“But our friends …” Knockout Rose said.
Alex put his hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find a way to rescue them. We’re heroes, that’s what we do.”
Knockout Rose stiffened her lips and nodded.
As the elevator doors closed behind Jenny, Pinwheel, and Knockout Rose, Stormhead grimaced. “You shouldn’t have said that.”
“Let’s start at the beginning,” said Alex. “As your supervising MAB agent, I should have had full knowledge of all the New York Guardian’s facilities. Why am I just now learning about a hidden computer room under an abandoned diner?”
“I built this six years ago, when the government announced all legally recognized superhero teams needed government supervision. You have to understand, a lot of us were worried about the MAB. We thought this was the first step of a government takeover of all metahuman teams.”
“You guys had unlimited freedom before the legal recognition requirement,” said Alex. “All the MAB wanted to do was prevent another situation like the Desert Dukes taking over Albuquerque or the Steelworker wrecking Pittsburgh or any of the other incidents that didn’t get reported, like how the Atlanta’s Stars and Bars were also members of the KKK.”
“The fact is, we don’t trust the government,” said Sergeant Hammer.
“Then why do you have an American flag on your hood?” asked Alex.
“I love the country, not the people who run it. I know the government causes more problems than it solves. So did Charlene. She did black ops.”
“Charlene?”
“That alien virus that makes her invulnerable enough to be Lady Amazing? Caught it during a mission,” said Jim. “When the registration act went through, we New York Guardians publicly endorsed it but privately prepared for a revolution. We built this and a few other hideouts, even a few caches for high-tech weapons.”
“Why?”
“So we could fight back if the government tried to enslave us,” said Stormhead. “In other countries, like Norway, metahumans must join the military.”
“We were ready to fight for our freedom,” said Sergeant Hammer.
“We were ready to make New York a warzone as soon as they fired the first shot. Everything was created and concealed before you stepped foot in Griffin Tower. I mean, we didn’t want some intruder reporting our plans back to Washington.”
“We also decided that, if we had to have an agent, he would be a full member of the team,” said Stormhead. “We thought that such a person would have such espirit-de-corps they would not think to look for anything hidden.”
“And that’s why you did the Agent Exo project,” said Alex. “I was so happy to be a superhero I never considered you weren’t being fully honest.”
“We went through a hundred agents to get you,” said Jim. “I had Sarge do the training with the instructions to be as brutal as possible. I figured the only winner would be so driven and single-minded he wouldn’t be the kind to question us.”
“Sarge was definitely brutal,” said Alex. “At least I did the best of the last ten candidates.”
“Actually, you were the worst,” said Sergeant Hammer.
“What?”
“The only test you did the best on was the metahuman law essay,” said Jim. “The other guys did much better in maneuvering and target-shooting.”
“Then how did I get the exoskeleton?”
“Because you were the most likely to fail,” said Sergeant Hammer. “We thought if a few agents died in the course of duty, the government would stop trying to regulate us.”
“It’s true,” said Jim. “That’s why you were the front lines in every battle. It’s also why you had those outer-space and deep-sea missions.”
“You wanted to kill me?”
“We could have killed you at any time,” said Jim. “The exoskeleton has a self-destruct system.”
“We wanted you to die in action,” said Stormhead. “We thought if the government always had to send in new agents, none would last long enough to discover our secrets. But once we got to know you, Alexander, we started to like you.”
Sergeant Hammer sneered. “Speak for yourself.”
“Really, Sarge?” said Alex. “You told one of the Prospects I was one of the finest men you ever met.”
Sarge was nonplussed. “I wiped better than you out of my ass.”
“Sarge aside, the rest of us think you’re a real trooper,” said Jim. “I really didn’t think you were going to beat the Bone Terror when you took him on alone, which is why I ordered no one to help, but you did. That extra medic training you took saved dozens of civilians, which was great publicity for us. Best of all, you didn’t try to take over the team or interfere with our freedom, so our worst fears never came about.”
