Yuk!
After the journey back to Vanguard base, the meal was, at best, anti-climactic. The team had either skirted around or plowed through the Rikti in their way, and Penelope Yin had been safely delivered to the main Vanguard base, where a squad of soldiers in full combat gear was dispatched to return her home. Crystal took a moment to verify that Tetsu Sensei had safely arrived at the Vanguard base and to report the success of the mission before joining her companions in the canteen.
Now, she once again led her team in their next great challenge: identifying which of the day’s entrees was the most edible. Crystal unhappily scrutinized the offerings. In one tray sat fried chicken, half-heartedly breaded and most likely baked instead of fried, wallowing in a shallow pool of oily water and soggy crumbs. The other contained roast beef that had been cooked well done, sliced, then probably cooked again, served with a small cup of beef broth that couldn’t possibly provide enough moisture to rehydrate the meat to the point where it was safe to chew. Even the Paragon City University cafeterias did a better job of making the meals look fit for human consumption.
After careful deliberation Crystal selected the chicken, mostly because the bones protruding through the breading indicated that the meat had at one point been attached to a real live animal. The meat was joined on the plate by mashed potatoes and watery gravy, as well as a scoop of unidentifiable greens that had been steamed until they disintegrated. She glumly accepted the plate from the man behind the counter, placed it on her Vanguard purple meal tray, and shuffled down the line, all the while scanning for something to add to the tray that would keep her stomach from making good on its threat to leave.
It wasn’t just the prospect of an inedible meal that was upsetting her stomach. Crystal also had to deal with her frustration with Jenny. Her friend’s ears had remained plastered to the side of her head ever since they left the Rikti hideout, and the anger was palpable. Even now Crystal could feel her eyes boring into her. Still, the emotions radiating from Jenny weren’t nearly as intense as the ones scrambling her own mind. The pain of betrayal from Jenny scheming behind her back, understanding at what she’d tried to do, fear at how this would impact related missions, relief that the abrasive ninja lord was gone, the corresponding shame she felt, and a tug of war between her desire to just make peace and move on versus the need to resolve the situation rattled her nerves and churned her guts.
It was the focus on her own innards that finally broke through the mental turmoil. Crystal realized how the tension was wracking her body, the clenched muscles torturing her physically in concert with the emotional anguish. She forced herself to relax, unclenching one muscle group at a time, deliberately breathing deep and slow, and focusing her attention outside herself. The background mutter resolved into a few audible threads of conversation, and Crystal concentrated on them to distract her own thoughts.
“…had me dead to rights. I mean, my gun’s in pieces on the ground, the rest of the squad’s busy on the other side of the wall, I’m flat on my back, and the big Rikti’s taking his time winding up with his sword. It’s like he was enjoying the whole thing! Then, right before he cuts me in half, the chicken jumps him! It was just like I heard! Five or six feet tall, white feathers, yellow legs, bright red comb, and covered in fire! The chicken tackled the Chief Soldier, squawking and pecking and scorching, and before I could move it just ripped the Chief apart and fried him in his own juices! Then, when it was over, it just looked me over with those evil red eyes. It stared and stared, didn’t say a thing for the longest time, then, finally, it spoke. ‘Eat more beef,’ it said. …I’m not making this up! I swear, on my mother’s grave, the chicken is REAL! And it’s here in the war zone! …Guys? Why are you all looking at me like that…”
