by Jon Davis
No, that wasn’t fair. True, he had been the one to give her the idea. He had likely told her everything about comic books and their stories. At least, I think he did, if he wasn’t joking about that table. Ugh. But if taking over the world was the direction that Yasmine had already been considering...then BJ had given her a way to do it.
A phrase from an old movie came to mind. “Good cannot exist without evil, and evil cannot exist without good.” The filmmaker, M. Night Shyamalan, had said that about the archetypes of his superhero movie, Unbreakable. And, while the movie was where I’d first heard the phrase, historically, it stemmed from a philosopher of the 1200s, Thomas Aquinas. This was the basis of every superhero conflict in comics, stories, and legends since the ancient Greeks, and long before even that.
So, of course, BJ had walked right into it. He was a comic geek like me, and he had super powers that had literally been given to him by Alex. Put the crisis with magnesium aside, and I can see the fun of having powers. I might’ve done the same thing. But things had gotten too serious for me from the very beginning. Now, I had to deal with the consequences of him talking with Yasmine about it. It was all fun and games until someone lost a life.
I dropped my head in my hands with a sigh. I couldn’t fight something like that! If Yasmine managed to pull this off, the worship of the superhuman would be just the beginning. I fought against that sort of thing when I tried to get Alex’s story out to the world. And if I had to do that again…
I muttered to myself, “I can’t. I can’t do this again. It’s too damn big for me.”
I heard boots on snow, and I glanced up to see Dana walking out to the patio. She stopped at the corner of the patio and touched a switch on the corner. Behind me, light shone in pastel blue and rose. It reflected softly off the snow in the yard.
She said, “Hi, I figured you might like company.”
I nodded and gave her room to sit down as she joined me. We sat there for a while. In the distance, I could hear the sounds of traffic and a couple helicopters above. I tensed when she sat down, but then forced myself to relax. I was just too on edge. But right then, I couldn’t afford to be.
After a bit, I said, “I can’t do this.”
I felt Dana’s hand rubbing my back. But she said nothing. I took a breath and said, “Back in the hospital, I realized it. I can’t do this anymore. I quit.”
My next words came out in a sort of tumble. My emotions were finally coming out after I’d bottled them up for so long. “They took my best friend. My brother, a guy I would die to save, and now, it’s his body, his face, but the thing running it, is a program made by Yasmine.”
I looked at her and said, “I…I just can’t go on. Right now, Mom and Dad are at home, watching television, maybe snuggling together on the couch, and I don’t know what to say to them. I have the power to blow apart buildings, and I can’t begin to tell them what I can do.
“And Brand is alive, but he’s someone else. An angry, hate-filled Brand exists instead of the guy I remember. And if I have to fight him. I don’t know if I can win, or what I might have to do to win. And I can’t even think of what I can possibly say to his parents.”
Looking at the tree across the yard, I let out a breath of air, watching it waft away. Softly, I said, “I can’t do it. I can’t go play hero. Somebody else has to. If I do it, people are going to die. And I’m going to lose something important, I know I will.”
Who was I kidding? I was a kid. I’d grown up in a family split between Riverlite and Chicago. Powers or no, what could I possibly do to stop this insanity? Yasmine was going to come in and take it all away. And from what I had heard so far, I’d be dealing with a lot more than her soon enough. I needed a way out, an answer that could stop the war before it started. I needed help, and I just hoped that people would listen.
Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, Dana gestured to the tree in front of us. “I put that tree here when I moved in two years ago. It was what made me decide to get the place.”
“Why?”
“It was a memorial to what I lost…who I lost.” The sadness in her voice was back again. The same sadness I’d heard in San Francisco.
I put a hand on her knee, squeezing it slightly. “You told me about training, but it never occurred to me why you left the city and came here. I’m sorry, Dana.”
She nodded and sighed. “Yeah, Maria warned me not to fall too hard for him. Care, yes, but not fall in love with him. She said I would be hurt.”
