When the dust cleared, Daniel ventured a glance behind himself to see a ruined mess where the apartment complex stood just moments before. The Natural History Museum hadn’t fared much better. A large chunk of the building had been caved in by its falling neighbor. The rest of the structure, at least, appeared to be holding. He winced a little involuntarily. Just guessing at the kind of exhibits that wing of the museum might have held... the loss had to be immeasurable.
“There’s the hero of the hour!” a new voice cried. Daniel turned, and was met with a shocking sight. A tall, fit man in a blue jumpsuit and red helmet was striding toward him. On the upper half of his face a dark visor covered his features, but with the long dark hair escaping from under the headpiece and the stylized sun emblazoned on his chest, this could only be one man.
“Burning Sol!” Daniel exclaimed, unable to help himself. To the others, he must have sounded like a giddy schoolboy, but in the moment he didn’t care. He had seen this hero on the news, of course, but never face to face. Burning Sol was the man almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the crime in the city back under control after supernatural powers had suddenly exploded among the population. He was also one of the biggest forces driving the idea of “super heroes” to enter the public consciousness. More importantly, at least in that moment, he had inspired Daniel himself to take up the cape and start fighting for a safer city. Naturally, he was more than a little starstruck.
“I arrived on the scene a few minutes after the bomb went off, but by that time you already had it under control,” The jumpsuited man made a fist and punched Daniel companionably on the arm, “Without your help, big guy, we wouldn’t have been able to evacuate everyone in time.”
“How many casualties were there, Lieutenant?” Beth asked, but it sounded to Daniel as though she already knew the answer.
“None.” The officer was grinning. Not the shiny smile he used to ingratiate himself with others, but an expression of genuine happiness. Indeed, everyone there was sharing smiles of congratulations, and Daniel allowed a bit of pride to flicker up in his own chest.
“That’s right!” Bethany shouted, reaching up to slap Daniel on the arm, “Zero casualties on our first big job!”
“Of course,” Aguado cautioned, “The collateral damage is out of this world. ...And we’re not done yet.”
“Yeah, good job Bunnyboy but the real villain got away.” Numbskull pointed a bony digit to this message, scrawled out on her whiteboard.
“Right. Caduceus,” Daniel agreed, feeling a bit of his enthusiasm dim. After seeing the villain’s mutants come to his aid and save so many lives, he wasn’t feeling as eager to jump in and fight the masked man. Of course, Daniel reminded himself, Caduceus had been responsible for the whole incident to begin with. It was only right that he be brought to justice for destruction of property, as well as all the other crimes on his record.
“He didn’t go far,” Burning Sol raised a hand up to the side of his helmet, as though listening to a radio. Daniel cocked his own head, but even his long, sensitive ears didn’t pick up any sound. “He’s holed up in a warehouse a few blocks down, waiting for things to die down.”
“How do you know that?” Aguado asked, frowning.
“Are you kidding?” Beth interjected, “This is Burning Sol we’re talking about! Of course he knows.”
Daniel saw the stars in her eyes. It seems like he wasn’t the only Burning Sol fan in attendance. In fact, only two of the group really seemed to be unaffected by the hero’s legendary presence. There was Numbskull, whose rictus grin was almost impossible to read in any situation, and Gearhawk. The latter hadn’t joined in with the congratulations, and was glaring at Daniel over his cowl. He wished the guy would just get over whatever was eating at him. Maybe they’d have to have a talk later.
“It’s nothing special,” Burning Sol waved the praise away, “I just asked a friend to keep an eye on him while we evacuated the civilians. Are you guys up for one more mission before the night is over?”
“We sure are,” Bethany was still smiling hugely, and she looked to the rest of them for approval. Though he was still having trouble working up enthusiasm to hunt Caduceus, Daniel nodded his assent. He saw the others do the same. As he was about to ask Bethany for orders, a bony digit pushed into the flesh of his arm. Daniel turned, and found Numbskull holding up a whiteboard for inspection.
“Make yourself useful, Bunnyboy, and carry me.”
“Excuse me?” he asked, momentarily dumbfounded.
The skeleton gave him a withering look with her eye sockets, then wrote down a new response.
“Sol will run over there quick, Gearhawk can fly or something, and you can hop.”
Daniel nodded, now understanding what she was getting at. “But you don’t have any way to travel as quickly.”
“Skeletons luck out on wind resistance, but I can’t just hop skip and jump like you can.”
“Alright.” He bent and offered one forearm to the skeleton, who climbed on. A storm of pinpricks traveled up his arm as she scuttled to his shoulder. It was a creepy feeling, having all those little bones pressing into his skin. When he turned back, the rest of the group was staring at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw Numbskull give them a friendly wave.
There was a moment of silence, following which Aguado continued as though nothing had happened. “We’re ready to move out on your word, Mr. Sol. I’ll have a squad encircling the building, but the actual bust will be up to you. I’m not sending any cops against those things he’s got guarding him.”
“You can leave it to us, Officer,” Burning Sol gave him a thumbs up, then motioned to the rest of the group. The short cape around his shoulders fluttered dramatically. “Are you ready?”
