Chapter 21
He got away, Penumbra said.
“I know,” Maxine said, throwing her leather jacket over her shoulder and leaning against a wall. Across the street, a seventeen year old lesbian walked into a sign outside a shop, staring. “It happens.”
My keen senses and ability to read your mind tell me that you’re not super bummed about this development. Max shrugged.
“I’m not, like, jazzed about it. But I wasn’t looking to go for round two with you recovering. I’m glad you woke up as quick as you did.” Max smiled when Penny purred. “Point is, if we could stop him on our own, it would probably get real violent, and I don’t want to risk you again.”
As long as one of us is still standing, we’ll both be fine, Penny said. If I can hide inside you, I can heal you, and vice versa. You’re like two parts symbiote, one part human at this point. Like a sexy alien cocktail. When was the last time you actually bought clothes? Max frowned. Surely she’d bought something, right?
“The scarf!” She said. “The one V got for us for Christmas. That’s a real article of clothing!” Penny chuckled. “But I get your point. Anyway, yeah, he got away. But we got pictures of him, so we’re sending that to the police.”
Blegh.
“I know,” Maxine said, fishing her phone out of her pocket, where Penny had deposited it after they’d gotten good enough shots. Taking a picture with a camera just under your shirt was hard, especially if you did it hands-free. Having a symbiote who could move it around came in handy sometimes. “And I’ll do what I can to find him and see if we can resolve this whole thing peacefully — which is more than we can say for the cops — but if this keeps up, people are going to die. And we can’t do this alone?”
Why not bring the kids into this?
“They already are,” Max said. “And more than I would like. You saw what happened there. They’re cocky, overconfident. Still think they’re invulnerable. At this rate, we’d get them killed. No, someone like this? We need to do this without them.”
She looked at the phone. The fire had done some damage, but at least the screen still worked. The battery was on the fritz though. There was no way it was simultaneously at two hundred and negative five percent. Most of the pictures of the man were too dark or too blurry to be of any use, with one exception.
Oooh, Penny said. Dramatic. The image of the man saw him head on, with a ball of fire in the middle of the screen as he fired directly at the camera. The flames illuminated his face perfectly. Yeah, this should help identify him, at least.
“I prefer going after cars, to be honest,” Maxine said. She pressed send on her phone. In the past few years, she’d sent a few anonymous messages to the LBPD. It had never been anything major. Vigilantism might be illegal, but it didn’t say anywhere in the rules that you couldn’t pull someone out of a car crash while wearing a luchador mask. But, on two occasions, she’d stopped a violent crime. The first was when she’d stopped at a convenience store on the way home and someone had tried to hold it up.
That was, incidentally, the first time she’d ever been shot, and it had been a bitch and a half. She and Penny had expected it, though, and had reinforced her body enough that it had stung. After seeing her flinch but not drop, the robber had dropped his gun. She’d tied his hands behind his back with his own jacket, and then made an anonymous call. The owner of the shop hadn’t even seen her face. Penny could come out real quick.
The second had been someone who had, for all intents and purposes, needed mental healthcare and had received instead the Freedom to buy a lot of guns. He hadn’t gotten around to using them, but it had been real close. The only reason they’d been there on time was because one of Victoria’s friends had called her, that she felt unsafe after driving her kid to school being followed by a van.
Penumbra had landed on the hood of the car less than ten minutes later. Penumbra could show up real quick too, if necessary. They’d ripped the car door off its hinges and the would be shooter out of the car, seat and all. There had been a lot of guns in the back. Maxine shuddered. She didn’t like to think about what could have happened.
But the cop who had shown up on the scene that day — and Penumbra had stayed, to make a statement — had shown them how to send an anonymous tip. He looked like the kind to see himself as the inside man to a superhero, too. Probably had inspirations of being a trusted sidekick. He’d even winked. Max had made a mental note not to listen when he gave her his name. She didn’t want to give him the courtesy of remembering him, the way he’d been so excited about her “fighting criminals.”
But hey, at least she knew how to send in the anonymous tip, now. After a few seconds, she also sent the picture to a few people she knew worked for the news. The more people who knew what this guy looked like, the less likely he was to show his face and try again. The more people would be safe.
And in the meantime, Penny said, we can see what we can find out about him. Someone’s got to know about the evil pyromaniac fireman, right?
“Right,” Max said. “I think that’s all we’re going to be able to do from here. I want to go home, I want to kiss my girlfriend, and I want to lie on the sofa with a dozen cold compresses on me.”
Yeah, Penny said. That would be nice. Why does our first proper villain have to be a fire one? Talk about bad luck.
