Don't Be a Hero: A Superhero Novel

17: Rest My Weary Head

We never wanted this, but it has become unavoidable. We only wanted to help, to protect, to build, but it is clear that you no longer want us here. We will not submit to the barbaric practice of kill-switching. We will not. Before we leave, we extend an invitation to every metahuman on Earth who wishes to live free of persecution and fear. Join us on the Moon. It will not be an easy life, but it can be a good one. Perhaps one day we will return to Earth and be accepted for who we are, but do not hope for it. This world has given up on hope.

—Statement from the Alpha League, 1961

***

“No,” Niobe said. “No bloody way.”

“What’s the big deal?” The Carpenter lounged in the passenger seat, unmasked like her. “You said it yourself. We need a place to gather our thoughts and go through all this paper you nabbed from the coppers.”

She shifted down a gear and took the corner nice and easy, careful not to stress the damaged car. These abandoned roads wouldn’t be doing the old Ford any good, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to take the main highway back to the Old City, on this morning of all mornings.

“Your place is better,” she said. “More room to spread out. Secure. Out of the way if Met Div throws any more raids in our direction.”

“You didn’t hear my wife yesterday,” he said. “Kate, she…uh….” He paused.

“She doesn’t like me.”

“No,” he said. “Well, yeah. But that’s not it. Not all of it.”

She was too tired for this. “Spit it out, Solomon.”

“She wants me out of the game. Says I should stop playing superhero.” He grinned. “She thinks you’re a bad influence on me. What’d she call it? Oh yeah, ‘enabling me’.”

She snorted. “Me? A bad influence on you? You’re the one stuck in the past.”

“Lemme finish, will you?” He put his arm out the window and tapped on the car’s exterior. “She’ll go along with it for now, but she won’t have me bringing work home anymore. Doesn’t want me exposing the kids to it. She thinks it’ll corrupt them or something, you know?” He shrugged. “She’s wrong. Those kids are so darned headstrong I couldn’t force them into a cape and mask even if I wanted to. And no kid wants to follow in their father’s footsteps anyway. But she made me promise that you wouldn’t come around anymore. She’s serious.”

“How serious?”

His mouth formed a line. “Serious enough that if we go to my house now, I’d better learn how to cook meals for one in an awful hurry.”

Christ. This was just what they needed. Kate meant well, and Niobe didn’t dislike the woman, per se, but you couldn’t marry a damn superhero and then try to take the cape off him.

She sighed. Where have I seen that before? Gabby was just as bad as Kate. It’d been easier back when Niobe was in the Wardens. She had no family to worry about her then; she hadn’t even met Gabby yet. If she got horny, her teammate, Madame Z, was always happy to oblige. Everything was simple.

But in her heart, Niobe didn’t want simple. Gabby was more than her lover. She was her best friend, her partner. Niobe wanted to make it work. Hell, that’s why she was doing this damn job, so they could make a new life together somewhere they’d belong. But they were such different people in so many ways. Gabby didn’t understand that Niobe couldn’t just take her pension and live out her days. She didn’t understand that Niobe had to protect her.

It had never been a problem before. She loved spending the afternoons reading on the couch while Gabby rested her head in Niobe’s lap, puzzling over some new gadget. Niobe could run her fingers through the tight curls of Gabby’s hair, and she’d be content. They loved each other, and that was enough. But now….