Enhancer 3

by Wyatt Kane

On the high Ty was enjoying, building an EMP grenade was simple. The complex part was in controlling the blast area. How big did it need to be?

  Big enough that he didn’t have to be 100% accurate with his throw, yet small enough that it wouldn’t take out anyone he didn’t wish to target.

  It would be all well and good to disable Steam and Massive, but if it knocked out his own device or Tempest’s, it would leave them worse than defenseless.

  If the devices stopped working, it would be exactly the same as if they had been removed from their arms. And the villains they faced didn’t act alone. Massive and Steam had been supported by Rubio’s men, and Bain had an unknown number of the Master’s mercenaries to call upon.

  Even if Ty and Tempest managed to take out any superpowered villain they faced, they would still have to deal with whoever was left.

  They couldn’t do that if they were suffering from withdrawal.

  40: A Plea For Help

  The workings of an EMP device were surprisingly simple. It required only to release a massive electrical charge all at once. Ty’s design centered around a fist-sized capacitor paired with one of his power converters to ensure it stayed charged. He added a simple timer like that found on a normal grenade, and wrapped the whole in a simple steel can.

  Once the Stark Imager showed the design was finished to his satisfaction, he simulated setting the grenade off.

  “Twelve-and-a-half feet,” he muttered to himself as he measured the simulated blast radius. According to the data on the display, anything electronic within that radius would fail to work. But if he and Tempest were standing beyond that, they should be fine.

  Once again, Ty stood back from the desk to admire his work. From his perspective, this had been his most productive day ever. The EMP grenade should really help even the playing field, and as for the healing nanites … he reached over his shoulder and touched the spot where he’d been burnt to check what was happening there.

  A couple of hours ago, it had been itchy, just beginning the process of healing. But now, when he touched the bandage, it felt really good. Just like normal, undamaged skin.

  Ty grinned. He reached beneath his shirt and pulled the bandage away, then tentatively touched the place again.

  The wound was behind him, on his back, and it would require two mirrors for him to see. But it felt perfectly fine. Back to normal.

  It was a success beyond Ty’s wildest dreams. He knew now, if he wasn’t injured too badly, he would be able to heal from almost any attacks.

  Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to regrow a leg or even fight off a cold, because that wasn’t what his nanites were for. But bruises, burns, broken bones, and other injuries should now be no more than a temporary nuisance.

  Even better, his healing nanites weren’t reliant on the device on his arm. They would continue to work even if, for some reason, he no longer wore it. They would even take care of things like arthritis or chronic injuries that might developed over time.

  All in all, it was a major accomplishment, and he couldn’t wait to strip the bandage away from his calf as well.

  Before he did so, Dinah and Lilith appeared at the workshop entrance.

  Lilith’s cheeks were bright red, her lipstick smudged, and her clothes weren’t as neat as before. As for Dinah, the deerkin was almost smoldering with latent desire, and the two of them exuded an earthy, musky scent.

  Ty felt the corners of his mouth quirk into a grin. He didn’t know how far exactly the two women had gone, but it seemed that a boundary had been a crossed. Which boundary, he would have to ask, but neither seemed displeased that it had happened.

  Yet, as quickly as it began, Ty’s smile faded. Despite the overt clues of sexual indulgence on display, the overriding impression he got from them was one of worry.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  Lilith took a moment to stare at the holographic display of the work Ty had been doing, but Dinah answered straight away. “Tempest received a message from Rubio,” she said.

  Immediately, Ty went on alert. The crime lord had proved to be nothing but trouble, and if he had spoken to Tempest, it couldn’t be good.

  “What did he say?”

  “According to Tempest, he wanted to call in a marker. He said she owed him a favor.”

  “That’s rubbish!” Ty exclaimed. “Rubio never fulfilled his part of the deal. Tempest owes him nothing.”

  Dinah nodded. “That’s how I see it as well,” she said. “But Tempest has her own mind. She’ll do whatever she thinks is right.”

