Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two hours later, Megan and David still sat in each other's arms, soaking in the feeling of calm after the storm. While they waited for rescue, exhaustion pushed away complicated thoughts of parallel universes and a world still in danger. Obliteration had given them a deadline. Obliteration, who hadn't been saved when Calamity left. David let out a deep breath. Strangely, the threat of a city being wiped off the map sometime in the near future didn't overly concern him. He had come face to face with what basically amounted to a god and had scolded him like a child- and lived to tell about it! He had caught a space station as it hurtled towards Earth with the powers of the epic who killed his father. Then he had met his father in another universe! And his father had Steelheart's powers too! Megan could now use her powers as much as she wanted without fear of corruption. Megan was safe. David looked at the woman he loved and smiled.

“Hey,” he said. Megan turned her head to look at him. “I just realized something. I’ve got to make a file on myself now, for my notes on epics. And I have to update my file on you.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Nerd,” she said, and looked to the east. The hill Prof had been sitting on was empty. When the three of them had crashed, or “landed” as David insisted, Prof had simply said, “Good job kid,” nodded at Megan, and quietly slipped away while the two of them called the other Reckoners on their mobiles. Megan looked around the unfamiliar Australian landscape but she couldn't see Prof anywhere.

“Hey David,” she said. “Prof's gone.” David looked at the hill. He frowned slightly.

“Huh. I wonder where he went,” he said.

Megan shrugged and looked away. “He needs space. I know what it's like to come out from under the darkness.”

David heard the pain in her voice and wished he knew what to say. He had experienced some of the darkness from Calamity but hadn't become fully corrupted. After a moment of thought David sighed and said, “Cantaloupe.”

Megan turned back to look at him. “What?”

“It’s an expression, you know, instead of ‘Calamity.’ ”

Megan raised an eyebrow. “Cantaloupe?”

“Yeah!” David said, brightening up. “It's a good replacement because it still starts with C-A so it will be easy to remember. And it's got three syllables, can-ta-loupe.”

“If you say so, Knees.” Megan looked out at the sky then checked her mobile. “Transport is twenty minutes out. We should probably get Prof.”

David nodded. “I wonder how he's going to take it…meeting everyone again.”

Megan was silent for a moment. “I don't know, David. Sparks, it's going to be a mess when we get back. Can you reach Prof by mobile? Ask Knighthawk to connect it?”

David groaned internally. He'd been purposefully avoiding the barrage of communications Dean had been sending him for the last four hours. Knighthawk, with no drones in the area, evidently felt left out. David opened his chat with Dean and noticed that the obscenity filter had been hard at work.

Dean: go ahead, ignore me

Dean: it's not like I just helped you save the world or anything, napkin-eater

Dean: I want that motivator, you rubber-duckie cloud bush

Dean: you are a grade A Slontze, you know that?

Dean: cupcake bathtub

Dean: aardvark

David sighed and typed a reply.

David: I promise I'll tell you everything later

David: I need you to connect me to Prof's mobile

Dean: oh NOW you talk to me, now that you need something

Dean: you ungrateful sack of armadillo

David: Dean, please patch me into Prof's mobile

Dean: shrimp you

...

…

Dean: can't see it, it must be offline

David: ah Cantaloupe

David: well thanks for checking

Dean: what?

David closed the chat and turned back to Megan. “No luck. We need to find him.” A smile crept onto David's face. “I'll fly around. It will be easier to see him from the air.”

Megan looked uncertain. “You… You have Steelheart's impervious skin, right? Not just flying?”

David nodded. “Won’t need it, though. Dad showed me how to do it and I’m a pro now.”

“Alright,” Megan said. “It's probably best if you talk to him alone, anyway. I'll be here if you need me.”

She gave him a kiss and sat back down in the grass. David struck a cool pose, winked at Megan, then launched himself straight up into an overhanging tree. He punched through the canopy but the unexpected resistance threw him off balance and he spiraled in an arc, landing on his back thirty feet away. He groaned, getting up and dusting himself off. Megan was in hysterics, laughing uncontrollably. David felt his face flush red. He took off again, this time without any showy moves.

Staying high in the air was easier than moving near the ground. David quickly passed over the hill where he’d last seen prof. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t on the hill next to it, either. David made a leisurely loop back around and noticed something dark on the ground near a natural rock formation. He dropped, stumbling in the dust as he landed next to it. Dad makes it look so easy, he thought as he shook dirt off his legs. Next to him, Prof's black lab coat lay folded neatly on the ground. His goggles were on top. David noticed that one of the lenses was missing. He had no idea when that had happened. Footprints led toward where a large stone overhang met some boulders, forming a half sheltered natural cave. David followed them and found Prof standing in the cave, facing the wall. He didn't notice David.

“Hey Prof-” David started to say, but just then, Prof held his hands out to the cave wall, disintegrating it completely. No longer supported, the overhanging stone crashed down on top of him, crushing Prof into the ground.

“Prof!” David screamed. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He ran to the stone and pushed on it. The stone moved slightly, but it was much too heavy for David to lift.

“Calami- I mean, Cantaloupe!” He shouted. Steelheart would have been able to pick this thing up no problem! Why can't I do it?? David strained against the rock again, feet lifting off the ground with his effort. He had to get Prof out. His healing powers would let him survive the impact but David wasn't sure Prof could survive without air. David stepped back from the rock and held out his hand, concentrating on the unfamiliar song of his new powers. He released the pressure, sending out an energy beam that blasted the rock apart. A chunk flew back and bounced off David's head, doing no damage to his impervious skin. He paid it no mind. David threw pieces of the overhang out of the way as he searched for where Prof had been standing. He rolled a chunk of stone over and found Prof beneath, his body pushed almost completely under the dirt. David easily picked him up and set him down next to his lab coat and goggles. He looked to make sure he was healing. To David's relief, Prof's bones started snapping into place. His crushed torso expanded as ribs grew back. His face changed shape, nose and cheekbones reverting to normal. A few seconds later, Prof opened his eyes.

“...What…” he said, gathering his bearings. Then he saw David standing over him. Prof's face contorted with anger. David was startled by the hatred in his eyes, like when he had been corrupted by the darkness. “You!!” Prof snarled, jumping to his feet and swinging a fist at David's head. His hand crunched as it met David's invulnerable face, bones snapping audibly. Prof cursed, shaking his injured hand even as it healed. “Damn you, David!” he shouted. David was taken aback.

“Sparks, Prof! What's wrong with you?!”

“You couldn't let me die, could you!? You always get in the way!” Prof threw another punch but David was ready this time. He grabbed Prof's arms, pinning them together and forcing the man to hold still.

“What in Cantaloupe is wrong with you, Prof?? You weren’t like this before, when we landed.” A dawning realization formed in David’s mind. “Wait, were you trying to kill yourself? With that rock?”

“Of course I was,” Prof snapped. “You Slontzes should have killed me back in Ildithia!” He fought to get his arms free but David was inhumanly strong. It was David’s turn to be angry.

“After everything we went through to save you, you want to throw it all away?!”

“Save me?” Prof said. “Do you think what you've done is a kindness? Tell me David Charleston, if it had been you, do you think I would have let you wake up and see what you’d done?”

David couldn't think of anything to say. When the Reckoners had decided to save Prof, Abraham had predicted that he would be angry afterwards. He had been right.

Prof closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, calming himself. When he spoke, all the anger had left his voice, replaced by a great weariness. “I'm sorry, David. I'm sorry for everything. You can let go of me now.” David watched him for a moment and let go. Prof turned away, rubbing his arms where David had gripped them. Slowly, he walked over to his lab coat. He picked it up and held it out in front of him, staring at the costume he had worn as Limelight.

“Prof…” David said, trying to think of something to say. “We saved you because you didn't deserve to die. You didn't deserve any of this.”

“Deserve?” Prof said, still facing away. “No. I don't deserve it. I deserve far worse.”

“Prof, you didn't choose to become an epic! Calamity did this to you. He made you into something you're not.”

“No, David,” Prof said. He turned and faced him. “Calamity only changes emotions. He didn't control me. I'm the one who chose to kill.” Prof turned back around and sat down, holding the lab coat crumpled on his lap. He spoke quietly. “Val and Excel and dozens of Reckoners you didn't even know are dead because I wanted to kill them. It was enjoyable.” Prof's voice caught on the last words and David realized he was crying. Sparks, he thought. I guess what Megan said was true. The epics remember everything when they wake up.

“Prof...that’s in the past. You’re good now. You don’t want to hurt anyone,” David said. Prof said nothing, quietly letting the tears come.

It twisted David's stomach to see Prof crying again. This man was Jonathan Phaedrus, founder of the Reckoners and leader of humanity's last resistance against the epics. A man who feared nothing and gave no quarter. David's childhood hero and the person he most looked up to in the world. While fighting to save Prof, David had tried everything he could to hurt him. He had used the tensor suit as much as possible, putting Prof in pain by using motivators made from his cells. He and Megan had activated Prof's weakness by confronting him with his failure. They had reduced him to tears, screaming at him that he had failed humanity, failed the Reckoners, failed himself, and failed Tia. When David teleported to Calamity's space station with Obliteration, Prof was an impotent mass on the floor. David knew it had been the only way to save him but that didn't change what they had done to the man. Prof was his friend and he knew how to make him hurt. The words could not be taken back. Considering this, it was incredible that ten minutes later, Prof had managed to reclaim his powers from Calamity and teleport to help David. That was the real Prof, David thought. He confronted his weakness and saved me. Even after everything we did to him. Even after Larc- Calamity took his powers and left him stunned.

“Prof, what happened after I left? I mean when Obliteration showed up and we teleported away. How did you get the tensor suit with your brain all sucked out by Calamity?”

Prof made a quiet scoffing noise. “It doesn’t feel like getting your brain sucked out, kid. It actually feels much more like somebody’s using your entire body as a motivator. You know the pain isn’t real but you still can’t move. You feel like you can’t even think.”

“But you fought it,” David said.

“Not voluntarily. When you got sucked away, Megan panicked. She shouted at me to wake up, to help her. When I didn’t move, she pulled a stun baton from a dimension where they had ‘em.That woke me up.”

“She electrified you?”

“Pretty much. It’s an effective way to realize what pain is real. I’d forgotten what it felt like not to heal immediately.”

“Why'd Megan put the tensor suit on you instead of herself?”

“She didn’t think it would work on her.”

“Even with the motivators?”

Prof shrugged. “Apparently.”

“And then you used the Obliteration teleporter to get to the space station,” David said. He furrowed his eyebrows. “By the way, how did you know where I was?”

“Mizzy told us about your conversation with Obliteration. She sent us the picture. I remembered that I still had the teleporter while Megan was looking for an alternate universe Obliteration. In hindsight, I should have taken Megan with me.”

“You left Megan?”

“Yeah. I should probably apologize for that. Add it to the list.”

Prof had stopped crying, but he still sat on the ground, facing away from David. David took a deep breath, then stepped forward and gently put his hand on Prof's shoulder. “You saved the world, you know. You stopped the epics. I mean, yeah, you didn't kill them, but I think it's better that way. The Faithful finally have the good epics they were waiting for.” David paused, thinking. “We need you. You're like an uncooked hotdog with chocolate sauce.”

Prof was silent for a moment. “You know what, I'm not gonna ask.”

David grinned and walked around to face him. He held out his hand. “C'mon Prof, the helicopter's gonna be here soon.” Prof grabbed David's hand and let David help him up. The two looked at each other. In the older man’s eyes, David saw his friend and mentor. Prof was still in there. He wasn't the same man but in time, maybe he could recover. The stress of recent events and the introduction to his dad had put David in a huggy mood. He grabbed Prof in his arms and held him tight. Prof was caught off guard, but after a moment, he returned the embrace.

“I’m so happy you’re back, Prof,” David said, still hugging.

“Thank you, David,” Prof said quietly. “You're a good man. A better man than I ever was.”

After an uncomfortably long time, David let Prof go. The two of them flew back to the hill Megan was on, Prof riding on his forcefield and David wavering precariously in the air.

End of Chapter One

Chapter Text

Megan was standing up, looking out over landscape. She waved at David when she saw him coming. He landed slowly next to her.

“Smoother, nice,” She said. David put his arms around her.

“Alright I admit, I need a few more lessons.”

“Not right now you don't. I'm so tired I could fall asleep standing up.”

David hugged her tighter. “Go ahead, I'll hold you.”

Megan smiled. “Tempting, but no. I can see our ride. It's maybe ten minutes out.” She pointed to a growing speck in the distance.

“Do you think I should fly over and meet them?” David said.

“And risk you sending the helicopter to the ground? No.”

