Hurricane #39: The Punk (Patreon)

“They don’t regulate him because they all think he’s a staggering galaxy-brain philanthropic genius, that’s why. Since he’s been selling cars, they’ve gone from zero emission to self-driving to literally flying. They’re replacing not just taxis but trains and buses. Pollution’s gone down, energy prices have gone down, everybody’s happy, right?”

Serrano watched the highway go past as Courtney wound herself up. The human drove fast, but they were being passed by other road-bound cars, about half of which were older Shockley Motors models—the car company Brendan Sark had ridden to fame and fortune. “Clearly not everybody.”

“No, but people like me don’t count. I’m seeing more think pieces talking about his dark side, about how his politics have gone from a little crazy to super crazy over the last few years. And about just how safe it is to have an ever-present lightning bolt running through the air, powering half the country. He got a few hundred lawsuits over that one, everyone from environmentalists to astronomers. But it’s all just hot air. Everyone with power has their head up his ass.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand the lightning bolt…thing. Why is it manifesting in midair somewhere and being pulled down to the planet?”

“He says he’s gathering energy from space itself.” Courtney took her hands off the wheel long enough to wiggle her fingers in a faux spooky fashion.

“Yeah, that’s bullshit. He’s getting it by pulling it from my world through Faerie.”

“Faerie.” Courtney looked over at her, the human’s grey eyes widening. “Like, pixies and pookas and Sidhe and all that, Faerie.”

Serrano nodded, lifting her brows. “So you’ve heard of that, too.”

Courtney laughed nervously. They’d already been over how irrationally similar their worlds had to be for Serrano to be a “human-shaped coyote,” speaking the same language, living in milieus that weren’t identical but were so close they even had some of the same brands. “We have those stories, yeah. I mean, I thought they were just stories, but unless I’m having the most gloriously batshit dream ever right now, I guess they’re real. Along with gods and magic and giants and other dimensions and sexy coyote women.”

“It’s a lot to take in, and I knew about the magic and giants. Technically. I didn’t really think about them, even though the school was right there on the edge of town.”

“School?”

“Mensura College. Mixed-size faculty and students, and they teach magic and mad science. Excuse me, esoteric research.”

“God, I cannot describe how jealous that makes me.”

Serrano tilted her head.

Courtney sighed. “There’s a really famous fantasy book series just about every kid in my generation read about an outcast kid who goes to a secret magical school for wizards. We all wanted to be that kid. I look back now, and I can see they weren’t ever great books. They had a lot of problematic stuff you don’t notice when you’re eleven or twelve, and the author turned out to be a classist anti-trans shitbird. But they seemed to be about self-acceptance and fighting back against stereotypes and just…just things that meant a lot to me. So I still miss them. And you actually live next door to the real thing. You don’t know what I’d give for that.”

Serrano nodded slowly. She didn’t have any stories like that she could think of offhand, apart from the crazy one she was living through.

“Sorry.” Courtney shook her head, wiping one eye with the back of a hand, and sped up.

“Nothing to be sorry for.” She grinned. “You called me sexy, after all.”

“What?” Courtney’s eyes widened, then her cheeks blushed pink. “I didn’t—I mean, you are, but I mean—oh, God, am I a fucking furry now?”

“A what?”

“Please don’t make me explain,” she muttered, sinking low in her seat and putting the steering wheel in a death grip. “What are we going to do when we get to Sark’s power plant?”

Serrano shrugged. “You’re gonna drop me off a mile away or something and go back home.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s in the middle of a city. What happened to you not blending in and needing me to get you close?”

“We go through one security checkpoint together, neither one of us is blending in. And I want you to get as far away as possible, in case the plant explodes.” She grunted. “And I’m probably going to be causing a lot of damage myself.”

“By ‘a lot of damage,’ you mean…?”

“Uh, anything from half a city to half the world? I have no idea.”

“I hope you’re kidding.”

“So do I. But I’m trying to save the world. My world.”

“What about this world? You know I live here, right, with a few billion others?” The volume and pitch of Courtney’s speech rose sharply as she spoke. If she had ears capable of folding back, Serrano could tell they’d have gone flat against her head.

“I just mean—” She felt her ears lower. “This Sark guy’s going to throw everything he has at me, and I’ll have to throw everything I have back at him. And once I do that, I might not have a lot of control over what happens next.”

“A storm goddess with control issues. Just great. Jesus H. Christ, what am I doing.”

