Ariadne hadn't stopped at the spider bot. There was a car outside waiting for us. Really swanky inside, with leather seats and a mini bar. I was pretty thirsty and I wanted a Fanta but there wasn't any. There was some fizzy wine called Dom Perignon though, so I had that instead.
The car took us to the address Balae wanted to meet us at, which was some fancy tailor's shop on Saville Row. I was a bit confused, and it sounded like Balae was too, because she'd asked to meet Mrs Stodgely to ask her about an artist because Ariadne said it was important, but Mrs Stodgely thought we were there for a costume fitting. We did need costumes though, so that was alright.
Abeni was there too, and she wanted to know what happened and if we were OK. And I wasn't really, and I didn't want Billy or Balae to know how much it hurt, but I knew I had to tell her. She took me into a different room and had a look at me, and from the faces she was making it must have looked as bad as it felt. She got me some stuff to make it stop hurting, and some bandages to hold everything in the right place while I healed up.
She told me to remember that I'm not bulletproof, but she said I was turning into a hero, and knowing she was proud of me was as good as all that pain gel stuff. She was being careful not to hug me because it would have really hurt, but I did put my arms round her for a moment because I thought she'd like that.
Then it was back to sorting out costumes. I knew I wanted mine to be black and white, and after what Abeni said I thought some armour would be a good idea. The tailor was a bit odd, because all the clothes on display were boring men's suits, but he started bringing out all this leather and kevlar. I got some armoured leather trousers with stretchy bits where I need to bend, and a top with a kind of stylised version of the honey badger face I painted on my jacket on the front. And a new jacket with big spiky shoulders, and fingerless gloves to match. I asked if he could do boots with toes that open up, and he put together some with a trigger so they only open up when my claws come out. I hadn't thought about masks, which obviously we needed, but he got me a half mask and put some gel in my hair, and it all looked really cool.
Billy got a utility belt with his costume, and some stuff to help him with climbing so he wouldn't have to hang on to me all the time. Which is good, since we can do a lot more if I don't have to carry him. I am going to miss it though.
I didn't get much of a look at Balae's costume because she found out he had a room full of tech stuff and she was off looking around it. She looked really happy though. And we decided on our superhero team name. We're the seagulls, and our logo is a seagull eating a starfish.
Abeni took me home then, through the sewers since it was after curfew. I saw Tiffany waving at me when I got back, and I realised I hadn't been home in a few days. I told her I had to shower first but then I'd come and see her. I got a bit sweaty in the Asterion factory, and the sewers weren't great either.
Tiffany was really excited to see me, and I couldn't tell her most of what I'd been doing, but I did tell her about meeting the monkey and got her to find some photos of monkeys so we could find out what kind it was. We talked a bit about Star Cop and how we thought they were just making things up as they went along. She showed me some art pictures as well, and I recognised one. It was the same picture Mrs Stodgely had had on her phone at the tailor when Balae was asking about art. It was by someone called Pieter Bruegel.
It was called Big Fish Eat Little Fish, but in Tiffany's book it was also called There's Always A Bigger Fish. It was a very weird picture, because there were lots of fish that weren't real fish, like the flying one, and the one with legs, plus I thought the really big fish might actually be a whale. It seemed like it was important, but I couldn't figure it out just then. I thought perhaps it meant there was something stronger than the Asterions, which was what Ariadne wanted us to find out, but if that was what he wanted, why didn't he just say so instead of making us look at weird pictures? Anyway, Balae knew about it, and she's super smart, so I hoped she could work it out.
Tiffany's parents didn't get home until about ten, and she made me go before they got back, but I could still hear them through the walls. They were telling her off for being up past her bedtime, but it wasn't angry telling off, or even the kind when they say they're not angry, just disappointed. They just sounded like they really loved her and were glad to see her even though she was supposed to be asleep.
Billy had gone home to his dad, and Balae was with Castor and Pollux at the pub, but I was all alone in my flat. I shouldn't have listened to that conversation. And I shouldn't have got upset and punched the fridge either. I got a bit of an electric shock when my fist went through it but the worst part was I messed up the food that was left in there and got milk all over the floor.
