It was finally Saturday. Their first actual day off after a tough week.

Well, mostly.

“I’m not saying Hilda holds a grudge, but she did make me do ten more laps around the track before I could leave practice this morning.”

Milly complained to Niki while she reached for the bucket of popcorn in between them.

The movie theater wasn’t as busy as Milly would have guessed for the big city. Only about a third of the seats were taken. That suited her just fine, though. It let her have a conversation without feeling like a dozen strangers were constantly listening in. Not that anyone had much of a chance given that the volume on the movie was apparently set by someone two steps away from becoming a sonic-powered supervillain.

Milly wasn’t a complete hick, though. She knew it was impolite to chit-chat during a movie. It was just that the dang thing hadn't even started yet! There was a seemingly never-ending line of trailers, ads, and logos. At least three times now, she'd been convinced the real movie had started, only to be let down by yet another commercial.

How did people cope with this? It felt like forever. Milly hated waiting.

“Well, you did meddle in Hilda’s affairs and secretly record her.” Niki pointed out soberly. “It is no surprise she is perturbed.”

“True, but I helped!” Milly protested. “If Hilda’s plan had worked, she never would have learned the truth and Penelope might be back on stage to keep the peace.”

“That is how it turned out, but you did not know that when you rushed in.” Niki sighed while she gestured toward Milly with her drink. “If Hilda is frustrated with you and working through it by making you run a couple of laps, just go along with it until she has cooled off.”

“I still think that’s not fair, but you might have a point,” Milly grumbled while crossing her arms and looking at the screen.

She couldn’t focus on the trailer, though.

“...Hey,” Milly spoke without taking her eyes off the screen, “do you really think that’s all I should do? Just wait till she’s cooled off? I just mean… It doesn’t feel like it’s getting any better. As if she’s just tolerating me now.”

“Then just ask her about it,” Niki answered. “Don’t just assume her motives. Maybe something else is bothering her.”

“I reckon that’s a lot like another time you told me I should have asked first,” Milly turned in her seat to face Niki, who gave her a head tilt in response. “So, I’ll take your advice… Are we alright? I feel like things have been weird since that day.”

Niki rolled her eyes. “No, I am just in the habit of spending my Saturdays at the movies with someone I hate.” She reached for her soda cup to have another drink.

That was an obvious deflection. It was clear that Niki didn’t hate her, but that exaggeration meant she hadn’t answered the real question. For the past couple of days, Niki had been more withdrawn. Her answers were shorter. Her time was less available.

“Come on, be serious.” Milly reached out to push the cup back down before Niki could use it as an excuse to break eye contact with her. “Please? I don’t understand what the problem is. I just know you keep claiming you are ‘too busy with homework' to even watch a Slingshot Sue episode together, but we have the same assignments. Plus, you always complete those faster than I do, anyway. So… what’s going on?”

Milly suspected the only reason Niki even agreed to go to the movies was that she couldn’t think of a believable excuse to be too busy on a Saturday.

“It is nothing,” Niki sounded strained. They stared each other down for a minute before Niki finally let out a sigh. “Do you really want to do this right now? Okay, fine. It is true, I am upset with you. I was trying to act normal and get over it, but if you noticed then it is clearly not working.”

It seemed to be a tendency for Niki to have a hard time keeping things to herself, like what happened with Ruth.

“You realize that you trying to ‘act normal and get over it’ is what made me ‘meddle’ in your affairs in the first place right? So, just tell me what’s wrong before I do something else stupid.” Milly showed a cautious smirk.

“As if you need an excuse,” Niki teased with a resigned smile. It was a step in the right direction. “I suppose that is the issue that I am struggling with. You acted foolishly, but it is at least in part because I gave you pieces of a story I was not ready to share. I am not sure if I should be mad at you for following through on those or at myself for not having better self-control. Both, I suspect.”

“I’m sorry…” Milly bit her lip. It was her fault that Niki had to retell her story to Ruth. “But, I figure it doesn’t make a lick of sense to feel like you are to blame for it at all. Of course, you’d be affected by your encounter with Ruth. If it was so easy to hide then it wouldn’t have been a big deal in the first place. I know it was important to you, even though I might not know what that was really about, on account of me gut-punching you and all, uhm, again, sorry about that… My point is, don’t blame yourself.”

