But I supposed all of that meant they must have developed a personality assessment of me as well. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
The man fell silent after his last statement, just staring at me.
I tried to be careful about how I responded, since clearly they knew everything. “Well, it looks like you guys have your minds made up about the situation, and I don’t want to say anything only to have my words twisted later, so is this the part where I get to ask for a lawyer?”
His eyes narrowed. “So, then you admit to killing Blaze Maddox?”
I scoffed. “No, I’m not admitting to anything. But clearly I need a lawyer present if this is an interrogation for a suspected murder. I mean, are you sure he’s not just taking an extended vacation?”
Carnegie laughed humorlessly at that. “Oh, I doubt anyone would consider Hell to be the ideal spot to kick your feet up and relax.”
Now it was my turn to feel suspicious, my eyes narrowing. “You think the top superhero ended up in Hell, huh?”
He abruptly leaned forward in his chair and folded his hands underneath his chin, just like he had been when I first walked into the room. His dark eyes were again unamused. “Let me tell you something about the world we live in, Mr. Archer. Do you know how many people could safely take down someone like Blaze Maddox?” He held out one of his hands, giving me the peace sign, before tucking his hand underneath his chin again. “Two, Mr. Archer. Two people.”
The girl unexpectedly spoke up. “Both of whom I know,” she chimed in, seeming to lighten up for the first time since I’d seen her, as if speaking of them made her happy.
Carnegie appeared to be a little annoyed by her comment, but didn’t say anything about it, quickly continuing. “And those two supers are currently tied up in dealing with a much bigger problem at the moment. Do you know what that means?” he asked seriously.
I shook my head.
“It means, if someone like Blaze were to engage in criminal activity, not only would he be protected under the Absolute Immunity he had been granted as the top hero, but we also don’t have the means to stop him even if we wanted to.”
I scoffed at that. “So let me get this straight, you think Blaze was a criminal? And if he was a criminal, only two people in the entire world have the capacity to stop him? What about my boss, Nick Parker? I know he’s pretty strong. And I know he’s in the reserves.”
“Too risky,” Carnegie retorted. “I did say ‘safely’ take him down. Because that’s what it would come to – a fight to the death, since we have no way to incarcerate someone like him. And at the end of the day, even though it is true that Nick Parker surpassed Blaze on most metrics, physical mass plays an important role in a purely physical fight. Build a semitruck out of aluminum, and a car out of steel, and have them collide – the semitruck is still going to demolish the car, because power is a factor of both velocity and force, the latter of which is a product of acceleration and mass. More mass means more power, assuming speed and acceleration capacity are relatively equivalent for both supers.” He scoffed. “And imagine what would happen if Blaze won such a fight. Then what?”
I sighed, trying to gather what he was implying. It almost sounded like they were looking for someone to take Blaze down. Did that mean this meeting wasn’t what I thought it was? Or were they just trying to lure me out by getting me to admit it was me, only to take the appropriate legal action afterwards.
But then again, if what they were saying about Blaze was true – that they only had two supers who could safely take him down, then didn’t that apply to me as well? I mean, unlike Blaze, I was unkillable.
I cleared my throat, since it was obvious he was waiting for me to respond now, despite the rhetorical question.
“Can you just get to the point?” I asked. “Obviously, you think I might be related to Blaze’s death, and apparently he was involved in something illegal, based on what you just said, so then why are we having this meeting?”
His eyes narrowed. “I want to know why you killed Blaze, and then based on that information, we’ll see how we proceed.”
Shit.
You know what?
Screw it.
This might have ended up as being the biggest mistake of my life, but what were they going to do about it? I mean, I knew there was a lot they could do, but in that moment, I just didn’t care.
“Fine,” I snapped. “You want to know why? Because Blaze pushed for a court order that restricted people from being in Lily’s house, only to show up in the middle of the night and shoot her – my fiancé – with a tranquilizer dart, so he could sexually assault her! And you know what’s worse?” I continued, noticing in my peripheral vision that the blonde girl’s expression had changed to one of concern for the first time.
“What’s worse is that when I showed up at Blaze’s place, I discovered that he had been blackmailing Lexi Stockton for three years with her sister’s safety – who, like you said, was believed to be dead – regularly abusing the older sister, while he used Heidi as his personal ‘cure all’ to prevent people from knowing that he was frequently assaulting other women, literally breaking their bodies as he did so, only to make Heidi put them back together again before they woke up from being drugged!”
I took a deep breath, my hatred causing my writhing astral form to push against the impenetrable shield surrounding me. The girl didn’t seem threatened by it though, her expression still one of concern.
“So did I kill a person? No, I didn’t. I killed a monster. And in doing so, not only did I keep my family safe, I also saved Lexi and Heidi from a living hell – one in which they had no hope of escaping – as well as prevented the same atrocities from happening to an immeasurable number of other women.”
“Is he the only person you’ve killed?” Carnegie asked evenly.
