Drone

XVIII

XVIII

The clean up of the scene in the warehouse district was completed with a sort of cold detachment that only made Phoebe feel worse about everything.

Without even knowing his name or if he had a family, Wasp used a blue-green fire that he conjured with a flick of his wrist to burn the shade's body away. It wasn't hot, it left no scorch marks on the cement below it, but the body was gone in moments. The ashes blew away from them on a breeze and Phoebe felt herself crying for a man that she didn't know.

He must have a family. Parents at least, he still looked relatively young. There was no way there was no one in the world who didn't love him. And now he was gone. With a dismissive flick of Wasp's hand, he was gone.

“Wasp.” Percy spoke up calmly, looking over to the strange man in their car. “He saw everything.”

“I'll deal with it.”

Phoebe couldn't stop herself from turning away from the place where, just moments before, the poor shade's body had lain and looking back at the man they had saved who was babbling at their driver in broken, panicked Italian.

Wasp began speaking to him in his native tongue, saying something calm and soothing. Then he was lifting his glowing hand and waving it over the man's vision.

Phoebe gasped. For one horrible moment, she thought that Wasp was going to do to this innocent man what he had done to the shade.

It took her a moment to recognize that Wasp was doing to him what he had done to her the first day they met. The man was frozen in place but for his mouth that he immediately used to let out a string of Italian that needed no translation. Then Wasp put his hands on either side of his head and his warm energy enveloped his head.

Although Phoebe recognized what he was doing, though it had been done to her as well, she couldn't stop the fear that suddenly started that he was going to be killed like the shade had been.

But the man didn't start trashing in pain, he blinked, confused, then his eyes rolled back and his body collapsed. He was still breathing, he was still alive and Phoebe took a steadying breath.

“I've made him think that he stayed out drinking. Drop him somewhere safe.” Wasp ordered the driver.

He nodded and worked together with Percy to put the passed out man into the car.

Only then did Wasp look back at Phoebe and Jean.

“Are you two alright.”

“No!” Jean cried out then began babbling hysterically. Wasp wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Phoebe, frowning at the look on her face.

Phoebe, knowing it was cowardly, turned away from him and looked off to the side. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to face him just at the moment.

Wasp wanted to ask her what was wrong. He wanted to make sure that she was okay but he had a feeling that his concern wouldn't be welcome at the moment. He just couldn't imagine what he had done wrong.

Any awkward silence was covered very effectively by Jean's blabbing. Disbelief, fear, a long string of curses and expletives split any hope of silence. It was like she hadn't even noticed or cared that Wasp had killed a man right before her eyes. She was just happy to be alive herself.

Phoebe wished she could share that same lack of concern. All she could see in her head was the shade's body thrashing in agony as Wasp looked on, completely indifferent to the life he was taking.

Jean and Phoebe gathered their bags from the car and followed Wasp as he led the way back to the post. Jean didn't stop talking. She was even beginning to repeat herself but her high emotions kept her from realizing it.