by JC Bybee
By some miracle Emily had been living with uncontrollable mental powers her whole life. She was lucky she was still sane. “Are you willing to tell me what your powers are?” Ace asked. She didn’t know what else to say.
“It can do what Angel and Torment can, just more so, so much more. It makes me hear the thoughts of everyone around me. And not just their thoughts, their intentions, their motivations, their wants, their needs, the good and the bad, all of it in a flood of maddening information that my power seems to seek out. It’s constantly looking for more, until you showed up. Your presence quelled my power, sent it running,” Emily replied.
She’s telling the truth. How can she be telling the truth?
Ace sat there stunned. She’d never had a Used tell her that. Not that most of them had been able to say much of anything. “Can you give us more information about Technosis?” Angel’s voice came over the intercom, filling in for Ace.
Emily nodded. She looked much better now that she had apparent control over her powers. “Now that Ace is here I can actually think and sort things out. Technosis is an upper tier Third, a technomancer, born at the very end of that generation. He was just a Reg until the HSO found him and started screwing with his powers. They did generational gap tests on him, trying to see if it was possible to take a Third up to a Fourth. It really screwed his mind over. When they realized what they’d done to him they stuck him in a lab and let him loose.”
“Is he really the one responsible for Tomahawk’s death?” Ace asked.
“Not any more than a gun is responsible for the death of someone who gets shot. The HSO used him to take down Tomahawk, just like they used him to try and kill you. From what I could tell the HSO is terrified of you,” Emily replied. She gave Ace a look of sympathy.
“Did you see any of their other plans?” Angel asked via intercom.
“No, just what Technosis knew, which wasn’t much,” Emily replied.
“Thank you, Ms. Carpenter. You are free to go. If we need anything else we will be in touch,” Angel said after a brief pause.
Emily nodded and stood. As she was preparing to leave she looked at Ace. There was uncertainty painted across her features, but instead of voicing her concerns she thanked them and left.
If what she says is true she doesn’t want to leave and lose control over her powers again.
“Good job, Ace,” Torment said over the intercom. Ace didn’t really have a reply. She didn’t feel like she’d done much more than serve as a power dampener so Emily could talk. She’d served her purpose, now she had to go back to writing her report. There were other things on her mind though, personal things.
It’ll be okay. We deal with it later. Focus on what’s at hand.
Ace left the interrogation room and met the others in the gray hallway. “We’ll put her under observation-” Angel cut off as the blast door opened and uniformed officer came running down the hall. “Captain Angel sir, Technosis just died in the holding cell!”
Chapter 4
“Damn it!” Angel swore. “How’d it happen?”
“We don’t know for certain. Riggs and I were watching him and suddenly he just keeled over. Riggs called up Einstein and I came to get you,” the officer replied. He looked worried and a little out of breath. The holding cells were on the opposite side of the precinct buildings.
“Ace, I think you had better go and get Ms. Carpenter. Something tells me she is in danger,” Torment said. The echo in her voice intensified with her worry. Ace nodded and started jogging down the hall. The security checkpoints let her through, but not fast enough. Instead of waiting for the elevator Ace hit the stairs and leapt up to the first floor landing.
Just as she popped out the door to the main lobby she felt a surge of panic that was not her own. Something told her it was Emily trying to get her attention. Her heightened hearing picked up the sound of a car door slamming. Ace ran for the front doors, having to dodge surprised normals and Exceptionals. She finally, carefully, went through the main doors and out into the hot August afternoon.
The streets were crowded, as was expected. New Davenport was one of the largest cities in the United States of North America. After the Exceptionals War population centers had shifted dramatically. Old national boundaries were changed. Some areas were left completely desolate, others began to thrive.
Ace scanned the traffic, both pedestrian and motorized, but there was no sign of Emily. Another wave of panic hit her, again not her own. It brought her attention to a white, four door sedan that was just turning down Fourth Street. They were moving with the pace of traffic to avoid attracting attention. Ace took to the air, natural laws giving way to her as she took off in pursuit.
Careful. Heaven knows what these people are capable of.
She caught up to the sedan as it started picking up speed in the one way traffic. Fourth Street was one of the fastest ways through downtown because of how wide it was. Four full lanes of traffic rushed by in the lunch hour rush. Ace didn’t dare risk an accident by trying to stop the car, so instead she landed on the roof and put her fist through it. “Pull over!” she yelled into the hole.
Her order was met by gunfire. The gunman was using an automatic, and the bullets hammered into Ace’s face. They didn’t ricochet off her like they would with some Exceptionals. Instead the bullets hit her, deformed and then fell back down, robbed of all of their force.
Each impact distorted the Law of the Conservation of Energy. The kinetic energy didn’t change, or dissipate, it simply vanished as if never existed. There was cursing from inside the vehicle as flattened bullets fell back into the whole. Ace heard Emily scream and she lost her temper. No one deserved this kind of treatment.
