Gruefield 18 (Tarnished Sterling Omnibus)

by Robert McCarroll

  Part 32

  There were five of us in the conference room. It was built for twenty. Situated in the corner of the tower, it looked over much of the city and the rainbow river. I couldn't see Gruefield though. We were flipping through a roster of what most people would regard as C-list or D-list heroes looking for people who might be able to pitch in with Halite. Jack, Ixa and I were in costume. "Mister Townsend" and Torquespiral were in suits. Seeing them side-by-side, Neutrino looked younger, despite having thirty years on Torquespiral. I had sort of screwed up when I'd claimed the two were of the same generation at the Doolittle Club.

  "Photovolt," Torquespiral suggested, tossing a bio page towards the middle of the table.

  "He's not on active duty," Neutrino said.

  "Neither were you," the younger elder said.

  "And he's a bit unreliable."

  I stepped in. "We're taking me along, our standards for reliability are already pretty low." Neutrino raised an eyebrow. Jack looked a bit sheepish.

  "Don't mind him," Jack said, "He hasn't been sleeping well." Try at all. But then again, everyone here probably knew that already. I decided not to tell Jack he was an idiot again. It wasn't the right venue for our usual back and forth.

  "I don't get to veto team members at this point," Neutrino said.

  "Would you have vetoed me?" I asked. Neutrino looked me in the eye.

  "No," he said, then turned his attention back to the bio sheets. That's it, no explanation, no rationale for not omitting the least-capable class-three from the team. Just back to the business at hand.

  "I thought Omegaburn was in space," Jack said, holding up her sheet.

  "She is," Torquespiral said, taking the page from Jack and tucking it under his stack. "Everyone makes mistakes."

  "That farmer didn't like hearing that when you knocked over his silo," Neutrino said.

  "He got paid for the lost corn and got a brand new silo to boot." I wasn't sure if they were bantering or bickering. It could go either way.

  "What makes Photovolt unreliable?" I asked.

  "Doesn't have a spine," Neutrino said, "And is too easily distracted by a pretty face. He's happier where he is now anyway."

  "Is that a literal lack of bone?" Jack asked. In most cases, it would be a stupid question. With powered individuals, it wasn't as silly.

  "No," Neutrino said.

  "Can I get some advice?" I asked. "How do we restrain the demi-dragons without hurting them?"

  "Magic works best," Neutrino said. "Ixahau should be practicing the wards of binding. The hard part is getting them to stand still. Which means you'll have to subdue them first."

  "I guess my fists will get a workout," Jack said.

  "I still want to encourage Photovolt to move back into hero work," Torquespiral said. "We're effectively paying him hero rates to sit in a lab all day."

  "Kid almost got friends of mine killed because he was off chasing tail," Neutrino said, picking up the bio sheet and ripping it into squares. "I'm not giving a screw-up like that another chance."

  "This isn't your mission," Ixa said. Neutrino's glare looked like it would cut her in half. "We asked for backup, not for you to take over."

  "Who's better qualified?"

  "How does anyone get qualified when you horn in on the job?" I asked. The elder hero's eyes bored into me. "How old does someone have to be to stop being a kid to you? According to this," I picked up one of the squares, "Photovolt is twenty-six. Is Astroborn still a kid to you? Torquespiral? Do you honestly think we're that incapable of doing our jobs, or are you terrified of slipping into irrelevance?" A long silence filled the air. The tension was like a steel cable stressed beyond its limit, just waiting for the first strand to pop. Neutrino rose slowly and floated out of the room.

  "That was a bit harsh," Torquespiral said. I had to agree with him, but something in the back of my mind was egging me on, prodding that primal self-righteousness I tried to keep locked up. Analytical me suspected little Uth-sk. Going this long without sleep was unnatural. Even if I didn't feel impaired, it had to be having an effect on me.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I'll apologize when I can, but I'm not sure I'll be able to catch him." Drifting through the ceiling did that. Torquespiral sighed and nodded knowingly. "Perhaps I should hand over leadership of the team if I'm not able to hold my tongue."

  "I'm not taking it," Ixa said. "I voted for you, remember?"

  "Now would not be the best time," Torquespiral said. "If the problem persists, or worsens, we can talk about it."

  "Soo..." Jack said. "Photovolt?"

  "I'll ask him," Torquespiral said, "See what he says."

  I rubbed my eye and wished again for sleep to return to me.

  Photovolt said no. I couldn't really blame him. Why give up the safety of a lab to go charging into a nest of dragon cultists and their genetic experiments? Because that was what heroes did. I could see why Neutrino thought he was spineless. On the other hand, Icerazor, Nora and Ben did a superb job of scouting out the mine. They came back with photographs, maps, and guard timetables. Halite was located where the ground started to flatten out, past where the trees became rare. It was the near edge of the Great Plains. Not a heck of a lot of cover for an approach.

