by Brian Moon
Chapter 14: Watching the weather.
“Come in General” Came Lord Nemesis’ voice muffled by the solid oak door that led to his private study. Lukas had only been in here a handful of times, but noticed the new wall addition at once. Three walls of the study had floor to ceiling bookshelves. The normal types of books on literature and education had long since been replaced by personal journals. Lord Nemesis was a stickler for documenting everything that transpired in his day. Nothing was trivial to the man and it was all written down on one of these pages. He even had his own card filing system that would be the envy of any library, referencing everything to everything else. The man’s entire life, every thought, every conversation was written here. The difference was that the shelves along the left-hand wall were now empty and mounted across the middle of them was a series of cork boards. On the boards were a more detailed listing of each hero and the powers they have shown. Newspaper articles and even a rare photograph or two were posted on the board.
“Did you have to move your journals to make room for them?” Lukas asked standing in front of Lord Nemesis’ desk. Nemesis waved his off hand in a gesture to take a seat while he finished writing.
“There, now I can set that aside for another day.” He said putting his fountain pen down. “You really should document your life, you never know what will or won’t be important to remember later on and you can’t always trust your brain to find the information you need.”
“So you keep telling me sir, but with the reports I write and send all day, the thought of doing it after hours doesn’t appeal to me.”
Lord Nemesis smiled, they have had this conversation three times before and it was always the same. “No I have found a way to make better use of my books. Have a look at this.” He said as the lifted a brass disk off his desk and handed it to Lukas. It was roughly six inches in diameter and resembled a gramophone album. “That, good General, is one entire journal. I’m having all of them converted to these and then placed into the multiple disk reader. I can find anything and everything I have ever learned. Not only my journals but anything else I have ever read from. When all of this is done…” he gestured to the room around him, “and placed into the core reader, I will have this knowledge forever and I will be able to access it as quickly as I can make my request. Almost as fast as a person thinks, in theory anyway.” His expression turned somber before he continued. “You see my young friend, my mind is not as fast as it once was. It doesn’t pull the information I need fast enough any more. I can not complain at my age, most men are sitting in rocking chairs and need someone to change their bedpans. Still, my mind has and always will be my greatest weapon. I can not afford to lose it or what is inside of it.”
“And just how will you access the information? Will it just play it back to you, like those that play music?” Lord Nemesis just smiled his eyes bright.
“aaah! That my friend is the right question.”
Lukas hated that answer. It meant that he was on the right track to finding an answer, but Nemesis wasn’t about to give it to him. Lord Nemesis pushed his seat back and pulled out a tattered old green journal and placed in front of Lukas. “Go ahead and open it. Any idea what you hold in your hands?”
Lukas opened that book and leafed through the pages. The letters were English, but the words made no sense. “Not one sir, I’m guessing it’s in a code you developed.”
“Very good, it is indeed. But what does the code hide?” a sly grin crossed his face.
“That I’m sure it will be one of the mysteries of the ages sir… It will rank right up there with the Sphinx.”
“That may be,” he chuckled “but I will give you the short of it. This, my friend, is THE book. Every plan, every contingency, everything I have and ever hoped to achieve is written in these pages. From time to time I’ve had to make adjustments, but always for the same goal. A world without war, without crime, unified as one to take human kind as far as the cosmos will let us. Mankind will be great, even if we must weather the growing pains and tantrums. These,” he said gesturing his had to the cork board “are just the latest development as to how man can change suddenly.”
Lukas flipped through the pages with great reverence, this was like touching the very first Bible. He gently closed it and placed it back on the desk.
Lord Nemesis watched him for a moment, waiting. “So we come to the reason for our urgent meeting then?”
“Yes sir, there is a new development that I need to talk to you about. It would seem Chasseur Anthony Krichbaum took upon himself to eliminate The Kings leadership.”
“Krichbaum… mountain of a man, brown hair, a hearty laugh?”
“Yes sir, that’s him.”
“I applaud his ambition. So which is it? Did he succeed or fail?” Lord Nemesis looked on with amused anticipation as he waited for the answer.
