‘I’ll let you perform unspeakable acts upon my body.’
‘Don’t make me laugh.’ He shuddered and withdrew his hand. ‘I’ll tell you what I saw when we get outside.’
Hilliard wandered back with a syringe and a brown folder. ‘You may as well take a copy of the report. Just don’t tell anyone you got it from me.’
‘Thanks,’ Bianca replied. ‘That’ll be helpful.’
‘If you solve the mystery of how a man dies of myocardial infarction without any obvious reason, that’ll be helpful to me.’
~~~
‘Lips.’
Bianca frowned. ‘Lips?’
‘Very red lips. Dark-red lipstick, I think,’ Damian explained. ‘There was a sensation of being kissed too. That’s about all I got. Whatever affected him, it seems to have been… fleeting. It didn’t leave that much of an impression.’
‘It’s not much.’
‘Do I still get to do the unspeakable acts?’
‘Yes. Just remember to wash your hands first.’
Iron Cap Black Site, WA.
The entrance to the site was hidden among trees in the middle of nowhere. Seattle was about forty-five miles to the west, but here there was nothing but trees, mountains, and a concrete bunker with a metal door in the side. It looked like something a survivalist might build, but things got a lot more modern once you got past the rusty metal exterior door and down some spiral stairs. That was when you came across the armed soldiers guarding an elevator which looked a lot more modern than the structures above.
‘There is another entrance, of course,’ Theakstone said once the small party was in the elevator car going down. ‘A larger one for freight and such. We couldn’t have got The Freak down here otherwise.’
‘The Freak is here?!’ Heartbreaker asked. More of an exclamation really.
‘It’s quite safe, Miss Philips. He’s kept in a strong neurotronic field which dampens his mutations. He can, in fact, barely stand up due to his weakened strength and his massive body. It’s… comical, in a way. Seeing such a great beast laid low.’
‘It will be fascinating to be able to study such a creature,’ Kopf said. ‘I will have access to all of the inmates?’ The German was actually excited to be at the new site. His resources had been limited at Andrews, but here…
‘As far as the government is concerned,’ Theakstone said, ‘Iron Cap is an ex-black site. It was reopened purely as a temporary measure to house the inmates from the Fortress until something else could be built. However, the CIA has been using it to house Ultras they considered… unmanageable for some time. You can study any of them. Those who learn too much of our operations here… We’ll simply add them to the list of those who died in the Fortress.’
‘Excellent,’ Kopf said. ‘I believe I will be able to produce better results here than I ever have before.’
Theakstone smiled. ‘I hope so, Professor. Both the CIA and the military are keen to see results.’
‘Get me the materials I asked for, and I shall see to it that they get them.’
New Millennium City, MD, 8th March.
Warm, clear evenings in March were a good time to be in the air. Cygnus sailed lazily along at a couple of hundred feet above Friendship, watching the ground below for any signs of trouble, but mostly just enjoying the freedom. It was fairly quiet. Jacob was scaring muggers out of the park just by walking around in his armour. Up in Churchton, Twilight was dropping the hammer pretty hard on things because they had got out of hand and she was making sure the statistics got back to where they should be. Skadi and Astraea were focusing on Deale Harbour. Generally, things were getting back to somewhere near normal. For a given value of normal. It came as something of a surprise, then, when Cygnus heard an alarm going off a couple of streets over.
The building was a 24/7 Penny had occasionally used when she lived in Friendship. Cygnus did not know the proprietor, but it had been a fairly old guy and his wife who might well have retired by now. The shop was lit up, but there was an alarm blaring out from the front wall and a flashing light to draw further attention. Panic button? She swooped in and dropped to the ground outside, pushed open the door, and marched in.
Down at the end of the produce line, a man in a ski mask was pointing a gun – maybe a .38 Special – at the man behind the counter. The old shopkeeper had not retired, it seemed. ‘What ya have t’ do that for, old man?! Give me the damn money! Give it to me or–’ He turned at the sound of the door closing and saw Cygnus standing there. His eyes widened. ‘Shit! Shit! Fuck! Okay. Okay, you stay right where you are, bitch. You move, the old guy dies.’