Everyone assembled gave an affirmative, and then the hero was off, blasting like a red streak down the street almost faster than Daniel could keep track of. Caught flat footed, he stumbled for a moment, then began to hop after the man. It was a clumsy motion at first, but once again his body seemed to know what to do. Daniel soon found himself in a comfortable lope that was carrying him far faster than a normal sprint would have. On his shoulder, he felt Numbskull’s prickly finger bones tighten on his shoulder. At the same time, the skeleton’s other hand reached up and grabbed one of his flopping ears, presumably to keep hold. That wasn’t okay. The feeling that rushed through Daniel made him feel as though his whole world had been turned violently upside down. It was a nauseating experience, and he immediately stumbled.
“Numbskull!” he shouted, but then realized a moment later that the other wouldn’t be able to respond even if she did hear him over the wind whipping around them. “Let go of my ear!”
Apparently she had been listening, because the cadaverous grip around his ear released, and he regained his balance. The skeleton would probably tease him about that later, but for now he focused on keeping Burning Sol within his sights as they tore down the empty streets. The other man was fast, preternaturally so. Nobody was really clear what Burning Sol’s superpower actually was, but it obviously included super speed of some sort. Whenever asked about it, he’d usually brush the question away with a smile and the comment: “My power just lets me be the best me I can be.”
The audiences loved it, of course, but Daniel had always found himself a bit annoyed at the standard non-answer.
Now he was right on the renowned hero’s trail as the two raced along an overpass. He couldn’t be sure, but Daniel imagined that Gearhawk must be following them, somewhere up in the night sky. Keeping up this pace was requiring so much of his attention that he couldn’t turn his head up to try and catch a glimpse of the hooded man above him.
Without warning, Burning Sol skidded into a sharp left and leapt gracefully over the side of the overpass. The man’s jumpsuit flashed vibrant blue in a streetlight for an instant as he somersaulted through the air and was gone. Praying that he knew where they were, and had guessed the height correctly, Daniel followed him with a powerful leap of his own. He felt Numbskull’s digits press even harder into his shoulder as the skeleton scrambled for a grip. Together they sailed over the concrete edge of the bridge and into the darkness below.
In situations like these, Daniel was quickly learning to just let his body do what came naturally, and that’s what he focused on now. Though his eyes were still adjusting to the relative darkness of this lower pass, he felt his ears swivel atop his head. At the same time, he unconsciously moved his feet to a new position, bent his knees just so, and…
The two landed with a tremendous thud. Daniel felt a jolt of force run up his legs and all the way to the tips of his ears, but there wasn’t any pain. Lowering his hand from where it had been clutching his new top hat to his head, he took in his surroundings. Before him a large warehouse squatted in the shadows. It looked the same as any other industrial building crowding this part of the city. The night was illuminated by a few sparse street lights, but their spacing and relative scarcity made it difficult to make out anything in the gloom. The building itself didn’t have a single light on, not even at the gate. It seemed, to all appearances, totally abandoned.
Before he even thought to look around for his guide, Burning Sol arrived at his elbow and rapped him on the shoulder with another friendly punch. “Not bad, big guy! Most heroes can’t keep up with me.”
“We’re not most heroes.” Gearhawk said ominously, coming to land lightly just a few feet away. His momentum caused him to skid just a few inches in an odd direction, and Daniel took notice. Whatever he could do, it wasn’t normal flight. He wanted to ask the hooded man about it later, but expected Gearhawk wouldn’t give him a straight answer. The gulf between them had been growing lately, he felt, and what Daniel was about to say wasn't going to make that any better. Still, he couldn’t stop himself.
“Did you say that just to sound cool? Of course we’re not most heroes. Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that.”
Unsurprisingly, Gearhawk just glared at him over his cowl, then turned back to brood at the building. Seeming to sense that her joy ride was over, Numbskull slipped down from his shoulder. The skeleton landed with a clacking and rattling of bones that caused Daniel to wince. Despite all the time they’d been spending together recently, he still wasn’t entirely comfortable with having a literal skeleton walking around with him.
She was holding her whiteboard, though he knew that she couldn’t have been doing so while on his shoulder. Another mystery, but one which would have to wait.
“Nice place. Think it has an indoor pool?” the board read.
“Now is not the time, Numbskull,” Gearhawk growled, then turned to Burning Sol, “The police are on their way?”
The man’s visored helmet bobbed up and down in a nod. “They’ll get here, I sent them our coordinates a moment ago. What I’m more concerned about is how much time we have before Caduceus gets away a second time.”
“That’s a neat trick. Bunnyboy, why didn’t you call in on your creepy-talkie?” Numbskull wheeled her board to face him. It might have been Daniel’s imagination, but it seemed like she was getting faster at scrawling out those messages. Regardless, she had a good point. He fished around his breast pocket for a moment and then produced the device. Depressing the little knob at its top, Daniel began to talk into the speaker.
“Lieutenant Aguado? This is Hopper. We’ve arrived at the warehouse. What should we do from here?”
