Chapter 9

The first point on the agenda was dropping Tiff and Amy off somewhere safe. As much as Melissa framed this as “come watch me work,” she wasn’t trying to place them in danger and didn’t want them getting in anybody’s way. If there wasn’t something for them to do at the command center, they could quietly hang out with the group of survivors.

As it so happened, the command center was looking for people to do menial chores, like running bottles of water back and forth and hauling equipment for those with more important uses for their hands. A small tent with a large cross told Tiff where all the injured were and she wondered if any doctors had shown up.

…specifically, Dr. Waters.

She shook her head and reminded herself that Irvine was miles away.

As soon as Melissa stepped into the command tent, the room paused. Tiff’s mom usually had that effect on people, and her outfit amplified that effect. It only took a second for everybody to go back to what they were doing, but one of the more important-looking people walked up to them.

“Name?” He asked briskly. He wasn’t being rude, but he clearly had more to manage than he could handle, so he was brief by necessity.

“Brickhouse,” Melissa said. She was on the job, so it was time to use her work name. The man nodded tersely as he punched some information into a tablet. He must have liked what he saw, as he nodded some more.

“Might-based Sidekick? Says you’ve got an S in strength. What’s your upper limit?”

“5 thousand pounds sustained. 6 if we’re talking short bursts, 10 in a one-time pinch, but I’m done after that.”

“Shouldn’t come to that,” the man shook his head, “But we’ve got a need for heavy machinery. The crew the DMA is negotiating with is still several hours out, and we want to start removing the larger chunks of debris so we can start clearing buildings. You up for rubble work?”

“You got it.”

“Then you’ll report to Jim Laso, look for the big guy with a red vest.”

The man paused, looking up at Melissa.

“Well, he’s big to everybody else. He’ll tell you what to do. Ma’am, just in case nobody else says it, thank you for your service.”

Melissa left with a small wave of her hand, while Tiff and Amy stood rooted in confusion. They were unsure of their place and suddenly felt very awkward.

“That your mom?” The man asked them before they could wander away and get themselves in trouble. Tiff nodded silently. The man shook his head gently, not in a condescending kind of way.

“Not too often we see Metas in active service with kids. Heroing is more of a young man’s game.” He chuckled to himself before looking at them seriously. “This isn’t a daycare. You here to help, too?”

“Sure am!” Amy cheered energetically. The man looked at her and pointed.

“Love that attitude. Get yourselves to the volunteer tent. Get a badge, find out where you can best help out, and get going. Oh, and remember to save the paperwork they give you; if you’re using this for school or admission into Young Justice, you can claim today as credit.”

Amy practically dragged Tiff over to the next tent and immediately got them in line to be processed. For a place just hit by a natural disaster, there were many people ready and willing to help. Tiff was surprised so many people were giving up their free time so selflessly…until something popped up and made her realize not everyone here was being altruistic. Several System quests had appeared on her peripheral vision, tantalizing her but not intrusive.

She didn’t have a chance to fully delve into the details, as Amy quickly grabbed her badge and dashed off to follow other instructions. Tiff was about to call out when the guy at the head of the line caught her attention.

“Hey,” he said. Tiff looked up just in time to see him frown. “Kid, are you allowed to be here? Have you even Awakened?”

Tiff blinked. She supposed there should be some rules regarding who could and could not volunteer. As much as she and Amy wanted to help, Tiff wasn’t sure if they could actually be put to work. Pesky child labor.

“Yes, I Awakened this week, actually.”

“Oh,” the man said, his eyes widening. “Congratulations. Look, I’ll be honest, you look a little skinny. You think you can handle moving boxes? That’s mostly what we have for entry-level volunteers. It’s boring and basic, but that’s what we need.”

“I have a D in Might,” Tiff frowned. “How heavy are these boxes?”

“A D?” The man said, instantly making a cross with his arms over his chest. “Nope, that’s straight out. I’m sorry, kid, but rules are rules. At D, you’re a liability. You have any technical Skills?”

“No,” Tiff shook her head.

“Sorry, then I can’t give you a badge. Look, why don’t you go over to the survivor’s tent? They’ve got some tables and chairs set up, at least there’s a place you can wait.”

Tiff briefly glanced at Amy’s back, watching as she was being shown how to Tetris small packages onto a pallet. Her sister wasn’t even Awakened yet, and Tiff was pretty sure they didn’t ask! It was a bit unfair, but Tiff honestly couldn’t say how much help she would have been. She made sure she had her phone with her and headed to the largest tent.

Tiff had never been to a circus, but she could imagine this one being used, maybe not as the Big Top, but as a main attraction. As the volunteer director had said, there were many tables and chairs set up, cobbled together from a whole mishmash of styles. Some probably originally belonged to The Walk’s outdoor landscaping, while others looked like they might have been salvaged from small break rooms. It was loud, cramped, and there were hardly any free seats, but for some reason, that made it feel very secure. Like anything she did or said couldn’t possibly be locked onto because of all the jumbled conversations carrying on.

Tiff pulled out her phone and dialed a number. There was something she needed to know the second they left the house, and she was curious why her mom hadn’t found out herself.

Where was Victoria?

Was she safe?

Was she alive?!

Tiff didn’t want to entertain that last thought.

As if responding to her thoughts, a familiar ringtone screeched several feet behind her. Tiff whirled around, just in time to see a hand lift up beside the back of Victoria’s head.

“Tiff?” Victoria’s tired voice rang out in her ear and right in front of her.

“Tori?” Tiff asked, her brain still trying to come to terms with running into her sister, completely by accident.

Victoria jumped, experiencing the same phenomenon of hearing her sister’s voice twice. She quickly whirled around, but unlike Tiff, who was frozen to the spot, Victoria smiled widely.