“I don’t think he got the chance to try sir. We found the building top he had chosen to shoot from.”
“I see… did he have his sniper rifle with him?”
“Yes sir, and we have adjusted the rules to prevent such ambition from happening again.”
“Good to hear. How far out would his shot have been?”
“It was a good kilometer and a half sir. He took a high elevation and a clear line of sight.”
“Really? Do you think he could have done it?” Nemesis asked slightly excited.
“Yes sir, I believe he would have.”
“So what do you deduce happened to him?”
Lukas pulled out a set of pictures taken of both the roof top and the abandoned warehouse. “I think before he could set up his shot, another “hero” attacked him.”
“Really? What am I looking at in these pictures?”
“We think there are two types of damage to be looked at. Those are of what we put into electrical damage.” The images showed blacked scoring along metal all round the loading dock door and some of the higher beams inside.
“You don’t think it was Vambrace do you? His design indicates the possibility of electrical discharge.” It was more of a statement than a question. “And what are these of?”
“Those sir, are want we think is wind damage. Over all we think something or someone generated a massive gust of wind to knock Kirchbaum into a brick wall on the roof. What you’re seeing is the tarpaper being ripped and pushed together… Like a floor runner all pushed to one end of the hallway. These show electrical strikes and a twisting wind motion appear to be more like a compact tornado.” Lukas told it as straightforward as he could, just keeping to the facts, as they are known. “We also found multiple dents in metal shipping containers near the door, they indicate something the size of my fist hit them, but it was a very random pattern.”
“In keeping with you description, I would say it was probably hail.” Nemesis said speculatively.
“Awfully big hail… That would hurt if you didn’t have a helmet on.”
“And that my good General is what makes it an excellent weapon. You can’t fight an opponent in front of you, if you’re too busy looking upward. So I will agree with you that it sounds like we have another hero in Paragon City. They just seem to be flocking to us don’t they? So what should we name this one until we hear what they are calling themselves… Stormy?” He smiled at his quip but Lukas didn’t return his humor.
“There’s more to this sir. Krichbaum, his rifle, and his uniform haven’t been seen since that happened.” Lukas said. Lord Nemesis’ mood changed abruptly, his eyes seemed to blaze.
“You mean to tell me he took his uniform with him? It’s bad enough he had his rifle, that can be explained away, even laughed at by the novice observer… but his uniform? So do you think this hero has him?”
“I don’t know sir, it could be him, or it could be that the Kings found him. In either case, I’m doing everything we can to locate him.”
“If you find him alive General, bring him to me… if he is dead, then he got off easy.” Lord Nemesis took up his f
ountain pen and checked the ink level and started writing again. He looked up when General Eisenberg hadn’t taken the clue to depart.
“Yes general?”
“One last thing sir. Even though Chasseur Krichbaum fouled this up, he did one thing right. Based on his research and using his notes, we know who the leaders of The Kings are, and where they like to hide out.” Lukas knew this news wouldn’t offset the problems, but it was a bright point to all of this.
“Did he now? Leave that with me, I will look it over shortly and determine how best to proceed. Thank you again General.” Nemesis moved the papers to one side of his desk and then looked up. Again General Eisenberg had failed to leave on cue.
“Yes general? Is there some reason you refuse to leave tonight?” There was a hint of humor in his question.
“Yes sir, but totally unrelated, but I promised to tell you.”
“Tell me what general, I don’t think I can take much more tonight.”
“Helena made me promise to tell you she will be making your favorite glazed ham on Sunday and you are expected to be there for dinner at two. Her words sir, not mine.”
“Lukas, what I don’t understand is this. I find her a husband and a home to make her own… and still I have to do as she demands… why is this?”
“Well sir, if it makes you feel any better I understand how you feel. All I can say is she shares the same ancestry as you. It must be something passed down generation to generation. I will tell her you will be there at two. Good night sir.” With that Lukas stood, bowed slightly to Lord Nemesis and then walked out of the room. He smiled to himself thinking about the blond beauty waiting for him.