No response came from the device, and Daniel began to worry that he was using it wrong, or had broken it somehow in the excitement up to this point. The four waited in awkward silence for almost a full minute before Aguado’s voice came in response. Again, it was tinny and distorted, as though coming from the other end of a long metallic tube, but Daniel didn’t have any trouble understanding him.
“We’re on our way to your location, Hopper. Do not attempt to enter the building or engage Caduceus in any way. The situation has changed.”
Daniel voiced his affirmation into the device, then the four grew silent at this new information. Eventually, it was the squeaking of Numbskull’s marker that broke the common quiet.
“What do you make of it, Speed Racer?”
Burning Sol chuckled before answering. “We’d better do what he says for now. You guys are government-sponsored, right? It wouldn’t be very heroic of me to let my juniors get in trouble for something like this.” He looked around the others and, perhaps sensing Gearhawk’s obvious discontent, continued. “Anyway, if Caduceus tries to escape from that warehouse, there’s no way we’ll miss it.”
A few possibilities occured to Daniel, including hidden underground tunnels or mysterious teleportation sigils, but he kept these ideas to himself. Burning Sol was in the right, he felt; they couldn’t endanger all the good work they’d done already today by bucking the rules now. It wasn’t as though he was too eager to tangle with Caduceus after what he’d seen at the apartment complex anyway. He nodded his assent.
“I guess we’re waiting, then. Anyone know any good rhyming games?”
It wasn’t long thereafter, and with no rhyming having taken place, that the police arrived on the scene. The warehouse had remained dark and motionless the entire time, so when Lieutenant Aguado stepped out from the lead patrol car, it was only the dim street lamps and flashing police lights that lit up his stony expression. That, more than anything, put Daniel on his guard. Each time he had met Aguado up to this point, the man’s face had been displaying some strong emotion. Either happiness, insincere as it might be, or anger. This complete lack of expression was new, and more than a bit disquieting.
Trailing the police cars was a black limousine. It pulled around to the front, and from the way the Lieutenant’s eyes trailed it, Daniel got the feeling that Aguado had no love for whoever was inside. It was therefore a surprise to him when a well-dressed driver opened the rear door and Oliver White stepped out. This was the man at the top of White Financial Trust and, supposedly, the ultimate boss of Daniel’s wife. Daniel had seen him in pictures and on the television a few times, and those stern-but-handsome features and slicked-back salt and pepper hair were hard to forget. White was wearing a jet-black suit with a red tie, cutting a sharp figure even at this time of night. His expression was cloudy, but it brightened considerably upon seeing Daniel and his companions.
“Ah, the heroes of the hour!” he said, waving a hand generously at the group, “I hear we have you to thank for saving the lives of all those people in the apartment complex.”
“Uh… Yes, we four…” Daniel stammered, then trailed off as he looked to the side and found only Numbskull and Gearhawk there with him. Burning Sol had vanished at some point after the limo arrived. He felt a familiar hotness running up his cheeks in a blush, and cleared his throat to hide it. “We managed to evacuate the building in time, yes sir.” Daniel tried to stand up a bit straighter. This was his wife’s employer, after all.
“It was a close thing, and we trailed the criminal all the way here,” Gearhawk added. It seemed to Daniel that the cloaked man had something more he wanted to add, but he remained silent after that. The implied “...but then you showed up” hung in the air between them.
White’s driver delivered him a lion-headed cane, and he smiled and nodded his approval. “Yes, yes,” he said, punctuating each word with a retort of the cane on the pavement. “You’ve done fabulously well. Certainly the heroes our city needs.” He paused, his smile dimming slightly and taking on an apologetic tone, “But you see, this warehouse is my property. I cannot allow you to go inside even in search of a villain.”
“You’re kidding,” Gearhawk spat, “This might be our best chance to get Caduceus once and for all.”
“Be that as it may,” White answered, with a sharp look at the hero, “It is private property, and you will not enter it without my express approval.”
Lieutenant Aguado appeared at their side, still wearing his blank mask of an expression. “Mr. White is right. Gearhawk. Hopper. Numbskull. All of you are to stand down.”
“I promise you that I will deal with any malcontents that may or may not be found on my property. If Caduceus truly is there, you can rest assured that my men will bring him to justice.”
Daniel found himself frowning deeply. He exchanged a look with Numbskull, then wondered why he did that. The skeleton was still grinning as always, though her expression somehow looked as pained as his. Something about this situation was definitely wrong, and Oliver White’s behavior regarding it could only be described as suspicious. The man had money, power, and, frustrating as it may be, the law on his side. Daniel didn’t see any option but to acquiesce.
“Alright, Mr. White. We’ll fall back.” he answered, prompting a soft, defeated groan from Gearhawk.
“Capital! I’m glad you understand,” White responded, his smile revived to full strength once again. “Actually, now that that business is behind us, I’d like to formally extend an invitation to all of you to attend a gala I’ll be hosting tomorrow night.”
This time Numbskull managed to turn her board around before either of the other two could muster a response. “A gala? Seriously? Does anyone even use that word anymore?”