  Ty knew Dinah’s words were true, but it didn’t change his opinion. “What was the favor he wanted from her?” he said.

  “Remember when we told him the Master wanted the devices he stole? Well, I used the Master’s own encoding technique to spread a message online, letting him know it was Rubio who took them.” The deerkin shrugged. “It seems to have worked. Rubio’s men are under attack from the Master.”

  Ty was incredulous. “And he wants Tempest to help him?” It was incredulous. The gall of the man was unbelievable. “What was her response?”

  He asked the question even though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer. If Tempest had chosen to ignore Rubio’s message, Dinah and Lilith wouldn’t be so worried.

  “She’s on her way there now,” said Dinah.

  Feeling suddenly angry, Ty gritted his teeth and let out a growl of frustration. The target of that frustration wasn’t Tempest. She was a true superhero, and he couldn’t argue with her instinct to help. But the Master’s timing was irritating!

  It was too soon! Ty’s mind was still buzzing with the effects of the drug, and there was so much more he still had to do. If he could have just one more day to himself, he knew he could finish so many projects. But it seemed he wasn’t going to get that time.

  “Ty?” Dinah asked.

  Ty had turned his back on the woman while he dealt with his anger. At the deerkin’s word, he did his best to rein himself in and turned back to face them.

  “I have to go,” he said. “Rubio is slippery. And that talent of his – you know this has to be a trap of some sort.”

  “Yes,” Dinah agreed, and even Lilith nodded.

  Ty looked hard at the deerkin. “Where is she? How do I get there?”

  Surprisingly, it was Lilith who answered. “You don’t need to know. I can take you straight there,” she said.

  When Ty had first met Lilith, he had been struck both by the innocence of her features and the determination that gave her strength. That determination had been less pronounced since she’d escaped from the Master’s control. But now it was back in full measure.

  “Are you sure?” Ty asked.

  Lilith nodded again. “I want to help. And if Rubio is fighting the Master and Bain, I want to be there. I want to be part of it.” She shot a quick glance at Dinah that suggested kinship, and broadened her answer. “I want to be part of all of it,” she said. “Part of who you are. What you’re trying to do. It’s a good thing, what you have here, and I haven’t been part of many good things in the past.”

  It made perfect sense to Ty. Lilith was lawful good, yet had been compelled to act in ways contrary to that core nature for much of her life. He turned to Dinah.

  “How long have we got?” he asked.

  “None at all,” she replied.

  Ty cursed under his breath. “Fabricate,” he ordered. “Quantity: three.”

  The fabricator whirred into life and started to bring three EMP grenades into being.

  41: Unexpected Interlude

  As the fabricator did its work, Lilith and Dinah gave Ty a few additional details. With Lilith sensing a congregation of devices and Dinah plotting out where they were, they’d worked out that Rubio was under attack in an old industrial plant that formed part of the crime lord’s empire.

  The deerkin contacted Tempest and told her that Ty and Lilith were both on their way, and the blonde superhero said she would wait for them to arrive b
efore she did anything.

  That was the good news. But there was bad news as well.

  “Do we know how many device wearers there are?” Ty asked.

  Lilith shook her head. “Lots. I don’t know how many. They’re too close together for me to tell. Half a dozen? I don’t know.”

  Half a dozen was too many for comfort. Ty turned to Dinah. “Cameras?” he asked.

  But the deerkin shook her head. “It’s an old plant, and Rubio isn’t keen on cameras at the best of times. To me, it’s a dead zone. I can’t get anything from it.”

  Ty wondered if he should fabricate camera-wielding drones of some sort for exactly this type of situation. Maybe he would add it to his ongoing list of tasks, he thought.

  The fabricator finished its work and became quiet. Ty picked up the resulting grenades and tested them for weight, then stowed them in his pockets.

  He turned to Lilith. “Are you ready for this?”

  Grimly determined, the demon woman nodded.

  “Then let’s do it.”

