The Sellouts

by Jeffrey Henning

  “Maybe it has something to do with the excitement?” Eagle-Eye asked. “And why aren’t we taking the elevator?” he said with a puff.

  “Maybe, or maybe there was nothing up there to be found.” he stopped. “Why do you think Mrs. Oslett wants the NYPD to handle this one?”

  Eagle-Eye nearly bumped into him. “I dunno, maybe she wants an outsider to do the investigation so the public doesn’t throw any more suspicion at us. You’ve seen the protestors; they’re out there every day!”

  Chancer thought about it for a second, then continued descending the stairs. “Something just seems weird to me.” he said, stopping again. “First, this reporter comes to me and tells me some weird shit – and then she gets murdered in Central Park, which is near our building.” he continued down a few more stairs before stopping again. “Then today, a security guard does a horrible belly-flop off our building.”

  “Wait, what did she tell you?” he asked.

  Chancer decided not to tell him everything. “Just some weird conspiracy theories.” he said as he continued down the stairs. He stopped suddenly. “Has anyone ever asked you anything weird about this place?”

  “No. I pretty much just come here and go home. I’m not much of a social person.” Eagle-eye said as Chancer started descending stairs again.

  Chancer stopped at a landing and threw open a door, and suddenly stopped. “Not a word about any of this to anyone.” he whispered.

  “A word about what?” he asked, confused.

  “Exactly.” Chancer said with a wink. He went through the door to HR, and found it was a beehive of activity. “What the hell’s going on here?”

  “Someone just jumped off the building!” a man answered him as they passed him.

  “What’s it fucking matter to you guys?” he asked the man.

  “We’re HR, duh.” he responded.

  Chancer just shook his head as he watched the man run around with a stack of papers in his hands. “Well I hope when I die, people move faster than this.” he made clicking sounds with his tongue as he folded his arms. “Sad.”

  Melody, his go-to girl in HR, came up to him crying and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder.

  Confused, he pulled her off him and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

  “The guy who –“ she sobbed out. “The guy who jumped, he was the one who had a crush on me.” she sobbed harder and fell into his shoulder.

  He pushed her off of him and held her in front of him. “Wait, is this the same guy that you asked to get files for me?”

  She nodded between sobs and wiping her nose and eyes with the same tissue, and fell back into his shoulder. He moved her into the stairwell with Eagle-Eye following them.

  “This is just getting too weird for me.” Chancer said.

  “Why are we in the stairwell?” Melody asked.

  “Because I didn’t want to talk with everyone around.” he said as he put his hand on her shoulders and faced her. “Who else did you ask about Ralph Foretta and Tony Blanchett?”

  Melody wiped her nose. “No one, just Billy.” she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “Here’s the conversation we had.” she said as she pulled up her texts with Billy. “See?”

  Chancer took the phone and scrolled through it. “This is pathetic.”

  “What?” asked Melody as she tried to see what he was looking at.

  “He said yes instantly, without even knowing what favor you wanted of him!” he asked as he showed Eagle-Eye the texts. He gave Eagle-Eye a smile. “And what happened here? After you texted him ‘Just looking into something’?” Chancer said as he showed her the phone.

  “I dunno, it was weird, my texts just wouldn’t go through any more.” Melody said as she looked through her phone. “I even had full bars.” she said, and then opened her eyes in shock. “Do you think that’s when he landed, I mean, when he, you know…” she trailed off.

  “No, the times don’t match up. Your texts were a good ten minutes before I saw him falling, I remember, because I was about to take a nap when Mr. ‘I want a job somewhere else’ came in with some article about a super signing up for dance lessons or something.” he said as he pointed to Eagle-Eye.

  “It was about a Super joining the Army, and it will open more doors for us.” Eagle-Eye said as he crossed his arms across his chest and looked away from Chancer.

  “Stop pouting.” Chancer told him.

  “I think we should ask Douser about these coincidences. She always has a level head.” Eagle-Eye said quietly.

