before she could finish her point I asked her, “Why the fuck do I talk to you?”

“You talk to me because you have nothing better to do.”

“Yeah. Right.” I said, then I corrected her, “I talk to you because I hope that you might know something that I don’t.”

“Like what?”

“How to date people!” I finally admitted. “You’ve given me one piece of useful advice.”

I could hear her pacing around her room. “You’ve come to me and said ‘how am I supposed to do this’ and it depends on who you’re talking to, right? I don;t know this girl. There’s not some magic secret that all women have where I just tell you the cheat code to doing it right. And then you can successfully be a good boyfriend.”

“I just…you have a lot more experience than I do in this field is my point.”

“Mhmm.”She said, self-satisfied.

“Shut up,” I replied. “I can hear you winking.”

“Is there a specific question you have? Take her to Spectre Street and ask her…” She paused, realizing that she’d actually stumbled across another good piece of advice. “Ask questions.”

“Ok.”

“Be interested in her as much as she’s interested in you.” She said, “Like this is second date stuff. I don’t know this girl. All I can tell you is don’t fuck it up!”

“That’s not useful advice!” In an instant I cooled, “Fine…Is there something…How do I tell if the feeling is real?”

“Hers or yours?”

“Mine.”

“That ones a little more complicated.”

“She said she liked me but I don’t know why. I don’t understand.”

“What does that have to do with your feelings?”

After a long silence of contemplation, I answered.“What does she want from me?”

“What do you want from her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look no one’s saying you have to fuck her the second day.”

“I was not saying that at all!” I yelled. “Do some people do that?”

“Some people. Not you though.”

“Evidently.”

“And probably not her either.” Karma contemplated.

“She’s…popular, beautiful, really good at her job and I don’t know, I just feel like I’m not right for this. I want to be with her. I just don’t know how to be with her. I feel like I’m going to fuck something up and you’re advice was not to fuck it up!”

“One date at a time man. You know. Here’s the thing. A lot of things they tell you are bullshit. Some of them are true. The one-step-at-a-time part is true. You don’t need to know what you want from her immediately. You just need to know what feels good for a night.”

“I don’t like the way you phrased that. I think you’re implying something!” But I was continuing my stoic knight persona as a joke now, deliberately doing it to make her laugh.

“I love messing with you. It's way too fun.”

“I can tell you’re not sorry. I can tell very easily.”

“Listen. Figure out what feels good and if it feels bad, stop.”

“Can I ask you a question? Youv’e had good dates before, right? It’s just…you choosing to be together.”

“Yep.”

“Ok. Ok.” I slowly sighed. “I don’t even know if I’m allowed to date. What if he says no? What if he says ‘you’re supposed to be focusing on your cape stuff.’ What am I supposed to tell her?”

“Haven’t you ever learned not to do what your daddy tells you?” She jabbed.

“My father is the CEO of a multinational billion-dollar company. I’m for all intents and purposes his employee. I have responsibilities to him. I can’t just say no. I don’t understand how you, of all people, don't understand this.” I declared. Karma laughed at my insistence on saying father, but soared up near the end. 

She responded carefully, “You’re dad doesn’t have to know everything that you do.”

“Ok, but the thing is…If I get caught in a lie, that is not good.” My words were stilted.

“How good are you at lying?”

“I don’t want to lie to people!”

“Here’s where you run into the problem.”

“Do I tell my dad about this?”

“If you can avoid it,” She spoke as if dangling the answer on a string. “No”

“Ok, you aren’t a person who I should be listening to. I’m telling my dad about this. Goddamn it, I didn’t even think about that. What if he says no and I hurt her and it break her heart. Damn it. I don’t like this position that I’m in.”

“Rather inconvenient.” Karma teased.

“I was just trying to be nice. I was just trying to be polite. And she’s very cool. I care about her.”

“Just trying to be polite?” Karma repeated, dumbfounded. “You like her, right?”

“Yes. She’s very cool.”

“Polite.” She mocked.

“Ok, do you tell your dad that you’re dating someone?” I asked, exhausted.

“No, are you crazy?” Her voice was more animated than ever, she asked like I had just suggested we jump out of a plane without parachutes.

“Ok you know what fair point, in your scenario. But I’d think he’d get angry at that. What about your mom do you tell your mom?”

Karma didn’t respond for a full second. When she did it was quiet, no longer exaggerated in humor. “Sometimes.”

“Why?” I wondered aloud, “Why am I confiding in a supervillain? I’m sorry…” As I mulled over the question, I realized the answer and I said it aloud without processing it. “Who the fuck else am I going to talk to about this.”

“Yeah, who the fuck else?” Her mocking tone was back.

“You are too happy to say that!” 

“I love drama and making fun of you, yes. Right on the money. Do you want a prize?” She admitted.

“Not from you, it’s probably stolen!” I laughed.

“Yeah, it is!” She agreed.

I continued laughing. “I don’t want that. Don’t give me stolen goods! It’s bad enough you know my PO box.”

“You’re no fun.” She mocked tiredness.

“I am so fun.” I said deadpan.

“Yeah?”

“Children love me. My merchandise is selling decently well. Slightly above expectation.” It was fun to lean into the bit of being inhuman and robotic sometimes. Sometimes it made people laugh.

“Good for you.” She mocked.

“I know. I can tell you’re making fun of me.”

“If I don’t get permission, then dating her is a ruse that I’m pulling on my employers which is bad.” I mused, thinking about my options. Karma interrupted, calling me a coward. I ignored her and continued. “ If I do get permission and they deny it…then I’m letting her down which is bad. If I do get permission and they say yes everything is fine.”

For a second I was hopeful, before realization crashed down on me. “But then I will have told my dad about it and I don’t know if she wants that. Do I ask her?”

“Wait, who is this girl again?” Karma veered into a tangent. “Ear..Earwind? Earworm? Wait Earworm!” She exclaimed Earworm’s name as if finally realizing the implications of who I was discussing.

“I should not have told you that.” I admitted flatly.

