A Fistful of Strontium

by Jaspre Bark

  Turning back to Elephant Head, Johnny nodded in the direction of the palace's main entrance doors. "You've got people down there? People you can trust?"

  "With my life," she said. "They know not to let anyone pass."

  "Not even you?" Johnny asked.

  "Not even the Consoler. Not until we know where Identi Kit is."

  "Then it disnae matter where he hides," said Middenface. "We'll find him sooner or later." He smacked a fist into his open palm in anticipation.

  "Unfortunately," said Johnny, "it's not that simple."

  Elephant Head knew what he meant. "We've beaten the palace guards," she said gravely. "But right now there'll be army units headed back here from all over Miltonia. As far as they're concerned, terrorist fanatics have just attacked the heart of their government. They won't stop to ask questions."

  "Even if they did," said Johnny, "they wouldn't believe the answers. Not without proof. We need Kit."

  "Whit aboot the Ooze?" interjected Middenface. "He must know whit's been goin' oan. Couldn't he tell them?"

  "The president can't speak," Elephant Head reminded him. "He needs a mouthpiece."

  "But if it was the right mouthpiece..." Johnny thought for a moment, stroking his chin furiously. "Rising. Where is he?" he asked Elephant Head. Catching a flicker of evasion in the Salvationist's eyes, he asked suspiciously: "What did you do to him?"

  "Nothing he didn't deserve," she said mutinously. "You should have heard him talking. Rising wasn't one of Kit's dupes. He believed in everything he was doing. He'd have exterminated every norm on the planet if he'd had his way."

  "Where is he?" asked Johnny, angrily.

  Elephant Head indicated the glass-sided lift. "We've been finding rooms for our prisoners on the deepest sub-level. But you're not listening to me, Johnny. He won't help us."

  "I think he will," said Johnny. "I think he'll follow orders whether he agrees with them or not. At least, I hope so, because he's just about the only person in this building who anyone will listen to." Johnny turned to his partner. "Middenface, find Rising and take him up to the Ooze's sanctum. You know what to do next, yeah?"

  "Aye, he drinks doon some o' the Ooze, and the Ooze can speak tae him, tell him the truth. But whit aboot Kit, Johnny?"

  "I'll keep searching with the Consoler. Elephant Head, see if you can find a working comms unit. If we can get Rising on side, he can talk to some of his fellow generals and convince them not to slaughter us just yet. And keep clearing the magnetinium out of here. Throw it back out the windows; it might buy us a bit more time when the soldiers arrive, and we need all the time we can get, guys. This war isn't over until we've exposed the real culprit."

  Middenface felt a chill as the lift doors opened. It wasn't just that the air was cooler down here, it was also the memory of the last time he had walked these corridors to view the body of a murdered friend.

  Of course, a lot had changed since then.

  He could hear footsteps, the banging of heavy doors, and occasionally, a yelp of pain. The sounds were all muted by concrete walls so it sounded like they were coming from a distance. The Salvationists were having fun with their prisoners, and who was he to stop them?

  Rounding a corner, he came up short at the sight of the very man everyone was looking for: Identi Kit. Middenface gaped for a second until his brain caught up with him and reminded him that another man now resided in this body.

  Moosehead McGuffin was slumped against a wall, trembling; his borrowed face even whiter than normal. "It was worse than I remembered," he wailed. "The blaster wound was bad enough, but now it's starting to..." And suddenly, Middenface knew what Moosehead was doing down here and what he had just seen.

  "I wouldnae worry aboot it," he said with forced cheer. "Johnny says it's no' really yer body that's had its chest blown open, it just looks that way. He says we can make Kit swap yer DNA back wi' Nose Job's in there, and ye'll be ye're auld antler-headed self again." He thought Moosehead was about to say something more so he jumped in quickly and asked: "Ye seen any sign o' Rising?"

  Moosehead shrugged and indicated in one direction. "I think Fingers and a few of the others took him down there. Middenface, what if-"

  "Middenface!"

  Two Salvationists had appeared in the corridor ahead of him. He knew the two norms' faces but not their names. He was grateful for the interruption; he didn't know what else he could say to Moosehead that would help him.

