The Legion of Nothing Stardock: Part 6

"Uh..." I tried to think of a response that would calm the situation down. The honest response, "Yes, Daniel explained it to Haley and , but not you," didn't seem likely to do that.

Izzy let out a breath, seeming to deflate as she did it. "Look, I'm not going to--" She paused, not saying anything. "I'd like to talk about this privately. Do you have a good sense of when we'd be out of his range?"

I had a pretty good guess as to whose range she ant.

Go ahead, Daniel told . It'll be okay.

Izzy raised an eyebrow, and gave a half smile. "He's talking to you, isn't he?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "Sorry. I think we'll be out of range in a minute or so, but I'll want to get my jacket."

I walked past her and stepped into our room, grabbing my jacket out of the very small closet. The closet felt even smaller because in addition to my clothes it contained Cassie's new armor (hidden in the form of a backpack) as well as a suitcase filled with accessories for my armor. That armor stood on the floor next to the closet in a block that looked like a suitcase. It weighed too much for to lift. Daniel had carried it telekinetically when we'd gotten off the plane.

On the bed, giving a half smile of his own, Daniel said, "We've been working so things out. I'm sorry you ended up in the middle of this. I'm also sorry I wasn't much help with Sean. Izzy and I were in the middle of things, and by the ti I realized what was happening, it was over."

"It's okay. It wasn't that bad. If I need help, I know how to get your attention."

I pulled my jacket on. It was one of the black jackets I'd used in combination with the stealth suit. Strange to think that it would soon be obsolete.

Then I walked out of the room, and joined Izzy in the hall. She glanced back toward the door as we started, but didn't say anything.

"I was thinking we could walk over to the shipyard," I told her.

She nodded. "Why not?"

It didn't take long. We walked out through the lobby (which looked just as empty as it had fifteen minutes ago), and across the big open lot that surrounded the shipyard. It struck that it had an enormous area around it--even if you assud it needed a big parking lot. They'd probably cleared it to make it hard to get close to the shipyard unobtrusively.

Without invisibility, no one would be able to blend into the grey concrete and tar surrounding the building.

Halfway across the lot, I asked Izzy, "Are you warm enough?"

She wore a gold colored hoodie with the word "Cal" in blue on the front along with blue jeans. It didn't look warm enough.

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"I'm fine, Abuela," she muttered.

I wasn't completely sure what Abuela ant, but from her tone, I was pretty sure she was suggesting that I was worrying too much.

She said, "I flew to Antarctica once in less than this. I'm comfortable."

"Antarctica? When did you do that?"

She smiled a little. "Two sumrs ago--after I got my powers, but before I found out where they ca from. They didn't seem as fun after that."

Her grandfather had called himself "Dixie Superman," and fought against civil rights in the 1960's, becoming the KKK's favorite superhero/villain, depending on your point of view.

I understood why she might not like him, but that didn't stop from wondering how she kept warm. I had theories, but they weren't as good as actual observation. I considered asking her for more detail, but didn't, saying only, "That would suck."

"By the way," I added, "we're out of his range now."

She eyed . "How do you know?"

I shrugged. "We've been friends for a long ti, since long before he learned any manners with regards to telepathy. So we were pretty much in contact whenever we were around each other. I can't always tell when he's in range, but I can sense when he's out of range."

She shook her head. "That explains a lot. You know that the two of you have conversations that are partly telepathic, and partly in words? And you talk about parts of the conversation that no one but the two of you heard?"

I didn't rember doing that at all. "Uh... No?"

"It's hard to follow," she said. "And it makes anyone else who's there feel like they don't matter."

"Oh," I said, becoming conscious of where we were. We stood in the middle of the lot. A cold wind blew around us, and it wasn't hard to tell that we were alone. Searchlights crossed the yard with regularity. Aside from a few cars, the whole place was empty.

Izzy didn't say anything at first, possibly waiting to see if I would continue, but I didn't.

Then she said, "I'm not going to tell you to change that, but I'd feel better if the two of you did. It's a lot like how Daniel told you and Haley why we weren't dating, but didn't tell ."

"Yeah," I said. "I'm sorry about that. He told that in confidence, and I didn't feel like I could pass that on. I even think I said that he should tell you. Or maybe Haley said that? I don't rember any more."

Izzy sighed. "Daniel said that, and he said he wished he'd listened. I'm glad he feels that way, but I don't want to be the only person not in the discussion. I can't tell you to tell about it if sothing like it cos up again, but if it does, could you remind him to talk to ?"

I weighed the request in my head, and decided that it wasn't unreasonable. "No problem. Does that an you talked through the whole question of conversion and children and everything? And he told you about his visions, right?"

She frowned. "Yes. I'm still not sure what to think about that. I always wonder while I'm dating soone if we'll marry, but knowing it's possible, and that we'd have kids? I don't know what to think. We decided to put off worrying about it for now. If we ever start talking about marriage, we'll talk about it then."

"That's good," I said. "That seems really reasonable."

Izzy nodded. "It is. It's better than letting sothing that might happen get in the way of what we're doing now. What about you? Did he ever have a vision about your future?"

I thought about it. "Kind of. He's had visions where one of us saves the other's life, sotis dying in the process, but it's never been very specific. His abilities weren't very strong when we were little kids. He's more powerful now, so maybe it will be more specific than it used to be."

I shrugged. "It's not sothing that matters. It's sothing that might happen."

Izzy nodded. "I know. That's what I thought."

We talked for a while longer after that, but then we both went back to our own dorm rooms.

The next morning we all reported to the lot between the dorm and the shipyards in costu. One of the New York capes was going to lead us through exercises based on the battle plans we'd been given on Friday.