Star Harbor Nights

Minerva had a few burns and lacerations, but no major injuries for a woman of her fortitude. She was physically shaken from the aftereffects of the Lysenkol cocktail she'd been doped with, though, and sunk gratefully into the couch. Allison's roommate Amy--better known to Minerva as the mutant sea goddess, Amphitrite--served her an oversized mug of her special spiced chocolate coffee, while the cats Aesop and Dinah contributed to her recovery as only cats can, rubbing against her legs affectionately.

"I don't know where exactly they took me," Minerva said, of her captivity. "Things like distance and direction... all very hazy. It was like being half asleep, but still being aware of the things going on around you. My general impression was a large warehouse with a lot of high-tech stuff that looked like recent additions."

"Do you know who had you?" Allison asked.

"The boss is definitely somebody called Gepetto," Minerva said. "I didn't retain a lot of firm details, but that name just kind of... cut through the mist. I don't know if it's a real name, or somebody's villain handle, or what. He was talking about you... about Mindfyre, I mean. He said the first attempt to get you failed. We were the second."

"Gepetto... and we've got a case involving all sorts of dummies and puppets," Allison said. "It fits, I guess. The Aces must have been the first attempt... I never would have guessed that was a set-up for me in particular. Do you know why he's so interested in me?"

"No idea, just that you're key somehow to his plans," Minerva said. "That was the words he kept using... 'the key.'" 

"So, how does your sister Rhyme fit in to all this?"

"She told me she was doing consulting work," Minerva said. "Her freedom in exchange for helping them with their zombie drugs. She also gave them our names as targets... I'd say that was about a fifty-fifty split between her desire to get back at us and her need to punish the ones who'd tried to take advantage of her."

"She pits you against each other... and whichever side lost, she'd win," Amy said. She shuddered. "That's so... her."

"It was a good thing your archer friend was there," Minerva said. "That was great thinking, having back-up in place."

"I'd love to take credit for that, but the fact is I went in blind," Allison said. "I've got no idea who the archer was. I didn't even get a good look at them... the helmet was very Asian, definitely samurai-ish."

"Huh, that's funny," Minerva said. "Claire's been going on about some samurai lately... but we just figured that was Claire being Claire. Probably still is. I mean, what're the odds that a samurai would have followed us up here from Nebula City?"

"I don't know. What are the odds there's two different samurais running around major American cities?" Allison asked. "Either way, it seems weird. Anyway, you spent a day in their company… anything else stick with you?"

"Is that all it's been?" Minerva asked. "God… I feel like I haven't eaten in days!"

"You are as subtle as you've ever been," Amy said, heading for the kitchen. "I'll see what I can whip up."

"Okay, so I'm completely transparent," Minerva said with a grin. "But it's been a long time since I've been able to take advantage of Amphie's cooking."

"I guess I'm spoiled that way," Allison said. "I get it every day."

"She was always sneaking away to the palace kitchens when she stayed with us as a kid," Minerva said. "At first it was just because there was always so much water there, but the cooks were pretty fond of her. We all were. And every time her mother was in town, they'd cook together."

"It's so weird hearing about that stuff," Allison said.

"What, doesn't Amphie ever talk about her childhood?"

"All the time," Allison said. "But when it's just her talking about it, it was almost like a private fantasy world... in the romantic sense, not in the crazy one. Now I'm meeting somebody who actually was there, who shared it with her. It just makes it all the more real. She's had an amazing life."

"She's an amazing woman," Minerva said. "And I'm glad that she's found a woman who sees that."

"Yeah, I... what?" Allison said, laughing a little. "Well, I definitely agree that she's amazing, but we're not like that."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously," Allison said. "I am all about the cock, and I have the t-shirt to prove it... and Amy's pretty sure she's asexual." At Minerva's doubting look, she added, "What? Some people are."

"I just have a hard time believing that," Minerva said. "I mean, the Amazons reproduce asexually, but they've still got the same drive to mate. I figure if the instinct's that strong, it's got to run pretty deep."

"It does in most people," Allison said. "But... it's kind of odd to see somebody so comfortable with alternative lifestyles being so skeptical about somebody who just plain isn't in to sex."

