"Blue - Morlocks, Stamp - Dragon," Ixa said. The Morlocks were more prepared than the Final Star cultists had been, having looped the carry strap under an arm and over the opposite shoulder so Nora couldn't just snatch their guns away. It didn't stop her from dropping the magazines and flicking the safeties on. Stamp dropped out of the sky between Victor and me.
"Demi-dragons," Victor said. "So cute." He grabbed Pam's face in one taloned hand and slammed her backwards into the flagstones. "So weak." The way he straddled Pam, Victor left himself wide open. Pam delivered a boot to his gonads, drawing forth a high-pitched yelp.
"So what," Pam said as Victor stumbled back.
"If that was anyone else, I'd yell at you for doing that," I said.
"Loudmouth can take it," Pam said, delivering a pair of punches to Victor's face. They sounded like strikes from a pile driver. He caught her third punch and flung her into the pile of scrap metal. The welds snapped and it came crashing down around her.
"Serar!" Victor shouted, "Kill the bitch in white before she casts!"
"Do you still think he's on your side?" I asked.
"What?"
"Serar was the one who sabotaged your imager project. He deliberately killed your focusing brains. It only worked that last time because he failed to kill me."
"You're not going to confuse me with lies," Victor said.
"If you want to trust that imp, go ahead. Has he told you that Dekker's still alive? That he's under the protection of the Community?" Victor charged at me. I wrapped myself in a force bubble and we plowed into the office behind me.
"These things are impenetrable," Victor said. "Especially to sound - and heat." His taloned hands were wreathed in flame and he inhaled deeply. I curled up and braced myself as my force bubble was engulfed in three jets of flame. The fire itself couldn't get in, but it was rapidly cooking the air inside the bubble. I was sweating instantly, rills of it pouring from my face as the inferno crackled against the bubble of red static that kept the slow roast from being an instant char. I could hear the hissing as the sprinkler water was evaporating before it could reach Victor's flames.
"Hey, shithead!" Pam yelled, "I'm not done with you." She brought an I-beam from the ruined sculpture down on his head. I'm not sure if it hurt him, but it distracted Victor enough for the fires to stop. Victor swatted the beam aside and seized Pam by the throat.
"Failed iterations should be liquidated and dissected," Victor said as he started to squeeze. The fires had engulfed much of the first floor, and the sprinklers were doing little to slow them down. The only entrance I could see on this side of the flames was the hole Victor was standing in. I formed a new bubble between us and rammed the two out of my way. The hit broke Victor's choke hold on Pam. She audibly sucked in a new breath as she scrambled to get some distance. A beam of bright line seared along the ground, then ran up Victor's front. "Really? Lasers? I'm elemental fire, do you really think more heat is going to hurt me?"
"No," Photovolt said. "I just need to distract you for a few more seconds."
"What?" Victor asked. Pam brought the beam down end-first onto Victor's head, slamming his face into the flagstones. "Persistent girl," Victor said into the shattered rock. As Victor started to push the beam off, I brought a force bubble down on the end like a hammer, driving him back into the ground. "What do you think this is going to get you?" Victor shouted.
"Time," Pam said.
With a gout of fire breath and jets from both hands, Victor sent us leaping back. He stood and straightened his neck and back. He rolled his shoulders and smirked. "Time isn't going to save you."
"Tell that to her," Pam said, jerking a thumb towards the other end of the courtyard. Ixa sat cross-legged six feet in the air, surrounded by swirling aetherial winds. Streams of glowing white sigils flowed through the mystic zephyrs in a helix around her.
"Serar!" Victor shouted as bright white chains erupted from the ground and coiled about his body and limbs. The chains pulled him down to the flagstones, pinning him in place. "You backstabbing bastard, Serar!"
"Is it really backstabbing when you fail to stab someone in the back?" Pam asked. Ixa floated down, placing her feet back on the pavement. Off to the side of the courtyard, Donny pushed the last of the Morlocks into line with the rest of them. The line of kneeling men and women all appeared to be restrained.
"You know, Victor, you should have listened to me," I said. I leapt back as he spit flame at me. "Okay, we've got to do something about that."
"He didn't have a snout I could bind," Ixa said. "If I bound his head, he'd suffocate."
"Those sound like sirens to me," Nora said.
"Well, there was a lot of gunfire," I said. "And that building's on fire."
"No shit, Sherlock," Pam said.
Ixa groaned. "I have to do the paperwork, don't I?"
"You are team lead," I said.
