“Early this morning.”
Right around the time everything went to hell in Seattle. Is this connected with Gravitess going crazy? A hero like her wouldn’t need guns though. “Did humans do this?”
“We don’t know.”
“Do you think Gravitess was working with them?”
“We don’t know that either. That’s what you’re here for. We need an investigator and you are it.” Vince presses a button, closing the elevator doors to the Hero Engine room. “You will have every tool you can imagine at your disposal, but first we need to get you briefed on the full situation.”
Chapter 5
VINCE LEADS ME to a meeting room one story above the Engine. On the way there, we pass a couple of heroes I’ve seen on TV and lots of normal looking people going about their day. This place is about as exciting as every other office I’ve been in. I was really hoping to catch someone flying around or an arm wrestling match between Granite Fist and Lady Atlas. Instead, I see lots of heads glued to computers, or telephones, or both.
“Have a seat,” Vince says, and motions towards a long conference desk. “I’ll be right back.”
“You’ll be right back?”
Vince slaps the doorframe as he turns to walk away. “I’ve got to go get your partner.”
My partner?
He never said anything about a partner. I wonder if it’s a hero. What an interesting concept, ‘Georgia cop paired up with superhero to investigate Engine bombing.’ That sounds like a tired sitcom if I’ve ever heard one, probably called The Hero and The Dick or something.
I walk over to the windows and peer out. The location of SHI is such a big mystery, it’s said that even the President of the United States has no idea where it is. SHI is completely autonomous with access to all governments worldwide. They recruit people whenever the need for a new hero arises.
The side of my face tingles as if I can feel someone staring at me. I turn and there is a man standing at the doorway. He’s wearing business clothes the same as anyone else, but his hair is spiked up in a style that seems oddly informal in this place. He catches me staring at him and quicksteps down the hallway. I guess he’s not much used to seeing strangers around this place.
I turn back to watch the cityscape outside the window. Looking down at the street makes my head spin a little. Buildings this tall can’t exist in many places, but the skyline feels unlike any I know. I could be anywhere: Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur.
The door to the office opens and Vince walks in with a woman behind him. She is wearing a gray skirt and blazer and has her hair pulled back in a tight bun. Her style is as put-together as any IA or FBI agent I’ve ever met, but there’s a firm tension to her shoulders that hints at something more than gentle curves under the jacket. She is still feminine, but I’d be willing to bet should could bench press more than the average lady.
“Jim, this is Ann Pretorius. Ann meet ‘Cool’ Jim Quig. You two are going to be working together.”
Ann extends a hand and we shake. She takes a seat at the table and I grab a chair next to her. She keeps glancing at me out of the corner of her eye and shifts in her seat.
“What exactly are we working together on?” Ann speaks with a faint English accent. I think it’s English anyway.
Vince pushes the door closed and stands at the head of the table. “The Hero Engine has been destroyed and Gravitess has gone AWOL. Your job is to find out if they are related and bring the culprit to justice.”
Ann sucks in a gasp. Her hand rises to her throat. “Th-the Engine was destroyed? Surely, I heard you wrong, yeah?”
“No, you heard me right. Someone detonated an explosive device in the Engine.”
“Who knows about this?”
“Only a handful of people. We have kept this under tight wraps. Hiding Tess’ exploits in Seattle would be impossible, but luckily her actions have helped us cover up the destruction of the Engine. Most of the people here in the building don’t even know about it. This place is secure, but loose lips and all that. If word got out about this…I don’t know what would happen.” Vince puts his hands on the table and leans down toward us.
I clear my throat. “Is there any sign that Gravitess had anything to do with the explosion?”
“It’s very possible, but we still aren’t sure. Right now—”
“You said it was an explosion that destroyed the Engine, yeah?” Ann says, cutting Vince off.
“Yes.”
“Tess has the ability to control gravity. If she wanted, she could smash the Engine to pieces with her mind. Why would she use a bomb?”
