8FOLD: Cal Plus Raidne # 4, "Two Hot Babes Save the Universe"

[Amabel Holland]

Cal Morgan, THE MIGHTY INCH, is head over heels for their gal Raidne!
They're really cute together!

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NUMBER FOUR: TWO HOT BABES SAVE THE UNIVERSE
[8F-211][PW-55]

------- ME AND MY MUTUALS ------------------

Cal Morgan, THE MIGHTY INCH, age 18. They/them.
It's me! Only an inch tall! So tiny! Good at punching! So mighty! I'm
pretty okay, mostly.

Raidne, age N/A. She/her.
A.I. construct that lives in my suit! She's funny, and smart, and
sexy, and 101% awesome. Plus she's in love with me for some reason! I
don't get it either, but I'll take it!

Lily Green, THE LIVING UWU, age 26. She/her.
Marxist catgirl (but not that kind of catgirl). Extremely online.
Makes you feel kinda warm and fuzzy all over. Reformed supervillain
who used to fight my sister but only me and Raidne know that.

Lola Brodeur, DUST DEVIL, age 23. She/her.
Cyborg who does cyclone stuff. Human head on a super-spindly body with
like these thin metal tubes for limbs. We actually have more in common
than I thought at first, she seems pretty rad.

Audrey Brown, MATCHSTICK, age 33. She/her.
Newly-cracked egg (but I don't know that yet!). Lily is helping her
out, and is the only one that knows her secret. Married to the rock
star who hit me with a shrink ray and ruined my life, so, uh, there's
that.

Bethany Clayton, KNOCKOUT MOUSE, age 32. She/her.
Leader of the Daylighters (btw we're part of the Daylighters). Good at
punching I guess for an old person. I don't know her super-well, she's
friends with my sister Kate.

Kate Morgan, SHIMMER, age 31. She/her.
Speaking of which: it's my sister, who also basically raised me. We
get along better now than we used to, but it's complicated? Fraught?
Anyway, she can phase through matter and now also she does magic
apparently so there's that.

Pam Bierce, LOOP, age 31. She/her.
She does time magic apparently? I haven't met her yet, I have no idea
what her whole deal is.

--------------------------------------------

"So, Pam, what's your whole deal?"

   "I rewind time a little." She's just finished waving her hands all
eldritch-like at what everyone is now calling "the time sink". She and
Cal (and Raidne) are waiting in the Lighthouse's meeting room for the
others to arrive so Pam can give everyone the skinny on what's the
what.

   "No, I know that part," says Cal. "I just mean, tell me about Pam."

   "Not a whole lot to tell," says Pam. "I was living my life, stuff
happened, everyone thought I was dead. Spent the last six years under
the ruins of Las Vegas all on my lonesome."

   "That doesn't sound like a fun time."

   "Nope," says Pam. "Lotsa boring trauma, ain't gonna talk about it.
Anyway, now I'm doing this whole thing." Pam runs her fingers up the
length of her right arm, tracing the chaotic web of glowing lines.
"Pulled a mystical muscle," she says. She taps the tight, controlled
circle on the back of her hand. "Mancer's mark sprung a leak."

   "Ah," says Cal. "I, uh, I was wondering, but wasn't sure if I should ask."

   "You did," says Pam. "I just wound time back and cut to the chase."

   "You do that kind of thing often?" says Cal.

   "You know, the first time you asked me that, I lied and said no,"
says Pam. "So, yeah, I do it a lot. I say something I wish I could
take back. Someone else says something they wish they could take back.
And so I do. Wouldn't you?"

   "Maybe," says Cal. "Do things hurt any less?"

   "God no. I still remember everything. Still get embarrassed when I
put my foot in my mouth, even if I make it so it never got there in
the first place. Still get hurt. Still feel," she searches for the
word. "Vulnerable. But," she shrugs, "I dunno, I guess it makes me
feel a little better after? Like a form of self-care?"

   "Yeah, I get that," says Cal.

()

As the others finally file into the meeting room, Cal notices how each
of them were whammied by the all-nighter. [Audrey] is strangely quiet
and nervous – not nervous the way [she] always is, but in some
different way that's hard for Cal to put their finger on. Lily's
gentle buzz is gentler and buzzier than usual. Cal wants to say that
Bethany is crabbier but honestly? That lady's been getting crabbier
for a while. About the only one that seems utterly unphased by it is
Lola, which makes sense, because as near as far as they know, she
doesn't need to sleep.

