Monsters—from the Id!

NOTES: I changed the female character from Illuminesse to Knight Light, who has a different set of powers but can still glow, so the action didn’t change much. Since I’m thinking of tying this into one of the novels I’m working on, I wanted to remove Iluminesse, because her story arc in the novel is different.

Allison sighed as the door clicked shut, hanging up her keys on the hook next to the door and turning the deadbolt. It had been one of those days, when “one of those days” meant exercising a supreme level of self-control to keep from demonstrating the meaning of the word “defenestration” on her boss, who had been particularly, stubbornly, micromanaging most of the day, peppering her with some of the inanest questions she’d heard since she’d started on the project. This, she thought, is what happens when they promote someone who writes mediocre code and has no management skills. And they wonder why I’m planning a vacation at a cabin in the woods. If I don’t unplug from everything soon, I’m going to end up plugging Roger’s mouth with a keyboard—the one hundred and four key kind.

She pushed off from the door and reached for the light switch—and froze as she heard a creak from the direction of the living room. Crap. This is what I get for wanting an apartment with one of those old-fashioned mini-foyers. I should’ve listened to Sarah when she said it was better to get a unit with an open floor plan.

She inched her hand away from the switch, leaving her apartment shrouded in darkness for the time being, and took one slow step forward, then another. Okay, she thought, in a horror film, this would be the time for the jump scare from a cat hopping up on the table to greet me. Except I don’t have a cat. She waited a minute longer, holding her breath, until she was sure the creaking she’d heard was probably just the building settling. She reached back for the light switch again as a human-shaped silhouette interposed itself between the end of the foyer and the traces of ambient light filtering through the heavy curtains in the living room. Allison squeaked in surprise even as her training kicked in. She snatched up a surprisingly heavy abstract art piece from the little foyer table and hurled it at the silhouette.

While the intruder dodged the flying sculpture, Allison summoned the glowing extradimensional quantum armor that earned her the name Knight Light. I’ll knock this creep out so fast they won’t even realize that the light isn’t from the overhead in the foyer. With a thought, she boosted the armor’s light output as she took the first step to charge her surprise visitor.

“Hey, turn that down, willya?” said a familiar voice even as she recognized the intruder’s colorful outfit.

Knight Light pulled up short and cranked down the lumens. “You know,” she said conversationally, “there are these things called phones.”

Presto lifted his goggles and rubbed his eyes. “Didn’t trust them for this. Better to talk to you in person.”

“You couldn’t show up at my door in civvies and knock?”

Presto shrugged. “Maybe. This way you know it’s official.”

Something prompted Knight Light to keep her armor instead of sending it away. She waved Presto to a seat as she walked to the kitchen. “What’s so important that you had to show up in costume instead of texting me?”

Presto didn’t take the proffered seat. “I can’t find CASH.”

“Almost nobody carries cash these days, even with the added card fees.” Knight Light stopped and looked back at him as it dawned on her what he meant. “Wait.”

“Yeah,” he said. “No sign of them anywhere.”

“The entire Chicago Alliance of Super-Heroes is missing?” Presto nodded, and Knight Light turned back to the kitchen. “Hold on. I need caffeine after the day I’ve had, or I can’t process this. Tea?”

“Sure, unless you have coffee. You expecting anybody tonight?”

Knight Light grabbed a coffee pod and filled up the Keurig. “Nope. Let me get some tea in me, and you can tell me everything we know.” She started the coffee and grabbed the electric kettle. “And then we figure out what the hell’s going on.”