he is retired, since they aren’t calling on the other chapters. And he’s right…. Why aren’t they? Did the other chapters refuse to come?”
“I can’t imagine that happening,” I say, thinking about all the social media and press the other chapters have been giving. Nearly every hero across the country has issued some kind of statement about Warrior solidarity and support. “Heroes aren’t really ones to see danger and go, Nah, I’m good.”
“Right. So then what? What’s the holdup? Because right now it feels like Chicago is intentionally keeping other heroes out, even Blue Streak.”
I will admit it was slightly disappointing not to have him immediately spring into a fully formulated plan to save the day, but that letdown was greatly overshadowed by just being in his presence. “It seemed like he kinda tried to offer help, even if he is retired…” I offer lamely.
I can almost feel her eyes rolling behind her shades. “No.” She shakes her head. “Heroes don’t just quit their day jobs. This life, this quest, to help others—it doesn’t go away. For Matt, it’s a compulsion. He can’t not help. The thought of standing idly by fills his lungs with sea water. I’m sure you’ve seen it in Joy too—that look in her eye that says, This is what I was born to do.” I bite my lip, thinking about the real reasons Joy got into the hero game. Bridgette doesn’t need to know that, though, not right now, especially since that’s been starting to change, with Joy embracing her heroic lifestyle more and more every day. “You don’t spend every second of every day making the world a better place and then randomly stop caring. You know when you give this up? When you’re six feet under.”
Whoa. I shudder at the thought, the reality of why we were even talking to Blue Streak in the first place settling back in. A city in peril, Joy in danger. My head jerks at the mental image.
“Sorry,” Bridgette says. “What I’m trying to get at is there must be a reason Warrior Nation doesn’t want his help nor the other chapters’. Because I’m not buying the ‘it will make them look weak’ BS.”
She’s right that it doesn’t make sense. How could anyone not want Blue Streak to come to the rescue? He’s the guy you want on your team, and even if for some inconceivable reason you don’t, there’s a whole roster of heroes getting sidelined. My head swirls with the entire Warrior Nation lineup from coast to coast, specific superpowers popping up that may be helpful for Chicago’s current predicament. Like Heat Wave, who could go all X-ray-vision-style and scan buildings to see if the heroes are being held against their will. Or Storm Chaser, who could put the city under a deep freeze and catch villains on their way to their next crime. These powers plus so many more are talents we desperately need, and saying that they’re just hanging out until they can better assess the situation is faulty logic that would never hold up in a debate.
No, keeping the heroes away is no accident. This is a calculated choice. “They’re hiding something,” I say softly.
The Purple Line pulls up to the Evanston station, screeching to a stop. We get on the train, and I pull out my grail diary as we take a seat, flipping through the pages to see if anything will spark an idea. A clue. Anything.
“Claire, you’re a WarNat, right?” Bridgette asks as the L pushes ahead. I hold up my diary in response, and she snorts. “Right. Well, what do the fans go on about in the forums? Are there any major conspiracy theories?”
“Oh god,” I sigh. “Now that’s some Alice in Wonderland, never-ending-rabbit-hole stuff.”
“I’m serious. When they aren’t talking about how much they hate me or want to marry Matt, what are the big hot-topic issues?”
I pause. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, though I still browse those threads just to be in the know. People like to look for clues in places they don’t exist, like pulling inane details from comic book panels and trying to tie the fictionalized accounts of the heroes’ lives back to reality. It feels like a waste of time to me, though it can be amusing occasionally.
“I don’t know…. There’s the classic debate as to why each chapter only gets four heroes and whether or not there