I’d wondered the same thing myself.
“She may have been working with others. Immediately following the explosion, she made her way up to the roof and took off. She found her way to Seattle and we all saw what happened there.”
“So, the Engine blows and Tess flies the coop.” I pick up a pen off the desk and click it open and closed a few times. These two things must be related. People don’t generally flee the scene of a crime unless they’re guilty.
“That just doesn’t seem like something Tess would do. I’ve seen her around. I mean, yeah, she’s kind of the quiet, loner type, but she always smiles and waves at everyone she passes,” Ann says.
“It’s always the quiet ones you’ve got to watch out for,” I say.
A wicked stare from Ann kills that train of thought right in its tracks. I turn away from her laser gaze and glance outside. The spiked-hair guy from earlier is pushing a cart full of paper past the window, examining everyone inside as he walks by. Weird.
“Okay,” I say, focusing back on the task at hand. “What if, by some astronomical chance, Tess didn’t do this, do you have any other suspects?”
Ann says, “What about AHA?”
“The Anti-Hero Alliance?” I thought those guys were a bunch of backwards loudmouths. They couldn’t manage a job this big, could they?
“The Anti-Hero Alliance,” Vince says. “The most prevalent hate group against heroes in existence. Up to this point we’ve thought them as nothing more than Internet forum crusaders. We need to take into account that they may have organized themselves and gathered together to make this attack. I want you to work this investigation on two fronts. One, I want you to look into Tess. Find out about her friends and her actions leading up to the incident. I also want you to investigate the Alliance and see if they could have brought something like this together.”
I click my pen a few more times. “Isn’t there someone better suited for this investigation? Some kind of internal task force or something?” There is no way I’m qualified for hunting down rogue heroes. My normal day consists of shooing away loud bums and arresting meth-heads. That’s not exactly superhero police material. Vince seems to believe in me, so there’s that, but I still can’t help but feel sweat bead on my forehead as I think about the situation.
“There is a formal investigation being financed by SHI, and will be run by a couple of the heroes once Seattle has been cleaned up enough for regular emergency workers to take over.”
“So if there is a formal investigation, why us?” Ann takes a look at me, sitting here in my police uniform.
“The heroes stick together. They won’t be willing to give up much information. And the SHI is as much of a political organization as any. Therefore, they won’t like results that make the Initiative look bad. There will be a half-assed investigation done, and heroes will be on the lookout for Tess. My guess is when they find her, she will resist arrest. Safe money’s on her being killed in the ensuing struggle. Her story will die along with her and the investigation will end with everything blamed on the psycho cape going crazy.”
Ann flinches at the word ‘cape’, a derogatory term for heroes for as long as they’ve been around. With the exception of The Patriot, a cape and spandex is a pretty big no-no among heroes.
“So this investigation is off the books, yeah?” Ann sits perfectly still as she awaits Vince’s respo
nse.
“Very much so. I’ve given my approval for you to have access to any Initiative tools you need at your disposal, but don’t expect a lot of outside help.”
“Where do we start?” I click my pen faster, ready to get out of this damn office and get to work.
“As for Tess, I want you to go talk to The Patriot, River, and Flaura. River used to be in a relationship with Tess and has been on leave for almost a week. The Patriot was holding a relationship with Tess and Flaura worked with her on occasion.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Those are superheroes. You want me to go interrogate unwilling people with super powers who probably won’t like us or anything we have to say?” This sounds like some bullshit that’s going to get me killed.
“Exactly, but you’re going to have Ann. She’ll serve as your protection.”
Ann’s cheeks redden.
“Ann’s a hero?”
“Of sorts.” Vince smiles. “I’ll let her tell you about it on your ride out to New York City to talk to The Patriot. While you are gone, I’m going to do my best to get you a list of important AHA members to interrogate.”
“Split my time between angry heroes and a hate group? Sounds like just another day in ATL. This will be a bla…”
The spikey-hair guy is standing outside the office, peering in the window. I stand up from my seat. “Hey, you!”
