by C. T. Phipps
Even if it had brought Mandy back to me.
And she felt like Mandy.
I was so confused.
“Your plan won’t stop President Omega,” Mandy said, bringing my attention back to the subject at hand. “It’ll only slow him down.”
“That’s better than any other plan I’ve heard today,” Gabrielle said, putting her hands on her hips. “Our situation is pretty grim. I’ve checked on the Society of Superheroes and they’re all completely brainwashed now. They just announced a general kill order for Gary, me, and the other ‘criminals’ who helped me at the hospital.”
“A general kill order?” I said, my attention once more on our situation. “You didn’t kill Tom Terror and he was...Tom Terror!”
“It’s only been used for alien warlords, gods, demons, undead, and robots.”
Cindy looked at Gabrielle. “Oh, so it’s a racist order.”
The Afro-Hispanic Gabrielle raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, that was funnier in my head,” Cindy said.
“Yeah,” Gabrielle said.
“Shutting up now.” Cindy made a zip-it gesture over her mouth.
“Good idea,” Gabrielle said. “So, you three finish up your romantic whatzits and we’ll get going to find out where the people we have to blow up are.”
Gabrielle had regained much of her normal vigor. She had a target now, someone on whom she could focus all of the rage she’d felt from her father’s murder. I understood that emotion all too well.
Hate, like grief, could keep you going a very long time.
Screw Jedi ethics.
“We’ll discuss this,” Cindy said. “At great length, don’t you worry. We’ll just do it when the world isn’t ending.”
“Oh, then it’ll never happen,” Mandy said. “The world is always ending.”
“I personally don’t even need to know what there is to discuss,” Gabrielle said. “I’m in an open relationship with Jim Bernstein the Golden Scarab in this time period and Ultramind X in the forty-ninth century. It works well for us.”
“Not with her,” Cindy said, her voice low.
“I’m not giving up on my husband,” Mandy said.
“He’s not your—” Cindy started to say.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” I asked.
“No,” Cindy and Mandy said at once.
Diabloman pointed at my chest. “This will end in tears, mark my words. It is why I believe in the traditional marriage.”
“This is all ridiculous,” I muttered, my voice low. “I’m sorry I’m hurting you. I shouldn’t have—”
“Gary—” Cindy started to say.
“Please.”
I couldn’t say if Cindy was more angry or concerned by her next look. Then again, I was being an asshole, so what else could I say?
“Sure,” Cindy muttered. “Whatever you say.”
I turned around and walked over to get into the boat docked at the side of Mandy’s lair, uninterested in any further discussion. It felt like I was a cosmic chew toy, being gnawed on by God’s dog. I’d been happy with Mandy, and if I could trade everything to get her back, I would. That just didn’t seem to be an option, though, no matter how things progressed. I didn’t want to be caught in some kind of crazy Archie love triangle (Veronica, by the way, always Veronica). I just wanted to be with one person I could love with all my heart and soul.
Forever.
“Susan,” Cloak said.
“What?” I said, starting the boat.
Everyone in the group exchanged a look and reluctantly got on board. The boat pulled out seconds later, heading down the sewer tunnels to Lake Falconcrest. We could get pretty close to the woods where Kerri was staying with Lisa. I decided to focus on that, even though I already knew the answer to the question of whether I would be with Cindy or the faux Mandy if both would have me.
I shouldn’t be with anyone.
“My wife’s name was Susan,” Cloak said. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you about her.”
“No, you didn’t,” I muttered.
“It’s not exactly a subject I’m very comfortable talking about. You know the basics of the story. I was married to a woman, we had a young son, and they were gunned down in a drive-by shooting from the local mobsters. I was a mere cop then, influential because of my family but still just trying to make the city a better place one house at a time. Their deaths inspired me to use the family’s wealth to study the occult arts, found the Brotherhood of Infamy, and do some terribly insipid things before my brother convinced me to do something useful with my powers.”
“Believe me,” I said. “I sympathize.”
