Trellis

5

I try to bring my computer to the Needle on the assigned date, wheeling it over on a wheelbarrow. The woman at the door stops me and tells me that they have prepared more 'sufficiently advanced' technology for me to use.

That would have been nice to know before I almost busted my hip trying to put a monitor in a wheelbarrow. Thanks a lot. 

The children are already waiting. They've obviously received their new tech stuff. Cresswell, back in her seat at the end of the table, is carefully reconstructing a crushed tin can—by sheer force of will, it seems. Hallett is talking to Yvet, who seems to be utterly disappointed in the design of his suit.

'Skin-tight, Dreis, it's skin-tight. Of course you're not complaining!' he snaps suddenly. Hallett gulps. 'I'm not buff, like you. And just look—'

He flings out a hand. A small globe of light gathers in his palm.

'Light, Hallett. What am I going to do, make them run with pretty fairy lights?'

'Did you fail physics class or what?'

Yvet snorts in Ley's general direction. 'Easy for you to be satisfied with whatever you have, Thanatos.'

She scowls and shrinks back into her corner.

And then the mayor walks into the room, for some reason. He looks genuinely surprised to see me here. 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.' He places another binder on the table in front of Cresswell. 'I see you are getting accustomed to your newfound abilities.'

'Not me.'

'Later, Yvet.' The mayor sits down, not bothering to try and make Cresswell move this time. 'You will get a quick briefing on how to use your powers. You have been given the strongest of them for a reason.'

A quiet 'hah' from Ley's corner. Yvet looks scandalized. Shrugging, Hallett sits down at the other end of the table.

'And she'll  need something too, right?'

He's looking at me. I try not to let it bother me. Cresswell, for the first time since I've met her, speaks up.

'You said that it would be deadly. Well, where's her  suit? And equipment?'

The mayor starts to sweat. I shrug and lean against a wall. 

'Well...'

'You can't send our most valuable member off to die.' Ley uncrosses her arms and starts to approach the mayor, her footsteps almost soundless on the polished floor. 'Unless, that's exactly what you sought to do when you invited her here?'

'I—' he swallows. But I don't notice. She just called me the most valuable member of the team. It's...a strange feeling. Perhaps I'd been starved of appreciation for too long. 

'Very well, then. Miss Kasseida, here is your suit with built-in equipment. The finest our labs can offer.'

Cresswell smiles and crushed the reconstructed tin can into a pulp. 

I take the watch the mayor slides me across the table.

'Do I have to take off my clothes for this?'

'For optimal results, yes. But for now, just put it on and see.'

I decide to trust him and slide the watch on. Immediately, little scales begin to unfold from the spot where it touches my wrist, and I feel them climb across my clothes, covering them in those small black disks. I feel rather like a gigantic fish, until the wings take form. Yvet's jaw drops. Hallett begins clapping.

'That's a prototype...they've only entered the testing stages last week,' breathes Ley.

'Well, excellent. Are these wings—'

I jump when one of them lashes out and hits the table. The mayor leaps out of his seat. 

Well, that answers my question. But apart from flight...

I note the watch. There are words being displayed on it. I push my glasses further up my nose, gasping when several more scales find their way up my face, forming a thin membrane across my eyes. And I didn't need my glasses anymore.

They built a computer into a wristwatch. I allow myself to feel amazed for a moment before shutting that emotion down. 

'Thank you,' I say anyway.

'Now that you've got your equipment—'

'It's time to choose a superhero name,' says Yvet, adjusting the gloves of his own blue-grey suit. 'I'm the—uh—'

'Fairy light man,' says Ley.

'Very funny, Thanatos—oh no.'

Ley smirks. 'And you, Kasseida?'

'Nightingale,' murmurs Cresswell, reconstructing her tin can again.

'Why does she get a better name than I do?'

Hallett clears his throat. 'Now, I'm sure this is cool and all, but we need to listen to what the mayor has got to say. We can't miss out on important details.'

The mayor smiles. 'Thank you, young man. Now, listen carefully...'