The Library of Powers

Chapter 14 - part 4

Ivory's View

continued

Down the hallway, through a door, down another hallway. Ivory had been chasing Phoebe Winter for quite some time, and she didn't seem to be catching up. To be fair, neither was she slowing down, Ivory had developed some serious endurance running after villains. But this was different, this was Phoebe Winter. She caused the downfall of The Calypsos. She caused... So she went down another hallway, through another door. Down another hallway, and through another door. Through this door, she couldn't see Phoebe. She must have gone into the room, it's not like there was anywhere to hide. She was in a narrow walkway, evening light wafting through arched windows on her right, rows of books (who would have guessed it) on her left.

She entered the space, and Phoebe greeted her. "I probably shouldn't be doing this, but damn are you fast."

Ivory twirled around. Phoebe had been hiding behind the open door, in the corner between the books and the wall. Clever. "What do you want?"

"From you? What you've been doing. Great work so far, by the way," she drew closer to Ivory. Her breath was icy cold, drifting onto Ivory's chest.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. You know. The good fight. Putting away bad guys. It will get you where you need to go."

Ivory shook her head. "How are you here?"

"You could say I have... A guest pass. But enough about me, let me help you. What do you need?"

"God damn it, I need answers."

"Ugh, but I don't want to hear you blabbering off questions. So boring."

"How am I supposed to know what I need if I don't know what the hell is going on? This is crazy!" Ivory's breath quickened. She tried to grasp for anything that could turn this bonkers conversation into something she could deal with. Something she could swallow.

"You have a point. How about this, you can ask me one question, and then I'll give you a little pep talk. Then we part ways, you let me go about my business, and I let you get back to being a lackey for your sidekick."

"Hey!" Ivory rebutted, "I am not!"

"Come on darling, that was obviously me poking a little fun. Keep your panties on."

She paused. Only now had it dawned on her that Phoebe was probably insane.

"Any question?" She asked. Phoebe simply smirked. "Where is my dad?"

Now it was Phoebe's turn to pause. She took a long breath, then burst out laughing. Loud, voracious laughter. Her flippancy enraged Ivory. "What? How the fuck would I know that?" she wheezed.

Ivory was red-faced, red-blooded, and seeing red. She gained the courage to take off her contacts. It was slow, but with them removed her eyes matched her emotions. She screamed. "YOU KNOW WHO I AM!"

Phoebe didn't even flinch. It was even worse then if she had cowered, if she had betrayed her guilt. This was the woman who had destroyed The Calypsos. The team her father worked for. He wasn't a real superhero, so he avoided the media vitriol that followed them after Phoebe's betrayal, but Ivory remembered. She perpetrated assassinations on dozens of citizens of Vera City. She was a terrorist.