by Brian Moon
Chapter 26: End of the tale
The three men sat in their chairs, while Lukas took a drink form his iced tea. Letting everything sink into the brains of the two men in front of him. He gave them credit for not interrupting him constantly with questions. So now he waited for them to respond. He always thought remembering the events of those years would be painful, but it wasn’t too bad. Some of his happiest days with Helena had started back then so he had enjoyed parts of his trip down memory lane. If he had told his story just right they would not notice those things he omitted in the telling. Some personal, some important, but in the end they would piece together a truth that best fit their beliefs. Even if they noticed the gaps or inconstancies in the story, they would just write it off to an old forgetful man at the end of his days. So they would connect the dots together into a nice neat picture that answered their questions. Every man did this to some extent or another, he just hoped they formulated the ideas he wanted them to do. The next questions would tell him if he was successful or not. He set his glass down, his hands shaking and he looked at both men in their eyes as they pondered their next questions. The one called Max looked down to his note pad. “A smart man keeps his notes in order.” Lukas smiled at the thought. Now days he didn’t even have to write them down, he just spoke into that blasted computer and it did it for him.
“So…” began Max, “all these things in history were his doing?”
Lukas gave a wheezing chuckle. “It would not be fair to blame him for all the evil in the world. There are plenty of others that can share in it. Let us just say he did what he needed to bring about his goals for world unity and peace.”
“Starting World War II was his way to bring about peace? How can you say that after all the horrors Hitler did?”
“You missed the point, Nemesis did not orchestrate the war, and he merely gave the right people a push in the right direction. He only wanted the distraction of world’s time and resources while he furthered his plan. The fact that Japan started their own war was something no one could have foreseen. Nor was the fact that Adolph was mentally unstable, he did put up a good front before it began. I’m sure Nemesis would have dealt with him long before the genocide happened. Lord Nemesis wasn’t a cruel person, human life meant a great deal to him. Stubborn, head strong and sometimes ruthless, but never cruel and never did he attack the innocent or helpless. We can argue the ethics of historical events and the motives that drove them for years. That is a luxury that I don’t have.”
“So you went into hiding under your real name, why didn’t anyone figure it out?”
“The world was already in a pit when World War II broke out, I was easily overlooked when they figured I had been killed when the building collapsed. Science back then was nothing like you see on the television now days, many things went undiscovered and stayed that way.”
“How did his, what did you call it? His automatronic? How did that work? What gave it the ability to act on its own?” Anton asked.
“I have never understood those types of things. It took me three years to set up my own e-mail account, I wouldn’t begin to speculate how that thing worked.”
“So you found him dead and the mechanical man gone. Did he program it? Did it have its own computer?”
Lukas laughed, “Gentlemen, read your history. The first computers filled rooms just to do basic math. How absurd is it to think he had that capability. He may have dreamt about it, but how would he have created a microchip back then? I am sure it was like the jaegers, simply friend or foe, attack or standby, nothing more.”
“So you don’t think this thing that others have seen, even just recently is the real Lord Nemesis?”
“It’s not a matter of thinking, I know. I found his body dead that day, I laid it on his bed to rest in peace when those alarms sounded. I can only hope to go in my sleep when the time comes.” He let his eyes wander around the room over pictures and portraits of loved ones, some now long lost.
“Did you talk to Lord Nemesis after you fled Paragon City?” Max asked quickly trying to trip him up.
“I was thankful to be alive, to be free, and to have a wife and soon to be son that adored me. I saw no good reason to hold a seance to contact my wife’s dead relative. My life played out very nicely if I do say so myself. I walked away from Paragon City and did not look back.”
“What happened to Colonel Tomain?”