“Who’s coming?” Prof asked. He stood a respectful distance behind the couple. Megan glanced back at him. Her look was not malicious, but neither was it friendly. Prof and she had had a thorny relationship ever since Babilar, where Prof had tried to kill Megan by trapping her in a burning building. Then Prof had tried to kill her in Sharp Tower. And one more time in the tunnels outside Ildithia. Recent events had overshadowed much of that but the two still mistrusted each other.

“Abraham and Cody,” David said. Prof simply nodded slightly.

The helicopter sent by Knighthawk landed on the hill a few minutes later. Prof created a forcefield to protect David, Megan, and himself from the wind and debris. The blades were still slowing down when Cody jumped out of the helicopter’s pilot seat. He ran over to the three of them, a huge grin on his face.

“Look at y’all! As alive as the day is long! Get in here!” Before Megan could voice her objections, Cody scooped them all into a group hug.

“Good to see you too, Cody,” David laughed, slapping him on the back. Then he remembered the last time he’d seen Cody. “Hey wait, you were really hurt in the fight. What’re you doing here?”

Cody’s grin broadened. “That I was, lad. But not so much as I couldn’t drive a whirlybird over to the Outback.”

Dean’s voice came from a speaker in the helicopter. “I told you, idiot, it was on autopilot. As if I’d let you control one of my machines.”

“Knighthawk, can you just let me have my special moment?” Cody shouted. He turned to Prof, who was frowning at the bandages on Cody’s shoulders.

Cody smiled at him, genuinely happy. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to say this again, but I’m mighty glad to see you, Prof.” Cody held out a hand. Prof hesitated, then took it. Cody pulled him in for a hug. “Welcome back, boss.”

Prof gave him a weak smile. “Thank you, Cody,” he said in his rough voice. “Glad to be back.” Prof reached up and put a hand on one of Cody’s bandaged shoulders. In the tunnels fight, Prof and Cody had faced off. Cody used the tensor suit and fought admirably, but Prof was more experienced with the powers and eventually he gained the upper hand. He summoned two bolts of light and rammed them deep into Cody's shoulders. Prof had no doubts that he would have killed Cody if the other Reckoners hadn't intervened. It relieved him to know that David and Megan had defeated him before he'd had another chance. Prof turned to meet Cody's eyes, hand still on his shoulder. His face was earnest and serious. “I can’t take back what I've done,” he said, “but I hope you will let me fix this.”

Cody gave him a kind smile. “Thank’ee, Prof, but you have a more urgent patient awaiting you in the bird.”

“Abraham!” David said. “How’s his condition?”

Cody’s smile faded. “I’m not gonna lie, it ain’t pretty. He needs some harmsway brand healing real bad.”

“Let me see him,” Prof said, walking towards the helicopter doors. Cody and the others joined him. Prof opened the door to the passenger seats and the blood drained from his face. Abraham lay buckled on the rear bench seat, top half wrapped completely in bandages. Blood stained the cloth around his shoulder, interrupting the space where his arm should have been.

“Oh Calamity,” Prof said under his breath. He climbed in and put his hands over the wound. A faint glow began to emanate under his palms. “Abraham, can you hear me?” he said. The man did not respond. “Abraham!” Prof said again, louder.

“He’s been in and out of consciousness for the past two hours,” Cody said. “Mizzy bandaged it real tight but he’s lost a lot of blood. That’s why we brought him on this here rescue operation.”

“Prof will take care of him,” David said confidently. “We need to get back to Ildithia. Prof, you can heal while we fly, yeah?” Prof nodded without taking his eyes off Abraham. “Good. Cody, take us there!”

Cody grinned and hopped into the pilot seat. “Yessir, welcome to Cody Airlines! Complementary convo is included in the ticket price. Did I ever tell y’all about the time I ran air support for the King of Germany?”

“Germany doesn’t have a king and I told you it’s autopilot.” Knighthawk said over the helicopter speakers. “And don’t forget your ear protection. There are headsets in the pouch under the seat.”

David and Megan sat next to each other on the bench seat opposite Prof and Abraham. They each put on a headset.

“David, I can’t take my hands off,” Prof said. David unbuckled and put a headset over his ears. Abraham already had a pair on. In his unconscious state, he wouldn’t have much use for the radio communications but it would keep the noise from damaging his ears.

