Barry let out a loud cough and shot St. George a look.
“If Doctor Morris decides to come out to Yuma for a while,” Smith continued, “we’ll supplement your defenses with troops, weapons, whatever you need that we can supply.”
Stealth still hadn’t moved. “What do you propose?”
Something tugged at Danielle’s leg as Smith replied. Barry gave her a look. She bent her head to his. “What?”
“Seriously,” he said. “This guy?”
“What about him?”
“You and him? He looks like he’s barely out of high school and he acts like Burke in Aliens.”
Her lips pulled into a faint smile. “It was convenient, I guess,” she said. “We barely had anything in common, and he put his job above everything else.”
“I’m old enough,” said Barry. “You can just say it was for the sex.”
“Honestly, I don’t even remember the sex being that great. We were together for a few months while I was building the suit and then he moved out, left me with a drawer full of shirts he didn’t want, and that was it.”
“He didn’t even show up to end it? Not even a phone call?”
“Nope. We traded a few emails later. Guess we both knew it wasn’t working.”
“Want me to blast him for you?”
She laughed. It was the first time Barry had heard her laugh in months. The others glanced over and she waved them off. “You know what’s the worst?” she whispered to Barry. “I swore for ages I’d kick his ass the next time I saw him. Now it’s just so damned great to see someone from... from before all of this. Someone from the real world. Even if it’s him. Does that make sense?”
The man in the chair nodded.
“I can have another Black Hawk out here tomorrow,” Smith told St. George. “Two days, tops. It’ll take Doctor Morris and the Cerberus suit, plus anyone else who wants to come. You can meet Colonel Shelly, our CO, and we can all shake hands and talk about what we can do for each other.” He looked at Danielle. “We’ve got full machine shops out there and even some manufacturing facilities. There’s no way you can tell me the suit doesn’t need a full strip-down and cleaning.”
Stealth was a statue.
“Look,” said Smith, “they want to help. It’s their job, remember? Protect American civilians. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” He shrugged. “Do you want a tour of the Krypton base first? I’m sure I could set something up.”
“That might not be a bad idea,” said St. George with a glance at Stealth.
Smith nodded. “Okay. Do you want to do it yourself or have somebody else go?” He looked at Barry. “Didn’t I see on a television special or something that you can fly at the speed of light? You could be there and back before lunch, right?”
“I’m not that fast, but I could.”
Smith’s head bobbed again and he looked from the heroes to Freedom. “So how’s this sound? We send the three Apaches away so everyone feels a little more relaxed. We get another Black Hawk out here tomorrow morning. While we’re getting the Cerberus suit loaded and stowed, Zzzap flies out to Krypton, looks around, gives a yes or no. If it’s a no, he’s back here to say so before we’re even ready to leave. Does that work for everyone?”
They all agreed. Even Stealth gave a slow nod of her head. “I always wanted to fly to Krypton,” said Barry with a smile.
“Great.” Smith turned back to the huge officer. “Freedom, could you have someone report in and check on a helicopter for tomorrow morning?”
Freedom turned and barked out an order to Monroe. Monroe relayed it to someone else and a soldier broke from the crowd and headed for the Black Hawk. When Freedom turned back, Barry was in front of him.
“Have you ever thought of a shield?” Barry mimed something circular on his arm. “Maybe in a patriotic color scheme? It could really work for you.”
“If it helps,” said Danielle, “we ignore half of what he says, too.”
Stealth had vanished. St. George realized she was probably halfway back to her office by now. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. When he saw her next time he’d have to ask.
“This is amazing,” said Smith. The man had moved to stand near St. George as they looked at the celebrating crowds. “Sorry to sound like a broken record but it is. We’ve checked so many places and if we found twenty or thirty survivors it was a miracle.”
“I didn’t think we were special,” said the hero. “I figured every city had a few thousand survivors holed up somewhere.”