54 - Potential Informants

“The rebuild process in Yorkton received a huge boost from Longshore Construction’s ongoing feud with Brightwing Industries. Both companies went into hiring frenzies for the Manhattan Proj—whoops, the Manhattan Island Restabilization Act’s Construction-Led Enterprise, or MIRACLE. At one point, almost a tenth of the megapolis’s population was hired by the two companies or their subcontractors…”

A yawn escaped my mouth before I could stop myself, but no one noticed. Avan was sound asleep next to me, and over half the auditorium was dozing off, on their laptops or phones or doodling mindlessly. Teaching Assistant Smith looked annoyed, but she kept soldiering on with her slide show and notes. Only a few students heard what she said, and I doubted more than five or six still paid attention.

I wasn’t one of them today.

I couldn’t stop playing with my hair or tapping my pencil. Instead, I’d been trying to get a good look at other students’ computer screens in case one of them was in the SSS and they were communicating by email. No dice. The students next to me didn’t have anything juicy on their screens.

“So, why do we care?” Teaching Assistant Smith asked. When no one answered, she cleared her throat and waited some more.

“Because…because the MIRACLE model worked?” One student in the front row asked half-heartedly.

“Hell yeah, it worked. MIRACLE finished two months ahead of schedule. Yorkton’s been one of the easiest cities to get around since then, and it solidified its importance as the financial hub of North America and the place for major league supers to go. There’s almost always something world-ending centered on Yorkton; alien portal invasions, dark god attacks, and rogue inventions, to name a few recent crises. With great powers in a city comes great opportunity for everyone else, as long as you’re willing to take a risk.

“More importantly, though, other cities adopted the MIRACLE model for rebuilding after a disaster.” Smith kept the lecture going, but I…

I…I didn’t care. I’d spent the night tossing and turning. Sure, Ikenga and Sara-N-Dipity would almost certainly have [What’s the Plan, Man?] solved by noon—one at the latest—but there was a small, nagging voice in my head that kept asking, ‘What if you got there first? What if you found the critical clue? Wouldn’t that be something?’ By three in the morning, I’d decided to solve this Investigative Episode or at least give it my all. I’d texted Fursona but hadn’t heard back.

“Alright, by Wednesday, you need to have Chapter 14: The Battle of Blast Ridge read. We’re shifting focus to the Silicon Valley crisis to our west and the emergence of AI-driven machines between California and southern Alaska. Be ready to discuss this time,” Teaching Assistant Smith said sadly. “Please. It’s a fascinating topic, and the Pacific’s post-launch problems are so incredibly different than ours that it’s like studying a different world. I’ll see you then.”

I had an hour before Superhero Ethics, where I’d be more focused on spying than on whatever the lesson was. But if I were smart, I’d be able to learn something during breakfast.

Plain-clothes detective work had its risks. I could get caught out untransformed like I had during the Orientation Episode. Most Powereds didn’t have that problem; they could still access their powers since their costumes usually weren’t tied to them. Magical Girls—and Fursona, apparently—were an exception. Without my costume, I was just an ordinary girl.

But despite that risk, it also gave me some anonymity.

I hurried to the cafeteria. Ten minutes to get there, twenty to eat, ten to Walnut Tower, and ten to the Mister Felsic statue and class; that gave me ten minutes of wiggle room. I slipped into the pizza line. It was only 10:00, but what the hell? Pizza was delicious, and with how Fursona’s workout plan was going, it wasn’t like the calories would be an issue.

I kept my ears open. It would have been nice to have an [Inkling]of what to do, but I doubted a villain would willingly give anything to a uniformed super. Any villain who did that would have to be pretty stupid, especially if the SSS was counting on them for something.

So I was listening but not expecting anything. And I wasn’t disappointed. A few students nearby talked about the Man vs. Nature outside. The D-Wolvers kept finding ways through the wall; there’d been an outbreak in the Poudre Districts last night, and The Triad had to get involved. I imagined Tele-Portal was pissed. It was supposed to be her day off. And the Turbo-Buffalo herd was leaving, so that was good. But something funky was happening in the mountains. Something plant-based. Father Thyme was on the way from Tortuga West. He’d work it out.

I grabbed my pizza: two slices this time, both pepperoni and olives.

“Hey! Annie!”

I turned as Su-Bin walked toward me, giant soda in hand. “Hey, I was going to text you later today. I’ve got…math problems.”

“I’m not just your math tutor, Annie,” Su-Bin said, laughing good-naturedly. “If you’re going to complain about math to me, I get to complain to you.

“Deal!” We grabbed a table, and I explained my problems with multi-variable equations between bites.

“So to solve those, you need to get one variable on one side and the other on the other. Then you can figure out how many X one Y is, or whatever your numbers are,” Su-Bin said as she wiped her mouth after a big gulp of soda. “That’s the first step. Then once it’s on one side—“

“Hold on, I’m not going to remember any of this when I get back to my math book,” I interrupted. If I could get her to talk, I could listen to the conversations around us. “And my pizza’s getting cold. Can you walk me through it sometime later?”

“Sure. Tomorrow sometime?”

“Sounds great. How’s your roommate? That’s what you want to complain about, right?”

“Well,” Su-Bin paused, “not great. I’m actually spending every weekend with my parents again to get away from her boyfriend bullshit.”

“Sounds rough.” I took a bite of pizza and tried to talk around it. “Awe dey stiww bein’ gross?”

