by Ben Mariner
Much to my surprise, no one on the street seemed to give me a second glance. If you just keep your head down and stay out of people’s way, they are happy to ignore you and go about their business. Kind of sad, really, how people couldn’t care less that a potential violent criminal is walking amongst them as long as they don’t know said criminal is there. I suppose in a city chock-full a good guys and bad guys, the people in between just want to get on with living and leave the other stuff to someone else.
I was able to get home and into my building without much fuss. It was after nine in the morning so pretty much everyone was already at work for the day. Made things a little easier on me. I didn’t even get stuck on the elevator with one of my neighbors and force some small talk to replace awkward silence with awkward chit chat.
It had been so simple a task that I wondered if going back to Lisa’s was necessary. I’d kill to sleep in my own bed even for a night. It wasn’t safe though, and I knew that. Not everyone knew Wrecking Ball’s true identity, but a few people did, and that was enough. I went to the bedroom and pulled a duffle bag from the closet. I wasn’t even really paying attention to what I was stuffing in there. Just had to make sure I had some shirts, pants, and underwear. The essentials.
When the bag was full to bursting, I zipped it shut, went to the kitchen to grab a soda, and headed for the front door.
Just as I was reaching for the knob, Grace’s voice stopped me.
“Hello, Lane,” it said from everywhere and nowhere.
I spun around, looking about frantically for Grace, but found no one.
“Grace? Are you here?”
“No, not exactly. I can see you though.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Huh?”
“My father ordered 24-hour surveillance on your apartment. I’m watching you through a camera in your living room.”
“Okay, invasion of privacy much?” I replied, a little offended.
“You brought it on yourself,” Grace said sternly.
I shook my head. “Not exactly, but I get where you’re coming from.”
“You robbed a bank.”
“I told you I was set up,” I said forcefully. “You’ve got to believe me, Grace. The assignment given to me was to stop Dr. Cannibal from robbing the bank. I show up and my support crew has been incapacitated, and there’s a bomb in the vault. Then you showed up. Things aren’t what they seem. You have to believe me.”
There was a long moment of silence before Grace said, “I don’t have to do anything. However, I’ve been reviewing some things during my investigation and not everything is lining up the way it should be.”
“See!” I cried in relief. “I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“Perhaps,” she said doubtfully. “Or maybe I’m looking at it through clouded eyes. Time will tell.”
“My sister is doing her own investigation,” I explained. “If you don’t think things are on the up and up, then she’ll turn up the same things. I’ll show you one way or the other.”
“I doubt Lisa will be able to find what I have,” Grace replied. “The information I have came from private servers that only three people in the world know about, and only two of them have access. But…”
Grace trailed off. I couldn’t see her, but I got the distinct impression that she was contemplating her next words very carefully.
“But?” I urged her.
She took a deep breath. “But I’m willing to share. I’m giving you one chance, Lane. If you swear that you did nothing wrong and want to help uncover who did, I will share what I have found.”
It felt like a weight was lifting off my shoulders. This was tantamount to forgiveness as far as I was concerned. I knew I was clean, and now I had the chance to show Grace the same thing.
“You won’t regret it,” I said thankfully. “Send what you’ve got to my sister’s email. It’s-”
“I’m not sending this kind of thing through email, Lane,” Grace said with a hint of amusement. “I might as well print it on leaflets and drop them from a blimp. I will meet you and Lisa at The Ninja tomorrow night at nine.”
“Fine with me,” I answered. “I can’t wait to see you.”
I offered a weak smile, hoping for Grace’s icy attitude to thaw a bit.
“Go back to your sister’s,” she said instead. “Goodbye, Lane.”
With that, I turned back to the door and left the apartment. Things were finally moving forward. I rushed back to Lisa’s place. When I walked through the front door, I found her on the phone.
“Of course I have your personal number,” she said to whoever was on the other end. “Who do you think I am?”
She paused for a reply and acknowledged me with a nod.
“I’m asking this as a favor,” she said into the phone. “You owe me one.”
Another pause.
“Oh, screw you,” she said, offended. “How quickly we forget who has access to our bank accounts.”
She hung up the phone and threw it on the couch.
“What was that about?” I asked her tentatively.
“Freaking Wayne Grey,” she hissed. “That dude is such a jerk!”
“You have Wayne Grey’s phone number?”
“Come on, son,” she replied, giving me her best Ed Lover. “I asked him to call off his dogs. Bastard owes me one for outing Magnificent Man, and he tells me as far as he’s concerned we’re even because I turned down the spot on his team. Dick!”
I shrugged. “It’s cool, sis. You tried. Can you really hack his bank accounts?”
Lisa gave me a duh look. “Of course I can. That’s how I caught Magnificent Man. I mean, I won’t, but Grey might think I will and it’ll give me a little pleasure knowing he’s probably going to move all his money because of it.”
I laughed. “Serves him right. Anyway, I have good news.”
“You’re finally going to put on a new shirt?”
“Well, that too,” I replied and quickly recounted what happened at my apartment.
She gave me a serious look. “You know this is probably a trap right?”
I nodded. “Could be. But it could not be too. And if it’s not, then we’re one step closer to clearing my name.”