Dana said, “I couldn’t go on. Not without Ian. And it was so unfair. He had just asked me to marry him. I had this wonderful fantasy of us being a psychic duo, going out into the world and helping the gifted. He was the same thing Alex was, a telekinetic. He even had some limited telepathy. Oh, and the fun part was that he could make ectoplasmic illusions.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “Ectoplasm—isn’t that stuff that charlatans used in the 1800s to pull off hoaxes with?”
If Yasmine hadn’t just put me through hell, Dana’s glare might have bothered me. Just the same, I said, “Okay. I believe you.”
Dana gave a slight snort and said, “He couldn’t do much with it. You can think of it as a sort of a field of energy that becomes solid in the form shaped by the ectoplasm’s manipulator. Ian would manipulate it into the shape of roses.”
“And they looked real?” I asked.
“To a point. Have you ever seen a substance called aerogel? It looks literally like smoke, but it’s an extremely light material that looks like blue smoke and feels like Styrofoam to the touch. That’s sort of what Ian’s roses looked like.” Dana said. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I saw that her eyes were distant, as if remembering. She probably was.
“Illusion…?” I asked. At her confused look, I said, “You said ‘illusion.’ But if the stuff becomes solid…why is it an illusion?”
“Oh. Sorry. It’s because the material he creates disappears the moment he stops concentrating on it. So…it’s real, but it’s not. Understand?”
I gave her a nod. Then I asked the hard question. “Dana, what happened with Ian?”
Dana took a moment before answering. She looked into the night, silent. Then, after a sharp intake of breath, she exhaled and said, “It was raining that night, and he promised to come back. I’d just said yes to his proposal. I called BJ, and we talked for a while. But time passed and Ian didn’t come back. And he didn’t call. So I decided to go to his place. But, as I went out to my car, I saw him. He was just standing there in the rain. I called out to him, asking why he hadn’t come back in.”
She hesitated. The pain of loss was in her voice. I reached out, and she took my hand for support. “I heard a whisper. He said goodbye, and then he disappeared.”
Dana took a deep breath, and, fighting through the pain, she said, “I nearly killed myself getting to his apartment. I rushed into the apartment house and up the stairs. I remember that I almost broke the key to get into his apartment. But…”
I said softly, “Dana, you don’t have to go on.”
She shook her head, and a look of hard determination showed in her eyes. “The place was completely empty. Dust was all over the place. I’ve been there before—multiple times, in fact—and it was as if nobody lived there for years.”
I said, “What? How?”
Dana shook her head. “I confronted Mrs. Gullaney, the building’s landlady. She didn’t even know me. I’d said hello to her half a dozen times before, but nope, she didn’t know me. And she swore that she’d never had anyone in that apartment because it leaked from the bathroom ceiling. But I had showered with him—hell, I had sex with him there. I left and checked every place and everyone who’d ever talked to him or knew him. And it was as if he just never existed, not to anyone. He never existed.”
Dana leaned back and looked at me. “I gave up. But Caryn and Maria, and BJ—oh, that funny little brat brother of mine—they pulled me through. After that, though, I couldn’t ta
ke on any others. I was out of the witchcraft business, the coven. And I came here to make sure I’d never have to do it again.”
“And saw Alex.”
Dana laughed, but it was bitter sounding. Then she said, “Yes, it’s as if the Goddess was laughing at me. I swear Gaia was daring me to walk away and watch him end either his life or fall into madness. Once he trusted me enough to tell me what was wrong, I understood his problem all too well. Those gifted with telekinesis can literally feel the world around them.
Dana’s face took on a wistful expression. “Ian had the same problem. And I helped Alex…in the same exact way I helped Ian.”
I looked at her for a moment before I asked, “Did you expect him to disappear like Ian did?”
