by Hayes, Drew
“What’s going on? Maybe I’ve just come around; did you ever think of that? Maybe I don’t want to keep living on a government paycheck, hoping sales of my stupid merch pick up so I can buy a big enough house for my family. Maybe I’ve realized that we are the strongest of this nation, that rather than serving the weak we should be ruling over them. If the Heroes band together, we can take whatever we want, do whatever we want, and no one will be able to stop us.”
Alice had to give credit where it was due; Intra was really trying to sell this load of bullshit, no matter how little he actually believed it.
Globe shook his head. “You’re wrong about that. I’d stop you, and so would every other Hero who remembers why we fought so hard for this title in the first place. But you don’t believe any of that. I know you, Intra. I know you understand that we protect the weak because we’re strong. You helped me to see that in the first place. Now please, end this farce already. Tell me what’s really going on and let me help you.”
Despite the fact that this was a memory, and Alice knew perfectly well how things would play out, for the briefest of instants she thought Globe would break through to his friend. Intra took a half-step back, seeming to just shift position but in actuality putting himself in a spot that let him see Alchemist. Up on the rooftop, Alchemist stared down at the duo. Briefly, Intra and Alchemist’s eyes met, and Charles Adair tilted his head in the barest shadow of a nod. If one were watching without context, it would have seemed like nothing more than a human’s natural fidgeting, but Alice understood the gesture all too well. He was commanding Intra to stay the course, to get himself killed no matter what it took.
“End this farce?” Intra was looking at Globe again, his right hand behind his back. Alice caught a flash of red and instantly knew what was about to happen. “You’re right. I thought maybe I could talk you into understanding, make you see things my way. But you’ve always been too stubborn. I’ve known from the start it would come to this; I was fooling myself to pretend otherwise.”
Intra whipped his right arm forward, along with the blood-saw that had formed from it. It was a blur of motion that snapped through the air, the blood making an unnatural noise as it moved at inhuman speeds. That was nothing, however, compared to the unsettling thump of something hitting the rubble. No, not just something—Globe’s left arm had been severed only a few inches below the shoulder. It lay between them, fingers still twitching, before the pain finally registered and Globe let out a horrific scream.
“What the hell!” Globe was gripping the stump where his arm used to be, the fabric of his costume already tightening into a makeshift tourniquet. It was fast thinking, minimizing the blood loss while keeping the wound still viable for reattachment. “What are you doing, Intra?”
“How much do I need to spell it out for you, Phil?” With that final word, the very air around the duo seemed to grow heavy. Intra had just used Globe’s civilian name out in public, and it was obviously no accident. The implication wasn’t lost on Globe either, who glared up at his friend. There was fury in those eyes now, yet he was still holding himself back. Even an arm down, he didn’t want to believe his best friend had fallen from grace.
“I told you I was going evil; I offered to bring you along, but you didn’t want to listen.” Intra was looming over Globe now, that blood-saw arcing and dancing through the air. “You just wanted to see the world through the same rose-colored glasses as always. Well, you can’t ignore this! I’m done with being a Hero, Phil, but that doesn’t mean I’m done with you all entirely. Hell, I’ve got the skill and the knowledge. I bet I can take out a lot of you heavy hitters before you even see me coming. Or at least put pressure on your weak spots.”
Another step closer, exposing his torso to Globe completely. If he wanted to fight, it was a rookie mistake, but if he wanted to die it was a great way to leave himself open. Alice saw Intra’s face slip for a moment, his determination wavering; however, Globe was looking at his severed arm during that instant. How different would the world be if he’d glanced up right then?
“Don’t say that.” Globe almost sounded like he was begging now, begging to be told that there was some—any—explanation for what was happening other than the obvious. “I can’t let even you threaten the people I love.”
