Always
< < Angela was awakened by persistent knocking.
What time is it? Eight o'clock. In the evening, based on the sickly orange parking-lot light peeking through the curtains.
She'd only been out an hour.
Why had she been out at all?
Well, she'd taken her Xanax, and then... well, if there wasn't a good reason to stay awake, she preferred not to.
Whoever was woodpeckering her door better have a good reason.
Peephole: Detective Noel Aquino.
They had nothing to talk about.
She opened the door, but kept the chain on. "What."
"Is Ricky here?"
"No." She started to close the door.
"He didn't come home last night."
Angela remembered last night. She wished she could forget.
"He wasn't in school today."
She remembered the nauseated, terrified way he stumbled out of her apartment. And the way he'd seemed close to death just a minute earlier. Was there some kind of delayed reaction? Was he laying in an alley somewhere? Her heart began to race...
"Has he been here?"
"Not today," Angela managed. She started to think of places he might have gone. Places to search. "I'll help you look for him."
Noel knew what she meant by that. "No. Stay here. In case he comes back. If he does, just tell him to call me. I just want to know he's all right."
"Yeah."
Noel Aquino's car wasn't even out of the lot before Angela had her clothes off and her sapphires on...
Where would a kid like Ricky go?
She tried not to dwell on the possibility that he wasn't okay. Hospitals were off her list. She figured a concerned parent like Noel would have checked them already anyway.
For that matter, every patrol car would be looking -- not officially, of course, but Sapphire was sure there was an understanding among officers on the force. They took care of their own...
What did that leave her?
Hangout spots she didn't think Noel would think of. Or know about.
Where would Ricky go to think things out?
At first, she had no idea. Where *wouldn't* he go? Ricky was the kind of kid who pondered things all the time. He didn't need a quiet place to go -- he'd just retreat to his own bedroom. But obviously he wasn't there. So he could be anywhere.
Well, anywhere he wouldn't be disturbed.
Then, she narrowed it down. He'd go somewhere they'd been together. To be moody and sentimental.
So she checked the convention center. GB's. The place he'd taken her for dinner that night. Her old house -- well, the empty square of dirt where her house had been.
No luck. She fanned out. The school. His friend Jimmy's -- Jimmy didn't live there anymore. The QuickMart.
No Ricky anywhere.
Ricky was a smart kid. When he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found.
Maybe I should just go home and wait.
Why? That's the last place he'd ever show up.
It's your fault. He'll never want to see you again. You're a menace.
No, it was just an accident. He'll understand. He just needs a little time to work things out. He has to know I didn't mean to hurt him.
He said "They've made you a monster."
He didn't really mean that. He was just... overwhelmed.
You mean afraid.
Sapphire looked down. She found herself perched on a rocky outcropping at the mouth of Quarry Canyon. How did she get way out here?
'Way out here' -- it was only ten minutes from where she was staying. It just seemed so remote because the canyon itself was so dark and desolate. Quarry Canyon Road went nowhere -- unless you counted the old limestone quarry twenty miles in, or the water reserviors, or the interstate -- but anybody who wanted to get on the interstate just took the freeway a few miles to the south. Only illegal road racers and teenagers looking for a make-out spot ever drove through the canyon at night. And tonight was cruising night, so nobody would be out this way for hours.
And yet, here was a set of headlights blasting out of the canyon...
As the car approached the intersection with Alvarez, the glow of civilization began to give it shape. Even from her elevated position Sapphire could tell it wasn't a sedan. Low. Wide. Curves and sharp angles. Some kind of exotic sports car. Its engine howled -- downshift. But the car was still going so fast...
Sapphire looked ahead to the intersection. Red light. A few cars ambling down Alvarez.
The superheroine suddenly had visions of another intersection. Two cars. Collision. Fire. Horror.
This time, she was ready.
Thighs flexed, and Sapphire was airborne.
The air snapped at her intrusive speed. She pushed to go still faster.
Quarry Canyon Road dead-ended at Alvarez. The sports car would have to turn. It would have to slow down. But it wasn't...
Almost upon the intersection, brake lights reddened the road behind. Speed vanished. The exotic's engine roared another downshift. Clipping the corner. Swinging wide. Into the far lane. A minivan was already there...
Sapphire hesitated. Anything she could do from this far out would be worse than a collision...
The minivan driver was alert. The box jerked sideways with unexpected agility, up onto the sidewalk, brakes slammed. The exotic's brake lights faded as it gathered its haunches and shot forward, the car behind the headlights appearing and disappearing with each passing streetlamp.
The minivan lurched to a stop, half on the sidewalk. Sapphire dropped out of the sky to a bungee-soft landing next to the driver's side. "Are you okay?"
The driver was already white as a sheet, but upon seeing a scarcely-dressed girl appear out of nowhere he nearly lost his eyeballs. It took him a moment.
"Is everyone all right?" Sapphire repeated, raising her voice.
The driver blinked, turned to check his passengers. He turned back and nodded.
Sapphire tensed as adrenaline met anger. She looked up the street; tiny brake lights marked the sports car's slightly-less-insane weave through the next red light.