  "Is Neutrino coming?" Nora asked.

  "I sort of pissed him off. We have Astroborn. Let's see what we can do with who we've got." Everyone's eye went to Ixa, who pursed her lips and tried to think of something diplomatic to say. "Look, I know I screwed up by telling Neutrino off over something really minor. I'm sorry, we could have used his help."

  "The guards on the surface were only carrying handguns and shotguns," Icerazor said. "No heavy ordnance, probably to avoid arousing too much suspicion. The sign they put up says it's 'Data Research Secure Storage' so people won't wonder why there are armed guards at all at an old mine."

  "Old salt mines are used to archive digital data due to their low humidity and controlled environments," I said. "So it's great cover."

  "There's a secondary vent shaft without a guard shack about a quarter mile from the main entrance which looked promising," Icerazor said. "There might be internal alarms and whatnot, I didn't get close enough to have a look inside. It's a tight squeeze though. Eighteen inches."

  "I can wriggle through that if I don't snag on anything," I said. "But not face down, which is the direction I'd have to be to spot alarms before I tripped them."

  "Why not face down?" Xiv asked

  "All my blood would rush to my head. To reach the depth that this mine goes, I'd have to be inverted for far too long."

  "I can fit," he said. "And I can hang upside down for hours."

  "The alarms?" I asked.

  "If we fit the kid with a camera," Icerazor said, "One of us should be able to talk him through them. All he has to do once inside is link up a connector to their computers and let you try to take over their network."

  "With the alarms down, we'd be able to lower a few more in right-side up through the same vent," I said. "But it'd make for a poor escape route. No way to get out fast."

  "Who won't fit?" Nora asked, "We're a pretty skinny bunch."

  "Astroborn," I said. His oversized chest alone would lodge in a vent of that width. Nora made an expression that was a mix between a frown and pursed lips. She'd forgotten about Jack. "So we're going to need to keep a few with him to watch his back. I nominate Stamp."

  "Why me?" Pam asked.

  "Very confined places don't play to your strengths. You'll be more effective taking the front door when the cultists figure out we're there. There's no way we'll get through this operation undetected. And when they spot us, we'll need to pull their attention in enough directions that they think the whole community has come down on their heads." Pam thought it over for a bit and nodded.


  "Anyone else backing up the linebacker?" Ixa asked.

  "That depends on where we think they'll deploy their demi-dragons," I said. "We need enough hitting power in each group to at least put one down. I want you with whichever group is going to run into more to bind them once they're down."

  "We don't know how many there are, how are we going to predict where they'll be?" Ben asked.

  "Confined spaces don't like me either," Nora said. "I'd like to be on the surface team."

  "You may end up on crowd control," I said. I almost called it peon duty. I shouldn't disregard unpowered guards like that. "Keep the guards off-balance once the fighting starts."

  "That frees up the heavies to call out their demi-dragons," Nora said.

  "I'd hate to interrupt," Jennifer said. "But, I vote Ixa leads the surface team. At the very least, they know your flying brick friend and will divert some of their own heavies to counter him. So it is the only place we know there will be demi-dragons."

  "Makes sense to me," Ixa said.

  "The rest of you will be with me down the vent," I said. I was uneasy about sending Xiv in first, but it made too much sense. I couldn't be sure anyone else would be able to remain conscious for the whole climb. He hadn't even dealt with little-league bad guys before. But he also hadn't hesitated to take on Xiao at the slaver base. No, I wasn't afraid he'd panic; I was afraid he'd get hurt. My mind went back to the image of Nikki Greeler cracking his temple with the butt of her Taser.

  "So," Pam said, "Who has the rope?" There was a long pause. "You can't tell me you're planning to freehand it down that vent. I know it's tight, but it's also stupid."

  "You're right, we'll add that to what we need to bring with us." I took out a piece of paper and started writing up a list.

  "I've been thinking of filing a thirty-eight," Jennifer said.

  "Oh?" Nora asked.

  "Yeah, I've come to miss being 'Miss Pain.'"

  "I thought you hated that name."

  "Only when it's not my actual name," she said with a smirk.

  The cast came off my wrist, but I got a brace for the purposes of keeping my rapid recovery from the people at school. I only wore it as part of my uniform, the eye-patch too. I was extra cautious when I peeled the gauze off my eye. At first, it was a colorful blur. Before panic set in, the implant adjusted it's focus and everything got sharp. I blinked a few times, noting that my tear duct seemed to be doing its job. I still let the doctors take a closer look, and they agreed I didn't need eyedrops. I wasn't sure if I'd keep the eye-patch as part of my civilian identity forever, or if I'd take it off once implants visibly similar to mine reached the general market. The iris was a gunmetal blue and quite obviously mechanical, failing spectacularly at matching my brown left eye. There were no blood vessels in the white of the implant, and even casual examination would give away its artificial nature. From a distance, however, it'd just look like I had heterochromia.