"In the world I grew up with, there was nothing alternative about it," Minerva said, shrugging. "We knew about men... there were a few in the valley, even, but everywhere you looked, there were women, loving and living together. Then my dad... outside of my mother, he vastly preferred men. So, it was just normal to me."

"Well, it's not that big a deal to me, either," Allison said. "But I've, you know, tried my hand at it, so to speak... and watched more than a couple of lesbian porn movies, but that's just because I'm kind of a general purpose pervert. It never really did anything for me."

"Porn... oh, my God! Claire!" Minerva said. "She's been unsupervised since Athena went to the factory."

"Porn makes you think of Claire? Is this something I should be hearing about?"

"I just had the thought that by now, if she hasn't reduced Nebula City to a smoking crater, it's probably because she gave herself a seizure from trying to watch porn."

"She gets seizures from porn?"

"Yeah, anything that overstimulates her," Minerva said. "It's actually kind of funny to watch... uh, don't tell Athena I said that, when we get her back."

"You sound really confident that we will," Allison said.

"Well, of course. We know they're keeping her alive. She's even more valuable to them now that they've lost me, and they've already found out that if anything happens to her I'll get her powers... and the last thing they'd want is a megapowered superheroine on a vengeance kick, right?"

"I suppose," Allison said. She waved her hand and brought the phone floating across the room to Minerva, who took it out of the air without missing a beat.

"Hello... Claire? Are you okay?" she asked. "Yes, I was mind controlled. Was. Mindfyre set me free... what, Allison who? No, I don't... okay, yes, you're very clever. Just remember that's privileged information. You can't just go blurting it out."

"No, Claire, the microwave is already strong enough... I do not want another visit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Minerva said. "No, we don't need a blender that can... no, I'm sure. I'm sure! Just keep your hands off... no, don't... the dishwasher is fine! Okay, look... if you really feel the overwhelming urge to give some piece of hardware a superhuman power boost, you can go to my room and look in the middle drawer of my nightstand for the big red..."

Amy, who just happened to be coming back into the room at that moment, made a small choking sound and quickly retreated to the kitchen.

"Yeah, um, never mind that," Minerva said. "But, seriously, if you're bored, could you... reroute my cell phone calls to here? And check and see if any outgoing calls were made from the time I was abducted on? And is there any way to get the 911 coordinates, or whatever? Yeah? How long'll that take? No, I'm sure Athena won't mind. I know what she said, but... okay, we just won't tell her. We'll say I found it myself through detective wor... why are you laughing? Don't forget who has the electro-eyes."

She sighed.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Try to keep out of trouble," she said. "If anybody from the state shows up, don't tell them we're in California. Just call me here, and I'll be there in a few minutes. Otherwise, we should be home in a few days."

She hung up.

"If you can run back to Kansas in a few minutes, why didn't you just do that instead of calling?" Allison asked, wondering at somebody with that level of power.

"Running cross-country at several thousand miles an hour is a very messy, noisy thing," Minerva said. "I'd usually take it relatively slow and stick to roads, which adds a bit to the trip time, but we're kind of on thin ice with child services... and Department 4B... and Homeland Security. It's so complicated, raising a teenager these days."

"You know, the phone companies will do that call forwarding for you," Allison said. "Even if you don't have the phone with you they should still be able to set it up."

"I hate dealing with customer service," Minerva said, shrugging. "And I always get someone who's like, 'Omigawd, are you that Minerva Wisdom?'... or somebody who doesn't know how to pronounce my name. I actually got called 'Mime-Evera' once."

The phone rang in Minerva's hands. She jumped, then saw the caller ID and answered it.

"Hello?" she said. "Hey, what's up. You're where? Damn, it's turning into a regular convention here. I'm... hang on. " She covered up the mouthpiece. "Hey, is it cool for me to give out your address? It's the Brothers Thunder... apparently they're in town, too."

Allison thought about it, then nodded very coolly and casually while, on the inside, she was jumping up and down and squealing like a fan girl. She had been floored when Thoth told her that the Aces were her case... and that had now snowballed into a plot spreading halfway across the country.

Minerva gave directions to the house, and admonished the brothers to use discretion in their approach, then hang up, chuckling softly.

"What?" Allison asked.

"You're so excited... it's kind of cute," Minerva said.

"I didn't realize that it showed."