“Earworm?” Karma prodded. “The girl who posted the whole thing implicating Nexus and V-Tek? That’s going to be a bit of a problem, isn’t it? I don’t think they’re going to like that one. The person who is at the center of the whole ‘trying to whistleblow a conspiracy’ thing? Oh you might be fucked. Actually, you won’t be fucked is the point here.”  She sounded like she relished the thought of my sour fate.

“You are very sexual and…it’s weird. You’re a freak. Sorry.” I paused before realizing I probably shouldn’t have called her that. “For the record that was entirely irrelevant of your sexuality. I want to make that entirely clear. V-Tek is not a…we don’t discriminate against people based on…” 

I couldn’t figure out my words, but Karma was laughing at me again on the other end. Eventually the laughs turned to coughs, and then I heard the noise of her sitting back down in a chair.

“Alright, you’re not homophobic roboboy, I'll give you a gold star for that.” She said, still joking.

“Ok, ok. You know Martyr. You think he doesn’t ask his PR people and his potential partner before he starts dating someone. He’s never publicly dated anyone in his entire career, you don’t think that’s a coincidence?” I tried to steer us back to the topic at hand.

“Look, this is half the reason I make fun of you superheroes in the first place. It’s all image. You cannot escape caring about image. And yeah, I’m beholden to my fucking dad but that’s not a position I chose.” She argued, all humor disappearing from her voice.

“Who would you be without your dad? Would you still be a cape?” I asked, gravely. “‘Cause you’d still have a reputation if you were! It’s not something we chose. We get these powers and we have a responsibility to the world. That means we’re going to have a public reputation whether we like it or not.”

Karma whipped back at me, “Ok, but your reputation should come from the things you do. Not from whether or not it looks good to be dating someone.”

I responded. “Dating a public figure always has implications. Obviously we’re unique but we aren’t that unique.” 

That shut us both up. Karma’s song became the only thing I heard. Karma’s on your scent like a bounty hunter…

She finally answered with a sigh. “I just think it’s better to be justified by the things you do rather than if you look good doing them.”

I didn’t know what to say. Perhaps I’d lost this verbal sparring session.

“You don’t think I should tell them.” I finally admitted defeat.

“I understand why you would need to, but I think if you tell them it’s going to go very badly and if you could figure out a way to not tell them that might be good.” Karma responded, finally calm and a twang on empathy rung out in her voice.

“Wait, why am I talking to you about this?” I said aloud as I realized the right course of action.

“What do you mean?” She asked. 

Before she could finish the thought I hung up. I spun around in my chair and called Earworm, making sure to select the new number she gave me at the park. My phone rang for a couple seconds. I suddenly became nervous that she was trying to fall asleep and I’d wake her. Would I seem desperate? Was I bothering her?

The phone went to the answering machine. I decided I should still leave a message, so that she could listen to it in the morning. It was better than nothing.

“I’m sorry if it’s late. I would like to date you. Sorry if that’s blunt. I am…We talked about the PR implications of us being public and I agree that’s not a good idea right now.I probably need to tell Ruthenium and or others at V-Tek if this is going to happen, regardless of it’s going to be public. I don’t want to put too much of a burden on you immediately. I feel like I wouldn’t be fully honest if I wasn’t communicating that. I have a slight worry…I don’t want to…I don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t want to be someone that’s inconvenient to be dating. Thank you for…Thank you for everything. I hope it’s ok. You’re really cool, you know? I’m sorry if this is too forward, but can I ask why you wanted to kiss me?”

I left the message, and hoped it would be alright in the morning. It was too late and I was getting tired. I climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

Part Three: The Investigation

I woke up to two messages. I was laying face down, the electrical arm sticking out of my back, constantly pulling the energy out of me, even in my sleep. I carefully got up out of bed, making sure not to touch any of my wires or the electrical arm itself. The ever-cold standard AC temperature greeted me. It was as familiar as any day. 

There was a response from Earworm. I quickly opened my text messages and scanned the screen.

Earworm: Everyone seems to think that you don’t really have a lot going on underneath that armor. I don’t think that’s true. You care a lot. You’re willing to be there and be real. Don’t worry about the PR stuff. We’ll figure it out.

Unsure what exactly to say I simply responded with: Thank You. It was the most important thing I had to say. On my computer there was an alert from Gold, the V-Tek cape in charge of Security.

Gold: Meeting in the West Quarter Security Wing 7am, Don’t be late.

It was already 6:34. I was not one to disobey orders, so I tucked my thoughts on Earworm aside and suited up.

I changed into a new outfit, though they were all the same. Uniform sets of cotton and polyester skintight bodysuits. They were made with large holes, to accommodate the shielding that occupied much of my head, chest, and abdomen. The ‘clothes’ always reminded me of yoga pants. The legs went all the way down to my feet, with socks included, and the collar reached up to swallow my neck. It was hypothetically possible for me to wear other clothes, but they would be awkward to wear with the shielding. Besides, this room would be the only place anyone would ever see me wearing them. Outside, I had my armor to wear.

I marched into the transition chamber where my armor was sitting on its rack, arms and legs splayed and facing away from me. The back was open, ready for me to step into it. It always seemed dead when it was laying like this. An odd thought, considering any life the metal had was what I gave it. I would step into it and Osmium would be my face. In a way then, wasn;t this like looking at my flayed skin? The empty display where Osmium’s ‘face’ would appear was like a set of empty eye-sockets, devoid of soul.

It was a morbid thought and I had enough of it. I stepped into the suit, planted my feet in the stirrups, flexed my arms into their grooves, and placed my body into my second skin. I clicked the startup button with my right thumb and the machine whirred to life. My back sealed up. The familiar click sounded as the electrical arm disengaged and its plug was filled by the armor. Power flooded into my metal exosuit. The first time I’d taken a step in the suit I’d tripped. It had been standing up from this very rack, though it had been in the test chambers. Now, I practically sprinted out of my room and into the V-Tek Headquarters. After all, I was invited to a meeting and it was my responsibility not to be late.