“Indeed I do,” the mogul responded, not missing a beat, “We have to celebrate your accomplishments tonight! You’ll be my guests of honor, of course. I’ll have my driver deliver the official invitations to your office later, shall I?”
Gearhawk remained silent, and Numbskull didn’t seem ready to write anything else, so it seemed like it was up to Daniel to respond. “Sure. Er, thank you for the invitation, Mr. White. I think we’ll have to consult with our employer before we attend, though.”
“Of course, of course!” White pounded the street twice again with his cane to the beat of the words, “I’ll put in a good word with her as well.”
With that, and another magnanimous smile, Oliver White excused himself and returned to his limousine. Daniel couldn’t help but notice, however, that the vehicle did not drive away. It remained parked where it was, and he strongly suspected they were still being watched. This made it all the more frustrating when Numbskull wrote out another message for everyone to see.
“That guy is 110% villain material.”
“Not here!” Daniel chided her, “He’s still watching.”
The skeleton shrugged, but Gearhawk took up her cause. “For once I agree with Numbskull. I can’t believe I just said that… Anyway, he’s got to be covering up for Caduceus, right? There’s no other reason he would do this.”
“Leave it, Gearhawk,” Lieutenant Aguado said, “It doesn’t matter what his motives are. Oliver White legally owns that property and he’s free to bar us from it. That’s where it ends.”
“Tch,” the hooded hero turned his head away in disgust.
“Well…” Daniel began, feeling as though the situation had truly gotten away from all of them, “We should get back to headquarters and figure out our next move.”
Numbskull stood on her toe bones and shoved a message in his face. “Can I ride on your back again?”
Daniel was out of breath when he opened the door and stepped into the B.S.A. office. His transformation had brought with it an incredible increase in physical stamina, but this was a reminder that he still had limits. After waking in the middle of the night, propping up an entire building, and hopping across the city twice, he was feeling pretty fatigued. What they had to talk about was more important than sleep right now, however. He focused himself and stepped inside. Silently, as they entered, Numbskull slipped off his back and sidled over to a chair.
Gearhawk was already there, of course, sulking with his arms crossed. Bethany was as well, her hair tousled and eyes weary from the late hour. Daniel took a seat and made no attempt to fix the frown that was creasing his face.
“Lieutenant Aguado already filled me in on what happened,” Beth began, “He’s not happy about it either, but there’s not much we can do. I double checked and that warehouse really is Oliver White’s property.”
“I am getting really tired of hearing that,” Gearhawk grumbled.
“Let’s not let it get us down,” she comforted, making a visible attempt to brighten her expression, “We’ve got a nice opportunity to investigate what White’s connection to Caduceus might be firsthand.”
“The party,” Daniel guessed. He didn’t much like the idea of rubbing shoulders with the elite of the city. Especially not with a pair of rabbit ears sticking up from out of his head.
“Don’t worry, Hopper,” Bethany smiled at him, seeming to read his thoughts, “I’m sure they’ll find you charming. You and Numbskull will attend and try to figure out whatever you can. Gearhawk has volunteered to go on patrol himself that night and check the museum bombing for clues while he’s at it.”
“Not much of a party person, huh?” Daniel knew it wasn’t a good idea to poke at Gearhawk in his current mood, but the other’s abrasive manner had really been getting under his skin lately. They were teammates, and Gearhawk had saved his life, but would it hurt the guy to act even a little bit friendlier?
“What do you think?” the hooded man shot back, voice full of sarcasm.
“Right…” The ears on top of Daniel’s head shot up and he almost did a double take as what Bethany had said really sunk in. “Wait, Numbskull and I? I’m going to the party with a skeleton?”
Beth and the skeleton in question exchanged a look. Something was communicated between them that Daniel couldn’t decipher before their handler spoke again. “Numbskull has her own way in, she’ll meet you at the party.”
“Try not to have too much fun before I get there, Bunnyboy.” Numbskull was grinning again. Well, she always was, but this expression seemed almost mocking in its gaiety.
“Can I…” He looked at Numbskull again, searching the skull for any hint of what he was missing, “Can I take my wife along?”
“You’re married?” It was Gearhawk who spoke. Daniel would have expected incredulity, maybe a bit of mockery in his tone, but the other actually sounded genuinely surprised.
“Is that so surprising?”
“No, it’s just… Nevermind.” Gearhawk grumbled a response and went back to lurking in his hood.
Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. Everyone seemed to have something to hide from him tonight. He was getting pretty tired of all these mysteries.
“Of course your wife can come… I think. The official invitations didn’t specify, so I can’t say for sure, but I doubt Oliver White will turn you away if you bring a plus one. That kind of thing is expected, isn’t it?” Bethany’s tone suggested that she had about as much experience with high society as Daniel himself. That is to say, just what he had seen on TV.
“If that’s settled, can I go get some sleep? Apparently I have an important party to attend tomorrow night. Or would that be tonight by now?” Daniel knew he was getting peevish, and cut himself off before he could do any more complaining. It wouldn’t help anything at this point, and things would probably look better after he’d had a good rest in any case.
