Copacetic Ch. 37 Interlude – Vigilant (Patreon)

I stood at the edge of town watching something straight out of a movie. My girlfriend. My clumsy, soot-covered Warden girlfriend, had just launched a god damn rocket into space. 

From the outside it looked like a massive gun-metal tower. Shaped sort of like a diamond, but with the top end stretching much further up than the base, which ended in a pair of massive thrusters. The whole thing rocketed out of the ground, leaving a pit that seemed unnervingly deep, and wide. A square crater. It boggled my mind a bit, and I felt a hint of vertigo as I stepped away from the loose earth. My balance was preternaturally good but I didn’t want to risk falling in there. 

How? How had she done so much!? It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d been working on the surface out here, and yet she’d dug almost a mile into the earth. 

The tower shined. The thrusters that propelled it into the sky it burned with a green sort of plasma. In sci-fi movies they were always blue or red, and always looked like fire. I guess that was probably because they almost universally took inspiration from actual space shuttle launches. Theresa’s didn’t. 

Hero’s didn’t. 

Two huge braces fell off high above, and I watched them tumble to the ground, miles and miles away. Before they fell out of sight I saw two massive parachutes deploy, letting them fall slowly, though they looked like they weighed tons. 

I hoped they didn’t hit anyone, though knowing Theresa they probably landed in a convenient lake, or maybe one of the great lakes. 

‘What the hell am I thinking?’ 

I hadn’t been able to get there in time. I hadn’t been able to help her. She’d sounded… terrified. And I was unable to do anything. And now she was up there, alone, with all the villains no one else was equipped to contain, possibly free aboard her tower. 

I had no idea what was going on. But one person did. If anyone was in the loop on why Theresa had to launch so spectacularly early, and sounded so worried, it was Taylor. 

So I ran. Enhanced by Hero’s power armor, I was able to practically fly across the ground. I made record time heading from the outskirts where Theresa’s tower had been under construction, almost fifteen miles outside of Centralia, into town where Taylor would be. 

I didn’t make quite as good a time coming back in as I had trying to get to Hero’s tower, but it was close. How could I even contact her now?

I leaped through the quad and landed just outside a large collection of students. They all seemed to be milling about and dumbstruck with something. 

“Do you think she’ll be okay?”
“Did a fucking missile just launch?”
“Why was she glowing?”  
“Sign of the Antichrist…”
“She just collapsed and her body was…”

“I hope she’ll be okay.”

“Hey!” I shouted, grabbing one of the students there. A girl, a few years younger than me. I thought I vaguely recognized her. Vanita, I thought? “What happened?” 

“W-wow! Vigilant? Holy fuck you got an upgrade…” Vanita murmured.

“Not really the time! What’s got everyone so worked up?” I asked, concerned bleeding through my tone. “What happened with Taylor?” 

“She’s… she collapsed in class, while showing us a vision of her homeworld. When we woke up she was lying there unconscious. But she was glowing. Then… then this other girl in a purple and black costume came out of nowhere. She got some of us to pick her up and carry her out, but a lot of people saw, and… Now I–I don’t know what to think. Is… could she be like him!?” 

‘God I hope not,’ I thought grimly. 

Without warning a massive boom shook the sky, louder than even the launch had been. I looked up, following the trail of green mist left in the Tower’s wake. It was visible up there, hovering closer than any Satellite I knew of, since it was still visible in the light of day. Falling from it though was a tiny red fireball, lighting up as it re-entered atmosphere.

‘Hero… What’s going on up there?!’

“What are we supposed to do now? Vigilant, what are you going to do?” She asked, still sounding scared, and a little hysteric.

“I… don’t know. I want to find out what happened to her… but I’m more worried about my girlfriend,” I said numbly.  

“Oh god! Terrence! I’ve… got to go! They took Taylor that way, further into town. I hope you can help her!” Vanita exclaimed before dashing off into town. 

I grimaced. That wasn’t much to go on. 

The light in the sky began to brighten suddenly and I looked up. The small dot that had exploded off the tower above was larger now. Glowing like a fiery red furnace, the small object slammed into the ground a few miles away with an impact that made everyone stumble. I kept my balance due to my powers and my suit, but it was a near thing. 

“What in god’s name are you doing Taylor?” I found myself saying, along with a few other people. What had just broken off of the station? Had Hero done that? Or had the villains taken over…? I felt privileged to at least have some idea of what the prison was. No one else here had any clue. 

God dammit. 

I could go in a random direction and hope I found Taylor and the girl in purple, or I could go see if that was Theresa coming back to earth in an emergency escape pod or something. 

I made my choice and began bounding towards the impact site, running for all I was worth. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO