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Chapter 02
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“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! I shouldn’t have let her go out alone tonight,” Mary said, walking into the mansion where the League was based. Her sister followed. “Computer, we have company. Please grant access to my sister Jackie.”

“Right away,” spoke the computer in the same feminine voice it had since their last base. It scanned Jackie and ringed while the sisters made their way through the mansion.

In the meeting room, Walter, their man in charge, was drinking coffee; Jeff, dressed as War Lagoon, was reading out of a thick binder; Warren was running around, switching off between computers and putting on his costume as Mortar Mage. Jackie averted her eyes upon seeing Mortar’s brief nudity.

“Where is she?” Mary asked.

Walter said, “In the next room. Wyatt’s examining her.”

Wyatt? Mary hadn’t seen him or his wife in a few weeks since they had taken off for a vacation. She would have to ask about Tatiana, but that could wait. Mary stormed the kitchen, which Wyatt was using to examine Ohm Wire. The man was a pediatrician by trade, but he was still a good doctor in general.

“How is she?” Mary asked.

While the doctor lipped for Mary to ask Kyra herself, Ohm Wire said, “I could be better. I just bit off more than I could chew. But if someone could let me say—“

She squeaked when Mary hugged her tightly.

“Kyra’s healthy as far as I can tell,” said Wyatt, “but I would advise against doing anything crazy for a day or two.”

“Crazy’s kind of part of the job description, Wyatt,” said Mary.

“That’s why Tatiana and I left for a little while. Though, she still gets up in the wee hours of the night to pick out baby items from one of our many catalogs littering the living room. It’s looking more catastrophic by the day since the two of you moved out. At least the baby hasn’t needed too much womb service lately.”

Maryann and Kyra moaned, as did Jackie.

“Oh hello, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” the doctor said to Jackie, extending his hand to her.

“Wyatt, Jackie. Jackie, Wyatt.” Mary introduced with a couple waves of her hand.

“Your sister?”

“The one and only. Don’t worry, she won’t bite.”

“Given your history . . .”

“She’s not a vampire, or a succubus.” Mary looked at Jackie. “Long story.”

Jackie nodded with a heavy dose of uncertainty washed all over her face. Any second, Mary thought, Jackie was going to run into the night screaming that her sister really was evil incarnate. However, she did no such thing.

“Can I please explain what happened, now?!” Kyra’s arms flailed as she tried so hard to make herself known. “We’ve got a grave digger problem.” She paused when Jackie grunted in disgust. “I stumbled upon them tonight after my informant pointed the way. They overpowered me, left me for dead without realizing that a lightning bolt can’t kill me.”

“You did what you could,” Mary tried to console her.

“I’m not sure I did. That poor girl. I failed her.”

“Failed who?”

“Judy. Those assholes took her body.”

The kitchen had a full audience now as the others filtered through the door, and it was dead quiet. Mortar Mage’s face contorted between shock and anger, while Walter and War Lagoon frowned.

Mortar asked, “Would you be able describe what these grave robbers look like?”

“Sure. A couple of them looked like S&M rejects with tiki masks. The man who led them wore no mask, but he . . . they? . . . wore a dark trench coat over dress pants and a casual t-shirt. I didn’t catch his name, their name. I don’t even know. The three of them looked so much alike.”

“We’ll find them, don’t you worry about it. No one exhumes our friend’s body without a damn good reason, and even still without a good pummeling.”

“Thanks, Warren.”

“No problem. Now, I may not be the doctor here, but you should get some sleep.”

Mary said, “Meanwhile, we’ve got another problem. My sister volunteered to be the next hero at the power plant. I think it’s time we went beyond the mayor’s authority.” Short pause. “Again. I swear I’m done with that guy.”

“The power plant will be heavily guarded, so that might be a problem,” said Walter. “Even teleporters can’t get in there for some reason.”

Everyone who knew Mortar looked at him before he could say anything, his heels rocking back and forth upon the wave of attention. Jackie caught on quickly and looked his way as well. He exhaled heavily with a light smile, and turned back toward the garage, where he had a workshop for devices and low-level spells that still had a habit of exploding things.

Jackie said, “Was that a sigh of ‘yeah, I got something,’ or a sigh of ‘go fuck yourself?’”

Everyone else in the room said, “A bit of both.”

