Chapter 46: Nemesis ≠ Bullying

Chapter 46: Nemesis ≠ Bullying

“I saw that video and I just about had a heart attack!” Mom said, fussing over Perry while he tried to eat dinner. “Solaris thought it was funny, but I don’t think they should let this Chemestro character go around bullying other supers. Especially not my boy!”

“He’s not bullying me, Mom, he’s my nemesis,” Perry said, trying to weave a slice of pizza past his mom and into his mouth. While it was still warm, preferably.

“Kids need a nemesis or two growing up. Builds character.” Dad said, stealing a slice of Perry’s pie.

Perry raised his brows and pointed at dad. ‘see?’

“That being said, you’re not officially nemeses yet,” Dad continued. “You gotta take a trip to Nexus HQ with Chemestro and get yourselves registered as such.

Perry almost dropped his slice.

“Excuse me, WHAT? Why would I ever do that?”

“It’s actually more beneficial than you might think,” Dad said. “Nexus has software that will alert dispatch any time they might be sending a super into the territory of their nemesis or if they’ll be crossing paths on a mission. It’s a great way of avoiding trouble.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool.” Perry said, nodding.

“On the other hand, sometimes the IT guys nudge two nemeses into the same area on a slow night and take bets on who wins.”

Mom gasped, staring at dad.

“At least, that’s what I’ve heard.” Dad said nervously. “Definitely never took bets on those myself when I was an undergrad in Nexus IT. And I certainly didn’t start the practice in the nineties out of sheer boredom.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed.

“I think you’re just digging the hole deeper, Dad.”

“MMm, this pizza is great!” Dad said, changing the subject.

“Our son was almost killed!”

“Part of the job. Almost dying builds character.”

“What about that time Slash cut off your head for no reason?” Mom said. “How did that build character for you?”

“That’s easy. I appreciate my limbs a lot more than I did before.”

“Your head got cut off?” Perry asked.

Dad froze. “I got better.” He shrugged.

Perry scoffed and shook his head.

“Listen,” Mom said, turning to Perry. “You just tell us if Chemestro’s bullying is too much to handle. Your dad and I will step in and take care of business. Paladin and Glamour girl could use some fresh air.”

“I second that!” Dad banged the table.

“Like I said it’s not bullying if he’s a nemesis and...” Perry scowled as his brain caught up. “And you don’t need to use my problems as an excuse to go out on a date!”

“Busted!” Dad said, grinning at Mom, who at least had the decency to blush.

“But seriously, just say the word and they’ll never find his body.” Dad said, turning his attention back to Perry.

“Darryl!” Mom shouted, reaching across the table to whap him.

“I’m just saying,” Dad said, holding his hands up.

“Thanks for the offer,” Perry said. “But I don’t think murder is on the table just yet.”

“So what are you gonna do next?” Dad asked.

“I guess I’m gonna visit Nexus and do some paperwork,” Perry said. “...Then I’m gonna fight dirty.”

“Good plan,” Dad said. “Escalating things has always worked out for me in the end.”

“Darryl,” Mom said, eyeballing the hawknosed professor.

“What?”

“What do you mean what? What about that time with the jewels of Sraknoz? You said there was no risk of...”

Perry zoned out, focusing on his pizza as Mom continued laying into Dad.

Mmm...pepperoni pineapple.

“And then none of the amazon women had a place to stay!”

“I told you I could’ve kept them in my lab.”

“I think you know why I’m not gonna let you do that!”

Oh, this crust is good. Chewy AND crunchy.

Heather’s eyes narrowed.

I shouldn’t have to bargain for control over the lair that I BUILT, Perry thought, scowling. Then again, they were a team, and he had to have some kind of concession to Heather’s presence.

And If I get a verbal agreement recorded, it could help for later. He was also planning on making the locker room and shower eventually, so he wasn’t losing much there.

Yeah, I think this is a decent deal. Assuming I can enforce it.

“...Are you guys fighting?” Hardcase said, looking up at the two of them with glistening eyes, her arms tight to her chest.

“Just establishing dominance.” Heather said, patting Hardcase on the head.

“You little punk,” Perry said. “You got a deal. I’ll raise the ceiling and add a shower room, and you will promise not to bring things into the lab without permission.”

“Deal.”

Perry stretched out his hand, and Heather took it.

He squeezed.

She squeezed harder.

Perry cranked it up.

Heather’s arm bulged with muscle, crushing his palm.

“Ow, dangit, I give!” Perry said, letting go.

“You lose via power-abuse,” Perry said, rubbing his hand.

“I don’t know if you realized this, but you were squeezing hard enough to break my hand if I hadn’t.” Heather replied.

Perry’s brows raised. Really? It didn’t feel that way. It kinda made sense though. His Body stat was starting to snowball, with 21.5% faster recovery, durability and strength. He was putting on muscle fast now that he was dedicating a couple hours a day to working out. All of that combined to more than the sum of its parts.

“If you’d used that kind of power on Hardcase you would’ve crushed the poor thing,” Heather said, grabbing the Tinker’s tiny hand and overlaying it over her own, demonstrating the disparity in size.

“It wouldn’t have been necessary because Hardcase is cool, unlike yourself.”

“Pfff. Come on, let’s get out of here before the brute tries to hurt women again.” Heather said, steering the stammering Hardcase away.

“You have powers, and – hey, you hurt ME!” Perry said, pointing to his hand.

“Get started on that shower room!” Heather called over her shoulder with a mischievous grin.

That was fun.

“It’s always nice to see young people expressing their love for each other.” Sophie said once they were alone. “Whatever form that takes.”

“There’s a clogged toilet in room 215,” Perry said, pulling out his keys.

The sex angel pouted a moment before snatching the keys out of his hand and sashaying off, somehow managing to make overalls and a bucket full of grimy tools look good.

Once Perry was alone, he was able to relax and plan out his next steps.

He grabbed one of the suits earmarked for Locust, switched off the failsafes and dialed in the size with a ratchet before slotting in new spell-frames. It only took a few minutes before Perry came to the horrifying realization that a huge portion of his spell-discs were still in the suit that had fallen over the side of the wall.

I need to find those discs, Perry thought, pulling out his phone and checking the tides. He could make new ones, but if the old ones got into the hands of someone with any level of competence...Perry could be in big trouble.

******

“What have we here, bro?” Terminal Velocity said, nudging the half-buried suit of power armor.

“Dude, that’s Paradox’s design!” Maximum Overdrive said.

“Who?”

“Umm...I’m not sure.”

“Wait, don’t we hate that guy?”

“Oh, right!”

“So is he dead or something?” Terminal velocity asked, nudging the suit again with the toe of his armor.

“One way to find out,” Maximum Overdrive said, leveling his blaster at the suit.

WOMP.

The high-tech buzz of a plasma bolt thrummed as it shot through the air, ricocheted off the inert power armor and caught his brother in the groin, propelling him backwards in the sand.

“Dude, that was awesome!” Terminal velocity said, sitting up.

The two high-fived.