The City That Heroes Built

by Daniel Pierce

  “Yeah, they worked together to crush some gangs when they were getting unruly in East Santa Maria.”

  “Think they were friends?” I asked.

  “Unlikely. I mean, by reputation Glory Knight was really serious and uptight. He didn't even fit with the Guard. Probably why he joined the Guardian Angels after his time with the Guard.”

  “I'm still going to send him a text.”

  Sorry to hear about Glory Knight, I wrote, but didn't get an answer.

  “So, the thing with any suicide is no one close to the person believes it,” Jen said. “No one wants to admit it. You add in Glory Knight's history and it begs the question.”

  “The police did an investigation.”

  “You think they interviewed his friends? Teammates?”

  “I mean…” I said, but I didn't know what I meant. “Suicide isn't outside the realm of possibility.”

  “Why not un-retire if he was depressed about retirement?”

  “Because he couldn't fit in his costume?”

  “I think he would have found a way to do good before he offed himself,” she said.

  “You think we should ask Fiver?”

  “I think Cal already popped in to the crime scene and took a look around.”

  “We should go to the bar,” I said. Jen nodded. We needed showers and time to get presentable. We got to Murphy's around 4. No one was around, so we just sat around and waited. The staff knew us, so they were happy to run a tab that I intended to ask Fiver to cover, since we hadn't paid for drinks at Murphy's yet. Around 9, Cal and Simon showed up. Simon went to the office to do some real work running the business, while Cal met with us.

  “You heard about Glory Knight?” Jen asked. Cal almost reacted. He looked around to make sure no one was within earshot.

  “Yeah, who hasn't?”

  “We think we should try to figure out if it as really a suicide.”

  “I'm already on it,” Cal said.

  “You went to his house?”

  “Yeah, searched a little for trapdoors and stuff like that, but didn't find any. Neither did the police.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “Yeah, I found the house of a guy who was planning on being around a while,” Cal said. “Bills paid, food bought, healthy eating, some beers in the recycling, no hard liquor in the house, though in all fairness, the cops might have stolen those if there were any. Also, not sure what he wrote his note on, the cops might have grabbed the whole pad of paper, or his stationary, but there wasn't anything lying around.”

  “Maybe it was on his computer,” Jen said. “Emailed to someone?”

  “Maybe he wrote it on his iPad, I don't know. Cops have the computer. I didn't find an address book or any tablets. But if he emailed the letter, no one told anyone about it. It'd be weird to leave it open on a computer. I don't know enough about suicide to say for sure what's typical or normal.”

  “We'll research it,” Jen said. “I can try to get the report when they file it, but the cops are slow with paperwork.”

  “Did Fiver know him?” I asked.

  Cal shook his head. “I guess they met a couple of times, but not personally. Oh, the cops have the house staked out, by the way. Don't go trying to get in. I think the Guardian Angels are standing by as well, in case someone tries to mess with his place.”

  “Glory Knight would be an interesting target if LEGION is going to try to steal another body.”

  “The city will probably put his body in the Citadel. They've been getting better at circumventing villainous plots.”

  “So what's Fiver doing?” Jen asked.

  “He knows someone who knew Glory Knight. He went to ask her what she knows,” Cal said.

  “So he thinks Glory Knight was murdered?”

  “Maybe. We're looking into it. Could also be someone did something to make him take his own life, could be he actually did it. It's worth asking about.”

  “So, if Glory Knight was still in touch with anyone from his old life, his computer could be a gold mine for the cops, and any supras that get the information as well. Anyone he emailed could be exposed,” Jen warned.

  “I could pop in and grab it from the evidence room.”

  “It could potentially save lives.”

  “So who did Fiver go see?” I asked.

  “He didn't even tell me,” Cal said. “I understand that. You can't betray a secret you don't know.”

  “Yeah, but if the person is a resource, you would lose the resource if something happened to Fiver,” Jen said.

  “It's a source I can't use. It could be someone from the Guard, none of whom would trust me. He's met them at least.”

  “What's his power anyway?” Jen asked. “He just seems to run around and punch people.”

  Cal narrowed his eyes. “I'm not comfortable discussing it with you. It's his best-kept secret. I'm pretty sure he only told me by accident,” Cal said. “But yeah, he just runs around and punches people.”

  Cal's phone buzzed. He checked the message.

  “No leads from Fiver. He wants me to pick him up.” Cal got up, walked outside, and a minute later returned with Fiver after teleporting from the alley to Fiver and back.

  “You should take another look at the place with Jen,” Fiver was saying as they walked over. “Fresh perspective.”

  “I'd like to take a look around, too,” I said.

  “I don't think that's a good idea,” Fiver said. “Female perspective might be valuable. More people means more risk. If the Guardian Angels are there, we don't want to tip them off. Yeah, Cal can get out in a hurry, but we need to play it safe.”

  “Yeah, I'll go,” Jen said.

  “Bring a bag,” I suggested.

  “I've got some gear for you,” Cal said. “You ready now?”

  “Sure.” They headed outside.

  Fiver poured himself a beer and joined me at the table.

  “So, new mystery,” he said. “Or maybe just paranoia.”