“Go ahead,” Bethany yawned herself, “You’re all dismissed for now. Gearhawk can report back here in the morning for patrol. ...Make that late morning, or early afternoon.” She turned her weary eyes to Daniel and spared an especially long glance for Numbskull. He thought he could see the hints of a smirk playing around the edges of her mouth, despite the exhaustion plain on the rest of her face. “You other two can go straight to the party. Just remember that you’re there for investigative purposes only. Don’t go trying to make any arrests or start any fights. We’ve got no authority to disrupt a private event like that unless there’s some really high-profile supervillainy going on.”
Daniel only grunted an acknowledgement before taking his leave. When he finally got home, he half-coherently described events to a worried Annie, then fell into his bed and utter, welcoming oblivion.
When he woke the next day, Daniel was surprised to discover that it was already early afternoon. He must have arrived home in the early hours of the morning, and certainly he had been exhausted, but he was still surprised to find that he had slept half the day away.
Soon, he was dressed, scrubbed clean, and his whiskers trimmed. He found Annie in the kitchen, preparing a late lunch for her lethargic husband. The girls must have already been at school, because the house seemed uncommonly peaceful.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked, sliding into a chair at the kitchen table. As with most seats after the transformation, this chair barely held his bulk. Daniel made a mental note to get something sturdier before he inevitably crushed it one day as he sat down.
“I tried,” she replied, placing a plate with a sandwich on it in front of him. Annie then took a seat across from him and crossed her hands, smiling. “You wouldn’t wake up no matter what I did. You just grumbled and twitched those cute little ears of yours.”
Daniel’s leporine ears twitched self-consciously, and he expended a small effort of will calming them down again. The sandwich certainly looked tasty. It had bacon, tomato, and most importantly lettuce. While before Daniel had spared no particular love for that particular vegetable, ever since his transformation he had found exciting new depths of flavor in a humble head of lettuce.
Forcing himself not to dig in right away, he rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. “I guess I had a long night. Did I tell you what happened?”
“You went over the important parts, but I’d like to hear it again now that you’re actually lucid,” she replied.
“Sure, but… Shouldn’t you be at work right now? Did something happen?”
“White gave everyone the day off in celebration of his “gala”. Which we’re going to attend, apparently.” Annie’s eyes were shining. Despite her straightforward personality, Daniel knew that she loved these kinds of events. A chance to show off herself and her husband to the city’s social elite would be an opportunity too great for her to be anything less than excited about.
“Are you sure you don’t mind, even with…?” Daniel motioned one hand toward the white-furred ears poking from the top of his head. With his other, he grabbed the sandwich and took a bite. In part, it was because the smell of bacon and vegetable was becoming overwhelming, and in part it was to hide his embarrassment at broaching the subject.
“Don’t be silly. I’ve got a suit all picked out for you, and you’re going to wear that top hat you came home with. It goes great with the ears. You’ll look dashing.” She smiled snidely at him. Daniel was sure she was teasing him, and he smiled in return. Sometimes, he thought, he could enjoy a bit of good-natured mockery, so long as it was Annie dealing it out.
“Well, you heard the call I got last night…”
He went over the events of the previous night, particularly the part where he had propped up the entire side of a building while the others worked with Burning Sol himself to evacuate its residents. Though he tried not to focus overmuch on his own heroics, Daniel was finding that harder than he’d thought it would be. At this point, he had to admit to himself that he was more than a little proud of what he’d done. When he got to Oliver White’s involvement, however, Annie’s indulgent smile turned into a frown.
“You think Oliver White is involved with Caduceus somehow?”
“I can’t see any other reason he wouldn’t let us at least take a look around that warehouse,” Daniel responded around the last mouthful of sandwich, “It’s very suspicious.”
“He is a private man, and it’s not like I know him too well personally, but… It’s hard to imagine him working with a literal supervillain.”
“Maybe it’s nothing,” Daniel shrugged, though his voice lacked conviction, “Tonight is our best chance to find something out, anyway.” A thought occurred to him, and he broke out in a grin. “Numbskull is going to be there. Didn’t you want to meet her?”
Annie laughed in return. “What do you think a skeleton is going to wear to a party? She can’t just show up with nothing on but her bones, right?”
It occurred then to Daniel that he hadn’t actually seen Numbskull ever wearing anything. Did that mean she was walking around the city naked? No, that didn’t bear thinking about, and didn’t matter anyway. A skeleton had nothing to hide in that respect.
“We’ll sure have to see. Er…” Daniel glanced out the kitchen window. The sun was already high in the sky. “We don’t have a lot of time, do we? Sorry I slept so long.”
“You’re lucky I had the day off to get ready. Come on, let’s get you upstairs and dressed.”
Placing his leftover plate in the sink as they went, Daniel allowed himself to be led upstairs and into a new world of fashion.
“Daniel and Annabelle Montgomery!” the doorman yelled. Swishing his coattails to the side, he held the portal open and admitted them to the party floor.
Daniel ran a finger under the collar of his starched white shirt and fiddled with the little red bowtie fastened there. The garment was tighter than he thought he remembered, or perhaps he had just gotten bigger. He gulped and took Annie’s proffered arm as they stepped through and into a wide, open reception hall.
