by S. J. Delos
I turned back around just as Mechanika finished rushing through the space between us, bringing my arms up into a cross-block over my mid-section. However, her fist went high to strike me across the left cheekbone instead. A series of frightening stars danced around my vision as the impact sent the throbbing in my head screaming to eleven, spinning me around and down onto one knee.
She raised one of her arms, and a miniature energy cannon popped up from the top of it, business end pointed in my direction. Without a moment’s hesitation, I blasted into the air as an ionic beam ripped through right where I’d been kneeling. The crackling discharge still came close enough to make the hair on my body stand on end. The tangy stench of ozone tickled my nose.
The sudden upward inertia sent a massive case of vertigo rolling through me. I instinctively shifted to hovering before I threw up, allowing Mechanika’s second shot to catch me in the right shoulder. The resulting explosion knocked me out of the sky. I crashed down into the top of a large air conditioning unit, creating a Karen-sized dent in the metal with my back.
Mechanically-augmented fingers grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling me off the damaged AC unit to fling me sideways into the side of another one. I bounced off, sliding down to the gravel and concrete surface. I shook my head back and forth to try to clear away the buzzing.
The armored woman stalked toward me, her faceplate opening again. “I’m really disappointed, Kayo. You put up a hell of a lot more of a fight back in Charlotte. What’s a girl got to do to get a halfway decent battle out of you? Shoot an antimatter missile into the Sears Tower?” Mechanika raised her other arm in the direction of the iconic skyscraper, sighting down the length before lowering it. “Nah, that’ll just send you racing off to save the day.” She held up a gleaming fist. “I want to see which is the toughest: my suit or your powers.”
“Careful what you wish for, bitch.” I got to my feet again, balling my hands into fists. “Because you just might get it.”
I hoped I wasn’t swaying so much that it undermined the bravado. The dual effects of Martin’s screwed up chip coupled with the horrendous feedback of the Delta Inducer’s death scream were still knocking me around between my ears.
I needed to do a better job of getting back on the clock, or else Robo-babe was going to hand my ass to me.
She feinted to the left, then lashed out with her right fist, swinging it around in a haymaker punch that probably would have put a hole in titanium. Fortunately, I let my legs go limp right before impact, landing on my barely-covered ass as her hand sailed harmlessly above me.
Lashing out before she could recover from the failed attack, I slammed the heel of my hand against the inside of one of her knees. The armor plating around the joint dented, and the piercing scream that followed a second later told me that I had hit pay-dirt. Mechanika might have increased the suit’s strength, speed, and durability since our last encounter, but she hadn’t been able to reinforce the joints.
Not unless she wanted to be robbed of her superior mobility.
I leapt back to my feet as she took a single staggered step to the right. Then she whirled around with another vicious roundhouse punch which I managed to block with my forearm. The blow still hurt like holy hell, though, and I retaliated by smashing the inside of her elbow with a power punch of my own.
She screamed again and pulled her arm back, stumbling away from me.
A surge of confidence blossomed in my chest. I charged at Mechanika, sending a full-power jab at her right shoulder. Somehow, she managed to turn ever so slightly just as I made contact, causing the blow to glance off the armor without injuring her. As I stumbled past her—off balance and wide open—I decided that going airborne was a preferable alternative to falling over on my face.
I put out my arms, pushing off the rooftop at a shallow angle. Mechanika must have anticipated my move because she wrapped her armored fingers around my ankle before I could get more than a few feet away. A second hand grabbed my other leg. The next thing I knew, I was getting slammed repeatedly on the concrete and gravel surface like some like some fucked up game of Whack-a-Mole.
Each time I came down, the reinforced roof cracked a little bit more, and the pain associated with getting used like an over-sized hammer began to increase in small—but noticeable—increments. After about the tenth or eleventh slam, she swung me around in a half circle, hurling me into the same unit I had landed on previously.
