Project Northwoods

by Jonathan Charles Bruce

  “I have reason to trust him,” Zombress said as she coldly regarded Tim. The man offered an ingratiating smile under her gaze. “He should be here by now. We’re trying to figure out what our…” She trailed off, her head snapping in the direction they came. “I need to go.” Zombress sped off down the corridor. “You need to get out of here. Make sure you aren’t seen.” With that, she was down another hallway.

  “What was that about?” Arthur asked, stepping to take a closer look at the drive in Talia’s hand.

  Tim looked over his shoulder, “I think I hear something, Art.”

  “This has been torn to shreds,” Talia remarked about the flash drive. “Looks like it took a bullet.”

  “I’m sure I could pull something off of it,” Arthur said as he reached for the item.

  Talia yanked her hand away. “She gave it to me. Sorry… Arthur, was it?” She smirked. “But I don’t trust you.”

  Tim slammed into the two of them and shoved them around a corner. Before either of them could chastise him, they heard it, too. Footsteps. “Zombress must have heard it first,” whispered Tim. Arthur felt his heart beating against his chest as the steps grew louder.

  “Over here,” whispered Talia. A few feet away and inset into the wall, an alcove with a fire extinguisher and drinking fountain provided a small but immediately appreciated nook to hide in. The footsteps grew louder until they slowed and stopped. The three peered out carefully.

  Julia. It was Julia, with an ornately etched, heavy-caliber revolver drawn and looking very, very serious.

  “Art, it’s your sister,” Tim whispered eagerly.

  Arthur fought the urge to punch him in the back of the head. “Yes, Tim, I see that.”

  Talia shot them an angry look. Julia looked down to her left, then her right. The three of them had already mashed themselves into their corner before she could see them. “Claymore, this area is secure. Heading toward target office.”

  She raised her weapon and walked down the same corridor Zombress disappeared down. The three looked around the corner again.

  “Your sister’s hot,” Tim said. Arthur smacked him and Tim immediately turned and grabbed him by the collar. The scuffle inadvertently rattled the spray cans, catching Julia’s attention. She whipped a flashlight off her belt as she turned around. Talia threw her arm across the two friends and shoved them to the wall as the light clicked on.

  “Anyone there?” she asked. After no one responded, she turned the light off. Her footsteps echoed down the hall.

  “Are you two insane?” hissed Talia after the noise faded.

  Tim smiled winsomely. “I’m a sucker for a girl in uniform.”

  “We need to get out of here,” Arthur said, moving away from the wall and down the hall.

  “You need to go. I have to warn Zombress.” Talia made to follow Julia.

  “This isn’t our fight,” Tim whispered as he moved toward Arthur.

  Talia shook her head. “She’s walking into a trap.”

  Arthur pushed his way in front of her. “Zombress is a big girl. She can take care of herself.” Tim took solace that, for the first time in the evening, Arthur was thinking like a rational human being.

  “I didn’t ask your permission,” Talia said with a wave of her hand. Tim and Arthur exchanged looks, and, out of some sense of duty, shame, or insanity, decided to follow.

  They didn’t get very far when they caught up with Julia, pressed against the wall and peeking around the corner. “What do you mean he wants us to wait?” A pause. “What’s going on in there?” Another pause. “Why didn’t he wait for–”

  The explosion was enormous, shaking the building hard enough to throw everyone standing nearby to the ground. While they were still falling, a pressure wave ripped through, pulverizing the mortar and tile, throwing a wall of debris up like a cloud of smoke. The sound was immense, leaving a high pitched whine in Arthur’s ears. For a moment, he was sure he had died, but then he felt someone’s hand around his arm.

  It sounded like someone asked, “Are you alright?”, but he couldn’t be sure. He nodded anyway. Someone went running by him through the dust. What seemed like a lifetime later, someone else did the same. As the friendly hand was trying to help him up, he heard it: a familiar feminine voice.

  “No!” A scream, thick with grief, rent the air. “She killed him! She killed him, Claymore!”

  Someone yanked him away from the friendly hand. “I’ve got you, scum!” shouted a voice which Arthur didn’t recognize, but he knew he didn’t like. His eyes were clearing enough to see the face of who he now knew was Claymore shouting down the hall as he slammed him into the wall. “Gunslinger! I have an accomplice!”