Serrano rubbed her face. “Look, all I can promise you is that you’d rather have me be your apocalypse than the Faerie Queen.”

“What the hell does that even mean, Serrano?” The human’s voice had risen to a near-scream again.

“Courtney.” She put her hand on the human’s shoulder, looking at her earnestly. “I’m not going to lie to you and promise no collateral damage in the fight. I expect mountains of it. But if I don’t find a way to stop him, it’s the end of my world and your world, and one or way or another, countless others.”

Courtney shook her head, expression stricken. “Then you’d better fucking win.”

“I know.”

They drove on in silence. Serrano looked out the window again, trying not to fidget. Did she even have a plan that boiled down to anything more sophisticated than “get big and use weather powers and smash shit?” No, because she hadn’t had time to work out anything better. And dammit, it was a good plan. Except for the part where Sark probably already knew she was coming and had defenses that could block her connection to the goddess and once he did that, some goon could just take her out with a pistol. You know, except for that.

After about five minutes, they re-entered civilization, with no real transition between emptiness and buildings. The highway—all four lanes—passed under a huge, theme-park-esque metal banner reading WELCOME TO INNOVATION CITY! and the speed limit dropped in half. All at once, access roads started to parallel the thoroughfare. Nearly identical homes lined the access roads, stretching out into the distance on both sides. The cars parked in the driveway were, as far as Serrano could tell, all Shockley Motors models. Even the trees looked uniformly sized and spaced.

“Well, this isn’t creepy as fuck,” she muttered.

“I’ve never been here, but I’ve read about the place. A literal company town. Sark’s companies lease the real estate, run the utilities, even run their own security force that’s watching everything and fining you for so much as throwing gum on the sidewalk.” Courtney shook her head. “And somehow everybody loves it.” She jerked her thumb toward the back. “Speaking of watching everything, put on my hoodie.”

Serrano twisted around, seeing a grey hoodie in a pile among other piles. It was a pretty messy back seat. “Why?”

“Because not only are there going to be cameras everywhere, but traffic’s picking up and people are gonna see in the car?”

“Right.” She grunted, pulling the hoodie on. It was a couple sizes too big, but that at least helped hide more of her. “Not gonna do a lot about my muzzle.”

“Duck down in your seat. Maybe people’ll think you’re my pet dog.” They were coming to a traffic light, just turning red. Courtney muttered under her breath, slowing down.

“Your pet dog wearing a hoodie?”

“Work with me.”

Serrano rolled her eyes, but ducked down as they came to a stop, and stayed ducked down as they drove on. After a couple of minutes, though, she lifted her head enough to stare. “This looks like an actual downtown.”

“It is. Built in record time with amazing trademarked Sark technology. Which now I’m guessing is stolen from other worlds.”

“Yep. This is pretty…middle of nowhere for skyscrapers like this, isn’t it?”

“Until about five years ago, yeah. On a major river, but in a place that was too hard for anyone to develop, until suddenly it wasn’t. Now you get cheap rent, incredible data connections, cheap power, everything you want, at the cost of your soul.”

Serrano nodded. “So, uh, where’s the end of the lightning bolt?”

“Just about right here.”

“What?” Serrano sat up straight, pulling back the hoodie and staring out the windshield.

Courtney wasn’t wrong. The “bolt” hit the ground—or something—a couple blocks ahead, coming straight down in a wide, rough cylinder. It looked as if it had entered glass, or more likely a forcefield, something containing it that made it possible to look directly at it, although it was still bright enough to dazzle you. “Three Lords, it really is in the middle of the city. This is some fucking hubris. Okay, find a place with some cover and let me out.”

“Are you sure?”

“You’ve put yourself at enough risk already for somebody you just met and can’t prove she hasn’t just made up everything she’s been telling you.”

Courtney sighed, but turned down a side alley, pulling to a stop. “The whole talking coyote woman part helps with that.”

“Sexy talking coyote woman.”

The human’s cheeks colored again. “Shut up.”

Serrano grinned, then leaned across the seat, giving Courtney a hug. “Thank you. Both for getting me here and demonstrating that not all humans suck. My previous experiences weren’t great.”

Courtney made an almost mouselike squeak of surprise, but hugged back after a moment. “To be fair, a lot of us really do suck.” She drew back. “Good luck, Serrano. Try not to destroy the world, huh?”

“I’ll do my best.”

After she got out and watched Courtney drive away until the car was out of sight, she took a deep breath and started walking down the alley in the direction of the lightning. As she walked, storm clouds gathered overhead.