I strode across the campus and into the West Quarter Security Wing, a room I knew from the V-Tek Headquarters map downloaded to my suit rather than having actually been there before. The room appeared to be an average corporate meeting area, complete with a long table and set of chairs that were too small for my armor. At the back of the room, however, was a set of monitors playing security camera footage from the entire HQ and in the room opposite that wall was another copy of the feed and the office for the Head of Security at V-Tek. Today though, he was standing in front of me.

Gold was the closest thing I had to a direct role model within the organization. He was another cape who spent practically all of his public appearances in his (of course) golden set of power armor. His was very slim, especially compared to mine, refined and perfected whereas my design was still effectively in beta. He was also, unlike many of the other armored V-Tek capes, not a tinker. At least, not anymore. He had donated his power to Ruthenium, who’d redistributed it to fuel an entire team of tinkers. Some of V-Tek’s finest I heard. They maintained his golden armor after all. He was stern and orderly as you’d expect of a security officer, as well as punctual and devoted to the company. He worked quickly and efficiently, and he’d never lost a fight with another cape. Not that he got into them very often. 

I followed his lead, and as I entered my walk cycle was efficient. I stood to attention, saluted, and listened. He nodded to me in approval. He was standing at the end of the table, and three administrative employees in suits were already sitting down. It was 6:58, and by 7am eight more employees shuffled into the room. 

“Right, everyone here?” Gold asked as soon as the clock ticked over into 7. It was a rhetorical question. If they weren't here while summoned it would be a demerit.

“There was a break-in last night,” he continued. “It was linked to a supervillain called Karma. It happened at approximately 10:30pm. We are currently  reviewing all security footage from the last week to see if any employees have any information on our little incident.”

Linked to Karma? But how was that possible? I’d talked to her minutes after the break in had supposedly happened. Did she take my call, directly after robbing me? I needed to work out the timing. I was sent into overdrive as I struggled to assess the situation. This was the highest priority incident I’d ever been assigned to. There was no way I was finishing until I found the culprit. I would have to reveal my communications with Karma,betraying her trust, in order to solve this. For all I knew she was guilty and I’d been feeding information to a supervillain for her own gain!

“You said a break in?” I asked. I put force into my voice, hopefully my synthesizer would carry it. Gold simply nodded in response.

I followed up, “Sir, May I ask what Sector?”

“The Anomalous Materials branch of the Research and Development Sector.” He responded promptly.

“Do we have an inventory?” I demanded. I spoke like a soldier, all confidence, completely assured.

“Item C-32-D was stolen, Item D-36-A was broken.” Gold rattled off. “Employee Jack Hunt was assaulted in the chaos and we will be formally questioning him shortly.”

“Understood.” I reflected his tone. “Are there any duties that I have in this case?”

He paused, and that gave me enough time to think. I contemplated confessing about my meetings with Karma. For a second I was horrified that I’d messed something up, that the contact I was having with Karma had jeopardized my family. For a second I was too scared and ashamed to admit to them what I’d done. But, no. Whatever happened this was her fault, this is a security breach and it’s something I would have to be responsible for and I wasn’t going to get broken up about it. Not when my duty was on the line. This was about something greater.

Gold was still contemplating my request when I spoke again. “I believe I have information relevant to this case.”

“Yes Osmium?” Gold asked with a lilt in his voice. He cocked his head towards me.

“Yes,” I replied, still perfectly at attention. “Were you aware of the file report for my most recent mission? Xenon sent me on assignment a couple of days ago. The Followup after the shipment robbery involving the cape Ragdoll?”

Gold nodded, gesturing for me to continue.

I recounted my experience so far. All the truth. “As part of the follow-up for that case there was a mysterious cape who was unidentified and had stolen some of V-Tek’s equipment. We identified that cape to be Karma. And I held a…negotiation with her to try and obtain the lost materials. The negotiations failed. We spoke under a truce. I had continued contact in efforts of trying to avail her or gain information about her organization. I was unable to do either. I might be able to try and interrogate her about this.”

Gold took it in and replied without missing a beat. “We will attempt to apprehend her for questioning. Thank you.” 

I always liked conversations with Gold. He was prompt and to the point in a way most weren’t. His efficiency and honesty were commendable and I strived to replicate them. The difference is he wasn’t a stuttering mess like I was behind the mask.

I asked for clarification, “Should I try to contact her immediately or refrain?”

“You have a means of contacting her?” Gold finally let emotion into his voice, a wry confusion.

“She gave me a phone number.” I admitted.

He nodded, not looking a gift phone-number bearing horse in the mouth. “Yes. If you can bring her in, certainly.”

“I don’t know if I could convince her to meet. I could try but she might be suspect, especially if she did actually commit the break-in. It happens, I call her immediately after. She’ll know it’s not a coincidence.”

“True.” Gold said, putting a metal hand to his helmet-covered chin. He sounded approving! Approving! Of me! I was useful! 

“We could attempt to trace her phone line but it may have some defenses.” Gold postulated.

“I attempted and all I figured out was that she communicated through a series of proxies. I was unable to crack her location or get any meaningful data.” I reported. “Oh, and she works for SafeZone. It was in the file report to Xenon.”

“That may pose some difficulties. But we will attempt to work around it. Wonderful. If we apprehend her we will bring you in for questioning.” He moved to continue talking, but I was on a roll.

“Could I ask permission to interrogate Jack Hunt?” I said.

Gold paused. “Why you?” He looked straight into my faceplate with his own. 

“I might be able to cross-reference…”I realized I was thinking too fast. I needed to slow down and articulate or the armor wouldn’t pick up my voice. “I assume that this Jack Hunt was injured involving the break-in?”

“Yes.”

I continued, “Then I believe I might be able to cross reference his data with my knowledge of Karma to reach a more developed conclusion…Sir.”

“Certainly, if you have relevant information. We had previously assigned you to security detail for that interrogation.” Gold said and I mentally relaxed. I was strung up with tension thinking he’d refuse me or call me foolish for my request.

“Understood. Yessir.” I saluted again.