  <<<>>

  Ty didn’t think he would ever get used to the soul-chilling cold of that indescribable space through which Lilith teleported. He knew without asking that Lilith could have existed there without any issues. As well as gifting her a range of other abilities, her skill seemed to make her proof against the inimicality of this fearful, in-between place.

  But if she were to leave Ty there, in less than a minute, he would be no more than a popsicle with a frozen device on his wrist.

  So when they popped back into reality having spent only moments away, Ty’s first response was to let out a sigh of immense relief.

  Then he realized they were nowhere near Rubio’s industrial plant. Instead, they had appeared next to a large, concrete fountain in the middle of a well-tended rose garden.

  He took a moment to steady himself. Unusually for her, Lilith didn’t let him go right away. She held him as Tempest usually did, for long enough for him to regain his footing.

  Ty looked all about, completely confused. “Where are we?” he asked. “Why have you brought us here?”

  “This is one of my favorite places,” Lilith said. “It’s the New Lincoln Rose Botanica, and it’s quite close to where I used to live.” She gave a quiet smile. “It’s just a place I used to come to.”

  They weren’t the only people in the gardens. The fountain sat on a raised platform, and from where he stood, Ty could see perhaps half a dozen others wandering aimlessly by themselves or as couples walking hand-in-hand.

  “But why are we here?” Ty asked. He wasn’t angry, not really, but his worry for Tempest had increased. He didn’t like it when she faced danger alone.

  “I’m sorry,” Lilith said. “We’ll be on our way soon. I just wanted the chance to say thank you.”

  “Thank you?” Ty asked.

  The demon woman nodded. “You answered my questions. It gave me the confidence I needed so when Dinah approached me again….” Lilith trailed off and looked shyly away.

  Ty understood. He smiled at her. “You’re welcome,” he said. “Now, do you think we can go to where we are supposed to be?”

  “Of course,” Lilith replied. “But first…” It seemed she had a habit of not finishing her sentences. This time, she stepped in closer, her arms wrapped around him. Ty thought she would blink away, but instead, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

  It was a soft, sweet kiss that spoke of more than just friendship. To Ty, it was an act of unexpected confidence from the demon woman, and it felt like a promise of things to come.

  Lilith lingered longer than Ty expected, then broke away with an expression of pleasure on her face. “I think I’m going to enjoy this,” she said. A pre-device Ty might have thought her words ambiguous. He’d never been that lucky in life. But now, he was sure of Lilith’s intent. Her words reinforced the promise of her kiss.

  “I sure hope so,” he said, grinning in turn. “But for now, we have things to do.”

  The demon woman nodded, and plunged them back into that moment of cold.

  When next they reappeared, Lilith still held him tight. This time, they were where they were meant to be, floating some 200 feet in the air above the old industrial plant.

  42: Plant

  Ty expected Tempest to be either hovering in the air or standing on a high point overlooking the skirmish. But she was nowhere to be seen.

  Ty didn’t like it. It was with a sense of foreboding that he looked about, searching for any sign of the blonde superhero.

  “Where is she?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  Beneath them was a labyrinth of brick and iron buildings, metal walkways, silos, and chimney stacks, most of which looked rusted and derelict. To Ty, it looked like the type of place where homeless people might find shelter, where drug deals could be made without fear of observation, and where bodies could be disposed of with impunity. Normally it would have been deserted, with nothing but tumbleweeds blowing past to highlight the desolation.

  But right then, there were people about, the Master’s mercenaries engaged in conflict against Rubio’s men, scurrying from one place to another and doing their best to stay out of sight.

  It wasn’t silent. Shouts of anger and pain mixed with the sound of blasters firing and desperate cries as men sought to gain advantage over each other.

  “I can’t see her,” the demon woman replied, a grim expression on her beautiful face.

  Ty tried to call the blonde superhero via his device, but he got no answer.