   Which leaves Kate, who definitely does need to sleep, but hasn't
had a decent night in a good long while. Side effect of spending two
sleepless years on the other side of a mirror. Screwed up her sleep
cycle somewhat fierce, and that's before you even factor in the
trauma. Cal tries to keep that in mind every time the two of them
bicker and snipe, tries to make allowances every time Kate says
something thoughtless and invalidating.

   (Don't wanna think about that now. Push it down.)

   "Okay," Pam begins, "so the time sink is stable. Stable-ish,
anyway; as stable as these things get. I didn't actually have to do
all that much; Kate did a great job considering time magic isn't her
forte."

   Kate nods, and it's hard to tell if it's a "thank you" nod, or a
"yes, of course" nod, or maybe both.

   "It's stable," says Bethany, "but not closed?"

   "That I'm having a little trouble with," says Pam. "But
functionally, it's pretty similar to the time dilator."

   "Time dilator?" says Lily. "I need to get me one of those if I ever
have temporal bottom surgery."

   The room stares at her blankly.

   "My comedy genius is wasted on the cis."

   "The time dilator," says Bethany, "is something Pam worked on, for
the war. It's hush-hush stuff, can't get into details, but the gist of
it is that time moves a lot slower around it."

   Pam nods. "It's possible the physics nerds that helped me with that
can help with this."

   "Sounds like a plan," says Bethany. "[Audrey]? Your turn."

   "I did another sweep of the Lighthouse like you asked." [She] must
be even more exhausted than Cal thought; there's none of the usual
bombast and drama, everything is very subdued. "Nothing's out of the
ordinary. No physical signs of how they futzed the Lighthouse's suite
of security features."

   Raidne pipes up. "And I'm still coming up empty on my end. A lot of
the Lighthouse's recent memory was corrupted by the enemy construct,
and when I pushed it out, those files went with it."

   "So, we still have no idea how they got in and out," summarizes
Bethany. "Great."

()

After the others are dismissed, Bethany meets separately with Cal,
Raidne, and Kate. "So, let's talk about the Lighthouse."

   "Can I ask you a question first?" says Kate.

   "Sure," says Bethany.

   "How's Derek?"

   Bethany grimaces. "It's rough. I'm not cut out to be a caretaker."

   "Then don't be. There are other people who can take care of him."

   "They do," says Bethany. "Pam helps. So does Melody. Sort of."

   "Sort of?"

   "You know Melody. She doesn't want to help, she wants to fix it,
and those are two different things." She smiles. "Sounds like Derek.
Maybe that's why they never got along."

   "Sounds like you, too," says Kate.

   "Cal, you want to step outside while I punch your sister in the face?"

   Cal's surprised Kate and Bethany remembered they were there.
They're used to being overlooked when the tall people are talking.
"Absolutely not."

   "Thanks, Cal," says Kate.

   "I wanna watch."

   "Thanks, Cal."

   "Can we get back to business?" bristles Bethany. "I don't know why
you brought Derek up in the first place."

   "Because I'm your friend and I know you're going through a hard
time," says Kate. "Also, because this is his fault."

   "How is this his fault?" says Bethany. "To be clear, I'm not
disagreeing with you. Most things are his fault. I just need you to be
more specific."

   "Even before he left us running skinny, no one was minding the
store. The question isn't how they got into the Lighthouse, it's how
this didn't happen before."

   "You're not wrong," admits Bethany. "We really need to have some of
our people here at all times."

   "Kinda like what you were doing with the fake Forlorn Hope complex?
Rotating people in and out around the clock?"

   "That's what I'm thinking. Gonna be hard given the reduced roster.
Plus I'd like to lean heavy on former Wonders, but the only one that's
still active right now is [Audrey]."

   "At least while Julie's still on the mend," says Kate. "Julie Ann,"
she sing-songs.

   Bethany blushes, embarrassed and a little angry. Cal chortles.

   "See?" says Kate. "Even Cal knows you have a crush."

()

"Even Cal knows" implies that Cal isn't observant enough to pick up on
the most obvious thing in the world. "Like it's somehow a surprise
that I can recognize that the only thing stopping Bethany from
smooching the heck out of Julie Ann Justice is a bad case of
comp-het."

