Atomic Rebooted

65. Heroic

MIRA

I had to be careful on snowy, icy nights like this one. Of course, those were in generous supply now that November had turned to December. Super speed and frictionless streets are not a good combination.

So instead of running down the street, I walked with my hood up and my head down. Never mind that this costume, as Mercury the independent heroine, was now recognizable by most citizens in New Kingsbury after the battle against Tenebrous and Mayor McQueen.

All of us were, the New Crusaders. Most saw us as saviors—although there were plenty who feared us for what we could become, and what we represented. After all, we'd changed a status quo that had been in place nearly forty years.

Atomic Energy was now powerless and their due had come.

Of course, a lot had changed in the last week and a half of November. With the new emergency mayor, Trenton, having taken over, there was a raid on the Atomic Energy compound.

Some handlers and Sentinels had fled and were still being tracked down.

As for the rest of us—-the city and the country in general was still deciding what to do with the survivors and the witnesses of Atomic Energy's cruelty. I was one of the only ones with a place to go—the others' families were dead.

We didn't have social security numbers or many other bureaucratic problems. Red tape ensnared us at every point.

And then there was the problem of the emotional fallout. Where would we go? What would we do? How could you help so many emotionally-unstable teenagers work through being trained and used as weapons, and then learning the horror that would have befallen them for that fate?

There were no easy answers, and the funds for the consequences would have to wait until the trials against Atomic Energy and the key decision-makers were done.

For now, at least I was allowed to stay with my mother—it was what made the most sense, for the time being. Even if it was weird, getting used to my mom's roommate, my mom, and my dad all at the same time.

Maybe that was why I spent so much of my time outside of the house, running around in this costume.

I was still getting used to the weight of the aluminum baseball bat I'd been given right before the final battle. But I liked the way it rested on my shoulders, and it had been a useful tool. Especially tonight.

I turned the corner to the rendezvous.

Standing there, as expected, was my mother, in the costume as Heretic. It was more often that she was seen as Argent—but the anti heroine still had her own uses every now and then.

"I take it you found the site of the lab again okay?"

"Yeah." I twirled the baseball bat in my hands as I removed it from my shoulders. "I destroyed every bit of equipment I could find, all the databases, everything. I doubt Dr. Electra, if she escapes from prison, will be able to start her research again without a lot of help."

"Good." Lora paused. "Does Henry know about—"

I shook my head. "You and I both know he's above petty revenge like this."

For all that I'd grown lately, I found that I wasn't.

Lora smirked. "You are your mother's daughter."

I shrugged. "For better or for worse. I take it your hunt's been successful."

Lora scowled. "Not really. Titanio and his group are keeping a lot of their cards close to the chest. All I can really confirm is that Titanio was not apprehended and that his civilian identity is not in the database, not in a way that can be easily linked back to him, anyway."