E.4
Okay, here is the 5x compressed summary of chapter E.4 in 1354 words:
The city was bustling with reconstruction, cranes lifting materials, and people going about their business. The crowd was different. Resilient, unified, and unafraid. They held their ground, even against the mutant wolf and its rider.
“Damn, civilization!” Biter exclaimed.
“Think we can get fast food?” Cassie asked. “Pizza, burger…”
“Fried chicken,” Biter added. “Or just fries.”
“No money,” Rachel pointed out.
“We’re villains,” Biter said. “We could just take it.”
“Hassle,” Rachel replied. “I’d rather have a steak, good bread.”
“You’d turn down pizza?” Biter asked incredulously.
Rachel shrugged. “All food is fast food when someone else cooks.”
“You’re spoiling her,” Biter told Cassie.
Cassie smirked, scratching her dog, Sunny.
They walked around a construction zone, and a truck honked as Bastard stepped onto the road.
“Cocky,” Biter muttered. “You’d think they’d be more scared of capes.”
“They feel safe,” Rachel said, scanning the buildings. “Superheroes nearby.”
“Worried?”
“No.”
Rachel called to Biter’s dogs, “Doon, Colbie, nose.”
The bloodhound barked, and they followed the scent.
“I feel underdressed,” Cassie said, looking at the people around them.
Rachel glanced at her. Cassie wore a dark brown jacket with reinforced elbows and a spiked collar.
“I’m not the one to talk to about that,” Rachel said.
“I know. Just saying.”
“The clothes… warm enough? Tough enough? Comfortable?”
“Yeah,” Cassie said. “But I still feel dumb.”
“I like the collar.”
Cassie smiled, touching the collar.
“It’s not a big deal,” Cassie said.
“You were talking about it,” Rachel thought.
“Going from our neighborhood to here…” Cassie continued.
“They’d look out of place in our neighborhood, too.”
“You don’t feel like they’d be looking at you funny?”
Rachel shrugged. “I never feel like I belong. This is no different.”
“Except with us? At home?”
Rachel shrugged. “I don’t feel as out of place.”
“Good,” Cassie said, smiling.
They stopped at a corner. Biter was across the street, his dogs searching.
“We’re close,” Rachel said.
Cassie nudged her. “Sorry.”
Rachel whistled, and Biter crossed the street, his hand enlarged to fend off a car.
She enhanced the dogs, and they leaped onto a building, climbing to the rooftop.
“Never getting used to that,” Cassie said, rolling off Sunny.
Rachel scanned their surroundings.
“Looking for someone?”
“Trying to figure out how to do this.”
“Find him, find her, drag ’em back,” Biter said. “Grab some cash, get some fries.”
Rachel sighed.
“I could make fries.”
“Not the same. Gotta be greasy, salty, made by miserable teenagers.”
“I refuse to believe those are better.”
“Are you two done?” Rachel asked.
“No,” Biter said. “Bad fast food is important. It’s a sign of recovery.”
“I don’t get it,” Rachel said.
“Me neither,” Cassie added.
“You two, you’re happy where you’re at?” Biter asked. “You’d be content never setting foot in a city like this?”
“Yeah,” Cassie said.
Rachel shrugged.
“Me? I’m okay for now. But I’m keeping an eye on the calendar. I might leave one day. Get back to civilization.”
A rumble shook the area, and a plume of mist rose.
“Cape fight,” Rachel observed.
“Going to help?” Cassie asked.
Rachel frowned. They had the scent. They could find their quarry and leave.
“Heroes will be on it,” Biter said. “We get involved, things get complicated.”
“I know,” Rachel said. “I’m not dumb.”
“But we’re still standing here…”
“I’m trying to think,” Rachel retorted. “That looks big.”
“And? You don’t care about people.”
“They are stupid,” Rachel said. “And I… don’t like most people. Not the issue.”
“What is the issue?”
She stared. She hadn’t stretched her legs in a while. But that wasn’t it.
Taylor, then? She thought of the way the people had stood together.
