Ch 19: Sem 2, wk 1

Lawrence felt a certain sense of foreboding as he and Torch drove back to Acropolis the day before the new semester started. They were wearing masks again--it seemed so strange now. He had quickly grown used to Torch’s scars--he barely saw them when he looked at his friend, but Torch seemed more confident with his mask back on. “Dark Lothario is not going to let this one go,” he was saying as they drove into town. The car’s radio was playing the local news, with people calling in to give their opinion if the whole Dark Lothario fiasco:

“The problem is the legal system,” one caller was saying. “They put freaks like him in the looney bin, only to release them in a few months or a year. The man isn’t crazy, he’s a criminal. We need to treat him as such.”

“The dude has a point,” Torch said.

“The whole system is corrupt,” Lawrence agreed. “No doubt he buys off juries, the prosecutor, hell, even the judge. Between the ransoms and the sales of his DVDs the man must be the richest in the city. I would say the corruption goes all the way up to the mayor, if his own daughter hadn’t been kidnapped.”

Torch shook his head. “You’d think the league would be more on top of this.”

“For all we know, he’s passing them money too,” Lawrence said, reacting instead of thinking.

“Not possible,” Torch said, and Lawrence quickly amended himself. The rest of the drive was done in near-silence.

*****

Glory had been watching the television all week. While they played the footage of the kidnapping over and over again, and everyone talked about it, there was no actual news. No phone calls stating Patricia was okay, no information about a ransom or deadline--at least not any Mayor Wilkinson was willing to share.

She also visited Memorial Hall every day, hoping to find Valkyrie and talk to her, to know she had done right. She could have saved Patricia. Dark Lothario’s men seemed pretty confident that they were going to get away with the kidnapping--she could have snatched up the girl and taken them completely by surprise. Instead she had saved her teacher.

The day before classes started back up Glory jogged to campus. The eerie emptiness from the week before was gone as students moved back into the dorms and went to the campus supply store to get their books. She was waiting for KP to call her, even if she didn’t really know what to say to him, and waiting for Lola to call her for a ride from the airport.

Memorial Hall was still empty even as the campus filled up. Glory ducked into the stairwell going up to the second floor but she paused when she heard voices over her head.

“Where the hell have you been?” Valkyrie’s voice was shrill and echoing. “The shit hits the fan, I’ve got students backing me up out there, and you’re off in parts unknown for a full week?”

“Romeo wasn’t here either--I don’t see you ripping him a new one.” The other voice was Stone, his tones harsher than usual.

“He was supposed to be in New York. We talked about it. But you were supposed to be here, with me, keeping an eye on things.”

“Well, excuse me if you couldn’t handle something as simple as a public kidnapping. It’s not my fault you can’t do the job.” They were coming downstairs, and Glory wanted to jump out in front of them, to demand an apology from Stone, but instead she ducked under the stairs. “You’re weak. That’s why you couldn’t save the girl.”

Glory felt the temperature in the stairwell drop ten degrees, and Stone slammed the door so hard some of the tiles on the wall cracked where it hit. Valkyrie didn’t follow him and after a moment Glory crept out from her hiding place.

The older woman was sitting on the steps, arms wrapped around herself. She looked up as Glory stepped into her line of sight. “You’re not weak,” Glory said. Valkyrie gave a short laugh and wiped a tear from her eye. It clinked on the steps--ice tears. “You’re not.”

“You don’t know yet,” Valkyrie said. “You’re just a baby.” Glory sat down, not sure how to comfort her. “When you save someone--its exhilarating.”

“I know that,” Glory said, remembering her close call the month before.

“But each failure is like the end of the world. You get so used to being the best. I’m sure you’ve always been the best, right? The golden girl that could
do no wrong?”

“I’m not so great at school stuff,” Glory admitted. “But yeah.”

“So was I. And then I got accepted into the League. It was wonderful at first, but once I wasn’t able to save a little boy from getting hit by a car--I was too far away. And then there was the bank robbery that went horribly wrong, and the time I accidentally froze a dog to death--”

“I like dogs,” Glory said quietly.

“I haven’t been able to look one in the eye since.” Valkyrie admitted. “But nothing ever shook my confidence the way getting caught by Dark Lothario did. I took a six month sabbatical--I’ve been in therapy for two years now. If Romeo hadn’t had him caught and put in the Gorram Asylum I don’t think I ever would have come back. I can’t fight him, America. I just--freeze up. All he has to do is look at me and tell me I want him, and no matter how vile I really think he is…I do.”