Gold continued to rattle off information, “Additional Factors: Asset was implicated in the crime in association with Karma. I contacted him this morning and he has a rock-solid alibi.”

“Did we observe master protocols?” I asked. Was Karma in league with a cape who could have compelled Asset to help break into V-Tek?

“Alibi.” Gold repeated. “We have video of him at a conference halfway across the United States from here at the same time. I suspect a Shifter. Besides, an old man doing all that…I find it unlikely that Asset is the true culprit.”

The room around Gold chuckled. He continued to discuss aspects of the case, evidence of the use of an EMP, the damage of a storage closet, the opening of the high-security vault door into the Anomalous Materials Storage chamber, and the lack of camera footage. When he finished I stood to attention again.

“I will standby until the interrogation, Sir. Do I have any orders in the meantime?” I asked.

“No. That will be all, return to duty.” Gold ordered. 

“Yessir.” I saluted a final time and left the room.

 I walked back through HQ in perfectly efficient straight lines through the center of the hallways as always. As soon as I left the room I breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure was still on but no one in command seemed to have an issue with my behavior vis-a-vis Karma.

The first thing on my mind was to make everything clear with Earworm. I called a broadcast quiet to stop my internal recording and then called her new phone number. It went to voicemail again. I left a message.

“Hi. Something important just happened. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make progress on the whole talking with my dad thing. I’ll tell you when that can happen.” 

I stopped the message, then sat down and started piecing together the timeline. I met Earworm the same time at night that the break-in happened. It’s not like I was supposed to be on security detail. Is that related? She said she was going to do something stupid. Was this all a ploy somehow? Does that even make sense? She’s a hero, why would she risk everything. It’s probably not even related. Besides, she was with me that whole time, that’s the best alibi I could get! Why was I so worried about her? Maybe this was what being in love was like. She’ll be ok. That's what I need to remind myself. She’ll be ok. She didn’t break into V-Tek, she was right there in my arms. Stop worrying about your crush, Osmium.

They identified the capes who broke in as Karma and Asset. But she had also talked with me that night. True, it was after Gold’s supposed time but not by much. And she’d been playing her theme the whole time. Did she just always have it playing when she was around? Maybe if she did the security systems will have caught a recording of it. Red handed! But no, I heard her eating and messing with her chair. I know the sound of that chair, it’s uniquely squeaky and she loves to spin around in it. She was definitely already at her house when I made the call. She picked up pretty quickly, too. Only a couple of dials, too. If she had broken in it’d be a bad call at a bad time. You’d think maybe she’d panic longer? Or was she just that smooth of an operator?

I was still standing at the end of the hallway when a security officer, Darnall, approached. A benefit to the suit was that while standing I had just as much support as when I was in my wheelchair. I never needed to sit down to relax. I saluted and regarded the officer. He was a pudgy bald man with thick brown eyebrows and a matching beard. He wore a typically low-level security uniform, a kevlar vest over a black shirt, with a hi-vis vest over everything. He held a clipboard in his hand and got out a pen to take notes before he spoke to me.

“Hey, big guy. So we’re looking through the last week of footage, and we found that you had a...jam on friday. A weird gap in your footage. Do you know what’s going on with that? It doesn;t show as you turning the system off. It just disappears.” Darnall questioned me.

That was my conversation with Earworm, where she or someone she was working with had somehow blocked my transmissions so that we could talk in private without V-Tek suspecting anything. What do I say? I decided to stay resolute.

“Yes. I can debrief if you require, or a superior officer. I believe I was under the effects of an anti-transmission device. Something cut the signal.” I responded, technically being honest.

“Who? Why?” Darnall interrogated. “Were you on a mission at that time?”

“Another student at Halcyon High,” I stopped, realizing I’d gotten the name wrong. “Another student at Hyperion High requested a meeting an I believe that student has-”

“Which student?” Darnall interrupted.

“I would need to double-check with the administration to assure I have permission to tell you.” I artfully dodged. I absolutely could not let them know it was Earworm I was talking to or my love life really was doomed.

“Why?”

“I don’t know if there was a layer of confidentiality in that meeting that I was…I do not want to violate anyone’s privacy.” I said, getting dangerously close to stammering in front of an authority figure.

“Why would you need permission? This is an investigation of a corporate issue.” Darnall was scowling now

“I don’t believe this is related to the break-in if that’s any concern. I have no reason to suspect it was. As far as I know this was just a personal…thing.” I stood my ground.

“You have 24 hours.”

“What?”

“To get back to me with a name.” Darnall ordered, commanding with a whisper rather than a shout. His matter-of-factness reminded me of Gold, but he didn’t seem to care about me. Gold was strict, but I’d impressed him.

“There was another. You turned your recording system off for sensitive information during the time of the break-in. Your geolocation shows that you were nowhere near HQ. I have to ask. That’s not anything I need to worry about?” He raised one of his impressive brows.

“No, I was at Titan Top.” I responded briskly, keeping up my soldier routine.

“And what sensitive information was happening at Titan Top?”

How do I get out of this? I can’t tell him? I decided to continue playing it cool. “As I said I believe it would be unethical to reveal it to you-”

“The same kind of unethical?” Darnall prodded. I was beginning to suspect that he got a career in security because he was too nosy to give up an opportunity to interrogate someone.

“No.” I shut him down, “It’s just a matter of a personal conversation between me and Earworm and she requested I not have it recorded and sent back to HQ.”

He smiled. “Good for you kid?”

What?

“What?” I asked, but he was already walking out of the door.

The interrogation room was, in fact, an office on the third floor, normally used for everyday corporate work. Its last inhabitant had been let go and a replacement not yet hired, so it was empty enough for some privacy. The room was completely empty except for a barren desk and a chair that someone had dragged in from the lunchroom. Jack Hunt was sitting in the chair. A bruise covered the right side of his head, with a swollen eye to match. Underneath the damage he was a scrawny, scruffy older teenager, probably in college and definitely older than me. A small mustache covered his upper lips and he wore a stained standard issue labcoat over a beige flannel. Beside me were two other interrogators. One was a security officer, Darnall’s second in command, Angela Lou. The other was a tinker, Bismuth, who worked in crystals. She was really only here as a courtesy, as she outranked me and could report on me. In reality she was a scientist unconcerned with the matters of the investigation and was unlikely to get in my way or even speak at all.