“Oliver White certainly has a flair for the dramatic, doesn’t he?” he commented, staring wide-eyed at the finery before him.
“He’s famous for it. Maybe even infamous,” Annie confirmed. She looked just as impressed as he felt, though perhaps not quite so surprised.
The party was being held in an immense mansion far apart from the bustling downtown districts of the city. This entrance hall was immense, and clearly designed for this exact purpose. A glittering chandelier hung over a crowd of people dressed in all manner of finery, and illuminated a luxurious red carpet running down a central flight of stairs to the marble floors beneath. Sharply dressed waiters and waitresses hurried through swinging side doors with plates of refreshments or carts laden with food and alcohol. The overall effect was of something one might see in a television drama.
“Never expected I’d be attending something like this,” he muttered.
Annie, who was wearing a beautiful black dress to complement his own suit, shushed him. Though shorter than him by more than a head, it was she rather than he who led the way and towed them into the bustling crowd of socialites.
Somehow, Daniel found himself with a drink in his hand. With his towering stature topped by bright white rabbit ears, he was immediately the center of attention. Face after face rushed up to meet him, to shake his hand, and congratulate him on the heroics of the previous night. Their names came faster than he could keep track of them, and he soon found himself lost in the flow. Annie, it seemed, had no trouble keeping up, and reveled in the opportunity to show him off to so many people. It was a side of her that he hadn’t often seen before, and the whole experience left him bemused. It was taking all of his concentration just to stay current with the parade of partygoers being introduced to him.
Daniel’s initial concerns about his ears seemed to be unfounded. Those he met were intrigued, curious, or outright amazed, but none showed anything like the horror or discomfort he had been secretly dreading. Perhaps this was one of the perks of being a superhero. People expected and accepted the strange from him more than they would from the ordinary officer worker he’d been before. For perhaps the first time, he started to feel more confident in his choice to abandon his old life for such a reckless pursuit.
All at once, the party seemed to hush. The partygoer Daniel had been exchanging pleasantries with; a rotund man with round spectacles who seemed to embody the concept of a wealthy banker, cut him off with a polite wave of his hand and directed his attention to the staircase. There, at the top, stood a beautiful woman in a crimson dress.
From her proud features, her haughty bearing, to her slicked-back raven hair, this could only be Oliver White’s daughter. Daniel had heard of her both from general gossip and his wife’s accounts, but he couldn’t quite remember her name. Was it Elizabeth? Eleanor?
“Edda White,” Annie said, a note of distaste in her voice, “What a diva.”
The woman, Edda White, swept down the stairwell and insinuated herself into the crowd as gracefully as a swan taking to water. A group of sycophants immediately gathered around her and she entertained them politely one by one before moving on to the next.
“Should we go introduce ourselves?” Daniel wondered. He absentmindedly reached out and pulled a canape off of a passing server’s tray. Partying, it seemed, was not without its good points.
“Hardly,” Annie scoffed in reply, “She’s the least likely person here to have any information about Caduceus. From what I hear, she spends all of her time just attending parties and studying at top universities.”
It appeared, however, that they no longer had a choice. Edda White had excused herself from her hangers-on and was now cutting a direct line through the crowd toward Daniel’s conspicuous form. He reached up, unconsciously adjusting his bow tie and brushing a few stray white hairs from his shoulders. When he caught an angry glare from his wife, he moved the hand instead to his mouth and gave an embarrassed cough.
“Mister Hopper, I presume.” Edda was upon them now, speaking with a surprisingly breathy voice that sounded every bit as refined as she looked. She extended her hand, palm down, and Daniel wondered if he was expected to kiss it. He settled for giving her a handshake. When Edda winced as she withdrew her hand, he realized he had erred somehow, and attempted an apologetic look as he spoke.
“Er, yes, that’s me. That is, I am the hero known as Hopper. When I’m not at work, I’m Daniel Montgomery and this is my wife, Annabelle Montgomery.” Daniel motioned to his wife, who gave Edda a handshake as well. Annie’s face was all polite smiles, but he knew her well enough to tell that she was nursing a hidden core of annoyance at the situation.
“You give out your civilian name so casually?” Edda asked, after taking Annie’s hand. She was miming surprise, but Daniel got the sense that it wasn’t entirely genuine.
“Well…” he began, still feeling quite off balance, “It never really occurred to me not to. I mean, I’m not going to keep a secret identity up for long with these ears.” He twitched them up and down a few times for Edda’s benefit, and managed to elicit a smile from her.
“I’d love to hear about your heroic exploits in more detail, Mister Hopper. Why don’t we retire to one of the leisure rooms and you can give me the whole story.”
“Er…” Daniel looked to his wife, who huffed and gave him a go ahead motion. Rather than taking her up on that, he excused himself for a moment and entered into a little huddle with her, his wide shoulders blocking them from view to the rest of the room.
“Are you sure about this? I sure don’t feel comfortable going away with her,” he hissed.