  Then he saw the familiar figure between the two newcomers, an arm looped around each of their shoulders for support. The Strontie drew his blaster and yelled out to all three to freeze where they stood.

  "Middenface?" said the Consoler, and the various folds of his forehead creased into an enquiring frown.

  "Ye don't fool me, ye scunner," he said. "Now, put yer hands up and move away from the others or ah'll shoot ye doon where ye stand."

  "I'm afraid I cannot comply. You see, if I put my hands up, I will lose the support of my friends, here, and then I will surely fall over."

  The two Salvationists looked at each other, and at the Consoler, in confusion.

  Moosehead sensed trouble. He pushed himself away from the wall and sniffed the air reflexively. "Where did you find him?" he asked.

  "I-in a cell back there," said the first volunteer, indicating the direction with his thumb. "He was chained up and just coming around. Wh-what's..."

  "I think I see the problem." Despite his earlier words, the Consoler let go of his escorts and lurched forward on shaky legs. "My brother brought me down here at knifepoint and rendered me unconscious. It doesn't require a great deal of brainpower to deduce what he did next. Would I be right in assuming, Mr McNulty, that you have encountered another Consoler today?"

  "Ah'm warning ye," growled Middenface. "Stay back!"

  "If only I still had my sense of smell," Moosehead grumbled beside him. "Kit's abilities were never a match for that."

  "I understand your caution," said the Consoler. "I'm sure your grandmother impressed upon you how dangerous it can be to trust too readily." He fixed Middenface with a meaningful look.

  Middenface could almost feel cogs turning in his brain as he looked at the Consoler's face and slowly came to only one conclusion.

  "Oh, sneck!" he groaned, lowering his blaster. "Johnny!"

  "Mr Alpha, something's happening!"

  Johnny turned to his companion with a sense of fatalism. The Consoler passed a hand over his eyes, looking as if he were concentrating to the point of pain. "Something..." he grunted. "I'm not sure what. Kit's trying to block me. I can't sense exactly... but... but, oh, he's excited. He thinks he's beaten us. He's... free! I don't know how, but... but he's outside the palace! He's getting away!"

  Johnny felt his stomach sink. He turned and sprinted for the main entrance. As soon as he was within range of the guards at the doors, he shouted at them.

  "You let somebody through. Who did you let through?"

  The volunteers looked baffled, murmuring assurances to Johnny that nobody had passed them. He had no time for their excuses. "Somebody did just a minute ago," he snapped. "Think! Even the most unlikely pers-"

  "Surely it would be better to ask these questions later," a voice interrupted. Johnny hadn't realised that the Consoler was still at his shoulder. He wondered how he had managed to keep up with his injuries. "For now, the important thing is to find Kit. If we're quick, we can catch him before he reaches the gates."

  Johnny nodded and made for the doors. When he put his hand on one, the Salvationist volunteers brought up their weapons, obeying the orders they had been given. He opened his mouth to snap impatiently at them but the words caught in his throat. They were obeying orders. They'd been telling him the truth. Kit couldn't have got out of the palace this way.

  Unless, in his blind haste to find his enemy, Johnny himself escorted somebody past the guards... Somebody whose apparently miraculous recovery from days of torture had already given him cause for suspicion, only he hadn't
stopped to think about it clearly before.

  Johnny snatched his gun from its holster and whirled around but it was too late. The disguised Identi Kit had seen his hesitation and had drawn a blaster of his own. Johnny threw himself to the ground as blue fire crackled over his head. Kit was already running. Scrambling to his feet, Johnny let off two shots which went wild. Kit was out of sight before his pursuer could fire again, and before the Salvationist guards could even work out friend from foe.

  Cursing himself for his gullibility, Johnny gave chase.

  "He's on the move," reported the Consoler as Middenface and Moosehead bundled him into the glass-sided lift. It had been slow-going dragging him all the way here, but his psychic link with his brother made him indispensable. Middenface just hoped that Johnny would last an extra few seconds. He was shrewd and could take care of himself, but if anyone could strike him down, it would be a foe in the guise of a friend. Johnny could be too trusting sometimes.