Cygnus raised her hands. ‘You’d be much better off putting the gun down and giving up. This place is going to be surrounded by police cruisers pretty soon. You aren’t getting away. If you kill him, then you go down for murder.’
‘Yeah, well, I ain’t going down for–’
And then several things happened very fast. The door burst open and two fairly young police officers burst in with raised guns. The robber’s eyes widened further, and his finger closed on the trigger. Cygnus just had time to scream ‘No!’ before the sound of the gunshot was ringing in her ears. Miss Liberty appeared to materialise out of thin air and the bullet flattened itself against whatever protection she had right between her breasts.
‘That was rude,’ Miss Liberty said, and she gave the man what looked like a light tap to the jaw. He went down like a sack of bricks, and Miss Liberty turned to smile at the shopkeeper. ‘Are you okay, sir?’
‘I’m… fine,’ the shopkeeper said. ‘Fine. Thank you, Miss Liberty.’
‘Just doing my duty.’
Cygnus was crouching beside the robber, checking his pulse. She nodded and got to her feet, turning to look at the two cops. ‘Get this idiot out of here. He’s going to need a medical check-up before he’s booked, but he should be okay.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ one of the officers said.
‘Do you normally barge into places like that? If Miss Liberty hadn’t… appeared, you’d be writing up a shooting.’
‘Uh, well, there was the alarm…’ He trailed off as Cygnus kept staring at him. ‘We’ll try to be more careful next time.’
Cygnus nodded and looked around at the nation’s hero. ‘Come with me.’
‘Good,’ Miss Liberty replied. ‘I really need to talk to you.’
Stepping outside, Cygnus flew upward to about five hundred feet and waited for Miss Liberty to join her. Then, before Miss Liberty could even open her mouth, Cygnus began. ‘What you did in there was illegal.’
Miss Liberty’s eyes widened. ‘What? But I–’
‘Performed an act of vigilantism. If you’d stopped the bullet and left it at that, you’d be fine. You hit the guy. Maybe broke his jaw. That’s just about okay. We could get past it with defending the civilian’s life, but if that idiot managed to get himself a clever lawyer, he could walk. Improper arrest. Things were fine while you stuck to emergencies, but if you’re going to stop criminals, you need to be registered.’
‘I– But I– Oh. Then what I want to talk to you about is even more important.’
Cygnus’s brow furrowed. ‘Okay, I’ll bite. What do you need?’
‘Can you arrange a meeting with President Hart?’
‘I guess.’
‘And come with me. To… introduce me and… stuff. Look, I just got this whole “national hero” thing and it was fun. Kind of fun. Scary fun. I have no idea how to talk to presidents. I… I really don’t have much idea what I’m doing.’
‘Mm,’ Cygnus said in reply.
‘Please?’
Cygnus tapped her earpiece. It was not that late… ‘Denny, could you see whether President Hart could talk to me? Tell them that I’m with Miss Liberty and she’d like to arrange a meeting.’
Miss Liberty blinked. ‘You’re just going to… Okay.’
‘I have no idea how to get in touch with you. This way, we can arrange a date and I can tell– Francesca?
Yes. Miss Liberty would–’ Smirking a little, Cygnus looked at the patriotic blonde. ‘Can you make lunch tomorrow?’
Andrews Field, MD, 9th March.
President Hart, along with a Secret Service security detail, was waiting outside her house when Cygnus and Miss Liberty came in to land outside. Hart was in one of her dresses, a navy coat dress, sleeveless and dropping to mid-thigh: the president was not letting her new status alter her dress sense. Miss Liberty was, of course, in her costume, and she seemed to be a little uncomfortable about that. Then again, she seemed to be a little uncomfortable about the whole experience.
Cygnus had expected cameras, lots of cameras, but there was only the security detail with Hart. An explanation for that was quickly forthcoming. ‘Come on,’ Hart said as she shook Miss Liberty’s hand, ‘we’ll get inside and out of sight. We didn’t tell the press corps you were coming, but someone might have noticed.’
‘I… appreciate that, Madame President,’ Miss Liberty said as they not-quite-hurried toward the door of the not-the-White House.