“Wait,” Alex said. “You ordered my teammates not to save me?”
“I can’t speak for the others, but I feel guilty,” said Stormhead. “We liked the idea of letting an agent die, but we couldn’t go through with letting a real human die. I’m sorry you have to learn about it this way.”
Jim took a swig from a hip flask. “Mistakes were made.”
“I was dedicated to the New York Guardians,” said Alex. “I sacrificed everything to be the best hero I could be for you. Emily is divorcing me because I put myself in danger so often. Was rendering the exoskeleton useless a part of your plan too?”
“No, the Skreaks did that,” said Jim. “Not a part of the plan at all. Neither was firing Sarge from the Prospects. But you were begging me for something to do, and I didn’t want you poking around. I figured if you were in the facility and busy babysitting, you’d be too busy to think.”
“This will all go into my report. I don’t care if you’re locked out of your headquarters, I’ll resign from this assignment tomorrow morning. The New York Guardians will get a new MAB agent, and I will tell him to instigate a full audit of your resources. No more hidden rooms, no more anti-government plans, and no more trying to kill government agents.”
“That is fair,” said Stormhead. “We’ll have little left to hide after Plan Failsafe is done.”
“What is Plan Failsafe?”
Jim looked at the computer. “We may as well tell him, he’ll see it in five minutes anyway. To put it simply, Plan Failsafe is a way of keeping our technology from falling into the wrong hands. We designed it to keep the government out. Each member of the New York Guardians, except you and Harry, because as you know Harry has mental issues, has a key. It takes four keys in this computer to activate it.”
“From here, we started the chemical sequence,” said Stormhead. “A reactor charged with atomic compression particles in the ground floor of Griffin Tower will soon detonate in a nuclear implosion.”
“I think you mean explosion,” said Alex.
“No, he meant implosion,” said Jim. “Instead of going out, the energy from the split atom will go in. The result will be a mini black hole that turns Griffin Tower into a very dense marble.”
“There will be a radioactive shockwave,” said Sergeant Hammer, “but it’ll only be dangerous within a few hundred feet. The MAB agents around the tower will die. Not many others.”
Alex pulled out his smartphone.
Sergeant Hammer snatched it. “No you don’t. If the villains inside see them withdraw or take cover, they’ll get suspicious.”
“Alex, we can eradicate our worst enemies at once,” said Jim. “Sure, some agents will die, but they knew the job was dangerous when they took it. How many more would die fighting these villains? And the building is insured for twice what it’s worth, so Griffin Industries will recoup its losses.”
“What about Charlene? She’s still in there. And I don’t think Harry got out.”
“Acceptable loss,” said Sergeant Hammer.
“Vijay and Trista are also in there.”
“He’s useless,” said Sergeant Hammer, “and she’s evil.”
“She’s not so bad when you’re not biting her,” said Alex.
“I think you know. What about the Young Sentinels? Only two of them made it out.”
“I talked to their manager,” said Jim. “They’re insured too. With the extra money he’ll make in increased merchandise sales after their heroic deaths, he’ll be able to form a younger, better-looking, and more profitable team.”
“You can’t do this. You’re going to let innocent people die. You’re supposed to be heroes.”
“We had a vote,” said Stormhead. “I was the only one who said no.”
“Don’t Charlene and Harry get votes?”
Jim shook his head. “She’s incapacitated and he’s insane.”
“What about me?” said Alex.
“You were never one of us, agent,” said Jim. “You didn’t earn a place on the team. We only let you on because the government said we had to. So go back to the government and tell them how bad you are at stopping us from doing anything. Sarge, get him out of here.”
Sergeant Hammer slapped one hand over Alex’s mouth. His iron grip felt exactly the way it did in the memory Trista shared with him. The feelings of violation and helplessness made him panic as Sergeant Hammer carried him back to the elevator.