“Do you mind if I begin or way there anything you want to go over first, Ma’am.” I addressed Ms. Lou.

“No, just anything you can get out of him.” She responded pleasantly. Good. Another person who wouldn't get in the way.

“Yes, Ma’am.” I promptly responded, then focussed my full attention on Jack Hunt.

 “Sir, Mr. Hunt?” I grabbed his attention.

“Yes?” He responded weakly.

“I would like to ask you about the events of yesterday, Saturday the 24th of September. Tell me anything you recall of that night. About the incident. I heard you got knocked out. I hope you don’t mind this being recorded.”

“Yeah,” he acknowledged the recording before spilling his story. His voice was nasal, and probably sounded worse because of the damage to his face. “I was on night duty, I was going to take some of the boxes back from Anomalous Materials to the archives for a cataloging project and I got punched in the face.” He exaggerated the ending of the sentence. 

He stopped himself and then continued talking, “I should start at the beginning. I work in the, I’m an intern with the archives department.  Was hired to help with the workload for the Exodus project. They asked me to take something from Anomalous Materials. I was on night shift.”

“We have reports of an electromagnetic pulse. Would you say that’s accurate? Were there any light failures?” I asked.

“ I mean it was dark in there, but it’s always dark in there.” he replied, unhelpfully.

“You didn’t see any failed lights of deactivated machines that should normally be active?”

“No, I mean it was dark but that’s normal for the night shift. And I walked in there and I saw a figure at the end of the hallway and I wasn’t really sure what was going on-”

“One figure?” I demanded. 

“Um, well. It looked like Asset and then next to Asset was a teenage girl in a ghost sheet?” His voice raised into a question , like he wasn't sure if what he saw made any sense.

“Approximate height and weight for the teenage girl?” I asked.

“Umm, probably like 5 foot 8? I didn’t get a good look at her but she seemed pretty big-not skinny.” He said.

Well, those definitely weren’t Karma’s proportions. She was notably short. I’d estimate around 5 feet 2 inches tall and fairly thin. Hunt would have noticed 6 inches of heels. Perhaps she wasn't guilty after all. But then who? Perhaps Karma was there, but held back and this sheet ghost girl was merely an accomplice?

“Did she have any weapons on her?” I added.

“Not noticeably, no.” Jack coughed. “They, uh, wrestled the jug out from me. Sorry. Artifact C-6. From me. I tried to keep them from breaking it.”

“You were fighting two potential supervillains.It is not your fault” I reminded him, trying to keep him calm.

“And then she punched me in the face!” He announced.

“Punched you, no weapons?” I asked again, just in case. Karma used knives last time we fought, and was known to be in possession of a stolen V-Tek Pistol.

Hunt ignored me, “Sorry that’s not true. Asset punched me in the face. LIke multiple times. It was definitely him.”

“Asset?” I asked. The old man?

“I thought it was pretty weird…” he trailed off.

“And they were effective punches?” 

“I mean yeah. I got knocked out.” he confirmed.

Asset was an old man. Whoever the other cape was must be a shapeshifter with sizable muscles, strong enough to seriously hurt Hunt when Asset himself wouldn’t have. The shapeshifting wasn’t a perfect imitation.

“Yeah and then they knocked me out and when I came to the shit was gone.” He said, then realized his faux pas and tried to correct himself. “The…Artifact.”

I covered for him, “You were in a state of shock. Such a reaction is acceptable.” He seemed relieved and so I continued. “Did you see any use of a power on account of either of them?” 

“No, aside from the fact that that was probably not Asset.”

“No. It was not.” I agreed. 

Hunt took a second to concentrate, rubbing his stubble-covered chin with his hand. I was about to move on when he spoke up again, slowly raising his eyes to meet my helmet. “Wait. Wait, actually. I got moved by this girl.”

“Moved?” I asked. Was the girl some kind of body controller? Perhaps she had found a way to puppet both Karma and whoever the shapeshifter was.

“Like, yeah. I had to move the way she moved.” He said uneasily.

“Copying her movements?” I asked, dread filling my heart as the obvious conclusion came into focus.

“Yeah.”

“Exactly, did you see her take the movements you took?” I begged for the truth to change.

“Yeah. I tried to run away but she caught me. She ran down the hallway and I moved without thinking-like I wasn’t in control of my body. Our steps matched right up, I could hear it on the floor. You know the hallways in that Storage area have the grating?”

I nodded. Outside I was as robotically stoic as ever, but inside I was breaking down. It had to be Earworm, I didn’t know of another cape who copied movements like she did. Swagger was able to fully control another person’s body but he was dead. Earworm matched the physical description. 5 foot 8, chubby. SHe could have easily put on the ghost costume. Unless whoever it was had a similar power to hers, but they deliberately ran in step to imitate her? Was it somehow a triple bluff? That couldn’t be possible, could it? It didn’t make sense, Earworm wasn’t at the headquarters when the attack happened.

I was wasting precious interview time. I should focus on solving the case after I collect the data, not before. No time to cry, Osmium.

“Interesting, please continue,” I said.

“And then I got close lined, yeah. The next thing I knew I woke up in the dark”

I went down my notes to question him about the next piece of evidence. “And you woke up with a mark on your body?”

There was one, on his forehead. He had clearly tried to scrub it off. It seemed like it was written in sharpie and it smudged and faded but didn’t completely leave his skin. He helpfully pointed to it when I asked.

“Do you or the team have a picture of that mark from when it was fresh?” I inquired.

“I think Officer Lou does.” Hunt said. Officer Lou nodded, and brought out a printed picture, zoomed in on Hunt’s forehead. There was a detailed seal drawn onto it in black marker. I asked her for the picture and stored it in my file for later consideration.