“Yes, well… It was not ideal, but you did stop me, so thank you.” Niki reflexively guarded her stomach with a grimace. “I notice we are back to square one, with you knowing there is something amiss and wanting to find out what it is. Should I expect you to go on a field trip to my hometown until you discover it and bring the cause back with you again?”

Milly shook her head. “I promise that next time I have a dumb idea, I’ll consult you first.”

“I’d appreciate it. ” Niki smiled at that. “Very well. We will just count this as a learning experience and carry on. I do have to ask, though, are you always this overly inquisitive? I might have to watch what I say around you at this rate.”

“Hah, implying that your conspicuous silence wouldn’t compel me to snoop around even harder!” Milly snickered while she accidentally mimicked Niki’s way of speaking then went for the popcorn again. “But seriously, I was trying to help. See, one time on the ranch—Oh! The title!”

At long last, the movie screen displayed the actual title of the movie and led into a scene with the character that had been on the poster. There was no mistaking it this time.

“Finally! We’ll talk later.”

Who knew movies about a grumpy orc and his motor-mouthed mule could be so entertaining?

Milly was having a great time, right up until the movie suddenly cut short and all the lights turned back on. For a brief moment, she feared that it was another supervillain attack, just to make it two-for-two on ruining their outings, but then the text ‘Intermission’ appeared on the screen.

That was almost worse.

“Refill?” Niki asked while she rattled her empty cup. Going by her reaction, this was normal.

“I never thought I’d miss drive-in movies,” Milly grumbled while she got up to follow Niki out. “At least they’d show the movie in one go.”

“Actually, if that is what you wanted, that was an option too. Just not at this theater. How about I show you next time?” Niki offered and picked up the pace a little to get to the concession stand before most of the crowd.

“Right. I keep forgetting the city has like fifty of everything.” Milly still had trouble with the sheer scale things worked at over here. It had been confusing when they walked past another Pizzeria place identical to the one that was destroyed last time. Apparently, that was just a thing. “Maybe scouting out a few more locations would’ve been a good idea… speaking of which… I had a dumb idea I’d like your opinion on.”

“What, already?” Niki looked surprised, but she motioned for Milly to continue.

“You know how I said I wanted to be a reporter or something? Well, I was talking to Ruth after you left and now I feel like being an investigator would be really interesting. It’s similar, but more along the lines of trying to solve a mystery and then maybe call in a hero to take care of it.” Milly could see the growing skepticism on Niki’s face the longer she talked. “I know what you’re thinking and I’m thinking the same thing. It’s really convenient that ACE is lacking information and after one conversation with Ruth, I’m considering going that route. How dumb am I?”

“Well, I would not trust any change of heart that stems from a chat with Ruth, obviously.” Niki crossed her arms. She briefly glanced away then took a step sideways to keep her spot in line while holding a contemplative look. “... But, if it has been a couple of days, you are probably in the clear. Her power typically does not last that long. That is not to say she did not put this idea in your head through mundane means, but if this is something you are really interested in, maybe you should give it a try.”

“Really?” Milly hadn’t expected Niki to encourage her after hearing Ruth was involved in any way. “Even though it would mean working with Ruth?”

“Hey, if it gives you someone else to snoop on, how could I say no?” Niki gave Milly a friendly shove. “Seriously, though. I believe Ruth was mostly telling the truth… about how she used her powers on us, I mean. The way I felt and behaved was consistent with the ‘mild’ use of her power. I do not like to think about it, but I know I only did what I wanted to if I was not so afraid of the consequences… All three times.”

“So, you don’t think I’m being mind-controlled.” Milly sighed with relief. That had been her primary concern, but if even Niki didn’t think it was a power-induced desire then she could relax. Unless Niki was being—nope! She wasn’t going down that rabbit hole. “I guess, you’re right. If Ruth’s only using her power in a mild way like that now, it’s not that scary.”

“It’s still terrible,” Niki mumbled under her breath before she broke away from Milly to go deal with the clerk now that they’d reached the front of the line.

Milly decided to let the comment slide. There would be time to ask about that later when they were alone. For now, though, they had a fresh bucket of popcorn and a movie to enjoy.

Fun times.