  “Let’s not involve anyone else yet, lest they get chucked off a building.” he said, and then looked at Melody, who started crying again. “Sorry girl.”

  “So what’re we going to do?” Eagle-Eye asked.

  “Nothing. You two go back to work like nothing ever happened.” Chancer said quickly.

  “And what are you going to do?” Eagle-Eye asked.

  “Get in trouble, like I always do.” he said with a smile.

  “At least they won’t suspect anything’s different with you.” Eagle-Eye said.

  “Are you gonna’ be OK?” Chancer asked Melody.

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know what’s going on!” she cried.

  “That’s good, play it just like that.” Chancer said as he pushed her back into the HR area. He stopped his team-mate. “Keep an eye on her. Let me know when she leaves the building. I’ll take her home.” he said quietly.

  “You really think they’ll do something to her?” he asked.

  “You seem to think so, you keep saying ‘they’”. Chancer said.

  “Tell me this is just one of your stupid games.” Eagle-Eye said as Chancer was moving down the stairs.

  “Nope, it’s a fucking conspiracy I’m tellin’ ya’!” he said with a laugh as he bounded down the stairs. He laughed maniacally and it echoed throughout the stairwell.

  Eagle-Eye shook his head as he stared through the little window in the stairwell door to keep his good eye on Melody. “Great, now I feel like a peeping-tom.” he said to himself.

  April 3rd, 2015 02:50 PM

  Chancer took some time getting down to the basement elevator that would take him to the cell blocks beneath the building. Deciding it would be more fun to drive, he commandeered a golf cart in the parking garage and drove down the long tunnels to the entryway, pissing off every guard on duty by attempting to run over their feet. In this way, it would seem to be his normal activity, and hopefully he wouldn’t stand out to whoever was killing people – if there even was someone killing people.

  When he finally made it to the medical block, which was carefully located between cell blocks three and four, and where the doctor spent the most of his time, he slammed on the brakes and skidded the golf cart to a stop right in front of the badge checking machine. He casually leaned the two inches to it while smiling at the guard who now had her rifle pointed at him and pushed his badge into it. When it beeped green, he stood up and entered the medical bay.

  “Gooooooooooooood morning Agent Chancer!” Robb said as he entered and the door closed on its own behind him.

  “Hey Robb, been watching the classics again, eh? That was a great fucking movie!” he said as he walked past the nurse that tried to ask why he was there.

  “There was no fornication in that movie, Agent Chancer! I would have, per your request on December twenty ninth, two-thousand thirteen, informed you if there had been.” Robb said with enthusiasm.

  “I know Robb, I know. Is the Doc in?” Chancer asked, smiling that Robb still didn’t understand what ‘a great fucking movie’ meant.

  “Doctor Perry is most certainly in! May I go on ahead and inform him that you are looking for him?” Robb said.

  “Nah, I’ll just go on ahead, thanks.” he told the robot.

  “You are most certainly welcome, Agent Chancer. You have a great, great, great day now!” Robb said as he came to a stop and started rolling the way he had just come.

&nbs
p; “You too.” he said quietly as he pushed past the doors into the doctor’s operating room. From behind him, he heard Robb thanking him for telling him to have a great great great day. He shook his head.

  “Doc, got a minute?” he asked as Doctor Perry looked up at him as he entered.

  “What are you doing here?” he said as he lifted his flimsy face visor up. He was in a full green medical suit, with green rubber gloves on, and a green medical hat. His hands and shirt were covered in blood.

  “I have a question for you.” he said as he looked down at the body the doctor was working on. He noticed a sheet covering the face and peeked under it. “Is this our jumper?”

  “More like our ‘got thrown-er’.” He said as he started doing whatever he was doing to the body before Chancer had walked in.

  “How would you know that he got thrown instead of jumping?” Chancer asked as he looked at the insides of Billy Tayler. He made a grossed out face when the doctor’s hands made squishing sounds from inside the corpse.