She wasn’t dumb. But she wasn’t articulate.
“Bound to be some dogs and dog owners in there,” Rachel lied.
“That’s your reason? You might as well be a superhero.”
She ignored him. “You don’t have to come. Bastard, go!”
Bastard leaped to another rooftop.
They reached the fight. A man was at the center, huge, breaking apart, black ooze pouring from him. Capes were trying to contain the ooze.
Miss Militia was there, using a foam gun.
The man broke in half, more ooze. His hands went to his head-
Faces. Reaching hands.
-Familiar. Disorienting. Others staggered. Miss Militia dropped the hose.
Someone shot the ooze man, and he reacted, the ooze flowing.
The gunman stumbled-
Uncertainty. Population not reacting. He attacked, they moved. Images. They weren’t afraid, he was.
-but the ooze caught him.
The ooze became fire, burning everything.
She had a sense of what she was up against. The ground was rising into a bowl, but the ooze was outpacing it.
“Biter?”
“Not coming.”
“What’s going on?”
“Trigger. Something’s wrong.”
“Trigger events can be bad.”
“Mm,” Rachel grunted.
“Oh. You know.”
“Stay out of the way. Black stuff is bad.”
She ordered Bastard down. Instinct. If this continued, it would be ugly.
Miss Militia rallied the troops, firing a flare.
The ooze man rose higher. She reached the fringes, where people were trapped.
Bastard leaped, using walls to ascend. Tendrils reached for them.
They got snared, suspended over the street. Cassie was approaching.
A frond seized Rachel’s wrist.
Telekinetic wind pushed Bastard. The rooftop twisted closer.
Bastard extended a claw, pulling them closer. Tendrils tightened.
Gunshots. They jerked forward. Bastard got a claw on the roof.
More gunshots. They were free.
The tendrils became fire, descending.
High above, the man was falling apart.
Capes retreated, but it wasn’t a refuge.
Common sense said don’t get closer. Instinct said otherwise.
She grabbed two kid capes and headed for higher ground as the liquid fire became mist.
Like Grue’s smoke. Consuming everything.
“Up!”
Heroes hesitated to attack. Every bit of damage increased the ooze.
He wasn’t dying.
She ordered Bastard higher, circling. A balcony nearly collapsed.
Miss Militia was in the smoke, her team holding it at bay. She switched her rifle to a cannon, firing rockets.
The smoke cleared. The dust cleared.
He’d been stopped.
The visions, broken up, recent. The power… he’d been strong.
He’d been-
A man in a white hood stood there. Shock, defeat.
A flash of golden light.
-too strong.
Disorientation. Her ride-alongs weren’t in better shape.
It wasn’t over?
Bastard’s head turned.
Instinct. She urged him towards whatever had gotten his attention.
She could hear it now.
“Hey,” the wind-maker said. “What-”
Screaming. From underwater.
Somebody on a rooftop, screaming.
Her arm broke, ooze dripping.
Bastard collided with her, and she broke apart, ooze flowing.
“Again,” Rachel whispered.
Just have to break her enough.
The ooze froze into crystal, tearing through her.
Things were still.
Then the woman came to pieces.
“Jesus,” the wind-man said.
Rachel watched. Was it over?
“Hey kids, are you-” Bastard leaped.
More hard landings.
Miss Militia’s group was waiting. Vista was there, and one of Taylor’s teammates.
“Problem?” Rachel asked.
“No problem,” Miss Militia said. “Amnesty.”
“Don’t know what that means.”
“A deal. Second chances. No problem until they do something wrong.”
“I’m not a villain anymore?”
“Not unless you want to do something villainous.”
Rachel nodded.
“It shifted to a new host,” the wind-man said.
Rachel pushed the kid. “Get down. Bastard, drop it.”
“You dealt with it?” Miss Militia asked.
“It dealt with itself. Power destroyed the host. That’s number two on the list of things that aren’t supposed to happen.”
“Shit happens,” Rachel said. “World makes more sense when you accept that.”