“Initiating liftoff!” Cody said over the headsets. He flicked an impressive assortment of buttons and levers. Irregardless of this, the helicopter whirled to life and headed east towards North America. “If you’ll look out to your left,” Cody said, “You’ll see the vast expanse of the Australian Outback. This harsh environment has led to the development of specialized adaptations in the local fauna and flora. For instance, it’s said that the Australian yellow-tailed pheasant gets all it’s water just from the fairies it eats.”

Knighthawk’s voice spoke in the headsets. “Having fun playing tour guide, are we?”

“Yessir I am. You should open up a helicopter tour business, Knighthawk, now that the world is safe.”

“About that,” Knighthawk said, “I have my doubts.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?” Cody said. “David told us, Calamity’s gone and all the epics are good now.”

“Well, not exactly,” David said. “Obliteration is still evil. Turns out he wasn't under the darkness, just seriously screwed up in the head. When we get back to base we need to discuss options of dealing with him before he blows up Toronto.”

“See?” Knighthawk said. “This is what I’m talking about. I am not going to trust information travelling down a daisy chain of morons, some of whom actively sabotage the truth. Yes, tour guide, I’m talking about you.”

“By my honor as a Scotsman, I have never sabotaged truth in my life.”

“Uh huh,” Knighthawk said. “David, I want to hear the story straight from you, no interference. Megan, I understand you were also on the space station. What exactly happened?”

Prof's deep voice came through the headsets. “Calamity’s gone, Dean. That's all of it.” There was a moment of radio silence.

“Oh...Hi, Jon,” Knighthawk said, nervously. “Long time no see, eh? Hey...no hard feelings about the motivators, right?”

Prof’s voice was impassive. “You mean the machines you built out of my cells to hurt me? No. No hard feelings.”

“... Jon, I’m having trouble interpreting the tone of your voice. Should I be getting into my escape vehicle?”

“Prof's good, now, Knighthawk. All of us, we're not corrupted anymore,” Megan said.

“Yes, but it’s my understanding that nothing has changed in the way of your… abilities.”

Prof sighed. “No Dean, I’m not coming for you. I don’t know what’s gonna happen next, but I think you’ll be a big part of it. I’ve been thinking, and I want you to make more harmsways.”

“Really?” Knighthawk said with surprise.

“Wait, Prof,” David said, “using the motivators hurts you.”

“I’ll learn to live with the pain,” Prof said flatly. “I can’t be everywhere. The team needs harmsways you can distribute.”

“I’ll get on it, then,” Knighthawk said. “David will send me back the motivators we already have and I can culture the cells in those to make more.”

“Uh, about that,” David said, remembering the rough landing as he struggled to guide the space station towards the ground. “The motivators kind of got destroyed when we crashed.”

“What, all three of them??” Knighthawk said, dismayed. “Sparks, David, I told you I needed those back when you were done with them!”

“It's not a problem, Dean. I'll just sneeze on one of your drones,” Prof said. His voice was serious but David thought he saw a small grin on Prof's face.

“Oh that reminds me!” David said. “That’s Loophole’s weakness, sneezing. I don’t think I told you guys about my fight with Loophole, when she stole the motivator.”

“Which one is that, again?” Cody said.

“She changes size. Actually, she’s kind of like your magic fairies, but in real life.”

Cody frowned. “Now see here, lad. I’ve had about enough of people accusing me of untruthfulness today.”

“Sorry,” David said. “If it makes it any better, she’s dead now.”

“What?” Prof said, surprised. He turned to look at David. David tensed.

“Ah...yeah. When you… you know… sent her to steal the motivator from the tensor suit, I chased her into the tunnels. She got really small and hid in a crack. I was throwing dust at her and she sneezed, which negated her powers. She grew back to regular size, but she was still in the crack...” David felt a little nauseous remembering it.

“I have footage of it,” Knighthawk said. “It’s impressively gory. I can send it to you guys if you want.”

“I’ll skip on that one, thank you,” Cody said.

Prof’s frown deepened and he turned back to concentrating on Abraham. Apparently he hadn’t been aware when Loophole died. She was only his mercenary epic, David thought. But that’s probably one more death Prof feels responsible for.