He takes off running down the hall. I burst out the door behind him and hobble-run after his ass. Not having a crushed hip means the guy can sprint a hell-of-a-lot faster than me. “Hey,” I yell, “somebody stop that asshole.”
Behind me, Vince and Ann come flying out the conference room. They barrel over a lady who has stopped to watch the action and the three of them go down in a tangle of limbs and cursing. “Help him,” Vince yells from his position underneath the woman and on top of Ann.
The guy running stops. He doesn’t just stop running, he freezes mid-stride like somebody just hit the ‘pause’ button. I catch up to the guy. He’s just hanging out there. I give him a little shove. The push doesn’t faze him.
“Glad I could help. We don’t get much action when we’re stuck around this place.” An Asian man walks up to my side. He holds out a hand. “They call me Sus. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before.”
I take his hand. “Uh, Sus?”
“Yeah, as in, short for Suspension.” He motions to the man suspended mid-run.
“Well, Sus, I’m Jim Quig. And this is my first visit. I’m Vince’s cousin, up from Georgia for the weekend.”
“Uh-huh, I see,” Sus says with that kind of suspicion that says he doesn’t really see. “Well, are you ready for me to let him go?”
Vince has gathered himself up next to me, but Ann is standing back by the conference room. “Have you got some place to hold a prisoner?”
“Yes,” Vince says.
“Okay, let him go,” I say to Sus. “No, wait a minute.” This fucker made me run. My hip hurts like all hell from it, too. I stand in front of the guy so we are facing each other with him on my right side. I set my feet and hold my arm out so that my elbow is at neck level. “Okay, go for it.”
Sus chuckles and, in a blink, the runner flashes back in to motion. His throat collides with my arm and the runner gets planted flat on his ass. Man, that felt damn good. I could get used to super powers. The runner lays on his back and blinks up at me.
To Vince I say, “Book ‘im, Dano.”
Chapter 6
THE RUNNER SITS at a steel table, handcuffed to the top of it. This whole interrogation thing almost feels normal. I want to turn to the two-way glass and wink at my partner before I start the questioning. Instead of Josh Garret, my usual backup at home, I’m flanked by Ann and Vince.
“What’s your name?” I like to start things easy.
Runner glares up at me like I’m shining a light in his eyes. Maybe he’s waiting for me to start pulling off fingernails. I wonder if I can do that. This isn’t the police. I’m working for a secret organization. Surely there can’t be many rules for this kind of thing.
“Leroy DeLaCruz,” Runner says.
“Okay, Leroy, why the interest in our meeting back there?” Keep it simple and friendly at first. Keep the interrogation subject on my side.
“Go fuck yourself,” Leroy says with enough vile to melt my badge.
That shit about keeping it friendly flies right out the window after a phrase that includes ‘go’ and ‘fuck’ and ‘yourself.’ I turn to Vince. “Can I uh, you know, uh…” I slap my elbow in the palm of my hand.
Vince gives me a nod.
I put my left hand behind Leroy’s head and slam my right elbow into his eye. The impact thuds. Ann winces. Vince chews his gum. Secret agencies are nice. I should have joined up a long time ago.
“Ah, fuck.” DeLaCruz leans forward to hold his cuffed hands up to his eye.
“I believe I asked you a question, Leroy. Just in case you forgot, I’ll give you another chance. Why were you watching us?”
He looks at me, one eye clenched shut, tears streaming. “Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
I sigh. Time to try another approach. “Okay, how about this one? Are you friends with Gravitess?”
“Fuck yourself until you die.”
At least he’s changing it up a little. How I hate broken records. I slam him mouth-first against the desk. He comes up spitting blood and teeth. Ann and Vince watch in silence.
“What about AHA? The AssHole Allegiance or something like that. You work for those guys?”
“G’fyah’yesself.” Leroy splatters blood across my shirt as he speaks his mangled-up insult.
