MB Short Story: Eclipse

Warning: Contains Mega-Spoilers for Vengeance Ending

                “Not gonna lie,” Sally said, “I thought it would be bigger.”

                Glitch’s head swiveled towards her with an expression that was (one would assume) incredulous beneath his dark shades. “It’s the sun,” Glitch said. “Babygirl, this is as big as it gets.”

                “Clearly, you’ve never seen my—”

                Sally’s hand slammed over Nick’s mouth before he could finish the sentence.

                “I know that the sun is ginormous,” Sally replied to Glitch, ignoring Nick’s muffled protests beneath her palm. “But I still thought it would look bigger. I read an article this morning that had photos of the 2024 eclipse. It looked bigger.”

                “Mmm-mmm-mmumphm,” Nick said from beneath Sally’s palm, which probably translated into some sophisticated joke like “that’s what she said.”

                “That’s the incredible thing about cameras,” Glitch snarked. “The zoom function.”

                “I hate you,” Sally retorted without (or at least only a tiny bit of) venom.

                Glitch lifted his eclipse glasses upwards an inch to wink at her. “Keep telling yourself that, babygirl.”

                Sally let out a low growl. “I told you to stop calling me that. No one talks like that anymore.”

                “You did tell me to stop calling you that,” Glitch acknowledged blithely, “which is why it’s your permanent nom de guerre.”

                Sally groaned. “You did something obnoxious again, didn’t you?”

                Glitch smirked and lifted a finger to his lips. “Not. Telling.”

                Ushering his two subordinates out of the way of another group of eclipse-watchers who were walking towards one of the park benches, Gray frowned with stern disapproval at Glitch’s cryptic comment. “Parker, did you tamper with the database again?”

                “Let’s just say that someone is no longer listed as ‘Delphi’ in Unity’s database.”

                “Now I really hate you,” Sally said.

                “Buy me an iced mocha on the walk back to the office and I’ll consider changing it back,” Glitch says.

                “That’s blackmail.”

                “It’s also grounds for dismissal.” Gray sighed in an exhausted-but-used-to-it tone. “Fix it before admin notices.”

                Glitch’s nose scrunched with displeasure. “Fine. Clarebear never did learn how to take a joke.”

                “Mmm-mmm-mmpbh,” Nick commented.

                Sally lifted her hand off his mouth. “What was that?”

                Despite finally being permitted to talk, Nick hesitated. His expression turned conflicted, clear eyes turning cloudier than the sky overhead at which the four Aeon employees were all squinting to view the midday eclipse during their lunchbreak. Correctly interpreting the reason behind the sudden shift in his mood, Sally’s smile fell.

                “Spit it out,” she ordered. "We can't keep pretending she's still here."

                “Button called Clarence that as well,” Nick said after a long pause. “I didn’t realize that she’d learned the nickname from Glitch.”

                “Ah,” Glitch said, and no one else added any further commentary to the situation.

                Nick put on his pair of eclipse shades (given out at Aeon’s front desk to all employees) and gazed upwards, where the near complete eclipse had transformed the sun into a hollow ring of red.

                “Has there been any news?” Sally asked, blinking to hold back tears. It hurt to stare straight at the sun for so long, even with the glasses. That was the only reason her eyes suddenly stung.

                Grayson cast a worried look over at Nick before responding. “Tobias Zarneki still claims not to know the whereabouts of his son,” Gray says. “Sohvi gleaned that he was lying, but there’s not much UCRT can do legally other than continue our investigation.”

                Glitch’s clenched fists betrayed the sardonic smile which he plastered on. “When y'all do find Kent, tell him that those hellhounds of his are driving me insane,” he said. “Antigone has barely eaten for the past three months since . . .”

                “Since they went missing,” Sally filled in.

                “Button didn’t go missing,” Nick corrected softly. “She left.”

                “You don’t know that for sure,” Sally argued. “I know her last communication seemed incriminating, but—”

                Nick laughed bitterly. “Incriminating? It was practically a confession."

                "Not necessarily," Sally insisted. "El could've been coerced, or decided to go undercover, or--"

           "Don't forget, I know everything about my sister,” Nick interrupted. “Which is how I know she left.” He laughed again, a broken, strangled noise that wasn’t really a laugh at all. “It’s also why she left. Does that count as irony?”

                “Only according to Alanis Morissette,” Glitch quipped.  When no one chuckled, he sighed. “Tough crowd.”

                Sally lay her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, babyboy,” she said with forced cheer. “Kent will be back soon enough to laugh at your jokes.”

                “Will he, though?” Glitch practically spat out the words. “UCRT has been useless at locating him thus far. Rosy said that he found a lead, but then he up and disappeared as well. Everything’s gone to shit, and we’re just standing around staring straight into the sun with a bunch of people who think the world is gonna end in twenty minutes because of celestial shadows. Fuck that. Maybe the world has already ended.”

                Silently, Sally wrapped her arms around him. Glitch’s body sagged into her hug with a choking sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.

                Grayson, who’d been observing the scene with a guilty expression, spoke up. “Like I said, there’s not much that UCRT can legally act upon when it comes to investigating the Mayor. Officially, our hands are tied.” He lowered his voice. “Unofficially, Peace was able to detect that Kent is still in the city, even if she hasn’t pinpointed his location yet. We’ll get him back, Parker. I promise.”

                “What about El?” Sally asked.

                Grayson looked down at the grass, and Glitch stiffened in Sally’s arms. Only Nick spoke up, his voice hoarse and mirthless.

                “Ellery left,” Nick said. “Voluntarily. Willingly. With Vengeance. Stop deluding yourself, Salome. She’s never coming back.”