“Alright, fine,” Lisa agreed with an eye roll. “I’ll go with you, but you’re going in first in case Maxima City PD bursts in looking for you.”
I tousled her hair playfully. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Take a shower,” she chided me.
“On my way.”
And, oh boy, was I going to enjoy that shower.
TWENTY-THREE
“How am I lookin’?”
I was walking down the street towards The Gentleman Ninja alone. Lisa was up on the roof of the building on the opposite side of the street. She had some tech she’d built that scanned the area for surveillance equipment and filtered out any kind of transmission that she didn’t want. I didn’t quite get it, but she assured me that it was pretty advanced stuff and that I should be very impressed with the fact that she just kind of whipped it up.
“You’d be looking a lot better if you had ditched that ridiculous outfit like I said.”
“Will you lay off this outfit?” I said, rolling my eyes even though she couldn’t see it.
I went back to classic Lane for the evening, donning the pea coat, wool cap, and boots. Lisa protested when she saw me in it, but I liked it. Felt right for the occasion. We were up to covert shenanigans. I couldn’t be walking around in a neon windbreaker outfit like Sinbad, although that would be super cool if I could. All that swooshing and whatnot. Besides, I added a fake mustache and an eye patch to make it even more covert.
“I’ll lay off of it when you stop wearing it,” Lisa came back. “The sun set three hours ago and it’s still hotter than The Blur’s sweaty crotch after a run around the planet. Don’t even get me started on the mustache and eye patch.”
“Can you just answer my question, please?”
�
��You’re fine,” Lisa replied with a sigh. “Nothing out of the ordinary detected.”
“So, I was right?”
I could practically hear her eyes rolling from across the street.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she argued. “We’re about to walk into a bar that is almost definitely filled with ‘Figs who wouldn’t mind taking you down. Just because Grace might not be laying a trap intentionally doesn’t mean we’re not walking into a complete shit show.”
“That’s a fair point,” I conceded. “But, like you said, not many people know that I’m really Wrecking Ball, so if I just keep my head down, hopefully no one will notice. Now get down here. We need to go in.”
“Don’t tell me how to live my life,” Lisa said reprovingly.
I stopped in front of The Ninja and looked up across the street. I could just make out the silhouette of my sister’s slender frame standing on the edge of the roof. I heard some pounding and the sound of something break and water began spewing over the edge of the building. She hopped off and put her hands out, activating her powers. The torrent of water turned instantly to ice and Lisa slid down effortlessly. She dismounted the ice slide with a move that I could tell she wanted to seem casual and off the cuff but had definitely been rehearsed.
“Let’s go,” she said, moving toward the building.
I put my hand out to stop her.
“You’re just going to leave this here?” I asked, motioning back to the ice.
Lisa looked at the slide and shrugged. “What am I supposed to do about it? I freeze stuff, I can’t melt it.”
“How long is it going to be here?”
She shook her head. “It’s hot as hell. Shouldn’t take more than a couple hours.”
“Seems irresponsible, is all,” I commented.
“Are we doing this or not?” she asked impatiently.
We entered The Ninja and not a single head turned. I couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad sign. Were they really that apathetic or were they trying to act that way on purpose? I scanned the room quickly and found Grace at a table in the corner. In front of her was a glass of scotch and a manila folder. I nudged Lisa and tilted my head to draw her attention over to the corner. I had to take the long way around the room to avoid bumping into anyone and drawing attention to myself, but Lisa took a more direct route.
“Thanks for meeting us, Grace,” I said once we both arrived at the table. “This is Lisa.”
“Hey,” said Lisa with a little wave.
“Nice to meet you,” Grace said with a polite smile. “Sit down, please.”
Lisa and I both took a seat.
“You both seem calm,” Grace commented, “for two people who had to believe they were walking into a trap. Or did that not cross your minds?”
“She definitely thought so,” I answered, pointing to Lisa. “I was putting some faith in you. Besides, I’ve got this disguise.”
Grace smiled a little at that.
“Bold move,” she said. “Especially since your mustache is falling off.
I put my hand to my mouth and found that a corner of my mustache was indeed coming loose. I pressed it back into place. Weird how a mustache I got out of a three dollar disguise kit wouldn’t be completely reliable.
“Luckily for you, it’s going to pay off,” Grace added.
I shot my sister a told you look.
“What do you have for us?” she asked, ignoring me.
Grace pushed the folder across the table. Lisa pulled it close and flipped it open. Inside were several pages of email threads, browser histories, pictures, and bank statements. A veritable treasure trove of information.
“Holy crap,” Lisa said, impressed. “Where’d you get all of this?”
“Like I told Lane,” explained Grace, taking a sip of her scotch. “My father has a private server where he conducts only his most private business. Everything here is, in some way, related to Lane’s potential promotion into the Liberty Gang. At first glance, everything appears to be in order, but if you look closer, some things don’t quite make sense. I’ve highlighted those so you don’t have to decipher things yourself.”
I leaned over and looked through the pages with Lisa. There was a lot of different bits highlighted, from whole sentences to simple typos. Didn’t make sense to me, but I definitely wasn’t the smartest guy at the table and I was the only guy.