Ace punched through the driver’s side window and slipped in, faster than any normal could have reacted. Sitting on the driver’s lap she slammed on the brakes, carefully, and killed the ignition. She then tore the steering column off and gently slammed the back of her head into the driver’s nose. The amount of force she used probably wouldn’t have killed him. A gun went off and a bullet slammed into the side of her head. She grabbed the gun, crushed it, and the hand that held it.
While the passenger clutched his ruined hand Ace got out and tore the back passenger door off. By now traffic had stopped; the presence of a Hero could do that. Sirens were wailing in the distance, but she was more focused on securing the scene.
She pulled the first kidnapper out of the car and pinned him to the street with her foot. He didn’t struggle much. Apparently he was the smart one.
“Move and I’ll shoot!” the last one yelled. The muzzle of his gun was pressed against Emily’s temple. Ace moved, faster than the nerve impulse could travel from the gunman’s brain to his finger, and took the gun.
Suddenly disarmed, the last kidnapper tried to escape through his door just as Left Hook showed up and slammed it back on the man’s head. The sudden closing of the door on the man’s head knocked him back into the seat. Ace could tell he wasn’t getting up any time soon.
“You got everyone else rookie?” Left Hook asked as he reopened the door and began cuffing the guy who he’d just prevented from fleeing the scene.
Ace looked around and nodded. “Good. Captain said to get the witness back to HQ ASAP. Me and the uniforms will take care of things from here.”
Ace helped Emily from the car. “Hold on,” she said and lifted Emily into her arms. She then took to the air, wanting to get back to the relative safety of HQ before someone else showed up. “Thank you, Ace,” Emily sobbed. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Ace’s neck; her face buried against her shoulder
That was nicely done. Hopefully they don’t try and press charges for the crushed hand.
Ace felt a little awkward as she flew and not just because of Emily’s almost possessive hug. She hadn’t realized how much taller than her the other woman was. She had to have been close to six feet tall. Exceptional strength or not, it was awkward to carry someone who was so much taller than he
r. Ace was just glad it was a short flight back.
Back at the precinct Angel and Torment met her in the main lobby. “Good work, Ace. Ms. Carpenter, I think for the time being you should be under witness protection. Whoever was pulling Technosis’s strings apparently had monitoring devices on him. When they found out he’d been arrested they hit the kill switch. We think they found out about you through that device,” Angel said as they walked back into the building.
Emily nodded. She was still shaking as the adrenaline left her system from her attempted abduction. The four of them stayed quiet as they rode the elevators back up to the E.E.D floor of the precinct. Once the elevator doors were closed Torment let out a sigh of relief and Angel said, “Now we can talk freely.”
“What?” Emily asked.
“We can never be sure who will overhear what is being said in the main precinct. While I trust most of the men and women in this building, I’m not stupid enough to think that they are incorruptible. Up here I know what’s going on. It is E.E.D regulations that all Heroes keep their minds open. We know what’s going through the head of every single member of the Hero Units under our command,” Angel explained.
“So what you said downstairs,” Emily said.
“Was a diversion. We want people to be watching for you at our witness protection safe houses. I have it on good authority that most of those sites have been leaked to various dubious organizations. Besides most of them aren’t Exceptional proof. Instead we are going to have you stay in the safest place in all of New Davenport, if not in all of the US,” Torment said.
Saw that coming.
“Where’s that?” Emily asked.
Ace sighed, “They mean with me.”
Chapter 5
Ace unlocked her front door and deactivated her security system. “Come on in and make yourself comfortable,” she said allowing Emily to walk past her.
Emily entered with some trepidation. For her luggage she only had a single duffle bag. Depending on how the investigation went her stay might be much longer, but they would cross that bridge later.
“The guest bedrooms are in the basement, take your pick. Each one has fresh sheets and blankets. There's also a full bathroom down there with clean towels. I only have one kitchen, but I keep it fairly well stocked and clean,” Ace continued after shutting and securing the front door. She also reactivated the external security.
Emily looked around and said, “How the hell did an E.E.D officer afford a place like this?” Ace could see the wonder in her eyes. Everyone reacted like that when they saw her house for the first time. It was a big place, just the way Ace preferred it. She liked having plenty of room to move around and entertain if necessary. The rest of her Unit had recently started coming to her place to hang out on their days off. She’d made the offer on Torment’s recommendation.
“Since you probably will find out anyway,” Ace began. Emily’s face fell a little. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I mean I work with Torment and Angel, they pretty much know everything there is to know about me. Well not quite everything. Besides I don’t blame you for what your power does. That would be stupid. But to answer your question, I rescued the crown prince of the Eastern European League. His parents were most grateful. They provided me with a small fortune as a reward. I’ve done my best managing it since then.”
Realization bloomed across Emily’s face. “That was you? But that was five years ago. Wait, how old are you?”
Ace blushed a little. She hated that question. Because of her too cute features people had a hard time telling her age. Most thought she was sixteen, eighteen if she was lucky. “I’m twenty five. I enrolled in the Exceptionals branch of the military right out of high school. I received an honorable discharge a little over a year ago. I went from there to the E.E.D. My parents weren’t thrilled about either choice, but they didn’t stop me.”
