by JC Bybee
“I’ll remember that, sir,” Ace said with a smile. He nodded and left the room. Ace turned back to her emails, feeling a little bit better.
Chapter 18
“I don’t have time for this, sir. I’ve got to get back to my patrol.” The older officer’s voice held nothing but contempt for Ace. From the outset she had known he was going to be her biggest problem officer.
Skyline was one of the longest standing members of the E.E.D in New Davenport, with almost as much seniority as Bulldog. He’d always played things by the book and he was notoriously antagonistic towards people he saw as ladder climbers. Emily had told her that he considered Ace part of that group, using unfair means to get ahead. That antagonism had spilled over into his regular duties and he’d made some pretty serious errors in judgment. Now Ace had to call him to task for it.
Something about this doesn’t make any sense. I just can’t tell what, yet.
They were in her office accompanied by Vague, the E.E.D’s official Mental Class in charge of determining motivation before discipline was assigned. The E.E.D didn’t have an Internal Affairs office as such. Mostly it relied on the Mental Class to keep everyone in line.
“Officer Skyline, need I remind you that you have been charged with intentional negligence in your duties as an officer of the E.E.D? It is very much in your best interests to cooperate,” Ace remind him. She hated doing this, but she couldn’t let behavior like Skyline’s continue.
“Screw you. The worst you can do is administrative leave, even with this pencil-neck here,” Skyline replied. That was not the smartest of things to say. Despite Vague’s name she was anything but and she did not like people who openly flaunted the law.
“Actually, Officer Skyline, since the city is on Exceptionals Lockdown the charges against you and your current behavior could be grounds for immediate termination, without appeal,” Vague said. Her voice was soft, but her eyes were angry.
“She’s right, Skyline. If she, not me, determines that your behavior was in direct defiance of orders then you can and will be terminated. There is nothing I can do about it,” Ace added to Skyline’s look of surprise.
“You wouldn’t…” he said. He trailed off when he met Ace’s eyes. “I wouldn’t, but I follow the rules, Skyline, no matter how distasteful I find them. Those rules are what keep the E.E.D running and safe from suspicion. Your recent actions have seriously violated that trust and placed your entire precinct in jeopardy to the point that even your partner was forced to report you. Now tell me in your own words what you were thinking by passing that drug deal over.”
Skyline started to shake, first with rage and then with frustration. It didn’t take mind powers to see what was going through his head. He had no friends here. “You,” he said.
“Me?” she asked.
Oh hell.
“It’s your damn fault! I had to see you fall somehow and I thought if I just let a few things slide then it would come back to bite you. I can’t stand you damn ladder climbers, always looking for ways to get to the top, no matter who you have to step on to get there!” he yelled.
Ace controlled her own frustration. It was as she had suspected. It didn’t make the news any easier to swallow.
“Lieutenant, I’m afraid there is more he is trying to hide,” Vague spoke up and she did not sound happy.
“What?” Ace asked.
She’s good. Whatever it is, it’s subtle.
“That’s just it sir, he is deliberately putting up a wall to keep me from the memory,” Vague replied.
Damn it! Something is off. He would never do that deliberately.
“Officer Skyline, you will allow Officer Vague in or I will put you in suppressors,” Ace ordered. She fully expected Skyline to ignore her. She did not expect him to lunge at Vague. In the air Skyline was fast, but unluckily for him Ace was much faster. She caught him mid leap, ending his attack before it could even start.
Ace slapped suppressors on Skyline and gently threw him back into his chair. As Vague regained her composure Ace called for backup. The situation was bad enough. The last thing she wanted was to have to injure a fellow officer. Let that fall to one of the Fourths.
It didn’t take long for Bulldog and the only other Fortress Class, Blitz, to show up. Ace nodded towards the still struggling Skyline. The two massive Fortress Class picked him up and kept him still while Vague read his mind. It didn’t take long for her to finish. She sat down in her chair, hard. “This is very bad. We are going to want Ms. Carpenter to confirm the details, but Skyline is working with the HSO. I don’t know if he’s aware of it,” Vague said.
