Chương 112: Reconciliation

There's no real blueprint or manual on how to actually free hostages when they're dangling from roots and vines suspended in the air. The fact Tyson didn't have a broken tailbone or something felt like the majority of the luck May had being spent entirely on just him. They ended up scavenging through a few of the buildings kept within the enclosure, and found solace in one of them being a vintage furniture store.

With a few couches that were easily in their sixties and Tyson's own pick-up truck — covered in dents and holes, fresh ones — they were able to secure a means of dropping people from the vines without injury.

"Weirdest moving job I've ever done," Tyson noted as he re-secured the truck in park under another person. Spectroma just gave a hum of confirmation, trying not to speak up around him. There'd been a solid fifteen minutes of her finding any excuse to not say anything more than a few short words so that she could keep her voice different-sounding. She knew she wouldn't be able to maintain that for more than a few syllables at a time, hence the decision.

This time, however, seemed to have been the straw that broke the camel's back, as Tyson turned to her with his fists on his hips.

"These guys are all still unconscious. They ain't gonna know that I know you, May," he blurted out. May's eyes bulged past her domino mask, her hands instinctively moving up to cover parts of her face.

"Wait, no, I-" She stuttered, before forfeiting her attempts at an excuse and slouching.

"…How'd you know?"

"You yelled at the cowboy guy," he pointed out.

"Didn't put on that fake voice when you did it. Plus trying to fake it didn't really do much. You understand I've heard your voice since you were a baby, right?" She tried to stammer out a few more syllables that failed to come out, so Tyson continued.

"Plus… your face is pretty distinct, mask or no mask, or with your hair done differently. If you didn't have blue eyes I'd have some doubts but like… you think anyone else like you's got blue eyes? Come on. Your secret's safe with me, you know that." May finally took a deep breath, fists clenched to give her some sort of stable ground as she spoke.

"Then why didn't you try to reach out to me? I've been doing superhero stuff for months now. You had to have seen me out there." He shrugged, leaning against the truck's bed.

"Videos aren't really the same. I thought it might've been contacts in those, but your eyes have always been that blue. You kept saying your doctor wrote it off as a benign mutation, since why would any of us have blue eyes? I wonder how he thought about that once you got your powers."

"Y-you knew I got powers?" She started, before shaking her head.

"Wait, no, I'll get to that later. Where have you even been!?"

"I uh," Tyson scratched the back of his head.

"I've been working on a second associate's at Piedmont-""So you've been here the whole time!?"

"Been here for longer than you have, I think, I'm on my third year. Information Systems Tech to go with my Business Admin-" She interrupted him again.

"That's not what I'm asking about, good for you going to college, but why have you been down here!?" Tyson let out a sigh, resting his hands on his hips and standing straight, looking out towards the canopy above them with an increasingly exasperated look on his face.

"When dad and I got into that fight over you getting accepted into William & Mary after I dropped out of high school, he kept saying I wouldn't amount to anything. That I just wanted an excuse to avoid learning, used you like one. Said if you weren't around I couldn't even justify my own life, all I could do was leech off of him." He then turned back towards her, hands sliding into his pockets.

"So I left. Applied to Piedmont and started studying. You were getting in with a big college, with a scholarship and everything. You didn't really need me to be there, you know? And dad's got enough money to pay for a nurse."

"You-" She sucked in a sharp breath.

"You made mom leave because of that."

"I know."

"A-at least she came back. She was sorry. Why didn't you?" Silence lingered in the air. His gaze cast on Father Assacu, who was curled up on the ground, chest and back heaving with pain. Completely out of commission.

"I considered it. Reached out to dad a couple years ago. Just before the cancer came back. I had gotten my first degree and told him the news. Said I was considering heading back up to Williamsburg to celebrate. He tell you about that?" She shook her head. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Said I'd probably be celebrating alone. He told me that since I left, his cancer was in remission, your grades were up, and even without mom things were happy. Clearly, those must have been a sign from God or something else that we were all better off away from each other. I told him to go fuck himself and a few other things I'm not too proud of. But I don't need to see him again. That bridge is too burnt. Don't blame yourself on it."

She sat with that information for a few moments, before mumbling out a "His cancer's back. It's terminal. They're thinking he might not see New Year's."

"Yeah. Mom told me. If things get like, bad with him, I'm gonna be there so he doesn't feel like he's died with any grudges. But we can't be around each other. Sorry, May." Silence returned to fill the air as they quietly got to work collecting more of the hostages. Every time she tried to speak, the words caught in her throat as the questions she wanted to ask filled in their own answers between her ears. The one she especially wanted to know was how he knew she got her powers.

But if her mom told him about the cancer, her mom definitely told him about the powers. The fact he wasn't asking further about them meant he likely knew the whole picture. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Though there was one question an answer couldn't fill in. The stutters couldn't stop this one.

"W-why were- were you here?" She asked, pointing towards the roundabout.

"Why here s-specifically?"

"Oh, uh," he began, rubbing the back of his head.

"College isn't cheap. That associate's was nearly ten grand after everything was all said and done. And when you gotta pay rent and most jobs are paying like ten dollars an hour, you need money. I've been doing uh… hench jobs."

"You've been working with villains?" She asked, eyes bulging out of her head again.

"No, no, no supervillain stuff." He explained, throwing his hands up defensively.