My brow furrowed. “I’ve never killed a person,” I retorted, knowing he understood what I was implying.
“Is he the only monster, as you put it, that you’ve killed?” he rephrased.
I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms, deciding to be honest. “No, he’s not.”
“How many?” he asked, his expression reserved.
As I thought about it, I could really only think of four people I’d ever been involved in killing, including my previous boss John, as well as Camila, Blaze, and then that dude with the shadow company who tried killing Nick. Prior to that, I hadn’t killed anyone. Instead, I’d only seen death repeatedly firsthand while I continued to live on. But then again, I technically hadn’t been the one who killed John or Camila – Freya had done the deed with those two, which was something I wasn’t going to tell him in a million years.
“Just one other,” I replied simply. “I don’t know the name of the other guy. All I know is he attacked someone I knew, and he had a lethal superpower that resulted in his death being the only option. I actually tried to resolve the situation by leaving him alive, but knocking him unconscious just wasn’t possible.”
Carnegie nodded. “Then, if that’s the case, on behalf of the Central Department of Superheroes, I’d like to offer you a job.”
6: Unexpected Enemies
Lexi Stockton
January 15, 2735 – 15 Minutes Ago – Early Evening
Lexi followed the airport attendant down the hallway, wondering why they were going in the opposite direction as the way she had come in. Her first assumption was that this was a better way to evacuate, but felt uncertain about the fact she had seen another VIP occupant exiting in the same direction they were taking Nick.
She wasn’t an expert in the airport’s layout though, so she followed the attendant through a doorway without hesitation.
They ended up in a wide hallway with white walls and a white floor, appearing as if it was reserved for employees only. There was a motorized transportation cart parked in the hallway, along with a ton of luggage in the attached carriage.
The driver wasn’t in sight though, likely having abandoned the
vehicle after the explosion.
Just as they began passing by, the man unexpectedly changed directions and headed straight for the carriage.
“What are you doing?” Lexi exclaimed in surprise.
The man ignored her as he reached inside and pulled out a seemingly regular black suitcase. He then hoisted it up and shoved it in her arms, prompting her brow to furrow more as she grunted from the weight.
“What is this?” she demanded.
The man met her gaze as he reached his hand into his pocket. “Compliments of the Sheriff,” he replied simply.
Lexi felt the blood drain from her face.
Instantly, her body erupted with a lethal discharge of electricity that would kill anyone in the vicinity, attempting to blast the suitcase as far away from her body as possible.
But it was too late.
The last thing she remembered was the man’s sick suicidal grin.
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
January 15, 2735 – Current Day – Early Evening
My jaw literally dropped, I was so shocked.
Offer me a job? Was he kidding?
Yet neither of them were smiling, and the unsurprised reaction of the young woman indicated that she was well aware this was something they might offer me.
“If you accept the position,” he finally continued after a moment, “you’ll be granted a form of immunity that includes legal protection from incriminating actions performed while stopping illegal activity. And the effect is retroactive, so assuming the two people you’ve killed both fall under the classification of ‘Superhero Use of Force’ then your actions will be deemed legitimized even though you weren’t legally a superhero at the time.” He grimaced then. “While this isn’t the primary method of employment, it’s also not uncommon for us to recruit superheroes only after they have engaged in personal law enforcement.”
“Oh,” I replied absentmindedly, still having a difficult time wrapping my head around this new development. “Can I think about it? I don’t even know what all the responsibilities would be, never mind how it will affect my everyday life. I have a family to think about.”
Carnegie nodded. “I suppose we can allow that.” He paused to pull out another file from the manila folder. “This is the contract we would want you to sign, valid for seven years, with the expectation that the terms will be renegotiated upon expiration. It includes top-of-the-line life and medical insurance, as well as a yearly salary of ten million, and–”
“Ten million?!” I exclaimed. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Lexi doesn’t even make a fifth of that, and she’s supposed to be one of the best!” I had never actually asked Lexi what her yearly salary was as a superhero, but I knew from her comment about needing credit to buy the eight-million-dollar mansion meant she probably made at least a million but less than four million. From what I understood, Blaze had his name on the title to the house, preventing her from selling the mansion, but the mortgage itself was only in her name, relying solely on her income. Just another way the bastard had his claws in her.
He could easily walk away from the debt if he wanted, but she couldn’t.
The Assistant Director seemed unaffected by my outburst. “The specifics of Lexi Stockton’s contract are not up for debate here. However, I will say that most of the work she is responsible for does not involve her directly putting her life on the line. Salaries are often based more on bodily risk, not total contribution like in a normal work setting, though there are certainly some personnel who are paid large sums even despite the lack of risk. But what that means is, those who are hired to risk their lives by diving straight into enemy fire are paid more.” He paused. “Blaze Maddox was paid significantly more, though a large part of his salary was behavioral incentive.”
“Wow,” I scoffed. “So you guys literally paid him to be good.”