“Damn it!” Ace snapped. Resisting the urge to hit something, she called up Torment, Captain Angel and Emily on her device. Their three faces appeared on the screen. “I need all three of you up here ASAP. We’ve got a problem.”
“Be right there,” Emily replied.
“Same here,” the Captain and Torment said simultaneously. Ace then stuck her head out the door and shouted, “Maniac, come here!” She forgot to regulate her strength so the shout rattled the windows in their casings.
Her partner came down the hall at a run. “I need you check Skyline for a kill switch,” Ace said, as Maniac gave her a raised eyebrow.
Maniac didn’t bother with any questions. She came in and placed a hand on Skyline’s forehead. “He’s clean of a kill switch, but there’s something else in there. Hell. They jacked into his basic motor and memory control centers. Just give me a minute.”
That’s why Vague was having such a hard time with him.
While Maniac was working the three Mental Class came in. Ace locked her door behind them and then filled them in on the situation. “This is bad. Skyline is a senior officer, he’s got a lot of influence with his fellow Heroes,” Captain Angel said.
“I’ve got him in seniority, sir. Makes me wonder if they got to me too,” Bulldog said. There was a look of deep concern on his normally jovial face.
“Emily, look through Bulldog’s mind, see if you can find anything. Vague, help her out,” the Captain said and Ace felt Emily and Vague do their thing. There weren’t many Exceptionals that couldn’t tell when another one was using his or her power. The disturbance in the natural laws was fairly easy to pick up on.
“There’s nothing unusual that I can find,” Emily said after about five minutes.
“I think he is in the clear,” Vague confirmed.
“Blitz, your turn,” Captain Angel ordered. The Fortress Class shrugged. Blitz wasn’t one to use words when a shrug would suffice.
Vague checked him as well and let out a sigh of relief after about five minutes. “I’ve got it!” Maniac exclaimed and stepped away from Skyline. The older officer had a vacant expression on his face. His body spasmed and then went limp. They waited for a heartbeat then he opened his eyes and said, “What have I done?’
Chapter 19
“Vague, put in a call to Bones. We need to order an immediate scan of all E.E.D personnel. There’s no telling who else the HSO has got to,” Captain Angel ordered. Vague started towards the door, but paused and said, “I haven’t been checked.”
“Emily,” the Captain said. There was a snap to his voice, but Emily complied. She understood the situation. They were all tense. It was clear that Skyline’s memory had been tampered with, either by the device that Maniac had disabled, or an HSO Mental Class. There was a possibility that any one of them could have the same device.
It only took a moment for Emily to check Vague. “I’m pretty sure she’s clean, along with the rest of us. I did a comparison to what I saw in Skyline to what I see in each of us. There is a…disharmony… in Skyline’s thought patterns. None of us share that same disharmony. I know,” she held up a hand to quiet the potential arguments, “It’s not perfect, but we have to start trusting some time. I think this is where it starts.”
“I agree. Vague, call Bones. Emily see if you can find something in Skyline’s memories. Ace, call in any one else from
the Aerial Patrol that you’ve had to discipline. Torment, you and I are going to double check everyone here,” the Captain ordered. They all moved to comply with their orders. Bulldog and Blitz sat Skyline down in one of the few chairs in Ace’s office. The older officer sat with his face in his hands.
Ace went through her recent reports and started sorting them out. There weren’t very many reports on disciplinary action. There was the possibility that some people hadn’t been reported, so she had to check all of them to look for any inconsistencies in the behavior of any of her officers.
“What do you want me to do, sir?” It was Hawk, Skyline’s partner. He looked depressed. Ace had nearly forgotten he was there while dealing with Skyline. She did not envy the position he was in. On the one hand he’d reported his partner, something that was considered a violation of trust among officers. On the other because he’d had the guts to make the report they’d been able to find a massive security breach that might well extend to all levels of the E.E.D.