“It’s not your fault,” Glory insisted. “And you’re not weak. You’re one of my heroes.”

“I’m everybody’s hero,” Valkyrie said, her voice short. “But I don’t know how much longer I can be. With Dark Lothario out there--”

“Get up,” Glory said, pulling Valkyrie to her feet. “We shouldn’t sit here in the cold--let’s go get some coffee. You gave me a second chance. I’m not going to let you give up after one little setback.”

“You’re a good girl, America,” Valkyrie said, letting her lead her out of the stairwell.

“And we will rescue Patricia from Dark Lothario,” Glory assured. “It’s my personal mission.”

Glory was glad she had chosen Valkyrie. If Dark Lothario had gotten her again, it would have destroyed her.

*****

Lola waited outside of the airport for the second time in a week, doing her best to pretend she was jet-lagged. Her suitcases were re-packed beside her, her hair was tied back and she was wearing what would be deemed at comfortable airplane clothes--jeans and a t-shirt. She felt strange. She had been sleeping on the couch in her lair for a week, using the kitchenette for the first time, and not going out as herself in case Glory would accidentally stumble into her. She was ready to get things back to normal.

Glory pulled up in the BMW and Lola tossed her bags in the trunk. Did you have a good trip?” Glory asked, getting out of the car to give her a hug and move to the passenger seat.

“The usual,” Lola said.

“And what do you think of your mom’s new boyfriend?”

“It’s hard to say--she just got a new new boyfriend last week.”

“Unbelievable.”

“What about you? How was your break?”

“Dark Lothario kidnapped the mayor’s daughter in front of the entire town!”

“Really?” She doubted she sounded the least bit surprised, but since Glory was all set to ramble on for the rest of the car ride it didn’t matter. Glory went over the whole night as though Lola hadn’t been there for every moment of it, though she had to admit, it was interesting to hear about it from a different perspective. Lola had spent the night getting the cops into position (not easy) and making sure Dark Lothario’s thugs didn’t actually hurt anybody. She had also made a deal with the man himself. Outlawing plastic grocery bags were supposed to be part of the ransom deal. It would have been more practical to just tell the city counsel to do it, but she thought it was important that she get something out of this deal, and to her surprise, Dark Lothario had agreed to it.

“…and I saved Valkyrie all by myself. The rest of my classmates were afraid of the guns, but they had been instructed not to fire.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the funny part, isn’t it?” Glory said. “She didn’t want to hurt anyone, just contain them. Why?”

“Just because someone is a super villain doesn’t mean they want to hurt people.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

“Sometimes super villains just want to change the world.”

“Yeah, to whatever they want most. The woman is a freak. Mistress of Minds--it screams of an unbalanced control freak, and even worse that she has mind control powers. It is so dangerous. And that outfit!”

“I like her outfit,” Lola muttered. It hurt so much that Glory didn’t understand, and it hurt even more that Lola couldn’t tell her who she was complaining about.

“You would,” Glory shot back.

“What does that mean?”

“Well, you’ve got that cold, calculating thing down. I bet the two of you would be bestest buddies.”

“You’re my best friend,” Lola countered. The conversation was not going well, but the declaration had an effect.

“Of course I am,” Glory said. “I wish I could understand your point of view, but you don’t understand mine either. She has no right to tamper with anyone’s minds--”

“But those cops were okay, right?”

“Well, they didn’t stand down for almost two hours, and it was cold out, but yeah, they were fine.”

“So no one got hurt, and that was thanks to her, wasn’t it? She was trying to do the right thing.”

“By falling in with Dark Lothario. Right.”

“Not everything is black and white, Glory,” Lola said as they pulled into their driveway. “Just because someone is a criminal doesn’t make them evil, and not all heroes are perfect either.” She thought of Lawrence fooling around with her while Glory was completely oblivious to it all. Part of her wanted to tell her, to prove her point, but Glory was distressed enough.

“I do what’s right. For my country, this city--I believe in truth and justice. I believe in all of the gifts that God gave us. There is good and evil. If someone likes to think they’re a shade of grey, then they are deluding themselves.”

“What about me?” Lola asked quietly, looking at the steering wheel.

“You’re too willing to accept both sides of an argument. It’s probably because you’re too rich to know better. It’s not your fault.” Glory got out of the car and went around to the back to grab Lola’s bags. “I like to think my influence is good for you.”