"I do like scab labor and courier work. I was moving tools and stuff between a couple garages for the same amount a week's work would've gotten me at my old job. The guys pay well and they don't make me do anything I don't wanna do, since I'm the one who picks my jobs. But uh, like I said, I was moving stuff and right when I hit the circle, that guy-" He pointed at Father Assacu.

"That guy showed up and started throwing bombs at my truck. Was lucky I didn't crash it, but when we were all pulling over, we got tied up. Didn't even explain why. He ended up knocking us all out with something, not sure what. Didn't even dream. When I woke up, I was on the ground, I saw you fighting, and I grabbed a piece of loose road corner from I guess one of his bombs going off and hit that big motherfucker over the head." He pointed to Father Benghal. The wound on the back of his head had dried up, mostly.

"I-I… I see. Sorry you had to go through all of this. And please keep avoiding the crime stuff if you're working in the HenchNet. I don't want you getting beat up by my teammates." Tyson laughed and nodded.

"You got it. Oh uh, speaking of teammates, I had a question."

"What?"

"So uh… Hercules. Tall, lanky lookin' guy with the dark hair. Seems to kind of brood when you're all together?" May felt her throat dry for a moment. She really didn't want to have to explain how Leo ended up beating the crap out of some random guy he probably knew as though she could get anywhere in his head.

"What about him?"

"So uh… you don't gotta tell me if I'm right or not, but like…" He rolled his hand.

"Be real with me. Is his name Leo?" She snorted due to a failed attempt to inhale amidst a panicked exhale, anxiety filling her body. She remembered Leo saying he knew Tyson as a friend, so this kind of question was inevitable, but she didn't want to- He burst out laughing, doubling over with a hand on his knee.

"You can't hide shit!" He called out.

"God, if I wanted to get on your phone it would be so easy." He took a few seconds to recover from his laughter before looking back up at her.

"I kinda knew, but that's all the confirmation I needed."

"You knew?" She asked, fighting past the half-smile seeing her own brother in raucous laughter was causing her to develop.

"Leo's been my friend for a couple months now. He never told me, but like… he's let it slip how strong he is in a couple situations. If I didn't know about that part, I wouldn't assume any random tall white guy is Hercules. So when I did find out, I put the pieces together. Never told him because I know he's just a paranoid dude in general, didn't really know how he'd react. Just mad he knew my sister and never told me." She nodded, trying to maintain a straight face.

"He actually told me he knew you but didn't want me to find out because he was worried about my own reaction which, I guess he was kind of right," she blurted out with a giggle. Realization, however, made her face take on a more serious demeanor.

"It's not really just paranoia. He overthinks in general. It's… it's actually kind of a huge problem of his. Messes with his head, it's kind of treated like a health issue." He took a deep breath, nodding.

"I get it, kind of, but I can't really just… forgive him not telling me when I could've really liked meeting up with my sister and knowing how she's been doing. Especially since…" His eyes moved towards her prosthetic foot.

"If I knew what happened to you I would've dropped everything and been there. First thing. No bullshit with dad would've stopped me." May's body started to close off after that, hugging her ribs and turning away from him. She stepped her false foot away, hearing it clink against the concrete.

"I- They're working on trying to get it back. I'm actually kind of excited, since it might be good as new, and if it is I can move like I did before that ankle injury. I could move like I used to, Tyson." He nodded.

"That's good, but that doesn't make me any less worried. It's still my sister getting hurt, I can't just look past that even if things might get better. Now I'm gonna be worried sick, especially if you're fighting these weirdos," he explained, gesturing to Assacu again. She didn't try to answer that. There was a tangible sensation of obstinance coming from Tyson. The same kind that caused him to walk out on his family, her included. She wasn't going to risk stepping on that eggshell again. It could wait.

Especially since they had to finish collecting hostages. It took another ten or so minutes of quiet collection before all the unconscious hostages were piled up in the truck's bed, resting on the assemblage of old couches. With the job complete, Tyson and May reconvened.

"So, I…" She glanced off to the side.

"I have to head back to base to fill out my report, and I still need to get rid of the tree. We can't have you and the others in here while I handle that. So you're going to need to head off on your own. I'll call in and let them know which side you'll be coming from so they can cut a way out for you. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I should be able to," he conceded with a nod.

"I imagine they'll want my testimony too, right?"

"They will, yeah." They both stood there, refusing to look at each other, for what felt like hours but in reality was maybe only second. Instinct kicked in, however, as they took to an embrace. The first hug the two siblings had had in years. The first warm bond she felt with a healthy family member since her healthy family fell apart. Tears filled her eyes immediately, but she fended off the sobs. She could hear Tyson sniffing, but neither said anything.

They held each other for what didn't feel like long enough, before letting go so they could go their separate ways. When Tyson started his truck, he gave her a wave through the window before driving off towards the edge of the dome. May touched her earpiece.

"Sam, please let the National Guard know that a truck's going to be coming out Eastbound from my tree. They'll need to have a wall opened for them while I handle taking the tree out." She gave the street name he'd be going down so that the National Guard could prepare carving an entryway. Sam gave confirmation, and that left May to focus on the tree. She glared at it. The things it was doing to her family, to her town, to her life.

The feelers invisibly running along her body took that emotion and gripped light tightly. Squeezing it down to hair-thin threads of ultraviolet. The tree had no recourse for this as it initially began to smoke and billow before a sudden burst of flame came from its body. Any heat that radiated towards her, she felt caressed by the unseen points of contact. They pointed that same heat back at the tree, exacerbating the spread of its own burn. The flames didn't feel as warm as that hug did.