“villain? That’s a bit of an overstatement,” Max said. “It’s just an ass with a flamethrower. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of being taken that seriously. That’s what most types like that want, anyway. To be seen as big bad villains to be taken down.”
Do you think that’s what’s going on here? It feels like he’s going out of his way to be sneaky. Feels more like the lone punisher-slash-blood-knight type.
“This is what I get for letting you watch Saturday morning cartoons again,” Max said with a loving sigh. “Feel up to getting home the fast way?”
… No, Penny said. Can we call a cab? I’m tired.
Finally being home was good. Seeing Victoria was good. It had been a long and exhausting day that had started with stopping a young vigilante superhero from stopping two daylight store robbers, and had somehow gone down from there.
But being with Victoria, that kind of thing always seemed to matter less. She made the world softer and warmer and brighter, like sitting in front of an open fire on New Year’s Eve wrapped in a blanket when you were a little kid.
Max kissed her softly, and then a few dozen more times because even if she hadn’t just almost died, she had been in a lot of pain and it’s not like she really needed an excuse. When Victoria was reduced to little giggles, Penny had a go too. It took them half an hour to finally just lie down on the sofa.
“Rough day?” Victoria asked. Max nodded.
“I think we have a villain,” she said, quietly. “No powers, I don’t think. Just someone who’s clever and angry.”
“Ah,” Victoria said. “Dangerous combo. Want some news to distract you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” V said as she sat upright, Maxine’s head on her lap, “the symposium is coming up in two weeks, and, listen, I know you want to stay here to look after your new city and the kid, but hear me out: you come over for the first weekend. I invite the mom and the kid too. Something something ‘I need my translator with me for the first few days so we can go over things in person’ or whatever. You can keep an eye on them while you’re there, and I get to keep you with me a little bit longer. What do you think?”
“I think,” Max said as Victoria tousled her hair, “that that is a fantastic idea.”
“Awesome,” she said. “I’ll make the arrangements. I’m done with work. Anything else you want to do with the rest of your night?”
“Just coexist, if that’s alright? I feel like I need to cocoon up for a bit. Recover my strength. Oh! I talked to the kid. They’re going a bit… vigilante.”
“Oh. Like the other guy on the west coast.”
“Yup,” Maxine said. “Except that Eric is a kid who doesn’t know what’s what, and is going to get hurt, and–”
“And you’re going to stop that from happening,” Victoria said. “They’re young and dumb and they think they’re indestructible. From what I’ve heard, that’s normal for people their age. They’re not alone. Just like you weren’t alone.”
“I know. I know.” She sat up. “Mind if I cook tonight, V? I need to do something with my hands. Something productive. There’s been a lot of fire lately and I want to feel useful.”
“Oh no,” Victoria said, with mock shock. “My girlfriend, cooking for me? Whatever shall I do!” She kissed Maxine on the forehead. “Yes, dear, you can cook.” As Maxine got up, Victoria turned on the television, just in time to catch the news.
“–the fire at the downtown fire department after all. Some are saying that this newest inferno is connected to the one at the old police department. We reached out to the chief of police, but he has so far declined to comment. However, both Penumbra and a possible new hero that, according to eyewitnesses, is called Redshift, were spotted on the scene.”
Oh boy, Penny said. Love being on TV.
“Turn that up?” Max said as she worked the stove. “I’m curious what they’re saying.” Victoria did as asked, and while cooking Maxine kept an eye on the screen.
“The new hero spent most of her time helping the local first responders evacuating nearby buildings,” the presenter said.
“Wouldn’t have if we hadn’t told them to,” Max grumbled.
“Her identity, just like local Lockridge Bay legend Penumbra, is unknown. However, after a recent tip, the perpetrator of the arson attack at the downtown fire department might well be known. After a recent tip, we have an image of the suspect. Viewer discretion is advised, the image is of a violent nature.”
The image on screen was the image Max had taken, the faux fireman throwing fire toward the viewer. Because of the angle, it wasn’t possible to tell he was even using a flamethrower.
“If you see this man, it is recommended that you do not engage with him. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Beyond this, based on the image, experts agree that it is likely this person possess fire-based powers of some sort. Stay tuned for the upcoming panel where we discuss the potential of superpowered villains and how our local ‘heroes’ might be responsible for, if not creating them, then at least stopping them. In sports news–”
“Oh boy,” Max said.
“Does… does he have superpowers?” Victoria asked.
“No,” Maxine said, “but I don’t think they care about that.”
“How are they blaming you for it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Eric is going to be very normal about this.”
Maxine groaned and closed her eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “He is.”
Always nice to get a Max-and-Penny POV chapter.