Carnegie’s eyes narrowed. “The Central Department of Superheroes did what they had to, yes. But even that wasn’t enough. We were not unaware of the kind of illegal conduct he was involved in.”
Okay, that made me pissed.
I tried to keep my expression neutral, knowing that there wasn’t much they could have done. Still, it just wasn’t right for them to turn a blind eye while Blaze went around wronging all those women.
Not to mention Lexi!
I tried to focus my thoughts again on the present situation, gesturing to the contract. “Is it also possible I might be able to just become part of the reserves? There’s a reason why I’ve stayed low all my life. It’s hard to keep my immortality a secret if I become famous, which is something I’m definitely not interested in. I don’t want fame or money. I just want to live a peaceful life and keep my family safe.”
He took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. “You want to keep your family safe?” he repeated. “Then become a superhero and stop the threats from ever reaching them.” He shifted gears then, and asked a question. “When a handful of people can destroy millions, you know what we call that? An army. We’ve been at war for centuries, Sampson Archer, and we need every capable soldier we can get, to keep both your family and the entire world safe. Don’t think that something happening in another city, or even what’s happening across the ocean, won’t affect you. Because it will. Over time, we have stopped countless apocalyptic catastrophes from befalling humanity, and while you personally might have survived such events had they occurred, the people you love wouldn’t have. And the people you love now, like Lily Dodson, never would have even been born.”
He paused again to evaluate my reserved expression. “And as far as their safety goes, if you’re really that paranoid, then we can add in a security detail for whenever you’re called away to stop a threat. With a salary offer like this from the Central Department of Superheroes, adding that benefit won’t be much of an addition in comparison.”
I took a deep breath and leaned back in my seat more. I doubted a security force would be much more useful than Freya protecting Lily while I was gone, although that might mean she would be required to give over managing her business to someone else.
It certainly wasn’t unusual for a business owner to allow others to manage the company, but I felt like there was a small part of her that enjoyed the work – otherwise she would have done that a long time ago.
“Well, I guess I’ll consider my options before signing. Who do I talk to about making these types of changes?”
He inclined his head in the direction of the door. “Until we have your signature, most of your communication will go through Senior Special Agent Jamison. He will serve as the official liaison for your case until then.”
Great, the friendly bastard, who was really an arrogant asshole.
“Okay,” I agreed, grabbing the document since it was obviously a copy for me. “Can I see my fiancé now, or are we not done?”
He shook his head. “The last piece of business is for us to reevaluate your superpower with one of our top supers. After that, Jamison will get you set up with a method of communication, and then you may go.” He then turned his head and gave a nod towards the girl behind him.
I had assumed we would be changing locations to have my power evaluated, so I was shocked when the girl backed up, so that I was outside of her denser shield, and suddenly the flowing distortions in the air significantly thinned out. Or rather, it was like a tunnel appeared in the shield, leading from me directly to the one-way mirror in the wall.
My head snapped to my left, shocked that I could finally see clearly with my second-sight again. In the other room, there were now two people – a man in a suit, with black hair and pale skin, who had been watching previously, as well as someone new.
The sprite spoke up then. “Wait, can you see my shield?” she wondered in surprise after seeing my reaction.
I only nodded vaguely in reply, barely hearing her following comment that she had never met anyone who could see it, other than her husband.
It wasn’t that I was trying to ign
ore her though, but rather she just might as well have not existed in that moment.
Because I was focused so intently on this other person.
It was a beautiful woman with black hair, pale skin, and super creepy eyes.
Her entire eye was oscillating shades of blue, as if there was no white sclera at all, but just one massive iris with a spiral pupil. It was like both of her eyes were oceans of flowing energy, with black-hole galaxies in the middle, but that wasn’t the creepiest part.
The disturbing aspect was that the moment I locked eyes with her through the one-way mirror, it felt like she truly saw me. And something about it made me instinctually not want her to see.
The woman’s eyes instantly widened in horror, true terror causing her body to lock up. She looked like she was about to pass out, so without really thinking about it, I reached out and wrapped an astral limb around her waist.
She must have made a noise, because the man’s head snapped in her direction just as her lips parted. However, then I noticed she had just pissed herself, the man’s nose wrinkling, so that could have been the reason too.
Realizing that I was traumatizing her, I began loosening my grip, only to have her knees buckle. I carefully set her down on the floor, before pulling away. Her gaze remained locked on me though, her body trembling, like a cat caught in the sights of a predator. It was like she couldn’t look away, even if she wanted to.
I really wanted her to look away though. I was still heavily creeped out by how it felt to have her see me.
The Supreme Guardian and Assistant Director were none the wiser about what had just happened, at least until the guy in the other room spoke into a microphone attached to his suit lapel.
They both exchanged a glance as they heard the man speak in their earpieces, before the five-foot girl aggressively took a step towards me, swallowing me up in her denser shield again.
The Sacrificial Love of an Immortal Page 8