Epilogue
Last time, our heroes had successfully defeated Professor Irreconcilable Differences, retrieved the Kaboominator, and once again saved the city. Or had they….?
Special Agent Peter A. Hawkins had waved off the D.E.R.P. response team, or at least reassigned them to damage assessment and crowd control. First-responder teams were already moving in thanks to that damned soccer ball, so there wasn’t much to do there. Meantime, he quietly went back to his office. He had his report to file, after all.
She was waiting for him when he got there. “I hope you are satisfied,” she said. “My professional reputation may never recover from this. Overcome by a unity candle to the head, of all things.”
“Yeah, yeah, c’est tragique,” Hawkins muttered. His stock of French wasn’t much, but he knew enough to do the job. “We got what we wanted.”
Professor Irreconcilable Differences laughed shortly. “You mean you learned that the Sacred Kneecap isn’t a magic talisman that bestows its powers on the first idiot that picks it up and gets married with it? I could have told you that before all this started.”
“Really,” Hawkins said. “Then why didn’t you?”
“Because, Mr. Hawkins, I had a hypothesis. I had to experiment to determine whether I was right. I was, of course. Also I learned that Meg Atomic, given 2.17 seconds of time, can withstand a direct hit from the Kaboominator, assuming of course that she has used that time to create a graviton pulse and use it as a defense. I can work with that. Meanwhile, I am curious: what did you learn?”
Hawkins leaned back in his chair. “For one thing, I learned that I need to change the locks on my office.”
“Fair,” she said. “What else?”
“I learned that Meg Atomic can differentiate explosions by sound, that she’s excellent with information she knows but when new variables arise she needs a second to rework her scenarios, and that she’s worked with or received materials from Titanium-Alloy Guy. Also I learned that when it comes down to a choice between the world at large and individuals she knows, she’ll choose the world and sacrifice the individual, if she has to.”
“Excellent,” the Professor said. “I can work with that also.”
“Oh?” Hawkins said. He planned to write up his observations and file it with the ent for further study, but he was intrigued. “So what’re your plans, if I can ask?”
She smiled, in a very nasty sort of way. “I believe that it is time our little Margaret expanded her social horizons.”
Hawkins started to ask a follow-up, then decided he really didn’t want to know. As she left, he could hear the Professor’s maniacal giggling all the way down the corridor outside his office. It was not, he felt, the most cheerful way to start his week.