“He was killed in that tornado attack of Elementar’s. I understand close to five hundred good men died in that one attack. I don’t seem to recall that ever being mentioned in the history books. Did you know the framework of that mighty Atlas statue was formed from the metal of those twenty thousand jaegers? It was a mistake, that whole battle was a mistake. How could anyone know the powers those first five truly contained. There was no registration for powers… no one trained… it was only by trial and error that they discovered their true potential. Unfortunately Lord Nemesis was both the trial and error for them. Against that unknown, the odds were never in our favor and many good men died that day. I hear that some of the ones affected by Dark Watcher never recovered. They lived out their days in mental wards surrounded by their own nightmares. Powers like that should never be allowed. I know… I know…” he waved off their protests.
“Mr. Eisenberg, do you know what happened to Nemesis’ library? You mentioned he wrote everything down, do you know if his library survived?”
“I’m afraid it was lost in the rubble and fire of that explosion. At least no one said otherwise.”
“So all of his books are gone? What a waste.”
“It is a waste but not all of his books are gone. Lord Nemesis died writing in his planning journal. It laid limply by his side, so I took it to prevent others from getting their hands on his life’s work.”
“You took it?” Anton’s eyes lit up. “Do you know where it is, can we look at it?” He said excitedly. Lukas noticed both men now sat on the edge of their seats.
“Yes I still have it, and I see no reason not to show you. After all the plans in it where written a life time ago, I doubt you could use them for your own plans of world domination.” Lukas pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed his walker. His spine cracked as he stretched his old frame. He moved to the bookshelf and started taking down several books to reveal a hidden door. He opened the door and took out a well-oiled satchel, the black leather gleamed in the light. He moved back to his chair and handed it to Max before sitting down again. “There it is gentleman. All that Lord Nemesis ever wanted to achieve, is in that case.”
Max undid the hasp and opened the top then pulled out a carefully wrapped journal. Taking off the wrapping bound in plastic was an old green journal. He let go of his breath that he didn’t know he was holding and removed the plastic wrap then opened the cover. The pages where old and had a brittle quality to them, but they didn’t tear or fall apart. Lukas watch the two men, their expressions where one of awe and wonder as they turned page after page, looking at the diagrams and sketches of inventions.
“Did you ever figure out his code?” Anton asked looking up.
“No I’m afraid I was never much for puzzles. Helena tried for awhile but had to admit defeat as well. I’m afraid it might remain a mystery forever.” Lukas said wistfully.
“Would you allow us to try to decipher it? We’d only scan it, then bring the book right back to you. We can even have a preservation expert look at it so it’ll last longer.” The eagerness in Anton’s voice was quite evident.
“Just what do you hope to find in those pages? Surely not some technology, time has out distanced Lord Nemesis on that point. Oh the marvels he could have made today…”
“Well sir, the plot we uncovered whether it was the real Nemesis or an imitation the threat was very real. If there is any way to find any other such plots we have to take that chance. These plans are like land mines and people get hurt when they go off. We want to prevent that.” Max explained.
“A noble cause, bu
t I think that you are headed down a rabbit trail and not the path to enlightenment. Still I see no reason for you not to attempt it. Keep it as long as you need to, I don’t see a need for it in my immediate future. Gentlemen I hope you will forgive me, but I am exhausted. I have not had company for so long, I need to rest.”
“No problem sir, we’re just grateful you took the time out to talk to us.” Anton said.
“Well I hope you found some insight to what you need. It was a pleasure meeting the both of you.”
Max and Anton thanked him again and collected their equipment and coats. They rung for the valet and waited for Rebecca escorted them back to the elevators. Lukas watched their backs as they talked excitedly to each other and smiled. It really did feel good to get most of that off of his chest. Even if the story was edited down. He was proud that he didn’t have to lie too much, just avoiding sections of the whole truth seemed to work well. He was very pleased with this meeting, but wished it had come twenty years sooner. Sometimes super heroes could be so thick in the head.
