The Guardians Omnibus

by Damien Benoit-Ledoux

  “That’s the only reason Stephanie allowed me to come. If the DHS were to pull any stunts and anything happens to me, she’ll have your head. Speaking of two super-powered people, where’s Ana Maria?”

  Blue Spekter smiled. “She’s already here.”

  Ron looked around. “I take it she’s invisible?”

  Blue Spekter nodded.

  “That’s not creepy, at all,” he said, looking around the room.

  Blue Spekter chuckled and cocked his head to the side, a familiar voice reaching his super-sensitive ears through the closed doors.

  “You guys wait here. I’ll go check it out and make sure it’s not a trap. It’s not like we haven’t tried that before, right?” Lieutenant Doral said.

  “Very funny,” Agent Potter replied.

  “The police are coming,” Blue Spekter said. He cocked his head and listened to multiple sets of footsteps. “Three people, I think.”

  “I’m really proud of you, Blue Spekter. These people are coming together because you won their trust and they believe in you. That’s monumental, and I hope one day you will appreciate how significant this moment is.”

  “Thanks,” Blue Spekter replied, nodding at his mentor. A moment later, the boardroom door opened and the lieutenant poked his head in. Blue Spekter raised a hand and waved at him.

  Doral nodded and pulled the door wide open. Chief Applegate and Agent Potter—both in civilian clothes—walked into the ballroom. Doral, also in plainclothes, followed them in and Blue Spekter made introductions.

  “Why exactly are you here?” Chief Applegate asked with a frown.

  “I’m his mentor,” Ron responded.

  “He’s here because he has guided me from the beginning and helped me get my powers under control. Without him, I might have accidentally blown something up. Besides, as the resident comic-book based super powers, superhero, and super villain expert, we strategically need him.”

  Chief Applegate rolled her eyes and Agent Potter stared at him with a blank expression.

  Agent Potter cleared his throat. “You expect me to grant a civilian unlimited access to this…”

  “No, Blue Spekter said. “I expect you to accept that this civilian is on the team and has way more access than you’ll ever have. You need to be okay with that.”

  Potter frowned, then nodded. “Fine.”

  Doral and Applegate eyed one another with raised eyebrows, silently impressed at how easily Blue Spekter had shut down the DHS leader.

  Hearing more footsteps, Blue Spekter pointed to the opening door as Captain David Prett’s familiar build filled the doorway.

  “I heard there’s a party in this room?” he said, his Southern drawl pushing through the words. Behind him, Goodbutt, Trinity, and Tara—whom he had yet to meet—followed their leader into the room.

  After another round of introductions, Blue Spekter walked to the head of the rectangular conference table and cleared his throat. He looked at each member of his team as they settled into the comfortable, black leather boardroom chairs. The high school teacher sat at his right, followed by the two police officers and one DHS agent. On his left sat a world-class, non-existent cyber espionage team.

  Remaining on his feet, he set his hands on the back of the chair in front of him and looked across the table to where he sensed Ana Maria standing. The eyes in the room tracked Blue Spekter’s glance and stared at nothing until she appeared out of thin air.

  “Dammit, there’s another one,” Agent Potter said, his voice and posture shifting to express resigned surprise.

  Chief Applegate’s jaw dropped and then her head whipped around. She glared at Blue Spekter.

  “Everyone, this is Ana Maria Garcia. I’ll let her tell you why she’s on my team and why she’s chosen this moment to introduce herself to you.”

  Blue Spekter sat down as the stunned group listened to Ana Maria explain her story, going back to The Order’s experimentations on human subjects—herself included—under the guise of Project Genesis. She finished with her knowledge on Project Genesis II and the need to stop Victor Kraze, no matter the cost.

  When she finished, Agent Potter rubbed his temples. “You’ve just made my nightmare ten times worse,” he groaned.

