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I set myself up at a microfiche station and got to work. Not sure, as ever, what I was looking for. Instead of delving back into the archives about Cygnus Dei, I decided to look at recent press articles, instead.
It was still crazy to me to think that someone was manually scanning hard copies of the day’s newspapers for others to consult. The sheer weight of information, and the fact that nobody had thought of a better way to store and preserve this kind of data, was mind-boggling. Surely there was a way to do it all digitally, to the same effect? I would have loved to be able to pore over all that information on my laptop from the comfort of my bed, while wearing PJs and mainlining strawberry Oreos. Still, it could be worse—at least I had access to this information, and I was grateful for that.
Chapter 11
Bear
“So now you have us all thinking about your dick, is there any fucking chance that ‘we’, and by ‘we’, I mean ‘you’, can stop acting like a bunch of sexed-up high schoolers and work out how we’re going to fix our ‘little’ problem, and keep our virgin asses out of fucking jail for the next one hundred and fifty years?” Xavier’s temper was hovering close to boiling point. If someone didn’t talk him down from the ledge, things could get really ugly, really fast.
“How do you know we all have virgin asses?” Oh boy.
Sometimes I wondered if Fox was suicidal, or if he had some kind of social dysfunction in the way that he seemed to enjoy baiting Xavier. He didn’t have the history with him that Drew did—those two knew how to push each other’s buttons in the worst possible way, but they also had an understanding between them that made their friendship more like a brotherhood.
Xavier was the most temperamental and unforgiving person, but I saw Drew get away with shit with him that nobody else ever would. Fox had no such immunity.
“What?” The word flew across the room like a poison arrow with Fox’s name on it.
“I mean it’s a big assumption that none of us have ever had a dick in our butts, that’s all.”
“Dude, I couldn’t care less if you’ve had the entire state of Milwaukee in your asshole at the same fucking time.” I could feel Kane and Drew trying not to laugh, just as much as I was. The struggle was real.
“What you do with your fuckholes is entirely your business. What I care about is not being made some bear’s bitch behind bars. Quit pushing me, or you won’t need to worry about your ass or any other part of your body, as they’ll have trouble piecing it back together after I’m done tearing it apart and scattering your remains across the city.” He turned to the rest of us. “Does someone other than this miscreant have something to say on the matter? Something constructive, I mean, before I lose my ever-loving shit?”
“I say we pay Lois a visit and shut her the fuck down. Or up, depending on how you look at it.”
“What like rough her up, you mean?”
Drew nodded at me. “Nothing too serious, but enough to send a message.”
“I think that the only message that would send would be that it’s time to go to the police, or print her article, or whatever the fuck it is she has in mind.
“We don’t know what she knows, but safe to say that if she was present that night, and we had no idea, she knows too much,” I continued. “Enough to sink us all and then some. And think about it, she’s been sitting on this shit for months, and, as far as we know, hasn’t breathed a word of what she saw to anyone. Or if she has, she definitely hasn’t gone to any kind of authorities—not the college, nor the police—otherwise we’d have had one or the other sniffing around by now, if not both.”
“You’re right.” Kane picked up my train of thought. “I’m also guessing that, apart from having a strong suspicion that Xavier is the Alpha Cygni, and that the two of you are friends, she has no idea of our identities. We need to be careful over the next few weeks… months, even, to ensure that it stays that way. Storming the palace and getting physical with her would surely be the dumbest move in history.”
“Just how fucking stupid do you think I am?” Drew looked indignant. “Wait. Don’t answer that. I’m not suggesting that we go round there all guns blazing, and introduce ourselves to her by goddamned name. I’m saying that we do what we do best—we go incognito, and scare her a little. Different masks to the usual, and really give her something to be afraid of. Right?”
“Wrong.” It was a dumb idea. “I don’t want to rain on your parade, dude, but it’s too fucking risky. We’d need to get in and out of her dorm wearing masks, which totally wouldn’t attract any attention at all.” I was sure they didn’t miss the heavy note of sarcasm. “We wouldn’t make it to her door before campus police got to us. Or we could walk around with our faces uncovered, giving people, and the security cameras, plenty of time to see us. Then there’s the fact that she could recognize us.”
“Even with masks on?” Kane looked incredulous. “We’re likening her to Lois Lane, not fucking Superman. How is she going to see through the masks to reveal our identities?”
“Recognizing someone is about more than just their face. I mean there’s their height, build, gait, smell.
“Oooooooh, you’re not talking about everyone here, you’re talking about yourself, aren’t you?” Fox was back in the game. He looked at me like a hawk stalking its prey—beady eyes narrowed to pinpoints and aggressively focused.
“Not necessarily.”
“Wait. Are you hitting that? You sly old bear. No wonder you were looking murderous when I mentioned getting friendly with Lois. Sorry, guy, I meant no offense. I didn’t realize I was stepping on your toes.”
“For the love of Satan. You’re not treading on anything. There’s nothing going on between us. Not even close.”
“But you want there to be?” Drew was watching me carefully, too.
“No. But we—”
“No. Period. There’s no ‘we’ when it comes to you and her. That girl is a threat to Cygnus as an organization, and us as individuals, even more so. If you so much as think about her in the wrong way, I’ll scoop your brains out of your skull, and serve them to your parents on crackers as pâté. We clear?” Xavier demanded.
“Loud. And.” I was so angry, I couldn’t be trusted to say anything more through the white-hot haze of blinding rage burning behind my eyes.