“I know you do. I’ve felt helpless throughout your year of hell because I know there’s absolutely nothing anyone can say or do to make your kind of pain better. Our kind of pain. I did the exact same thing as you, seeking answers in the occult and mad science to try to bring back my loved ones. It drove me a little bit insane.”
“You tried to destroy the world.”
“Okay, it drove me a lot insane.”
“How did you eventually get over it?” I said, ignoring the fact that I was talking aloud. Thankfully, everyone was used to it by now.
“Over it?” Cloak said, surprised I’d even ask. “I didn’t. There were a couple of women thereafter who were special to me but I let my love for Susan poison my relationship with them. I died alone, except for my brother, content in trying to help other people deal with their pain because I never could resolve my own.”
“Sounds like it wasn’t your love for Susan driving you but your guilt.”
“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Gary,” Cloak said. “I’ve been analyzed by the best, even if you’re right.”
“What was Susan like?”
“She was a wonderful woman. Funny and courageous. She worked at the local newspaper as an investigative reporter.”
“Isn’t that a bit cliché?”
“There were only so many professions back then for women to be in regular contact with people hanging around crime scenes.”
“Ah.”
“There were times, though, I made connections with people who might have made me enjoy the world again as a living man rather than a walking shadow. Queen Isis the Invincible, a stage magician I knew as a Marianne Nassar who was vibrant and joyful. Lady Larceny, the Queen of Crime who might have been willing to set aside that if I could set aside my pain. Madame Molotov the Communist Agent, Princess Eternia of the Light Dimension and Daughter of Entropicus, even Guinevere and I might have had a chance if only I’d let us.”
“It’s starting to sound like bragging now.”
“The thing is, Gary that we are all searching for someone to ease the inherent loneliness of being human. We create rules about romance, fidelity, and love because we’re afraid without them that we’re even more likely to be hurt. I pushed aside all of that potential comfort because I didn’t want to dishonor the memory of the life I shared with my wife.”
“Admirable.”
“The dead make no judgments. They ask for nothing. Those who return from it are forever changed but all agree—the petty habits and desires of humans are of little consequence to the greater universe. You, as Death’s Chosen, should know this.”
“Death is curable in this world.”
“Perhaps,” Cloak said. “But when I finally spoke to my wife after I became a hero, the thing I learned was she’d rather I have been happy than torture myself with her image. I also tortured those I had come to love and call friend out of the sake of immortalizing my grief. You love Cindy. Don’t screw that up.”
I closed my eyes as we hit the open water. “I do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Long Creepy Boat Ride
There was a long silence as the speedboat passed Lake Falconcrest’s black waters. It was the sixth Great Lake and was the reason Falconcrest City had grown to become the third largest city in America as well as the heart of Michigan.
&nbs
p; It was also cold, perpetually gloomy, and filled with all manner of islands used by everyone from smugglers to supervillains. The city was no stranger to ghost stories, but the worst were always about the islands. My grandfather used to tell me a particularly eerie one about a haunted leper colony that had been murdered by Falconcrest City’s settlers so they could steal the lepers’ gold. These lepers then rose from the grave a century later to wreak their revenge on the murderers’ descendants. Only as an adult did I realize he’d stolen the premise from John Carpenter’s The Fog.
Today, though, I could believe it.
Although it was mid-afternoon, storm clouds had rolled in, and the lake’s surface was covered in a massive cloud that was almost assuredly unnatural. Unnatural and my hometown went together like peanut butter and jelly, though, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. There was very little light and I was tempted to turn on the speedboat’s spotlights before deciding it was better to move along unnoticed.
Gabrielle and Mandy sat on one side of the speedboat’s side while Diabloman and Cindy sat on the other. It was an awkward situation and I had no one to blame but myself. The worst part was, as much as I loved Cindy, I didn’t entirely regret doing what I’d done. There was a part of me, a deeply buried part at least, which believed Mandy was somehow inside the vampire walking around. Certainly, she acted a hell of a lot more like my wife than she had yesterday but even that just made it more confusing.
