Riding inside the constructed zogg, you make your way into Zakabb. The guards give you a cursory inspection but quickly wave you through, and soon you find yourselves among the bustling streets. Vendors hawk their wares from open-air stalls while travelers not engaged in commerce seek shelter from the desert heat in several cantinas or restaurants. It seems like this would be a fascinating place to explore under different circumstances, but for now, your main goal is to make it back to your homeworld.
”To the Wesmobile—and SHOTGUN!”
Wendy happily piles into the zogg.
Wendy is confused by the question. ”I just have my robe… I don’t recall having toxin pellets.” She’s trying to remember what she did have that was toxin-pellet like.
Ziss talks to the guards as the arrive in Zakabb, since she is the only one who would know the language and once inside, she started to focus, trying to find the closest "door". She knew she'd still need a couple hours to worldwalk all of them back to Earth, but the sooner they get to find the correct place the better.
Wesley tries to divide his attention between controlling the zogg and gawking at the alien bazaar.
He turns to Ziss when an idea strikes him. "Hey, what do you think about getting Diego, Carmen, Megan and the Armorer home, but maybe let me stay here on Askara a while? You and Wendy might want to stick around too. Just few more days? Maybe a week?"
"Well, when I bring everyone home, it will take me probably anoder day or two before charging up again to travel back to Askara, so if I leave you behind, you'd be on your own for a day or two." She says, a bit worried, since even if Wes could disguise himself, he still did not know the language of the Askarans.
Ziss quickly narrows down the location of a thin spot between worlds where she can open the portal. It is located within the oasis at the center of the city. Fortunately, it's a simple task to make your way there, distracting any curious onlookers and then finding a secluded spot among the lush trees and foliage. Here, Ziss can perform the task without interruption. Bay City awaits!
Ziss guides the others towards the city, sensing the place getting closer as she does so. Once she has located it, she instructs the others to wait as she buys a handful of strange sweets from a vendor. "I can't just waste a trip to Askara..."
"Everybody ready?" She asks as she sits among the foliage and picks up a bottle opener from her pack that is shaped like a huge bridge. Closing her eyes and focusing, Ziss pictures Wendy's dining room in her mind, since she doesn't want to bring everyone back to the park, just in case Spinneret has put someone there to watch for their return. As she feels the pull from her ability, she warns the others. "Hold your breaf and try not to break Wendy's porcelains..."
Wesley finds himself recovering quickly from the dimensional transit. Mindful of the Armorer's presence among them, he waits for the mercenary to leave before returning everyone back to their original shapes, sizes, and colors.
Back on Earth, he finds the ever-present dread slowly crawling back over his heart and mind. Being on a distant planet had actually been relieving, even to the point of allowing him to think that he could escape the Curator through sheer distance.
But even when he voiced the thought of staying behind, he ultimately didn't do it. Was it his own choice, because of the new bonds he'd developed with his teammates? Or was it simply that he wasn't allowed to choose otherwise?
Wendy asks Wes, ”So… do you need to change me back now? And since this doesn’t tax your powers too much, would the Jinn like to experience a passionate moment with this body? I don’t think either of us want me to be a guy! You know I was kidding before about that… but you’ve always transformed yourself for me.
“I am being serious about the idea that I should be open to changing myself for you… and I won’t get offended if, y’know… you turn me into a girl with bigger boobs. Which is pretty much any girl.”
Wesley looks over Wendy's Askaran form as she suggests keeping it for a moment of passion. His mind spins as she suggests more uses of his shapeshifting powers in the bedroom. "I... no, Wendy, I like you as you. If you wanted to know what it's like with, you know, bigger boobs, I could let you experience that. It's strange that I know more about what that's like. But don't change just because you think that that's what I want."
He takes her hand and laces his fingers with hers. "Okay?"
Wendy takes Wes’ hand, thinks a bit… and blushes. ”I’d rather be me from the waist up… and below, a mermaid!”
Wesley grins widely. "That's very doable!"
He steps a little closer as he squeezes her hand. "What say we check on Bay City, make sure all is well, and then head out to the beach?"
Wendy still has her necklace for breathing underwater. The only other article she has on is her robe. (And to answer 86’s question earlier: she tossed her last vape bomb in the sands of Askara.)
”I like that plan,” she replies. She then excuses herself to speak to the Armorer.
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Back in slightly more familiar territory 86 looks to all the others once their additional guest has been escorted away. Letting them all have their pleasantries for a time before speaking over the group. " I do not want to interrumpere(interrupt). But now that we are super(upon) your star(Treznak term for planet) iterum(again). I need to know where is a good locus(location) to implement a intuens(scanning) foci?"