“I’m glad I let you talk me into this,” Niki said while she pulled the door to their dorm shut behind them. “I had a good time.”

“Me too!” Milly let herself fall back onto her bed then kicked off her shoes. There was the teensy little matter that they probably should’ve at least looked at the homework assignment for this weekend, but surely that could wait till late Sunday evening. Early Monday morning at worst.

“Here is hoping this thing is finally done.” Niki took a seat at her desk and opened up her new laptop. It had arrived in the morning and been running non-stop updates. A small stroke of luck for Milly since it meant Niki had one less reason to blow her off at the time. “I could almost forgive Meatcrawl for the whole trying to eat me thing, but separating me from my hardware for nearly four days? Unforgivable.”

“I’m sure they’ll throw the book at it.” Milly chuckled while she got comfortable, crossing her arms behind her head. The movie theater seats weren’t bad, but after two hours in the same position, she was happy to be back. “After setting the book on fire! The tricky bit will be actually finding it. Seems as though so far ACE’s strategy has been to just wait for Meatcrawl to show up and trip some alarms. I’m not wild about that. People could get hurt… It can’t be that hard to track down, though, can it?”

“If you wanted to trudge through the sewer with a ham sandwich, sure.” Niki shrugged.

“Ew! Hard pass.” Milly shuddered at the mere idea. “I was more thinking along the lines of figuring out where it came from. Monsters don’t just spontaneously spring forth from the drainage systems… Wait, do they? Is that a city thing? I’m not sure if that would even surprise me at this point.”

“Not that I know of!” Niki laughed and rattled away on her keyboard. Her screen flickered across various websites to download drivers and programs she needed. “You might be onto something, though. I suppose all you’d need to do is get some old newspapers and make a note of every occurrence that might have caused a monster to spawn. Shouldn’t be too hard. Nuclear explosions, localized space radiation, lightning striking a chem lab…”

Milly knew Niki was messing with her. Those were all from comic books. Nobody truly knew what caused people to gain superpowers despite it being one of the most hotly researched topics in the past. The closest anyone came to a common denominator was that the origins were often associated with an accident.

While some people swore they knew what gave them the power, nobody ever successfully replicated the result. No amount of radioactive spider bites ever made another Red Arachnid for example. Powers were as likely to be preceded by binging on bad hot wings as it was by…

“...A strange mutagen experiment getting flushed down the drain?” Milly slowly sat upright as she posed Niki the question.

“Exactly! Just pin them all on a big murder board then get some red string.”

“No, seriously. Remember that Corvus Dynamics project you discovered five weeks ago? Ruth mentioned it was shut down within a week.” Milly pulled out her phone and flicked through her tabs. She still had a news article that she checked to make sure her name wasn’t in the paper. Her name hadn’t been there, but there were dates she’d only glanced at before. “Says here that Meatcrawl’s first attack was a butcher shop. Four weeks ago.”

“...That would be only a couple of days apart at most.” Niki swung her chair around to face Milly. Her face was as white as could be. “There’s no way, right? I mean, you don’t think they’d just flush it down the toilet, do you? That’d be insane! I’m sure there are loads of protocols and regulations to safely dispose of biohazards like that!”

“I reckon so,” Milly turned and rested her feet on the floor, “but what if you’re in one heck of a hurry cause the heroes figured out what you’re doing and are on their way to catch you red-handed? Maybe safety takes a backseat to speed. I dunno, I’m just spitballing here.”

Niki slumped forward and covered her face with her hands. “If you’re right… then this is my fault.”

“Woah there! That’s nonsense!” Milly hastened to do damage control. She understood Niki’s thought process, without Niki’s help the project wouldn’t have been exposed at the time.

“But it is not.” Niki shook her head. Her voice cracked as she spoke. “I should have just minded my own business.”

“First off, we don’t even know if it's even remotely true! And even if it was, then it still wouldn’t be your fault that they choose to just mindlessly dump it. They must have known it would carry a risk like this.” Milly crossed the room and rested her hands on Niki’s shoulders. “That’s on them, not you! Got it?”

Niki hugged her.

Milly stalled out for a moment, unsure how to react. The position was odd. Since Niki had been sitting, her head was pressed against Milly’s stomach. Milly wanted to respond in kind but just found herself awkwardly petting Niki’s hair for want of anything more comforting she could think to do.