No, I’d made my choice.
Forward.
Not back.
I just hope Cindy could forgive me.
“So how is everyone else?” I asked, desperate to break the silence I’d unwittingly imposed. “Did anyone, uh, die?”
“Aside from Colonel Disaster, no,” Diabloman said, looking up to me. “We had some close calls with the Extreme’s complete disregard for life but the Black Witch was extremely good at protecting us with her spells. Angel Eyes healed those individuals who suffered grievous injuries as well.”
“Everyone was good to me, coming to rescue me like that.”
“Nicky and the Fruitbat expect to be paid in five figures. Your assets seized or not.”
“I covered that up, though,” I said. “Hid the money with Kerri who gets freaked out by parking tickets.”
“It may surprise you but President Omega doesn’t seem to mind the occasional bit of illegality,” Diabloman said. “I’m sorry, Gary, but you’re flat broke.”
I sighed. “Oh well. It’s not like I didn’t keep funds hidden away.”
“I checked, those are gone too.”
“Well...crap.”
Cindy gave a half-chuckle. “It’s okay, Gary. You can sleep on my couch until we get you sanitized and checked for Bloodsucking Murder Skank-related STDs.”
“I keep forgetting you really don’t like me now,” Mandy said. “I’m not the woman you remember.”
“That’s the problem,” Cindy said. “You’re not who I remember. Only three people have done anything for me in my entire life. Not my parents, not my pimp, not my teachers in school, not the guys and girls I’ve hooked up with. I’ve had two friends since the time I was in diapers, Gabrielle and Gary. Mandy, however, gave her life for me, and I’m not going to forget that. You...make a mockery of her sacrifice.”
Mandy looked down. “You’re right, I do.”
Cindy’s eyes widened.
“I can’t explain all of the amazing things I’ve seen in the past two centuries,” Mandy said, her voice sad and wistful. “That as terrible as the world becomes—and it will be terrible—it was bearable because of the family around me. I know so many people who you may never get to meet, may never even be born, because of what we’re doing here. Even so, they were all willing to give their lives to make the world never have to experience what it does. You’re a part of that, Cindy. You’re better than you think you are and deserve a family.”
Cindy stared at her. “That would mean a great deal more coming from someone with a pulse.”
“Hey,” I said, offended. “No bias against the dead.”
“Sorry, Cloak,” Cindy said. “You’re totally the person I’m thinking of when I say some of my best friends are dead.”
“Have you ever actually heard Cloak speak?” Gabrielle said.
“Nope,” Cindy said. “But he’s got Gary’s back and that’s enough.”
“I’m oddly touched,” Cloak said.
“Could someone turn on the radio?” Diabloman said. “Family drama is unsettling to me.”
“Sure,” I said, switching it on. The tail end of Sabaton’s Carolus Rex was playing before it switched to an emergency broadcast. “Hail to the Chief” started playing and I got a bad feeling I was about to listen to a message from the president.
I was right.
President Omega spoke with an amused, self-satisfied tone. “My fellow Americans, you are perhaps wondering why in the past hour hordes of giant robots have seized control of every major city in America, why I have herded Congress to disintegration booths, and why I have outlawed the letter K. Actually, you’re probably not wondering why this is because I have asserted my mind-control satellites over much of the United States so you’re all drooling idiots now believing I’m just the best person on Earth.”
In the sky above, I heard the sound of whooshing rocket boosters and saw the shadow of hundreds of humanoid-shaped Exterminator warbots sailing through the air to Falconcrest City.
“That’s not good,” I said, making sure to move myself further into the fog. I used a combination of my abilities to make it dense and thicker around our boat until we were all but invisible.