  Since everyone was up-to-date on the how and whys of his powers, Blue Spekter updated the team so they’d all be starting from the same page. “With the intel David’s team is gathering from the listening devices I planted, we’ll be able to hack into and pull down the entire network, figure out who’s who, and more importantly, learn the locations of their secret bases and reactor cores.”

  “What is your team’s progress, Captain Prett?” Agent Potter asked, stroking his chin.

  “Trinity?” David said, deferring to his team member.

  Surprised, the man cleared his throat and sat up. “Well, uh, things have not been going as smoothly as expected. Normally we crack ciphers and get behind the firewalls in record time, but The Order has some sophisticated equipment and hardware we’ve never encountered before. All their main systems are locked down pretty tight, but we have been able to gain access to some less-protected systems, like the building’s power grid. Apparently, the windows have all been replaced with solar-cell glass. We could cut power to the building, but the system would automatically top-off the solar power batteries every day.”

  “Star Trek,” Ron said, snapping his fingers.

  “What?” Trinity asked, confused.

  “Oh my gawd,” Agent Potter said, resting his forehead in his hands. “I don’t believe this is happening.”

  Ron ignored him. “In Best of Both Worlds part two, when the Borg were about to destroy the Enterprise, Data successfully hacked into Locutus—Captain Picard—and planted a command in the Borg’s regenerative subcommand path. It was a low priority system that granted him enough access to trick the Borg into stopping their assault and regenerating their power. Long story short, it set off a feedback loop that overloaded and blew up the Borg cube.”

  “Oh right!” Trinity exclaimed, recalling the episode.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Applegate asked.

  Tara smiled. “He means we sneak in through the less-protected systems and deploy our malicious, self-replicating code along the way to force the doors open from the inside,” Tara said, clapping her hands. “It’s brilliant. So much more…sophisticated than a brute-force attack.”

  “We shouldn’t be doing anything that obvious,” David said. “Remember, we don’t want anyone to notice us snooping around their non-existent networks.”

  Potter shook his head. “Why is it that at the end of the day, the geeks rule the world?”

  Ron spoke up. “Well, as Bill Gates said, ‘Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.’”

  They laughed briefly.

  “Great, so that gets us inside their data, but we need to get inside that building and study it,” Chief Applegate commented.

  “Any ideas?” Blue Spekter asked.

  “Actually, I have one,” Agent Potter said, glancing at the chief. She nodded, and Potter continued. “When Chief Applegate told me you asked to go on the news, I naturally though it was ludicrous. However, I slept on it and came up with a nasty little infiltration operation for our friends in the prison buildings on Seavey Island—one I hope will catch Victor Kraze off-guard.”

  “I’m all ears,” Blue Spekter said, leaning forward.

  Agent Potter sat forward and gestured as he spoke. “The plan is to infiltrate the prison using a high-profile, high-security interview as a distraction.”

  Eyebrows furled with interest as heads nodded.

  “We’ll announce an interview between Blue Spekter and Camilla Brenhurst that will sufficiently mislead Victor, Dark Flame, and The Order. We’ll withhold the exact location and craft some believable story about holding the interview in a secure location to discourage the public from attending because of numerous threats or an inability to provide sufficient safety. In tru
th, the whole thing will be a charade—”

  “Like the hostage situation you used against me?” Blue Spekter asked, frowning.

  Agent Potter paused, then nodded. “Um, yes…exactly. You already know first-hand it’s a convincing trick.”

  “Uh-huh,” Blue Spekter replied.

  “Continue,” Chief Applegate said, frowning at Blue Spekter.

  “The fake interview will be held in the baseball field on Seavey Island, specifically in the outfield so it’s closer to the prison buildings. With the joint support of the Navy and the Marines—both of whom are en-route—we’ll fill the island with armed military personnel and surround the prison. The Order’s small militia will be forced to retreat into the buildings to avoid detection since they aren’t supposed to be there. We’ve been monitoring the island from above with satellites and we don’t believe they have enough personnel to withstand a surprise assault and our numbers will more than triple what we’ve been able to count, even with their increased security details. So, when they least expect it, we’ll simultaneously storm each building. We’ll need you to draw out what’s it’s like inside since you’ve been in at least twice.”

