Hearts of Darkness

by Andrea Speed

  Snow attempted to crawl away, and Kaede saw him. He got up and walked over to him, grabbing the gun of one of his fallen men on the way. By the time he reached Snow, it was easy to kick him over onto his back. Although Snow was still alive, his lips were becoming cyanotic, and his eyes were bulging from their sockets due to oxygen deprivation, not shock. “Why…?” he wheezed, barely able to manage it.

  “I don’t like people who threaten me or steal from me or my dad,” Kaede informed him. Although he aimed the gun down at Snow’s face, he didn’t pull the trigger. He only had to wait a few seconds for the poison to finish its job.

  All thugs dead, Kaede discarded the gun and pulled out his thermal scanner to confirm there were no living surprises awaiting them. He then started scanning for the special isotope his father tagged his inventions with so he could keep track of them no matter where they ended up. Ash came and stood beside him.

  “You okay?” Kaede asked.

  “You know that’s a stupid question,” Ash replied.

  Kaede smiled. “I know. But I still have to ask.” He held up the scanner toward him, so Ash could see the readout. “It shows the sonic weapon as being outside, behind the cannery.”

  Ash only needed a second to think. “There’s a large van parked out back.”

  “How about that. They were saving it for me.” Probably to use on him, of course, but they never did get that chance. He pocketed the scanner, and while Ash went ahead, Kaede stamped out the still-smoldering cigarette pack and picked it up with a plastic bag he also slipped into his pocket. He wanted to leave no hints for the cops. The toxin would totally dissipate within twenty minutes, without leaving a trace of itself. The coroner might judge them all dead from suffocation, and they’d never figure out exactly how it was done. Kaede knew it shouldn’t please him to imagine how confused they’d be, but it did. Between this and the downtown bombing, they’d be at a total loss and look like fools.

  By the time he got outside, Ash had the heavy titanium case of the sonic weapon slung over his shoulder like an unwieldy and overly large backpack. It probably weighed about two hundred pounds, but that was child’s play to Ash. The sonic cannon was exactly what it sounded like: a gun that shot concentrated noise at various frequencies. The lower settings would stun a person and render them unconscious. The higher frequencies would blow out eardrums like cheap speakers, pulverize fine bones, and kill people in a very messy way. The military was working on such a weapon, but most were only capable of stunning people and were generally mounted on tanks or vehicles of similar size. The Dr. Terror sonic cannon was shoulder mounted and technologically years ahead of what any military had, even though it was, what, ten years old now? His dad was crazy smart, and just plain crazy, but at least he mostly made it work for him.

  They left the baffling, bloody crime scene for the cops to find and took the car Ash brought with him back home. Downtown was still being cleaned up, so traffic was a bit of a bitch, but they expected that. Ash carried the case with the sonic cannon in it like it was a light suitcase, and once they were in their suite, Kaede put it in his dad’s hidden room. For the time being, it was probably safest there.

  “At this rate, we’re going to retrieve all your dad’s missing tech,” Ash noted, once they flopped on the couch in the living room.

  “Great. Maybe we can jet to Tokyo after this. Or Hong Kong. It’s nice this time of year.” Then the reality of the situation smacked Kaede in the face. “Son of a bitch.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why my father had me come here. To collect all his stolen tech.” He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Would it have been so fucking hard to just say that?”

  Ash looked over at him, his eyes bright. While Kaede felt wiped, he could tell Ash’s adrenaline was up. He liked a good fight. “Your father enjoys being cryptic.”

  “That he does. Of course, his being crazy might be part of that.”

  He shrugged. “That’s probably most of it.”

  Well, if he wanted to be kind to his dad, he’d admit that, but Kaede didn’t feel like being kind to him right now, so he didn’t.

  He ordered the TV on and saw all the coverage on the puzzling act of “terrorism” that resulted in a few minor injuries but no death. One of the reporters briefly interviewed Dark Justice about this, and he sounded so pissed off Kaede couldn’t help but laugh.