She didn't expect any one person to answer but knowing that Ziss was capable in her own language, and seemed at least passingly familiar with these Terrans she would be able to show her the necessary location. The sooner she was reunited with her pack the sooner she could shove away that feeling of isolated dread hanging over her every movement.
”Lemme show you the base. Barbs can help you with the Supercomputer while Wes and I are out. But… you might need me if you want to scan to find your people.”
The Armorer exchanged words with Wendy, then turns to regard the rest of you. ”I am beyond grateful for your rescue. Tumbler, I’m sure we’ll be in touch again soon.” They then move to leave the Hatrix house, flying off back to their base of operations.
What thrilling adventures await our heroes now that they’ve returned to Bay City? Find out in our next issue!
Wesley and Wendy head out to the private beach where they'd enjoyed themselves before. He picks her up into a princess carry and walks out into the surf. As the churning waves roll up and recede, spraying them with mist, he whispers, "Close your eyes," as he lowers her down into the water.
Wendy feels a pulling and stretching sensation in her legs as they suddenly feel limp and bound together. Then their rigid bone structure dissolves and is replaced with powerful muscles around a single spine running the length her tail.
Then Wesley tosses her out into the ocean!
Wendy rises up from the water with her robe in her hands. She tosses it to Wes. ”Can you spread this on a flat rock?”
All she is wearing now is her necklace, which may provide occasional cover accidentally, but still… being half fish is a step up in terms of modesty compared to the last swim.
She gets a feel for her fish tail, trying to swim faster than she normally does as a person.
Wesley catches the robe and telekinetically moves it to the shore, spread out so the sun can start drying it out. Should have waited for that to come off, he thinks.
Then he dives into the water, willing his shape to become that of the mermaid he became to visit Kulana. Diving beneath the waves, he seeks out Wendy as she's getting used to her own mermaid form. With no taut butt to goose, he just slips his arms around her waist in an aquatic embrace.
The moment Diego realizes he is back on Earth...HIS Earth...he relaxes significantly before teleporting away!
Wendy feels maybe a little guilty for her internal ’yay Jinn.’ But she places her hands over Wes’. ”I wonder if I can keep up with you, now that we’re both mermaids.”
Wendy is honestly surprised by the clarity of her voice—she had forgotten the necklace allows her to speak in the water.
”Does being a mermaid allow me to breathe without the necklace, or is breathing water a another power of yours?”
Once the immediate concerns were dealt with, Ziss goes after the Armorer as she doesn't like the idea of people jumping to other worlds like her. "Hey, Armorer, how about we talk about dis person who sent you to my world?"
She also checks her phone. She had promised something to Nicole and was completely away for some time...
Wesley points to a well-disguised set of gills where the mermaid tail meets his human half. He then touches Wendy's necklace and makes a twirling motion near his own neck.
He points up, then swims to the surface. "I'm not sure how that's done," he explains when both their heads are above water. "It's some kind of magic that I think I could replicate, but not without, you know, a cost. I'm just going to stick with what I've already figured out. Maybe next time we do this, I'll see if I can borrow Ziss' or Carmen's necklace."
”Yeah… please, don’t risk the cost. The tail is already a treat! What girl doesn’t wanna be a mermaid? —or a fairy? —or a princess? Well… my cousin practically is a princess, so ‘not her’ on that one.”
"You're welcome, and I hope we have some fruitful transactions in the future!" Tumbler calls to Armorer as they leave. She sighs, looking at everyone swiftly parting their separate ways and goes to leave as well.
Once she's alone, Tumbler makes it to her safehouse, taking a long shower and then changing quickly before grabbing one of her burner phones and calling up a contact.
"This is Tumbler. Hey, Tegan. I need a favor. I need someone to smuggle a burner for me into...well, yeah. I haven't talked to him in over a year. Just do that for me and give me the number? Actually, program this one into it so he can call me when he wants to talk. Thanks, love.'
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86 is a bit weirded out that the entire team disperses once the mission was over and her ears flatten a bit. 'Not the return I had hoped for, and now I am to follow this... thing?' She looked down to the miniscule Barbs, it looked fake, like a false representation of the terrans passable but too small and too smooth to be real. She reached down and scooped up Barbs. "You assist computatrum(computer), show where." Placing Barbs on her shoulder she dropped to four limbs in this relatively cramped space. The gravity of Earth was not alien to her but with the lack of rest her back had started to ache a bit.