  "I can feel his heart pounding, the air burning in his throat, his muscles aching," the Consoler continued. "And he's afraid. He wasn't afraid before, but now he knows he can't get out of the palace. He's running. Upstairs."

  "Which floor?" asked Middenface. His fingers hovered impatiently over the buttons.

  "I don't know. He isn't thinking clearly. Kit isn't used to losing control like this. He's desperate. I haven't sensed him like this since... Well, for a long time."

  Middenface thought furiously. What would he do in Kit's situation? Only one answer occurred to him. That might have been because he knew so little about the layout of the palace, and Kit would surely have options open to him that Middenface couldn't even guess at. Still, his instincts told him he was onto something, and Middenface rarely ignored his instincts.

  He closed his eyes and tried to remember the clearance codes he and Johnny had been given the first time they had stepped into this lift. He had made a special effort that time to memorise them, feeling that they might come in useful. Concentrating hard, he punched the numbers into the keypad, and was gratified to hear the chirruping electronic signal that told him he had remembered right.

  The lift lurched into motion and carried them up towards the president's sanctum.

  Johnny, too, had realised where Kit was headed, but he was too late to take the lift and cut him off.

  The few seconds in which he had lost sight of the identity thief had cost him. He returned to the antechamber to find a scene of chaos. Kit had morphed himself into the image of the first mutant he'd been able to lay his hands on: an outwardly normal-looking woman. He had then dived into the crowd and spread that template from person to person, so that Johnny was confronted by dozens of clones. He had, however, picked out the real Kit in an instant, since there was only one person running with a purpose. Unfortunately, he'd lost time pushing his way through the confusion of clones and could not catch up to Kit.

  Johnny had gained some ground on the stairs as he was in better condition than Kit in his current form. Not enough, however, to keep the security door at the top from shutting in his face. It took him precious seconds to shoot out the lock and his heart leapt into his throat as he emerged into the corridor to hear blaster fire.

  He burst into the inner sanctum of President Leadbetter, his own gun raised, and stopped short at the sight that awaited him.

  Four figures faced each other around the Ooze's nutrient tank, their eyes and their gun sights flickering distrustfully between each other.

  Four perfect replicas of Middenface McNulty.

  "Johnny, thank goodness ye're here!" cried one of the Middenfaces.

  "It's Kit, Johnny," said another in exactly the same voice with the same accent, "but ah cannae work oot which one of us he is."

  "Ye have tae use yer alpha eyes," said a third.

  "No, ye can't!" the fourth protested. "Remember what we wer' told, ye'll disrupt the life-support machines!"

  Johnny realised that his mouth was hanging open and closed it. He didn't have time to be surprised. He had to think.

  One of these Middenfaces was the genuine article because Kit would have needed him here to replicate his DNA. Or would he? His powers had evolved again. How else had he been able to copy his victims' clothing as well as their bodies? All four of the Middenfaces were dressed alike in the bounty hunter's customary tartan.

  "Ye have to do something, Johnny." The first Middenface again. "Else Kit'll kill the Ooze."

  "That's whit he was tryin' tae do," said Middenface number four. "If Moosehead hadnae jumped him..."

  "No," argued Middenface two. "Ah think he only wanted a hostage."

  "And I think everyone should put down their guns," said Johnny, "before somebody gets hurt."

  "Are ye crackers?" protested the fourth Middenface. "No way do I put ma gun doon while that scunner's still got his trained on ma friends and me."

  "Ah hate to suggest this," said Middenface three, "but ah think the only way tae end this standoff withou' bloodshed is tae let Kit go."

  "Dinnae listen to him, Johnny!" cried Middenface one. "Ah'll lay odds he is Kit, tryin' tae talk his wae outtae here."

  "No," said Middenface two. "He's right. Trust me, ah know Kit. If it even looks like he's about tae be exposed, he'll fire intae yon nutrient tank. The president would be dead before any o' us could blink."