*****


By the time Lawrence and Torch got in that night he was too tired for anything, and America filling him in on the New Years fiasco over the phone made him even more exhausted. She was riled up over Dark Lothario and the new villain, Mistress of Minds. He had a feeling she was going to be insufferable while Dark Lothario had Patricia Wilkinson.

“When do you get done with classes tomorrow?” America asked finally, interrupting her own rambling.

“Early--noon.”

“That’s great,” America said. “Want to meet for lunch so we can catch up in person?”

“Sure.” He wondered if she would stop talking long enough to eat. Or to do…other things.

He hung up the phone and fell into bed, passing out almost immediately.


Lawrence had two classes on Monday--English Comp II and Intermediate Calculus. Calculus was interesting, but the English class was a joke--a writing class that all freshmen were forced to take. He only had fifteen minutes between classes and they were on opposite sides of campus, so he just barely slipped into his seat before the professor started talking.

“All right you little underage cretins,” the grizzled old man said, sitting heavily on a stool at the front of the room. “You, don’t get comfortable,” he said, jabbing a finger at Lawrence. “I’m Professor Murphy. I am old, my eyesight is going, and I can’t be bothered to learn your names, so here’s how its going to work. Seating assignments. Alphabetical order.” He pointed at the first seat in the first row, currently empty. “Abram, Ira.”

A boy shuffled up to the front and took the empty chair. Lawrence glanced at his confused face, and felt sympathy. This class was going to be hell. Anderson, Jessica was seated next and then Bennet, Clyde. Lawrence was displaced by Curry, Emily, and went to stand against the wall.

It was there that he noticed Lola glaring at the professor from the back of the room. No. Not her. She hadn’t seemed to have noticed him, and he wondered if it would be too late to escape the room and drop the class. Except he had only taken twelve credit hours. He needed the class to stay full time.

“Lawrence, Lawrence,” Professor Murphy called, and Lawrence hurried to his new seat in the fourth row. Lola was behind him now and he didn’t want to turn around to look at her. He realized he didn’t know her last name.

“Merriweather, Lola.”

For a few moments Lawrence begged for the unlikely possibility that there were two Lolas in the class, but she sat down next to him.

“Hello lover,” she said, an edge to her voice. He might be a super hero, but he had a feeling Lola could beat him to a pulp if she really wanted to.

“Hey,” he managed to say.

“How’s your girlfriend?” she asked.

“Lola--”

“Shut up,” she demanded, and even though he felt like he could explain himself further, he did. It was going to be a long semester.

*****


Glory didn’t have any classes on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. She had talked to Valkyrie, and they adjusted her scholarship so that she was only taking two classes a semester. It would take her twice as long to get though school, but she knew that was the only way she could keep up with her league training without flunking. She was seriously considering getting an associates degree instead of a bachelors.

So she was waiting for KP at Memorial Hall, nervous butterflies in her stomach. She knew she had been rambling on the phone the night before to keep this nervousness at bay, and it was going to take some effort not to let her mouth run away from her again.

She hugged him in greeting and he kissed her with one of the overly passionate kisses he was so fond of, and she really wasn’t. She liked it when he was gentle and sweet, but sometimes when he was in one of his moods, she just felt like she was being devoured.

“What was that for?” she asked, pulling away.

“I missed you,” he explained, and that made her feel good.

“I missed you too.”

They made their way to the lounge, deserted so early in the day. Someone had re-stocked the kitchen right before the semester started, and the place had been left cleaner than it had been before Christmas. “Do you think there’s such a thing as super-janitorial staff?” Glory joked as she opened the fridge and found a container of strawberries.

“Probably,” KP answered. “C’mere.” She popped the container open and took one before sitting next to him on the couch. She bit into the strawberry and looked at him. “I haven’t told you how glorious you are in forever.”

“That‘s not fair,” she said, finishing the strawberry. “You know flattery goes a long way with me.”

“How far?”

She was wearing a button-up shirt, and she felt him use his telekinesis to undo the top button. He knew the trick got to her every time. “KP…I thought a lot about you over break.”

“And?”

“I know I don’t want to run away to Vegas with you any time soon.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means…it means I’m okay with what we have right now.”

He smiled. “Good. So am I.”

******

A/N: Really sorry about the lateness of this one. Writers block paired with bad weather and no internet kind of put a damper on things, and I still don't love this chapter, except Glory and Valkyrie's convo.

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