   "Well," says Raidne when the two of them are alone in the
Lighthouse's gallery, "that and Julie Ann's husband."

   "Not the point," says Cal a little testily.

   Or how about the fact that it was Cal who figured out that
Rainshade was running around pretending to be Kate? Figured it out
before anybody else did. They remember why, too: the fake Kate had
told Cal she was proud of them.

   "Not to invalidate any of that, but you do know that she is proud
of you, right?"

   "Yeah, well, that's a new development," says Cal. "And underneath
it, everything else is still there like it always has been. 'Even Cal
knows', like I didn't know Kate was running around in tights. I knew.
I always knew. I knew before Simon did!" They thump their tiny fist
against the wall.

   "Aw, sweetheart," says Raidne sympathetically, wrapping soft
imaginary arms around them.

   "I know she loves me," says Cal. "I mean, she doesn't really see
me, not as who I am, doesn't really know me, but I know she loves me.
But I can't take this. I need to get out of there."

   This is something they've discussed before. "I agree. So let's do
that. Let's get you out of that house."

   "Yeah, but where would I go?" says Cal, wiping their eyes with their sleeve.

   Raidne pauses for a moment. "I have an idea."

()

About ten minutes after Raidne calls, Bethany arrives in the gallery.
She grips the railing, looks out across the lake.

   "Thanks for coming up here," says Cal. "I figured it would be
faster than me coming down."

   "Not a problem," says Bethany. "So, what's up?"

   "About your plan for the Lighthouse, Raidne and me were thinking.
Rotating folks in and out is gonna be a hassle, right?"

   "It always is."

   "Plus, the more people get assigned to it, the more of a security
issue it's gonna be, right?"

   "Sure," says Bethany. "So I take it you two have a better idea?"

   Cal shrugs. "A simpler one, at any rate. Why not just run a squad
out of the Lighthouse? Semi-stable roster, people you can trust, using
it as a base?"

   "And who would lead this hypothetical squad, I wonder?" muses Bethany.

   "Got it in one, Beth," says Cal. "I mean, I handled this whole
thing pretty well, right? So you know you can trust me."

   "Cal, that's never been in question. You've proven yourself again
and again. So, let's say I sign off on this. Would you be, like,
moving into the Lighthouse?"

   "Sure," says Cal as casually as possible. "Hey, it gets me out of
Kate's hair."

   "Or gets Kate out of yours." Bethany's observant, Cal will give her
that. "So, who all are you thinking for this? Not everyone wants to
live in an HQ."

   "Not everyone would have to," interjects Raidne. "Even when the
Wonders were using the Lighthouse, only a few would actually live on
the premises."

   "True," says Bethany. "I figure you're gonna start by asking the
peeps who were with you yesterday? You've worked together before a few
times, so you already know you work well together."

   "Is that a yes?"

   Bethany twists her mouth in thought, then nods.

   "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" squeals Cal.

()

Lola's a no.

   "I don't like being tied to one place," she says a little sadly.
(Everything Lola says is always a little sad, even when she's happy.)
"Not when there's so much sky."

   Before Cal can make any response, Lola cyclones herself into the clouds.

()

Lily's a yes.

   "Yes. Absolutely yes. In a heartbeat."

   "Okay, now would you be moving in or not?"

   "Oh, moving in, for sure. My living situation right now is, hmm,
precarious?, so the timing here is perfect. Kinda saving my bacon
here, hon."

()

[Audrey's] a yes.

   "I spent eight years here, so I know it better than most. Where and
how to defend it from an attack. Where it's warmest in the winter, and
coolest in the summer. That the door to the privy gets stuck; that the
fourth step on a second flight of stairs creaks."

   "Sounds like you'd be quite an asset," says Cal, amused. "Hey, are,
are you okay?"

   [She] suddenly gets flush and nervous. "Yes. Why?"

   "You just seem, uh, less you than usual."

   "More, actually." [She] smiles as if laughing at a joke that is
[hers] and [hers] alone. "I appreciate you asking. That's very kind."

   "Sure," says Cal. They're a little weirded out by this to be
honest, so they quickly move onto the logistical side of things. "We
need to figure out your schedule, since I'm gonna presume you won't be
living here."

   "Actually, I was hoping I could. Honestly, this feels more like my
home than home is."