  Johnny's head was spinning. Middenface two claimed to know Kit. Who did that make him? The Consoler? Was he here? Or was it Moosehead, who was certainly present and had once tracked the identity thief across half a galaxy? Middenface three was another candidate for the Consoler with his talk of non-violence. Or had that been Kit, playing the part of his brother as a double-bluff?

  Then there was Middenface four, who had used the word 'scunners' and warned Johnny against unleashing his alpha rays. Would the big guy really have remembered that detail from so many days ago? Or had Kit just ensured that Johnny didn't try to expose him that way?

  He could pinpoint the impostor in seconds, of course, with a few well-chosen questions, but that would likely panic Kit into carrying out his implied threat. Was it worth sacrificing the president's life to get his man? How would they hold off the approaching armies without him?

  "Okay, Kit, you win," he said, still watching the four Middenfaces and waiting for one to betray himself.

  "Ye cannae mean that, Johnny!" protested the first Middenface, just as the real one might have done.

  Johnny spied an intercom that appeared operational. "I'm gonna try to raise the Salvationists," he said, "and get them to clear a way to the exit. Then you can all walk out of here, one by one."

  "Ye're just lettin' him go?" exploded Middenface four. "After all we went through tae find him? Listen tae me, Johnny, ah'm the real Middenface, and anyone who says otherwise is a lyin' scunner!"

  The tension in the room shot up to breaking point. Johnny had little doubt now which of the Middenfaces was his partner, but he could only imagine how Kit would react to the revelation.

  Then, Middenface three blurted out: "No, ye're the liar. Ah'm Middenface!"

  Then suddenly, Johnny was confused again.

  All guns were trained on each other, and so no one could shoot without being shot down in turn. Johnny shifted his aim from one of them to the other, fearing that at any moment the impostor would shoot into the Ooze's tank.

  "Ah'm the real me, Johnny," cried Middenface four. "I swear it on ma granny's grave!"

  "Dinnae bring ma granny intae this!" snarled Middenface three. "She may o' been a daft auld bat, but-"

  He never got to finish the sentence. Johnny turned his blaster decisively upon him and pulled the trigger. At the same moment, Middenface one fired, too.

  To Johnny's horror, not one but two Middenfaces crumpled to the floor.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  KIT BAGGED

  "Middenface!" Johnny cried out in confusion and fear.

  "Ah'm awright," said one of the Middenfaces who was still standing.

  "Ah'm oka
y, too," said Middenface number one. "I'm Moosehead."

  Johnny looked down at the two figures on the floor. "The Consoler?" he guessed.

  "I'm afraid... I don't have much longer to live. That was good shooting, by the way. It's only thanks to my mutant anatomy... that I didn't die instantly."

  "Hang oan a minute," cried Middenface. "It was ye that Johnny and Moosehead shot?"

  "As I... hoped they would."

  "But why?" asked Johnny, kneeling beside the Consoler and cradling his head.

  "It was the only way to stop my brother," said the Consoler. He was breathing with some difficulty and he let out a soft moan. It was echoed from the other side of the president's tank. Kit was dying, too.

  "We were... apart for so long," the Consoler continued, his face twisted with pain. "During that time, our powers grew so much. My time here at the palace confirmed my suspicions... that the bond between us had also grown. We were feeling the same emotions... even seeing and hearing the same things, as if we were one person. I knew that if one of us died, so... so would the other."

  "But why did ye no tell us?"

  "Kit was threatening the president. He was going to get away. He would go to some other world where he would cause more pain and misery for countless more people. I couldn't have that on my conscience again. I had to make certain... he couldn't hurt anyone else."

  "You made me what I am," spat Kit, writhing with pain. "You got me into this life."

  "I know," said the Consoler. "That's why I had to put an end to it once and for all. For the good of Miltonia... so it could live up to the promise you tried so hard to stifle."

  "What about the Salvationists?" asked Johnny. "How will they get along without you?"

  "From what I've seen today, I should think they'll get along rather well. I've done all I can for the cause. Now it's up to them. I would only have gotten in the way had I lived. They were growing away from me even before you joined us... I can be much more of an inspiration... like this."