  “What about Camilla?” Blue Spekter asked.

  “Huh?”

  “I don’t want her getting hurt,” Blue Spekter said. “She’s been good to me.”

  “Oh, she and the news crew will be impersonated by trained soldiers.”

  “Once you storm the facility, then what?” Ron asked.

  “We arrest everyone in there. If we’re lucky, Victor and this Dr. Madison you mentioned will be among those swept up in the raid. Then, we occupy the building until such time as we can determine if anything inside is a threat.

  “What will I do?” Blue Spekter asked. “You can’t expect me to give a fake interview during the entire operation.”

  Agent Potter smiled. “Of course not, but you’re going to know if your super-powered friend is in there, right?”

  “I should,” Blue Spekter answered.

  “If he’s inside, we may cancel the operation and come up with something else, unless you can get him out and away from the facility. We won’t survive in a head-to-head battle with Dark Flame. But, if he’s not there, you lead the charge. Get in ahead of the military and clear the way for our people. Take down the opposition and disarm as many of their people as you can. The fewer casualties we have, the better this goes for all of us. Especially me.”

  “How can my team help, Agent Potter?” David asked. “You might recall we already have equipment on the inside transmitting data back to us.”

  Potter nodded. “I need your team to take control of the security system and unlock every door when it’s go-time. From what we can tell with binoculars, it’s pretty sophisticated biometric lockdown system and if my guys have to bash through every door, they will lose precious seconds that will expose them to unnecessary risk. I need the marines to breach the building and sweep through it with little to no resistance.”

  “We can do that, so long as you’re not storming the castle tomorrow.”

  “No, but we’re planning to do this in three days.”

  Trinity whistled.

  “We got this,” Goodbutt responded, smacking his peer’s thigh with the back of his hand.

  “Good. Any questions?”

  Ron raised his hand. “I take it I’m sitting this one out?”

  Agent Potter nodded. “Sorry, yes. I didn’t really know you existed until this meeting.”

  “That’s okay, storming a castle in a video game sounds cool, but in real life…I’ll leave that to you.”

  “What about her?” Trinity asked, pointing at Ana Maria.

  She shook her head. “I already told you, I cannot risk exposing myself to The Order. If they find out about me, it will only fuel their resolve to create more superhumans.”

  “But the two of you could take out the castle without risking the lives of the marines,” Trinity protested.

  “I’m sorry, but the risk is too great.” Ana Maria answered with finality in her voice.

  I agree with her on this…she doesn’t need to participate in this battle, but when it comes to saving Blake…she’s going to be right there with me rescuing one of our own.

  ❖

  Victor

  Victor tried to breathe, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. Someone on his left—or so he thought—shouted loudly. Suddenly, his back spasmed and arched upward as his body reacted to a blast of hot pain tearing across his chest. This time, his eyes popped open and he saw white lights in front…no, above him. At the same time, his lungs filled with air and his heart pounded in his chest.

  “He’s back,” someone said.

  He followed the voice and gazed into Dr. Madison’s angry eyes.

  “You stupid idiot,” she whispered.

  “Did I make it? Am I alive?”

  “Yes, and you’re damn lucky to be alive, Victor.”

  I did it. I’m one of you now. You’ll never have power over me again, Blake.

  He relaxed and grinned. Then, he started laughing. Arek, Miguel, and Dr. Madison looked at each other with concern and confusion, which only made him laugh harder.

  “You’re not the only one, of course,” Dr. Madison said.

  “What do you mean?” Victor asked, sitting up and pulling off the electrodes attached to his skin.

  “Good news. The last set of subjects at Androscoggin survived. They’ve been recovering, as you have been. So, Project Genesis II is now a success. There are now three more super-powered people in the world.

