SKY CITY POLICE HEADQUARTERS

Stu walked through the main doors carrying Alia’s backpack. She trailed behind holding a stack of well thumbed flash cards. Stu noticed that the bandages that had previously been on Obi’s hands were missing and his skin had no signs of the previous burns. Alia had probably done something about it before he could investigate.

At the morning meeting, Obi was congratulatory to the whole team. “We’ve solved half the problem now. We have one arrest, but we haven’t given Dura’s ghost a reason to rest. As a team, I want us to focus on how the mother was pushed out of the window.” Then he switched gears. “We collected more evidence from the dreamcatcher that Miss Feor said was special to Dura and found a fingerprint. Surprisingly the print is already in our system. It’s a Super, you guys may have heard of as Harpy. He’s a speeder. He’s a part time delivery man who used to sell dreamcatchers. Harpy was charged with ironically speeding a couple of times. He was probably the person seen by the landlady as well as Mr. Feor when we questioned him.”

The chief delegated tasks and dismissed everyone. Stu told Alia to wait for a couple minutes while he took a call. He disappeared into the men’s room, leaving Alia to wait with Obi.

“You broke the story on Stu and Elina didn’t you.”

Alia felt hot. “I was naive about Supers then. I just wanted to be famous for something.”

“But you care about the guy. I can see he also cares about you.”

“Elina’s a beautiful rising Super hero. I’m a non-Super who got lucky. I’m nothing to Stu other than a government assigned roommate.”

Obi patted Alia on the shoulder. “You’re humble. Elina doesn’t like you at all. She’s trying to get Stu back in the hero program. Something she thinks would be best for him, even though he’s thriving here.”

Alia shrugged. “I’m just honored to be here.”

Obi smiled. “Elina has an eating disorder and has been suicidal in the past. If she does anything funny, I’ll protect you. My abilities are a lot stronger than Stu’s over a distance.”

Stu rushed out of the bathroom with a strained look on his face. He shoved his phone in his back pocket and bit the skin on the side of his hand. He pushed aside Alia to whisper in Obi ear before running out the door.

Alia watched him leave. “He looks really stressed out about something. Oh wait, was it what we were just . . . oh no, Elina. Shouldn’t we go with him?”

Obi’s mouth was set into a grim line. “There are some parts of Sky City it’s better if you don’t see. Do you remember my hand?”

=//=

ELECTRIC FAMILY APARTMENT

The doorknob rattled as he tried to get in. Stu banged loudly against the door. He rung the doorbell several times, hoping for a response. “Elina, please it’s just me. I want to help you.” He banged again before realizing the welcome mat was askew. Stu leaned down and found a spare key to the apartment.

He jammed it into the lock before turning it and letting himself in. “Hello? Elina it’s just me. I’m just here to make sure you’re ok.”

Stewart searched the house quickly, finding pieces of burnt wood and destroyed notebook pages. There was broken glass from exploded lightbulbs and steam faintly emitted from the bathtub.

Stu was alone in the apartment. He turned to the mirror and saw writing. In the diminished lighting he couldn’t see what it said so he turned on his pen light. It was written in red lipstick: they’re frying my brain again.