Epilogue: A New Life
Lukas waited for the confirmation call from the front gate that the green Ford Focus was off the grounds and heading out onto the highway. Only then did he give a sigh of relief. He had been waiting for this day for a long time. Standing up was such a pain, even with his walker, but he did what he had to do to walk into his bedroom. He closed the door and turned on satellite music radio. He found the station that played the hits from the forties and fifties and turned the volume just below polite conversation level. In the bedroom was a hidden safe, standard with all the units and he took from it a fire proof lock box. He sat down on his bed and opened it up. On top were his personal papers. His insurance information and funeral arrangements lay on top. Next was his stock portfolio, what little of it that was left. Most had been liquidated and moved to a special account to go to his only living relative. He took out an aged picture of Helena and himself, holding their baby boy, Luke Gerald Reese at his baptism. She looked beautiful as a young woman, but mother hood made her simply shine. He pulled out another picture taken just a few months ago at his one hundredth birthday party. It showed a beautiful young woman, the spitting image of his Helena, his great grand daughter Annabelle Reese. He had followed her adventures as only he could and was pleased she was finding her way in the world. He smiled knowing that she could take care of herself when everything looked their worst. She came from a very interesting family tree and he hoped she would enjoy reading about said family once he was gone. Setting these aside he pulled out a cell phone that was well cared for but never used. His shaking hands hit the # sign and then the number two and three together. He swore at his shaking hands and tried it again. This time just the # key and number two button where hit and held it up to his ear.
…”Hello?… Yes, I’ll hold but not too long my dear, I would hate for my obituary to read that I died while on hold.” He laughed at his joke.
“Yes…. Hello my old friend… I’m tired, oh so tired, and you?… I know but it’s only polite to ask. Surely you haven’t also given in to this rude age and given up politeness… I can only imagine… I just wanted to let you know they just left… yes, with the book… They were like little greedy children being presented with a chocolate cake… Oh I would imagine they’d have the whole thing scanned by the end of the week, if not by the end of the day… Indeed… By the way, thank you for letting them “discover” that scheme of yours, it led them right to me. I was afraid I was going to die before anyone figured the clues out… So what were you doing with the weather?… (laughing) Oh don’t give me that bull, I know the real reason you wanted to control the weather, and it had nothing to do with rockets… (laughing) oh yes I do and you can’t fool me… you know most people just fly south for the winter months… why not?… just a couple of old codgers relaxing down in the Keys… (laughing) Forget the margaritas, just give me the tequila… Yes, she really loved the south didn’t she… Yes, I’m ready… I’ve been ready since… well for years now… HA!… miss what food? I’ve been eating nasty tasting mush out of little jars for ten years now. I really don’t think I’ll miss eating all that much… now the wines and other whiskey are a different story… True, it is best I never taste those again… Helena would be please to know I’m not… So, I’ll be getting a new model, not like that massive thing you have, right?… No massive is good on you… you have a larger than life personality… HA! Well, I don’t know… that Iron Man look is pretty nice, it has that Italian sports car feel… (laughing) Who would take me serious if I looked like him? All dark and menacing, sounding like I’m having an asthma attack… Well maybe at that Hero Con thing… (laughing)… Yes old friend, I can’t wait to come back home either… I’ll be waiting for them… I will want to stop by the cemetery before I do… yes… yes… Well with a new body will come new hope, eh?… Until then my old friend, and thank you for this opportunity… Goodbye.”
Lukas hung up the phone and put it and all his other papers and photos away in the box and locked it safely away in his safe. He picked up the bedside phone and dialed the front desk, he felt like visiting with some friends one last time, before beginning his new life.
About the author and this book:
I have been playing City of Heroes since June, 1995. It was my first MMORPG and I was hooked. There have been some diversions with other games and beta testing, but I have always had this one to come back to. I have met a number of amazing players, some became real life friends. It was with the encouragement of one group of Role Players that I wrote my first fan fiction piece. Nothing more than an extended biography, but when it was completed they asked me what came next. I have since moved beyond fan fiction and recently completed my first fantasy novel, Griffin Rider.