“What happened when you woke up?” I continued my questioning of Hunt.

“No. Nothing new. They had disappeared.”

“Did you see them take anything?”

“The Artifact…C-6 was gone when I came back.”

“Ok. I might follow up with you, but thank you for your information.” I tried to leave as quickly as possible, abandoning Lou and Bismuth to do what they liked. 

I needed space away from  conversation to work this over. After a couple of minutes though, I realized there was nothing for it. I needed to report to Gold as fast as possible. I could barely hear myself over the beating of my heart and I needed to find somewhere calm and safe. He was my best bet. 

“Gold,” I greeted him as I returned to the West Quarter Security Wing, “I have concluded my investigation of Jack Hunt. I have reason to believe that Karma was not the suspect.”

“What? What do you mean?” He demanded, placing his hands on the table. The security footage flickered behind him as a team of officers still worked at combing through the last week of recordings to check if anything suspicious had been seen by the cameras.

“There were two figures that Mr. Hunt saw. One must have been some sort of shapeshifter to have impersonated Asset. We also know that they must have perfectly replicated Asset because they got through the lock, which uses a biometric eye scan. Only someone who could recreate his body could do it, not an illusionist. It’d have to be a physical shapeshifter.”

“I understand,” Gold said. “Why isn’t it Karma?”

“The other assailant was a teenage girl,  but her height and weight are incorrect for Karma. Additionally, she was using a power that Karma does not possess. Biokinesis.” I answered, projecting confidence.

“Right. Can you run me up a list of all Biokinetic Villains in Halcyon City.” He barked an order to one of the security officers, who saluted and immediately ran out the door to follow his orders. He nodded back to me, as if asking if I had anything else to report.

“Sir, additionally I have a way of contacting Karma. I believe we should do that immediately. If she’s being framed she might have information that benefits us, or possibly we could form a temporary alliance or deal, at least to gather information. Obviously I would not suggest working with a villain.”

“Right,” he said with an audible relief in his voice. It was just as strong as ever though and he jumped right back to giving orders. “Let’s start with contacting Karma.”

“Yessir. Would you like to monitor this conversation, or…?”

“Yes, I would.” he responded curtly. “Room C-12 is fine.”

“Understood, Sir.”

“Ozzy baby, back so soon?” Karma’s voice was as full of mirth and sarchasm as ever.

“This call is of a more important nature, This is Gold. He’ll be on the line.” I turned on the computer’s camera to give Karma a live feed of the both of us. I gestured to Gold where he stood over my right shoulder. 

Karma didn’t deign to broadcast her own video, only giving us her voice. “Oh.”

“Can I ask you a very simple question, and I ask you to be honest.” I spoke with my severe soldier’s tone and it clashed oddly against Karma and I’s usual style of banter.

“Ok?” She followed.

“Did you break into V-Tek headquarters last night?” My voice was intense. I was more desperate and passionate than I’d thought and it came out forceful. She might even think I was angry.

Evidently, she didn’t care. As easily as a breeze tipping over a perfectly prepared martini she answered. “I wish I did.”

“Wait,” She continued with an audible smile, “Did someone actually do it? Oh my god?”

“We believe someone may be impersonating you. Or at least using your mark. If you allow me to send you an image I believe this is a decent impression of your seal. The one you usually leave on the unconscious bodies of your victims?” Then I vindictively added, “And on the doors of banks you break into?”

It was probably best I make sure Gold didn’t suspect that I had any positive feelings towards Karma. The more I reminded him of my disdain for her criminality the more he’d understand that me and Karma weren’t actually allies.

The seal consisted of a Two circles, one inside the other which formed a border. On the inside was the japanese characters カ,ル, andマ which together were a translation of the English word Karma. My computer told me it would be pronounced ka̠ɾɯ̟ᵝma̠ using the International Phonetic Alphabet. 

“Well their handwriting is shit.” Karma flippantly commented.

“But that is your symbol?” I interrogated.

“That is an attempt at calligraphy. Not a very successful one but passable. Enough to be recognizable, sure.” 

“And you were not here, correct?”

“That would be nice,” she teased. “Unfortunately someone’s doing cooler things than me.”

I disconnected my external speakers to let out a chuckle-there was no way I was publicly breaking my composure in front of Gold. Then, I reactivated them to ask Karma another question.

“Do you have any idea who might be trying to impersonate you?”

“Not particularly.”

“Nor any biokinetics villains who might have something out for you, or SafeZone, or anyone you work with? Who might have an interest in pitting us against each other?” I posited.

“I don’t know who’d be wanting to steal my thunder specifically. I’ll admit my father has his enemies. There’s a biokinetic around that doesn’t like me much, but I can; see why they’d have reason to do this.”

“Do you know what that biokinetic’s power is?” I demanded.

“The only one I know messes with bones.” She admitted.

“Any masters? People who can make others move? Puppeteers?”

“Not really, no.”

“What about someone who could copy powers?” This was my ultimate theory. It would make everything else make sense. Someone who stole Earworm's power while Earworm couldn't have been at the scene, someone who stole Asset’s body, and Karma’s seal. A hewn-together mash of a bunch of different capes with no individual identity.

“Sure.” She was nonchalant.

“Ok. Any names?” I was beginning to get frustrated with her.

“Deciding whether or not I want to turn someone in to be lambasted by the public and thrown in jail…it's a bit of a big decision and I don’t think I want to be a snitch.” She exaggerated the words lambasted and snitch, first poking fun at our propriety and then emphasizing how different from us she was. We cared about the law and doing what’s right. She cared about street honor, protecting her fellow criminals from us.

God damn it Karma, won’t you work with me for once? I really was angry now. “Deciding whether or not to trust you is a pretty big decision. I’ve decided to make it today.” I barked.

“Ok,” she scoffed at me. “What do you mean ‘decide whether or not to trust me’ you’re here asking me for information and I haven’t given you any.”

I retorted “As far as I know these crimes could be committed in collaboration with you, Karma. Maybe you weren’t physically here but they could be placing your seal because they work for you. You do have quite a rebellious streak.”

