“It’s better than the alternative,” I said, and thought about what I might be getting. In addition to the practical knowledge of the Nine’s operations which we’d need to track whether we’d succeeded, Rook and Dr. Mind weren’t the only inventors who’d ever served the Nine.
We’d get in trouble with the government for stealing the Nine’s tech, but not for using their ideas—probably.
It did worry me that Rook had likely brought back Abominator tech from the Moon and Mars. I didn’t even know where it was if I wanted to destroy it.
In the main channel, Hal asked, “I’ll appear above the main building shortly.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Haley replied, turning her head to look over the group as we stood on the concrete platform in front of the stairway’s open doors.
“Ready?” She asked and amid the replies turned on her anti-gravity and floated toward the massive white building down the volcano’s slope from us.
Everyone floated after her, with those of us who didn’t need anti-gravity to fly, shooting over her almost as soon as we took to the air.
I didn’t go too far ahead, partly because it was wise to stick together, partly because it made me feel better to see that no one had been left behind. No one was. Even Tiger’s suit included anti-gravity and he understood how to use it, floating downward like a smaller, but unusually realistic, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloon.
Soon after we landed on the roof, the League jet uncloaked above us, a long, silver, winged needle that could have appeared on the cover of an early science fiction magazine. The Defenders’ egg-shaped podjets, descended after it, stopping a few feet above the roof and opening their hatches.
While I might have felt that to be overly trusting, Alex, Brooke, and Jenny stepped out onto the roof. Following them came everyone else we’d left in the room where we fought Dr. Mind—Camille, Julie, Tara, Samita, Rod…
Standing together on the roof, it felt like a lot of people even though I knew every one of them. Every piece of my life was represented—family, high school friends and enemies, childhood playmates, friends I’d met through Stapledon, and even a dog from space.
It felt like someone should be making a speech about the worth of doing the right thing even if it seems hard, the enduring power of friendship, and how the legacy you inherit doesn’t have to define you even if it’s a good one.
I wasn’t the guy to be making that speech. Just like everyone else I could see, I felt dead tired. I may not have felt physically as tired as I’d felt the time I had to walk and fight the Cabal in a suit of dead armor, but I was there mentally.
No one else seemed up for that speech either.
Alex took a step toward where the SoCal Defenders podjets floated and then turned toward everyone. “I don’t know if we took out the Nine forever, but you took down Magnus and Dr. Mind and none of us are dead. Plus, Justice Fist got one of their own back. That’s a win. And even though I don’t dare declare victory over the Nine, I think we hurt them. That’s enough for today. Good job, everybody. I’m proud to have served with you.”
With that, he stepped into the podjet. Jenny and Brooke followed. One of Jenny’s copies told me, “We’re heading to L.A. The other podjets will help bring people back to Grand Lake.”
Sighing, she added, “You have no idea how much I want to be in only one body for a little while—maybe two at most—and both of them will be sleeping. Oh, and tell us when Travis’ funeral will be. We don’t want to miss it.”
Then she discorporated.
It says something about our lives that none of us even blinked at that. We boarded the League jet or nearest podjet without commentary and sat down.
Haley put her hand on my shoulder, her claws clicking against the ceramic, “Are you up for flying home?”
“I’m more up for flying home than staying. Besides, it won’t take that long. Are you hungry? I want breakfast, but I don’t want whatever alien foodbars we might have left in the jet.”
I connected to the jet’s controls through my implant, running through the checklist even as Haley and I took our seats.
“I’m always hungry, but you’re not thinking of ordering from IHOP again, are you? It didn’t go so well last time,” Haley said, watching as the console in front her glowed.
Everyone in the cabin laughed. Amy hadn’t been around for that, but she laughed with everyone else. It had entered into team legend at some point.
Pulling seatbelts across her black plate armor, she said, “Once I’m back in my real body, I could go for pancakes. This one lives off life essence. If I eat as her, everything I eat disappears with her.”
“Oh shit,” Vaughn said, “I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t,” Amy said, the edge in her voice hinting at some story I knew I didn’t need to hear, possibly from when they were dating.
Good guess. Daniel thought at me. I didn’t want or need to know either, but I do anyway. Angry people are noisy.
“I’ll order,” Haley said. “Dad bought a breakfast restaurant. It’s trying to be a Waffle House. We could order from there and pick it up in the van. Maybe Kayla would be up for it.”
“Do the cooks have all their teeth?” Amy asked. “It won’t feel authentic if they have teeth.”