"Yeah. They put a sheet up, so I don’t see, but that makes the sounds worse. She makes the most horrible sounds—like a pig or something. And I really, really think she’s hamming it up on purpose, no pun intended.” She sipped from her drink again. “Honestly? I hate her so much. She’s the worst person on campus.”

“I bet.” She wasn’t. I knew for sure that Su-Bin’s roommate was not the worst person on campus. That title belonged to Doctor Mindstorm.

“That’s why I’m with my parents a lot, though,” Su-Bin finished.

“Uh-huh. Hey, what are your Christmas plans?” I asked, then hurried with an explanation. “I know it’s early, and it’s super-rude to invite myself to your place, but if the Man vs. Nature keeps going…”

‘You won’t be able to get home. I’ll ask my parents what they’re thinking. It won’t be much, but it’d be better than being alone in the dorms. Your turn again. How are your other classes?”

“I’m bored with Post-Launch History, but my parents figured out I was skipping, so that’s a no-go. Even though I’m on a scholarship, they still tell me what to do.” I shrugged, looking around. No one was even near us. This was the worst plain clothes detective work ever! “It’s just…I only care so much about what Yorkton was up to. It’s not even focused on Tokyexico.”

“Well, duh, it’s North American history, not Mountain Belt history.”

“Yeah.” I shoved the last of my pizza into my mouth, swallowed, and washed it down with some soda. “Gotta go. My next class awaits!”

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I did not care about dogpiling either.

But I saw how it made for tough TV to watch, and I could imagine being on the wrong side. Right now, Big Fish was fighting Cinder-Ella, Battle Bro, Dark Girl Steel Will, Cannonball, and a dozen henchmen. ‘Fighting.’ Yeah, right. Big Fish kept trying to activate his power, [It Was This Big!]. If he could convince a couple of his enemies to believe his bragging, he’d be able to start snowballing as boasts became reality. He could handle any of these villains one-on-one without his power.

But he’d been lured into a trap. Against all four, plus the henchmen, he couldn’t finish his boasts to get his power going.

Doctor Jackson paused the screen as three henchmen broke bats and pipes on Big Fish’s back and Cannonball rocketed toward his face. “Did they break any ethics rules by dogpiling? If so, what did they do wrong, ethically speaking? If not, why don’t more heroes and villains dogpile? Break!”

Theseus cleared his throat. “I’m ‘back,’ babies! I put my foot down—“

“Enough body-part jokes. We get that your power’s cool, okay?” Gourmet said.

“Nope. I’ve got my finger on the pulse of what’s in, and it’s bad puns. Anyways,” Theseus said as Gourmet groaned, “I put my foot down and said I needed more time for classes. As a minor league villain, the Tokyexico Council of Heroes couldn’t mandate that I fight, so they offered me weekend duty with an eye toward fairness. I can finally rest between D-Wolver patrols and classes now!”

“That’s great. What do you think?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t see a problem with dogpiling,” Theseus said, smirking. “It’s just good business, like when Gourmet and I wrecked you in the weight room, only with numbers instead of quality.”

I half-assed my part in the conversation, letting Gourmet and Theseus dictate what our code of ethics would say since Fursona couldn’t out-argue them by themselves. I’d have to get my points in during any revision we did.

But I was much more interested in Flare and The Crumb today.

They’d always seemed engaged, especially The Crumb, even if his whole schtick seemed to be ‘burn it all down.’ No wonder he and Flare were getting along so well. Their team—with Punch and Grapple—was so far ahead on their code of ethics that it was more unbelievable than a Pranky Jones joke.

But today, only Punch and Grapple were working on their codes. I couldn’t see either of the villains.

[Inkling]. They’re in on the SSS’s plan. And they’re probably in the hall. I needed to follow them.

“I’ll be back. Bathroom.” I slipped away as Gourmet and Theseus jotted something in my team’s code notebook. Honestly, dogpiling seemed fine. It was a great way to handle an enemy you couldn’t manage alone. I didn’t see another way to beat someone like Golden Goose or Magical Girl Stella-Lunar.

Outside the movie room, I heard whispered voices further down the hall. I crept closer. It was definitely The Crumb—he talked so much in class that I could recognize his voice anywhere—and Flare.

“I don’t know why we’re even talking about this,” Flare said. “The plan’s simple. All we have to do is help move parts in. If we do that, the dealer will take care of the rest.”

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

A dealer! Was the SSS getting involved in the drug trade on campus? Or had they already been doing that? Did…did drugs have parts? Not for the first time, I cursed that my class required me to be relatively good. I knew so little about actual criminal conspiracies.

“But where?” The Crumb asked. “They wouldn’t tell me where.”

“That’s because they don’t trust you. You’re their weakest, newest lieutenant. If you wanna be trusted like me, you need to prove yourself.”

I tip-toed closer. There should be a couch around the corner. Were they sitting on it? Or were they further down the hall? I had to check. I poked my head around the corner. Sure enough, The Crumb was pacing agitatedly while Flare sat on the couch and smirked.

“Look,” Flare sighed, “neither of us is on Monologue’s ‘nice’ list right now. If I tell you, you’re not telling anyone. Right? Good. TUASS building.”

[Clever Girl! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

[Dramatic Spywork! +1 Drama Point Pending]

Was that enough information? I wasn’t sure. But I’d run out of time. The faux-leather couch creaked as someone pushed off of it, and I hurried back to class, back to the discussion about dogpiling. As I pushed open the door, I could hear the two villains hurrying to catch up behind me.

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