“You think I wouldn’t teach my minions how to write?” She bit back.

“I think you’re sloppy enough to hire people who don’t fully know your sign and tell them to write it because you’d rather have the street cred than not.”

She laughed at me, fully at my expense this time. “You think so little of me. That I have no class, that I have no fucking style?”

“I think..I think…” I stuttered, enraged. Gold put a hand on my shoulder but before he continued I formulated my words. “I think that you’re exactly the kind of person to hire underlings who’d get worried about time pressure especially on such a sensitive job. You said yourself that it would be cool to rob us.”

“I did.” She admitted gleefully.

“The less you collaborate the more it seems likely that you are the suspect or related to them. I’ve decided to trust you because frankly I don’t think it makes sense but you still aren’t off the list of suspects. Frankly, adding this charge to your list won’t make much of a difference.”

She responded flippantly, and I heard her spin in her creaky chair. At home, just like during the break-in. Oncer she had made a full rotation, she spoke again.

“Mixtape. I know he copies powers. He got in a scrap with me a while ago. We’re not on good terms. Is that enough?”

“Do you mind giving me a description of Mixtape? Also, do you mind meeting, like we did under the truce?”

“So I can get arrested?” She asked, “Yeah right. Why not just keep calling?”

“If you put yourself in that position of vulnerability, we’d be a lot more willing to trust you. Look, you can say a lot of things over the phone. When you're really there standing by someone and you might get arrested if things don’t go right it’s a whole different deal.”

“What guarantee do I have that that truce stands?” She said, not believing me.

“My word.” I promised.

She scoffed. “Your word?”

“My word, yeah.” I said, more forcefully. With my words I tried to remind her of our last meeting, and of all our conversations. I didn’t sell her out then and I wouldn’t now. She could trust my word.

She considered, and it seemed like I had convinced her because she quietly let out an ‘ok’.

“I’ll tell you Mistape doesn’t like me but I’m not giving you anything more than that.” She said.

“Can I get a gender? And a height?” I asked.

“Sure. She’s like 5 foot 10, ish. I’m not the best judge of height. She’s kinda thin. Maybe 150 to 180. Somewhere in that range.”

“Any hair or features visible or does her costume cover everything.” I asked.

“Nah it’s under wraps.”

“That’s not nothing. Thank you.” I said, and I meant it. 

“Am I off the hook then?” She asked.

I looked to Gold. He contemplated, then gave Karma an answer.

“Well, if she can come in by the end of the day,” he said.

“Ok, where? Not going to V-Tek for the record.” Karma replied.

“Are the docks satisfactory?” Gold said. It might have technically been a question but in his commanding tone it might have well have been a law of nature that they’d meet there.

“And no funny business this time.” I added.

“As long as you don’t either.” She took the opportunity to be sassy, and hung up on us.

I stood up, saluted, and addressed Gold. “Sorry if that was tense, Sir.”

“You’re fine. You’re interacting with a Supervillain.” Gold said casually.

“Sir, do you mind if I give you my hypothesis?”

“Certainly.”

“I don’t believe that Karma did this. It’s possible she did and she’s just tricking us, and it’s possible that her discussions with me were merely a sting operation with this, with the aim of gaining information on us. Based on her demeanor, I don’t think she did this. If she did she would have been gloating in that phone call. I believe we’re looking at two suspects. A shapeshifter and a movement biokinetic. Shapeshifters I don’t know, but the kind of power that Jack Hunt talked about is pretty spot on for someone I know. Earworm. That makes me suspect that the second person in that incident was someone who can copy powers. Mixtape’s height and weight aren;t that different from what Hunt said, especially because her costume at the break-in was a sheet ghost. It could obscure a lot of features. It’s likely that Mixtape is the assailant and the shapeshifter is someone she works with. They were planning on hitting V-Tek, maybe because they heard the news, maybe that’s why they chose Earworm’s power. She posted that video of Jess Conway falsely exposing us and Nexus. There’s good evidence that would instantly implicate her, so they steal her power, hit the place that already has a connection with her so there's more to tie the case to her, and then use Karma’s symbol as a double bluff to distract us and put us off the actual scent. Make it look like it was Earworm implicating Karma when it’s actually Mixtape impersonating Earworm, implicating Karma. People will suspect that a small teenage girl in that costume is Karma, not Mixtape and the shapeshifter can look however they want so they look like Asset to get through the door.”

Gold mulled my explanation over. “That seems like a suitable theory. Good work.” He congratulated me with a hand briefly clapping my metal shoulder. He led us out of the room and back towards his office, near the Security room.

“Sir.” I saluted. He liked my theory!If only everything else today were going as well as Gold’s opinion of me. I hoped that he’d write up a positive report to the Board. Maybe Ruthenium would even congratulate me himself. If we caught whoever did this.

I wanted to leave, but something else was nagging at my mind. There was another possibility, given all the same evidence. A loose end.

I spoke up as we strode down the hallway. “Do you believe that we should try to discuss with Earworm? I don’t know how Mixtape’s power works but it could also be someone else who could copy powers? We don’t know who the shapeshifter can target. This other suspect had a very similar build to Earworm and if there’s a way those two things are related that could be a very bad combination. It’s possible that Earworm had been compromised. Perhaps kidnapped and replaced by a copy, or possibly just that at some point a shapeshifter has impersonated her. I could try to talk to her, I suspect she might be in some kind of danger.”

“It’s worth talking to the girl.” Gold admitted.

“I also won’t put the possibility past myself that she would do this without any caveats, although I find this unlikely considering her character.” I admitted. I didn’t want to say it. But a true hero is not blinded by biases, even those of love. If anyone can be a hero, anyone can be a villain.