  When he felt up to it, Kaede reheated some leftover Thai food for them for dinner, and they washed it down with ginger ale and vodka, because why not? Once Kaede felt the warmth of a nice, comfortable buzz coming on, Ash asked, “Can we go on the roof and look at the stars again?”

  Sounded great to him. And since it might be nice to sleep up there, Kaede went and got the portable blackout machine—which was what he’d decided to call it—and Ash went to get the sleeping bags.

  Kaede got up to the roof and was enjoying the regular view of buildings lighting up in the night, giving the city a jewel-toned ambiance it in no way deserved, when he sensed he was no longer alone. But he also knew it wasn’t Ash who’d joined him.

  “Social visit?” he asked, before turning around and facing Dark Justice.

  The big, dumb guy loomed there in his molded black body armor, cowl revealing his very recognizable jaw. Again, how could anyone not know who he was? “I bet you want a thank-you, don’t you? You probably think you’re being a good guy.”

  “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  DJ crossed his arms over his chest, and Kaede wondered if he could pick up anything with those armored gloves. He must have sacrificed some dexterity with those gauntlets. He really had to test him one of these days to find out.

  “People have been dying since you showed up in this city,” DJ said. “And now there’s a pointless building demolition that just happened to occur when Cyrus Snow and most of his lieutenants were being mysteriously killed down at the docks. Are you really going to stand here and claim you know nothing about this?”

  “I saw that on the news. Aren’t they saying some white guy blew up that building? Do I really look white to you?”

  Dark Justice’s eyes were as hard and cold as flint, and it was all Kaede could do not to smile or laugh. His palpable rage was hilarious. “You think I don’t know what your father is capable of? What I don’t understand is why. Why evacuate the building? Why go after Snow? He wouldn’t share his territory, was that it?”

  Kaede shook his head. He had to suppress the urge to mention the upcoming Moreau Ball, which DJ’s family always held. Shouldn’t he be getting measured for a tuxedo or something? “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

  DJ scowled and tensed his manly jaw. “Cyrus Snow, the crime boss.”

  “Oh, him. Never met him. Heard he was a real asshole, though.” Kaede started to turn away, but DJ surprised him, lunged forward, and grabbed him by the collar, pulled him kissing close. Kaede spied movement in the shadows by the roof access and held up a single finger. There was no need to kill Dark Justice yet. But he was walking a very fine line.

  “I’m not playing games here, boy,” DJ growled. “You’ve brought death and chaos to my city, and I don’t like it. I know you’re behind the deaths of Crusher and Nighthawk, and now Snow and his lieutenants. I know you killed members of the Black Veil on your way into the city. I know you blew up that building as a distraction. What I don’t understand is how. Or why.”

  Kaede now allowed himself to chuckle. “’Cause I didn’t do it. Ask my doorman. He’ll tell you I didn’t leave my suite all day.” Which was true. When he left, he was wearing his white guy mask, and a little Ash-engineered commotion took care of their return. “And as I told you when you came by my office, I have no idea what killed those villains. Hell, I wasn’t even certain a monstrosity like Crusher could be killed, short of a direct nuclear strike. So if you can’t find a reason or proof, Justice, maybe it’s because you’re looking at the wrong target.”

  DJ continued trying to stare
him down, and Kaede wondered what would happen if he kissed him right now. Would he completely freak out and lose his shit, or would he finally give in and make out with him? That was another potential experiment on the list.

  Finally understanding that Kaede wasn’t in the least bit intimidated, DJ let him go with a disgusted huff, and Kaede could hear the muffled whumps of helicopter blades as they cut through the air.

  “You should leave this city while you still can,” DJ warned as the helicopter swung low, and DJ jumped and grabbed a line dangling from the chopper. As soon as he had a hold of it, the helicopter swung away, flying off into the night.

  “Look into some breath mints!” Kaede called out after him. DJ’s breath was awful. It smelled like he’d been slamming kale smoothies and protein bars all day, which might have been true.

  Ash emerged from the shadows. “I could have destroyed him.”

  Kaede snickered. That kind of went without saying. “No shit. But it’s kinda fun having a hapless antagonist.”

