Blood Sisters
Chapter 12

Cricketfollowed her rooftop roadway back into the East Side until sheoverlooked Trixie's apartment building. Everything looked clear,until she spotted a white van in an alleyway across the street. Not alot of people had cars on the East Side. The cars that were here weredirty, or had cracked windows, dented bodies or broken grilles. Thatvan was clean and could have just been driven off the lot. Not tomention that it was just a plain, boring whitevan. No one on the East Side would drive a plain boring white van.

Cricket kept low on the rooftop,peeking over the concrete lip that rose a foot or so on the edge ofthe roof. She scanned around the surrounding buildings for agents. Ifthere were some here, they were hiding well. Which did not accountfor much, Cricket had been shot plenty of times by them, she usuallydidn't see them.

The young girl backtracked a fewblocks, jumping down to the street behind the pizza place she andJake usually got their pizza from. The back alley had an overflowingdumpster, and the cement was so slick with grease she almost tripped.Cricket went in through the unlocked back door, smelling the pizzashe realized she was ravenous. The Indestructible Girl ducked intothe back office/storage room and used the old phone on the wall todial Trixie's number. Trix answered on the fourth ring. “Hey”Trix said. Cricket tried her best to lower her voice “Hey this isTony's Pizza, how ya doin, Trix?”. Trixie sounded a little nervous.“Um, okay. What do you want I didn't order a...” the line wentdead as the phone on the other end was hung up. “Crap” Cricketsaid. She ducked back out into the kitchen of the pizza parlor,almost running into Tony himself. He put his fat arms on his fatterhips and said “Hey girlie, you gotta get out of here, people areaskin about you, that you don't want askin about you,knowwhadahmean?” Cricket gave a quick nod “Can I grab a slicefirst?” Tony smiled “Wait here girlie, I'll get you one”. Shewhispered after him as he walked away “sausage!” Fat Tony cameback with a to-go box. “Here's two slices, a cheese and a sausage,now get going ya street-rat” he said kindly.

Cricket left, jumping back up tothe rooftops to wolf down her slices. They got to Trixie already, they moved faster then Jake thought they would. She got a nervousfeeling in her gut. Cricket moved as stealthily as she could, rooftopto rooftop until she could get a glimpse of Jake's tattoo parlor.Again she laid low and peeked around for agents. Still none that shecould see. Jake's shop was closed, the lights were off. She could seein the front window the reflection of a beat-up police car that wasparked across the street from the shop. Cricket frowned, and thepanic started to set in. She was supposed to wait at Trixie's untilJake got in touch about where they were going to hide... but shecouldn't go there now.

Cricket jumped a few rooftopsaway to another apartment building. She hoped she could replace a vacantapartment to hold up in while she though of what to do next. Shestarted climbing down the rusty fire escape that was clinging fordear life onto the side of the building. Cricket peeked into windowafter window until she caught a glimpse of the news on an old ladiestelevision. There was a picture of that golden girl that she foughtwith before, the caption read “Jenny Goldstar in stable conditionafter surgery, in good spirits.” There was a reporter standing infront of a hospital that Cricket recognized, it was in Midtown.Cricket caught a glimpse of her reflection in the old ladies window,and looked again at the picture of Jenny Goldstar on the television.The Indestructible Girl could not believe she did not notice itbefore when they were fighting. This Jenny looked just like her, onlyhappy. And groomed. And clean. Cricket twisted her lip and tapped herfingers on the fire escape rail thinking about what to do. There wasa loud snap, and she looked down to see that she had accidentallybroke the railing where she was tapping it. The old woman heard that,and yelled at Cricket through the window “Get out of here streettrash! I got no drugs or money, now git!”. Cricket glared at her,then jumped away. She was afraid of what she had decided to do, butat this point she had no better idea. Cricket found a place to lay upand got some sleep.

