Or had they healed us? Had they made us stronger than we were before? No, I'd always been able to do what I'd done; ever since I'd reached maturity. But the idea that the blast had done... something. That wasn't too far outside the box. That wasn't crazy.
Was it?
"Cassie?" Edwin asked, worry in his voice.
I shivered. "I'm okay. Really. It's just. I don't think I'm supposed to remember that blast. Do any of you remember it? When the Kipas first got here? We were all out on the street, trying to support the cops and the military as we were invaded by freaking aliens. And then... then..."
"And then?" Adam asked.
I looked up at him and swallowed. "They attacked the building. They killed a bunch of our older superheroes."
He nodded. "They killed all of us. And then they brought us back, as far as I can tell."
"They... they what?" My voice felt faint, confused. I'd died?
A screaming alarm burst out overhead, making me jump right out of my skin and out of my train of thought. Fucking alarms.
Chris looked up at the ceiling. "That alarm's only used for one thing." He looked at us and shook his head. "You're not armed and you're in no shape to fight. Stay here. We'll be back in no time and we'll bring Logan so we can get into strategy."
"What's the alarm used for?" I asked at a whisper.
But I knew the answer before he said it. They'd heard me talking about them. They knew where I was, where we all were, and they were coming for us.
Starseer pulled on his mask, sighed, and headed for the door. "Kipas."
Chapter 12
Like hell we were going to stay shut up in the safety of an Alliance building when there was a fight going on outside.
Most of us had our suits. Edwin rushed off to the techie warehouse downstairs, lights in his eyes. I watched as Cassie tugged on her suit and wolf-whistled at her, completely unashamed. She rolled her eyes and flipped me off, pulling her hair back into a tight tail and tucking it up beneath her hood.
As I watched, most of the girls did that. Izzy's hair still wasn't long enough to worry about, but now that I thought of it? I couldn't think of many superheroines who didn't have their manes out of the way while they worked.
"What's up with that?" I asked.
Lexi frowned at me. "What's up with what?"
"Almost all of you pull your hair up or hide it away. Even Ember does, and hers is mostly fake."
Nishelle scowled. "Say that again and I'll roast you right here, right now."
I shrugged and looked back to Lexi, who struggled with an answer. Finally, Izzy walked over and pushed me back on my ass. "I cut mine short so I wouldn't have to do that. But yeah. It's a handhold if you wear it long. The guys do the same stuff. Didn't you notice the white guy with the Thomaston group? He had his all done up in a big twisty knot at the back of his head."
"I just thought Whirlwind was trying to make a fashion statement," I said, beaming at her.
Before she could punch me, Cassie-slash-Strikeout came over and pulled out her favorite lipstick, adding a splash of red to her look that coordinated well with her suit. "Stop causing trouble or you won't get to play with the nice aliens. That may or may not have killed and resurrected us a very long time ago."
"You want answers on that directly from them?" I asked.
She shook her head. "As far as I know, all attempts to communicate with them have failed. Why would that change now? We need to get down there and help them. They volunteered to help us."
I stretched my arms over my head and let them fall back over my shoulders, folding across them and gave her a pointed look. I had no idea why we were waiting and she was the one who was clearly in charge of it all. She frowned at me for a second then sighed and headed out the door, the others in hot pursuit.
Well, maybe not so hot. The whole situation didn't feel as terrifying, as ramping up,as when it was our city on the line. Call me an asshole, I guess. I cared, but I didn't know these streets or these people and they weren't really mine to protect. It didn't seem like that was the general idea for most of the Alliance, and that was weird to me. I'd spent years thinking they hadn't wanted us to participate in their superhero games, but it seemed more and more that it was probably Scribe telling them to go fuck themselves.
There was a wonderful light rail that looped the city around itself and throughout it. We took a moment to work out the schedule posted just outside the Alliance building, then walked up the platform to wait on the train. The chittering shriek of a Kipa shattered the silence around us and made my skin crawl.
"Sounds like it's about six blocks that way," Nishelle said, jerking her thumb in the direction of the noise. "We could probably just run it faster."
Lexi scowled at her. "You people never like to arrive in style. There is something to be said for being fashionably late."
"Fashionably late gets people killed. I swear, you and Izzy are the stupidest-"
"Ladies," Nate sighed. "If you don't mind? The rail is coming right now. A run takes effort out of all of us. It's better to wait for public transport, hitch a ride, and get over there in good shape."
The girls glared at each other as the little monorail-type-thingy