  Ash hadn’t grown up with this bullshit, so he didn’t see the humor in it. “We’re gonna need to do something about him, sooner rather than later.”

  “Maybe.” Kaede shrugged. “But right now, it’s a laugh riot watching him flounder around like a fish on dry land. He knows I’m up to something, but he can’t prove a goddamn thing. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll break his little brain.”

  Ash frowned slightly, still not amused. “We can’t count on that.”

  Kaede knew he was right, and he should be taking this more seriously, but it was difficult to take anything this lunatic did seriously. He had a private helicopter and declared himself a “fighter of evil”! How did anyone take this guy seriously? He was a living cartoon character.

  But, yes, he had to give Ash’s concerns some weight. DJ could be dangerous. No, he wasn’t going to kill Kaede—Dark Justice didn’t do that—but was he above potentially framing Kaede to put him away? Nope. He was only so good, and then he was as bad as everyone else, whether he admitted it or not. Nobody was really all good, although it was remarkable that people could indeed be all bad.

  Still, they put that aside and enjoyed their personal blackout tent, snuggling together in a sleeping bag. Yeah, Kaede was getting a massive case of blue balls out of this, but at no point did he want to feel like he was taking advantage of Ash. He wanted him, but he didn’t want to rush him. So he was just going to have to live with this frustration. That was where beating on superheroes and villains alike came into the picture. Great for releasing tension.

  They woke up with the sun, and Kaede realized he could get used to this. Then again, he’d be willing to wake up anywhere as long as Ash was beside him. Maybe even his father’s house, a place he’d sworn he’d never visit again. It wasn’t that it was terrible, although it was. It was just that being around his dad for any length of time made him feel deeply uncomfortable. Probably because the longer you were with him, the more obvious his madness became. There was still genius, that was undeniable, but the crazy rode him like a shadow that never went away, and Kaede worried that that was his future, even if he didn’t try and enhance his own intellect. He could still be doomed to that. It wasn’t something he liked to think about. But maybe if he had Ash to look out for him, it wouldn’t seem so bad.

  Thinking of his dad apparently made him appear, as Kaede found he’d e-mailed him something. It was a local puff piece on Mr. Amazing, accompanied by a picture taken in his “superscience lab.” For the life of him, Kaede had no idea why his dad sent him that, especially since it was clearly just some PR shit on a slow news day. But he sat staring at it over breakfast, assuming his father had sent him the photo for reasons beyond simple insanity, and eventually figured it out.

  There was a machine in the background, part of Amazing’s lab, that was almost out of frame. It looked an awful lot like one of his dad’s missing synthetic DNA creators. “Wow. What’s Amazing doing with that?”

  Ash looked over his shoulder. “Maybe he wants to construct people with real superpowers?”

  “Isn’t he supposed to be a good guy?”

  Ash shrugged. “People claim to be a lot of things. Doesn’t make it real.”

  “Or maybe being a good guy involves more evil than we thought.” Kaede sat back and sighed. Maybe crepes weren’t the way to go this morning, as he really felt like he hadn’t eaten enough, and yet the thought of eating more of them seemed like too much. Kaede sighed again, heavily. “This is gonna suck ass. His lab is in Miller Towers, which is the home base of Super Force. We’re gonna hafta take them on their home turf.”

  Ash considered that, tilting his head. “Do we have to, though?”

  Kaede almost asked what he meant, but he thought about it. Maybe there was a way that would allow them to do this more with stealth than force. He raised an eyebrow and gave Ash a teasing smile. “You worried about me getting hurt?”

  “No. But sometimes utilizing stealth is even better than a frontal assault. Especially if you want to leave your opponent guessing.”

  “Or you want to frame someone else.” Kaede had just had a wicked idea. If he could pull it off, it’d be fucking hilarious.

