Cassie had ntioned that he’d been feeling left out. It wasn’t as if I’d been ignoring him though. Anyway, technically I’d seen him most weeks—Stapledon program stuff every other weekend, (officially credited) Stapledon distance learning classes each week, and sotis additional team practices midweek.
Of course, Lee had taken a couple weeks off from that recently—apparently so he could arrange accidents with blenders.
How did that even work?
“Nick?” Vaughn asked. He sounded a little irritated.
“Sorry. Lee killed a bunch of people, and I’m a little distracted.”
Vaughn blinked. “Whoa. Like how many? And who?”
“Syndicate L people who learned my identity last spring, and as for numbers, he told 37.”
“That’s a lot.” Vaughn shook his head.
“I know. I’m still not sure what to do about it.”
Vaughn nodded. “I guess. On the other hand, it’s probably a load off your mind.”
Part of wanted to deny it, but honestly? “It is, kind of. They weren’t good people. The problem is they were still people.”
Frowning, he said, “Isn’t he supposed to listen to you? Your grandpa made a deal with the guy, right?”
“It doesn’t work like that. All he owes by that deal is lessons in fighting, and if I want them, music lessons. Well, that and protection, and not just for , for all of his children and grandchildren.”
“That sounds like work. Didn’t you say he had… five kids? How many cousins do you have?”
I thought about it. “Twenty-three. My mom’s got the least children, and I think Rachel and I are the youngest too.”
“That’s a lot of people to watch.”
I shrugged. “I think most of my uncles and cousins stay out of trouble, or at least stay away from supervillains.”
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Vaughn grinned at that. “Yeah. I get that. My older sisters never get attacked by anybody, but here I am. It seems like it’s been non-stop supervillains ever since I zapped myself with the chair.”
“No kidding. For it seems like it was the mont I chose to put the suit on. I an, honestly, I’ve kind of been training for this my whole life, and no one bugged until I brought the Rocket suit out of retirent.”
Vaughn pulled Jeremy’s chair out from under his desk. “Mind if I sit down?”
“No, but that’s Jeremy’s chair, so he might if he gets back.”
Sitting, he said, “I’ll get up if he cares.”
Seeing no reason to argue, I pulled out my own chair and sat down, finally opening my can of pop.
Vaughn leaned back in his chair. “This is the kind of thing I miss—us as a team hanging out. When Cassie was around, she pushed stuff like getting together for movies. I don’t think we’ve even gotten together once since she left.”
I searched my mory, and he was right. We hadn’t even done anything during Christmas break—not as a group anyway. A few of us had been at Haley’s family Christmas party, but there wasn’t any reason for everybody to attend.
Plus, with most of us at different colleges (or not in college), it was hard to get people together. The post-St. Louis board eting had been the first ti in months.
I’d never really thought of Cassie as the glue that held us together, but maybe I should have. She’d pushed to revive the League in the first place.
“I wonder if we should do sothing about that?” I asked.
Sitting up, Vaughn said, “Yeah, without a doubt. Haley, Sydney and Camille are doing their own thing. All the rest of us are doing school and Stapledon. I’m sure no one’s going to have ti for a regular movie night, but now that we’re becoming official, we should get together, you know? Even if it’s only for pizza, it’s sothing. It’ll be a step toward feeling like a team anyway.”
“Okay,” I said. “Are you going to do it? I’m working on Cassie’s armor, and I’m trying to arrange a visit to the Xiniti watching the jump gate.”
Vaughn’s eyes widened a little at the last part. “Seriously? I was mostly just talking, but soone should do it. We really are splintering, and if all that stuff the board was saying is true, we’re going to need to be more of a team than we’ve been lately.”
At his words, the weight of that eting ca back to . I hadn’t really felt it then, but on reflection, it had hit harder. We were all going to die if we didn’t make the right decisions in the next few years. Sure, the board had said that if they stepped back, and let us make our own decisions, it gave us a better chance, but it was clear that there were no guarantees.
If Vaughn was willing to do the work, better him than .
“Go for it,” I said, “but if you’re thinking next weekend, you’re going to have to be careful about tis. I’m trying to set up the ti for my visit to the Xiniti then.”
“You’re bringing along for that, right?” He didn’t sound angry, but he sounded a little more concerned than he had.
“If you want to go,” I said.
He stared at , and then laughed. “And see the Xiniti? I’m going.”
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