  Claymore must have been partially blinded, because he clearly hadn’t seen Tim. The much smaller man leapt up and brought his fist down, hard, against the back of Claymore’s head. Arthur fell to the ground, coughing from being used as a hammer against a particularly uncooperative wall. Before Claymore recovered, Tim kicked him in the shin, making him double over in time to connect a brutal uppercut. The blow sent the hero sailing, end-over-end, but he managed to land on all fours. He ran forward and knocked into Tim, sending them both to the ground.

  “Run!” Tim yelled at Arthur. Arthur looked around, grabbed a fire extinguisher which had been blown off the wall, and ran to the brawlers. He hooked the heavy thing upwards, knocking Claymore off Tim. The man stumbled but quickly got upright before unsheathing the monstrous sword on his back. He made to turn and swing simultaneously, but Tim had grabbed the fire extinguisher from Arthur, aimed it at him, and squeezed the trigger.

  His howl of shock was loud enough to make Tim impulsively drop his weapon, grab Arthur, and run. Claymore was swinging wildly at nothing. “Gunslinger! They’re getting away!”

  The two ran through the darkened corridors as fast as they could. “What happened to Talia?” Arthur managed to shout.

  “Don’t talk, just run!” Tim shouted. They reached the lobby and skidded to a halt. Outside, red and blue lights flooded the night and spilled into the lobby, illuminating the shattered remnants of the entrance in staccato bursts. Something must have blown through it. “Enforcers? They called the Enforcers?” Tim yelled in disbelief as shadows leapt around by the fountain outside, too fast to make out.

  A loud bang, and Tim fell forward and over the railing, yelling as he went. Arthur looked down the hall and saw his sister, her gun smoking, round the corner. “I know one of you is down!” She screamed. He wanted to yell at her, to tell her to stop, but he didn’t think it would do any good. “I’m warning you, I don’t miss!” Thumbing the hammer, the cylinder turned and clicked.

  Arthur didn’t feel like testing the theory that she was fond enough of him to make the shot go wide. He turned and ran toward the steps, practically diving down them when Julia fired. With a measure of relief that was small in comparison to the bruising he was taking as he half-rolled down the stairs, a potted plant at the end of the lobby exploded. Once his momentum stopped, he finished vaulting down the stairs upright and ran toward where he and Tim had entered.

  Tim joined him immediately, rubbing the back of his head. A bit dazed, he muttered, “Your sister’s kinda mean.”

  Behind them, a huge flash lit up the hall, and Arthur turned to look. Illuminated by the fading light, Julia was still chasing them. “She’s still coming!”

  They charged down the stairs and ducked into the storeroom. Arthur reached the security door and twisted the handle as Julia burst into the room. She fired, the bullet meant for him inadvertently redirecting into the light just above Arthur’s head.

  “What the fuck!” Julia yelled in frustration as she decided to close distance instead of worrying about why her ability wasn’t working. The door’s seal popped again as Arthur pushed on it. The change in air pressure practically sucked him into the dusty chamber beyond.

  “Come on!” He grabbed Tim and yanked him across the threshold.

  He started to shov
e the door closed as hard as he could. Tim joined him as Julia reached the other side. She threw her weight against it, but it wasn’t enough. Arthur looked up as she repositioned in an effort to get better leverage. She looked up as Arthur’s face was illuminated by the red light. Her expression slackened as her eyes locked with his. She stopped pushing and the door slammed shut.

  The security door clicked and re-sealed, locking for good this time. The light on the panel went from red to yellow as the system began a diagnostic, making them safe for the moment. Arthur fumbled for the Home Drive’s flashlight function as he and Tim heaved in the dark. Several long, panicked breaths later, Tim turned to his friend.

  “And this, Arthur, is why I wanted to fucking stay at home.”

  It couldn’t have been Arthur. It was a mistake.

  But I can’t miss… unless…

  Unless she didn’t really want to shoot someone.

  Maybe I’m… too emotional to focus.

  Julia looked at her hands, dropping the gun to the floor.