President Omega continued. “In the words of General Haig: I am in control. I control the horizontal and the vertical, and if this were television, I would be screwing with your reception right now just to show that I could. Already, time-portals are opening across the planet, unleashing hordes of my forth-ninth century death machines to secure the other nations of Earth. Very little of which will matter as soon as the rest of my satellites come online. The Society of Superheroes will not help you because they’re completely trapped in a pleasant dream where everything is a fine and I’m their beloved leader. You may ask why I’m telling you all of this, my mouth-breathing audience, and the answer is because some of you will be immune to my mind-control satellites. Too strong-willed, magically protected, or too out-of-direct-line-of-fire to be brainwashed. You, my free-thinking friends, are why I do this. Solely so I can rejoice in your appreciation of how utterly fucked you are.”
Cindy frowned. “Okay, now he’s just being a dick.”
“Imagine dealing with this for centuries,” Mandy muttered, rolling her eyes. “It gets worse.”
“How?” I asked, immediately wishing I hadn’t tempted fate.
“Very soon I am going to cleanse this planet of aliens, sentient machines, Supers, straight-A students, martial artists, cooking show hosts, and people who could possibly pose a threat to me. Some of you may think I’m motivated by racism or prejudice. No, truth be told, I hate you all. I intend to make my reign a living hell for all of you until you beg for death and I have built an unstoppable army from your children’s corpses. But I digress. I have a special message for Gary Karkofsky, Cindy Wakowski, Gabrielle Anders, that Mexican Satanist I forget the name of—”
“Hey!” Diabloman said. “At least remember the name.”
“And Mandy,” President Omega added the last bit with a little chuckle at the end. “I am coming for you.” The words hung in the air before his tone became chipper and upbeat. “Now onto a collection of my top 100 favorite hits from the past ten-thousand years. Starting with Jefferson Starship’s We Built This City!”
I blinked and turned off the radio.
“Is it wrong I’m starting to like this guy’s style?” I suggested.
No one found it funny.
“Tough crowd,” I muttered, going back to driving the boat.
“Seriously, dude needs therapy,” Cindy s
aid, “and that’s me saying that. What are the mental health facilities like in the forty-ninth century?”
“Therapy in the future has a 99.999999 percent success rate for producing amiable decent pacifists,” Gabrielle said. “So you can’t blame the system really for one outlier.”
She was being sarcastic.
Mostly.
“How much time do we have?” I asked. If we prevented the Nanoplague, would we still end up having a world that was completely wrecked?
Mandy said, “By my reckoning, a little under forty hours. President Omega isn’t exactly big on restraint—”
“Oh, I hadn’t noticed!” I said, faking shock.
“Don’t be a smartass,” Mandy said. “As soon as he gets the weapons ready and loaded, he’s going to launch them.”
“How the fuck did this guy impersonate someone rationale for decades?” Cindy said.
“Robots,” Mandy said. “Human Duplicate Units to handle all of his politicking while he butchered people and destroyed lives.”
Cindy blinked. “Okay. That’s...that doesn’t really speak well for our ability to find and deal with infiltrators.”
“He always turned back time whenever exposed.”
“Damn save-scumming,” Cindy muttered. “Takes the fun out of the game.”
“Well, let’s work quickly,” I said. “Diabloman, did you get my mother to safety?”
“And did you not get my mother out?” Cindy asked. “Because, if you didn’t, I’ll be very grateful.”
Diabloman sighed. “My teams have been prepared to get all of our loved ones to safety in the event of Operation: Kingslayer. I know that some of my teams were intercepted, though, and everyone involved was killed. I don’t know if the people who were being protected were harmed in any way. I also haven’t been able to get in contact with my wife and daughter, though I have always been circumspect about their location so it is unlikely they are in any danger. At least, that is what I pray, to whatever god or demon will listen.”
Wow.
It made me wonder what I could possibly say to make things better. Diabloman was, despite his past, the single most devoted family man I’d ever known. His wife and daughter had brought him back from the brink of suicide when his powers turned against him. They’d given him a reason to live when he was ready to lie down and die in guilt over his previous actions. If his family was gone then Diabloman as I knew him would end.