This time, I wasn’t able to get back up fast enough before Mechanika rushed over to grab me around the throat with both hands, squeezing. I tried to cough but the power behind her fingers was enough to almost completely close off my airway, keeping the action stuck in my throat.
“You might be indestructible, Kayo. But you still have to breathe.”
I slapped my hand against the side of her armor, but the increasing need for oxygen was sapping my strength. I hadn’t managed to get a good breath in before she started choking me, and the burning in my lungs warned me that, unless things changed soon, I was going to pass out.
Her faceplate slid open, revealing her smiling face. “Funny thing? When there’s all this talk about how tough some of you heroes are, they always find some way to mention one of the few things that can actually hurt you. Like, for example, suffocating.”
She released one of her hands from around my throat, pulling back her arm. An impossibly slender blade slid out of a hidden sheath on her forearm. The pointed tip gleamed mercilessly only a few inches from my right eye.
The fingers of Mechanika’s other hand tightened around my neck. “Or an Atomic Blade.” She laughed as black spots danced in my vision, and the migraine decided to have an encore. “Do you know it took me almost a year to forge one this long?” She nodded at the rapier-thin weapon. “The damned polymers kept snapping on me every time it got to be more than a few inches in length. The whole time, though, I kept imagining the day I would get to use it on a Class Six. I figured it would be either you or Colossal.” Mechanika poked the point into my cheek, igniting a lance of fire. “Guess who gets to be the lucky one.”
I pushed my gaze away from her face to look past her, blinking a few times until enough brain power materialized to decipher what I was seeing. Then I glanced back at Mechanika, forcing a smile onto my face.
“Not you,” I croaked, pushing the words through my constricted throat. “Your luck … has just run out.”
She cast me a dubious glance, narrowing her eyes. “How so?”
“Remember… when I… smashed… the Delta Inducer?” I glanced over her left shoulder again.
Mechanika turned her head to look behind her. The grip on my neck instantly loosened.
Hovering in the air behind her, with his arms crossed over his barrel chest, was Major Freedom. Silver Scarab, Captain Awesome, and about five other heroes were with him. All of them wore expressions that seemed to say that if the armored villain wanted to resist, they would be more than happy to oblige.
Hank pointed at her. “Release Kayo this instant, and get down on your knees with your hands on the back of your head.” His voice rang out with a tone of unyielding authority.
“Or not. Then we’ll see what happens,” added Scarab as she shifted into her metal mode.
As Mechanika stared at the assembled group in front of her, I grabbed the hand at my throat, peeling the fingers away from my neck. The servos in her glove howled in protest, and the woman gave a gasp of pain.
Standing up, I drew in several deep breaths, then tightened my grip on her captured arm, twisting it around to behind her back.
“Mechanika,” I said as I knocked on the top of her helmet with my free hand. “You’re under arrest.”
The scene downstairs was like something out of a crime drama. Or a horror novel.
Normally, heroes don’t stick around after a fight. Not unless there is still a danger to civilians. As a rule, we are usually gone before the emergency crews and law enforcement do their thing. Otherwise, they tend to scowl a
nd complain that we’re just in the way.
The ballroom was a flurry of activity when I stepped back through the doors with Richard and Hank. Several black-suited EAPF agents swarmed around, taking photos and entering data into the tablets in their hands. Some of them glanced up as the three of us entered, looking at us with confused expressions before looking at each other.
There were also a half-dozen representatives from the Cook County Coroner’s office who were in the middle of processing the bodies of the dead heroes so they could be removed from the crime scene. The sight of those black bags being wheeled out of the ballroom made my stomach turn with disgust, sadness, and anger.
I spotted Kurt talking to Laser Lord, and it took me a second to remember that he was Hyper-Sonica’s latest ex-husband. From the uncomfortable look on Kurt’s face, I realized that he must have had the displeasure of informing the hero of her demise. He glanced over in my direction, nodded, then went back to his job.