‘Considering how hard it was to get you to pay a visit, I thought it would be. We’ll be leaving most of this lot outside, but Delphine is sticking with us. The Secret Service won’t allow me in a room alone with Cygnus and an unknown Ultra.’
Cygnus had reshuffled her power configuration on landing and she briefly activated her psionic jamming field. Delphine grimaced and flashed Cygnus a look. ‘How are things, Delphine?’ Cygnus asked. ‘How’s life under the new boss?’
The attractive, blonde psychic, who had spent several days living in Cygnus’s house a couple of years earlier, flashed Cygnus a grin as the jamming field went down again. ‘President Hart is my dream boss. She already has her own psionic defences. With my reinforcement, I don’t have to work as hard to be sure no one’s got to her.’
‘Thank you, Delphine,’ Hart said. ‘It’s nice to be appreciated for one’s mind.’
Sure enough, most of the agents peeled off outside the door. Only Delphine accompanied them into the lounge/office where there was a light lunch laid out on a coffee table which sat between the two sofas. There were triangular sandwiches, fruit, fruit juice, and coffee. Hart waved the two costumed women to one of the seats and settled down opposite them. Delphine stood off to one side, looking official and a little stern.
‘God, Delphine,’ Hart said, ‘she’s the national hero. She’s not going to attack me unless she thinks I’m corrupt. At least get a coffee since I know you won’t sit down.’
‘I could stand to force down some coffee, Madame President,’ Delphine allowed, apparently reluctantly. She glanced at Cygnus as she stepped over to the table and poured coffee for all of them. ‘She’s a great boss, but she’s really difficult to be professional with.’
‘Makes you call her Francesca when no one’s looking?’ Cygnus asked.
‘Things like that.’
Hart was smirking. She set her face into a more formal expression as she turned toward Miss Liberty. ‘Now then, Miss Liberty, obviously the current administration has a few concerns over a national hero we know more or less nothing about. You appear from nowhere, help at some emergency, and then vanish. We need to know more about you.’
‘Do you?’ Miss Liberty asked.
Hart gave a shrug. ‘Personally, no. I did say “the current administration” has a few concerns. That technically includes me, but Francesca Hart is perfectly happy for you to do what you’ve been doing. The military and the UID are up in arms. They couldn’t really control Captain Freedom, but they knew who he was, what size socks he wore, and they thought they knew his personality down to the last detail.’
Cygnus let out a little gasp. ‘That’s why he went to the debate I was there for and none of the others. If I was there to jam your abilities, he was safe. Without me, you’d probably have seen there was something wrong with him.’
Hart’s professional demeanour slipped and she grinned. ‘That thought occurred to me after your girlfriend “unmasked” him on national TV. He was a lot more sneaky than people gave him credit for, and they’re giving him plenty of credit on that front. Anyway, the UID had him on the end of a phone if they needed him. Same with the armed forces. They’re getting uppity about not having the same arrangement.’
‘I’m not that kind of hero,’ Miss Liberty replied. ‘I’m here for the American people, not its agencies and institutions. I’m not going to sit around waiting for a red phone to ring so I can rush out to some emergency someone else has decided I need to be there for. I’m not going to turn out to “guard” you at some event because you need your public image bolstering. I decide my priorities. Not the government.’
‘A lot of people in this place think that the government and the people are the same thing.’
‘They’re wrong.’
Hart smiled. ‘Just remember to be that direct when some reporter gives you Hell about it.’ The president sighed and sipped her coffee. ‘It does present some issues I can understand. It would be useful to have some means of contacting you. Red telephones are out, obviously.’
‘I have a suggestion which might help,’ Cygnus said.
‘Oh?’
‘We need Miss Liberty registered under the SPA. Once that’s done, she can have UltraNet access. If I talk nicely to Hugh, he’ll set up an account independent of the US government, so they won’t be able to pull access. Anyone would be able to contact you, Miss Liberty, but you have control over which communications you pay attention to and act upon. Twilight, for example, barely pays any attention to her account, though our computer does let her know if anything important comes up.’
