Chapter Five
Wanna know where I live? Cool. Neither do I.
Eisner Falls is this sleepy suburb district on the outer side of town. Kinda your basic normal neighborhood. Most of the people here are sorta the well-off types, y’know? Not as ritzy as all those mansions in Baron Heights, but we get by. The folks here still got enough money to afford the police protection, which is why it’s still mostly quiet `round here. That, and the people here are this huge voting block. Not like I care about local politics or whatever, but Sis kinda gets paid to keep up.
Welcome to Yuppieville, private paradise for anybody who can pay the rent. The place still got that peaceful look, and the locals pay tons to keep it that way. Rows of trees lining up around houses kinda like toy soldiers. Course it helps that we got the Moore River streaming across. Some weird poet from the Village once said that the river flowed like ideas. Which I guess I can kinda see. The banks of the Moore are postcard scenic. Especially at sunrise. It’s the cool romantic place to be.
On her salary, Miranda could afford to live pretty much anywhere. Not that she’s super-rich or anything, but we’re kinda well off. I figure we coulda lived in Baron Heights, even, just cause Sis got the reputation. But don’t tell anybody this, but Sis can be a bit of the sentimental type. She wanted to live here cause she didn’t wanna forget where she came from. Which is guess is cool, if the place wasn’t so dull.
Anyway, the people are lots nicer in Eisner Falls. Least on the surface. Not like they got any lives to speak of. It’s pretty much all soccer moms, SUVs, and baseball practice down at the Falls. Okay to grow up in, I guess, but the Falls are so not where the action happens.
Not like it’s all garage sales and hot dogs `round here. What they don’t tell ya is that the locals here get real strict about property values and stuff. The whole place is real estate central. Take it from me. Don’t do anything to screw up the neighborhood’s market value in the Falls. The neighborhood groups bite like a rabid dog. Or worse, a hockey player.
Can’t complain too much, though. We got a pretty cool house outta the deal. Miranda and I live kinda on the edge of a lonely street. We got some neighbors, but we’re mostly hidden behind these huge tree clusters. Sis kinda likes it this way, cause she’s big on the whole privacy deal. Home is where Miranda goes not to be seen.
Our house is a big two-story deal way out in suburbia. Dunno how old the place is, but it’s older than Miranda, even. Not like you’d know to look at the place. The whole place is patented colonial. The foundation is layered on thick with red brick, and topped off with these white panels. We got these dark green shuttered windows that look out on the street. We even got this small greenhouse in the back yard, which would be cool if either of us actually had a green thumb.
Not really big on the taste, but the neighborhood has a bunch of dumb rules about upkeep. Pretty much all the houses in Eisner Falls kinda look like this. Ours is just bigger than most, y’know? The folks in Yuppieville aren’t huge on the originality.
Not like we use it all or anything. These days, it’s pretty much just Sis and me living in the place. You ask me? I figure Sis got a big place cause she wants kids. As if that’s happening anytime soon, on account that Miranda doesn’t exactly date much. Or at all. Sis doesn’t even have time for me. She’s way into her career. You figure her making time for family hour? I so doubt it.
The answering machine was blinking when Sis and I finally got home. Like that was news. `Kay, maybe it was. The paper called a lot when Sis kept her cell phone off. And no way was Sis gonna keep the cell on down in Lower Ferris. I hopped over to the machine, trying to dial down the speed, and pressed the button.
“Mason!” a gruff voice rumbled over the line. “Where the hell are you? We’ve had another Meta Man sighting over at Metrobank. A story, might I add, that you begged me to let you cover. So where’s my star reporter? Off chasing damn daisies! I need you to cover this now, damn it. Preferably before the World or those network idiots get wind of it. Publish or perish, Mason. Get on it now!” The machine beeped to a stop.
Barton Price was my sister’s boss. He had one of those cool fancy titles at the Centennial Times, like managing editor or whatever. Kinda shorthand for verbal abuse for fun an’ profit, y’know? But don’t let the potty mouth fool ya. Barton was kinda cool, least for an old guy. He loved Sis like a daughter, but didn’t stop him raggin’ on her when she was off deadline. He was also one of the few guys Sis respected. `Kay, so he wasn’t nice about his job, but he got it done. Totally about the deadline.