“Yes, so we’ve got Karma. That should be anything. We’ll do more research into power copiers that Karma knows as well as any other in the area.” Gold stated

“I believe there’s a student at Hyperion High named Contact who has the ability to steal powers. I don’t believe that he is involved, but it’s possible that there’s a more complicated scenario. But trumps are rarer than other kinds of capes if in fact there is a trump involved.” As I spoke I realized I couldn’t stop running my mouth with speculation. “It’s also possible that this was legitimately Earworm but there were insinuating circumstances, like that she was held hostage or mastered. Or perhaps there’s a power at work here we don’t understand. Imagine a cape who could shapeshift into Asset and then turn his partner into Earworm, causing them to gain her power. It could be a possibility that some or all these people are guilty. It could be that Earworm was involved, Karma was involved, and both them and the shapeshifter are legitimately guilty. Or the case that a combination of mastering, shapeshifting, and other scenarios that means none of them were.”

Gold considered my speech. “Good report, son. It’s always worth it to be thorough. When you return to Hyperion High, talk to the girl.I’ll handle the rest and then you report to me. Monday night 10pm. Understood.”

“Sir, yes, Sir.” I saluted one final time.

“Dismissed.” He said, and shut the door to his office on me.

Suddenly I realized how quiet and cold the hallway had become. I was alone in a sea of glossy black metal. My reflection started back at me from the well-shined futuristic door to Gold’s office. Earworm? Karma? Myself? Could I really trust any of them? I realized something as I stared into my reflection. While I was with Earworm at the park, she never used her power. And the person at V-Tek definitely did use it, if Jack Hunt was to be believed. It would be easier for someone disguised as her to not use her power, than the other way around. Someone whose power was shapeshifting might be able to copy her face, but her power was far more complicated.

I called Earworm.

“Hey,” she picked up, sounding worried. “I got your message. What happened?”

“There was some activity at V-Tek. We think someone broke in. It has become a thing some people are concentrated on. I don’t know if we’re ready to have that relationship conversation right now, but I would still like to meet sometime soon, if that’s ok?”

“Yeah, for this specific purpose or?”

“What do you mean?” I said, feigning ignorance.

“Oh, gotcha.” she said. She might have been realizing her mistake. Did she know what happened in the break-in, that she might be suspect, and that I would question her about it, and now that she thought I was ignorant she was burying the lead?

“Earworm?” I asked, begging for her to not secretly be involved.

“Nothing just. Business call.” She said

“What?”

“What?”

“You’re not talking about Spectre Street, right?” She asked.

Oh. I was an idiot, way too suspicious for my own good. She was asking if this was to confirm our date, but had realized that I was bringing up cape business. Stuff we’d talk about soon, at school.

“I think that would be nice. It doesn’t have to be that, though. It might be better to have something more informal.” I offered.

“Let’s save that for a time when we’re not worried about business.” She said, I agreed.

“I might just be feeling kind of jumpy, but…you’re safe right? Your family, everything, it’s fine. Not in any danger or anything?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She hummed.

“Stay safe ok. I want to stay in touch. Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I was thinking about you a lot today.”

“Ok.” She said sweetly.

“I have a question,” I asked, seizing the moment. Hopefully she wouldn’t think I was weird. “You have a new phone number. Do you still have the old phone or did you throw it out?”

She faltered. “Ummmm. Yeah? If you want to reach me, though, the new number is the one I keep around.”

“I just wanted to double check just in case. Like in an emergency. Might be nice to have a backup.”

“Yeah, you're fine, I don’t care. You have both numbers.”

“Cool, cool. I’ll text you, then.”

“Is that all for now?” She asked.

“Yeah. Seriously though, talk anytime? Thanks for being my girlfriend” I put all the passion I had into those words, hoping she’d believe them.

“Yeah, later. Bye. Thanks for being my boyfriend.”

It seemed like she did.

I hung up first.

 I loved her, but I needed to know the truth. I waited until all of my duties for the day were complete, then headed down to my room, stepped through the transition chamber, shrugged off my armor, attached the electric arm, got in my wheelchair, and headed to my desk. Then and only then did I text her new phone number.

Osmium: Thanks!

Thirty minutes later, I texted her old number.

Osmium: Hey, how’s everything going? Are we still on?

Earworm: On for where?

Osmium: I’ve been thinking. Do you want to go to Spectre Street?

Epilogue: The Odds and Ends Groupchat

Earworm.music: Hey guysssssss

Sc4les: what's up?

Earworm.music: So I kind of went rogue on monday w/Marco and ended up talking w/Osmium

Sc4les: define "rogue"

Earworm.music: Went out to talk to him without talking to you guys about it. Was feeling emotional

Sc4les: that sounds like a recipe for...idk something not great

Earworm.music: Idk it was complicated. Anyway I don't think fucked anyhting up but

Earworm.music: I think he just asked me out?

Earworm.music posted a screenshot

Sc4les: I'm not really the, uh...person to ask about that kind of thing

Sc4les: Maybe ask...hmm

BloodRush: seems sus given you did just stand him up recently?

Sc4les: idk how bloodrush is with dating, I don't see Verdict as the type, and Ripple...yeah not exactly the group for that

Sc4les: honestly Marko is prolly more savvy than all of the rest of us combined

Earworm.music: @BloodRush the last time we spoke I did peck him on the metal cheek so it’s not exactly unwarranted but given everything caution might not be bad either

Earworm.music: @Sc4les good point

BloodRush: if you decide to go, need one hell of an excuse as to why you didn't make it last time...

Earworm.music: I told him that there was a family emergency. Hopefully he bought it? Hmmmmmm

BloodRush: good good, just need to have 'back-up info' if he asks more

Earworm.music: you’re right though I’d need to fake it

Sc4les: I mean if you're worried about an ambush or something, I can hang around the area as backup

BloodRush: me too, and i know Ripple and Verdict would be down

Sc4les: if things go well instead, I'll of course clear out as soon as you give the signal, I figure you'd want some...privacy

Earworm.music: 😭😭😭you guyyyyssss. I am so lucky

Sc4les: we've got your back. I mean, obviously

BloodRush: hell! if things go well, the rest of us could hang out at Specter too! we need some time to breathe lol

Earworm.music: god after that weekend we still have to go back to class Monday

BloodRush: ugh...why did you remind me…