   "Won't Wazowie miss you?"

   [Audrey] flinches. It's a little thing, the tiniest involuntary
twitch for the tiniest sliver of a second, the kind of imperceptible
thing that would pass completely unnoticed if that face wasn't as big
as a movie screen compared to Cal. (Hmm. Wonder what that's about.)
"No, I don't think I'll be missed. Tina's on tour more often than
not."

()

Pam is also a yes, not that Cal asked.

   "Hey, Bethany said you're putting together a team. You got room for
me on it, at least for a little while? Figure you want someone to keep
an eye on the time sink, maybe someone who knows a little something
about time magic, and it ain't gonna be your sister."

   "How'd you know that?"

   "I got eyes."

   "You also got the whole rewind-y thing."

   "I do," admits Pam. "So, yeah, I'll level with you. There was a
moment in the meeting where things got a little messy, you asked me to
pull it back, so I pulled it back. I'd rather not tell you what was
said, since it technically didn't happen and no one but me remembers
it."

   "I'd rather not know, to be honest." They don't need to know,
really. Because Cal knows the gist, knows exactly what they've wanted
to say to Kate for a good long while now. The thing they can't say, no
matter how much they need to, because after they say it, there's no
way to ever take it back.

   Probably that's the only reason Cal dared to say it, because they
knew Pam would erase it, knew they could have that moment of cruel
catharsis without consequences. Even if they don't remember it, even
if now it has never happened, Cal feels as if it had, feels that loose
emptiness of relief, and that metallic twinge of regret.

()

What neither Pam nor our pint-sized protagonist knows is that Kate
does remember what Cal never said. Magic's funny that way. They'll
never know that she knows, and will never know that it broke her
heart.

   Kate will never tell them. She won't even tell Bethany, her best
friend. The only person she will tell is their brother Simon, and
Simon won't tell Cal. Not because he's good at keeping secrets –- he's
not -- but because the day that he helps them move into the Lighthouse
is the last time Cal will ever see him alive.

   They've never been very close, Cal and Simon; in some ways, the
gulf between them is deeper and wider than the one that separates Cal
and Kate. Simon spent his childhood being quiet, studious, and
well-behaved; Cal spent it bursting at the seams with agony and joy.
Everything about him is clean and easy, but Cal's whole life has been
messy and hard. Neither understands the other.

   But Simon does try. He's thoughtful and kind. He doesn't know what
Cal is going through, but believes them when they say they're going
through it. Kate doesn't see Cal as who they really are, but Simon
does. Cal knows this only intuitively; it will only be after he's gone
that they can put it into words.

   "Thanks for schlepping my stuff," says Cal.

   "Of course," says Simon as he sets Cal's mini-jet down.

   "Bet you're happy to be rid of me," Cal teases. "Now you can
finally get a cat."

   "Oh," says Lily, poking her head in. "Are you allergic?"

   "No, I'm just snack-sized," says Cal.

   "I've already got one picked out," says Simon. And that's it. Those
are the last words he'll ever say to them.

   If they had known that, there's so much more Cal would say, so much
more Simon would say, so many ways in which the both of them would try
to at last make some kind of deeper connection, to let the other know
that they were loved and appreciated.

   But they don't know that, and both of them will regret it – Cal in
this world, Simon in another.

()

Kate and Cal, on the other hand, will speak to each other many times
in the years to come: sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, hearts
breaking and mending, never fully broken and never fully healed. There
will be many days where they fight side by side, siblings and allies,
and one cruel, tragic night in which they fight against one another as
bitterest enemies.

   That's not tonight, though. Tonight is Cal's first night sleeping
in their room in the Lighthouse, which they share with Lily. Kate
scrawls something in red chalk over their doorframe.

   "This is a ward," she explains, and the chalk fades.

   Now she uses smaller letters. "And this is a warning." As if on
cue, it becomes scalding hot steam. "Anyone messes with you, messes
with me."

   "I appreciate it," says Cal. "But I can take care of myself."

   "I know that," says Kate. "This just makes me feel better, okay?"

   "Okay, okay."

   "One last thing." She reaches into the air, and from nothing plucks
something held delicately between the tips of her thumb and index
finger.

   It's a tiny necklace. "Wear this for me."

   "Jewelry's never really been my thing, Kate."