This story was written for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNo WriMo) challenge. Every November there is a challenge to write a 50,000-word (un-edited)novel in thirty days. I chose to come back to City of Heroes, specifically in hopes of writing the story of Brass Monday. The original concept was to do this from the Freedom Phalanx point of view, the rise of the super heroes against the world’s first super villain… It didn’t work out that way. There just wasn’t enough information to do it from the Hero side. I scoured the forums, in game mission logs and clues, I even begged the developers for a glimpse into that what is only hinted at for physical descriptions and power sets of the original Freedom Phalanx, but found little.
With November quickly approaching, I had to scratch my first idea and fell back to my second plan. That was to take this story from the Villain’s POV but even that proved to be in a word, vague. Lord Nemesis is a very elusive character to track down. So I compromised by making the Heroes and Villain the secondary characters and created our main character Lukas Reese a.k.a. General Lukas Eisenberg.
I am a husband, father, gamer, and writer. I live in the foot hills of the Laurel Mountains in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
You can contact me at [email protected]
I look forward to discussions and comments.
Or find my other works at https://moonlyte.net
Thank you for reading.
Brian.
Griffin Rider: Book 1, The Inventor’s Tomb.
The wind whipped past Eliza, as she urged Raima on faster. The alarm had awoken her and her family with its distant blaring and although her father flatly told her to stay home, she flatly ignored him. It wasn’t like her to be disrespectful to her parents; on the contrary she was normally a very mindful of their instructions. Not so much out of duty, but out of love for them. This was different though; this was the one alarm no one wanted to hear… the raiders are attacking the village. Eliza knew beyond certainty that she of all the people, in this small part of the world, was the only one who could get the upper hand in this attack. As she cleared the hilltop she got her first look of the village below. The whole village seemed to be awake, and fires had broken out. The long wail of the steam powered siren drowned out an
y shouts that may have reached her. Breaking the lights and the flames were shadows of people running or chasing. And there above it all was the pirate’s airship. Not larger than the size of a sailing sloop one would see on the great lakes, it was suspended from above by two black orbs. Eliza could barely make out the connecting wires from the balloons to the ship below.
Eliza cringed at the thought of what she must do, she so desperately wanted to ride in one of the great airships, and to see the technologies on them. Not this one though.
“We need to get above them.” She yelled over the wind and pulled up on the straps to redirect Raima. His massive wings pumped harder as he banked in an upward climb to get above the menace in front of them. The sleek griffin’s flight path took them above and behind the balloons, moving faster than any airship could maneuver…
… They swung around for a second pass. Raima was picking up speed in his banking dive and was headed for the first balloon again. Eliza held on tightly and leaned forward, now looking like a race horse jockey. The griffin came down along side of the balloons and spiraled at the last second. Eliza’s saddle had been custom made for her by her best friend Aden and his dad. Her boots had built in pin rings that fit into a matching set along the saddle to the stirrups. A brass rod slid down between the rings and locked into place, holding her fast in the saddle. This was a good thing, because right now she was looking at open sky to one side, and ground to the other. The balloons jiggled as Raima skimmed the side and lashed out with beak and claw. Several smaller holes appeared, but more importantly one of the main cables snapped. As he completed the circle, leaving Eliza a tad queasy, she noticed people sliding down rope ladders and cables, abandoning ship. She would have smiled if she wasn’t busy turning green.
The front balloon was all but gone and the fore of the ship was now pointing straight down and falling quickly as the rear balloon lost its gases. Seconds before the ship crashed to the earth, there was a loud explosion of fire and steam amidships as the boiler erupted. The pillage of the town turned into a route of the attackers. With out their support from above and more importantly without a means to escape, the pirates’ thoughts of plunder turned to one of fleeing on foot. The only logical explanation as to the demise of their ship could only be that somehow the king’s men had been laying in wait for them. Eliza banked Raima towards home…