“Why? Will you finally do something about it? Your parents are both gone, sure, but you’ve got plenty I can still go after. Clarissa has family alive; I know how you hate seeing her sad. And Blake’s got one parent left. Then there’s Charles. He’s already lost a wife; I can’t imagine how he’d cope if that baby daughter of his—”
And there, Intra found Phillip Adair’s breaking point. In Globe’s right hand, his only hand now, a vibrant spike of glowing energy, like a dagger of plasma, suddenly manifested. He stabbed upward without hesitation, driving the energy directly into Intra’s chest, expanding the shape as soon as it made contact. The whole thing took less than three seconds, and when it was over Intra had a massive, gaping hole where his heart and several internal organs should have been.
“I can’t let you hurt them. I’m sorry,” Globe whispered. He reached out to try and catch Intra’s falling form, but Intra took another step back. Injured as he was, Intra wasn’t dead quite yet. To Alice’s surprise, the Hero flashed Globe a brief, but sincere, smile.
“Thank… you…” Intra fell to his knees, raising his eyes upward as he did. This time, there was nothing subtle about it. He was staring at Alchemist, and as Globe followed his dying friend’s gaze, he quickly reached the same conclusion. Alice could almost see the wheels in Globe’s head turning. He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but as his eyes hardened it became clear that Globe had realized something was awry, and that Alchemist had a role in it.
Unfortunately, Alice wasn’t the only one who noticed Globe’s hard stare. “He knows,” Black Hole declared from their spot on the rooftop. “Intra’s thanks was a tip-off; it gave him a clue.”
“He doesn’t know.” Alchemist sounded worried, almost fearful. Alice was taken off guard; she’d been braced for more of the dead-hearted Charles. Apparently, that journey hadn’t happened overnight though. There was still a bit of the old one left inside. “He can’t know.”
“Maybe not all of it, but he suspects, and with your brother that’s more than enough.” Black Hole stepped closer, to the edge of the building. “We’ve got a few seconds to decide how to play this. He’s injured, and even suspicious I doubt he’d expect an attack from his own team. If I hit him right now, I can handle this and we can adjust the story. Once Globe’s got his bearings, we’ll probably never stop him. That means Joshua died for nothing, and no one will be left to help Shelby.”
Alchemist looked on for several more seconds before slowly, painfully, giving another nod. “I’m so sorry, Phil. You were never supposed to be caught up in all of this. But I’ve gone too far to back away now. I have to fix what I destroyed, no matter what it costs me. Blake, do it. Just make sure you don’t hurt Joshua’s corpse.”
The step back that Intra had taken saved his body as a sudden orb of darkness manifested directly on top of Globe. It grew rapidly, seeming to engulf the injured Hero completely. When it faded, there was nothing left, just a smooth hole in the rubble where part of the orb had struck.
“Got him,” Black Hole announced.
A soft snort came from under Alchemist’s breath. “Maybe. I’m going to put some search parties out, regardless. I’ve never seen anyone underestimate my brother and not learn to regret it.”
164.
“They changed the story after the fact.” Nick was looking at the fading forms of Alchemist and Black Hole, who themselves were staring down at the corpse of Intra. “No witnesses to dispute them, no recordings save for what Charles was apparently already controlling. Rebuilding the narrative would be easy. Fudge a few facts, pay a couple of bribes to people with no idea what they’re a part of, and poof: Globe has turned traitor, killing Intra in the process. Then Charles
proposes turning this tragedy into something positive, and that’s all it takes to give him everything he wanted.”
“Not everything,” Mary pointed out. “He sure didn’t seem keen on the idea of killing Globe.”
“Didn’t stop him from giving the order, though,” Nick said.
He had a point, Alice had to give Nick that, but it wasn’t as though Charles had been given ample time to consider the full implications of what he was doing. It was a snap decision in the heat of battle, the kind they were training to make—only he’d chosen poorly. What had shocked her more was how detached Black Hole had been about the entire process. She’d trained directly under Professor Hill for years, she’d nearly taken Control as her main specialty, and she’d never seen such ruthlessness lurking in his eyes. Then again, if he’d managed to fool the entire HCP staff and the DVA enough to give him such a job, it was no shock that he’d be good at hiding his dark inclinations.
“So… I guess this means Globe really is innocent.” Alice felt strange saying that after everything they’d read and heard about the villain; however, the conclusion was inevitable given what they’d witnessed. Some part of her Subtlety training prickled with annoyance; she was taking too much as a given. “Assuming all of this is accurate, I mean.”