Part 24
I didn't recognize the lieutenant of detectives who took over the scene at the courtyard. I tried not to laugh at Ixa. I knew exactly what that paperwork entailed, and her mood was getting progressively more sour as she went through it. Laughing would have caused her to dump me on the spot. Instead, I sat next to her, offering moral support even if she didn't need my help understanding the forms. Neutrino and Minispell arrived to help transfer Victor to a safer containment location. I'm not sure how much evidence there was against him that wouldn't require us to testify. I shook my head and pushed that aside. The Morlocks were still under indictment for their earlier hostage taking, so there was that.
As the only member of the team still wide awake, I drove us back to the base. For once, Ixa made use of her quarters at Gruefield. I think she was just too tired to complain. I stared at my ceiling for several hours, then cooked breakfast for the team.
"So no amulet, I take it?" Jennifer asked as people filtered to the table.
"No. Peter Bussard showed up and asked for something called Firegod," Stephanie said.
"Who and what?" Nick asked.
"Peter Bussard is a professional middleman," Stephanie said. "He is technically an ambassador from a tiny Caribbean nation called Sanalta."
"I've never heard of it," Jennifer said.
"They don't encourage tourism," Stephanie said. "He could be deported for dealing in stolen goods, but he's also a diplomatic back channel to people we have trouble talking to openly. So they overlook his side business."
"And Firegod?" Nick asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Stephanie said.
"He seemed rather convinced you could get your hands on it," I said.
"What was that talk about 'Tarnished Sterling'?" Nora asked.
"I think he was talking about the Community Fund," I said. "A backhanded reference to corruption within Sterling Towers, a blemish on our sterling reputation, etcetera."
"So," Nick said. "Should we ask Shiva about Firegod?"
"Why Shiva?"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't think we can make a computer not tell anyone we asked about it," Donny said.
"I'm against maintaining this secrecy," Stephanie said. "This is going to blow up, and we're going to get implicated for covering it up if we don't come clean."
"But it goes against the second-" Donny said. I cut him off.
"Stephanie, you came across the information that the amulet was on the market while looking for the person who sold Subject Sixteen the arcane alloy, right?"
"Where are you going with this?"
"You also knew what it was."
"Get to the point," Stephanie said.
"We don't need to give any of Donny's information to the Fund to honestly ask about Firegod. We came into it from the other end, and we want to get it off the market because it can be misused. How it got on the market isn
't connected to what you've done. If that leads back to the All-Star Elementals, we haven't covered for them."
"Sounds underhanded to me," Pam said, crossing her arms and sitting back. "We should put everything we know on the table. The second rule is to protect secret identities, not secret criminals."
"We're not discounting that option in the future," I said. "But we're really short on information at the moment. I can't help but think we only have a small part of the picture."
"Well," Nick said. "I can only debate ethics with you guys. I'm lucky they let me out of the hospital. But if you want my opinion, the longer this rots, the worse it will be when it surfaces. It's up to you guys. I'm going to go lay down." He stood, visibly pained, and hobbled off.
"So why does fearless leader get magical healing and Nick doesn't?" Jennifer asked.
"Because Nick's body is rife with magical residues that make the ritual not work correctly," Ixa said. "He could well end up worse off afterwards than he was before."
"Thanks anyway," Nick said, waving over his shoulder. "I can manage."
Ixa, Donny and I drove in to Sterling Towers early enough that we ran into Dad in the parking garage. "What brings you three here?" He asked.
"We came looking for information," I said. "Can we use your office?"
"You want to speak to Shiva again?" Dad asked.
"It would help," Ixa said.
"Sure, I don't see why not."
We followed Dad into the building. The security checkpoint didn't give us a hard time because Donny had finally updated his profile picture. We rode the elevator down and passed through the same white corridors with the green stripe. The hologram table was off when we arrived, but Dad switched it on. "Shiva," Dad said.
"Yes?" Shiva said, the customary waveform box appearing next to the door.
"We have some questions."
"Of course."
"What is Firegod?" I asked.
"Query is nonspecific, please provide context." I explained how Stephanie found out about the Rothbart Amulet being on the market, why we wanted to get it off the market, and that Bussard had suggested Firegod as an object of barter. I talked so long I had to take a bottle of water from Dad's desk drawer.
"Understood," Shiva said. "Searching...Access to information regarding Project Firegod is restricted, user clearance is insufficient."
"Shiva," Dad said. "Recognize."
"User - Razordemon, Compliance Officer and Regional Coordinator for Central United States."
"What is Project Firegod?"
"User clearance insufficient."
"Is there a geographic restriction on this information?"