After a few seconds, she nodded. I didn’t say anything to that. What could I say? After all, Alex did disappear in his own way. It was just a really public way of doing it. I now had to wonder…wait, BJ was his boyfriend…my brows furrowed. “Dana, if BJ knew about you and Ian—”
“—Why did he get together with Alex?” she asked knowingly. I nodded.
Dana cocked her head, giving me a half smile. “BJ and Alex were close, but Alex knew that BJ was a bit of a free bird. BJ cared about Alex, but those two weren’t ready to settle down. If anything, I think BJ expected Alex to leave, like all the others we’ve trained.”
“Ouch. Had to be hard, just the same,” I thought aloud. Overhead, I heard the whispers of birds flying. It was about time.
Dana sighed. “When you suggested that the New Men might have been people we trained, I didn’t want to accept the idea. I still don’t. But, one by one, they’ve all left us, and we’ve never heard from any of them again. Ian was an outlier, though. He literally vanished from everyone’s memories. Now, I have to wonder, if everyone, but us have forgotten all those people.
I said, “You still remember him, though. BJ does, and I’m guessing your coven does, too?”
She nodded and I went on, “And it sounds like Caryn and Maria remember having trained psychics. So it wasn’t total memory loss.”
Dana shrugged and said, “Why should we forget them? We were training them. It’s been our calling since the early 1970s.”
I took a breath and sat in silence for a bit. If this was their way of developing the gifted, then the New Men sounded cruel. No, I didn’t want to deal with this on top of my own problems.
To distract myself, I looked at the tree and said, “I’m sorry. I never meant to bring up so many bad memories. I didn’t know why you’d come here except to be near your dad. I never saw any pictures of him in the house so it never really clicked in my mind that it might be more personal.”
Reaching out, she took me into a tight hug. Eh, it was that kind of thing, a good friend bonding moment. And that’s what we were—friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
Dana smiled and said. “It’s not your fault. No one started this. It’s just…it’s just how things happened.”
Still smiling, Dana pulled back and said, “And as for a picture of Ian…”
She pulled out her wallet from a back pocket. It was filled with pictures of her life, and she flipped through the various scenes until she stopped at one particular photo. She said, “This was taken at the Pacific Mall Walk a year after he started to train with us.”
I grinned and looked at the picture. I looked down to see Dana laughing with a guy right next to her. He was smiling freely, happy as a clam. I could see such deep love in her eyes. Then I concentrated on the guy. I stopped breathing for a moment. Damn.
He had longish brown hair and a half goatee over his pointed chin. He was smiling happily, his deep brown eyes looking right into the camera as Dana held him. High cheekbones…close-in ears. And the answer fell into my lap.
Then I heard something that made me pause. I said, “Whatever you do, don’t panic or make any threatening gestures.”
Dana blinked. “What?”
The sky fell. Suddenly, we were surrounded by blinding light. Before we could react, soldiers in full combat fatigues rushed into the backyard to surround us.
Dana jumped up, looking wildly around. “Gaia, what is going on?”
I touched her arm. “Don’t let BJ or Angel attempt to pull off some idiotic rescue. Trust me!”
Someone spoke through a loudspeaker, and I had to dampen my hearing as fast as I could. “This is the FBI! Vaughn Hagen! You’re surrounded! Make no moves or we will shoot! Surrender yourself and no one will be hurt!”
Dana looked at me, confused and scared. Two men came up to surround the two of us, one pulling her away from me while the other yanked my wrists together to wrap in zip tie cuffs. I yelled, “Dana, don’t panic. I’ll sort this out, and then we can go dancing!”
When they pulled me away, Dana started to reach for me. A burly agent held her back. But they weren’t arresting her. Of course they weren’t. This wasn’t about her. This was about me, an Empowered. As frightening as the situation was, though, I needed to let myself get arrested. At this point, it was the only way to get could get some help. Thanks to Dana, I knew there was a chance to get specific help.