  I shot his accomplice. Around a corner. Without looking.

  She fell to her knees, unable to catch herself.

  It doesn’t matter, in the end. He’s dead.

  The heroine pitched forward, hands hitting the floor as tears fell from her eyes.

  My father’s gone forever.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ESCAPE

  STILL ALIVE.

  Zombress’s ears were ringing even as her eyes were recovering from the sudden, blinding flash. The room had been blown apart, splinters of desk and shreds of paper wafting on currents of super-heated air. Pieces of dark fabric, which she could only guess were the remains of Dark Saint’s cloak, burned as they floated downward. Desert Ranger was sprawled in one corner, unmoving and shattered. The security guard was similarly splashed to the wind. The goon, sprawled as he was on the desk, was particularly vaporized. The room, moments ago, had hosted a Mexican standoff with the equivalent of tactical nukes.

  Escape.

  There was no time to think about what happened. She stood, her own burned and ragged suit sloughing off in pieces. Her hair flowed in the draft, catching debris in its mass. She looked through the haze at the ground where Aquaria had been curled. The girl was breathing and didn’t appear much worse for the wear. Zombress had at least been successful in saving her life.

  Not innocent.

  She gathered the heroine up in her arms and ran out the door. She charged through the smoke, knowing that Dark Saint had at least one escort waiting for them. That didn’t bother her in the least. It was more important to get the girl out of here and wait for Talia to figure out a way to get the data off the USB drive.

  Trapped.

  She knew that the Enforcers were waiting for her before she had even entered the lobby. She had heard the cars screeching and the sirens wailing long before they had even pulled up. She rounded the corner and leapt from the second floor, coming to a crashing stop in the lobby and shattering the tile beneath her. Every entrance would be blockaded, guarded, or similarly unusable. Someone would have to die for her to escape silently, and what would the fun be in that?

  Kill them all.

  “Not today,” she muttered as she ran to the security office and kicked in the door. Setting Aquaria down, she whispered, more for her sake than the unconscious girl’s, “Everything will be okay.” Zombress figured it wouldn’t be, certainly not at this rate, but it wasn’t like they could kill her.

  Returning to the lobby, she unfastened what remained of her skull tie and used it to put her hair up. “Rogue suspects, walk out, arms raised, immediately. You are surrounded,” a megaphone-enhanced male voice cried out. She didn’t recognize who spoke, but she knew he was an Enforcer, part of the largest segment of the heroic population, typically viewed as a kind of police force answering to the Guild. The fact that they were here was unsettling. Dark Saint must have called them prior to their encounter… there was no other way they would be here this quickly.

  “Rogue? Tch,” she mused aloud as she marched with purpose through the empty security checkpoint. She stopped just short of passing through the revolving door. Beyond it, numerous officers were moving between cars, hiding behind doors, and in general, aiming to put as many holes as possible in her before the night was out. She smiled at the quaintness of it all. Just like the old days, she thought as she drew a series of symbols in the air, their glowing outlines forming the shape of a sigil roughly three feet tall. She reared back, tightened her fist, and shouted, “Alright, boys!” She swung forward as the charred remnants of her clothing began to lose cohesion.

  The revolving door blew outward, fire and mortar billowing out as the remains of the door frame went spiraling down the steps. Zombress stepped out of the smoke, adjusting the sleeves on a freshly-created indigo-and-red outfit. She stood before the heroes in her new suit, as though this was the most casual entrance she could make. She struck a pose. “Hope you’re enjoying the spectacle!”

  Down the numerous stairs, she saw the officer with the megaphone turn to his company. “Stall her!”

  She rolled her eyes and started drawing another, different symbol. Moments before the gunfire started, she finished and held her open palm to it. “Elder sign!” she shouted. The floating glyph flashed as gunfire erupted from below. Bullets slammed into the shield with bursts of golden light, ricocheting into the Guild or just dropping to the ground altogether. When the volley stopped, she put her hand down, the sigil shattering with the motion. She stepped over the pile of bullets. “Do you always shoot your load this fast?”

