No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) (10 page)

             
“You just told the same story that was on Supers Network, without the worthless police announcement after. It's not hard to put the pieces together.” Denise patted his hand and rolled so that she faced him. “Don't worry, your villain cred and her secret are safe with me.”

             
“Good. I would hate to have to let my older sister kill you.” Anansi resumed his petting.

             
“Aww, you wouldn't do it yourself?” Denise teased.

             
“Nah. She's more evil. She once made three armed hitmen piss themselves with a glare. While holding a rubber chicken.”

             
“You're full of it.”

             
“I swear on everything holy and unholy, and maybe a few things else.”

             
“Swear it on something you actually care about,” Denise retorted, tweaking Anansi's nose again. Anansi grabbed her wrist and pulled it to his lips to kiss the back of her hand.

             
“Fine. I swear by your boobs, my older sister is the scariest person on the planet, and one time she scared the piss out of hitmen trying to kill her while holding a rubber chicken.” Denise rolled her eyes and twisted, breaking free of Anansi's hold and coming up straddling him.

             
“You would swear by my boobs, sexist bastard,” Denise said playfully. She cupped her breasts. “You don't think they're too small?”

             
“You can make them any size that you want, goof. They are neither too small nor too big, as they are all sizes!” Anansi reached up and grabbed her by the collar with one finger, pulling her down so that he could kiss her. She embraced him and melted into the kiss.

             
Anansi broke the kiss first, breathing heavily. “I had something to ask you,” he said as Denise moved down to nuzzle his neck. She murmured inquisitively against his skin. “Do you want to come with me to my family's Thanksgiving dinner?” She nipped at his neck. “I mean, you don't have to if you don't, ah, want to, but I think you w-would enjoy yourself and-” Denise silenced him with a kiss.

             
Denise broke the kiss, smiling down at Anansi. “I would love to have Thanksgiving with your family.”

-~-~-

              November 28, 2013

              Anansi and Denise walked up the driveway of the old fashioned ranch-style home which proudly proclaimed “Clan Redpath” where it met the street. The two story blue and yellow house overlooked the Pacific Ocean and had a private beach carved from the cliffs of California. Denise had asked how much it had cost, and Anansi had responded with “a whole hell of a lot.”

             
Denise wore an orange blouse with black jeans and had tied her hair back in a braid, while Anansi wore a brown collared shirt and green slacks. Denise leaned into Anansi as they walked, enjoying the smell of him mingling with the sea salt air and the scent of dinner being cooked inside. Denise could hear the sound of music mingling with the sound of the waves crashing nearby.

             
Anansi opened the door to the house and a lanky teenage girl with blond hair and wearing a shirt that proclaimed “Brains, nomnomnom” in red letters came squealing down the stairs from the second floor, screaming “Jakey!” A boy of maybe six chased after her, a red cape streaming behind him. A popping noise came from behind them and another lanky teenage girl, this one with brown hair, appeared and launched herself at Anansi. Anansi pushed Denise away, falling under the weight of his sisters. “Save yourself!” he cried dramatically as the young boy jumped on him as well. “They're savages, come to eat my soul!”

             
Denise watched with amusement as the four wrestled on the floor, staying carefully out of the way and glad she hadn't been dragged into this family ritual. After a minute, Anansi had both of the young women and the boy pinned by various body parts. All of them panted and giggled. “Truce?” Anansi said, drawing a nod from the two teenagers.

             
The boy squirmed. “Unka Jake! I'mma gechoo!” he exclaimed as he failed to get free. Anansi laughed and worked his way free from his sisters. “You already got me, you little monster!” Anansi stood, the boy still clinging to his leg, and shuffled back over to Denise, which was when she noticed that conversation had mostly stopped and the entryway was now crowded with men and women, all of whom bore striking resemblances to Anansi.

             
“Outsider,” they said in a unified monotone drone, to include the two girls who had wrestled Anansi. “We must assimilate. Resistance is futile.” Their eyes had taken on a dead sheen to them, and they raised their hands in unison, grasping at Denise. Denise took a step back, dropping into a fighting stance.

             
“You'll never take me alive!” she announced, grabbing Anansi to use as a human shield. “Kill me and the turkey gets it!” Anansi flailed his arms, a look of horror on his face, and the boy on his leg giggled with glee.

             
“Use the boy as a shield instead! I'm too pretty to die!” Anansi wailed dramatically.

             
“Who said the turkey gets it?” came a voice from the kitchen. An older woman wearing an apron appeared, a towel in hand as she cleaned her hands. She was blond and blue eyed, spectacles on her nose and a smile on her face.

             
All of the Redpath children, Anansi and the boy included, pointed at Denise. “She did it!” Denise punched Anansi in the kidney, drawing a round of laughter from his siblings. Anansi wrapped an arm around Denise's waist and pulled her close.

             
A redheaded woman with Anansi's eyes crossed her arms, flanked by two blond men over six feet tall, one almost frail looking, the other muscular. “And who have we here, leetle brother, that you have brought us?” A third Redpath brother, brown hair like Anansi's and glasses leaned against the door. Denise wasn't sure when he had arrived there, but he was looking at her like he knew her.

             
“Ladies, gentlemen, munchkins of all sizes,” Anansi said, looking down to the kid on his leg, who giggled. “I present my girlfriend, known as Ghost or Andrea, whichever you prefer.”

             
“No aliases in this house, Jacob,” called the woman in the apron as she walked into the entryway. Redpaths parted for her to make her way through.