“Charles Adair is a controlled, measured man, but even he cannot escape his guilt in the realm of nightmares,” Abridail told her. “I have watched these scenes play out more times than I can count, and while I won’t swear to the position of every rock and brick in the scenery, the more important bits are just as I’ve seen them in dreams.”
As the world faded, Nick was pacing, his eyes darting quickly around to scoop up what few details remained. “Let’s see here. Charles got the brain, but it’s not like that was automatic victory. He still had to pay a lot of smart people to analyze it, try and figure out what made Intra special, develop a method for replicating that in Powereds, and then go through incremental testing before rolling it out on actual Powereds.” Nick ticked the fingers off on his hand slowly. “Chad was a baby when this went down, and we were all eighteen when they did the procedure. So, we’re looking at about seventeen years and change for all of that. It’s a tight timeframe, unless you’re someone with nearly unlimited funds and the ability to attract the brightest minds, both Super and human, to the project.”
“There is one thing that bothers me about this, now that we know everything that happened to Alice’s mom: why isn’t Shelby Adair one of us?” Mary asked. “This whole thing was for her, and Charles got what he wanted. He found a cure. Why wouldn’t he have used it on his wife?”
In that moment, Alice instantly knew the answer to Mary’s question, and it made her stomach flip. She looked over to Nick, who’d clearly figured it out as well. A piece of her wanted to lie, to protect Mary from the inescapable truth of their situation. But she’d literally just seen where keeping secrets from the people she loved might lead, and besides, Mary had a right to know.
“Because Charles doesn’t know he’s found it.” Alice’s voice was gentle, partly for Mary, partly for herself. “Remember, we’re a test group. We always were. That was why we were put in Melbrook in the first place: to keep watch over us in case anything went wrong or long-term side effects developed.”
“But the doctors told us it was permanent, that we couldn’t change back, and they really believed that. I could hear it in their thoughts,” Mary protested.
“And based on whatever information they’d been given, I’m sure they thought it was true. Just like they probably believed it when they told the same things to any guinea pigs who came before us.” Nick paused his pacing, looking over at Abridail, who was preparing another scene, and then back at Mary. “However, I will say the odds are on our side. Think about it: in both of the timelines Shelby saw, the procedure was eventually successful and publicly available. That means there will be a successful test case, and based on the timing, it’s a fair bet that we’re it.”
Alice nodded, the next pieces already falling into place. “But Charles hasn’t seen Shelby’s visions. He doesn’t know for sure that our procedure worked long-term, and given how things went the first time, there’s no way he’d take any chances with Mom’s brain again. He’s making sure we’re stable, putting us through HCP training to see what happens when we push our limits, watching us run around like trapped rats to be sure that this time, he’ll be able to bring Shelby back.”
“That’s reassuring. Though I do wish we weren’t all agreeing with the idea that our abilities could fail.” Something darted through Mary’s eyes, something dark and fearful. “I don’t know if I can go back to my old life. I’d sort of gotten used to always hearing the voices, but after this many years of peace…”
“In none of Shelby’s visions has she ever seen your procedure’s effects falter.” Abridail had his eyes open, although they were only halfway so, and his posture was slumped. All of this was apparently taking a toll on him; last time, there hadn’t been so many different scenes to conjure, nor had they come as fast. “That is not a guarantee—as you know, she only sees the likely potentials for futures—but it does mean chances are strong that you truly have been cured.”
He raised his arms, and around them the concrete cube where Intra and Charles had stood came back into view. Only now, Intra was nowhere to be seen. It was Charles and Black Hole—or Professor Hill, as the students knew him—sitting at a table.
“There are many pieces I have had to leave out for expediency, small chunks I’m trustful you’ll be able to piece together on your own. However, there is one more bit that I feel you need: proof of what I’ve shown you today, in case your teachers begin second-guessing these events, not wanting to accept the truth about a former friend. There is little evidence to be found; Charles was quite careful in that regard. However, not even he was able to destroy everything.”
165.
