Legio: Part 2
The vision of the room's past dissolved into the equally disturbing present.
From off to my right, Haley said, "That was... horrible."
Next to the upstairs stairway, Travis said, "It was definitely intense. Hey, Lieutenant, did you ever talk to the guy from upstairs?"
Travis began to move his hand near the railing, but stopped. Before she'd let us inside, she'd told us not to touch anything.
Lt. Van Kley stood next to the burned couch. Her face looked almost as gray as her hair. "I'll never get used to that," she said.
In a quiet voice, Daniel said, "Sorry."
Van Kley shook her head. "It wouldn't be the first time. Mindstryke has done the same thing often enough. Where is Mindstryke?"
"In space right now. And no," Daniel said, "I don't know why."
Van Kley opened her mouth to ask something else, but the front door opened, and another police officer walked in.
"Lieutenant, there's some cape out here who wants to come inside."
She turned toward the door and began to ask, "Who?"
The policeman said "Some kid," as Sean pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Van Kley stared at him. "I didn't say you could come in here."
"I just want to help. Besides, they're in here."
"I asked them to be here, just like I asked you to leave. If you do not leave, I'll have to arrest you for interfering in a police investigation."
He scowled, and then said, "Alright, I'll go."
He left.
Beyond a few guns and the smell of drugs, Haley and Travis didn't find anything worth mentioning. We all left a few minutes later.
Just before opening the door to go out, Travis said to me, "As much as I wish you guys hadn't pissed him off, I've got to admit he's an asshole. I wanted to punch him for most of last year."
More quietly he said, "I can't believe you ever dated that guy."
"He seemed nice." Haley sounded tired of the subject.
Outside, a small crowd had gathered behind the yellow police line. A couple officers stood outside watching them.
The crowd appeared to be mostly neighbors -- a mix of senior citizens, families and a few teenagers. I didn't recognize them. There were a couple reporters, one from the Grand Lake Sentinel, the other from NBC News 10. The cameraman pointed his camera at us as Travis ducked his head to avoid hitting the top of the door frame.
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I came out just behind him.
Sean and the rest of his team stood together, talking, a little to the right of the rest of the crowd. For the second time, I couldn't help but notice how comparatively colorful and coordinated their costumes were. Travis and Haley's costumes were both black and gray. Daniel's was black with silver. The Rocket suit was basically gold with black lines.
By contrast, while they all had a white, V-shaped spot (plus the clenched fist logo) on their chests, their uniforms seemed to be the colors of the rainbow. Sean had green. Dayton, blue. Jody, silver. Julie, pink. Shannon, yellow. And the girl whose name I could never remember (Camille) wore orange.
They'd somehow missed the color red.
Still, it made me think of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or, possibly, the Teletubbies.
I walked down the front steps, and Sean glared at me.
Well, it's not like I wasn't used to it. It had been weirder when he'd respected the Rocket, and disliked me as myself.
Once outside, Travis and Haley drove off in Night Wolf's car. Daniel and I flew away.