Hank broke off from Richard and I to walk over to the nearest agent, a Sergeant according to the stripes on his shoulder. He gestured toward the ceiling several times as he spoke, the agent nodding in response. Then the lawman turned to a pair of junior-grade associates, ordering them to call in a prisoner transport vehicle.
We’d left the trio of Nightfall’s flunkies in the hands of Scarab, Amazing Man, and Corporal Marvel. Coerce and Transport were fitted with Delta Inducer headbands, sleeping soundly the last time I saw them. I’ll admit, their peaceful faces gave me the creeps, considering what I witnessed less than an hour earlier.
Mechanika, as it turned out, was not an Enhanced. Her ability to control the sophisticated armor stemmed from plain, old-fashioned hard work. Scarab, with Contriver’s help, located and deactivated the armor’s power source. Without juice, the high-tech suit became nothing more than a metal prison for the woman inside it.
Kurt walked up to me just as Hank returned.
“The sooner as we get those three into lockup,” Hank said, crossing his arms over his chest, “the sooner we’ll get some answers as to who was behind this.”
“I told you upstairs. It was Nightfall.” I stared him in the eye. “Senator Gordon.”
Hank shook his head. “I’m not buying it.”
“It’s true, Major” Kurt added as he held up his phone. “I have the evidence right here.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. I’ve known Simon for over twenty years. We’ve worked together ever since Activation Day.” He looked from me to Richard. “There has to be some other explanation.”
Richard sighed. “Hank, I’m going to have to go with Kayo and Detective Braddock on this. If they say that Nightfall is Senator Gordon, then I believe them.”
Kurt frowned. “I’m going to ask the FBI to bring him in for questioning. He’s not Enhanced, so he’s out of the EAPF’s jurisdiction. Besides, I don’t think anyone at the agency other than me would be willing to take the collar.”
Hank’s lips pressed together in a hard line. He looked at each of the three of us in turn before his eyes settled on me.
“If you’re going to continue to pursue this ridiculous notion, I think it would be best if you didn’t come back to the Tower this evening. As I told you earlier, Senator Gordon is a close friend of the Brigade. Unless you have completely irrefutable proof of your claims …”
I blinked a few times, glancing over at Kurt and Richard. Then I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s fine with me.” I looked at Richard. “Would you mind swinging by the Freedom Tower tomorrow to get my stuff?” I turned back to Hank. “Think Hannah would mind putting my stuff in my suitcase for Richard to pick up?”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. I’ll have her do it first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Great.” I linked my arm through Kurt’s. “Thank you for the hospitality, Major Freedom. See you around.” I turned around to walk toward the ballroom’s exit, practically dragging Kurt with me.
Outside in the hallway, I let go of his arm. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t going to stand there and be looked at like a… criminal for another second. Otherwise, I was going to punch him.”
“It’s okay, Karen. He’s just having a hard time believing that he was duped for so long. He’ll come around once he realizes that we are right about his ‘friend’.” He gave me a light kiss on the lips. “I have to stay a bit longer, Karen. There’s so much shit to sort through.” He sighed, running ran his fingers through his hair. “We got some victims with plasma wounds. Two that appear to have been suffocated with some kind of goddamned quick-drying cement shit. One of those two motherfuckers you took out earlier stabbed Astro-Centurion through the heart.”
I growled. “I should have done more than just knock their heads in.”
“Well, the CPD has them now. They’re going to be looking at some serious time in a Federal prison.” He leaned down to look me in the eye. “You going to be okay?”
“I don’t know, Kurt. Right now, I’m hurt and angry. I think… I think I’m just going to go home.”
He nodded. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. I’ll call you tomorrow when I get back, okay?”
“Yeah. I would like that.” I forced a smile onto my face. Then I walked away without looking back.
Flying back to Charlotte took a little over an hour. When I landed on the roof of the Paulus Building, the heavy weight of the evening’s events slammed into me. I went downstairs, straight to Alexis’ room. Richard must have called ahead to tell the team what had happened because the moment after I knocked on her door, the teen opened it. She looked up at me with wet eyes and damp cheeks.