  “She must be around here somewhere,” Ty said. “Where are the device wearers?” He was worried, his heart beating loud and fast in his chest. Tempest was the perfect superhero. Strong, fast, durable, she had it all. But she wasn’t invulnerable. She could be hurt.

  Lilith looked around again. “This way,” she said, and turned them about. As she did, a massive concussion came out of nowhere.

  Boomcrack!

  It was the sound of thunder and came with a shock wave that shook them both in the air.

  “What the hell?” Ty said, but Lilith could only look at him in dismay. Whatever it was, Ty didn’t like it. “Hurry!” urged her.

  The demon woman couldn’t fly as fast as Tempest, but was fast enough. In a matter of moments they were above an entirely different part of the plant, over an entirely different scene.

  Where before they’d witnessed men doing their best to keep hidden as they fought, now they floated above an all-out battle in a wide dirt clearing.

  There were men—and a few women—everywhere, doing their best to maim and kill. To Ty, it looked like the demo reel of a videogame battle. Except it was real. People were dying.

  And there were device wearers among them. Even from above, Ty spotted Steam and Massive, both wreaking havoc, but they weren’t the only ones involved. In a clear patch of dirt, a woman wearing the uniform of a mercenary spewed liquid vitriol about her like she was a dragon. Everything the liquid touched melted as if in acid, and one of Rubio’s men screamed in pain as it ate through his arm.

  Another large man with a device seemed to be grinning as enemies closed in around him. He was surrounded by a circle of pain, men and women clutching at their heads and writhing on the ground. Ty couldn’t immediately see what his power was, but then, just before a group of enemies reached him, he threw his hands wide as if preparing to embrace them and brought them together to clap.

  Boomcrack!

  It was the same massive concussion as before, but this time Ty and Lilith were closer. The force of it was enough to send them briefly tumbling, and Ty held the demon woman tight out of real fear before Lilith brought them back under control.

  The people around the man fared much worse. They joined those writhing on the ground, some unconscious, others in pain. But nobody was immune to the man’s power, except maybe Massive.

  It was like the battle had paused to allow the participants to recover, and it allowed Ty to see.

  “Th
ere she is!” Ty cried.

  The combatants had parted just enough, and Ty could scarcely believe it. Somehow, Tempest had been captured. She was on the ground, surrounded by the Master’s men and entangled in a net that reminded Ty of one once used on him. It was reinforced and electrified, but Ty had seen the blonde woman through the netting.

  Even that shouldn’t have been enough to hold her, but as soon as they recovered from the concussion, the men around her resumed what they’d been doing: firing their blasters at her from close range.

  “No!” Ty said, enraged and desperate to help her. “Leave her alone!” Then he turned to Lilith. “Drop me on them!”

  But Lilith had also spotted someone, and her expression had turned from grim determination through to incandescent rage. Ty knew she hadn’t even heard him.

  “Lilith!” he shouted at her. “What is it?”

  It was enough to get her attention. “Bain,” she replied, her voice as cold as death.

  Ty understood. He looked and saw the huge man wading into the fray, laughing as he ignored blaster fire as if it was nothing. He knew that to Lilith, Bain was a source of torture and pain, and she wouldn’t feel safe while he still had power.

  He nodded. “Do what you must,” he said. “Just let me go!”

  Lilith’s beautiful features turned into a snarl. Instead of simply dropping Ty as he expected, she vanished from within his arms.

  Gravity took over. Ty started tumbling toward the ground and activated his shield. He flailed about in an uncontrolled way, twisting and turning as he fell, but even so he still managed to see Lilith appear next to Bain. He saw the huge man’s laughter turn into an expression of shock, and then both he and Lilith vanished again.

  Ty let out a stream of curses as the ground came closer. His brain was still buzzing from the AZT-407 in his system, and he wanted more than anything to use the buff to give himself the power of true flight. If it had been up to him, he might have been tempted to just let the Master and Rubio wage war on each other and deal with whatever was left. But Tempest needed his help, and that was more important than anything.