  The lieutenant at street level said something into his radio. Although the words were muffled, she could clearly read his lips: take the shot. Her eyes flicked up toward the roof. A glint of a sniper scope caught her eye before the muzzle flash. Zombress bent to the side to dodge the first shot, but the second sent her reeling to avoid the speeding bullet. Momentum carried her, and she planted her hands on the ground, kicked her legs up, and sprung into the air to provide a third projectile a clear path into the pavement. She landed like a cat before springing down the stairs, toward what remained of the door frame. Grabbing the warped metal, she spun and released it at high speed toward the sniper.

  When the missile hit its target, she pumped her fist melodramatically. “Boom!” She cocked an eyebrow and regarded the gathered Enforcers. For the first time, she noticed that a crowd of plainclothes heroes had gathered around them. They held back, but shifted with nervous energy as they muttered amongst themselves. “Who is going to be the brave soldier who wants to try to cuff me?” She put her wrists together and made a pouting face.

  “Zombress,” the lieutenant began, his voice wavering through the megaphone. “We don’t want any trouble.”

  “Trouble?” She put her hands on her hips and began to pace, her eyes not leaving the assembled Enforcers. “You shot at me.” She tried to look innocent. “Unprovoked, no less.”

  “Unpro–” the man’s voice cracked. “You blew up the doors to the Heroes’ Guild!”

  “Did I?” Zombress looked behind her. “I suppose I did.” Her gaze fell back to the lieutenant, a smile on her face. “But only after you declared me rogue, which I believe is a shoot-to-kill order,” she cooed, cocking an eyebrow. “Unless your emission earlier was premature.” With a thunderous crash of shattering concrete, someone landed behind her. Her lips curled upward ever so slightly. “Arbiter. So good of you to show up.”

  Arbiter rose to his full height, righteous fury roiling off of him like waves of heat. “What have you done, Zombress?”

  She turned, her smile melting away as she did so. “Well, I figured peace was so last decade. I thought I’d give you a sporting run at genocide.” She smoothly took her suit jacket off and let go, the coat turning into an ash and vanishing the moment it left her fingers.

  “What have you done?” he yelled louder, as though the pure volume of his voice would break her.

  Zombress didn’t flinch.
“I’d rather hear your response.” She approached him, slowly. “Someone’s got a secret, don’t they?”

  He swept forward with a wide punch, which she fluidly dove and rolled under. Her left heel hit the ground and she swept her other foot around in a wide arc while rising to face her opponent. Arbiter spun and went low with an uppercut, Zombress responding by hopping onto his fist and pushing off, sending her in a backflip away from him.

  She landed and fell backward in a roll twenty feet away, finally ending upright as a piercing ache welled in her hand from her brief contact with the hero. Arbiter was already running, but she waited to react until he came at her with a leaping straight punch. She fell onto her knees, bending backward deeply. Arbiter sailed right above her and smashed into the pavement behind where she had been standing a moment earlier.

  Zombress rolled onto her back and did a handspring to become upright. The second the balls of her feet hit the ground, she sprinted away from Arbiter as he attempted to grab the back of her neck. She leapt and spun to face him, grinding to a halt where they had first started while leaning forward, beckoning Arbiter to attack with a provocative smirk and wink. Further enraged, he charged her, arm cocked and ready to strike.

  Effortlessly, she leapt over him, but he had anticipated the move despite following through with the punch. He stopped just past her as she landed right behind him. Arbiter swirled with another backhand, but Zombress managed to dive beneath it, slamming her foot into the ground. Her foot dragged in an arc as though drawing something in the pavement. She stood upright as another blow swept at her mid-section. The strike was with his off hand, a touch slower but nonetheless dangerous. Zombress jumped, flipping backward over the lateral move, and touched down, heels dragging once more into the ground.

  Arbiter roared, wheeled about, and tried to grab her face in his open palm. She leaned backward, deeply, and avoided his grasp. She planted her hands on the slick pavement and kicked up and over, landing in a crouch as her heel continued to cut gouges into the ground. Arbiter, his irritation growing ever more vocal, growled and lifted his leg to stomp down and pin her under his boot. Zombress once again rolled away, his foot burrowing into the pavement as she continued to flip around him. She came to a stop in a challenging, low position.