Annie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be dense, Daniel. This is a great opportunity for you to find out about Caduceus, right? Isn’t that what this is all about? I’ll stay here and keep an eye out for that Numbskull character. Besides… I trust you.”
Even with the whorl of emotions and embarrassment the situation had elicited in Daniel, his wife’s trust still brought a smile to his lips. He nodded to her, and broke the formation. Edda was waiting patiently for them to finish, an expression of mild bemusement on her face.
“Yes, of course! I’d be happy to give you my first-hand account of the whole thing,” he said, trying his best at a charming smile, “Lead the way.”
As he left Annie behind, still conflicted, Daniel couldn’t help but note how different it was moving through the crowd in the wake of Edda White. People moved out of the way for her as though in deference. Even with his imposing frame, Daniel couldn’t achieve such an effect on his own.
Soon, they had arrived at a door on the side of the great hall, and Edda unlocked it with a small key. This hadn’t been one of the doors used by the servants, and up until now he hadn’t paid it any attention. She led him through it wordlessly and they arrived in a small, but well-appointed parlor with a pair of couches and a fully stocked drinks cabinet. Daniel wondered just how many similar rooms were hidden behind the doors on the edges of the entrance hall.
Edda strode across the room and alighted on one of the seats facing him. Her silence was beginning to become awkward. He wondered if he was expected to say something. Then, she grinned, and a mighty shock rushed through Daniel from head to toe. The strong reaction that expression caused was partially because it was so unexpected in the circumstances. Mostly, however, it was because that wide, cadaverous smile was so horribly familiar.
“No, no, no,” he muttered, “It can’t be you.”
“It is, Bunnyboy!” she laughed with a glee that didn’t match her refined manner, “In the flesh!”
Edda White, no, Numbskull continued to grin in delight as Daniel buried his face in his hands. After a moment of collecting himself, he felt capable of speaking once again.
“Just… Tell me one thing. What happened to the real Edda White?”
She made a face. “Don’t be rude, Danny! I am the real Edda White. I’m just also a skeleton called Numbskull. Sometimes. When I feel like it.”
Daniel heaved a defeated sigh, then stepped around and took a seat in the chair facing her. “Alright…” he began, “I’m not sure how to begin with this whole situation. Why don’t you start by telling me how the wealthiest heiress in the city became a wisecracking skeleton superhero?”
Edda yawned and slumped her shoulders. The air of dignity and poise that had surrounded her in the previous room had all but fled. Now that he was really looking, he could see the echoes of Numbskull in her mannerisms, and particularly in the indolent way she managed to lounge on the sofa.
“I guess you deserve at least that much of an explanation, but first you have to promise to keep my secret. I’m putting a lot of trust in you, Danny Boy.”
He raised his hands before him, palms out. “I won’t tell a soul. It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway.”
Edda seemed to find that response amusing, judging by the ceaseless smile on her face. “You’re probably right about that.”
She fidgeted, and Daniel figured she was choosing where to start. He couldn’t exactly blame her. There was quite a bit of explaining to be done. After a moment, however, she seemed to find her mental bearings and stood up. Edda walked to the drinks cabinet and began to speak as she poured herself a glass of something dark and smelling richly of alcohol.
“My family is very wealthy. Well, I shouldn’t have to tell you that. Just take a look around. More than that, though, they’ve been here for a very long time. My father inherited this mansion, and a whole bundle of other properties, from our ancestors.”
Daniel nodded, then shook his head in the next instant as she held the bottle out to him questioningly. She returned to her seat and continued.
“There are a lot of strange things hidden away in the back rooms here.”
“Strange things, huh? I think I know a bit about that.” Daniel thought of the rabbit charm that had triggered his own transformation. Could it be that something so similar had happened to Edda as well? She gave him an indulgent smile that irked him as being just a little condescending.
“Strange things like… an entire library of ‘magical tomes’. I played with them a lot when I was younger. None of the spells in them worked, of course, until…”
There was only one recent event she could be referring to. “The meteor struck.”
“That’s right! Suddenly, that whole library became a lot more valuable. I had been going crazy trying to be daddy’s perfect daughter for a few years then, so it was a welcome distraction.”
He grimaced. Daniel was starting to get an inkling of how stressful that must have been, if his short experience in the limelight was any judge.
“I started out with small stuff. Levitating coins, spooking the servants with flashes of light and things like that. Some of the tomes had really heavy incantations in them, though; things I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready to try.”
“Heavy incantations?”
“Summoning. Curses. That kind of thing. It seemed like the kind of magic that might get somebody really hurt if you didn’t know what you were doing. I was just in this for a lark, so I stayed well away from it.”
Daniel guessed that everyone should be grateful that she hadn’t delved too far into that kind of thing. An outbreak of demons, or ghosts, or whatever she managed to conjure up might have been too much on top of the rest of the chaos the meteor had brought.
She saw his expression and laughed. “I’m not stupid, Bunnyboy. Just...” Edda waved a hand as though searching for a word, “Indolent. That’s what my father always called me, anyway.”
