Jack looked around at his friends, old and new. It was strange how he felt he'd known Sparky and Jenna a lifetime, instead of just the two years since Doomsday, when being left on their own had drawn them together. But he supposed between then and now was a lifetime.
Sparky, with his spiky blond hair, broad shoulders, gruff attitude and caring heart. He'd lost his brother, but he was weathering the grief well. Jack liked to think their relationship helped. Jenna mourned her father, not dead, but taken from her because of his interest in London's fate. He was half the man he'd used to be. And now Rhali, thinner than she should be, bearing the weight of whatever tortures they had seen fit to subject her to, and yet still beautiful. Every time Jack looked at her his heart skipped a little. It was a feeling he'd never had with Lucy-Anne, and for now he tried not to analyse it too much. There were more urgent matters to deal with.
“Plan?” Jenna asked. “As if.”
“Do what we have to,” Jack said. “Spread the word about the bomb, find Lucy-Anne, get the hell out of London.”
“Easy,” Sparky said. “Piece of cake.” He glanced at Rhali.
“We're assuming Miller wasn't lying about the bomb,” Jenna said.
“We have to,” Jack replied. “Big Bindy, he called it. And Breezer seemed pretty sure he was telling the truth.”
“Breezer being completely trustworthy, of course,” Sparky said.
“I heard them talking about Big Bindy,” Rhali said. “I never figured out who or what it could be. But the Choppers I heard were scared of her. Or it.”
“Makes sense,” Jack said. “Miller and his cronies didn't really know all they were dealing with, even after all this time. They did their best to keep London contained, and that seemed to be working. But if they ever found something, or someone, that might have broken out—become a real threat to the rest of the country, for all they knew—they'd have some way of stopping that.”
“So what's changed?” Sparky asked. He stood, hands held out. No one replied. “I don't mean why did Miller press the button. Reason is, he's a dick. Easy enough. What I mean is, how can anyone get out of London, even if we now have to?”
“Dunno,” Jack said.
“I mean, they'll be even more determined to keep the Doomsday survivors trapped now, won't they?” Sparky asked.
“Yeah,” Jenna said. “Make sure Big Bindy gets them all.”
Sparky stared at Jack, waiting for him to respond. Jack felt uncomfortable beneath his friend's gaze, because he knew what Sparky was thinking. Perhaps what they were all thinking, including Rhali, who'd already had a glimpse at what Jack could do.
He skimmed the starscape inside, and that throbbing red giant was still there. Watching him. Waiting.
“I can't do anything,” Jack said.
“What?” Sparky said. “Nothing?”
Jack shook his head. “I've thought about it. Looked. You've seen what I can do. There's other stuff, but I'm not certain of any of it yet. Some of what I've been able to do has been because I've been close to someone else doing it, like Reaper and his shout. Other stuff has come to me…sort of instinctively.” He shrugged.
“Tell everyone,” Sparky said. “That's what we need to do. Spread the word about the bomb, arrange a meeting place ready to break out of the city. Now that she's not working for them—” He'd nodded at Rhali, and she stood, angry.
“I've never worked for them!” she shouted. “Have you any idea what they did to me to make me tell them things? I'll tell you one day. Big, brave boy, I'll tell you.”
“Hey…” Sparky said, and they could all see how sorry he was. “I didn't mean that. Really.”
Rhali nodded, and even offered him a half-smile.
“And there's what Miller said,” Jenna said softly. “About how using the powers has led to people getting sick.”
“Yeah,” Sparky said. “This is all so shit.”
“So what's new,” Jack said.