At least she could think of something to say.

“We’ll figure this out.”

After a long moment, Niki breathed in deep and pulled one arm back to rub her eyes with the sleeve. After another, she finally pushed off, looking embarrassed. “I blame Ruth for this one too.”

“That’s fine. At this rate, maybe I ought to thank Ruth sometime,” Milly said as she gave Niki’s hair a final tussle and smiled at her. Then Milly froze. She’d meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, but as soon as the words left her lips they suddenly felt much more meaningful than she intended. Flustered, she quickly moved to press the conversation forward. “Soooo, uhm, are you good? I’m good. Great. Do we still eat at the same time on weekends or how’s that work?”

Niki’s face flushed and she quickly turned away toward her laptop. She rattled away at the keyboard to pull up the Arkwright Academy website with a schedule. “Y-yes! I mean, the kitchen hours are the same. See?” Niki motioned to the listed hours. She also pointedly avoided turning back around.

“Great. That’s great. I was really curious about that.” Milly took a step back and scratched the back of her head with feigned casualness. “Welp, I better get working on that murder board. See you later.”

That was even dumber. They lived in the same room. Where exactly was she going to go?

“Sounds good… Actually, no, wait.” Niki glanced over her shoulder at Milly. “I appreciate what you said about it not being my fault, but I want to help. Would it be alright if I joined your investigation? There’s a lot of information legally available online if you know where to look.”

The emphasis on legal wasn’t an accident. Niki clearly wouldn’t agree to hack into anywhere, and she was waiting to see if Milly would balk at the restriction or accept what was on offer.

“Of course! I’d love that.” Milly smiled. She pulled up an extra chair beside Niki. “I know just where to start. The guy in charge of the canceled project was called Doctor Vector. Let’s see what we can find?”

Niki cracked her fingers and shot Milly a confident grin. “With pleasure!”

Between the two of them, one laptop, one phone, and a bottle of soda… It didn’t take long for the first results to show up.

A press statement from Corvus Dynamics covered the cancellation of the project, listed only as ‘S13’, and all but threw Doctor Vector under the bus as the one responsible for messing up the project. It also provided them with his full name: Victor von Vector.

From there it was easy to find information. A couple of published research papers with his name on them. A few news articles from before and after his resignation described him as brilliant and pioneering in the former but crass and reckless in the latter.

He even had a MyFace page. Someone else must have set it up for him as it hadn’t been touched since its creation and it wasn’t much to look at, but it did provide them with the first actual image of him.

The picture was a few years old but it showed a thin man with combed-back black hair and dark skin in his late thirties, smiling for the camera alongside a giddy young girl with similar features. She was nearly drowning in an overly large white lab coat that must have belonged to the man.

Something felt off. A gut feeling.

Milly flicked her phone to enlarge the photo and zoom in on his face until she could get a good look at his eyes. They were green. She tilted the phone sideways till all that was left was just a pair of piercing green eyes staring back at her. The particular hue of green seemed eerily familiar. Milly was sure she’d seen them before. “Hey, Niki… How common are green eyes?”

“Uhh,” Niki tabbed into a search engine, “about two percent? Why do you ask?”

“Just trying to figure out what the odds are Doctor Vector over here would have the exact same eyes as Meatcrawl,” Milly said while she showed the image to Niki. “I think I might know why Ruth said the doc was impossible to get a hold of.”

“Geez, how do you even remember that? All I could think about was how sharp those teeth were.” Niki shuddered then got up and brought up the MyFace page again. “Alright, he doesn’t have an address listed here but…his daughter, Vanna, does.”

“Luckily nobody taught her not to give out that kinda information online.” Milly sprang out of her chair and grabbed her coat. “Let’s go check it out. Either he’s gone and we’ll assume he turned into a multi-mouthed horror or if he is actually home we’ll get to ask him about his project. Win-win.”

“I love your enthusiasm,” Niki closed the laptop and slid it into her bag, “but perhaps we should at least acquire Stella’s phone number first and keep her on speed-dial? You know, just in case he is home AND a multi-mouthed horror.”

“Yikes, good call!”

Milly made a note to bring Niki along on investigations more often.