by Brett P. S.
Chapter 3
So Wizard
Kolding, Denmark
Sofie knocked at the door to a marvelously ornate household in northern Kolding. It took her twenty-five minutes to jog here from her apartment, though admittedly, she placed plastic soles in her shoes to make the trip. Sofie found she could move the plastic to enhance her own physical abilities, if she timed her body with the motions. She could have sped over at nearly sixty kilometers per hour, though it would attract undue attention and she planned to keep her powers a secret until the situation called for it. She read enough comics to know going public with super powers was complicated.
The door opened, revealing an older woman with partially greyed hair. She dressed formally, almost old fashioned, wearing a blue and white sundress with frills around the neck and apron. It was a stark comparison to what Sofie wore, a faded pink t-shirt and a pair of old jeans, but at least she picked the good pair! This one didn’t have holes in the knees.
“I am here to speak with the wizard,” Sofie said, taking a bow.
Ms. Duval smiled.
“Felix is downstairs,” she said. “Make yourself at home.”
Sofie took another bow and headed past Ms. Duval. She eyed the basement entrance to the left of the kitchen. Felix Duval lumbered down the steps behind the closed door his basement. Granted, it was ‘his’ in the sense that his mother had given it to him, rather she allowed him to live there until he moved out. She grabbed hold of the door and cracked it open. Yep, it was a man cave down there. Sofie waved goodbye to Ms. Duval before heading down and closing the door behind her.
She hopped down the shoddy wooden staircase and into a sea of LED’s and computer monitors that lit the basement. Felix had thrown up pieces of plywood to block sunlight from the few windows in his lair. Instead, he relied on the glow of his digital apparatuses to sustain his vision.
“Greetings, oh great Wizard,” Sofie said.
Felix hardly hesitated.
“I trust you brought an offering for my services?”
“Delicacies from foreign lands, my lord,” she said.
Sofie slapped a bag of Chinese takeout on his desk, sweet and sour chicken with rice. Felix eyed it hungrily, and his mouth practically watered as he opened the bag and grabbed the takeout box with the chicken and a plastic fork. He spent the next minute or so engorging himself as he smeared sauce all over his mouth.
Felix held tremendous talent in regards to his various hobbies, most of which involved hacking and soliciting information on the internet. Sofie didn’t know much about computers, but she knew enough to realize Felix was a force to be reckoned with. If it was out there, he knew of it, or at least knew someone else who did.
Despite his uncanny skills, however, Felix had some … quirks. The young man, about 25 years old, still lived with his divorced mother, and Sofie didn’t see him moving out any time soon. While he reveled in his persona, Felix lacked … social connections. He had no friends to speak of. Felix just wasn’t good with real people.
“This meal is excellent,” Felix said as he gobbled another piece of chicken. “How may I be of service?”
Sofie pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and set it on his desk, lined paper from her notebook with a string of digits written on it. She drew back and crossed her arms.
“I need to know who this man is. Can you find anything based on his credit card information?”
“Oh, lass,” he said with a smirk. “You forget with whom you are speaking.”
Felix viciously tapped away at his three keyboards and fiddled with his mouse as he brought up applications she hardly made sense of. Whatever he was doing, she had faith in his ability to avoid unwarranted attention. The last thing she needed was a police force storming down into Ms. Duval’s basement. The wizard knew better, though.
“This your man?” he said. After ten minutes of work, he twisted over a monitor. “It’s a company card. Franklin Beaudry. Works for Savage Steel.”
“Merci, Felix! That’s him!”
“So, Plastique is finally fighting the big guns,” he said. “How does Savage Steel play into your scenario?”
“He set up a meeting with some Corrupt EEA officials,” she said. “He was some kind of fighter. I barely got away.”
“Was he special?” Felix asked. He paused. “Like you?”
Sofie sighed and leaned back against the concrete wall. She didn’t like cramped spaces, but the house occupied only so much square footage.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Bring them to justice,” Felix said. “Show the world who they really are. The problem will fix itself.”
“I kind of tried something last night, only I haven’t heard a peep from the news.”
“Wait a second,” Felix said. “You were behind Odense?”
“Yes. Last night, I barged in on one of their meetings.”
“Surprising,” he said. “I didn’t hear anything. Let me check the forums.”
Felix browsed a handful of ‘secure’ websites, the kind of forums focused on conspiracy theories and alien abductions. As a rule of thumb, the more effort a company like Savage Steel put into covering up an incident, the crazier a website had to be to speak of it. Felix sped read through fifteen separate forums before he threw up his hands in frustration and leaned back in silent shame.
“It’s not there,” he said. “It’s as if people never saw it in the first place.”
“I was there, Felix. I know it happened.”
Felix pondered to himself for a moment. He was a thinking man, and she grew wary when his normally serious contemplation turned up a grin.
“You’re sure he’s going to try it again?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I don’t know where though.”
“Copenhagen,” he said. Sofie paused. Where did that come from? “Your friend purchased a train ticket to Copenhagen dated two days from now.”
“Felix, you’re awesome!” Sofie shouted.
They bumped fists, and she hurried up the stairs. Plastique was about to make a reappearance.