“Something fishy, for sure,” Lisa agreed. “Based on what I know of your dad, at least. I have some ideas, but I need to take this stuff home and run it through some tests. Is that okay?”
Grace nodded. “It’s yours. I trust you won’t do anything...untoward with it.”
“Of course we won’t,” I said, smiling at her.
“Who else knows this server exists?” Lisa wondered, closing the folder.
“Well, my father thinks he’s the only one,” Grace answered with a sly look. “But I’ve known about it for years. The only other person is Mary Sue Winfield.”
“You mean Hostile Takeover?” Lisa gaped. “There’s no way she’d know. Because if Take knew, then I would have known.”
Grace just shrugged. “She knew because she’s his nemesis. I’m sure there are things she keeps to herself, just like my father. The encryption is beyond complex. It would take a team of hackers working around the clock for a month to even come close to hacking it. Not that she hasn’t tried.”
“Well, maybe she finally did it,” I suggested. “Maybe she’s behind this.”
Grace shook her head and took another sip of scotch. “Possibly, but very unlikely. I don’t think you’re truly grasping just how secure this server is.”
“Nothing is unhackable,” Lisa put in. “We can’t rule it out.”
Grace took down the rest of her scotch in one gulp.
“I should go,” she announced suddenly. “Keep me updated with whatever you find. Lane, do you mind walking me out?”
“Of course not,” I said, standing up so suddenly I almost knocked over the table. I looked at Lisa. “Meet me outside.”
I followed Grace as she rolled towards the exit. When we exited, a tiny pair of thrusters emerged from her chair and she lifted off the ground to glide smoothly down the stairs to the sidewalk.
“Nice,” I said once I had descended the normal way.
“I don’t like this, Lane,” Grace said, staring off up the street.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems pretty cool to me, but if you don’t like it then just take the thrusters out of your chair.”
She gave me an exhausted laugh. “Not the chair. The situation.”
“Oh, right,” I said, internally kicking myself. “I knew that. Just trying to lighten the mood.”
Grace spun her chair around to face me.
“This may sound weird, but Lisa knows my father almost as well as I do,” she continued. “They have a weird relationship. Neither of them would admit it. Maybe neither of them even realize it, but they’re friends. I was hoping she’d assuage my worries, but she’s already confirmed them. You’re in deep trouble, Lane. Someone has put you in the crosshairs of every Talent in the city. I can’t figure out why and it’s driving me mad.”
The pit in my stomach solidified into a brick, but I waved her off. She was worried enough, I didn’t need to add to it.
“Hey, don’t worry about me,” I said, mustering a smile. I peeled off the mustache and lifted the eye patch so she could get a better look at my face. “Don’t tell her I said this, but my sister is a genius. She plays it off, but don’t underestimate her. If anyone can figure this out, it’s her.”
“I’m sorry I doubted you,” Grace said, drawing her eyes downward. “I should have known better.”
I put a finger under her chin and lifted her head gently.
“You never have to apologize to me,” I said, looking her in the eye. “You were right to think what you did given the circumstances. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
Grace grabbed the lapels of my c
oat and pulled me in for a kiss. Right there, in that moment, I could have taken on every Talent in the city without even breaking a sweat. It was amazing what kind of a boon so simple an act could be. Our lips parted and I heard the door to The Ninja open. We both looked back to see Lisa standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs trying to act as if she wasn’t interrupting anything.
“I should go,” Grace said, and waved at Lisa. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too!” my sister answered very over enthusiastically.
Grace spun her chair around and started rolling up the sidewalk. Lisa hopped down the steps and stood next to me, the manila folder under her arm.
“She seemed really nice. Does she need a ride?”
The corner of my mouth perked up in a smile. “Trust me, sis, we’d only be slowing her down.”
Almost as if on cue, Grace’s chair began morphing into her battle suit. She let the streetlight gleam off the purple and silver armor for just a moment before rocketing into the air and out of sight.
“Holy. Crap!” Lisa cried, stunned. “That. Was. Awesome!”
I laughed. “Tell me about it.”
We turned and started walking down the street in the opposite direction.
“She seems nice,” Lisa commented.
“She’s amazing,” I agreed. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
Lisa shrugged. “Me neither.”
I gave her a look. “Shut up.”
“You shut up,” she shot back playfully.
We walked in silence for a minute before I said, “You can crack this, right?”
She nodded. “Grace is right. These things were sent by her father, but something is off. I don’t think it’ll be too hard to figure out from here.”
I nodded slowly and then Grace’s words returned to my mind. “She thinks you and her dad are friends but won’t admit to it.”
Lisa looked disgusted. “Ew, grody! I’m not exaggerating when I say this Lane, but I hate that man with every fiber of my being. I mean, yeah, I keep tabs on him so I know more about him than most people, but that doesn’t mean I like him. He’s a complete tool.”
I laughed and put my arm around her shoulder to pull her in close. “I know, sis. I thought you’d get a kick out of that. And I got a kick out of hearing someone say grody. Did we pass through a wormhole to 1997?”