  “And their microchips?” Victor asked, standing.

  Arek spoke up. “Functioning as expected. They’ve been responsive to verbal command.”

  “Excellent, Victor said studying his fingers. “With everything we know today, we will gain control of our powers much faster than Blake and Quinn did.”

  “Victor,” Dr. Madison said. “Before you try this again, or risk the lives of other loyal agents, I need time to study what worked with you and the last set of test subjects.”

  He smiled at her. “Your wish is my command, Doctor. Study and document what you need to, but bring the two assets here. We have a lot of training to do.”

  “Understood, and thank you. Oh, Martin from R&D was here when I walked in. I dismissed him when I realized you needed medical attention. Martin said he would bring you what you wanted.”

  Victor wickedly grinned. “I can’t wait”

  “Did you order a special suit like Blake’s?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him,

  He smirked, “Of course, why wouldn’t I? Once I’ve taken out those two nitwits, I’ll be the one people will pay attention to.”

  Dr. Madison rolled her eyes. “Those two nitwits are still scientific wonders. We could learn a lot from them.”

  “Soon, we won’t need them, Doctor. You’ll have enough super humans to study and document.”

  4-10 | Six Degrees of Separation

  Blake

  BLAKE AWOKE AND SAT UP when someone knocked on the hotel room door.

  “Housekeeping,” a woman’s voice said.

  “Uh, I need more time,” Blake called out.

  “Okay, no problem, sir. Sorry to bother you,” the woman said through the closed door.

  He fell back to the comfortable mattress and closed his eyes, allowing himself a few moments to relax. Then, he rolled over and checked his phone; it was ten thirty in the morning.

  They’ve got to be at their meeting by now.

  He pushed himself out bed and after eating snacks from the minibar and showering again, he dressed in his dried clothes and stared across the empty space between his hotel and their hotel.

  With his super vision, he searched each window for signs of men and women in business suits and spotted conference rooms on the third and fifth floors. Smiling, he grabbed his stuff from the nightstand, pocketed it, and made his way down to the hotel lobby. After checking out, he exited onto Michigan Avenu
e and turned left, making his way up the block on East Walton Street to the Waldof Astoria. Along the way, he noticed lingering pedestrians in black overcoats and parked cars with teams of men wearing dark sunglasses in them. That must be the extra security. Looks like everyone got in despite the storm.

  Once inside the hotel lobby, he studied the welcome screens as they rotated through the day’s agenda for the meeting rooms. Several of the meeting spaces had functions while the rest did not. Blake’s phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it.

  Duh, what was I expecting, Welcome Archimandrion? Of course not…they’ll be subtle…or invisible.

  Studying his surroundings as Ira had taught him, he noticed several guests pretending to read newspapers, but his super vision watched their eyes shifting around the room, occasionally glancing at him until their eyes focused on a group of business women walking into the hotel lobby.

  Typical, but it’s the perfect distraction.

  He made his way through the lobby to the elevator and pressed the up button. Arriving at the third floor, he walked around, searching for signs of security and eavesdropping on the conversations as he paused by the closed doors of the meeting rooms.

  Nothing peaked his interest, so he decided to try the fifth floor. Unfortunately, he discovered nothing that suggested the Archimandrion was meeting there.

  The security is tight, just like Madame Presider said it would be…so where is the meeting? They must have another set of rooms, or they’re using someone’s room…but where?

  He walked back to the elevator and pressed the down button. When the doors slid open a minute later, two beefy, well-seasoned military-type men in business suits stepped aside so he could enter.

  More security.

  He stepped in and saw they were headed to the lobby. He studied the elevator buttons as they descended and noticed the topmost floors of the tower required keycard access. His phone vibrated again.

  I bet these guys came from up there.

  The elevator dinged and slowed, then the doors opened. Blake didn’t move.

  “Um, are you gonna go?” one of the men asked.