“…all [censored] night lugging those heavy-[censored] rocket pods into position, getting them under camouflage, wiring up the triggers, all without getting our own [censored] noticed and shot up. [censored], I was so sore from humping those rockets all the way from the base I didn’t get a wink of sleep. Anyway, morning comes, and Mars squad gets the duty of winkling the [censored] Rikti out of the hole and luring them into the kill zone. So there we were, ready to bushwhack ‘em and blow the whole lot of those [censored] straight to [censored] and open up a major tunnel network to be cleared. We might have secured the War Wall and kept ‘em out of the city for good! But as soon as Mars squad got ‘em into the kill zone, right as I was about to pull the trigger and stick those rockets up their [censored], that little [censored] runs in. Some girl in a black and blue suit, yellow hair, bright green mask, and green and blue wings… [censored]! It was so ugly she HAD to be one of the heroes! Recluse would have killed someone with that poor taste! Anyway, the [censored] starts off with a blast of wind that knocks the Rikti to the ground. Then she sets off a hurricane, summons a tornado, and while the winds are tossing the Rikti COMPLETELY out of the kill zone she stands right in my crosshairs, laughing. She’s laughing! The whole [censored] night from [censored], Mars squad sticking their [censored] on the chopping block, the bigger plan of clearing the tunnels, she [censored] up the whole [censored] thing in seconds! I was so [censored] pissed I pulled the trigger anyway! …What? It’s not like I could have killed her! Not unless I got her transponder, and I’m not lucky enough…”
Crystal reached the cashier and indicated that the next six in line were hers. The rest of her team passed, one at a time, everyone but Thunder Dragon sporting a sour expression. Jenny was in the back. When she got up to the register, she was tensely silent. Crystal knew she was being glowered at but did not look at Jenny. Don’t glare at me; you’re the one who messed up!
The group filed through the tables. It was late for lunch, but the war zone didn’t operate on business hours, and the most of the tables were full of Vanguard personnel. Fortunately, there was an unoccupied table for eight against one wall, and the team claimed it for their own. Jenny and Crystal got the seats against the wall opposite each other and continued to pretend the other did not exist. Down Jenny’s row sat Supa Fly, Harm, and Bellona. Thunder Dragon perched himself on the chair next to Crystal, and StarDust sat on his other side. Crystal glanced at the empty chair, frowned, and then bent her head in silent prayer over her food.
“Sorriest [censored] fried chicken I ever laid eyes on,” Supa Fly grumbled. He went to dig in, but noticed Crystal praying and stopped. He elbowed Harm to halt him as well. Bellona, StarDust, and Thunder Dragon started eating immediately. Once Crystal finished, Supa Fly quipped, “Baby, I hope you asked for divine help to keep this [censored] from making us sick.”
“Seriously,” echoed Harm. “I do NOT want to puke while my helmet’s on!”
“Eww!” the three women at the table howled simultaneously. Harm laughed.
“It don’t look like puking’ll be a problem for you, unless you gonna take that helmet off or shove that [censored] in through a straw,” Supa Fly observed.
“It’s covered,” Harm replied. He undid the catches on the side of his reinforced faceplate, pulled it off, and uncovered his mouth. The faceplate went onto the table.
“You still have to eat this [censored]. You got that covered, too?”
“Sort of.” Harm produced salt and pepper shakers and a bottle of hot sauce. “I swiped these from the line. I learned a while ago; you can eat almost anything if you put enough salt, pepper, and hot sauce on it.”
The group passed the condiments around. Crystal ignored them and attacked her food right away. After taking her turn with the salt and pepper, Bellona said to her, “With an appetite like that it’s no wonder you’re packing all that weight.”
“I am not fat,” Crystal huffed.
“Just big boned?”
“I’m not big boned, either!” she snapped. “The ice adds, like, another eighty pounds, and it doesn’t carry itself! I can’t help it if I have an athletic build.”
“Oh, it’s called “athletic” now? Whatever you say, Chubbo.”
Harm stood, interrupting Crystal’s icy glare. “Before this conversation degenerates any further, let me propose a toast.” He raised his glass. Everyone but Thunder Dragon followed suit; while he paid close attention to Harm, he ignored his own drink and continued to gnaw the last scraps of meat and cartilage from a drumstick. “To the success of our mission, and victory over the invaders! Earth for humans: let’s keep it that way!”
“[censored] A!” crowed Supa Fly.
“I’ll drink to that,” said Jenny.
