The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 14 - The Records Room

The weather was beautiful yet again. The sun was high above Madrona by mid-morning when the kids mounted their bikes. They crested the top of the hill riding past an enormous dilapidated white mansion. The abandoned building was surrounded by years of untended vegetation. Only the bright teal roof tiles were visible for short stretches above the overgrown shrubbery. 

The old structure and the lot on which it was situated stretched behind a small number of retail businesses that made up Madrona’s cozy commercial district. The kids biked past all of them without stopping pedaling hard towards their target.

Caleb had been right. While Madrona was mostly residential, the Central District – the neighborhood adjacent to Madrona on its western border – had several patches of what qualified as commercial property including the shiny corporate campus of Luce Laboratories. A dozen modern buildings housed several hundred employees, located just a couple of miles away from the spot where Caleb and the kids had formulated their plan.

Zach and Penny had big smiles on their faces enjoying the ride. But Binny’s jaw was set in a more determined state – like she was about to do something distasteful but necessary. The wind whipped her long and haphazard ponytail. 

As they’d gotten their bikes Zach had posed the question that Binny now considered – what would they do once they got there? And to be quite honest, Binny had no real idea. But she knew that it was better than doing nothing.

The paralyzing confusion of the previous night’s news had been transformed into a series of concrete actions. Caleb’s acceptance of their story had only strengthened Binny’s resolve to find out what was really going on. The idea that going to Luce Laboratories could somehow answer all of her questions: What drug did he give their mother to help her get pregnant? What did it have to do with her little sister’s power? Who was Huitre talking to on that phone call? erased all – well most – of Binny’s fear. 

The kids rode to the top of a small hill and picked up speed on the descent. For a brief moment Binny felt like she was flying. Flying, not quite like a bird, but like a superhero. Like a superhero on a mission.

Binny had to laugh. Her father had spent so much time talking about superheroes and their various activities that it had now infected her imagination. She wasn’t just a superhero, she was on a superhero team with her brother and her new friend Penny. But what good were superheroes with no powers? That honor had been reserved seemingly for the person who least deserved it — her baby sister Cassie. Cassie, who was oblivious to the amazing ability she had and the danger it posed. 

It sure would be nice to have Cassie’s power right now, actually. Invisibility would come in handy if they were going to try to find out any information about what Luce Laboratories was up to. But Cassie’s power still showed up only when it felt like it. Even if Cassie could control it, Binny was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to control Cassie. They were going to have to investigate with just their basic, normal kid skills. Not much of a superhero team after all.

The three of them arrived at the well-manicured edge of Luce Laboratories’ headquarters. It looked more like a park than some sort of business. But the sign with the Luce Laboratories logo made it clear they’d reached their destination.

As if he’d been listening in on her inner monologue, Zach posed a question to Binny just as their bikes came to a stop. “What now?”

What now indeed. 

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Lots of diagonals, slopes, and curves, made it look like the buildings where Luce Laboratories employees spent their time inventing new pharmaceuticals, were growing at odd angles out of the ground, reaching for air. Certain edges of buildings merged into paths, which then connected seamlessly with the low slung edges of other buildings. Some of the buildings connected above ground with suspended walkways that curved or followed inclines of their own. There were almost no right angles.