Barbs asks 86, ”Do you have cravings for meat? The Bacon Crisp at Cups and Capes is high in calories and protein. I believe you have a BMI that will allow you to reap the benefits of this breakfast food, without suffering the usual detrimental effect. I had better order three.
“For a beverage, would you prefer coffee or juice?”
RoboBarbie, a six foot tall fembot, patiently listens and remains still. It should be clear to 86 that the Barbs has dominion over the other fembots.
A dark haired doll that is Barbs’ size is by the holocomputer. Within seconds, a holographic map of Bay City can be seen. This doll speaks in a strange language. (Cantonese.)
Barbs translates the gist. ”Ken recommends a virtual tour, so you know your way around the city. Would you find this helpful?”
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Not even craning her gaze to try and look at Barbs she responded, "Delivered victus(Sustenance)is appreciated. Lustrat(Scans) show your star has a rather resplendent biosphere, can you redimo(procure) living creatures? I have never had real venaro(hunt) of my own before let alone ontop a star. I do not know what these other things are. Explain, for I cogitamentum(thought]) Terrans consumed Dihydrogen Monoxide? Without further lustrat(scans) I do not know if these substantia(Substances) would be safe for my consummatio(consumption)."
She looked at the holocomputer realizing that the dizzying symbols were still utterly alien to her, nor was the device made for someone of her size, nor exact body structure so using it properly would be difficult. There was a muffled scoff at the city, so much wasted space such inefficient supply pathways, and what was with all the unused airspace. Pushing that aside she assumed it was an incomplete diagram and perhaps more existed under the surface.
"Toour..." The feel of the word is strange in her pallete, but using context she believes it to be some kind of exhibition of the place. "Affirm I petitio(request) to connect to your network, that my translator may work better. Before this... 'Toour.' and meal" The truth of the matter was despite having been trained in a place that used drones to facilitate the exercises, it was odd to have such like models of drones to Terrans assisting her. Why would they make a device that would trigger one's natural sense of unease. Hadn't they heard of the insolitum paradox.
”Yeah… please, don’t risk the cost. The tail is already a treat! What girl doesn’t wanna be a mermaid? —or a fairy? —or a princess? Well… my cousin practically is a princess, so ‘not her’ on that one.”
"I don't know if I could turn you into a fairy. I could try, if you really want to try it out. But mermaids first, right? Why don't we freak out a fishing boat? Or find a pod of dolphins and see if they'll let us swim with them? We should maybe invite Megan if we're going to make this a regular thing. She'll probably know all the best places to swim."
Wendy blinks twice. Oohhhh… fairy. For real. Another time. I got a mermaid tail.
”Yeah. I’m good with mermaid. Really good! Let’s swim around for a while. Explore the lake, then each other…
“I mean, as long as Megan isn’t on her way over.”
She gives Wes a long, passionate kiss and presses her flat little breasts against the Jinn’s.
”I seriously am gonna enjoy this swim. But you did a lot of the heavy lifting on Askara, so don’t forget I’m here to take care of your needs too.”
Wesley squeezes Wendy tight during the kiss, then playfully swims a little with her while ordering his thoughts.
When they resurface, he pushes back his long, wet strands of hair from his face and takes hold of her hands. "I'm enjoying this too. I know I... helped out a lot with Ziss getting us home. It was good to be useful, obviously, but... but these powers are getting almost beyond me. Like, should we just W-word 86 back to their people? Carmen's hand, Diego's 'family'? I really should try scaling back, but why should I let others take the risk of getting hurt?"
He pulls Wendy in for another embrace. "I'm sorry. Thinking too much. Bad habit. Let's get under the waves so I don't have to talk anymore."
”It’s not a bad habit,” Wendy replies. ”My thoughts race ahead of me all the time, look at the branching paths—all guesses, educated though—and I pick one and follow that thought.
“You know where this road goes. If you W-word everything wrong with the world, you won’t last a week.” Wendy’s eyes show a genuine look of concern when she says, ”I hate that possible future. I like the future with you in it… and especially like this—you can be the Jinn and be Wes, when you choose.”
She looks like she wants to add more to that, but the thoughts racing through her brain scare her. And she doesn’t want to scare Wes.
”Haha… yeah. We should swim so I also… no, wait. I can still talk underwater.”
Wesley studies Wendy's face seriously for a moment. Then he quirks a half-smile. "Then you can tell me whatever you want and I won't be able to get a word in edgewise." He dives back under the waves, urging her to follow him.
