CHAPTER 43
IRIDIUM
No comment.
Response from Assistant Superintendent Neil Moore when asked if the Academy forbids same-sex dating among students
The tele blared a reality program about the Squadron. Darkmancer was fed up with Kinetic Lad’s recklessness and they were yelling at each other in the kitchen of the Squad House—the mansion financed by Corp and completely wired with cameras.
“How hard up do you have to be to do one of these programs?” Iridium asked. Frostbite and Red Lotus, sprawled on the sofa, paid her no attention.
“I don’t care if he is a Mental power, I’d kick Dark-mancer’s ass,” said Frostbite. “He’s a total prick. How does Kinetic Lad put up with that?”
Chen vaulted to his feet and struck a fighting stance, moving his mouth slightly out of sync to mimic a bad dub job on a kung-fu movie. One of the many things he and Derek shared, Iridium had noticed, was a love of flatfilm. “Only when you defeat me will you become the master.”
The door from the classrooms swished open, and Jet crossed silently into her room, studiously ignoring Iridium and the boys. Iridium stuck her tongue out at Jet’s back.
Frostbite jumped up and struck an equally ludicrous pose. “But my crane kung fu is strong! You will never defeat me!”
They began to wrestle, and Iridium clicked up the volume on the set to drown them out. Frostbite finally won over the smaller Red Lotus and pinned him to the ground, letting out a cowboy yell.
Hornblower stomped into the common room from the gym, sweat beading on his muscles, unshapely on his still-stubby teenage body.
“Fairies,” he sneered. “Misplace your wings?”
Iridium pushed a footrest into his path without taking her eyes off the projector, and Hornblower almost fell on his face.
“Watch it, you bitch,” he snarled, “or I’ll make sure you can never put that face on an endorsement poster.”
“I am shaking in my fashionable shoes,” said Iridium. “Why don’t you go drown in a vat of protein shakes, Tyler?”
He pointed a stubby finger at her. “You don’t get to use my name, bitch.”
“Stop calling me ‘bitch’ or I’m going to get irritated.”
“You’re going to get a smack across the face.”
“Oh, knock it off.” Frostbite sighed, standing and helping Red Lotus to his feet. “Everybody in here knows that the only reason you pick on girls is because your teeny, tiny, shriveled ’nads aren’t big enough to stand against someone your own size.”
Hornblower rounded on Frostbite. “You wanna start something, faggot?”
Chen winced, but Derek stuck out his chin. He’d grown every which way in the last year, and Iridium realized with a start that he was taller than Hornblower.
“I don’t start fights, Tyler,” he said. “But I’ll sure as hell end this one. So why don’t you go look at porn or pump iron or something, and leave us higher life-forms to our afternoon?”
Hornblower made a move toward Frostbite, but Derek stood firm, his hand in Red Lotus’s.
Iridium jumped up to join Frostbite and Red Lotus in their standoff. “F*ck off,” she told Hornblower. “Unless you want me to get Night and your uncle in here.”
Hornblower’s eyes flickered between the three of them, and Iridium knew he was weighing them up: Derek with his eyes nearly as bright as his hair, cheeks flushed, spoiling for an excuse to hurt Hornblower; Chen like a golden, trapped animal tethered by their intertwined fingers; and Iridium herself, her arms spread and palms up, the beginnings of strobes in each hand.
“Like any proctors would side with you people,” he sneered. “Rabids and queers.”
“Report this,” Frostbite said quietly, “and I will do things to you that will render you useless to everyone except the Janitorial division.”
Hornblower’s lip quivered, and he looked like a very small boy wearing a muscle suit. Then he turned and practically ran out of the room.
Red Lotus jerked his hand from Frostbite’s and stormed off into the boys’ dormitory.
Frostbite raked his hands through his hair. “Shit. Shit. Chen, wait!”
“Whoa, there!” Iridium grabbed Frostbite’s arm.
He spun around, and she saw ice-crystal tears imprisoned in the corners of his eyes. “Just leave me alone, Callie.”
“I don’t care,” Iridium said. “You need to know that.”
Derek blinked. “You don’t?”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Why should I?”
Frostbite slumped back on the sofa. “In case you missed it, Corp’s not keen on the love that dares not speak its name. Especially when it’s between heroes. You know how many ‘retirements’ over the past ten years have been Corp quietly getting rid of us?”
“Screw them,” she spat. “You’re my friend. Hell, I was best buddies with the girl voted Most Likely to Hack Somebody Up and Mail the Parts to Their Family.” She smiled thinly. “I think I can handle you making out with guys instead of chicks, Derek.”
“If anybody finds out …”
“No one’s going to, not from me,” said Iridium. “Now go talk to Chen. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
Frostbite sniffled again. “He was the only one … in my entire life. What if I’ve blown it, Iri?”
“Not possible.” She reached over and ruffled Frostbite’s spiky hair. “You know, Derek the Dork, you turned out pretty irresistible. Chen would have to be some kind of idiot not to see that.”
He smiled and brushed the frost away from his face. “Thanks, Iridium.”
“Go,” she said, putting her feet up again and changing the channel on the holo. “And tell Chen the two of you make a cute couple.”
“You’ll be the only one we can tell,” Derek muttered. “The sneaking around puts a cramp in the romance, let me tell you.”
“Well, at least you don’t have to find a date for the graduation formal,” said Iridium. “I can see it now … matching tuxes, corsages, a floatlimo … are you going to get a hotel room? Chen will slap you around if you get fresh.”
Frostbite’s smile was less rigid this time. “You’re crazy. Corp would have a heart attack. Night would probably fall right out of his creepy cowl.”
“Worth it for that alone,” said Iridium, grinning.
Frostbite started to go into the men’s bunkroom, and then turned to face her. “You’re a good friend, Iri.”
“Thanks,” said Iridium. “I guarantee, you’re the only one who thinks so.”