Alex regained enough presence of mind to grab Sergeant Hammer’s little finger and twist it until his mouth was free. He shook like he did after Trista stopped sharing her memories.
Sergeant Hammer threw Alex out of the elevator as soon as it opened. He yelled at Jenny, Knockout Rose, and Pinwheel. “Scram.”
“What about our friends?” asked Knockout Rose.
Sergeant Hammer grabbed the sweatshirt’s hood, lifted Knockout Rose like a kitten picked up by the scruff of its neck, and threw her onto the sidewalk. Pinwheel and Jenny ran after her. Sergeant Hammer grabbed a table and slammed it into the doorframe.
Sergeant Hammer unslung his hammer. “In two minutes Griffin Tower will be destroyed. You’re not going to try a last-second rescue.”
“Threatening and manhandling an agent,” said Alex. “I’m going to report this.”
“Do what you want. I’m Sergeant Hammer. I’m an icon. No one will arrest me.”
“You won’t be an icon after I report what you did to Trista.”
“Report what? That I made her cry?”
“Did you know she’s pregnant?”
Sergeant Hammer froze. “What does that have to do with me?”
“She told me everything.”
“Everything she says is a lie.”
“She’s not a good liar.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She shared her memories with me.”
“Are you saying she entered your mind?”
“There’s other evidence. I saw the doctor’s report. I don’t want to think about what you did to her in the interrogation room, you sick …”
“Agent, are you not aware that it is within her power to rewrite what you think you know? Everything you saw or heard, it’s what she wanted you to believe. All she’d have to do is conjure a fantasy and a few details like that report and you wouldn’t be able to tell it from a real memory. Any evidence you think you saw only exists in her mind and yours. Mind Dame played mind games with you.”
Alex didn’t say anything.
“Don’t forget she controlled you once before and almost made you kill yourself. She’s doing it again. This time, she’s turning you against your own team.”
“The whole team was against me. You lied to me too.”
Sergeant Hammer put down his hammer. “Agent, I carried you out of the Empire State Building the night she made you want to die. I took you to the loony bin myself. I didn’t leave until you were safe.”
“Bullshit. You wanted me dead.”
“I wanted the government out of our business. I wanted the freedom to save the world without bureaucrats in our way.”
“I’m an agent of the law, Sarge. It’s that simple. And, for that, you so-called heroes wanted me dead.”
“But you don’t know how many times I defied Jim’s orders to save your life. If he had his way, you would’ve been maggot shit a long time ago. Whatever plans our leaders have, we men on the front line look after each other.”
“Then why are you willing to let Charlene and Harry die?”
“We lose two teammates, one with an alien virus and the other insane. We kill all of our enemies. Think about it. If we could get Le Parrain, the Shade Blades, the Skreaks, the Iron Pirates, the Idea Man, and Micro-Sapiens to all kill themselves in exchange for a few heroes and a hundred MAB agents, it would be a great deal.”
“It’s not heroic.”
“No, but there will be fewer casualties than we’d get in drawn-out battles. You don’t get to tell the women who don’t become widows, or the children who don’t become orphans what you spared them from. Those fiends kill more people in one of their typical plots than we’ll let die tonight. That’s why it’s acceptable loss.”
Alex dusted himself off. “This nuclear implosion, is it supposed to be silent?”
“Don’t be an idiot. A skyscraper getting crunched to the size of a marble would make lots of noise. Not to mention the screams from everyone caught in the radiation shockwave. I saw one tested with a herd of pigs. That was some horrible squealing.”
“We’ve been talking for two minutes. I haven’t heard a sound.”
Sergeant Hammer pulled out Alex’s smartphone and looked at the time. “It was supposed to detonate at midnight.”
Alex took the smartphone back. The clock read 12:01 a.m.
Chapter Eighteen
Asura entered the last lines of code into the mainframe behind the elevator.
The monitor read “PLAN FAILSAFE ABORTED.”