After using one of the restrooms, Maryann came across her sister at the foot of some stairs. Jackie was drinking tea, judging by the color and scent of what she had in her cup. Mary sat down next to her.

“Hey,” Mary said to her sister.

Jackie huffed through her nose. “I think this is the most you’ve said to me in the last nine or ten years.”

“Things change.”

“Like God-given body parts.”

“Like peoples’ genders and beliefs. Paragon’s really had it out for the former lately. You said our aunt and uncle sent you my way, right? Were they the ones who told you about me being Adamast Cross?”

“No, they weren’t.” Jackie took a sip of tea when her hands stopped jittering. “I still remember when your powers first manifested.”

“As do I. I try not to think of the scorn I got from you that day.” They had a hard enough time getting along before that, but that moment sealed the deal forever and left David with nothing kind to say or think or feel about his sister.

“Because I thought the Lord’s way was the only way, or I thought that was it. I don’t know anymore. Am I wrong?”

“I couldn’t tell you, Jackie. I’ve met all sorts of people and seen enough things to question everything, including my own beliefs. You might too for as long as you’re here in town.”

“I’m not sure I could take it. I don’t even know how I’m still breathing after my ice powers manifested. Especially after Mom and Dad disowned me. I dropped nursing school and came to Paragon hoping to sacrifice myself, to make things right, and maybe make sense of it all. I’m such a mess.”

“That’s why you can’t sleep?” Mary asked.

“God, no. I just have trouble sleeping in a stranger’s home.”

“So did I when I moved in with our aunt and uncle. I thought no one was stranger than them until I met these guys. And now they’re all my family. I still visit and talk to our aunt and uncle sometimes, but they understand that I have a life now.”

“They must have been surprised when you changed.”

“About as much so as when they learned about my ice powers.”

“So, not at all?”

“Nope. They even gave me a stern talking to for running off without telling them anything when my change happened, but they were far from surprised, and I’ve yet to figure out why that is. Now I live with Kyra, and we sometimes come over for dinner. I'm still not sure I trust their meatloaf.”

The last note earned a chortle from her sister.

Jackie finished her tea and set it down. She and Mary sat in silence for a time while the rest of the League did their thing. War Lagoon went back out on patrol, this time with Psi Wizard now that Wyatt was back and wearing his hero uniform. Kyra played cards with Walter. Tatiana was at home, trying to sleep as much as her pregnancy would allow. Mortar Mage was doing . . . something; no one knew what exactly.

“I do hope he didn’t get sidetracked,” stated Mary. Her sister looked at her curiously. “Mortar Mage has a habit of getting sidetracked easily.”

“You really think he can help me?” asked Jackie.

“I’m sure he can. He’ll probably have the perfect solution to the power plant problem. Then, while Walter figures out the master plan to beat these grave diggers, and we’ll be able to enjoy a nice warm plate of waffles and call it another week in Paragon. You’ll see, there’s totally nothing to worry about.”

The Arachne Regime shall rise again. The Arachne Regime stands supreme!

This was the chant and battle cry of several men and women, many of whom sat in attendance inside of a hall with unpolished, wooden beams, black cloth along the sides, and concrete flooring. It looked like the mess hall in a war camp, and these men and women were always ready to go to war to claim power over Paragon and then the world.

As far as they knew, half of the room consisted of new recruits to their cause. One such recruit shifted and listened with limited patience as someone, possibly the head honcho or someone close to it, crossed the stage.

“Welcome, everyone,” said the man without any lack of confidence, though his enthusiasm was underplayed. “I have gathered you all here this morning because our time approaches. We have suffered a great many trials in the past, and half as many setbacks, but now we are stronger. Wiser. We know better than to stand in the open when the community of misled heroes is ready to strike like a foolhardy child against a garden variety of spider. We may have lost great leaders, but, in time we will rule—“

The impatient recruit yawned audibly and stretched, interrupting the speaker. To nearly everyone in the hall, she looked like another average woman. However, the recruit removed her gold and green wristband in the course of the distracting stretch, and she became a he before everyone’s eyes. On top of that, he let his superpowers do their thing.

“Bored now!” exclaimed Trash Knuckle just before he got up and used one neighboring recruit to pile drive into another. He had only begun to thrash everyone in sight, and Trash Knuckle flew at the speaker that he cut off only a moment ago.

Oh yeah. Now this was more his style.