Barbs has ‘Ken’ steer the map as the holographic view of Bay City is zoomed to street level, almost creating the illusion that the sofa is the front seat of a tour bus through Bay City 64.
”It is to my disappointment that the Bay City level in the 1999 video game, Crazy Taxi, depicts more realistic buildings. I would import the map to beautify the steepness of simulated Lumbergh Street is exaggerated.”
She points out several landmarks while speeding through a city that has N64 graphics.
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Lounging on the couch surface eating one of the three bacon crisps that Barbs had talked about having settled for water to supplement the meal. 86 lamented at the horrible rendering of the computer silently the differing levels of technology that the terrans had access to was confusing. Androids but then something graphically worse than a broken projector.
Her eyes fluttered and she shook her head clear time and time again, since she hadn't gotten any actual rest during their entire trip to Askara. She didn't want to fall into a rest cycle, this place was strange, alien, and she couldn't be certain noone would come after her during her rest.
'I have to find the others, gotta make sure everyone is safe. Have to regroup.' Her head lulled on the couch as they passed yet another blocky rendering of a non-descript building. This virtual tour seemed more a mental torture than anything, a test designed to test one's mental fortitude.
Barbs would easily be able to tell that 86 was about to fall asleep on the 'tour' fully clad in her battle raiment on the couch.
Wendy takes Wes by the hand and swims alongside. Wether Jinn-Wes is moving slow for her or she can really keep up with her own athletic build and tail, she won’t ask.
She just swims for a while. Then the words just pour…
”I always look ahead. I can’t not. And so… I usually just tell you all the thought that I’m betting on, knowing it may not be the best or work as I think. But it’s why we beat the bad guys, I like to think…
“So when you asked me in the lamp… the first time, as the Jinn. I saw a one time fling, and I saw another long-term direction. And at the moment, I honestly thought the fling was it. Talking to Carmen made me take a look at the other…
“We could really work out.” Wendy’s voice shudders. Sharing this though terrifies her. But she already started. Too late to take it back or say ‘never mind.’
”Not me and the Jinn. This is a magical body, and you’ll always be young as the Jinn. Assuming you’re not immortal, as Wes, you’ll age.
“I want a girlfriend while I’m young, but all relationships end in break-ups or marriage. It’s not right to ask you to live life as the Jinn. So… if you can put up with me, like this, and you want us to last… I want you to know I won’t marry the Jinn. I’ll marry Wes.”
She looks at Wes as the beautiful mermaid. ”I know what I am. But I also know your a guy under that feminine shell. And you’ve been too good to me for me to expect you to throw Wes away over me.
“Just… the really physical stuff happens on the wedding night. No sooner.”
Wendy is watching where she swims. She’s scared of scaring Wes off. She stammers, ”I’m not trying to rush you into commitment. Please don’t panic. I just think you need to know that if my mind goes this far ahead, it’s because it’s the future I like best… and it’s also why I want to date you publicly as Wes and meet your parents.
“When you’re ready to let me meet them, I mean. No rush on that either.”
She doesn’t rush to the surface. But if Wes wants to respond, she’ll expect she’ll swim up. Then she’ll be ready for… words.
Barbs sees how the info affects 86. She zooms the map back to show all of Bay City. It looks photographic when scaled down.
”This is where we are, 86. You were held captive here, and over here…”
She makes sure 86 can understand the map okay, and suggests 86 ask questions rather than get info-dumped.
Wesley tries to focus on enjoying the moment -- mindfulness -- he was swimming with his girlfriend as mermaids together, deep below the waves. It was magical the way the two, hand-in-hand, flowed through the water like beings out of myth.
Then the words just pour…
”I always look ahead. I can’t not. And so… I usually just tell you all the thought that I’m betting on, knowing it may not be the best or work as I think. But it’s why we beat the bad guys, I like to think…"
Wesley, silent by the design of his aquatic form, listens while looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
“So when you asked me in the lamp… the first time, as the Jinn. I saw a one time fling, and I saw another long-term direction. And at the moment, I honestly thought the fling was it. Talking to Carmen made me take a look at the other…
“We could really work out.” Wendy’s voice shudders. Sharing this though terrifies her. But she already started. Too late to take it back or say ‘never mind.’
Wendy had spoken like this before, on the sands of Askara. When they'd explored each other underneath the pounding desert sun. He hated the feelings of fear her words drummed up, though there was also excitement. The hope of a happy ending and a life, still with challenges but that could be overcome.