David was considering talking to Prof about it but suddenly the helicopter lurched, dropping twenty feet. Everyone shouted in surprise. Cody, David, Megan, and Abraham were buckled into flight harnesses but Prof had been sitting unbuckled on the floor next to Abraham. He shouted as he was flung upwards, smacking into the roof, then shot towards the front of the cabin as another jolt shook the helicopter. Megan shrieked but David managed to block Prof with his arms before he collided into her. Prof’s body fell unceremoniously to the cabin floor as the helicopter leveled itself.

“Whoops, my bad! Y'all ok back there?” Cody said. “Accidentally pushed on this doohicky right here.” He pointed to a green joystick.

“You Slontze!” Dean shouted in the headsets. “I thought I disabled all the controls. Trust you to find the one thing you shouldn’t touch.”

Prof groaned quietly as he lay face down, motionless.

“Prof! Are you ok?” David said. When Prof didn’t respond, David unbuckled himself and crawled to him. “Prof!” he shouted, shaking him.

“Ow.” Prof said, his voice muffled as he spoke into the floor.

“I’m gonna roll you over,” David said. He rolled Prof toward him, flipping him onto his back. Behind him, Megan audibly sucked in her breath. Prof’s skull was visibly dented, the bone pushed in above his right ear. He had a couple of lacerations on his arms and one elbow looked broken. He probably had some broken ribs as well. David looked at the wounds. They were healing very slowly.

“Urnghh…” Prof groaned, brows furrowed in an unconscious grimace.

“I don’t understand,” Megan said. “He still has his powers. Why isn't he healing?”

A voice spoke from the bench opposite her. “He is not healing because he gave that power to me,” Abraham said, sitting up.

“Abraham!” David said. “You’re alright!”

“No,” Abraham said. He unbandaged his shoulder. The wound was gone and his right arm had started growing back. He grinned at David. “I am actually, all left.” Cody laughed loudly in the headsets. Megan rolled her eyes. David grinned.

“How long have you been waiting to say that?” he said.

“A few hours.”

“Boring flight?”

“You have no idea.”

David returned his attention to Prof. “He’ll heal eventually, right? He just has to let the power come back?”

“Of course,” Abraham said. “You know this.”

David sighed. “With everything that happened today, I’m not confident that I know anything.” Prof was still not moving. The lacerations were closing but the dent in his head was still there.

“Buckle him in next to me,” Abraham said. David easily picked up Prof’s limp form and set him down in the seat. “You are strong, David,” Abraham said as David buckled Prof in. “I did not catch everything that was said in the past few hours, but I understand that you have become an epic with the same powers as Steelheart.”

“Yeah!” David said as he returned to his own seat. “But it’s so much more than that- Megan can send us to Firefight’s dimension where my dad is Steelheart! I got to see my dad again, Abraham!”

“Wait, Megan can send people into other dimensions now?” Knighthawk said. “That’s incredible! And here I thought the shadows were impressive. I’ll need to run some tests on you, Megan. Hey, can you send Cody to another dimension until the end of this flight?”

“No, Knighthawk,” Megan said.

“Can’t or won't?”

“Won’t.”

“Aw lass, I knew you liked me.”

“Cody, I’m not sending you anywhere because at the moment, I am very tired. The next time I’m trapped in a car with you and you start rambling on about Scotland, I will send you to a dimension without oxygen.”

“That’s colder than spitters on the moor, lass. But this dimension thing has possibilities. Can you summon some bagpipes from a dimension where I’m a master piper?”

“If Megan gives you bagpipes I will personally come and shoot you both.”

The conversation continued in this avenue while Prof healed. Twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes and lifted his head.

“Good, you are finally awake,” Abraham said. Prof turned to look at him, squinting in the light like someone woken up from deep sleep. “You are healing slowly,” Abraham said. “Take it slow.”

“Cantaloupe, Prof,” David said. “That was intense. How do you feel?” Prof didn’t seem to hear him. He was looking down, examining the seatbelts.

“What?” Cody said.

“Cantaloupe! It’s a replacement for-”

“Not now, David. I’ve heard it enough for one day,” Megan said. David looked rebuffed. Megan sighed and gave him a quick kiss. Prof looked like he was speaking but no sound came through the headsets. He blinked and rubbed his head, frowning at the pain.

“Prof, we can’t hear you,” David said. “Something must have broken in his headset during the Cody incident. Dean, you got any spares?”