  “He landed on his face, which is why you see his spine sticking out of his back.” the doctor said, pointing to Billy’s spine, which was curving out of his back at a weird angle. “But there are bruise marks that look like fingers around the skin on his neck, and his buttocks.” he said as he pointed them out. “All indications say that someone strong grabbed him and threw him off the roof.”

  “You can tell all that after only,” he checked his watch, “an hour and from death? I can’t even see the bruises you’re talking about.” Chancer said as he took a closer look.

  “You’re not a professional, Agent Chancer. I know what I can see, and this man was grabbed from behind.”

  Chancer always had suspicions that the doc had powers of some sort, but there was really no way to tell, besides the blood test – and when would the doc submit to one of those in front of him? “So we have a murderer that’s really strong in the building?” he asked.

  “Well, I don’t know if he or she is still in the building, but yes, I suppose the murderer would have to be someone strong to carry a body the way Billy here was carried.” the doctor said while looking and making squishing noises inside the corpse.

  “Have you told anyone this?” Chancer asked.

  “Not yet. Mrs. Oslett wants an autopsy report on her desk in three hours.” he said as he pulled out what looked like a heart and dumped it into a silver bowl. He quickly put his rubbery hands back into the corpse, making more squishing noises. “Interesting…” he mumbled.

  “What?” Chancer asked as he looked away with another grotesque look.

  “I believe our Billy here was a human with extraordinary powers at one time.” the doctor said, moving his hands and making more squishing sounds. “Yes, he was definitely a Super at one time. Interesting.”

  “What do you mean he was a Super at one time? You mean he had a power and lost it? Permanently?”

  “Robb! Come here!” the doc shouted. Robb rolled in through the doors.

  “How can I assist you today, Doctor Perry?” Robb said enthusiastically.

  “Robb, show me the medical records of Billy Tayler.” the doctor said. His hands remained buried inside the corpse.

  “Of course Doctor Perry, I am happy to show you the medical records of Billy Tayler!” Robb said while the small television lifted off his body and closer to the doctor. Green text appeared and started scrolling slowly.

  “Ah, he was a human with extraordinary powers – but his power is gone. It’s like it was removed from his body.” the doctor said as he squinted to see the monitor.

  “Is that even possible?” Chancer asked, stupefied. “What was his power?”

  “Scroll back.” he told Robb, and the green text started scrolling the opposite direction. “Powers include the ability to sense emotions in others.”

  “Well that’s a lame power. No wonder he was just a guard.” Chancer said. “So now he doesn’t have the power anymore? Isn’t that how it works when yer’ fucking dead?”

  “Not at all. The human body is the thing with the extraordinary ability. When it degrades, the extraordinary power degrades.” he pulled his hands out of Billy. “His extraordinary ability isn’t there anymore.”

  “How can you tell, with only your hands inside him?” Chancer asked.

  “Eh,” the doctor started ripping off his bloody gloves and throwing them into the waste bin. “You aren’t the only one with extraordinary abilities you know.”

  “What’s your power then?” Chancer asked, always eager to find out people’s powers, unless it was laser beams coming from some orifice and heading in his general direction.

  “Robb, show him my medical report please.” the doctor said as he ripped his gown off.

  “Gladly Doctor Perry!” Robb said as his monitor moved to be in front of Chancer with the whir of motors and gears.

  Chancer read his medical record, and made a confused look. “Powers include diagnosing and sensing organic life?”

  “Why do you think I became a doctor?” he said as he washed up in the giant sink. “And before you ask, I don’t know how I know, I just do. That boy had powers at one time, and does not have them now – at all.” he said over the noise of the running water.

  Chancer had almost forgotten his main purpose in coming down here. “Doc, can you show me the medical records of Ralph Foretta and Tony Blanchett?”

  He shut off the water. “Why those two, in particular?”

  “It’s a theory I’m working on, is all.” Chancer said, trying to give as little detail as he could.

  “Well theories don’t give you the right to look through medical data on other people, Agent Chancer.” the doctor said as he dried off.