“I don’t see why I have to quit.” With the Black Hole costume gone, he was just Blake once more, a man having a sizable drink with his brother-in-law. There was no air of celebration to the scene; both men looked weary and worn, as though it had been days since they last saw sleep. Charles was bearing it better than Blake, yet even he had red eyes and was in need of a shave.
“If you’d like to switch roles, that’s fine. That does assume, of course, that you’re capable of raising the tremendous funds needed to covertly pay for our research, managing all of the assets now on our payroll, and let us not forget organizing the hunt for my brother.”
Blake snorted into his glass. “We can leave that last part off. I got him, Charles. We both saw it connect.”
“Did we? Or did we see him warp the light to create a mirage? Perhaps he neutralized the gravitational force as it descended on him and then blended in with the ground. Maybe he used some other method we haven’t devised yet. Globe, Phil, is powerful beyond our sense of the word. He literally warps the reality of everything in his sphere of influence. Now, you’ve seen that as a teammate, and occasionally caught glimpses of it in the HCP. I grew up seeing that power in action, Blake, and trust me when I say it is not one to underestimate—an issue compounded by it being in the hands of someone as determined as Phil.”
“He’s not unbeatable,” Blake replied. “He still has to be paying attention, and he can’t change anything he doesn’t know how to manipulate. Do you think he spent hours, or more likely days, researching gravity and working out how to nullify my attack just in case I turned on you?”
At first, Charles said nothing, turning his still full glass in his hands several times. “The mere fact that you need to ask me that, rather than already assuming it to be true, is why I’m the one who’ll be organizing the hunt for Globe. You must not underestimate him. Ever.”
“I think you overestimate him.” Blake didn’t bother turning his glass; he just downed a deep gulp from it.
Something like laughter—a painful and twisted cousin to the sound—came from Charles’s mout
h. “Impossible. To say such a thing implies that I’m believing him capable of something that he can’t do, and I’ve met precious few things in this world that my big brother couldn’t accomplish. No, he’s out there, Blake, and I’ll believe that until I find concrete proof that he’s passed. Because that’s the prudent way to proceed.”
“If you want to waste your time, that’s fine. I just don’t see why I have to become an HCP teacher,” Blake protested.
Alice, Mary, and Nick all exchanged a brief glance. Professor Hill might not be their favorite educator, but he’d always been competent and seemed at home in his role. Had he never even wanted to be there in the first place?
“You’ll have some time. We need to get you, and me, through more intensive telepathy-resistance training as soon as possible. We won’t even float the idea of you moving into education until then. But it has to happen, Blake. Our Hero careers are done, anyway. We just watched two of our teammates fight, saw Intra murdered by Globe before we killed Globe ourselves. That’s the official story, so it’s going to seem strange if we’re back on the streets next week acting fine. We have to take an extended leave, during which time I’m going to focus on my business and you’ll discover that your true passion lies in educating the Heroes of tomorrow.”
Tilting his glass back, Blake finished off his drink. “That still feels like a lot of hoops to jump through just for computer access.”
“Blake, we just murdered one Hero, possibly two, in order to get a brain which will fuel highly illegal human experimentation.” Charles’s tone was heavy, and for a moment Alice wondered if he was about to kill Blake. Even knowing it didn’t turn out that way, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling of looming danger. “From here on, we are in the sea of extreme peril. Discovery means our undoing, and if we go then so too goes all hope for Shelby. Our best asset is compartmentalization. We keep everything disconnected, making sure nothing ties together, and keep ourselves as distant from the actual work as possible. After all, we can’t accidentally let slip information we don’t possess. But there will still need to be a full log of all the data if we’re going to see progress, and until we can create our own system there is literally nowhere more secure than an HCP’s digital storage. Professors can put information in freely, but several layers of approval are required to take anything out. It’s like tossing the evidence into a bottomless pit, one that we can get our files back from with a little networking and bribery. Even if the files were somehow raided, without clearance they’d be too encoded for anyone to crack. It’s the safest storage option available, and it comes with the added benefit of making you seem more trustworthy. Who would question the integrity of an HCP professor?”