“This is different.”
Miss Militia nodded. “This makes four. Almost a fifth of the regular triggers. Two in three days. One’s still loose.”
“Hey, wind-man,” Rachel said. “Off.”
“I’m just waiting for Gloss-”
“Off.”
He heard something in her tone and moved.
“Hellhound-” Miss Militia said. Rachel gave her a hard look. “Um. Bitch.”
“If you’re going to give me trouble after what you said before, then-”
“No.” Miss Militia raised her hands. “Thank you. That’s what I wanted to say.”
Rachel shrugged. “I was looking for you anyways. This is your territory?”
“That’s a little complicated. The-”
“You work here? Do the superhero thing?”
“Yes, but-”
“Then it’s yours,” Rachel said, trying to control her tone.
“Um, I suppose,” Miss Militia said.
“It is,” Rachel said. “Some fuckstick came into my neighborhood, cozied up to his old girlfriend, then waltzed with their kid. Came here. I was looking for the asshole, and I wanted to let you know before I went to collect them.”
“Okay,” Miss Militia said. “That’s-”
“Okay?” Rachel kicked Bastard, indicating he should go.
“-Problematic!” Miss Militia raised her voice.
But Rachel was already leaving. Biter had the man and the boy.
She pointed, and Biter nodded.
■
From civilization to nature. She could relax.
“Didn’t realize it would be that serious,” Biter said.
“Not an issue.”
“This is where you should get mad that I didn’t help.”
“I told you it was fine,” she said. “So it’s fine.”
“Kid needed food anyways,” Rachel said. “He good?”
“Spooked, tired. Long way to travel,” Cassie said. “But I think he’s good?”
The boy nodded.
“Issue’s handled. Take the kid to his mom, take the dad to a cell. Figure out what we do with him tomorrow.”
“Right,” Biter said. “And you?”
“Going for a ride,” Rachel said, jerking her thumb.
“Oh,” Biter said.
“Say hi to her for me?” Cassie asked.
Rachel nodded. “Anything else? Stuff? Problems?”
“No,” Biter said. “Thanks for the burger-stop.”
Rachel shrugged. She gave Doon more power, then hopped off Bastard.
She led him down the path towards the mountains.
She stopped at a spot between two peaks, where she could see the ocean.
At the side of one mountain, a tree had fallen into a ‘v’ where another tree stood.
At the top of this hill, rocks had been rolled into place.
She sat down with her back to the biggest.
Her hand settled on one rock. Brutus .
Bastard growled, then barked.
“Who’s there?” Rachel called out.
“Am I intruding?”
Rachel tensed.
“If you’d like,” Miss Militia said, stepping into view. “We could talk somewhere else.”
“It’s a good sitting place. If we have to talk, we can talk here.”
“Sounds good.”
Bastard growled. Rachel gestured. “Stand down, Bastard.”
Miss Militia nodded. “Just so you aren’t surprised, you should know I brought Vista. Wanted to cover more ground, catch up to you sooner.”
Rachel shrugged.
“Hi,” the blonde girl said. “I’m kind of glad I was brought along. Seeing home again, kind of.”
“Sure,” Rachel said.
“A memorial?” Vista asked, laying a hand against the largest stone.
“Yeah.”
“Can I ask who for? Or is that a dumb question?”
“Dumb question,” Rachel said. She pointed at the trees. “When the weather was warm, there was a bee’s nest there. The buzzing doesn’t bother me as much as you’d think.”
“Oh. Well, listen, last thing I want to do is disrespect that. I’ve said goodbye to too many people, myself.”
Rachel nodded. “Sure.”
“If you wanted, I could shape them. Been working on the little details. Could do a statue, or letters.”
“No point,” Rachel said. “Anyone who’s been here and seen them knows who they’re for. I don’t care about the others.”
“Gotcha,” Vista said.
Vista found a seat.
“We need to talk,” Miss Militia said.
Rachel nodded. “Okay. Talk.”