He’s really conflicted. You need to be gentle with him.
“You just wait here. I might need you to check on some of the other officers,” Ace said.
He nodded and sat off to one side, his face showing his mood clearly. Ace could figure what he was thinking. He was going to be labeled a nark as soon as word got out that he ratted out his partner. That kind of thing wasn’t looked on favorably by any officer. “You worried?” Ace asked him.
“Me, sir, why would I be worried?” he replied. The sarcasm was clear in his voice.
“Look I can’t promise you that there won’t be fallout for this. It is going to be hell for a while for you. But once we get this HSO disaster dealt with people will know that you were the one with the balls to do something about it,” Ace said.
Hawk shook his head. “Is there a cop out there who’d want to be my partner after this?”
“Sure. I can name a handful off the top of my head, but you won’t have to change partners. Once Moses takes that thing out of Skyline’s head he’ll be back on active duty. Well, unless he did it willingly. And if that’s the case I know a couple of rookies that will need a good trainer. We need people like you who are willing to follow the rules regardless of personal cost. Yes we want to encourage loyalty to the department, but not at the expense of the law. An entire war was fought by Exceptionals because some of them wanted to be above the law. To me, this is no different. You’ve chosen your side, Officer Hawk, and I hope you are willing to stick with it. Like I said we need good solid officers right now,” Ace said. She watched Hawk’s reaction out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to relax somewhat at her words. She hoped it was enough.
He’s loyal alright. Loyal to you.
The next few hours were tense around the office. Emily did find the memory of when Skyline had been implanted and they were relieved to see that it had not been willingly. It had also happened over a month prior to the Technosis incident. “They’ve been planning this for a long time, just waiting for the right moment,” Emily said as she wrote her report. She’d borrowed a laptop and was sitting in Ace’s office. Skyline had been sent to Moses for removal of the HSO implant. Hawk was out rounding up another suspicious officer.
“It makes me wonder what they are after. It all just seems so random,” Ace said as she looked over the last of her reports. So far Torment and Angel hadn’t found anything suspicious in any of the on duty E.E.D officers. They were currently speaking with the normal Captain to see if he wanted them to scan the non-Hero personnel.
“I think I’m starting to get a vague idea of what they are after,” Emily said.
“Really?” Ace asked. “You think you could give me a clue?”
Emily came and placed her laptop on Ace’s desk and said, “Read this.”
Ace looked it over. It was Emily’s report on what little she’d been able to get from Technosis. “Okay, I’ve read it,” Ace said.
“Right, now read this,” Emily continued, flipping to another document. This one Ace was also familiar with. It was the report on the group they had apprehended at the corporate headquarters of Tenth Avenue National. She took her time reading it over. There was something that Emily was seeing in these reports and Ace was determined to figure it out. Once she was finished Emily flipped to another report. It was Skyline’s.
“They’re stirring the pot,” Ace said as she finished reading. It was as she feared.
“Just like you thought. Someone is trying to cause chaos in New Davenport. My only question is why? I mean the E.E.D would be the perfect way for them to start exerting control over the normals. If they could get their influence in far enough,” Emily said.
That would never happen, not with the old man around.
“That’s just it, they’ll never be able to. I know the higher ups in the E.E.D and every last one of them is safeguarded against any kind of tampering. There’s a system of checks and balances to prevent it. They would have to hit every last member of the E.E.D Advisory Council at the same time in order to corrupt our very core, so instead they’re trying to undermine us,” Ace said. The old man had done a good job with that particular system.
“So maybe instead they are trying to drive a rift between the Exceptionals and normals, like before the war. New Davenport would be the best place for it. If they can manage it here, the City of Unity, then they can manage it anywhere,” Emily said.
That’s got to be it.
