The monster of a motorbike stopped in front of a stoplight that was blinking red. Another rider… a bone-thin man in an off-white leather suit on a sleek Italian style racing bike… was already there. His bike was still and silent. As Val killed the engine on hers, a slightly arrhythmic whump-whump-whump reached her ears from somewhere above the canyon on the street. On the other side of the intersection, a woman stumbled out of a bar, staggered around to the driver’s side of a parked car and began to fumble with her keys.
“Evening, Dwight,” Val said, taking off her helmet and hanging it on the handlebar.
“Evening,” the pale man replied, pushing his visor back with a gloved hand.
“That’s funny, you’ve never answered when I wished you a good evening before,” Val said.
“I only agreed that it’s evening. I withhold judgment about the rest.”
“Naturally,” Val said. She watched the woman, who had only just realized she was trying to jam a house key into the car door. A rising mechanical whine began to undercut the helicopter sound. Val shook her head. “Stupid… senseless.”
“Most of them are.”
“Don’t you ever feel anything for them, Dwight?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said. “Love.”
“Love?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Love. I love the whole world.” Overhead, there was a final percussive bang. “Boom de yadda.”
The police helicopter came down hard and fast, its rotors useless even for autorotation. It hit the ground in the middle of the street, mere meters away from the woman. The wreckage was already aflame when it hit. There was an almighty crack like thunder, and then…
Nothing. Time stopped. The flames froze. The explosion froze. The woman, who hadn’t even reacted yet, was frozen, too. Val propped her bike up on the kickstand and headed across the intersection.
“Don’t do it,” the man she called Dwight called after her. She ignored him.
Val touched the woman lightly on the shoulder. She gasped and jumped.
“Sorry!” Val said. “I didn’t mean to startle you, it’s just… well, I think maybe you should turn around and have a look behind you.”
“Jesus, what’s… oh my God!” the woman said, when she saw the wreckage, suspended in time. “What’s… what’s…”
“It’s exploding,” Val said. “Or it was, and will be again when we return to normal time.” She stretched out her hand into the air in front of them. “Shockwave’s already almost hit you. If you squint, you can see the gravel kicked up into the air… shards of metal and fiberglass are following close behind. There will be a wash of hot air and flame after that.”
“Oh, my God… and I would have been right in its path. Are you a superhero?” she asked.
“Not really,” Val said.
“But you saved me!”
“No, I didn’t,” Val said. “I mean, I did just save you from dying from the wounds you would have suffered in blast, but that just means you died of shock instead.”
“You mean, you killed me?”
“Listen, it’s not like… okay, you’re going to get third degree burns over most of your body,” Val said. “Massive fractures. Lacerations, shrapnel embedded everywhere. I could put you back. We’re still between quanta of time here, so you haven’t actually died yet, for a certain value of ‘yet’. I’m actually not even here to pick you up, but if you don’t want to go with me now, I’ll be seeing you again after the three worst days of your life.”
“You have to do something!” the woman said.
“I am. I’m doing what I can,” Val said. She pointed at the heart of the frozen firestorm. “I’m actually here for them, but I’d like to help you, too. If you let me take you now…”
“No!” the woman shrieked, backing away from her like she was a demon. “Stay back! I won’t let you take me!”
“Fine,” Val said. She reached out quickly to touch the woman again, and she went back to where she had been.
She then turned to the wreckage. There were three souls inside… only one of them followed her gods, but another of them had been claimed by fire. He was hers to deliver to wherever he was going next.
The pilot had died of a heart attack when the trouble started. He was Dwight’s.
“You didn’t need to do that,” Dwight said as they headed back to their bikes.
“I needed to try,” Val said. “You said you love everyone, so don’t you ever feel like ending a little suffering?”
“I end all suffering… but I also take no life before its time,” he said, swinging his leg over the pale motorcycle.
“Yeah, you’re a regular Ernest Gallows,” Val said.
His engine started with a low, quiet purr.
“Be seeing you,” he said.
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