“Oh,” Emily’s expression changed yet again at the mention of Ace’s parents. “You’re the daughter of Abraham and Alison Smith! That makes you a direct descendant of the First!”
Can’t keep a lot from her. Don’t think she’ll find out about me though, she’d have to get past my defenses.
Ace nodded in grudging acknowledgement. She loved her family dearly, but as the only Fifth she got enough attention from the media. The last thing she needed was people finding out about her connection to Abraham Smith the First, the first Exceptional. “I try to keep that under wraps. If people knew that I was a direct descendant it would cause me all kinds of headaches. I don’t need the paparazzi stalking me more than they already do,” Ace said.
“But every other first member of the generations was a direct descendant. How do people not figure it out?” Emily asked.
“That I really can’t go in to details about, because I don’t really know how,” Ace replied. It was only partially a lie.
She’s better off not knowing.
“You hungry?” Ace asked. She didn’t want to talk about her family, or the past. That was dangerous ground for her.
She could help you. Later that is, not now.
Emily nodded. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
“Well I hope you like steak,” Ace said already digging through her freezer.
Emily seemed to turn a little green. “I’ve never been much of a meat eater.”
Ace turned and raised an eyebrow at Emily. Vegetarianism had never gained much of a foothold in the Exceptionals community. Most of them had to eat at lot because of the extra strain their powers put on their bodies. They couldn’t be real picky about what they ate, or how much.
“A class field trip, when I was a freshman in high school, to a slaughterhouse, sort of ruined it for me. My power wanted to know what was going through the animals’ heads as they were being killed,” Emily explained.
Ace shuddered at the thought. “Well this is farm raised beef, from my dad’s farm. He keeps me well supplied. He does all the butchering himself. I very much doubt it’s like what happens in a slaughter house.”
Emily regained some of her color, but she still looked unsure. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“Nope. You’re currently my guest. If this arrangement lasts for very long, then yeah I’ll have you help,” Ace replied. “Just go ahead and stow… sorry, unpack. Pick any of the rooms you want downstairs.”
Emily picked up her bag and went to the basement stairs. “Thank you, Ace,” she said before descending.
Ace continued getting their dinner ready. Because the Hero Units worked odd hours and were constantly on call she had an equally odd eating cycle. There was never really a breakfast, lunch, dinner rotation to it. It was more whatever she felt like cooking when she had a chance to eat. She was glad she never had to actually exercise. She still did, but it wasn’t necessary for her, or for any Exceptional really. Doctors and scientists figured it had something to do with their powers.
Of course it’s because of our powers. Even Mental Class Exceptionals are like that.
Emily returned after about twenty minutes. “Do you have a job you have to report to?” Ace asked.
“Captain Angel told me that arrangements would be made with my employer. I actually worked for the firm where Technosis attacked,” Emily replied.
“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. How is it that he got you all there during non-business hours,” Ace asked.
Emily blushed and replied, “We were working on a project for our company.”
“You do realize that’s a felony, right?” Ace asked. Not that any of them would be charged, seeing as they were taken hostage by an Anti. The courts would see that as punishment enough.
“Sorry, I misspoke. We weren’t working on the project. We were having a party to celebrate the project’s completion. That’s how he knew to find us there. Technosis I mean. Like I told you at the precinct he was once just a Reg like any other. I knew him as Jim Parker, at least until a year ago. He went on vacation last summer and I never saw him again, until last
night,” she trailed off.
“That was probably when the HSO grabbed him. I don’t know much about them, hell, until you mentioned them I didn’t even think they existed, but I can tell you they aren’t working for the good of anyone if they are willing to experiment on Exceptionals,” Ace said.
She’d seen other people who were willing to perform experiments on Exceptionals- they were not nice people. The US military had done so, but only with express consent of the Exceptionals involved. She would have signed up, but none of the testing equipment really worked on her. It was hard to get a blood sample if you couldn’t puncture the skin.
Not that their tests led to anything.
“Do they really think we are superior just because we have powers?” Emily asked.
Ace shrugged, placing the food she’d prepared on her dining room table. The kitchen and dining room were part of one long room. It made serving food easier. “What I think is they are deluded, and dangerous. Just because we are born with greater power does not make us better. Just like being a cop doesn’t put me above the law. It means I should exemplify the law. Besides if we were superior then why is it that Exceptionals don’t always have Exceptional children? I have a brother that’s as normal as they come. Well, normal by comparison, he’s actually pretty smart, and a good athlete, but still a normal. Anyway that’s just their way of trying to draw others to their cause.”
“Have they ever tried to recruit you?” Emily asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. I think I’ve made my position on Antis pretty clear. I was Tomahawk’s trainee after all,” Ace replied.
“Tomahawk. He was very vocal about his views on how Exceptionals should act,” Emily said with a frown.