by Wyatt Kane
From where Ty sat on the bed, he could see the screen clearly, but wouldn’t have been in Bane’s view.
The monster’s face filled the holographic image. Lumpy and overdeveloped like the rest of him, it was the type of face you might get with a pituitary gland defect. Bane gave a grin that was the same as a sneer.
“Good morning,” he said. “I have something to show you.”
Tempest said nothing. She just glared at the man on the screen with an expression of hate.
“Can you guess what this is?” Bane drawled. He held an open device in front of the camera.
“Dinah’s device,” Tempest said, her eyes wide with horror. Ty knew what she was thinking. Had Bane managed to get that device off as he said? Or had he simply killed Dinah?
“Yes. Your pretty friend’s device.”
“What have you done to her? How did you do get it off?” Tempest demanded. It was clear to Ty that she didn’t want to ask directly whether Dinah still lived.
The monstrous man threw back his head and laughed. “You think I killed her, don’t you?” he said. “But answer me this. I also want your device, and that of your puny boyfriend as well. More than that, I want you to bring them to me.” He shook his head chidingly, as if talking to children. “She is still alive, and you can keep it that way. There is an abandoned warehouse on the edge of New Lincoln. I will send a map. You have thirty minutes. If you are not there by then, I start chopping pieces off.”
It looked as if Bane was about to ring off, but Tempest stopped him. “Prove that she is still alive! Give us a reason to be there!”
Again Bane laughed, a sneering, grating sound that filled Ty with bile. He wanted to rip the man’s tongue out by the root then feed it back to him, but he kept his peace. Even if they were in the same room, Ty knew that he was no match for the man.
Bane turned to someone off-screen. “Bring her here,” he said. Seconds later, there was Dinah, looking dazed and confused. It broke Ty’s heart to see her that way, but at least she was still alive.
“There. Are you satisfied?”
Ty could see that Tempest’s response was the same as his own. Yet she retained the presence of mind to ask more. “Show me her arm,” she said. “The one that had the device on it.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Bane did as Tempest asked. And Dinah’s arm was still whole. Bane hadn’t chopped off her hand to remove the device. Her skin was a slightly different texture where the device had been, but she was intact.
“Now. You have twenty-eight minutes,” Bane said. With that, the holographic screen flicked off. A moment later, a second alert sounded. Tempest checked and found the map Bane had promised.
Tempest dismissed the image and then looked at Ty. “Are you ready for this?” she asked.
“Not in the least,” Ty responded. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it. We need to get Dinah back.” The determination and strength of his voice surprised even him.
There was time for each of them to take a quick shower. After that, they dressed quickly, with Ty making sure to wear his mesh onesie. Beyond that, there was nothing to pack, and in only a few minutes, they were ready.
<<<>>>
Of all the flights Ty had taken with Tempest, this one was the worst.
No longer did he have the luxury of enjoying the view and the wind on his face. No longer was he at the start of an adventure, to be whisked away to the top of a boulder in the middle of a lake. This time, he and Tempest were heading to a confrontation, the outcome of which he couldn’t predict.
Nor would there be any help. The other device wearers were all based in different cities, and even the nearest would take too long to arrive.
It was all Ty could do to focus on his breathing and try to keep his heart from beating too hard and too fast. He was more nervous than he’d ever been before. Nothing could compete. Not any exam he’d ever taken, or working up to his first kiss. Even the interviews he’d had to go through to get into his school or to fail to get the jobs of his choice couldn’t compare.
This was far scarier than any of that. This was real. Life or death.
He couldn’t help but think of his roommate, Brad. Was Ty really destined to live the life of a comic book superhero, with highs and lows beyond anything else?
Or was his life about to be cut abruptly short?
Either way, Ty was committed to seeing it through. He wasn’t the type to throw words like love around easily, and he had known Tempest and Dinah for such a short time. In addition, at least part of the attraction he felt for them both had come from the technology on his wrist. Yet, even without the device, he would have been attracted to each of them. He couldn’t see how anyone wouldn’t be. You would have to have the sex drive of a rock to avoid it. Or to be so flamboyantly gay that it just wasn’t an option.
Despite all these ifs and maybes, he loved them both. If anything happened to either of them, he didn’t know what he might do.
Vengeance was not out of the question. Even if it meant putting his life in danger, then so be it.
Brad was correct. Ty had been offered an opportunity to live an extraordinary life. It might not be a long one, yet he knew it was worth it. If his adventure was to end at the hands of Bane within the next hour, then he would accept that, although he would do everything he could to avoid such a fate.
Even though they flew in silence, Ty could sense that the tension within Tempest’s arms. She was as focused on the coming confrontation as he. What her thoughts happened to be, Ty couldn’t tell, but he knew they would be filled with blood.
It was a relatively short trip. They arrived at the warehouse with several minutes to spare. As she’d done in the past, instead of landing right out in front, Tempest touched down in a nearby alley with a dumpster parked out in front.
“Is this close enough?” Tempest asked as she held Ty steady. “The warehouse is maybe 100 yards from here.”