She grabbed my hand, pulled me into her room, and sat down on the bed. I took up a spot beside her, leaning on her shoulder. She put her arm around me, and we sat there in silence for several hours, silently crying together.
CHAPTER 34:
AFTERMATH
Four days later, I stood in front of the jumbo screen in the living room, my hands clenched into tight balls. There before me, twice as large as life, was Nightfall. He stood behind a podium located in some D.C. office, the flashbulbs of the gathered pressed blinking off the glossy wood.
“… this terrible tragedy,” the villain said, turning his eyes toward the camera. It felt as if he were standing over me in the Max again. “However, I will stress, once again, that the reports naming me the perpetrator of this horrible crime are erroneous. It is a simple mistake. One that I suspect will be corrected shortly. The real criminal will be brought to justice. I promise you that. Thank you and good day.”
The voices of reporters trying to talk over one another drowned out any other sound as Senator Gordon gave a little wave and left the stage. The image instantly cut back to the national news anchor.
“That was Senator Simon Gordon of Illinois, Chairman of the Senate Enhanced Activities Committee responding to accusations that he is actually the super-villain known as Nightfall. Nightfall is considered the chief suspect in the events that took place just a few short days ago during the Heroes’ Ball.”
“You have got to be shitting me!” I screamed. “Seriously?!”
“Karen…” Greg said as he muted the sound, turning to look at me.
I jabbed my finger at the giant television screen and glared at him. “Are you telling me that… that son of a bitch is going to get away with killing a bunch of heroes and causing a catastrophe across the entire Chicagoland metropolis?”
“He’s got an alibi,” Richard added, shaking his head. When I opened my mouth, he held up his hand. “Yes, both you and Detective Braddock have stated that it was Senator Gordon who orchestrated the incident. But he claims he left the party before the attack happened, and that it was a shape-shifter impersonating him.” The Good Guys’ leader sighed. “Plus, he’s got nearly a hundred witnesses that swear he exited the hotel before any Enhanced fell unconscious.”
“Un-fucking-believable,” I snorted. “The metamorph was the one putting in an appearance downstairs while the real
criminal was on the roof plotting the ruination of the world’s heroes.”
“Karen,” Greg said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “We believe you. If you say Senator Gordon is Nightfall, then that’s good enough for us. The question now is what do we do?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you were the one who put in her report Senator Gordon was responsible for the trouble at the Ball. Now that it’s possible that it wasn’t him, at least in the public’s eye, his people are going to be looking for not only a redaction of the accusation, but a public apology.”
I blinked several times, then shook my head violently from side to side.
“No way. Nope. Not happening. That fucker is Nightfall. I know it. Kurt knows it. And that,” I stabbed my finger at the screen again, “That piece of shit knows it.”
“But we can’t prove it, Karen,” Richard said. “Without any real proof of your claim, we’re dead in the water.”
“But…”
Greg shook his head. “Karen, think about what you’re saying. Senator Gordon is not only a very powerful man in Washington circles, he is also extremely well-loved by the Enhanced community. I mean, this is a Norm who has stuck his neck out time and time again, since Activation Day, to help the Enhanced. Unless you have iron-clad proof he is actually Nightfall, I’m afraid you’re going to have to amend your report.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “If I don’t?”
Richard frowned. “Then Greg or I will have to make the apology. Chances are that you could be de-sanctioned. You wouldn’t be sent back to prison; your pardon would keep that from happening. But if you try being an unsanctioned hero, you’ll be labeled a vigilante, subject to arrest.”
“That’s bullshit,” I spat. “Either I make kissy-face with Senator Shitheel, or I’m kicked off the team?”
“Karen,” Greg said. “It’s all we can do right now. We’ll get Nightfall eventually. Now that we know who he is.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to wait for him to hang himself. That asshole needs to pay for what he’s done.”