  “Robb, show me the medical records of Ralph Foretta and Tony Blanchett.” he asked the robot and ignored the doctor.

  “Unfortunately I cannot do ask you ask, Agent Chancer. Would you like to view Doctor Perry’s medical record again?” Robb said, hopeful.

  “Why would I fucking want to see that again, Robb?” he asked, now mad.

  “Because that is the only medical record you have permission to view, Agent Chancer.” Robb said, a little too happy for Chancer’s liking.

  “Beat it.” he said, lightly kicking the robot in its tracks. Robb rolled away without saying anything.

  He barely got a few feet away when alarms sounded and the lights flickered.

  “What the fuck is that?” Chancer yelled over the alarms.

  “Emergency Protocol!” the doctor yelled over the alarms while holding his hands to his ears. “The system thinks a Monster is free in here!”

  White smoke started pouring in from the ceiling.

  “Alert Doctor Perry! the oxygen in the room is being lowered dramatically! I estimate you and Agent Chancer have less than two minutes to survive!” Robb said loudly.

  Chancer ran to the glass doors that led to the nurse’s station, but they were locked and wouldn’t budge. The nurse was banging on them from the other side. She immediately started clutching her throat and collapsing against the door.

  “Alert Doctor Perry! The air in the room is being flooded with particles that I am unable to identify!” Robb said as he extended one of his sensers higher in the air.

  “No shit Sherlock.” Chancer yelled as he looked around, trying not to breathe.

  Doctor Perry was digging through a cabinet and came up with gas masks equipped with their own small oxygen tanks. He threw one to Chancer, who put it on as quickly as he could and took a deep breath.

  “What now?” the doctor asked, though sounding muffled through the mask.

  “We leave!” Chancer said as he tapped on Robb. “Robb! Open the doors!”

  “I am unable to connect with the network Agent Chancer!” he said loudly.

  The alarm was giving Chancer a headache.

  “Shouldn’t the guards be coming?” the doctor yelled.

  “I should hope so!” Chancer said as he started looking around the room. “Rob
b! Can you show me a blueprint of this floor?” he shouted.

  “Absolutely Agent Chancer! I am equipped with maps of the entire city--” he started, but was cut off.

  “Now!” Chancer yelled.

  Robb’s monitor lifted up and the floorplan was displayed on it. There were two red dots and a blue dot in one room, which Chancer assumed was them. He scanned the floor plan.

  “Where does that lead?” he yelled as he pointed to a metal grate in the corner.

  Robb’s monitor went blank.

  “What the hell Robb?” Chancer said as he slapped the monitor.

  “My monitor is not malfunctioning, Agent Chancer! The blueprints indicate that there is an entirely empty floor below this one!” Robb said loudly.

  “Why would they build an entirely empty floor?” the doctor shouted as he came up next to Chancer.

  “They wouldn’t!” Chancer said as he lifted the grate of the floor. He struggled and grunted at its weight and cursed when the oxygen tank attached to his mask clanked on the floor. Finally, with a loud metal on metal grinding sound, the grate lifted. “Come on!” he yelled and waved his arm to the doctor.

  The doctor carried his oxygen tank, grabbed a small bag and looked down the hole, then looked back up to Chancer. “Is it safe?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Chancer said as he pushed the doctor towards the hole.

  “I will be happy to go first, Doctor Perry!” Robb said as he rolled up to the hole. The camera that everyone assumed was his head extended and pointed down the hole. A little green laser fired down the hole. “There is a seven meter drop, followed by a ‘T’ junction at the bottom.” Robb said. Motors whirred and gears grinded as one of his tracks swiveled above his head. He drove forward, half his body grinding on the concrete floor. When he reached the hole, he drove forward and fell in, his tracks extended out until one hit both sides of the drop and sparks dropped as they caught, holding him in place about five feet from the top. His camera rotated up to Chancer and the doctor. “I can only support one of you at a time on the way down, my tracks are not firmly secured.”