  “Doesn't hurt to be curious,” I said. “If we're wrong, no big deal.”

  “Be careful about that. We're spending favors and social currency when we start bothering people and asking questions. Need to be smart about things or we give away too much information about ourselves.”

  “Jen can probably hack the police computer and figure out what they know, or at least what they put into the system,” I said.

  “She's pretty good at that sort of stuff, is she?”

  “Yeah, she's a natural.”

  “I'll bet,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I've been with her when she went digging for information. She's gotten into all sorts. She's not lying about it.”

  “That never crossed my mind,” Fiver said. “You want a beer?” He waved over the waitress.

  “Yeah, I do,” I said. “Also, can you help out with my tab?”

  “Put my friend's tab on mine, will you?” Fiver asked.

  “Sure thing,” the waitress said.

  “Thanks, man.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “So what have you been up to?” I asked. “You missed our trap to get the Red Barber.”

  “Yeah, Cal told me. I couldn't make it. Had to knock out some personal business.”

  “Cal used me as bait, and remarkably it worked.”

  “Funny that.”

  “Yeah, it was cool being part of the team and all that, but quick reminder: I'm not a supra.”

  “Cal said you held your own just fine.”

  “Yeah, well, I've seen plenty of supras, so I don't freak out, but I was still worried about getting my throat slit.”

  “What supras have you seen?” Fiver asked. I started going through my stories about this supra or that supra. We traded a few stories about meeting people or bumping in to them. His were mostly related to being a teenage superhero; mine were just the random encounters that seem to happen all the time.

  Jen c
ame back after about an hour away. “Cal's changing,” she said. “How many beers did you have?”

  “A couple,” I said. “Can you drive?”

  “Sure.”

  “You find anything?”

  “Yeah, he had a lady friend,” Jen said. “I checked his credit cards, no Internet dating for him, at least nothing he paid for. Credit cards gave me an email address. I've downloaded everything so I can read it later, quick skim didn't tell me anything, but I searched for dating websites and nothing there. He likely met this girl the old fashioned way, but what's interesting is that she has stuff there, but not a lot. Glass in the dishwasher had lipstick on it, so she was there recently. Points to it being unlikely he killed himself from depression. Hard to judge the superhero angle.”

  “Probably better to go in the daylight,” I said. “You guys didn't turn on the lights or anything, right?”

  “No, but Cal gave me these amazing night vision goggles. They're black and green, but way better than what you see in movies.” She lifted them from her backpack. “He said I could keep them. They're super light, too.”

  “Sweet.”

  “Also, I checked the metadata on his phone and there's nothing that indicates a relationship; you know, daily calls or lots of texts, no long phone calls. I'm inclined to think that if he was careful to protect this relationship and keep it offline, it was something special, and if she was equally in on it, that she may be a supra. Or he could have another phone.”

  Cal joined us.

  “Okay, I've got something,” Fiver said. “Might be nothing, might be something related to Glory Knight, but it's something we need to care about.” Dramatic pause. “He told my contact that they've got a test.”

  Fiver expected a reaction. I mustered a look of confusion.

  “What do you mean?”

  “A supra test.”

  “Who?”

  “I don't know. A pharma company, or possibly the government. But there's a test out there, or he thought there was. If it's true, it's a serious development. It could out a lot of supras, we could get registration, “cures”, even diseases against supras.”

  “I thought they already had this stuff in the Citadel,” Jen said.

  “They can treat the part of the brain that controls your powers and turn them off, or prevent you from using that part of your brain. It's occasionally a drug, often it's a drug shot directly into your brain, or a lobotomy to remove that part of the brain. That's a hell of a thing and it takes due process as well as the means to do it. But the kind of test that we're talking about is something that can be used against someone that isn't strapped to an MRI.”

  “You think his knowledge of this prompted his murder?” I asked. “There have to be dozens of people that would know about this. Also, it's eerily similar to the plot of Watchmen.”

  “Someone being killed because they know a secret is the plot of a zillion movies, genius,” Fiver said. “I'm not even saying that's the case, but it speaks to his state of mind when she had this conversation with him a couple of weeks ago.” He seemed to finish, but cut me off before I could comment. “Also, he was supposed to be at the First Families event Saturday, but he died a couple days before. Probably coincidence, but worth mentioning.”

  “So we really don't know anything at all,” I said.

  “We know he was interested in supra-things,” Jen said. “If he met up with an old colleague, would that trigger a suicide? And it's clearly one of the Guard, because who else would you know, and want to completely protect?” she asked Fiver.

  “There are a lot of people that want their association with me kept secret,” Fiver said. “And I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, so settle down.”

  I felt like Jen was about to say something, but thankfully she didn't. I was pretty happy with Fiver not thinking that we knew any of his secrets. Instead she said, “I want to get to work going through his email. See if he had any other secrets.” She scoped up my keys from the table.

  “Cool, we'll catch you, tomorrow,” Fiver said.

  “What's tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Wednesday.”

  “No, I mean what are we doing tomorrow?”

  “I just figured we'd hang out and fight crime,” he said.

  “Oh. Okay. See ya.”

  We went out to the car.

