Chương 74: 5.13 Clashing Pearssonalities

2103: 12: 30: 22: 10: 58 I walked downstairs, ready to leave and meet up with Amber at our new base again. I wasn't costumed up, but I had brought it with me, packed into a nice duffle bag Mom had given me. Not that I really needed to – take it with me, that is. Amber and I were planning on putting the finishing touches on the base, and nothing more. Cleaning had been done the previous few days – insofar it could get clean anyway – and most of the easy-to-get furniture had been installed.

All we needed now were screens – multiple, for which we had money to spare thanks to the car sale – a computer, and the generator to power it all. As for why I hadn't immediately put on the costume-"Hi Mom," I said, walking past and toward the door.

"I'm going out." -walking out dressed as Jester right in front of Mom just seemed all kinds of embarrassing. As usual, she was busy watching some reality show I neither recognized nor cared much about. Sometimes I was forced to watch it anyway while eating dinner, but then at least I got to pick which one, so I could mitigate the damage. The one about hunting and tagging makered-up seabird species in the New Atlantic, aka the continent formally known as Europe, was my preferred one.

She paused it on my approach, something that was not like usual.

"Sam, can you hold up a minute?" she said. I turned to face her.

"What's up?"

"Michael just called," she continued. I didn't react.

"He's coming by tomorrow to pack his stuff for his move back to New York. He said he'll be here at around ten in the morning, so if you want to, ah, not be here when he is…" She trailed off part way, but the question came through regardless. I hesitated, but not for long.

"I'll be there," I said.

"You will?" Mom said, surprise etched on her face.

"You know that if you're here, he might-""-want to talk?" I finished her sentence.

"Yeah, I suspect he would." She looked at me for a moment.

"As long as you're sure," Mom said, herself uncertain. I shrugged. I didn't feel particularly sure, but simultaneously felt like I needed to be there regardless of whatever I felt. For what purpose exactly, I didn't know. To interrogate my brother? Find out why exactly he did what he did? To berate him, perhaps even convince him to leave behind his villainous ways, somehow? I sure felt angry, disappointed, and, somewhat strangely, betrayed enough for it to be all three of them.

At the same time, I knew part of my reason for seeing him was much more self-serving: to figure out what it was the Heroic Impulse did that day. And not just that day, but out on the lake with Mom and on top of that roof Nth-Sight as well. I needed to find out its limits, its edges and borders. To see whether it had changed and learned after everything, as it did at other times both in my personal life and life as a masked. And finally, to see if I could influence it still.

Either way, I needed to get this over with.

"I'm sure," I said. Mom stared for a moment longer before nodding.

"Just know that if you need anything, or if anything happens, I'll be there as well. Not that I expect anything to happen, but…" In case I panicked again, her eyes said. I shrugged.

"Was there something else…?" Mom shook her head.

"Nope, go ahead. And remember…"

"No masking," I sighed.

"Yeah, I know." It was weird to have to ask… Well, we never talked about me needing permission – she'd all but admitted she couldn't, and wouldn't stop me – but it was still strange to talk with Mom about masking and the dos and don'ts so openly, and for it to have been accepted by Mom.

"We're still just doing stuff at our base, so no need to worry." I opened the door and walked through.

"That's what mothers do," I heard her say right before the TV turned back on, and the door closed. X Our combination lounging area-command center was coming along nicely. Unlike at the Intra-Cascadian, our new place had an entirely separate space for it, a sort-of 'building within a building' pseudo-office space tucked away in a corner of the main factory floor.

We'd decked it out with a desk and office chair, a computer with multiple screens (for whatever reason we needed more than two, but that was not my department). The couch we'd already gotten before was now properly deep-cleaned and sporting new cushions, and now had a chair beside it, a low table in front of them both, and a flatscreen on the wall. Finally, in the corner, was a nearly complete kitchen with oven, microwave, refrigerator, stove, etcetera.

Almost complete, since I only now set down the fridge I'd been carrying. In gorilla form, of course. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Well, that's done," Amber said, throwing her Crowsong mask onto the table.