   "Keep it anyway. If you need me – I know you don't, but if you do,
if it's an emergency – squeeze the stone in your hand. I will come."

   Cal nods, slips it over their neck, tucking it into their shirt.

   "And obviously, if you need to talk to me, you know, when it's not
an emergency, you can give always me a ring, or stop by."

   "I mean, I'll see you at the meetings with Bethany," Cal says
without thinking. Kate looks wounded, but Cal regrets it before then,
regrets it even before they're finished saying it. They immediately
try to backpedal – "But yeah, it would be nice to bug you now and
then" – but the damage has been done.

   Kate fakes a smile. Cal almost apologizes, but then their
stubbornness kicks in.

()

That first night, Pam cooks jambalaya. [Audrey], Lily, and Lily's
partner Thistle Dragoon all agree that it is excellent, and that Pam's
culinary reputation (apparently, some Daylighters heard about her
cooking before they heard about her powers) is well-deserved.

   Cal has no idea. They haven't been able to enjoy food since
becoming miniaturized. Everything is too big, and even if you break
off a tiny Cal-sized portion, you don't get that same meld of subtle
flavors. It always tastes of one thing that punches them in the mouth.
They've had to make due with a bland but nutrient-rich foodstuff
manufactured for the miniaturized.

  "I used to enjoy eating," Cal whispers to Raidne, watching from afar
as the others chew and slurp. "Like, really enjoy it? Food was my jam.
There was a whole period where I really got into making soups? Where I
thought I was gonna do that, like, professionally?" They snort
derisively. "That lasted about as long as anything else did. Never
could stick to anything."

   "You're sticking to this," says Raidne. "You're good at it, too."

   "I guess," says Cal. "I mean, I'm no slouch."

   "I'm pretty sure you saved the universe, hon."

   "You helped."

   "Okay, sure. We saved the universe, then."

   "We saved the universe. Said so in the paper." They pass their hand
over an imaginary headline. "Two hot babes save the universe."

   "Front page story."

   "Above the fold," agrees Cal. "Big ol' picture of us."

   "Well, I don't photograph well."

   Cal closes their eyes. "I can see you, though. Even if no one else
can. I can't describe it, of course. You don't have a face or a body.
But I can see you just the same." They open their eyes. "You're there,
just the same."

   Raidne doesn't have eyes to close, but she closes them. "I see you, too."

   "I know," says Cal, and they feel loved.

()

Near midnight, Cal curls up in the doll-sized bed on the nightstand,
while Lily climbs into the twin beside it.

   "Sweet dreams, Cal," says Lily just before she slips a tiny green
pill under her tongue. She holds it there carefully as she says, "You
too, Raidne."

   "Thank you."

   "You do dream, right?"

   "Not really."

   "I'm sorry. That was thoughtless of me."

   "Don't be, and it wasn't," says Raidne. "I appreciated being
included. Hmm. Maybe I do dream, after all."

   This is news to Cal. "Yeah?"

   "Well," says Raidne, "there are times when I suspend my active,
conscious processes. Only things running are the things in the
background. And in a way, that's essentially what your brains are
doing, isn't it? A little like dreaming?"

   "I think so," says Cal. Lily agrees, and the three of them drift
off to sleep.

()

In a dream that's not a dream, Raidne sees Cal as they are. Not tiny,
not vulnerable, but huge, towering, their body as big as their heart,
and as fierce. Looming over the Lighthouse, striding across the lake,
their footsteps heavy, the earth quaking.

   Her rest cycle ends early, and as her major cognitive processes
start up again, she pulls this thing from the background to the fore.
With a mellow casualness that's apt for three a.m., her imaginary
fingers tiptoe and dance through the Daylighters archives, through
newspaper clippings, through scientific papers. She shoots off an
email to Dr. Fay, concluding with the line, "Do you think this will
work?"

   She knows she won't get an answer until morning, but that doesn't
stop her from vibrating with impatient anxiety. She should slip back
into her rest cycle, but she knows she's too keyed up for that. So she
indulges in some audio erotica. When she's finished – when she's been
satisfied – she's a lot calmer, and is able at last to fall asleep
once more.

   When she boots up again, Dr. Fay's response is waiting for her.

   Yes.

   Yes, I think it will.


COPYRIGHT 2023 AMABEL HOLLAND.