“I can’t let you handle a custody dispute like you handled… that. Attacking someone, beating him up, hauling him a hundred miles away.”
“Kid was mine to look after. The mom was mine to look after. I’m supposed to just let it happen?”
“There are options. You could talk to us, ask. We’d find a middle ground.”
“Talking is a pain in the ass.”
“It is. I’ve been a team leader for a bit, now, and I agree one hundred percent. Worst part of the job. But it’s better to talk than to make enemies, isn’t it?”
Rachel sighed. “Sometimes I’m not sure.”
“The amnesty is your best friend right now. If you don’t want to do the talking, maybe you can ask Tattletale, and she can?”
“We don’t talk as much. Different places, doing different things.”
People leave.
“It would be an excuse to keep in touch.”
Rachel shrugged. “If I don’t deal with my own stuff, what’s the point? I’d rather be in control.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s all about the rules. Rules you understand, rules you don’t. Being in the city, I was sort of realizing just how many there are. Codes, deals, even the way we dress, apparently. Hard to keep track of.”
“I understand that.”
“You want me to ask Tattletale to handle shit. But I’d prefer to handle my own shit. That way, I know what’s what. There’s no ugly surprises.”
She stopped, rephrased, “There’s less ugly surprises. This asshole that’s working for me? All of a sudden, he tells me he’s not happy. French fries are more important, or something stupid like that. I dunno how to argue with him, because I don’t understand it. They’re supposed to be some symbol or shit like that and I don’t get it.”
“Been there,” Vista said. She looked cold. She rubbed her legs, then hugged them. “Losing people, not being able to understand why.”
“If you wanted, we could connect you to someone you could talk to,” Miss Militia said.
Rachel shrugged. “Talking bugs me.”
“Okay.”
But as much as it bugged her, she found the words spilling out. “I can get him wanting to go. I don’t understand it, but he says he needs that shit, so long as I’m handling stuff on my own, I can maybe grab him some damn french fries, keep him from leaving for a little while. Maybe give him some more time here and there so he could go buy more. Or whatever.”
“I see what you’re getting at.”
“And some idiots,” Rachel said, banging her head against the rock behind her, “Are even harder to understand than the motherfucking french fry thing.”
“Yeah,” Miss Militia said.
Rachel rubbed the stone to her right.
“The rules are changing, breaking down,” Miss Militia said. “Powers, groups, between capes.”
“Shit happens,” Rachel said. “I said something like that earlier, didn’t I?”
“You did. But I don’t agree. I don’t want things to break down. I don’t want conflict. We were on opposite sides, but we were there. We went through a lot of the same stuff. Can we not end this as enemies, fighting because of some misunderstanding?”
Vista spoke, looking out at the bay. “Make it a Brockton Bay thing. We’re motherfuckers, we’re survivors.”
“Not sure I get it. But I don’t fucking trust people.”
“She wanted us to work together,” Miss Militia said, emphasizing the ‘she’.
Rachel looked up, but Miss Militia was staring out at the water.
Her voice was a growl. “If you’re fucking manipulating me, I’m going to have Bastard chew you up and spit you out.”
“No manipulation. Look, let’s get down to brass tacks. The basics. What do you want, Rachel?”
“Me and mine get left alone.”
“I can agree to that. We’ll leave you alone, we’ll help make sure others leave you alone. But, if we’re making our own rules, between us, my rule is I want to know before you do anything outside your territory. Let me know, and you can ride along, so you’re clued in and not missing anything.”
Rachel nodded, giving Bastard another scratch. “Sure.”
“A starting point?”
“A starting point,” Rachel agreed.
“I talked to Tattletale before I came. You should get in touch. She had some stuff she wanted to discuss.”
Rachel nodded.
“Can we trust each other?”
Rachel frowned.
Trust.
She’d lost hers right in the beginning. Left alone in an apartment, to starve and scald herself.
Here? Now? Seventeen years later? After any number of betrayals, great and small?
She was aware of the tall stone behind her.
“Sure.”