The Marvels

Ep. 16 | Tala Turan, Kennedy Laughlin aka Strike, and Maggotzilla

One of the most annoying things in the world was having a closet full of good clothes that suddenly become ugly when they're needed.

Vidya stood at her open closet, realizing that she had the sense of style of a lumberjack. There were at least seven plaid flannel shirts of varying colors and not much else—at least, nothing that fit a first date, unless she wanted the white blouse with the mysterious, permanent art stains.

Missions were still a little rare, so she'd decided to go ahead on her date with Jonah on the day after she'd asked him out, since it was a free Saturday. And on the off chance she got an assignment during the date, she'd take care of it. This was her life now: a balancing act between high school and heroism. May as well get used to it.

She grabbed a navy-green plaid shirt and layered a light jacket over it, perfectly comfortable for a Los Angeles winter. She tucked her mask and her pager into the pockets and twirled around for an opinion.

Amber lowered her magazine, which, ironically, featured Frostbite and Devaris on the cover. "You look great."

"The plaid looks stupid with the jacket, doesn't it?"

"No..."

Vidya raised an eyebrow. "You're trailing off. That's a bad sign."

"Girl, you look fine." Amber rolled off the bed in one fluid motion, slapping the magazine onto the desk. "But are you sure you don't want to put your pager on silent?"

"Having it on silent on a weekend during daytime would make it look like I have no commitment," Vidya pointed out. "And the odds of getting a mission are low. I've honestly spent more time being a figurehead than a hero."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not at all," Vidya admitted. It felt nice to be known, to be looked up to. She might spend a lot more time doing corporate things than hero things, but there was nothing wrong with that.

Amber straightened Vidya's jacket and brushed off lint only she could see. "Perfectly casual."

Vidya nodded. She put her ear to the door and waited until she heard Mom and Jose settling into their home office. They knew she had a date today—she wasn't too shy to tell them that much, but actually walking past them while on her way to the date was an embarrassment milestone she wasn't ready for. She snuck out of the house with Amber, who drove her to Santa Monica and dropped her off with a suggestive wink.

The entrance to the Santa Monica Pier stood in all its revamped glory. The original sign had been destroyed three years ago during the Giant Maggot Incident of 2017, and as an apology for the Marvels not stopping Maggotzilla fast enough, Celestro had funded the entire rebuilding. The new sign was the same style as the old one, but it was prettier and shinier and more likely to hold up against giant larva.

Vidya stood on the sidewalk just under the sign, waiting with her hands in her pockets. Everything happened so fast that she'd had no time to scroll through hundreds of blogs of dating tips, which she'd always pictured herself doing before her first date. She wondered if he was as nervous as she was.

Jonah was coming up the sidewalk with a cheerful smile that looked so much more genuine than she could have hoped for. She'd been crazy enough to ask him out, but at least he'd been crazy enough to say yes, so there must be something between them.

And if it didn't work out as a relationship, maybe it would at least lead to a friendship.

Together they walked, side by side, into the Santa Monica Pier. Jonah made a joke about Maggotzilla, and she laughed. As tense as that incident had been—she remembered watching the news coverage with her family, all of them quiet—it was a joke now. Everyone who visited the Pier thought about it and laughed. No one had been injured, no one had died, and the property damage was repaired swiftly, so it was nothing more than a blip in history.