"Not outwardly, but I've got universal wisdom right now... it makes it hard to hide your feelings," Minerva said. "That's why I thought you and Amphie were together. Your love for each other is very strong, for friends."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Allison said. "I don't always have a lot of friends, but the ones that I do, I feel very strongly about."

"Quality over quantity. I can get behind that."

"But truth be told, yeah, I am pretty damn excited," Allison said. "You and... 'Amphie'... were born to this life, but I'm just a small town girl at heart. And here I am, talking to one of the most powerful people on the planet... about to be visited by two hunky, cornfed mid-American super boys, while my roommate the living goddess is preparing dinner in the next room. If my life got any more 'super' right now, I'd... I don't know... probably have a screaming orgasm right here on the couch."

Amy had chosen that moment to reappear, but left, trailing a stream of colorful Brasilian idioms at the mention of "screaming orgasms."

"Her mother is revered as a fertility symbol in Vodun and Candomblé," Minerva said wryly. "Talk about your rebellious youth."

A knock at the door heralded the arrival of the Midwestern speedsters. Minerva let them in.

"I'm just going to use everybody's first names, if that's okay," Minerva said. When nobody objected, she introduced them. "Allison, these are Beau and Ford... Thunderhead and Thunderclap. This is Allison, also known as Mindfyre."

"Very nice to meet you," Beau said.

"You guys are out of uniform," Minerva noted. "You didn't run across the American southwest in your civies, did you?"

"Not like anybody could have seen us if we had," Beau said. "But no, we changed a ways up and then walked at normal-person-speed."

"Probably just as well," Minerva said. "You might have caused a screaming orgasm if you hadn't."

"Uh, yeah, that's the last thing we want to do," Ford said. "So, do you want to fill us in on what the hell's going on?"

"I assumed you knew," Minerva said. "Isn't that why you're here?"

"I'm not really sure why we're here," Ford said. "Claire's been going on about how you and Athena were in danger, and Beau said we should come check it out even though she was clearly imagining things..."

"It happens she was actually right," Minerva said. "Amazingly. But why come all the way out here if you didn't have any reason to believe her?"

"Yeah, well," Beau said, scratching his head. "The thing about that is... uh..."

"Oh... my... God," Minerva said. "Does Athena know?"

"This is what you might call a 'recent development'," Ford said.

"But can we maybe keep Athena from knowing about this?" Beau asked. "At least until... um... whenever Claire's birthday is."

"You can try," Minerva said. "But I'd steer clear of her when she's got the wisdom. She's got a lot more experience reading people's motivations than I do."

"You're probably wondering what the hell we're talking about," Ford said to Allison. "I should explain..."

"Beau's got a giant hard-on for Claire, but is afraid of what'll happen if Athena finds out, and has some pretty graphic if far-fetched pictures to go along with both of those thoughts," Allison said, bemusedly. "I should mention I'm a telepath, and I've been getting more sensitive lately. I'm pretty good at blocking... and Minerva's mind doesn't leak very much... but you two are both broadcasting pretty loudly. Beau, especially."

"Oh, uh... is that a compliment?" Beau asked.

"Not really," Allison said. "It could get you in trouble if you ever fight a mind reader."

"If we can get to the situation report?" Ford asked. "We've been running for a couple hours, and we're probably going to miss classes tomorrow. I don't mind, exactly, but I'd kind of like to know what it's all for."

Minerva and Allison filled them in on what they knew.

"So... what's our next step?" Ford asked when they'd finished. He looked directly at Allison when he said it. She felt every atom of her body vibrating with excitement at being deferred to.

"Well..." she began, slowly. "Minerva's got Claire working on a location for us. We should probably meet with Thoth, if we can, and update him on what we know. He can help get an alert out, to stop any other heroes from being caught unaware. As long as we can get in before Gepetto gets any more super-slaves, I think it should be a fairly straight forward assault. Minerva can take down Athena and try to fry her control chip while the rest of us mop up the conventional forces. You can handle that, right, Minerva?"

"Definitely," she said. "I love my sister, but she's no match for me in a fight, no matter how our powers are shuffled... and that's when she's not being remote controlled."

"Dinner is ready," Amy announced, coming back into the room. The smile fell off her face and she threw up her hands, cursing.

"What?" Allison asked. "We're not talking about sex stuff!"

"Nobody told me we had two more guests coming!"