Hydra Heart

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter 22: Breakout

"Pleasure to meet ya," the overly enthusiastic man said. He shook Vesta's hand with mighty vigor. "I'm Rodney, I'm an electrician. That's why people around here call me... Lightning Rod!" He gave a huge smile; he seemed like he was anticipating a laugh. It did not happen.

"So, you're... looking for a battery?" Between Shay's inability to make eye contact and Vesta's exasperated attitude, Rod wasn't really connecting with the customers. He decided to just hand them something and let them pay for it. The odd customers walked out of his electronics store, and were joined by a third person outside.

Outside the shop, the strange boy appeared from earlier. He had a big, see-through cup of some sugary drink in it. He poked at it absentmindedly with an oddly-shaped straw. Priscilla, I think his name was, she reminded herself.
"Hey, uh, what's that?" He asked, pointing to the battery in Vesta's hands.

"Didn't you get arrested? How are you here? You were carrying around bail money and I didn't even get the chance to make you spot me for this battery?"

"Well, Vesta, I'm glad you asked. A few hours ago, you told me that it was likely you would need to lift a prisoner out of a cell. I just walked out of one without any difficulty... you can figure out the rest." He gave a shrug.

"Your Kit?" Shay posed the words like a question. She received a nod in response. "You can just walk out? Man, your family reunions must be really easy."

Vesta interjected, "Not as easy as mine."

"... Anyway," the young man squeaked. "It's not quite that simple. Basically, if I stand or hop on one foot, I can phase through objects, and even carry some objects with me, but I..."He trailed off, troubled by a thought.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would Ozzy send someone actually useful to us?" Vesta asked aloud. No one really had an answer. Priscilla, however, had a question.

He took a loud slurp from his drink and asked, "So, what's the battery for?"

--

"You can not test it out here! Every secret we can keep from him is another advantage we have!" Violet insisted.

"But I can feel it, I got a new power, and I want to use it!" She seemed to be acting childish on purpose to get a rise out of Violet.

"Do you know what it does?"

"I have this..." Molly squinted her eyes and made some indecipherable hand motions. "... idea in my head, it's hard to put into words. I know it's called..."

"What?"

"Answer. My Kit is called Inquiry and Answer."

Violet scratched her head. "Well this is troubling."

Several hundred miles away, in the Hirudenian capital, Banner watched closely on a screen. "Oh, fucking damn it!" he roared. "I've been at this for more than a fucking decade and she gets her new ability in two weeks? Fourteen days! Three hundred and thirty six hours?!?! He mulled it over for a moment, trying to stay calm. After a moment, an idea came to him.

"You there, intern!"

Gulp. "Y-yes, sir?"

"What's your name?"

"Kevin, sir."

"Kevin, you're now in charge of the Kit Control Division. My first order for you to bring me all the information they've gathered on Vesta."

"Are you serious?"
"Are you still standing here? GO!"

--

It had been charging for a while, so they got on with the plan. Priscilla, Shay, and Vesta went to the center of town, where they could find a lot of people. Shay asked people to help them with a "science experiment" by making a circle around Vesta, and Priscilla decided to do his part and buy some chalk to help with the operation. The crowd became abuzz, wondering what it could all mean.

Vesta drew her knife, holding it by the blade. Her anticipation numbed the sensation of cold metal. She grabbed the battery. The audience was captivated by the deep breath she took before the leap.

She thrust the metal into a slot, shocking herself. The crowd gasped, afraid of what would happen to her. Shay, instead, was gauging the reactions of the circle. Luckily, she spotted it. Ah ha! A woman inside one of the chalk outlines grabbed her head and looked around; it seemed she was disoriented and dizzy. Shay pulled Priscilla over and made him mark her spot. She gave a high five to him, to which he responded by slipping his fingers in between hers in the most unsettling way. She sighed and settled for the fact that it was the closest thing to a normal human interaction she was going to get while travelling with those two.

Vesta got up, shaking off the electrocution like a champ. The crowd gave a very confused clap, one that took a few seconds to get going. Most quickly hurried on with their business. That left them relatively alone with a map pointing, in a profoundly vague way, where they needed to go.

Shay sat down with a tablet she had brought. She conjured a map of the world in a low-budget drawing application and sketched it out.

"Why did you draw a cat on a map of the world?" Vesta asked innocently.

"It's supposed to be arrows pointing us in the right direction!" Shay said, offended.

"Those are whiskers."

Priscilla interjected. "Oh, give me that." He erased Shay's abstract, experimental piece and began drawing the proper lines.

Shay peeped over his shoulder. "So... you're like... an artist?" She gave a fake laugh.

"I know how to draw lines, but I don't want to be affiliated with what your idea of an "artist" is. It probably comes with a host of things you might like, but are merely an approximation of a fragment of who I am."

Shay was put off by his answer. "Okay, jeez. Between your chalk lines and this, I just thought you had a cool hobby."

A moment of silence gave Priscilla room to think about what he had said. "Sorry. Yes, I draw sometimes, just like everybody else does. Thank you for asking, I just don't want to create such a narrow first impression of myself."

"Hm." Shay did not know what to say to that. Luckily, there was no need for further words. On the map, Priscilla had done a combination of precise linework and eyeballing, resulting in a finished product. Half of the world's longitude was off-limits, for obvious reasons.

A rough guess left them with one-fifth of the world as a possibility. Sixty percent of the land was in Hirudenian territory.

--

"So, it was my husband and I's anniversary," Violet led. "But, I had completely forgotten. Of course, I remedy this with the whole 'duty calls' routine, acting like I'm headed out to an Alogan military camp, when, in actuality, I am hauling tail to Vesta Lanes, the bowling alley where my husband I met, about to spend blood money on some memorabilia for my husband who deserves much better. Then, I--"

Violet's eyes glazed over. She fell over on her bed. Molly squinted. She's old, but not that old... Molly prodded her once with her shoe. After a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief when Violet got up and rubbed her eyes.

Violet whispered her next words. "It is Vesta again. There was barely any power, I couldn't even get in a word. We have to hope that means she has figured it out." Violet thought about the circumstances, and her voice sank into sorrow. "Maybe it's better if she never finds us."