  So as soon as they showed up at work, Kaede started putting things in motion. Mr. Amazing—aka Neil Miller—had no idea Jason Tanaka was a cover, and Kaede invited him in that capacity to come tour the labs and maybe give some professional input on a new type of tunneling laser built in-house. He talked to Jasmine Chu about giving him the long version of the tour and taking him through the C labs. The A and B labs had things in development that might interest a hero or a villain, but C was the commercial division, so nothing that Kamani wasn’t going to release anyway. As for the rest of Super Force, it was a good bet Neil would bring his wife, Abigail, and her brother, Jamie, who had a day job as a publicity whore, the male equivalent of a Kardashian. He did nothing, really, but he seemed to be followed by the press like he was super important anyway. The only one to worry about in Super Force was Smash, but he was known to spend a couple of hours every afternoon down at Smith Park, playing chess with the old men there. If they planned their assault on Miller Tower for 2:00 p.m., Smash would be out of the way.

  Now, Miller Tower was its own beast. It had several layers of sophisticated security and a fully automated, near-AI interface that ran the entire building. But from what Kaede could tell, it was way beneath the threshold of AI that his father had installed in their penthouse, so corrupting it shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, if he was going to do some framing, he’d have to modify the virus dropped into the tower’s computer, but that shouldn’t be too difficult. He spent most of the day at work doing just that, modifying the virus that would fatally take down the Miller AI, while Jasmine worked out the logistics of a lab tour with Neil’s people and Ash studied the blueprints of the tower. The real ones, not the ones Amazing filed with the city. Neil wasn’t an idiot; he knew that villains might study city records, so he filed false plans, but Dr. Terror could get his hands on anything. Kaede did appreciate Amazing trying, even though it was doomed from the start.

  By the time they got home that night, Ash had a plan, and he walked Kaede through it. Part of Kaede still wanted to storm in the doors and show just how lame and foolish a superteam Super Force was—as if their terrible name didn’t give that game away—but there was a certain beauty to Ash’s plan. Over Thai food, they discussed a few details, including Kaede’s decision to do a little framing for shits and giggles. Ash thought it was risky and might tip their hand, but even he had to admit he kind of wanted to see what would happen if Super Force fell for it. Hero-on-hero fights were their own kind of hilarious.

  They kept it low-key that night. They just watched a movie and went to their separate rooms, and considering his poor blue balls, Kaede figured that was for the best. He really liked Ash. Like, more than he had any other guy in what seemed like forever. And if Ash didn’t feel that way about him, it’d probably crush him. But was it even f
air to ask that of Ash? He’d never had a relationship at all, not to mention being a genuine, bona fide virgin. Ash probably needed to live a little before he settled for anyone. But Kaede didn’t know how to encourage that without crushing his own weirdly fragile heart.

  According to the doorman, DJ had paid a visit in the night, but since Kaede hadn’t left the penthouse, DJ had no way to impose on and pointlessly threaten him unless he wanted to break in, which wasn’t a very superhero thing to do. Although Kaede was sorry he hadn’t, because he would have triggered so many security protocols, Ash beating his ass would have been the sixth worst thing that would have happened to him. It amused Kaede to think he had his own superhero stalker. He wasn’t worried about him interfering in their plans for Miller Tower, because DJ had a day job too. He was a millionaire playboy, and he had a reputation as a totally entitled asshole to uphold. Horrible to see that fall by the wayside.

  They went in to Kamani as usual, and Kaede was there to welcome Neil and Abigail to his company and shoot the shit awhile, establishing a nice little alibi. He then let Jasmine and her intern, a nerdy little guy named Darren, take over, and as soon as she had escorted them down the hall, he left.

  Ash was parked out in front of Miller Towers, watching the place, making sure Jamie and Smash were genuinely gone. Kaede checked in with him before he left Kamani, and it seemed that they were sticking to their schedule, so the coast was clear.

  Both he and Ash changed into ordinary work coveralls, which identified them as Jones and Thomas respectively. Ash tucked all his snow-white hair inside a dirty baseball cap with a sports logo across the front, and Kaede slipped on a synth skin mask that made him look like a generic white guy again. Ash told him honestly it was strange seeing him that way, but Kaede took that as a compliment.