Week 19.4 – Cortex’s Theory

Previously: Digger explained his situation to the members of Defcon 5, but their leader Cortex said that they could not help him. And now…

Digger sipped at his coffee as he sat at the counter in Katrina’s kitchen the next morning. The room was not at all what he expected–rustic and homey, the kitchen of a farmer’s wife rather than a super-powered former pole dancer.

“So what are you going to do today?” Katrina asked as she stirred eggs in the frying pan.

“I’m not sure,” Digger said. “I guess I’ll look up Ron first and see if he has any contacts who can help.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then my choices get a lot narrower,” Digger said. “Maybe my friend Davey can grease some palms, although I don’t want to fall back on him too much. And I really don’t want to ask my lawyer for help.”

“You have Invictus?”

“Caveat.”

Katrina made a face. “Sorry. I wish I could help, but I don’t know many people in a position to, and the ones I do know, I kinda need to keep for myself. You know.”

He did, in a way that only a few other heroes could. Explosions were by nature imprecise, which meant you were always blowing up stuff you didn’t mean to. You tended to burn through a lot of favors smoothing that stuff over, so if you had some good ones owed, you guarded them closely.

“But there may be one guy I could talk to,” Katrina said, spooning eggs onto a plate. “He’s..”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]Before she had finished setting down the skillet, they heard the door open. Katrina tensed, and sparks danced before her eyes–three tiny detonations, like tiny fireworks, POP-POP-POP…[/blockquote]She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Before she had finished setting down the skillet, they heard the door open. Katrina tensed, and sparks danced before her eyes–three tiny detonations, like tiny fireworks, POP-POP-POP. But she relaxed in the next second as Metalord’s voice called out, “Hey, Katrina, you decent?”

“Never,” she replied.

Cole Chen strolled into the kitchen in slim jeans and a button-down shirt that was probably as expensive as it was plain. “D-Man!” he said. “Thought I’d find you here.”

“What are you doing just walking in here?” Katrina asked. “You know I was about to blow your ass up?”

“Yeah, that would’ve happened,” Cole said as he slid onto a stool beside Digger. “So D, I’ve been thinking. I feel really bad about your rental getting wrecked and all, and I want to make it up to you.”

“Thanks,” Digger said. “You can start by not calling me ‘D.’”

“So here’s the plan. You and I are going to go out and buy you some clothes. Some…” He looked Digger up and down and said, “…presentable clothes. And then we’re going sightseeing.”

Digger rubbed at his eyes, suddenly feeling tired again. “Do you ever listen to what someone else says? Anyone?”

Cole looked confused. “Like what?”

“Like I told you yesterday that I’ve spent a lot of time in San Francisco,” Digger said. “I’m very familiar with the city. I don’t need to waste any time sightseeing.”

“Who said anything anout San Francisco?” Cole replied. “Come on, dude, the plane’s waiting. I’m taking you to China.”

Well, if you read the trailer, you knew this was coming, so no big surprises here. But come back tomorrow anyway, for our next episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…