             
“You can call me Andy,” Denise said, offering her hand. The brunette shook her head and pointed to the lanky blond man.

             
“He's Andy. You can be Gee.” She started pointing, naming off her siblings. “I'm Lily, this is Daisy, then Andy, Ed, Tom, Jake, and finally, Rose.”

             
“And you can call me Mom. Ms. Redpath or Carol if you aren't comfortable with that.” Ms. Redpath took Denise's hand and shook it. “It's nice to see Jake bringing home lovely ladies. It's been quite a while.”

             
Denise boggled, trying to remember faces with names. She shook Ms. Redpath's hand. “Ms. Redpath will do. Quite the family you have here.”

             
“Oh, this is just my horde. My sister and her husband, along with my parents, will be by later. There are many Redpaths, and this is just our chapter.” Ms. Redpath nodded towards the end of the hallway where she had come from. “Dinner is almost ready, but won't be served for another hour or so. Come into my domain so that I can give you the motherly interrogation.”

             
Denise looked back to Anansi, who shrugged. “Mom makes the calls here. I'll be in the entertainment room when she's done.” He turned to the muscular Redpath brother. “Ready for a whooping, Tom?”

             
Tom smiled. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and rolled them up, baring tattoos that traveled all the way to his wrists. “Only whooping anyone is getting here is you. No powers, no cheating.” The other two Redpath brothers smiled, rolling their sleeves up as well. Rose rolled her eyes and walked towards the kitchen with Ms. Redpath.

             
“Come on, Gee. The testosterone in here is getting stifling.” Denise, Rose, and Ms. Redpath went into the kitchen, which was larger than Denise's apartment and filled with food. Ms. Redpath began busying herself with a salad, passing Rose a cutting board and a few vegetables. Denise took position by the sink and began handing vegetables to Ms. Redpath from a bowl.

             
“How did you two meet, Andrea?”

             
“Internet. We met because Kay posted a dating profile for him. She says Lily put her up to it.”

             
“That sounds like Lily,” Rose said. She was quick with the knife, Denise noticed, and held it like a knife fighter as opposed to a cook.

             
“Once the initial confusion had been gotten through, we hit it off. It hasn't been entirely smooth sailing, but it's been fun.”

             
“You know he's not always on the right side of the law?” Rose said. She continued to cut the vegetables, but her eyes were on Denise.

             
“Neither am I. Wasn't this supposed to be a mother interrogation?”

             
“I count. My son is the little monster that was clinging to Jake's leg.” Denise nodded, looking back to Ms. Redpath. She was humming quietly, completely lacking the intensity that Rose radiated.

             
“I talk with him a lot,” said Ms. Redpath as she scooped the vegetables from Rose's cutting board and put them into the salad, mixing it with a pair of wooden utensils. “You've been good for him. Treat him right. He doesn't talk about his problems and doesn't ask for help, but that doesn't mean he won't need it. It's something he inherited from his father.” Denise moved out of Rose's way as she moved to the sink to wash the knife.

             
“Is Mr. Redpath going to be with us for dinner?”

             
“Redpath is my maiden name, dear. Their father is no longer with us.” Ms. Redpath's smile disappeared momentarily, returning with a slightly forced quality.

             
“We don't talk about him,” Rose said, her tone cold. She placed the now clean knife into the knife rack with more force than was necessary. Denise nodded and decided it was time to find Anansi again.

Chapter 10

             
February 25, 2014

              “You're plotting again. I can hear the gears in your head spinning.” Anansi felt her hands on his shoulders, kneading his muscles. He looked up from his desk, and minimized the diagram he had been making notes on in a holographic display. The woman behind him was tall and lithe, her eyes like coals and her skin like chocolate. She wore nothing but a collared shirt and underwear, and the way it showed her numerous tattoos, black motifs of death all over her legs and arms, always made him wonder about tattoos of his own, but he was never sure what he would get if he got one. He smiled up at her and shrugged, spinning his chair around to face her, diagram momentarily forgotten. She called herself Ghost, though she was a shapeshifter, not a phase shifter or able to become invisible. He had suggested an alternate, more appropriate, name for her power set, but she had smiled and told him no. That had been that.

             
“Evil plots, as is befitting the master of traps and tricks,” Anansi responded, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her onto his lap. She placed an arm over his shoulder and kissed him on the forehead. She laughed and it sent warmth through Anansi.

             
“You're insane, you know that?” she said, humor in her voice to add playfulness to the insult.

             
“Says the woman who is dating a self-professed mad scientist, evil genius, supervillain.” Anansi brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed it. He loved the feel of her against him, the taste of her. It was intoxicating.

             
“What is the plan?” she asked, playing with his hair. It was hard to think about trying to rule the world with her right there. Why fix it all when everything was perfect for him in the here and now? That was a selfish thought, though. So many people in the world were suffering under the heel of criminally negligent governments, and if he wouldn't step up to correct it, then who would?

             
“There's a speech next week in Airy City. Lowe is trying to garner support for that bill that would essentially make us criminals for being different. The President will be with him. I'm going to take them both out.”

             
Her fingers froze, muscles instantly tense. Ghost looked down at him, trying to determine if he was serious or not. Anansi nodded. Ghost whistled, leaning back as if to reinspect Anansi.

             
“You think that's a good idea? Archangel and a few of the Secret Service supers will be there to stop anything from happening. You don't have a chance.”