***

Jenny woke up feeling muchbetter. 6” tall Paul was sleeping on her belly, and her chest felttight from the bandages wrapped around it. There was a funny smell inthe air, and on her. She sneezed, and winced as her broken ribs lether know what they thought of that. The sneeze woke Paul who sat upon her abdomen with a yawn. “Hey kid”. He said. Jenny smiled downat him... “ohh... its been so long since I played with dolls!”She did a mock maniacal laugh as she reached for Paul. He justsmirked and crawled up into her hand. “They had to pump ananesthetic gas in here to knock you out for the surgery, since Icouldn't get out, while you were out, I got some sleep too”. Paulgrinned. Jenny nodded. “SPARKLE!” came her fathers voice fromthe door. Jenny looked over at her parents as they walked over toher. Mom was in uniform, and it looked like she had worn it a bit toolong. Dad was in bell-bottoms and a tie-dye shirt. She grinned andgave them a wave. Then pouted and said “Do you MIIND? I am havingsome private time with Paul!”. D-Day got a bit red and stammeredout something. “I don't approve”. Miss Liberty said flatly,though her eyes were bright.

The family reunited, andeventually Jenny let Paul out, wincing a bit at the pain from theteleport, she was still pretty sore. “Much as I would love to visitwith you all for awhile, I have agents in the field and they havebeen on their own for...” he glanced up at the clock “...tolong”. Paul accepted a hand from Goldstar up to the cockpit of hisD-Day unit. “Just let us know if we can help” Allison said fromJenny's bedside. Paul nodded as he settled into his pilot's chair.“You bet”. As he closed the hatch, he thought there is no wayin hell I am going to ask either of Jenny's parents to leave her sideany time soon. The D-Day unit came to life, and the floor shook abit as it walked from the room, barely fitting out the wide hospitaldoor. “Paul”. Miss Liberty called over to him. The D-Day armorpaused just outside the door and turned its head around 180 degrees ,the hatch opened up again with a hiss. “Yeah?” Paul said fromhis small open cockpit. “You saved my daughters life. Thank you. Wewill not forget it”. Miss Liberty's eyes were wet with gratefultears. Paul choked back a few himself. “Make me some of thatfantastic cornbread of yours Allison, and we'll be even”. Thelooked in each others eyes, big and small, and nodded. So muchunsaid. No need to say it.

Theyall just visited for a while, talking about little things. Jennycomplained that Marty had not brought her rocky-road ice cream. Heclaimed that Allison ate it all. There were some laughs and somestories. After nearly an hour Allison looked down at her little girlthrough her golden halo “Would you like to tell us what happenedJenny?” Jenny started to tell her all about it, and got up to thepoint where Cricket had come up through the floor and the fightstarted. She hesitated a few seconds. Then decided to leave out thepart where Cricket was essentially her twin. Allison looked down ather daughter, somewhat suspicious. But decided not to press it justnow. “Well, I am just glad your OK Jenny, very, very glad.” Allyteared up again. “Just remember, you can always change your mindabout being a hero, and your still not allowed for two more yearsyoung lady!”. Jenny shook her head yes and gave a reassuring smile“I know mom. Try not to freak out because I got hurt. I am gonna befine, and on the day after I have my 18thbirthday party, I'm doin it, I am going to be a hero, just like you!”She winked.

Marty smiled “Your already myhero Sparkle”. There was a pause and they both looked over atAllison. Miss Liberty scowled at both of them “do either of youhave any idea how corny that sounded? -I- thought that was corny, andI write country music”. Jenny giggled “yeah, but its -good-country music”. Jenny yawned, suddenly feeling really tired. Martysaid “well, lets all get some sleep, even superheroes need tosleep, right my-darling-wife-who-has-been-up-for-two-days?”. SkinnyMr. 1970's looked up at his muscular tall partner. Allison grudginglyagreed. “Okay, okay” they both kissed Jenny's force-field andgave it a pat. Jenny was already asleep.

Jenny was not sure how much timepassed. Her parents came to visit her a few times, sometimes justone, sometimes both. Sometimes in uniform, sometimes not. The policecame around once, to get her statement about what happened, thankedher for trying to help and told her that they would keep her familyposted. Through all of this, Jenny was surprised that no one hadnoticed how much she and Cricket looked alike. Paul's little robotskept doing their thing and she started feeling like herself again,which meant she also started to feel bored. The TV in her room had nogood channels, she couldn't replace anything she really wanted to watch.She ended up just flicking between the local and national newsprograms. She stopped to silently guess the lottery numbers justbefore the little balls dropped out of the tumbler. As usual, sheguessed right every time.