“We need to let Captain Angel know so he can get word up the line,” Ace said and stood. Just then Torment burst into the office and said, “They’ve taken Einstein!”
Chapter 20
“Hell!” Ace growled. “How did they manage that?”
“We’re still working on that. We need you out there now,” Torment ordered.
Ace started towards the door. “Emily tell her what you told me. She might have figured some things out, Torment.”
Every E.E.D facility was equipped with fast access roof ports for use by Sky Class Heroes. Ace hit theirs going as fast as she dared. One accident where she had gone through too fast and torn the doors off had taught her just how fast she could enter or exit.
Once she was clear of the building she went up, fairly high, and looked up Einstein’s address on her device. Once she had it she flew there at just under the speed of sound. All around her the natural laws bent out of her way.
There was someone waiting for her when she arrived. They introduced themselves by hammering at her with kinetic blasts. Just like with bullets the energy dissipated when it hit her. She landed next to her attacker and gave them a “gentle” push. They went flying and crashed to the ground. They rolled another ten feet, but Ace was on them before they could recover.
“Don’t you dare move!” she growled. The Anti looked at her in terror. “They didn’t tell me the Fifth was coming! Please don’t kill me!”
“Shut it! You’re under arrest. Under the Exceptionals Lockdown order and Article Two your rights are suspended, so you had damn well better start talking or we’re going to rip the information out of you!” Ace was letting her temper get the better of her, but so far she hadn’t lied to him, just stretched the truth a bit.
I think he pissed himself.
“I don’t know, man, I don’t know! They didn’t tell me what was going on, just paid me to keep watch and take out any E.E.D agents that got close,” the Anti cried.
“Damn. Don’t move!” Ace ordered and then called Torment on her device. “What’s the situation?” she asked.
“Bad. I’ve got a suspect. We need a team over here ASAP to see if they left trace behind. I’ve got the scene - damn! Scene not secure!” she barely dodged out of the way, dragging the now sobbing Energy Class Anti with her, as a massive Fortress Class plowed through where she’d been standing.
She slapped suppressor cuffs on the Energy Class and put him behind a car. “Stay put!” she ordered and then charged the other Anti. She was big, at least Tomahawk’s equal and that would make her j
ust as strong. Ace hit her hard, harder than she’d ever hit anyone, and this new Exceptional flew backwards, crashing into a tree.
She recovered quickly, charging Ace. They met midway and the force of the impact broke bones in the Anti’s shoulder and arm. Unfortunately Ace could feel the damage knit back together almost instantly.
I’ve always wondered of Esperanza was stronger than Tomahawk. Now I can say for certain that yes, yes she is. España is going to be pissed to find her here.
Since her opponent could heal quickly Ace took her power up another notch. Moving faster than the Anti could react she threw her to the ground and followed that up by grabbing her opponent’s hair and slamming her head into the concrete until she stopped moving. Ace waited just long enough for some of the damage to heal before she slapped suppressor cuffs on her wrists. She called Torment back. “Scene secure,” she said through deep breaths.
“What the hell happened?” Torment asked.
“Damned Anti, stronger than Tomahawk. It looks like Esperanza Escobar from España,” Ace reported. “I don’t recognize the other guy, but he didn’t seem to know much.”
“I’ll send a team over. Keep an eye on things,” Torment said and hung up. Ace picked up the still unconscious Anti and carried her over to Einstein’s yard. She then went and ordered the Energy Class to go and stand by her. While they waited Ace asked him basic questions. She got a little out of him, like his name. James Wilson. He was just a Reg that the HSO had bought out. It happened. People were greedy, Exceptionals or not.
Once backup arrived, in the form of Peace’s team, Ace went back to the precinct and reported in person to Captain Angel. “Good work Ace. Fortunately Peace’s technomancer took care of the kill switch in Esperanza. España is going to be glad to get her back. Turns out she’s been missing for a while.”