"Now all we need is to get the generator." I let out a gorilla-powered huff in response. Amber rolled her eyes.

"Shift back already." I complied, pulling off my mask as well right after.

"So, as I said, all we need now is the generator, a couple of pieces of exercise and training equipment, and a stockpile of emergency medical supplies. All of which should arrive on Monday and…" she grabbed and quickly flicked through her phone, "Wednesday. Apparently even the rogues take New Year's Day off." She sniffed.

"So annoying." While typing something out on her phone, Amber dramatically, if expertly, dove for the couch, while I sat down in one of the chairs.

"Anyway," she continued, "the Monday one should be around noon and the Wednesday one is at night. You can be there, right? I'll probably need your help with carrying the generator."

"I can do the Wednesday one, but I don't think I can go on Monday," I said. Amber, midway through putting back her phone, turned her head and stared at me. I explained, "My brother's coming back Monday at around ten, so I don't think I can be there and get to wherever the drop-off is by noon." She still looked confused.

"He's going back to New York," I said.

"Ah, right. You said something like that," she groused.

"And you can't skip it or anything?"

"I could," I admitted, "but I said I'd be there."

"Didn't you have a fight on Christmas?" she asked.

"I thought you two didn't get along after that."

"Sure, but…" I thought for a second.

"I want to talk to him. I don't know, but it might even be for the last time."

"That serious, huh?" she asked. I nodded. Depending on how it went, I doubted I'd see him again. In fact, I was a bit surprised that Mom had been – and probably would be – willing to see him again despite everything he's done. No matter how you spun it, no matter the excuses or circumstances, Darkstar was a villain, and not a minor one. He was a hero-killer, and not by accident as the deaths of Pearlessence and Cat Astral from Charm's Guardians showed. How could Mom stomach being around him? How could I?

Then again, Michael wasn't my child. Hell, he wasn't even my brother and I still felt like I'd been betrayed. The thought alone sent anger and hurt aplenty through me – though which was mine and which came from the Heroic Impulse was difficult to tell, if not outright impossible. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a bit of both.

"Well, good luck with that." Her words brought me back to the present.

"Wish I could just cut mine off like that, but I suppose I'll have to just wait it out for a few more years."

"Until your brother moves out?"

"Until I move out," Amber said.

"My brother's twenty-two already; he's in the last year of college, yet still lives at home for some godforsaken reason. I mean, I'm pretty sure his college offers free housing for students, but he still chooses to live with people he clearly hates rather than move out. Like, who does that?" I hummed agreeably.

"My brother basically moved out as quick as possible." Amber already knew of my brother's resentment of Mom, though not the why. The real why, at least.

"Went so far as to move out of region, even."

"Right?!" Amber said, working herself up – literally, as she near-jumped up from the couch. She quickly lay herself down again though, and calmed.

"Why can't he do the same. Leave us in- well, not peace exactly; there's no such thing as peace with Mom and Dad being as they are. But at least he can run away. Unlike me." I hesitated for a second, thinking.

"Maybe he did it for you?" The parallels were easy to spot to me, but Amber frowned, all but sneering at what I'd said, clearly not believing me.

"I mean, I'm like ninety percent sure that the only reason my brother moved back in for a time with Mom and I instead of renting his own place for a bit-" or living in one of the Jannacht bases, for that matter, "-was because of me." She looked at me doubtfully.

"Yeah, but you came back from the dead, so of course he wants to see you. And he doesn't hate you like he does your mother."

"And your brother hates you?" I asked. I was starting to feel like a therapist here, especially since half of what I'd brought up were things I talked about with my own. Even if most of that never went anywhere.

"Yeah? Though he doesn't do it as much to me as my parents, he still argues with me about stupid shit all the time. And gets angry for no reason. And I'm pretty sure he stole some of my stuff, the cheap asshole." She growled.

"So yeah, I'm quite sure he hates me." I hummed. Maybe I'd been wrong, but that still wouldn't explain why her brother would choose to stay. Still, rather than continuing that conversation, I switched topics.