CRUNCH! All heads turned at the sound of Thunder Dragon deliberately splintering a drumstick in his maw. He impaled Harm on his unblinking, reptilian stare as he continued to crush the bone into jagged splinters and swallow them.
“Oh…[censored],” breathed Harm. He stammered, “Uh, look, man-”
Crystal interjected, “I can’t toast to that either, Harm.”
His head snapped around. “What? Why?”
“Well, it’s unfair to the Kheldians who’ve come to help protect Earth, and I also have a more personal reason to object.”
“I always thought you were a space case, but I didn’t know it was because you’re an alien,” Bellona quipped.
Crystal spared only a brief glance at Bellona before continuing. “Do you remember Quantum? Quantum Storm?”
“Vaguely. She was a Controller, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. We both registered at the same time and worked together right from the start. She was my friend, my partner, and my roommate for years, but she got tired of taking a beating doing hero stuff and went home.”
“What does this have to do with-”
“Home wasn’t Sweden, like she told everyone. Home was off world. She was a space alien.”
“The he- uh, really?”
Crystal nodded. “You know that platinum blonde hair of hers? There was real platinum in it! I had to use my connections in the chem department to get powdered platinum for a dietary supplement.”
“Platinum hair?” Bellona asked, incredulously.
“Yeah,” Crystal sighed. “She could do anything with it, and it never went limp or frizzed. And the shine! Wow! It was really something.”
“What planet?” inquired StarDust.
The question took Crystal by surprise. “Hmm?”
“What planet is she from?” he repeated.
Crystal frowned as she thought. “Mmm, I don’t remember exactly. She might not have told me. I do remember her saying she was a Talazkian moon princess. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No.” StarDust went back to his meal.
“Well, speaking of off-world visitors, how about telling us why you’re here, Thunder Dragon?”
He did not answer immediately as he was swallowing his second drumstick whole. Everyone else at the table winced at the sight of it distending his throat as it passed into his stomach. When he finished, he remarked, “Perhaps there is something to chewing, after all.”
“Uh, Thunder Dragon? You OK?”
He turned to Crystal and gave another of his nasty, tooth-filled grins. “I am. I do not need to eat or drink. I do it for the sensation.”
“Yeah…so…what are you, where did you come from, and why are you here?”
“Ahh.” He settled on his haunches and leaned back. “I am the Thunder Dragon. It is my name, my title, and my function. I come from another plane of existence. I’ve found few similarities between this world and mine, so there is little about it you could comprehend. I can tell you that I am a being of great power and authority, and have many responsibilities to go with it.
“There exists a relationship between my world and this one. Those with the proper knowledge and resources may send requests for aid and open gateways. This is most often how we travel here. In the past, some humans have even visited my world, though they did not live to return to theirs.”
The matter-of-fact way he stated that unpleasant detail made everyone squirm.
“I have visited this world before, drawn by beacons, rituals, and sacrifices. Typically, someone wishes me to bring death and destruction to their enemies, and then return home. My latest trip to this world was no different at first. I’d answered the Oranbegans’ call before, and expected nothing unusual. This time…” He growled, and skinned back his lips. Lightning arced along his teeth. “This time the incompetents botched the transit spell! I materialized in this world one one-hundredth my actual size!”
Everyone’s jaw dropped. Supa Fly swore.
Thunder Dragon relaxed some, though the way he began inspecting a claw made everyone else more anxious. “I killed most of those responsible for this insult. It was not easy; my power had diminished as well, and some escaped my wrath. I hunt them to this day. Each of the feeble sorcerers who called me here will have their bodies destroyed and their souls imprisoned. Once I return to my world, I will visit further agonies on them until the next request for my services comes from your world. Their tortured screams will be most instructional to the next group who calls on me.”
“You’re a demon?” Jenny asked.