  At least Ixa wasn't distressed at my mismatched eyes. She'd dismissed the question with a smirk and a peck on the cheek. Of course, the most important thing was that I could see. I liked having peripheral vision on my dominant side back.

  "You look funny," Xiv said.

  "Look who's talking," I said jokingly. He had enough good humor to laugh with me. "It may not match, but this eye can see better than the one I lost."

  "Can you see through walls?" Xiv asked.

  "No."

  "Can you shoot lasers from it?"

  "No."

  "Can you see germs and really small things?"

  "No."

  "Can you see really far?"

  "Yes. I can also see heat and in darkness."

  "What's darkness?" I fell silent as the question ground through my brain.

  "You don't know what darkness is?" I asked.

  "I wouldn't have asked if I did," Xiv said.

  "Darkness is when there's not enough light to see."

  "I can always see," he said. Staring at those giant eyes, I believed him. Not that Xiv had a habit of lying to me.

  "Well, you're special," I said. "Most people can't see if there's too little light."

  "Keep telling him things like that, he might start thinking he's different from other boys," Nora said from the doorway.

  "Nora," Xiv said, "I know I'm not like everyone else."

  "Always remember," I said. "You're not better or worse, just different. And there's nothing wrong with that." Xiv smiled his fanged grin. Somehow it had stopped creeping me out. I guess you can really get used to anything.

  "Aww," Nora said, "I remember Dad saying the same exact crap."

  "What's put you in a sour mood?" I asked. She grumbled something unintelligible and dropped her afternoon snack in the microwave. "Oh, it's your blood sugar again." With her metabolism, Nora was effectively hypoglycemic, though not for the same reasons non-powered people were.

  "Will you shut up," Nora said. "Your voice is irritating." She tapped her foot impatiently as the microwave ran. A few seconds shy of done, Nora popped the door open and started eating anyway. I stepped out of the trailer and took a look over toward the hanger. I zoomed in on all of the structural defects in the roof, at the water-damaged concrete walls, and any other detail, no matter how mundane. I told myself I was just learning how to use the implant. Deep down, I knew it was just me enamored with a new toy. I shouldn't call it that, but really, when I'm looking at a rust stain on a concrete slab from half a building away just because I can, I don't know what else to say.

  "What are you looking at?" Xiv asked.

  "Anything," I said.

  "But there's nothing here!"

  "Do you remember the airplane ride back from Minnesota?"

  "Of course I do, it was awesome!"

  "You had your face plastered to the window looking at what I would have called nothing because you'd never seen it before. I'm seeing the same old world in a different way, so it's all new to me," I said. "I put up with you, so you can put up with me." My gaze wandered out of the hanger door towards the reinforced concrete blast covers on the launch tubes. The grass had been trimmed back and they'd gotten a fresh coat of paint. White and red, with a yellow-and-black warning sign indicating the direction they'd slide open. The tracks needed to be replaced before the silo covers could be opened, and I wasn't sure we wanted to even do that. Russia gets nervous whenever a missile silo opens in the United States. Probably a learned reflex after the Cold War, but there was no point in triggering an international incident.

  Did Gruefield Eighteen even have a cover purpose? It was clear someone had started refurbishing the place. What did the public think we were? I was going to have to find out. I should not have left that detail go unnoticed.

  Part 33

  Halite was virtually a ghost town. Most of the roads passed by empty plots or abandoned buildings. Only a handful of structures near the town center looked occupied. The heart of the town seemed to be the post office. It couldn't possibly be doing much business, but it served a massive span of rural lands and isolated farmsteads. The small spattering of shops around it looked worn and dispirited, their eaves sagging, and old wares on display. The few residents who remained trudged through their routines, stubbornly clinging to a past that wouldn't return. They didn't look downtrodden or depressed, but determined, refusing to accept the economic reality that had killed their town. To my eyes, it was a sad place.

  We parked Icerazor's van between two unused houses on the side of the town towards the mine. We waited as the sun slipped below the horizon. The stars came out, their twinkle and intensity impressive to a city boy like me. My eye highlighted one of the dots with a red box, tagging it as "Ygnaza transport." I left the trace there, despite not needing it for the mission at hand.

  "Surface team holds back until we give the
signal, or it looks like we've kicked over a hornet's nest," I said. "The longer they don't know we're here, the better."

  "Yeah, we went over it before," Pam said.

  "I just know some of you are a little eager to get into the mix." She growled, but Jack put his hand on her shoulder.

  "We won't tip off Omicron by jumping the gun," Jack said. It was the exact poke to the psyche Pam needed to find another ounce of patience. As I turned to lead the infiltration team towards the air vent, Nora put her arm out in front of me.