Patchwork Magisters Supernatural enforcement for a superhuman world.

Kryptonite, Part Eight

Roland found Chad on the roof, sitting on the edge and rolling a small thread of fire between his fingers and staring off into space. “I interrupting?” he asked.

For a moment, Chad looked like he wanted to say ‘yes’, but he shook his head, patting the ledge next to him. “Nah,” he said as Roland sat down. “I called Christine.”

“How’d it go?”

“Oh, it was sunshine and puppies,” Chad snapped. He pointed to a pile of melted plastic sitting next to him. “How do you think it went?” He looked darkly out over the city. “I should have known it was too good to be true.” The fire flickered in his hand, pulsing and growing. Roland glanced at it with a raised eyebrow.

“That going to be a problem?” he asked, gesturing. Chad shook his head.

“Roof’s fireproof, I’m fireproof, and so are you,” he pointed out. “That’s why I came up here – when I get like this, I can do some real damage. Usually, I try not to.”

“Yeah, but today’s been pretty stressful, so I think I can give you a pass,” Roland said, patting Chad on the shoulder. “Ooh, warm.”

“Yeah, anyone else’d have second-degree burns,” Chad said, with a slight edge of a smile. “Alright, what do you want?”

“Just wanted to see how you were doing, and whether I could help. Catherine’s having her own meltdown, but I’m not so great with calming her down, as a rule. Usually I just make things worse. So I’m leaving it to Blossom.”

“Doesn’t she have to worry about her boyfriend?”

“Nah, he’ll be fine,” Roland said, leaning back. “Yousef’s got his head screwed on pretty tight. Hell, he’s probably already shaken the thing off.” He looked over. “What about you? Going to give up and find transitory happiness?”

“Might be nice,” Chad muttered. “My whole life, all I’ve ever wanted was to be big, you know? Famous, important, whatever. One point, I thought I could do it by being a villain. Later, I thought maybe saving the world would do it, but it wasn’t. Maybe it would be easier to stop caring.”

“I know what you mean,” Roland said thoughtfully. “I spent most of my life just wanting to belong somewhere. If some magic mirror could have made me stop feeling that way, or hell, given me that place? I don’t know if I could have turned it down.” He sighed. “But then, it wouldn’t be real, would it?”

“That’s the thing, yeah,” Chad sighed. “I said as much to Christine, which was when she hung up on me, which was when I started having second thoughts.” He looked over, and shrugged. “But I didn’t come this far to stop now. You don’t have to worry about me, Roland, I’m staying in this game until the finish.” Standing, he gestured to the rooftop door. “I’m going to go flying for a bit, get some air. You should head back and check on your team.” As he stepped off the ledge, he turned in midair. “Seems to me that you’ve got somewhere you belong now.”

Downstairs, Catherine was standing in front of the Frost, looking at her reflection in the mirror that had caused so much trouble, when Yousef walked in behind her. “I thought you might be down here,” he murmured, stepping up to look at himself over her shoulder.”

“Where’s Blossom?” Catherine asked.

“Recovering from a mild panic attack,” Yousef said wryly. “Us being affected is worse for her than if it had been her in the mirror.” He shook his head. “It’s funny, you know? Sometimes she’s so stable, I forget that she’s not used to things that I take for granted. She’s never lost anyone. Never had a friend move away, never had a family member die. So when the whole thing with Jack happened, well, it was the first time. And now this.” He shrugged, looking at the mirror. “I feel kind of responsible,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for my stupid wish, we could be in there fighting it out, in a traditional us-against-representations-of-ourselves way, instead of having to stand out here and think.”

Catherine chuckled. “Maybe I should thank you, then,” she said. “I can’t imagine what my representations would have looked like.” She turned away from the mirror, looking at him. “Have you decided what you’re going to do? You’re not losing much, turning away from something you never wanted in the first place.”

“I think, that’s what I’m supposed to say to you,” Yousef said with a laugh. “Anyway, I made up my mind, while I was talking to Blossom. I don’t know if I was ready for this, and I don’t know where it’ll go, but I want to see it through. What about you?”

“I don’t know,” Catherine admitted after a moment, looking down. “It would be nice to be normal again, you know?”

“I don’t, really,” Yousef said. Catherine looked up in surprise, and he shrugged. “None of us do. Roland’s always had his powers, Blossom’s definitely always had hers, and even when I was ‘normal’, I wasn’t really normal, I was a strange nerd who was tinkering with machines when his friends wanted to play. It’s hard to miss something you never had.” He sighed, glancing over to the mirror, and then softly added, “…but sometimes, I have wondered. I mean, what would it have been like? What would I be like if I’d liked football instead of circuitboards?”

“And?”

“And I wouldn’t have met Blossom, so it wouldn’t have been as good,” Yousef said firmly. “I don’t regret having my abilities.” He looked back at her. “And you? Still thinking about quitting? Because if you do, I think we have to put Meredith on the team, and I don’t really want to do any more missions with her.”

Catherine laughed. “I’ll have to keep that in mind,” she said, turning back to the mirror. “I don’t know what to do about the flute,” she finally said. “I can’t fight it head-first, toe-to-toe, and that’s the way that I’m used to fighting. Hell, I don’t even know if I can beat it in any sort of fight.” She took a deep breath, and crossed her arms in front of her. “But I do know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

She turned back to him, holding her flute. “I’ve never backed down from a fight yet, and I’m not starting now.”