"By the way, I talked with Saga."

"…Okay?" she asked, feigning incomprehension – or at least, I highly suspected she was feigning. That, or she was experiencing whiplash from the topic change.

"About the apology?" I elaborated. She groaned.

"You're really pushing through with it?" I rolled my eyes.

"I said I would, didn't I? What, did you think I'd back out?" I refused to believe she didn't know by now I never made idle threats. She groaned again, but instead of saying anything, she flipped over and buried her head in the cushions. I ignored her antics.

"Either way, Saga's going along with it, though she said she'll leave the details up to us." At least that was how I interpreted it.

"My idea was to take Saga with me to the skate park. I thought that maybe we could gather everyone? You get Alisha and them – whenever they're back – while I get Millie and Jolie to come with." They should be back by then if I remembered my dates correctly. Anyway, "We'll make it a day, hang out and, I don't know, just do stuff." I wasn't so sure about what that stuff was, but I was sure that it would work itself out. Amber didn't react, keeping her head buried in our new pillows.

I reached into my utility belt and grabbed the first thing I found. In this case, it was the Swiss army knife Amber had all but forced upon me. I'd argued I'd never need one, but she'd said, 'better have it and never use it, than need it and not have it', and that was that. And she was right; I had found a need for it. With laser accuracy – thanks to Amber's own training regimen – I threw it in an arc right to the back of her head. While keeping it folded, of course.

Without so much as lifting her head, her hand shot up and snatched the thing out of the air. Which… huh. Did not know she could do that. Could she only do that with knives or was it some sort of powered 'danger sense' type thing? If it was, she hadn't told me about it. Either way, she turned around to stare at me, indignant glare and pout plain.

"By Jove, it's alive," I deadpanned.

"So, what do you think: good idea or not?" She didn't respond and just kept glaring. I sighed and dramatically gazed upward, staring at the ceiling as I bemoaned, "Dear Lord above, tell me: why is she like this? Whatever happened to my super-tough, scary badass of a mentor? I could've sworn she was here just now." I looked down and back at Amber.

"You, irritable young lady; have you seen her perhaps? Hm?"

"The same place her cute and ignorant little sidekick is, I think," she snarked back. I rolled my eyes and sighed again. Sometimes, I missed when Crowsong was just Crowsong, and not also Amber. Not too often though. This was fun in its own right.

"Why don't you want to apologize to Saga?" I asked, putting it plainly. Amber rose up to sit.

"It's not that I don't want to," she said, lying.

"It's just that, would you forgive someone if-" She cut herself off.

"Never mind. Stupid question." I answered it nevertheless.

"As long as they're honestly making the effort? Yes," I said.

"Are you planning on making a hollow one?"

"No, of course not," she said, indignant.

"But I know how I can come across, and Saga doesn't exactly seem the type to just forgive and forget."

"Eh." I couldn't deny Saga carried anger for a long time. No matter how much Saga said she 'literally doesn't care', the number of times she called Amber a bitch or bitch-equivalent couldn't be counted solely on one hand. But, "She's not that bad. Sure, she can carry a bit of a grudge, but I don't doubt for a second she'll forgive you if you just apologize." I thought for a moment and added, " Especially with Jolie, Millie and I there. Which is why I included them." Definitely. That was the only reason.

"Uh-huh," Amber said skeptically. She turned and lay on her back again, fiddling with her phone.

"And it's definitely not you trying to make us like one big friend group, right? The thing you tried at school a couple hundred times?" I held up my hands.

"What, am I not allowed to hit two birds with one stone?" Amber snorted, which meant I won.

"Soooo, is that a yes?"

"Yes." Amber conceded.

"They should all be back by Friday, so we can hang out at the usual time." Jolie'd be back by then, and Millie as well if I remembered correctly. Convincing them would be pretty easy, especially since Saga had already agreed to it… more or less. If she tried to struggle, I was sure Jolie and Millie would be on my side, and there'd be no way she would win that.

"Great!" I said.

"Friday it is."