I let them lead me out of the backyard and toward a waiting armored vehicle. At least I figured it was armored. It looked like one of those big vans television crime shows use all the time. On the way to the van, I saw that everyone had their guns up and ready to fire. Yay.
Two agents pushed me into the dark interior where four agents were waiting for me. As the door closed, I said, “Gentlemen, you have me right where I want you. Now, take me to your leader.”
They were not amused.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Did I know I was about to be arrested? I did. Since the attack at the hospital, I had kept listening for anything that might sound suspicious. Though, to be honest, I thought the worst I might hear would be Yasmine yelling, ‘Kill them my pretties!’ or some such thing before the front of the house exploded inward. But my imagination aside, what did happen was far more mundane.
Helicopters.
Or rather, I heard helicopters in some kind of whisper mode. That made them the property of the United States government. In my viewpoint, local or state owned helicopters wouldn’t have that sort of tech. Or have reason to use it. What disturbed me was that the Federal government did choose to use it, especially where I was concerned. That meant that they somehow knew about me, or at least suspected something about my abilities. But at least they only got me.
When BJ decided he wanted soda, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I didn’t even have to con Angela into going with him. I’d listened and heard snatches of conversation about targeting someone below. Then I heard my name mentioned. That’s when I went outside. I did need to think. And without Dana’s inadvertent revelation, I’d still be here in this cell, but I would be hoping to find the first person who might listen to my warning about Yasmine.
Unfortunately, while I knew who I needed to talk to, I just didn’t know when we would talk. I had no way of knowing how much time had passed since I was put in here, but it had to have been hours. And since I’d slept at least once after they put me in here, I wasn’t even sure if I’d been here all night or not. I decided not to worry. Until Yasmine attacked, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Once I woke up, I worked out to stretch my still sore shoulder and washed up. Finally, they came for me. This was good. Hopefully I could get something ready before Yasmine came by for a quick brunch—and a total slaughter of everyone here.
I heard footsteps in the narrow hall outside the room. I stood up as I heard the clinking of keys and a card reader’s beep. The door opened, and soldiers marched in with automatic rifles pointed right at my chest and head. One hard-eyed soldier said, “Follow us now, and don’t pull any stunts with that voice of yours! Is that clear, Hagen?”
Yay, the soldiers knew about my powers. What’s more, they were dressed in full combat gear, with helmets and facemasks. These guys were not kidding. I let th
em bind my hands, and they put me between the four of them. From the cell, we turned left down a hallway leading to a stairwell. We walked two flights of stairs to the second floor.
Passing a hallway as we came out of the stairwell, I could see several people in white coats heading into an elevator. They were the first actual scientific types I’d seen here. I overheard one grumbling about them having to leave the complex. After that, I saw no one. We reached the end of the hall and went into a reception area. The phone was ringing. And kept on ringing as we walked down the hallway.
Wryly, I asked, “So is anyone going to pick up the phone? Or did you guys send the receptionists home for the duration, too?”
“No talking!” snapped the soldier right behind me. He pushed me with the barrel of his rifle. My shoulder hurt worse. But I shut up. It was not the time to be sarcastic to four men with nasty tempers and weapons pointing at me. Turning down a short hallway, we came to the end. I glanced out the window as they unlocked the door and opened it.
They brought a tank. Seriously? A tank?
As the handcuffs were unlocked, I was ordered to go into the room and sit down. Heading in, I sat as two soldiers took position just inside the door while the other two stood outside. The room was painted white with tan carpeting. A camera was in each of the corners of the ceiling across from me. Over all, the room was empty except for a stainless steel rectangular table and two office chairs.
And I waited. Without a clock to know for sure how much time was passing, I sat, tapping my fingers on the table, waiting. I had to control my imagination as the time passed. At one point, I even imagined screaming at the soldiers to knock them out. I didn’t do that. Instead, I drummed my fingers on the table even harder. At least I had the small satisfaction of seeing the soldiers look uncomfortable as I continued rapping the table.