Ty nodded. Everything they’d planned depended on what was in his backpack. Without hesitation, he slid it from his shoulders and tucked it behind the dumpster. Part of him wanted to test that it would all work, but the sensor embedded and his skin didn’t have the power to work more than once. In retrospect, he could have fabricated a second one just to test everything out, but he hadn’t thought to do so.
It was too late now. All he could do was hope that it worked as planned.
Ty took a deep breath and shared a determined look with Tempest. Together, they left the alley behind them and walked up to the warehouse, a long, low building set back from the pavement by just a few yards and adjoining a large, vacant lot. It was covered in graffiti and there were broken windows aplenty, some of which had been boarded up, but some of which, Ty was happy to note, had not. There were grasses growing in the corners and it was obvious that the place hadn’t been tended for some time.
There was a handful of mercenaries standing guard at the wire fence that separated the warehouse grounds from the path. Six of them, tough men dressed in the same uniform as those who had broken into Ty’s apartment. It was clear that they knew who Ty and Tempest were.
“Stay there,” one of them said, looking them both up and down. He was carrying the same sort of blaster that the others had used, and while he kept it low and out of the view of anyone who happened to pass by, to Ty and Tempest it was an obvious threat.
“Search them,” the man added, and two of the others peeled off.
Ty and Tempest bore the treatment stoically. The closest either of them came to carrying a weapon was Ty’s mesh suit, which he still wore under his clothes. To the man searching him, it didn’t raise any flags.
“Satisfied?” Tempest asked, her tone hard and unfriendly.
The lead mercenary laughed. “Not for years,” he said, leering at her. “Bring them,” he said to his men. “Crusher is waiting.”
33: Confrontation
Ty felt like he was playing a first-person shooter and he was about to enter a difficult level. The warehouse would offe
r enemies all around, and Bane would be the final boss.
He had leveled up as much as he could in the short time he’d had by tweaking his device and boosted his stats an unknown amount with his inventions. He didn’t yet know if the boosts would apply, but he still hoped.
He was as ready as he could be.
Except that he wasn’t playing a first-person shooter. This was real. Bane’s men weren’t leading avatars up to the peeling blue door. They were leading Ty and Tempest for real.
There were no save points. He couldn’t simply re-spawn if he was killed, and neither could Tempest. All they could do was face their enemies the best they could and hope their preparations were enough.
Yet even thinking about it all as a game seemed to help. It cleared his mind and buoyed him to the point where he could walk to the door with determination instead of fear, ready to face whatever was to come his and Tempest’s way.
Anyway, he had no choice. Dinah was in there.
One of the mercenaries opened the door and stepped inside, and Ty and Tempest followed him in.
The warehouse wasn’t empty. Instead, there were shelving units stretching into the distance on both sides, some of them filled with boxes mostly advertising automotive parts, others not. There was a large stack of used car tires to one side reaching halfway to the ceiling high above, and directly in front of them, an open space leading to a counter at the far end.
Bane stood in the middle of that open space. Larger than life, the monstrous villain seemed to exude malice and spite. Still dressed in his skin-tight jumpsuit as if to display his physique, he sneered so overtly that Ty could see it even from fifty feet away.
The loathsome villain wasn’t alone. By his side were more than a dozen armed men. In addition, there was another man wearing a suit, not a mercenary, but apparently part of Bane’s gang. What role he was to play, Ty couldn’t tell, but he was carrying a large, metal case.
Most importantly, held between two of the men, was Dinah. She looked dull and vacant. It was as if her spirit was broken, and it wrung Ty’s heart to see her so. Withdrawal, Tempest had said. The longer someone wore a device, the worse it would be.
Ty wanted to go to her right away, to hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay. Nor was he the only one. Tempest lurched beside him as if she’d missed a step and cried out.
“Dinah!”
The single word was packed full of love and hate and frustration and grief all at once, and Ty instinctively caught her by the forearm to prevent her from leaping to the attack.
Dinah looked up at Tempest’s call but made no move to do anything more. She was held fast by the mercenaries around her.
“Make a move in her direction and she dies!” Bane bellowed.
Ty felt the tension in Tempest’s arm and knew that, just like him, she was seething with hate. Tempest and Ty both glared at Bane as if they could bore holes into his face with the effort of their gaze. They approached to within twenty feet from the monster, then stood facing him with the mercenaries arranging themselves all around.
Once again, Ty felt a visceral reaction to Bane’s presence. It was as if the monster exuded a miasma that Ty found loathsome to be around, like a pile of rotting garbage exudes stink and decay. It was revolting on a cellular level and it was all he could do not to throw up.
Nor did he seem alone with it. Bane himself seemed to have the same reflex action when looking at them. Ty could see it in his face.
It was Tempest who did the speaking. “We are here. We have what you want. Now let her go.”
Bane laughed like a madman. It was as if he thought he’d won. Yet his laughter was brief and soon gave way to his habitual sneer.
“All in good time,” he said. “First, your devices.”
Tempest and Ty were surrounded by nearly 20 armed men, many of whom were pointing weapons their way. Tempest was durable enough to survive if they fired and could also move quickly enough to dodge. But Ty would be dead in an instant. And everyone knew it.