”Not me and the Jinn. This is a magical body, and you’ll always be young as the Jinn. Assuming you’re not immortal, as Wes, you’ll age.
“I want a girlfriend while I’m young, but all relationships end in break-ups or marriage."
That's not the only way relationships can end, he thinks with a shiver, grateful that he couldn't voice it even though he wouldn't ever.
"It’s not right to ask you to live life as the Jinn. So… if you can put up with me, like this, and you want us to last… I want you to know I won’t marry the Jinn. I’ll marry Wes.” She looks at Wes as the beautiful mermaid. ”I know what I am. But I also know you're a guy under that feminine shell. And you’ve been too good to me for me to expect you to throw Wes away over me.
“Just… the really physical stuff happens on the wedding night. No sooner.”
His imagination runs despite himself. Could they achieve that level of happiness? Could he escape what he's become? He forces away an undercurrent of dread that escape would come with a cost he may not want to pay.
Wendy is watching where she swims. She’s scared of scaring Wes off. She stammers, ”I’m not trying to rush you into commitment. Please don’t panic. I just think you need to know that if my mind goes this far ahead, it’s because it’s the future I like best… and it’s also why I want to date you publicly as Wes and meet your parents.
“When you’re ready to let me meet them, I mean. No rush on that either.”
There was a freedom in being muted, Wesley realizes. He doesn't have to respond right away. He can't, unless he drove to the surface... but he thinks the best response right now is to remain in the moment and leave the thinking (and overthinking) for later. He pulls Wendy close and seeks out her lips while drawing her hand toward his breast. His mermaid's tail slides along hers, entwining in an aquatic dance as he makes out with her -- and discovers that their ventral fins are very sensitive.
Wendy is surprised by the kiss—she was so caught up in the fear of freaking Wes out, she didn’t expect this, not did she expect the feeling below her waist.
She pulls back from the kiss and exclaims, ”I have a fish vagina!” Noting the hand Wes placed on the Jinn-breast, she says, ”Sorry… reference to our first, y’know, when you said… right. Talk later.”
She hopes her little joke didn’t spoil Wes’ desire to kiss, because the sensation in Wendy’s tail has given her a craving for much more than that.
The delightful discovery was interrupted by Wendy's exclamation -- pulling Wesley out of the moment. His eyes are wide and mouth open in astonishment. I didn't do it on purpose!! he tries to respond, afraid he'd broken some sort of rule.
Her immediate callback to his vocalization about having breasts -- complete with her hand on one -- lifts his sudden worry. He giggles silently, causing a few air bubbles to escape his lips.
He leans forward until their foreheads are touching while holding her close.
"Ready to go back to shore?" he asks Wendy after finally returning to the surface. He looks around for the coastline and sees it, a distant strip of brown and gray. "Wow. We're way out in the ocean. Race you?"
”Then I’m off like a wedding dress!” She holds up a finger. ”Prom dress if you’re the Jinn.”
Way more comfortable with the topic of what might be, seeing that Wes shares this desire (right? Given the reaction), Wendy swims happily.
Her competitive spirit and athletic build give her a chance, mermaid on mermaid… but in this race, second place doesn’t really lose.
Wendy's comment about dresses (and them coming off) stuns Wesley briefly, but he quickly gives chase. He stays close behind her, keeping up but just barely. His mind is struck with images he can't ignore, like seeing Wendy in a prom dress, and then wondering if he'd also be in one. With all her talk of futures and marriage, he'd been forgetting all the steps in between.
His mind's eye wavers between envisioning him attending prom as a girl or guy; in a dress or in a tux.
He's distracted enough that Wendy beats him easily.
"Do you want to be my date for the prom?" he asks her when he catches up.
Wendy is tempted to say ‘no,’ waaaaiiiit a biiiit, then say ‘yes to Wes.’ But that would be a lie. Wendy had been dreaming of a day when she and Daphne would double date to the prom, picking out dresses for each other and their girlfriends.
Wes’ parents will want to see him off in a tux. And Wendy is okay with it… dating Wes is the public relationship.
What matters most is what Wes wants.
”Yes.” Wendy smiles warmly. ”That’s a yes to you, Wes. Go in a dress or in a tux.” Thinking a bit, ”You know what I mean.. not like Jinn in a tux.”
Wesley's mind spins at her acceptance. "I think-- I think I could manage both. We'll start off, me in a tux. Me me. Wes-me. You know what I mean." He puts forth a bit of effort and he has legs again. Long, sexy legs than lead up to an hourglass shape. He scoops her up, not turning Wendy back from mermaid form quite yet.
