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Stories from the Verse
Multiverser: The Thirteenth Story
Chapter 29: Takano 166
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Beam 205
Sunday morning was church, and Tommy got herself up to get to the early service. After the service she asked Pastor Tom for a few minutes in his study, which he granted.
“I take it this is about Brian,” he said as he pushed the door to but not closed. “Obviously I’ve noticed that he’s been missing.”
“This is going to sound strange,” she said, “but Uncle Brian was Mister Justice over the past few months, since the previous one was killed by Doctor Mordenslice. I’m sure you’ve heard of the trouble up in Yellowstone City last week. Mister Justice and a few other heroes prevented Mordenslice from launching some kind of doomsday weapon into space, but Mordenslice killed Mister Justice--that is, Brian. He also killed our friends Derek and Vashti; Derek was The Angel.”
At some point there was a sharp intake of air from the pastor’s side of the desk. “That would explain,” he began and paused, then, “several things.”
“Anyway, I’m hoping I can stay in the manse. I think my pay from BBS will be enough that I can meet the rent, and I’m keeping my eye open for a possible roommate to share expenses and housekeeping.”
Pastor Tom nodded. “I suppose that would be permitted. I would still like to have you share some of your recollections of the mission field sometime, but I think I can trust the house to a missionaries’ kid.”
She smiled. That wasn’t exactly the truth of the matter, but that’s what someone had concluded and she had allowed them to believe that. “Thank you,” she said, and stood. He also stood.
“Good luck,” he said, “finding a woman to share the place.”
Yes, of course, the pastor would expect her new housemate to be female. Well, at the moment she wasn’t at all sure about a housemate, but that just complicated it slightly.
She attended the Sunday School class, and then returned to the house to change. She was due for lunch at Roberta’s, and it was a bit of a walk. She made sure her duffel was properly packed, and slinging it over her shoulder she headed down the drive, waving to parishioners arriving a bit late for the eleven o’clock service.
It was a strange relationship she shared with Robbie--one heroine, one villainess, tied together by common skills and the fact that they both had a core moral value of wanting to help people. So far they hadn’t come into conflict; Tommy hoped they wouldn’t.
As she was passing through a business district, her reverie was interrupted by a bell--the kind of ringing that in her childhood sometimes meant school, but when continuous like this was used for burglar alarms by businesses. Somewhere not far there was a robbery taking place.
“On Sunday?” she said exasperatedly to herself. “Can’t they give us a day of rest?”
Glancing around, she spotted a secluded alleyway and dashed into it. She changed from her walking shoes to her sneakers, then donned her coat, hat, belt, and equipment including the kawanaga. She stuffed the duffel behind a garbage can, trusting that at least the trash men didn’t work on Sunday, and she rushed out trying to locate the source of the ringing.
Maybe the robbers are Jewish, she mused. Or maybe they just thought all the superheroes would be in church or out to Sunday dinner with family.
Rounding a corner she saw three people--two men and a woman, strolling out of a storefront. The men were carrying fur garments, the woman wearing one and rubbing it against her cheek.
She thought of yelling stop, but then, they hadn’t noticed her, and what was the likelihood that they would stop if they saw her? No, she started running toward them, releasing the kawanaga from her belt loop and starting to spin it above her head.
Three opponents--what should she do?
The driver, she thought. If she can take out the driver, that will stall the others long enough for her to do something about them. The car was parked facing away from her, so as they were opening doors they were looking either away from her or across at each other, laughing and talking. They thought they were getting away.
As she reached the car, she swung the hook out toward the legs of the driver and managed to hook his leg. She gave a sharp tug, and it put him off balance, so down he went, hitting his head on the pavement. She continued running past him so she could recover the kawanaga, as the other man shouted, “Run! It’s Truth!”
My reputation has preceded me, she thought.
The man dropped his bundle and started running up the sidewalk. The woman, for the moment, seemed uncertain. Tommy needed only five running steps to put herself where she could snag the fleeing man. This time she caught him around the waist, and bracing herself stopped him abruptly, knocking the air out of him and yanking him back. He flopped down on his seat, and she ran around him, securing his arms in the cord of her weapon. “Stay there,” she said.
She then pulled out her spare rope and secured the still somewhat dazed man in the road. She dragged him around to the front of the car so he would be away from the danger of traffic.
What now? she wondered.
The bell was still ringing; the age of silent alarms that contacted the police station had not arrived. It struck her that in this world a silent alarm would be less useful--superheroes like herself often relied on the sound of the alarm to alert them to active crimes. It did take longer for police to respond to a bell, but ultimately they did respond, and a car pulled up. Two officers got out.
“You’re Truth, aren’t you?” one said. She nodded.
“I heard the alarm, and managed to catch these two. There was a third, a woman, blonde, late thirties or maybe early forties, slender and somewhat tall. She escaped that way on foot, wearing a fur coat--I’m not so good on furs, but I can tell you it wasn’t rabbit or fox.”
“It was mink, you idiot,” the robber on the sidewalk said. “She wanted a mink, of course.”
“Well, now you’re here, I’m going to untie them because I need my ropes, and I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Right. Well, thank you for your assistance.”
She shrugged. “I think it’s why I’m here.” Loosening first the kawanaga and then the rope on the other, she left the villains handcuffed in the hands of the police, and continued toward her lunch date.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