“Now to collect my reward.”
Broken marble flagstones and shattered glass littered the front lobby of Griffin Tower. Asura nonchalantly stepped over the snoring Bone Terror. He reached the elevator as the doors were closing.
There was barely any room inside the elevator due to the girth of the two Skreaks already on it. Between them was Lady Amazing, who was encased in a huge chunk of something that reminded Asura of dried snot from her neck down.
“Vijay?” she said.
“It’s Asura.” He flared his green and black trench coat’s collar and pressed a button below the floor the Skreaks chose.
“What are you doing here?”
“Working my way up the food chain.”
“You were a creep, now you’re a traitor.”
“I shut down Plan Failsafe, so don’t expect death to save you from whatever the Skreaks have planned.”
“I’ve escaped tougher situations than this.”
The doors opened. Before Asura stepped into the research lab he said, “Oh, remember that camera I put in the women’s bathroom? This afternoon, I uploaded the footage of you showering. It’s already been downloaded ten thousand times.”
As the elevator doors closed Lady Amazing wriggled furiously. “I’m going to kick your ass to the moon and back!”
Several Iron Pirates were scrutinizing Sunburn’s Helio-cannon when Asura entered. He ignored them and walked to the glass case containing the Golden Gryphon battlesuit.
A metallic voice bellowed, “You’re not one of us.”
Asura turned. Behind him was a two-headed obese behemoth made of twisted flesh and tangled circuitry. One head was that of a hairless man, the other completely robotic. Two flexible tentacles sprouted from behind his back and two extra metal insect-like legs supported his girth. In the middle of his chest was the skull-and-crossed-wrenches of the Iron Pirates.
“Captain Rust, I presume,” said Asura. “I’m here for my payment.”
The robotic head’s eyeless visor glowed. The human head said, “Everything in this lab but the Skreak’s machine and the neurotransmitter is ours.”
“Le Parrain promised me the Golden Gryphon battlesuit.”
The robot head’s visor dimmed. The human head said, “That’s mine.”
“No, it’s mine. I’m going to rewire it, update its circuitry, add two extra arms, and give it a reflective coating.”
“You’ve put thought into this.”
“It’s my lifelong dream. I will be the Silver Shiva, destroyer of cities. Be nice and I’ll let you pillage behind me.”
Captain Rust’s clawed tentacles dragged Asura back by his neck. “Dream on. It’s mine.”
“Hey!” Asura indignantly fixed his coat’s collar. “You wouldn’t be here right now if not for me. I relayed information, planted false tips, disabled the security systems, diffused the implosion bomb …”
“We lost two men when we checked out the Skreaks’ radiation generator.”
“Not my fault. I opened the door to the research lab for them.”
“You’ll get nothing from us.”
Asura almost snapped back before he noticed the other Iron Pirates drawing guns. He raised his hands and said, “I’ll talk to Le Parrain. He made all the deals. He owes you compensation, and he owes me the battlesuit.”
Asura returned to the elevator, inserted a metallic sliver into the keyhole under the buttons, and pressed the penthouse office button. The normally locked button lit up.
The elevator opened at James Griffin’s penthouse office. A dozen men in Griffin Industries’ light blue security guard uniforms stood as still as terracotta warriors.
“Don’t mind me,” said Asura. “I have to talk to the big man.”
The security guards didn’t move.
Asura flicked one in the nose. There was no reaction.
“Wow, the Idea Man did a number on you guys. No personality left at all.”
Asura stepped around the psychically incapacitated guards to Mister Griffin’s office. Men in tailored gray suits and red ties stood like soldiers at attention at each end of the desk. Le Parrain sat back in James Griffin's padded chair. Stardancer stood in front of him, her lithe body and the sparkling leotard and tights that covered it shivering in fear.
The elderly man poured wine into a glass. “For you, ma chère.”
She trembled and didn’t touch it.
The Prospects Page 19