That asshole was going to kill somebody!
Someone had to stop him.
Sapphire would stop him.
Her gemstones blazed with energy as she lit off after the careening car. Wind roared as the heroine tucked herself into a bullet, streaking toward its target.
Damn, the car was fast!
But she would be faster.
Brake lights flared. The car suddenly got close. She was almost upon it when it juked to the right.
Had the driver seen her?
Sapphire somersaulted, kicking an imaginary wall like a swimmer to jet after the exotic on its new vector.
No, he hadn't seen her; he was slowing, revving, downshifting, turning...
Sapphire pulled up short, rising up into the night air to avoid being seen.
The black metal monster growled as it eased up a driveway into a fenced-in yard. Approaching a warehouse.
A dozen men standing around outside, ushering the car through a hastily-lifted rollup door. Hustling in behind it before the door rolled shut again.
Sapphire's first thought was to continue the chase. Break through the door. Knock everyone down like bowling pins. Toss that reckless driver around like a rag doll. Kick some ass.
Woah. Slow down, girl. This is more than you can handle going in hot like this. There's more going on here than a lone nut behind the wheel.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, a phrase she hadn't heard in a long time popped up. Something her ex Josh used to say to justify his reckless Mustang maneuvers:
Drive it like you stole it.
A black Ferrari -- what else could it have been? -- ending up in a neighborhood like this, in a building like that, late at night, with that many guys in greasy jumpsuits...
This was one of those places that stole lots of cars to resell them, or parts of them.
A chop shop.
She'd stumbled onto something big. Well, big for her. No, dropping in with sapphires blazing wasn't the right thing to do. They'd just scatter. Maybe she'd collar a couple of them, at best. No, this required more manpower.
Sapphire looked around to get her bearings. She recognized the neighborhood -- not far from the old shuttered bowling alley. Ninth street near Alvarez. Across from the building with the bulldog painted on the side.
I should call the police.
But they might not take her seriously. How would she explain what she saw? They'd probably just send a patrol car -- scare everyone off.
I should call Noel Aquino.
He'd believe her story. Maybe things were... awkward between them, but this was important.
...but Noel was out looking for Ricky.
Ricky. Had he turned up yet? Was he okay? Where could he be?
As her adrenaline subsided and thoughts cleared, Sapphire found herself thinking of Ricky. The stolen car thing could wait.
Sapphire had an epiphany. The bowling alley.
Early in the summer, when she was just "finding her wings" as Sapphire, Ricky had told her about Dirk Hurley, the star quarterback at high school, and on the Varsity Bully Squad to boot. Ricky and his friend Jimmy had taken a few beatings at the hand of Dirk and his pals. One night Sapphire caught up to Dirk at the QuickMart, just as he was starting in on Jimmy in the parking lot. The resulting altercation landed Dirk a broken rib -- just before summer football camp. In an ugly escalation of thug behavior, Dirk's teammates snatched Jimmy off the street and held him hostage in front of the abandoned bowling alley, wanting to "talk with" the girl who'd kicked their quarterback's ass. Five high school atheletes were no match for a superheroine, and Jimmy was soon running home with a fantastic tale to tell.
A tale Ricky didn't need to hear, because he'd seen the whole thing. He'd been there, waiting in the shadows, ready to help Sapphire any way he could. That was before he knew what she could do -- heck, that was before he knew who she was.
It was the first time he'd seen Sapphire.
It only took her a moment to get there. And another moment to notice the figure crouched on the entrance steps.
"Thank God you're all right."
He didn't answer. He made a point of looking away.
"Your dad is worried about you." I'm worried about you.
"Yeah. I just needed to be alone. Tell him I'm okay. I'll be home soon."
He looked lost.
No, not lost.
Beaten.
"Ricky, talk to me."
"I don't know what to say."
She started toward him. His involuntary recoil stopped her in her tracks.
The fear in his eyes said more than words ever could.
"You're... afraid of me." The realization hit Angela like a tidal wave.
Ricky's words were very quiet. His eyes were downcast.
"You raped me."
There was no accusation in his voice. No blame. No anger.
Just sad helplessness.
"You almost killed me."
"I'm sorry." I didn't mean it. I don't know what happened. Nothing like that ever happened before. It'll never happen again.
"I know."
She saw his eyes glisten with tears.
They both knew why it had happened.
The cursed sapphires.
She reached for a wrist band, starting to pull it off, when...
"Don't bother. It's not like you can walk home."
Angela didn't understand. What was she supposed to do? "Ricky..."
"Don't. Don't try to explain. It doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter whether you put on those stones because you want to help people, or because you're addicted to the power. It doesn't matter whether you're in control or they are. It's all the same in the end."
He stood up. His face, which had been a mask of shellshocked reflection, suddenly became twisted with angry pain.
"I hate Sapphire. I hate what she's done to you."
He started to walk away. She turned to follow, calling after him. "Ricky, please. Don't make me do this alone."
He turned, never stopping, now backing away from her. His face was again quiet sadness -- defeat, and acceptance.
He gave her a simple wave.
"Angela, you know I'll always be your friend."
Friend.
The word broke her heart.