“The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind,” he replied truthfully. Daniel had suffered her wit a few too many times to believe that she was anything but more intelligent than he was.
“No? Oh well. I guess your ears aren’t just for show. Anyway, back to the story. I tried a spell not too long ago, and it didn’t work quite right. At least, it didn’t do what I thought it was going to. It was supposed to make me invisible and intangible. Like, see-through and walk-through sort of thing. I thought it’d be a nice break to be able to go wherever I wanted without everyone gawking at me and expecting things of me.”
“Go on,” Daniel furrowed his brow. He felt he already had a good idea of what the spell had ended up doing.
“You might have already guessed, but I messed up. The spell only made most of me those things. Invisible and intangible. Everything but my skeleton.”
That confirmed it. It seemed that her transformation hadn’t been entirely like his. Edda had possessed a lot more agency in hers, for one thing. She took a quick sip from the glass in her hand before moving on.
“It was a really strange sensation at first. It was like my body was still there, holding everything together, but it wasn’t touching anything but my bones. I couldn’t breathe or shout, with my invisible lungs, and I had a bit of a panic until I realized that I wasn’t suffocating. Fortunately, reciting the spell backwards in my head still managed to get me back to my old self again.” She swirled the liquid thoughtfully. “I didn’t realize how much I missed being Edda until it seemed like I might be stuck as a skeleton forever. That’s not important, though.”
The idea did send a sympathetic shiver down Daniel’s back. He was reminded of his first days with his rabbit foot charm, and how he’d been frustrated at the idea that he’d never get these ridiculous ears off his head.
“Once I figured out I could go back and forth, I started to really think about it. I told you already that I was pretty tired of acting the perfect socialite all the time. That behavior has been drilled into me so hard that I can pretend for as long as I need, but it’s not me.”
That much was evident by the slouched posture in which she still sprawled across the sofa. It was more reminiscent of his own daughters watching TV than a refined upper-class lady.
“So I got this wild idea. What if I made the whole skeleton thing a persona? I could go wherever I wanted, do whatever I liked, and nobody would ever know it was me. They wouldn’t expect me to act ‘properly’, or speak politely to everyone. It’d be real freedom. In any case, since I could always just change back, I wouldn’t even have to stop being Edda White.”
Daniel waved a hand in mock theatrics. “Thus, Numbskull was born.”
“Exactly! Running around the place, spooking people and telling everyone what I really thought was great for a while. After a while, it got a bit stale, though. That’s when I decided to become a superhero.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, I had heard about the B.S.A. a while ago from my father. He was a big proponent for it being established in this city, you know?”
Daniel hadn’t known, and that came to him as quite a surprise. It was hard to reconcile the Caduceus-sympathizing Oliver White with a version of him that supported superheroes. Rather than interrupting her, however, he just nodded for Edda to continue.
“I guess I just thought it would be fun. Something different I could do as my new persona. I was a bit worried that ‘skeleton’ wouldn’t be a good enough superpower to get me in, but it seemed like Bethany couldn’t afford to be choosy.”
“So she knows about all this,” he motioned to the room as a whole and Edda specifically, “then?”
“That’s right. She has ever since I turned in my paperwork. I wasn’t sure about that, but she promised the information wouldn’t ever be released to the public.”
That was another mystery solved. The reason Beth had been acting so strangely while briefing him on the party must have been because she knew that Numbskull was actually Edda White. With such a surprise waiting for Daniel, it wasn’t any wonder that she had found the whole thing so funny.
“Well,” Daniel began, still chewing over all this new information in his head, “This is good, right? You can just tell us about your father’s involvement with Caduceus.”
“I wish it were that simple,” she frowned, crossing her arms and pouting, “My father doesn’t talk to me a lot about his business life. Or much at all for that matter.”
“Then... we’re back to where we started.”
“Looks like it.”
They sat there in silence for a few moments. Outside the door, the sounds of the party rose and fell, muffled but ever present. It seemed like they were at a dead end, but this party was still likely to be their best chance to weed out whatever connection existed between White Financial Trust and the supervillain Caduceus. Of course, there was still one way forward, an obvious choice, but it was clear that neither of them wanted to bring it up. Eventually, Daniel steeled himself and asked the question.
“Could you introduce me to your father?”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that. He isn’t easy to talk to, and more than that, what if you accidentally leak something about my ‘secret identity’? You can’t imagine the kind of crap I’d be in if daddy found out I’m secretly a skeleton.”
Daniel raised his hands placatingly, trying to calm himself as much as Edda. The idea of talking to Oliver White, his wife’s CEO, face to face and trying not to make a fool out of himself, was absolutely not what he wanted to be doing with his night. “Even so, it seems like it’s our best chance. I can try to ask him directly, and if nothing comes of it, then that’s that. Maybe Gearhawk or somebody would be better at taking the subtle approach, but we should at least try.”
She sighed, still frowning. Despite the sour expression, Daniel almost felt like he could still see Numbskull’s grinning face just behind Edda’s own.
“Alright, you win. I’ll introduce you, but don’t expect me to contribute much to the conversation. I’m not supposed to know anything about this, remember.”