Thunder Dragon regarded her through slitted lids. “The other creatures you call “demons” do not come from my world. Moreover, I understand they can be forced to do the bidding of the ones who summon them. I retain my free will when called. However, much like the pacts used to summon those creatures, the one that brought me here specified terms of service that would have to be completed before I could return home. Only by fulfilling the pact, or by killing all those who participated in the ritual that brought me here, can I return.” He flashed another nasty grin. “I believe you know which method I intend to use.”
“So, you’re stuck here? Trapped in our world?” Crystal asked.
“Yes, but it matters little. I am the immortal Thunder Dragon. There is no need to speed my return. I also enjoy the time away from my responsibilities. This tiny body has given me an opportunity to interact with humans that I have never had before. So many new sensations to experience! For example: I have never, in all my existence, shared a meal with mortals. This has been very entertaining.”
Supa Fly interjected, “I gotta ask: Tokyo, 1954. Was that you?”
“Perhaps. When I last visited your world, there weren’t any signs large enough for me to read, and they would not have been written in my language.” He shrugged his wings. “If any humans survived my rampage, they may be able to identify me.”
“But why rampage at all?” Crystal asked. “I mean, now that you’re seeing things at our level, why continue doing what you’ve done before? There’s more to life here than fighting and destroying things. You could learn the joy of friendships and alliances, or the pleasure of working to better the world. With your power, the-”
“Oh, for [censored]’s sake!” spat Bellona as she tossed her silverware down. “Not this [censored] again! The food’s already making me sick; you don’t have to add to it!”
Jenny stopped eating and directed a fearsome sneer at Bellona. Crystal shot Jenny a warning glare, then redirected her attention to Bellona before Jenny could sneer at her, too. “What’s really bothering you, Bellona? I thought we were getting along at first, but that didn’t last, and you’ve been taking shots at me almost non-stop since we left the base!”
“Can’t take the heat, Cheerleader?”
Crystal cocked her head to one side. “Was that a joke?”
Bellona rolled her eyes. “You’re a caricature! All the sunshine and roses, peace and love; no one’s really like that! I’m just waiting for you to start being honest.”
“I like to think that it’s possible to be nice all the time.”
“[censored] no! Even a preacher’s daughter isn’t as good as you pretend to be!”
“My parents are doctors. What do your mother and father do?”
One eye twitched, and Bellona’s face clouded over. “They throw unwanted mutant children out on their [censored] and try to murder them.”
“With an attitude like yours, I’m not surprised!” Jenny blasted.
Bellona turned on her and flipped her off. “[censored] you! I didn’t do [censored]! I was born this way!”
“You’ve got the mutant gene for obnoxious bi-”
“Stop it!” Crystal snapped at Jenny. Addressing Bellona, she continued, “Well, that wasn’t right, throwing you out and all. Was the emergence of your power a surprise to them? I hear that when-”
“Oh, what would you know, growing up in Doctorville? They knew something was up as soon as I popped out! Once they established that no cheating was involved and that I really was their daughter, that started a lifetime of fights over who was to blame, and the only thing they could agree on was that I wasn’t what they wanted!”
“That’s ridiculous! You’re not responsible for your genetic makeup!”
Bellona snorted. “Tell that to them! They had plans for their perfect life, where they were the perfect couple with the perfect children, pillars of the perfect community, and it didn’t include mutant daughters.
“When my powers first emerged, I couldn’t control them. I’d start little fires by accident. I went from being the unwanted mutant freak to the unwanted troublemaking mutant freak, and the hate grew as my powers became harder and harder to cover up. One day I started a fire I couldn’t put out. While the house burned, they told me that, as far as they were concerned, I’d died in the fire. Dad went for his gun and…
“From then on, I didn’t care. I’m through with your society and it’s [censored] rules. I use my powers for my benefit, and to [censored] with the whiny [censored] who get in my way! I’m one of the most powerful supers on the Rogue Isles, and I like it!”