I cleaned up the milk in the morning, but the fridge was still broken and I didn't know what you're supposed to do with an broken fridge. I tried calling Abeni, but she didn't answer. Then I remembered how amazing Balae is with technical stuff, so I sent her a text asking for help, but by then it was time for school to start so I didn't get an answer right away.
I met up with Billy so we could plan our attack on the factory. We needed a way in and out, breathing apparatus, and information on how to actually damage the place. The first seemed like the easiest. We could ask Carmilla if we could use her AV. Since she worked for Faustus and he was the one who gave us the job, I thought she'd agree. I got Billy to text her though. I wasn't sure she'd reply to me.
I'm not sure what Billy said in his text, but we ended up meeting her at the retro arcade and she was playing Dance Dance Revolution, and seemed kind of happy to see him right up until she noticed me. Billy got some drinks. I told him to get her diet coke as she didn't look like the kind of person who drinks sugar coke. I do, because I burn a lot of calories. Anyway, we sat down, and Billy told her we were there to talk business, and she didn't seem happy about that either. She said we could use the AV but she was the only one who was allowed to drive it. Which was fine with us. And we'd also need a Peacekeeper with us so that we wouldn't look conspicuous.
Then Billy got a bit weird and seemed to be trying to get rid of me, and I could see what was going on, so I pretended I was going to use the loo but hung around out of sight to see if I was right. So I got to see Billy invite Carmilla to the school disco, which I kind of wasn't surprised by, and I saw her say yes! Which I really didn't expect. I figured Faustus was using her to get Billy on board because boys get stupid around pretty girls like her, but maybe she did actually like him a tiny bit?
Billy looked pretty happy after that, and I was going to tease him about it, but somehow I just didn't want to. I did warn him to be careful if he wanted to kiss her because she didn't have a normal mouth, and he went bright red and I think I heard Nigel snickering. This disco is going to be really interesting.
We decided to pay Mrs Wilkins another visit. Calum the receptionist recognised us and wanted us to stop but I swore at him until he got out of my way. She'd got a new door to replace the one I smashed up and it looked a bit tougher this time. We went with our usual approach. Start quiet, and get loud if necessary. So we knocked and went in, and Mrs Wilkins threatened to call the Peacekeepers, but Billy had a word with her while I sized up all the furniture in the room and muttered about how that was a nice new door and it would be a shame if anything happened to it.
And she cracked. She gave us a USB drive that she said had everything we needed on it, but if anyone knew we had it, we would be dead. Maybe she still had a tiny bit of a conscience left. Maybe she just really liked her new door. Anyway, we had what we needed. That just left breathing apparatus and finding a Peacekeeper, but first we had to meet up with Balae.
She said she'd meet us at my flat after school so she could fix the fridge. I arrived with Billy, and tried to make him a cup of tea except I didn't have any milk. He wanted to know why I had space on both sides of the bed instead of pushing it against the wall. It's so that when I have nightmares I don't end up kicking holes in the walls. I told him about the kicking but not the nightmares. The walls are very thin here.
Balae arrived and she looked awful. I didn't know what was wrong, but it was definitely something bad. But she wanted to fix the fridge, and I thought doing some tech stuff might make her feel better, so I let her get on with it. The fridge works a bit too well now, but that's OK. The problem was that Balae still looked really upset.
So I got her to sit down on the bed, and asked her if school had been bad. And she told me they'd got her an Asterion teacher! So she'd had to pretend to not be as good at maths as she really is so that he would go away. And then she told me all this stuff about how hard she's finding it pretending to be human all the time, and I realised she must be exhausted, because it's hard enough for me to act normal and I am human. Well, mostly human. And I told her she didn't have to pretend to be human around me and Billy, but that didn't seem to be the right thing to say. So I listened some more and I tried to tell her how amazing she is, and Billy joined in, and what we said must have been right because she looked a lot happier and let me hug her, and I knew she was going to be OK.
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