"Negative."
"Shiva, what levels of information clearance are above Regional Coordinator?"
"General Council and Fund Board."
Dad looked cross. "How did Peter Bussard find out about Firegod?"
"Unknown. Insufficient data," Shiva said.
"Are any board members in the building?"
"Torquespiral is in the lobby coffee shop."
"Page him to my office please."
"Are you sure?" Shiva asked.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Please wait. Making announcement in coffee shop 'Mighty Blend'."
Tension crawled up my spine as we waited. Torquespiral was a fairly laid-back guy. On the other hand, we were lying by omission, feigning ignorance and asking about something important enough even Dad didn't have access to it.
"You guys stumble onto the worst things," Dad said. After a bit more awkward silence, the door opened and a smiling man in a bad toupee stepped in.
"I see there's a whole convention down here," Torquespiral said. I explained the whole situation again. For his part, Torquespiral stood and listened quietly. "I see. And since this Bussard is convinced that you can lay your hands on Firegod for him, you want to know about it?"
"Shiva says the information is restricted."
"And it is," Torquespiral said. "Firegod is a weapon. Or rather, a lot of weapons and the platform to which they are attached."
"Can you not speak around the issue, please?" I asked.
"It's a long story," Torquespiral said, sitting on Dad's desk. "And as I recall, you don't care for my stories."
I sighed.
"Back in the second world war," Torquespiral began. That was never a good sign. "The Japanese realized that there was a powers gap between their Empire and the United States. To counteract our advantage in powered individuals, they developed Daikaiju - giant monsters - which did the job of keeping us busy while their conventional forces were on the offensive. The problem was, Project Kaiju was based out of Nagasaki. When we bombed the city, many of the immature test subjects escaped. Their genetic structure was already unstable, and exposure to radiation only increased the rate of mutation. Those sent to war had been force grown by one of the few powered individuals Japan had at the time. The escapees grew slower."
"Early on, conventional forces were able to cope with more than half of them. As they grew, Japan developed mecha to combat them. The first generation were crude by today's standards, but effective, if a bit of a deathtrap. Once again, they only managed to defeat about half of the survivors before they were too large and out-classed the first gen mecha. So they built the second generation mecha, and the cycle repeated."
"What does this have to do with Firegod?" Ixa asked.
"Firegod is a third generation anti-kaiju mecha. The zaibatsu that was charged with fulfilling the development order sought out our aid in designing it. The board debated the matter for months before agreeing. Mainly because tens of thousands of lives would be lost should the Kaiju return to land without something to intercept them. We could not, in good conscience, decline, even if it meant helping construct a weapon which could later be misused."
"Okay," I said. "Why does Bussard think we can deliver a giant robot to him? Or even just its schematics?"
"The long story isn't over," Torquespiral said.
"God damn it," Donny said. Dad slapped the back of his head.
"Kids these days," Torquespiral said.
"Please, continue," I said.
"We ran into legal trouble with the zaibatsu and one of our engineers," Torquespiral said. "To solve a problem with waste heat and neutron radiation, one of our engineers developed a system capable of fusing common hydrogen in a manner that made it a neutron sink and produced as much energy as the main reactor. This breakthrough would revolutionize the world. The problem is, everyone claims ownership of the technology. The engineer because he developed it, the Fund because it was created under his work contract with us, and the zaibatsu because it was done as part of a joint project with them."
"That doesn't get us any closer to Bussard," Donny said.
"I said it was a long story," Torquespiral said.
"So he bypassed the need for heavy hydrogen, and everyone wants a piece of it," I said. "What next?"
"While the legal issues were being argued, materials regarding Project Firegod were placed in storage. The engineer's claim was dismissed fairly early by the courts because of the nature of his contract. We're trying to negotiate an equitable settlement with the zaibatsu rather than bring it to trial. We don't want to prevent this technology from getting out, but we do need to finance all of this," Torquespiral gestured around us.
"Okay," I said. "But none of that is stuff we could reasonably be expected to acquire for trade."
"This last bit is where it gets embarrassing for the Fund," Torquespiral said. "Someone stole the main control module for Firegod. The prototype I mean. When it was stolen, we sent a team to the other storage facility to check on the prototype and it was missing."
"There's a technologically revolutionary giant robot walking around loose
?" I asked.
"Only if the same people have the control module and the prototype. We do not believe that they do."
"You could have cut out half the backstory," Donny said. "Started with the zaibatsu asking us to built them a giant robot."
Gruefield 18 (Tarnished Sterling Omnibus) Page 87