“This is a joke, right?” Jenny stared at Bellona, an exaggerated expression of puzzlement on her face. “You burned down your house and got tossed onto the street, which sucks, but then you turned to the life of a human predator?”
“Why not? Rejecting the [censored] idea of right and wrong meant I could finally stand out, not because I looked different from my folks, but because I had power and wasn’t afraid to use it!”
“That’s [censored]!” Jenny snapped. She jumped to her feet, knocking her chair over.
“Take it easy,” Crystal growled at her.
“Easy, nothing!” Jenny shot back. “You hear this [censored]? She starts preying on people ‘cause she’s too lazy to pick up the pieces and make something positive happen in her life!” Jenny leaned in on Bellona, teeth bared, ears pulled back, her whole body quivering with rage. “Go on!” she screeched. “Tell us again how your freakish appearance ruined your life! Cry us a river, you weak, self centered-”
“ENOUGH! SIT DOWN!” Crystal’s scream brought the whole room to complete silence. She pulled herself together and, in a remarkably calm voice, said, “Bellona, I’m sorry.”
As before, Crystal’s attempt to soothe Bellona achieved the opposite effect. Revulsion filled Bellona’s face and voice. “Don’t you dare! And don’t you [censored] look at me like that!” she shouted, jabbing a finger at Crystal. Smoke wafted from her extended hand.
“I can’t help it!” Crystal wailed. “To be rejected by your mother and father, the very people who should have loved you and cared for you and supported for you…” She took a deep breath. “That’s so sad,” she whispered.
Bellona hurtled the tray before her through the air with all the force her rage could muster. Dishes shattered, silverware clattered on the floor, and food showered the opposite table, provoking several indignant cries from the Vanguard soldiers. Bellona’s chair joined the mess on the floor as she tossed it out of her way and hopped to her feet. “[censored] this [censored]!” she cried. “I’m outta here!”
“No! Wait! I’m sorry!” Crystal howled. She jetted out of her seat, somersaulted in the air and dropped down in front of Bellona, blocking her exit. “I didn’t mean to upset you! Please don’t go!”
Bellona squared off in front of Crystal. Smugly, she said, “Oh, now it all comes out. I threaten to leave, you’re worried about losing someone whose powers you need, so you’re going to do what it takes to keep me around. I knew it!”
“No! I really am sorry for upsetting you, and I don’t want you to go away at all, but especially not with any hurt feelings. Please, forgive me.”
“Ugh! Just shut up.”
“I’m sorry-”
“I said SHUT UP!” With a startled yelp, Crystal clamped her lips together and cut her response off. Bellona continued, “I’ll give you credit, Cheerleader; you hide it better than anyone I’ve ever met. But I learned long ago that there are no good people. There’s only those that haven’t yet used you and stabbed you in the back, or those that want to but are too afraid to try. You’ve got a heart of darkness, just like everyone else. I’m sick of listening to your act, so I’m leaving, but, unlike the Napoleon-wannabe, I’m not quitting. Sooner or later, you’re gonna crack, and I want to be there when it happens. Now, get out of my way!” Despite her size and weight disadvantage, Bellona muscled Crystal out of her way and stomped out of the canteen.
Crystal watched in silence as Bellona retreated. Only after she was out of sight did she turn back to her table. Thunder Dragon was standing on his seat. He leapt into the air, flapping his wings, and started for the exit as well. As he passed near, Crystal asked, “You leaving, too?”
The wing beats intensified as he hovered and pivoted to face her. “I’ve eaten all I care to. Call on me when we must again do battle.”
“What about your dishes?”
Thunder Dragon chuckled, a low rumble of thunder sounding from his throat. “You can’t fool me, human! Those aren’t food!” He flapped off, still chuckling.
Crystal stared at his retreating form for a moment, then dropped her head and dejectedly shuffled back to her table. As she scooted back to her chair, she quietly mumbled, “What a mess! Maybe you were right, Harm. This looks like a day I should have stayed in bed.”