‘Mm,’ Hart said, ‘and registering gets around little issues like what happened last night. Yes, I did hear about it.’
Miss Liberty blushed. ‘If I hadn’t intervened, the shopkeeper would have died. I… I hadn’t considered the legal implications.’
‘That’s what I thought. If the criminal in question was my client, he’d walk, but I think we’ll be okay with this case.’ Hart pursed her lips thoughtfully and then nodded. ‘We’ll get someone in here to take the photographs and I’ll have someone put the paperwork through. Delphine, would you call… someone. Tell them we need photographs taken for an SPA registration.’ Nodding, Delphine stepped over to the desk and picked up the phone. ‘Cygnus, if you would arrange for that UltraNet account, I’m sure that will save time all around.’
‘I’ll contact Hugh this afternoon. Uh, if you come back with me, Miss Liberty, he can probably give you the necessary details there and then.’
‘I, uh, don’t want to be a trouble to someone like Doctor Ultimate,’ Miss Liberty said.
Cygnus grinned. ‘I think he’d probably like to say hello anyway. To be honest, he’d probably like to get you in his cosmic energy scanner, but I doubt you can go outside the country without losing your powers.’
‘Well, I haven’t tried, but that’s how it usually works, right?’
‘Lady Britannia can go anywhere the British Empire once ruled,’ Hart said, ‘but that’s the British for you.’
‘She’s weaker away from home soil,’ Cygnus said. ‘She’s also the only national hero able to leave her homeland.’
‘But enough politics,’ Hart said, smiling. She settled back on her seat and crossed her legs. ‘I’d like to know more about Miss Liberty. You’ve got some pretty good psychic defences. I can’t get a read off you at all, so I’m going to have to do it the old-fashioned way. Just what is Miss Liberty here to do?’
‘Well… to help.’
‘One-word answers will not do. Expand upon your statement.’
Cygnus grinned. ‘You can tell she’s a lawyer.’
Hart grinned. ‘Always,’ she said.
San Francisco, CA, 10th March.
‘So, how are things in the UID?’ Damian said into his phone. Once a week, though there was nothing to report, the UID expected a conversation between him and Silvia Horton. The UID agent found it as useless as D
amian did, but she was expected to write a note for the UID case file. The Helen Parks case was still open, even though they were both sure they would never find her, so there was the weekly call.
‘Oh, everyone’s updating their CVs and quietly browsing job sites,’ Horton replied.
‘You’re all convinced you’ll be kicked out when this reorganisation happens?’
‘Big scandal over corruption at this office. Okay, so everyone left here was cleared, but mud sticks. Some of them aren’t planning to wait for the axe to fall.’
‘You?’
‘I’m waiting for the axe, though… Well, federal law enforcement has lost some of its glamour for me. It’s looking like local forces will need to take on Ultra cases. I was wondering whether the SFPD might take me on.’
‘I have no idea. Honestly. I know Captain Hermann has been asked to put together a report on what would be needed for our division to handle Ultra cases, because she grilled me about the ones I’ve worked. I also know that until they produce the legislation, we won’t know what’s needed. It may all go to the FBI.’
‘Thought here is that it won’t,’ Horton said. ‘It’ll go back to being like it was before the UID. The FBI will be available for consultancy. They’ll be the “centre of excellence.” They’ll handle federal crimes, of course, but general Ultrahuman criminality will be a local problem. Why scrap the overarching federal agency just to replace it with another one? That’s the thinking.’
‘Huh. City government isn’t going to like the increase in expenditure. Hey, would you mind providing me with the benefits of your extensive knowledge of Ultrahuman crime?’
Horton giggled. ‘Of course not. It’s actually what we’re here for. Part of it anyway.’
‘Okay, I am not saying that this was any such thing. I’m not even saying there’s a crime involved.’
‘Okay. Cryptic, but okay.’
‘Yeah, well… One of Bianca’s employees died recently. Apparently a heart attack, confirmed by the autopsy. What they can’t find is a reason for the heart attack. Plus, the guy was happily married, but he was found in a hotel room which was booked by what the hotel staff describe as a “very pneumatic young woman.”’
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