  “Are we Fiver's only friends?” Jen asked.

  “Well, there's Cal and Simon.”

  “Yeah, but they have jobs.”

  “So we're friends with Fiver because we don't have jobs?”

  “That, and the fact that we like to hang out and fight crime,” I said. “Hey, can I try on your night vision?”

  “Yeah, when we get home. They're not very useful when headlights are coming at you.”

  She drove me home and stayed over, distracting me from the night vision. I did try them out later, when I got up to take a leak in the middle of the night. I couldn't get the damn things to work.

  Wiki Entry: Leonidas

  Leonidas was a rookie supra-hero who came across the Sunshine Bunch as they escaped from Santa Maria Credit Union. He pursued them through the city for over twenty minutes. The chase resulted in over 3 million dollars worth of property damage, 10 injured bystanders, one dead civilian, and the death of the Granite Kid. Most of the chase was videoed by onlookers and the footage revealed that a lot of the damage was caused by Leonidas' pursuit. Leonidas, real name David Courtney, surrendered to authorities under the supervision of the Guardian Angels. He is one of two 'hero' inmates imprisoned in the Citadel.

  June 16, 2021

  Skyborne's “Ask Me Anything” started at 6pm. It started with him answering some questions about his power, which really was that he could fly, and he claimed he didn't really know how it worked, but it let him protect himself and knock bad guys around. He said Slowburn was single, and he'd seen him without his mask, and he was a good-looking young man that any girl would be lucky to date. He did comment about the lawsuits against him and said Good Samaritan laws protected him. He defended his right to be a superhero, and was amazing. He cited both the 2nd and 14th Amendments, and Supreme Court rulings that tied the use of supra powers to the 2nd Amendment. He followed with some philosophical comments about evil triumphing if good men did nothing.

  After that he talked movies and music, then got back on track with some more supra talk. Hero he idolized: Captain Dynamic. Best power: His own. Scariest villain: Suicide Prime right now; Gravicide past. Toughest fight: Granite Kid. Would he date a non-supra: He's never dated a supra. Asked why he hasn't fought the Sky Bandits: We've tangled, it didn't make the news. Would he continue to be a hero: Absolutely. Still teaming up with Slowburn: He didn't want to risk his partner's secret identity, so they were going to figure something out. On teaming up with someone else: It's hard to find people to trust. Thoughts on the Guardian Angels: Real pros, a little condescending. Thoughts on Free Force: Yeah, they're okay.

  On what he's doing and where he's at, he didn't answer, but said that he's re-grouping, evaluating how he can continue to help the city without worrying about retaliation.

  Nigel was moderating the interview. Jen sent him a text asking him to pass her number on to Skyborne. She'd bought a burner, hoping that he would get in touch. Nigel said he would pass it on.

  That was our Wednesday. I traded a couple of texts with Fiver. He, Cal and Simon were staking out the Vandenberg Commons and Antiguo Los Alamos Cemetery. I now knew that Cal was his way to get around the distance between the two. That would keep them busy for the next couple of weeks, I figured. There was no pattern that we could find for LEGION's grave robbing.

  I took Jen out on a real date. Dinner and a concert at Shoreline, walk along the beach and holding hands. We talked family and I told her the story of my parents' dying. She told me her mom moved up in Northern California.

  “I love it here. Just seems right. I like the beaches, and the city's going through a big improvement, even if it does have its share of supr
a-crime.”

  “Beats a small town where nothing happens,” I said.

  “Totally,” Jen said. “I love the things to do here, being able to meet people and see a concert. I'm not really into that stay at home with the family stuff, you know?”

  We ended up talking and walking for a couple of hours before heading home. It was good night.

  June 18, 2021

  I made plans to take Jen out again. Friday didn't mean a whole lot to us since we didn't have 9-to-5 jobs, but it was still fun to be out when restaurants were crowded and everyone else was out, too. Jen looked amazing in her dress. I wore a blue suit and proudly wore a bowtie that I tied myself after spending the last two days practicing. So much harder than it looks, then all of the sudden it's easy.

  We just got our entrees about 8pm when my phone went off. I didn't look at the message. Then Jen's phone lit up, and mine followed.

  “I don't mean to be rude,” I said, “but it might be important.”

  “Quick look,” Jen said. She pulled her phone from her purse. “Jesus.”

  She must have been getting the same news I was. “Skyborne?”

  “Yeah.”

  My texts were variations on reports that Black Reign had captured Skyborne. The young supra-villainess captured and molested Kid Justice last year. She posted the video online. This time she was streaming live. A link had gone up on Suprastories. I clicked it, I had to know.

  The camera showed Skyborne tied naked to a chair before a white wall. He seemed conscious, but drugged. Black Reign strutted in front of the camera. She dressed like a dominatrix in black leather, complete with a mask, carrying a candle. She grabbed Skyborne's hair and pulled his head back. Hot wax dripped on to his chest. He writhed in pain, but couldn't do anything to get away. After that, things got worse. Black Reign carried blades into the camera's view. I didn't watch.

  “I can track this,” Jen said. She attached something to her phone.

  “What is that?”

  “Call Cal, tell him that I'm going to have an address in two minutes.”