“You okay there, munch?” Victoria asked.

“Yes…I should be asking you that!” Tiff said hotly.

The two stared at each other, Victoria smiling and Tiff in disbelief.

“You can hang up now, Tiff,” Victoria grinned. Tiff jolted, forgetting entirely that she was holding her phone up to her ear even though her sister was only a few feet away. She hastily hung up and put her phone away, just in time for Victoria to sweep her off her feet.

“Tori! Tori! There’s people!”

“You’re not embarrassed by your big sister, are you?” Victoria teased.

“No, but you’re swinging me around! My legs, you might hit someone! I don’t want to become a blunt weapon!”

“Ah, good point,” Victoria said, eventually setting Tiff on her feet. “How about we take a step outside and you can tell me what you’re doing here?”

“Mom brought us,” Tiff explained easily. “She responded to the call for aid, so Amy and I tagged along.”

“Amy’s here too?” Victoria gave a weak smile. “What was Mom thinking? This isn’t a daycare.”

“That’s what the volunteer processor said when he got to me,” Tiff pouted, making Victoria laugh. “But he didn’t say anything to Amy!”

“Well, they’ve only got themselves to blame when she takes over the camp. I’m not too worried about her.”

“Same,” Tiff sighed. “I was worried about you.”

“Aww,” Victoria smiled before swooning dramatically. “My little sister was worried about me! I am so blessed!”

“Don’t be mean,” Tiff pummeled her sister in the abs. It wasn’t effective.

“Relax,” Victoria chuckled as she caught one of Tiff’s fists and started putting her in a headlock. “Did you think something would happen to me?”

“Tori,” Tiff wheezed, “I didn’t know what to think. I also can’t breathe. Let me go.”

Victoria did, but only so she could toss Tiff up in the air before twirling her around again and sitting her on her shoulders. Tiff, long experienced in living around strong people, simply let it happen. Victoria walked them outside and found a nice, secluded area in the shade of a still-standing tree where they could have some privacy.

“So, are you going to tell me?” Tiff asked as she played bongos with Victoria’s head. “What happened? Did you go into the Rift? Was it dangerous? Did you get hurt? What was it like?!”

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“Munch,” Victoria laughed, “Are you gonna let me talk? Slow down! Let’s start at the top. The Rift was Small, a classification rather than an indicator of physical size. You see, Rifts can be just about anything inside. Sometimes they’re the size of a building, sometimes they’re as big as a city. I think the largest Rift on record is almost the size of Kentucky.”

“Oh wow,” Tiff sighed, though honestly, she wasn’t exactly sure how big Kentucky was. She only knew it looked slightly like a chicken drumstick, and she only knew that because of a poster she saw inside a KFC.

“A Rift’s size is determined by how many monsters need to be culled before it’s cleared. Once it’s clear, it stops spawning. Small Rifts usually only have one to two dozen monsters inside.”

“Only?” Tiff asked. “Are they all the size of that pillbug? We saw it on tv!”

“No, not always,” Victoria sighed. “But usually, Rift monsters are pretty big. In this case, there were two Boss monsters like that bug. The one you saw escaped the Rift the moment it unsealed, and we went in and killed the other. There were more, but most were the size of a large suv, not a building.”

“Were they all…bugs?” Tiff asked.

“Yes,” Victoria sighed again. “They were pretty gross.”

“I’m glad I didn’t go in,” Tiff mumbled, “Or more didn’t get out. Oh, speaking of…I was really worried. We heard on the radio that there were multiple deaths, and I feared….”

“Thanks, Tiff,” Victoria patted her sister’s leg. “But I can handle myself in a Rift.”

“Can you, though?” Tiff asked. Not because she doubted her sister’s skills, but she simply didn’t know what Victoria could do. “You fight with your fists. What can you do against big bugs?”

“You find ways to be helpful,” Victoria shrugged, eventually putting Tiff down. “I admit, I’m better suited for combat with people, not monsters. I don’t know how much help I’d be in a Large Rift.”

“Did you at least get anything cool out of the Rift?” Tiff asked. Victoria gave her a strange look and Tiff pouted.

“What? We both know Rifts have loot!”

“True,” Victoria chuckled. “But normally that’s something Amy would say.”

“Right?” Tiff laughed. “But seriously. What’s it like inside?”

“Eh, every Rift is different. This one was an overgrown jungle. There were a couple of clearings we used as arenas, but the borders of the Rifts were gigantic trees growing so tightly together you couldn’t squeeze in between. Sometimes there’s no hard border; it’s just an invisible barrier you can’t pass through. I’m not sure if this one is worth anything; there weren’t any obvious deposits of resources. I suppose if somebody needs lots of wood, they can cut down the giant trees, but I’m not a [Surveyor]. I have no clue what’s valuable and what isn’t.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they took a seat on a pile of rubble. Tiff nearly stumbled and Victoria pulled her in close.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Tiff sighed as she leaned into her sister.

“Mmm,” was all Victoria replied.

Eventually, several workers began excavating a ruined store across the plaza from them. Tiff watched in amusement as they tagged various chunks of fallen building, and then people with super strength would come and haul them away. Once or twice, they even saw Melissa move through, picking up clumps of concrete the size of a small car and walking away like she’d just scored a sweet bargain at the thrift store.

However, not everyone assigned to the area was working on moving debris, and unlike Tiff and Victoria, not everyone milling about had a good reason to do so. Tiff watched one person, who had been helping point out the difference between load-bearing junk and trash that was ready to move, bend down, sift through the mess on the floor, and pocket something.

Movement in her System screen reminded her that she had quests she was ignoring.

“Tori,” Tiff said in a low voice. “Remember when you were telling me about Affinity quests? The example you gave about corrupt cops?”