“I don’t know,” Dean said. “If there aren’t any more below the seats you’re out of luck.” David looked and didn’t find any. Prof moved his lips again, as if shouting, but the words were lost in the noise of the helicopter blades. He turned to his right and noticed with a start that Abraham was awake and looking at him. For a moment, David worried how Abraham would react to meeting Prof again. Abraham smiled and reached out with his intact arm, embracing Prof in a sort of half-hug. Prof looked surprised, but smiled weakly and hugged Abraham back. In that wordless interaction, everything was said. Prof let go of Abraham and looked at David, mouthing words the latter didn’t catch. David pointed at his own headset and gave Prof a thumbs down. Prof frowned, touching the top of his headset. He looked under the seats and looked at David questioningly. David shrugged. He mimed typing on his mobile and gestured for Prof to do the same. Prof shook his head and held up his empty wrist. He didn’t have a mobile. That was odd because David knew he’d been using one during the fight in the tunnels outside Ildithia.

“For Calamity’s sake,” Megan said. She took off her mobile and held it out to Prof. He took it, nodding thanks. He started typing. David looked at Megan and mouthed “Can-ta-loupe.” She mouthed something back that David couldn’t figure out, but that was probably for the best. It looked profane. He looked at her, puzzled and Megan rolled her eyes.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on back there?” Cody said over the headsets.

“Prof's awake but his headset is broken. He's typing on Megan’s mobile,” David said.

“Oh good, glad he's up. Give him my apologies for the turbulence, would you?”

Megan's mobile pinged in Prof's hands as Abraham sent a message to it. Prof looked to his right and Abraham gestured for him to read it. David watched his eyes twitch back and forth as Prof scanned the text. Prof exchanged a look with Abraham again and started typing. If he had been writing something to communicate with the group at large, he dismissed it. Abraham received the message and read it, then immediately replied. Prof's brow furrowed as he read. He sent back another message. Abraham read it and punched Prof on the shoulder in real life, frowning at him. Prof scowled back for a moment, then typed a brusque reply. Abraham read it and sighed. He wrote a long message, sent it, and looked at Prof with a benevolent, patient gaze. Abraham was good at that. He could make even the most incensed Reckoner calm down and see reason. Prof returned his look coldly then read the message. His scowl faded. His eyes watered. This was the face of a man who had lost everything. Prof finished reading and subtly wiped away a tear. He looked back at Abraham with a broken smile. Abraham nodded and patted Prof on the shoulder with his only arm. This apparently reminded Prof of what he'd been doing before he was knocked unconscious and he moved to continue healing Abraham. Abraham held up a hand and pointed to the front of the helicopter where Cody sat in the pilot seat.

“Cody,” Abraham said over the headsets. “It's your turn for healing.”

“Wow, your arm's grown back already?” Cody said. Abraham looked at the fleshy stump sticking out of his shoulder.

“Hardly, but it can wait. The bleeding is stopped. You are in worse shape than me.”

Knighthawk spoke. “Cody, you can get up and move to the main cabin. The skies are clear so it should be a smooth flight. Actually, it's probably safer for everyone that you get away from the controls.”

“Roger that,” Cody said. He unbuckled and crawled through a small opening into the back. Megan and David had to lean out of the way to let him through. He made his way to Prof and gave a non verbal salute. Prof raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to sit in the adjacent seat. Cody buckled in and Prof put a hand on each shoulder, a faint glowing coming from his palms.

“Sparks, that feels just like the tensor suit,” Cody said. He spoke to Prof. “I'm pretty jealous, actually, of the healing. I never realized it made things so much less painful.”

Prof looked at Cody and mouthed something David didn't catch. Probably, “I can't hear you.”

“If you would stop talking, Cody, I'd like to take a nap,” Megan said, leaning her head on David. David smiled and wrapped an arm around her protectively.

“Megan, you would be better served by turning off the headset completely. I have known Cody for several years and his record for uninterrupted silence is twenty-three minutes,” Abraham said.

“Y’all been keepin’ track?”

“Here, I'll get it for you,” David said. He reached an arm up and toggled the radio switch on Megan's headset. “Actually, I'm pretty tired too. Is it ok if I tune out?”

“It’s fine, lad,” Cody said.

“Please sleep, David,” Abraham said.

“Thanks.” David turned off his radio and let his head rest on Megan. He closed his eyes and was taken by a sleep long overdue.

End of Chapter Two