“You mean the Aerialist.”
“Yes.”
“Shouldn’t it be framed up and hanging in the Rogue’s Gallery?”
Something resembling a sheepish look passed across the woman’s face. “Strictly speaking, Bullet Gal was never a member of the Equalizers — she’d changed character to the Aerialist by that point.”
“So you souvenired this picture.”
“Was it wrong of me?”
“Well, it doesn’t help with our trust issues.” Jack studied the Cape in this portrait. The subject looked laid-back, with a sardonic smile and a swagger she somehow exuded while sitting down. And — yes — the Cape was beautiful. “Lady liked her guns, huh?”
“I heard she was pretty good with them, too.”
“With a name like that, I guess she had to be.” Having passed the picture back, Jack sighed. “Now, about trust.”
As she carefully replaced her prize inside the book, PA nodded, eyes glittering. “All right. Cards on the table. I’ve kept your secret.”
Crap, Jack thought. Another one who knew his real age — maybe the Rat had blabbed? He seemed like that kind of unreliable git.
PA was looking straight at him, now exuding an expression difficult to decipher.
“How long do you intend on seeing her?”
Jack lost his train of thought and stared back at the woman. “What?”
“You heard me, my sweet.”
“See who?”
“That pretty blonde thing you’ve been shagging — the Blando.”
“What?” Jack repeated, stunned.
“Don’t project dumb. I know.”
“The hell you do. You’ve been spying on me?”
“No spying — not per se. More keeping an eye out from a distance, just in case.”
“Same thing. Jesus.” Jack stared at the high ceiling, his heart pounding. “Are you now going to blackmail me?”
“No! What kind of opinion do you have of me? Babe, we’re on the same team.”
“Are we? Where’s the trust?”
“Getting back to my point…”
Pretty Amazonia silently slid to her feet and walked the short distance to her teammate. The front of her costume was dusty from the cement, and she placed arms around him to hug, sharing the dust.
Not only that, but Jack felt like a child being crushed by an overzealous aunt who’d previously feigned indifference.
“We need to be able to believe in one another,” the woman said. “At least that much.”
“It’d help if we were a compatible height.”
“You ought to invest in a pair of Liftee Height Increase Pads — they’d give you an extra couple of inches for under two bucks, plus postage.”
“Yeah, right.”
PA relinquished her grip, but looked down at him with a worried expression.
“Sleeping with a Blando is against the rules. They’ll cart you straight out of here, if they find out — throw you back to the wolves in Melbourne.”
“I’m not sleeping with her,” he mumbled while brushing himself down.
“Call it what you like. Honestly? — I don’t care. As much as I bag out Blandos, I really don’t give a shit. I won’t tell anyone. But you need to trust me in return. Listen to me.”
PA placed her hands on his shoulders, pinning him to the spot.
“She’s not real. You do remember that?”
“She’s more real to me than anybody I ever met.”
“It has no future.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
The woman sighed. “What are you going to do? Tell her you’re an interloper from another world — a real one — and that this world is a fraud? Make her understand everything she’s ever believed in is rubbish? Or are you going to string her along and lie to her, the basis for any good relationship?”
“I’m not lying to her.”
“Does she know the truth?”
Jack remained tight-lipped and silent.
“Then you’re lying to her. If you really love the thing — really — she deserves better. You would’ve got away with this back when the Reset was working. I know too many unscrupulous Capes that did. Had a one night stand, disappeared in the wee hours, and the Blando never remembered a thing.”
“This isn’t a one night stand.”
“Of course it isn’t — with the Reset on the blink, you need to deal with consequences.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“God, I am.” PA shook her head. “All right. Just don’t get in too far over your head. Once one is here — in Heropa — for a while, it’s impossible to go back. To Melbourne, I mean. Things get messed up. Not because you’re a humdrum John or Jane Smith there, with next to no rights and zero powers. The fact is the real world is a horrible place that keeps getting worse.”