“The trouble with those days is that you can’t tell them apart from the rest without first getting out of bed.”
Crystal sighed and plopped down into her seat. She stared at the lunch she had only begun to eat, trying and failing to make herself continue. So engrossed was she in the staring contest with her meal that she failed to notice a commotion spread through the room like a wave. The Vanguard personnel paused their conversations, straightened up, and murmured respectfully to Color Sergeant Barnes as he entered the canteen, his gaze scanning this way and that as he sought his objective.
The rest of the team noticed. Harm whispered, “S. C. Check six.”
Crystal gave him a puzzled look. “What was that?”
“Look behind you.”
She turned to investigate, and immediately spotted the color sergeant. She quickly turned back around and ducked. “You think he noticed us?”
“[censored], girl, even if I weren’t stylin’, we’re the only table in the joint that’s not full of purple and gray,” Supa Fly observed. “Ain’t none of us hidin’ around here.”
“Ohh! I barely touched my food!” she whined.
“How fast can you eat?” Harm joked. “Looks like you’ve got about ten seconds to finish!”
“I’m not going to spend that time cramming my face!” Crystal sighed again. “Seems like the rumor was true. There’s more going on than we were first told.”
“SNAFU. Sometimes, it’s a way of life.”
Jenny stood. “We’d better get going.”
Crystal tried to keep her voice even as she asked, “What’s with this “we” stuff?”
“I assume sooner or later someone will ask about what happened with Tetsu Sensei. I’m going with you to explain.”
“That’s not necessary. You stay here. I’ll handle it.”
“You’ll handle it?” Jenny repeated. “I know you! You won’t volunteer anything, and if asked about what happened, you’ll just fall on your sword! Lady Grey, or whoever, has to know what he did, and why he had to go!”
“She might even agree with your reasoning, but that doesn’t change anything! She put me in charge, and I’m the one who has to answer for what happened, one way or the other!”
“Stop being such a Tank! There’s no call for you to take the hit!”
Crystal slowly stood. Her face flushed with anger, and she tried to keep her hands from powering up. Through gritted teeth, she hissed, “When they give you the shiny gold star, they take away your excuses! Someone has to be responsible if the job’s got to be done!”
“You’ve got an overdeveloped sense of responsibility!” Jenny growled.
Crystal noisily took a few deep breaths while she glared at her friend. She did not respond to the accusation. “Keep an eye on your team roster. If things don’t go well, I expect you’ll notice soon.”
Color Sergeant Barnes reached the table at that moment. He did not comment on the tense confrontation before him, nor did he pay any attention to anyone else at the table. In a restrained, almost bored tone, he ordered, “Come with me, miss, if you please. It’s time you were debriefed.”
Crystal reluctantly turned away from her glare-off with Jenny. “OK. I’m right behind you.” The color sergeant turned and strode off. Crystal flew up and away from the table, landed, and stiffly marched behind him as if he were leading her to a firing squad.
Jenny clenched her jaw and leaned on the table with her fists as she watched Crystal leave. The longer she watched, the more her ears folded back and her body trembled with suppressed fury. Once Crystal was out of sight, she could contain herself no longer. A wordless cry of frustration filled the canteen as she slammed one fist onto the tabletop. All the trays jumped, and the rattle of glasses, plates, and silverware amplified the crack of her knuckles on the hard surface. She barged her way past people and chairs and stomped for the other exit, flames licking over her clenched fists. The crowd parted for the angry Blaster. Dozens of gray and purple helmets tracked her nervously.
StarDust, Supa Fly, and Harm remained silent and still until Jenny left the room. They looked at each other for a time, trying to gauge the other’s reaction. The silence was broken only when Supa Fly flatly observed, “This [censored]’s [censored] up.”
Harm exhaled noisily. “Yeah.” After a few more contemplative moments, he inquired, “Coffee?”
“Solid!”
With a smile, Harm responded, “I assume that means yes.” The remaining trio of supers got to their feet.