“Looks like he’s not ready to talk,” I say to Vince. “Let’s give him a while to think about what he’s done. I’ll give him another shot in a day or ten. See how talkative he is then.” I walk out of the room and Vince and Ann follow.
“Is he going to be all right in there while we’re gone?”
Vince nods. “Yeah, he’s not going anywhere.”
“Have you got some new clothes I can wear?” I pull my bloody shirt out from my chest to look down at it.
“I’ll have something put on the plane for you.”
“The plane? Are we not riding with Miles? Seems like that would be much faster.”
“That’s not an option this time.” Vince looks over at Ann. She diverts her gaze. “But you will find our plane an acceptable form of transportation.”
Vince picks up his phone. “Yes, I need a change of clothes loaded up on the plane…” He looks down at himself and then over at me. “Yeah, he’s about my size give or take a couple inches in height and a couple pounds around the middle. Yes, something out of my wardrobe will be perfect.”
Vince hangs up, smiles back at me, and leads us to an elevator. We take the car up for what feels like an eternity. How many more floors can this place have?
The elevator bings when we get to the top. Doors slide open to reveal a landing pad with a plane like I’ve never seen before. Pouring rain obscures our view and lightning flashes in the distance, illuminating the never-ending body of water around us. I walk to the edge of the landing pad and look down. The building descends twenty feet before disappearing into the black of the ocean.
“We were under water the entire time?” I have to scream to be heard over the storm raging around us.
“Yeah, now let’s get you guys on the plane. I’ll get you information on AHA as soon as I can.”
A hatch on the bottom of the plane opens and a set of stairs fold out. The aircraft itself has a pair of narrow wings that are swept so far backward, I can’t comprehend the physics of how the thing attains flight. The entire body is painted matte black and it’s about the size of a small passenger plane.
I hold Ann’s hand to keep the wind from blowing her over and lead us to the stairs. She smiles at me in thanks before making her way inside. I follow and am blown away when I find the interior of the plane is swank enough to house the President and a fam
ous rapper.
The hatch closes once we’re inside. A pilot appears from the front of the plane. “I’m your captain. You can call me Ulrich. And where are we heading on this wonderful evening?”
Thunder rumbles.
“New York City,” I say.
“Oh, the Big Apple, sounds like fun.” Ulrich winks at us and goes back to the cockpit.
“Well, that’s comforting,” I say.
“Yeah.” Ann’s eyes get wide as she says it.
The engine whines to life and the floor shakes as the plane lifts straight up without any kind of runway.
Neatly-folded clothes sit on a table near the back of the cabin. I make my way to them.
A roar erupts from the engines and the plane shoots forward at a speed that sends me tumbling to the floor. Once the plane steadies, I struggle to my feet and grab the clothes. A door in front of me has the universal bathroom symbol and I push inside. Expecting a cramped airplane bathroom, I am impressed when something out of a Victorian mansion greets me instead. I swear there is marble on the sinks that Michelangelo himself used.
Vince’s clothes fit me well enough. The sleeves are a smidge short and I have to tighten the belt to the point where my pants bunch up on the sides. The fancy designer suit is like nothing I’ve ever worn in my life. The shirt is so smooth against my skin, it doesn’t feel like I’m wearing one. I leave the tie and the jacket and keep my boots. Loafers aren’t my style and running is hard enough in something with laces.
I exit the bathroom, jacket hung over my shoulder. Ann looks me up and down and smiles. “Yeah, you look good in Vince’s clothes.”
I drape my jacket over one of the leather recliners and take a seat across from her. “Thanks. I guess I’m lucky we’re about the same size. Probably the only time in my life I’ll ever wear,” I check the inside of the jacket, “Armani.”
Ann gives a soft laugh and we fall quiet. I drum my fingers on the desk, trying to think of something to fill the silence. On my normal day, most of my conversations begin with a reading of rights.
“So, um, the SHI Hive is underwater?”
Hero Engine Page 3