***

The MSCC wing of Avalon Hospitalwas in this renovated old building that had lots of stone decorationsand windowsills for Cricket to climb on. When she could not getproper footing, she dug her hands into the stone wall like clay,leaving cracked holes behind. It did not take her long to replace theroom that Jenny Goldstar was in. It was the middle of the night, andshe seemed to be asleep, though it was hard to tell through all thatgolden light. Cricket waited for a while until she saw the nightnurse check in Jenny's room on her rounds. Once she was gone, Crickettapped on the window, it was obviously locked and she did not want tobreak it. Jenny did not seem to notice, so Cricket knocked harder,unintentionally cracking the glass. “Crap” she muttered.

Jenny woke up this time, andlooked out the window. After a second it registered who was there andJenny rolled out of bed taking a defensive stance, wincing at thesudden movement. Cricket waved both her hands, then caught herselfquickly, she almost fell off the window sill from that. She lookedback in and said just loud enough to be heard through the glass “itsokay, I just want to talk”.

Jenny thought about it a fewseconds, then stepped over and slid the window open. The two girlsjust looked at each other for a few moments, like each was gazinginto a mirror, while not twins, the resemblance was uncanny. Cricketbecame aware of Jenny's humming radiance between them, and lookedaway from her face. The girl spoke quietly, still standing on thewindowsill. She tried to talk, wet her throat and tried again. “Iwas just trying to get my friend, I am sorry I hurt you.” Jennynodded “Except for the pain, the bleeding and the broken ribs, itwas kinda fun actually” she smiled at the other girl “I am sooosick of just training all the time.” Cricket smirked and glanceddown at the ground several stories below “yeah well... my worldisn't all that great either, sister.” She had meant it as a casualterm, like it was used a hundred times a day on the street. ButCricket suddenly held her gut like something just hit her from theinside. She snapped her head up to see Jenny was looking at her, alook of surprise on her face as well. The word had deeply resonatedwith both of them. After an awkward pause Jenny stepped back from thewindow so Cricket could move into the room. She caught a glimpse ofthe damage she did to Crickets leather jacket. “I really like yourcoat, sorry I ruined it”. Cricket scowled “lets just skip thatfor now, but we -will- be talking about that later, when your fullyhealed”. Jenny smirked. She really liked this girl already. Theylooked at each other again for a few silent moments. The two were thesame height, and looked practically the same age, Jenny perhapsslightly older.

Without fully understanding why,Jenny reached out and put her hands as best she could on Cricketsshoulders, blue eyes gazing into blue eyes. At first, Cricketrecoiled defensively from the unfamiliar gentleness, not trusting it.But Jenny kept her hands firmly on the other girl's small shoulders,and said quietly with a sad smile “Its okay, really.” Slowly,reluctantly, Cricket hugged Jenny's force-field, which buzzed quietlyfrom the contact. Being here, meeting Jenny, felt like coming home toCricket, she relaxed for the first time in days, taking a deep shakybreath. In a quivering voice Jenny whispered over the buzzing fieldthat separated them “Its nice to meet you Cricket”. Cricketsmiled and shut her moist eyes, resting her head on Jenny's softlyhumming golden halo. Jenny felt strangely fond and connected toCricket, surprised at how strong the bond between them felt sosuddenly. She held onto Cricket tightly, the force-field pressing upagainst her body, buzzing louder from the pressure as it was squeezedbetween the two girls. Jenny had always hated being an only child,there was a silent loneliness about it that she could never quiteshake. But this... she really liked how this felt, it filled up thatlonely place for the first time ever. Never before had she hated notbeing able to touch another person as much as she did right now.Taking a step back, the two girls smiled brightly at each other.Cricket had never felt happier.

Their quiet moment was suddenlyinterrupted as the door opened and the night nurse entered the room“Jenny, I have some ginger ale here, would you like to...” thenurse stopped in shock, dropping the cup of soda, carbon bubbles andice cubes going everywhere. The woman looked dumfounded at the pairin mute surprise for several heartbeats “What... who...?” thenurse stammered. “Were about to get into a lot of trouble, aren'twe?” Jenny asked with a grin. Cricket smirked back at her “Youknow it sister!” And just like that, it was decided. They were.

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