“Meta Man?” I turned to Sis with a blank stare. “Way news to me. Lemme guess. You got another big case?”
“That’s why I needed the armor fixed,” Miranda said, opening her faceplate. “Meta Man is a huge story waiting to happen. He arrived in Centennial last week or so, and has been on a non-stop crusade ever since. Stopping criminals, fighting fires, there’s no good deed Meta Man won’t do. He even stops to save cats from trees, if you can believe it. I don’t know where he finds the time. It’s like he doesn’t have a day job.”
“Sounds like your kinda guy.” I grinned widely at her. “So when I do I meet him, huh?”
“Funny. There’s so much about Meta Man that’s a complete mystery. The problem is that nobody can seem to get an interview with him. Best as I can tell, he can manipulate light and fly at super-speed. By the time he’s done saving the day, Meta Man flies off to save someone else. He’s too fast for any reporter to catch up with, much less get a word in.”
My eyes brightened at this. I betcha I could’ve caught him, but I wasn’t gonna tell Sis that. I was almost tempted to spill the whole deal, but I shut up. If I told Sis what I could do, she’d be all over me. Like I was gonna let go of a cool thing like this. Least for now. Maybe if I helped with the Meta Guy case, Sis would finally stop acting like I was some kinda invalid or something.
“Gotcha. So you’re gonna catch up with him as Spectra and chat him up.”
“That was the plan,” Miranda told me. “Until my baby sister slowed me down by tagging along on my trip to the Machinist’s. Now I’m probably going to miss him. Again.”
Hmph. I just crossed my arms, stuck my tongue out and gave her pout face. This was so typical. There’s just no way I was ever gonna win with Sis. If I played along, she was off playing hero for hours without me. If I tried to tag along, Sis blamed me for screwing up her dumb timetable. Total Catch-22.
“So no double latte?” I asked, annoyed. “C’mon, you promised.”
“I’m sorry, Amy,” she replied, flashing me the regret. “I’ll take you when I can. But I can’t miss this. If I don’t have a story on Barton’s desk fast, it’s my head on the chopping block. Look, why don’t you bring something back for me?”
“Or you could take me with you. C’mon, Sis. I’m not gonna get in trouble, `kay? Lemme help.”
“Absolutely not,” Miranda said, putting her foot down. “It’s dangerous, and I don’t want you there. There might be shooting. Besides, how do I explain why I’m carrying you along with me? No way.”
“But Miranda…”
Miranda cut me off with a glare. She pointed at me. For a moment, I kinda figured she’d trap me in one of her light cages or something. Thinking `bout it now, I was real lucky she didn’t. I was fast and all, but I can’t dodge light.
“Don’t you give me any buts, young lady. There is no but when it comes to your safety. The ground rules are for your protection. It’s not safe, you’re not coming, and that’s final. Deal with it.”
I was so mad I barely caught my foot tapping at super-speed. I so could not believe it. First she broke her promise, and now she was ditching me again! All so she could be Miss Social Climber and grab all the credit. Sides, I was probably the only way to get near Meta Dude. Not like she knew, but c’mon. Sis wasn’t gonna let me go even if she knew. She was gonna shield me from my whole life, and that was so not cool.
“Fine,” I growled, tears welling in my eyes. “Ignore the only sister you’ve got. Go and save the world. See if I care. You want me gone? You don’t need me anymore? Cool by me. I’m outta here. And Sis? You can get your own stupid latte.”
“Amy!” Miranda called, but I had the door open before she could stop me.
I ran out the front door and slammed it, tears streaming down my face. I shifted to full zoom mode. I knew she was gonna open the door again, yell at me an’ make me apologize. No way. I was so beyond caring. I sped out into a full run. Like I knew what I could do, but I didn’t care. I totally needed the space from Sis.
I was somebody different now. I was in her cool little world, whether Sis liked it or not. No way was I out now. Not with these funky speed powers I got. All I wanted was to help, be part of the world. No way could I do that when Miranda was always slowing me down. She never had enough time to be part of my world, and no way was she gonna let me join hers.
It so was not right. No way was I gonna let this stand. I was gonna make Sis respect me for once. I wasn’t some dumb little kid. I had powers now. I could do something good for people! If my jerk of a big sister ever let me out the door once in my life.
I was gonna do something about it. Even if I didn’t know what.
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