"Then, you know, we can slip away. I'll put on the prom dress you picked out for me. The one you've always wanted your girlfriend to wear."
He nuzzles her as he carries her on to shore. "Returning to the dance is optional."
”We could do that,” Wendy agrees, but points out (after glancing downward) that, ”since you choose ‘both,’ we could do prom at your school and you can have a dress for my school.
“Everyone wears dresses at my school.” She clarifies, ”To class. Boys can be taken to dances. Or a mysterious girl from another school.”
The Darling Derby brazenly skates alone. She has her hat, her specs, and a small arsenal: toe cables, vape bombs, and a hair net in her Hatarang.
She expects she’ll need none of these, nor her Jet Sets for speedy escape, after all, ”I’m here because Tumbler is on both our Friend Lists.”
No need to be an asshoIe about it, Derbs tips her hat. ”Darling Derby at your service. Thank you for having me.”
Tegan Queen crosses her burly arms over her barrel chest as she leans back in the oversized chair behind her desk. The window in her office gives a clear view of the gym floor, where numerous people pump iron.
"I heard you've been dying to meet with me for some time now, Derby. I'm only too happy to oblige."
”Hopefully, you’ll feel as happy when I leave.”
She takes a seat, crossing her legs in a businesslike manner.
”Tumbler’s good at being discreet. I’m far better at detecting buIIshit. Her date with my cousin seemed off. She came on too fast, cut her off too fast, and came off too defensive when I asked how it went. She was right that I wasn’t just asking. But as you might already know, my cousin and I live in the same house. We talk.”
Derbs pauses to gauge how Tegan Queen is taking this so far. She hasn’t gotten to the part she’ll like.
She doesn’t have to, but Tegan Queen isn’t going to give unless she gets. DD is well aware that her fearsome rep isn’t going to bully this woman.
Tegan seems nonplussed. "My business is information. I asked Tumbler to do me a favor and dig up a little dirt on the Crass Crown. I left the method of acquiring that info up to her."
”Cheap dirt,” Wendy corrects, ”whereas the information you gave Tumbler was extremely valuable.
“I’d like to give you what you missed, or perhaps what you really wanted to know.
“For example, you were told I play with dolls. I build fembots with self-learning AI. Not the same thing.
“And then there’s the helicopter crash. Daphne feels awful because three people died in a helicopter that landed on her.”
Wendy stops there. ”Do you want the part you missed? I think you’ll find my price fair. I’m so confident you’ll agree it’s fair, I intend to give you the information before even telling you what my price is.”
Wendy is well aware that this effectively makes her information free.
"You've piqued my interest, Tegan says, leaning forward eagerly.
”Daphne could have caught the helicopter.
“If… she’d reached her full potential. She’ll be the strongest Bay City has ever seen. My great-grandfather’s foreseen it.
“There wouldn’t even be a struggle. And I feel awful saying it, but now that she knows even the most extreme impact is nothing to her—even with fire in the mix, fire, the antithesis to her ice—she won’t hold back.
“Not to stop a falling chopper, a runaway train, a crashing 747.
“And what will this do to your title? Your business? Nothing. It’s a fact my cousin will be far stronger than you and her mother combined, and it’s a fact she won’t speak of it.
“We Hatrices don’t blurt our capabilities, nor do we keep them secret. What others know, don’t know, think they know… any of that can prove advantageous to us.”
Before getting to the price, she asks,
”Is this why you asked of my cousin? Just curious why Bay City’s strongest would ask, and this was my assumption.”
"The information was not for me, but for another client, whose identity I am not at liberty to reveal," Tegan says. "But it doesn't hurt to know it myself, of course."
The muscular woman sits back in her chair again.
”Oh. Well, that’s a shame. I was hoping you’d get something out of this, because I’m actually grateful for the info you gave Tumbler and proud of her for how she used it.
“I let her lead the team on a mission… as you probably know. Covers were blown, very public car chase, mostly motorcycles.”
Getting to her point, ”I’m respectfully asking you not to have Tumbler snoop on my family again.
“She didn’t fool me the first time. My concern is who she won’t fool the second time. My aunt, my great-grandfather, my cousin too after being played—if any of them get wise, I won’t be able to protect her from the consequence.
“So not for me, but for Tumbler, the Hatrices are off-limits in this info exchange.
“Fair?”
Tegan nods. "Fair. Alright, Derby. Consider you and yours off the table."
”Thanks.” Derby tips her hat, and politely bids the queen farewell.