They watched the ship disappear to the northeast, contemplating what had just happened.
“Is he serious?” Gus asked, looking stunned.
“Don’t underestimate him, he’s kind of insane.”
“How does he know we’re the only ones here?”
“We should have had some of the decoys meet us outside. They will probably be less effective now. His transmission would have been sent to everyone at the manor. It’s not too far a leap when only two of us show up. I should have thought of that before.” Aurora tapped her lips, trying to remember anything else she had overlooked.
“He’s fun to mess with, I know that. I guess he is crazy if he thinks I’m just going to give up the manor. Do you have any idea what is here that everyone wants so badly?”
She motioned and they walked back up the beach to the manor. “I spent so much time looking through facilities upgrades, and I came up empty. There’s nothing out of the ordinary. I searched by highest FP cost for anything that seemed out of the ordinary and worked my way down. Nothing popped out to me. I honestly wonder if it wasn’t all just an exaggerated story that kept getting bigger as it got passed along. Don’t get me wrong, the manor is awesome as a base, but it’s not that different than what I’ve seen at Purple Faction, just that the manor is stacked vertically instead of being a large compound.”
“No, I don’t buy it,” Gus said, pushing the call button for the elevator. “My gut says there’s something unique here, and he’s not getting it. That reminds me, let me check on something before training.”
“Will you be long?”
“I’m just going to phone a friend, and I’ll meet you down there.”
“Sure, I have things to practice,” she said as they entered the elevator. She stepped off at the arena’s floor and Gus waved as the doors closed again.
“See you in a bit,” Gus called as the doors closed and he headed to the control center to call Dave again. He picked up on the first ring.
“Gus, how have things been?”
“I’m still alive.”
“I had no doubts, brother. Tell me about what powers you have now.”
Gus caught Dave up on the battles and new powers he had acquired.
“I think you’re more powerful than a lot of supers we used to work for! Good job, man!” he said.
“Yeah, we used to work for some losers though.”
“‘Tis true, but I’m kind of partial to staying alive. The powerful ones are always fighting and expect their henchmen to do the same. I ain’t no fodder!”
“Dave, I am your fodder!” Gus said with a Darth Vader intonation.
Dave laughed. “Then can I borrow twenty bucks? What else is going on? Have you unlocked anything cool in the manor?”
“Actually, I haven’t told you about Aurora yet, have I?”
“Wait, that sounds like a girl’s name. It’s not some weird robot slave girlfriend, is it? Gus, you dog!”
“Calm down, hornball. She’s a super that I worked with on the station. She stowed away with the supers attacking me after she escaped their prison. She’s been helping me ever since.”
“Is she hot?”
“Look her up, you have the holonet. She’s Purple Faction.”
“Hold on.”
Gus could hear keys clacking over the connection.
“Dayum, dayum, dayum! Dude! You’re making me jealous. She looks a little serious though. She’s not one of those uptight prissy supers, is she?”
“She’s pretty chill.”
“You like her, dude! I can tell. Have you made a move?”
“It’s not like that—”
“Don’t BS a BS-er. Just sprout some balls and ask her.”
“Dude! I need her help. I don’t want to make everything all weird by hitting on her. What if she’s just nice, and I screw things up by being all clingy? Besides, she said she hated it at the academy when guys just saw her as a potential girlfriend.”
“You’re gonna get friend-zoned. Just sayin’.”
“Whatever.”
“It’s true, dude. Don’t be that guy that she always confides in, telling you how much other guys hurt her bad—”
“She’s way out of my league, anyway.”
“Hey, I have a cousin, Carl. He married a girl way out of his league. The dude is goofy looking too, so I’m telling you…” Dave said, drawing out the words.
“…so you’re telling me there’s a chance. Yeah, I get it.”
“It works for me. Well, sometimes. But it has worked. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You’ll never know if you don’t try.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Hey, when did it happen?”
“When did what happen? When did she get to the island? It was like two days ago.”
“No, how soon after you got powers did you make your vow of celibacy?”
“You suck, you know that?” Gus asked as Dave cackled on the other side of the line.
“I would go for it, if I was in your shoes.”
“Sure you would. Now you’re just saying crazy stuff. I never saw you hitting on girls when we all went out as a group. Are you drunk or something?” The moment Gus said it, he wanted to grab the words and take them back. “Sorry, that came out wrong,” Gus said, cringing.
“No, that’s fair,” Dave said soberly. “It’s getting closer for my verdict pronouncement. It’s scaring the hell out of me, Gus. I haven’t drank anything since, and I haven’t even been tempted. Maybe I’m legit scared straight.” The mood had changed and Dave pushed on.
Gus could tell he was upset, and he mentally kicked himself for the poor turn of phrase. “Hey, about that—” Gus tried to say.
“Here, let me give you that information I got on Methiochos.” Dave plowed forward as if he hadn’t heard. “He was a super about fifty years ago. Worked with an outfit named Manticorps. I guess they were kind of a big deal, but something happened and Methiochos disappeared. Everyone thinks he embezzled a large amount of money and retired to his own island or something. Funny that they’re partly right!”
“After that, Manticorps hit hard times. From what you said, they must have had a lot of money tied up in