There was only one option. Tempest and Ty held out their arms. Immediately, the man wearing the suit stepped forward, bringing the metal case with him.
“The girl first,” Bane grated.
The man was slim and wore glasses. He nodded briefly, placed the case on the floor with precise, practiced movements, and opened it up. Immediately, the case became something else altogether. Even as he wondered what it was, Ty couldn’t help but marvel at the technology. The case shifted and telescoped, and within seconds it looked like a drill press, standing six feet high with a table at the midpoint.
But it wasn’t a drill press. Ty knew what it was. It was a portable version of the fabricator he had used in the Architect’s workshop, complete with multiple mechanical arms.
The man turned to Tempest. “Place your wrist on the table,” he said.
Tempest had no choice. Favoring the slim man with a glare that could have split rocks, she did so.
“No!” said Dinah, her melodious voice filled with desperation and loss. “Don’t do it!”
“Implement protocol 17,” the man said.
Ty wanted to wring the man’s neck. He wanted to beat the man’s head against his own machine for the mere thought of removing Tempest’s device. In Ty’s mind, the device was part of her, just like her blonde hair and perfect skin. It was part of who she was. Even the thought of removing it was akin to tearing the wings off a butterfly. Yet there was little he could do. And if it helped them get Dinah back safely, it would be worth it.
Despite his thoughts, Ty snarled in undisguised anger as the fabricator went to work. Protocol 17 must have been pre-programmed, and it was efficient. Mechanical arms started to whirr and in less than a minute, Tempest’s device clicked open and fell from her wrist.
Tempest uttered a strangled cry and sank to her knees. Ty didn’t know what it felt like to have the device removed, but it didn’t look pleasant. His first instinct to go to her, to make sure she was ok.
But Bane had other ideas. “Don’t move. It’s your turn next.”
Ty stood where he was and seethed. Tempest curled up in a ball on the ground, quietly sobbing to herself.
“Some superhero you are,” Bane sneered at her. Ty wanted to punch him in the face. Even though his strength was far less, even though it would be like a noob in a boss fight, he still wanted to do it. He hated the man with a passion he’d seldom felt before.
The slim man with the glasses removed Tempest’s open device from the fabricator. Then he looked at Ty.
“Place your wrist on the table,” he said again.
Ty looked around the warehouse. The mercenaries stood like statues, determined and grim and ready for any hint of rebellion. Tempest lay on the floor, wracked with pain and loss, her wrist bare. Dinah was now sobbing in the mercenaries’ grip, her hope faded into despair.
And Bane. The monster was standing there exuding triumph like a rotting carcass oozed stink. His hands were on his hips and his chest was thrust out, and he sneered down at Ty from a great height.
Even though every fiber of his being was crying out to oppose him, Ty did as the man asked. The process was repeated. Protocol 17 worked a second time, and just like with Tempest, Ty’s device clicked open and off.
Ty couldn’t help but cry out. It was more painful than he expected, and he felt very strange. It was much like he had felt when the device had been attached, but different. He felt dizzy and surprisingly weak.
He also knew that the withdrawal would be worse the longer a device was worn. What would it have been like for Dinah to lose hers?
Just like Tempest, Ty couldn’t keep to his feet. He fell to his knees and hugged himself tightly to avoid collapsing even further. Yet he retained enough strength to glare at Bane.
“You have what you wanted,” he said, putting all the hate and loathing he could find into his voice. “Now let Dinah go.”
Again, the monstrous man laughed. He was apparently enjoying himself.
Surprisingly, Ty wasn’t cowed. “The last few days have been the best of my life. I wouldn’t change them for anything.”
The monstrous man gave a grunt full of derision but said nothing in response. Instead, he turned to the men holding Dinah. “Give her to them.”
At this, Ty felt a moment of hope. Perhaps the monstrous man would be true to his word. Perhaps, now that he had what he wanted, he would leave them alone.
It seemed that Tempest felt the same hope as he did. As the mercenaries let go of Dinah and shoved her in their direction, the blonde superhero struggled to her feet. Even in her weakened condition, Dinah was graceful. She looked uncertainly about her, not fully trusting Bane’s words, then made her way to Ty and Tempest.
Tempest met her halfway and enfolded Dinah in an embrace. Nor did Ty want to be left out. He also struggled to his feet, and in moments, the three of them stood in the warehouse, surrounded by mercenaries and villains, murmuring words of reassurance and comfort to each other.
At that moment, Ty didn’t care that he was surrounded by blasters. He didn’t care that he had just given a true villain a tool that could help him in some diabolical way. He didn’t care that he and Dinah had been bereft of the devices.
All that he cared about was that Dinah was okay and that they were together again.
It seemed that his feelings for Dinah and Tempest were not entirely due to the devices on their wrists after all. Or perhaps the effects simply lingered.
Either way, if Bane had left them alone at that point, Ty may not have done anything to stop him. He may have simply left the warehouse to continue with whatever life he could make.
But Bane had no such plans. As Ty and Tempest had predicted, he was much more insidious than that. He allowed the trio only a few moments together before he spoke again.