by Hayes, Drew
* * *
As Globe’s eyes opened, he was surprised to find himself looking into a stranger’s face. Then, with a few blinks, he recognized her from photographs. Camille Belden – Vince’s friend, maybe more by this point. Seeing her was an unexpected shock, but that was nothing compared to the sudden headache that slammed like an icepick between the eyes.
“You’re going to feel a lot of mental fatigue right now,” she said. “I healed your body and got rid of the physical exhaustion symptoms, but healing still takes a toll. I’m sorry, I wish I could give you more time to rest, but Vince is out there fighting to protect us. He needs you now, Globe. He thinks you can save us all.”
Sitting up slowly, Globe admired the orange dome he was surrounded by, noticing the near-collapsed Super who was struggling to hold it in place. These kids, these damn kids. They couldn’t just let him go, could they? No, they had to get themselves right in the thick of things. With a grunt of effort and willfully ignoring of the pain in his head, Globe got to his feet.
“Well, if my son needs me then I shouldn’t keep him waiting. After all, I’m a Hero. Saving people is what we do.”
318.
There was a fizzling sound from behind Vince, a noise like freshly poured soda. That was the only cue he got that Thomas’s dome was finally down. Seconds later, a familiar hand came down gently on top of his head, ruffling his silver hair slightly.
“I know you’ve always looked up to me, but this might be taking things a bit far.” Globe was staring at the charred stump of Vince’s left arm, a wide array of emotions twitching through his face. From the ground, rocks and soil began floating upward, forming into a false arm to take the place of Globe’s own missing appendage. “Don’t worry. Hallow owes me more than a few favors from our time together. He’ll put you right, even if he wouldn’t have saved me.”
“We’ve got bigger concerns.” Vince nodded to the still-approaching stretch of guards. Nearby, the Heroes were getting twitchy as well. Angela might have sold them on the idea that Globe was in custody momentarily, but they weren’t going to be fooled for long. Globe was up and moving around, which made him dangerous, and they did have a duty to fulfill.
More attacks were coming, blasts and bolts, a few guards even risked firing their weapons. They regretted it instantly, as more contained infernos broke out, but the point was clear: they wanted Globe. Scariest of all, the guard who had created the destruction wave was rearing back, preparing to send out another.
Before his hand could open, a golden sword slammed into his chest at the same time his legs were sliced neatly in half by blades of shadow. Letting out a short gurgle, he limply fell to the ground where his ample blood joined that of the fellow guards he’d killed. It was a hard thing to watch, yet strangely heartening. Angela and Shane were still with them; this wasn’t a fight they had to handle alone. Glancing back, Vince saw Camille healing Thomas before he could keel over from exhaustion. Together, all of them could do something.
And then, without warning, Globe held up a hand and snapped his fingers. Just like that, every single guard near them dropped to the ground. For a moment, they seemed dead, but as Vince looked closely he could see their chests still rising and falling. They were only unconscious.
“Do you know why everyone, guard and Hero alike, attacked me with all the strength they had earlier? Because they knew if I had enough time to focus and think, this is what would happen. Especially with my range currently amped up. Thanks for the distraction, Charon and our hidden shadow-wielder. Made my job a lot easier. Now, as for the Heroes…”
Globe turned to them, the few who had gathered near the fringes, away from backup, and were standing their ground against a foe who had defeated countless powerful Supers in his day. Not a one ran or even seemed as though they would consider the idea of giving ground. Good. For all the bad in the Hero world, it was clear that the HCPs were still handing the burden of graduation to the right kind of people.
“Heroes, I hereby surrender to you. I will follow in your care to a jail, a DVA representative, or whatever location you deem appropriate given the circumstances. I will not use my power to attack or attempt an escape. I have only one condition, and it is not negotiable. If the need arises, I will use my power to keep these students safe. Given how badly the DVA wants me, I’m going to assume that part won’t be an issue.”
Vince grabbed Globe’s sleeve as he tried to step forward. “What are you doing?”
“You were right, Vince. I was tired. I was hoping to take the easy way out. Tearing things down, ripping the truth into the light – those feats are nothing compared to what comes next. Rebuilding. Living with the truth, the fallout, and the consequences. Dying in battle would have been much simpler. But Heroes don’t take the easy path, and occasionally I need reminding that – if only in the eyes of one person – I’m still a Hero. So I’m doing what’s right.”
“No.”
The voice came from a guard who had been approaching from near the back of the group. It was a voice Vince recognized, even if he wasn’t immediately sure from where. He didn’t have to wonder long, as the guard peeled off his helmet to reveal the face of Charles Adair. For a moment, they were all stunned, and Charles didn’t waste the opportunity. With lightning speed, he pulled a gun from under his body armor, held it aloft, and then pressed the muzzle to his own temple.
“For anyone wondering, no, my threat here is not mere suicide. Buried beneath this site are four nuclear bombs. There are monitoring devices on several of my vital organs, and before I came here I gave orders to my tech people to engage our final failsafe system, not that they realized what they were doing. As of now, my life is all that keeps those bombs from going off. I die, and they explode. How many of the Heroes or students out there do you think could survive that kind of blast?”
Globe started to move, and Charles instantly tightened his finger on the trigger. “None of that. I know very well what it feels like when you put someone to sleep, and I’ll have just enough time to fire in response. Now: you could freeze me, although that wouldn’t do much to stop the cyanide pill in my mouth since you allow people to keep breathing. You could go for that too, but only if you’re absolutely certain I don’t have any other backup methods, which you shouldn’t be. Even if my mundane tools failed, I still have the option of using transmutation on my blood or heart. Maybe you’ll be tempted to take a swing at messing with the devices, if you’re confident you won’t trip the safeguards. But even if you could pull any of that off normally, judging from the way your eyes are having trouble focusing, it looks like you’re downright gassed. I’m not sure you want to risk the lives of everyone here on the chance that you’re faster than me.”
There was no mistaking the fury in Globe’s eyes, yet he stayed his hand anyway. “What do you want?”
“The devices on my organs have a proximity system. Once I’m far enough away, the link between the bombs and my body will safely deactivate. It’s an incentive for everyone to let me walk out of here safely, and you’re coming with me, Phil. Thanks to you and yours, it appears that I have to go into hiding, and I can’t think of anyone better to guide me than my very own big brother who stayed safely on the run for years. Don’t worry; all you have to do is get me to a non-extradition country where I’ve got some assets and safeguards in place.”
“If you have an escape plan, then why didn’t you use it instead of coming here?” Globe asked.
For the first time, Vince thought he saw a glimmer of sadness in Charles Adair’s expression. “My wife is gone, my daughter rightfully will never forgive me, Jack and Mom are both dead. You’re all I have left. If I’m running away for the rest of my life, I want you to be there. The things I’ve done are beyond redemption, but you’ve never cared about limits like that. Perhaps, one day, we can find peace between us.”
That was not at all the answer Vince had been expecting, and from the confusion on their faces, neither had the other Heroes. Globe, however,
was the only one unmoved.
“It’s a nice story, the kind I want to believe. That Chuck is still in there, under all the betrayal, compromise, and lies. That’s the problem; it’s too pleasant a story. There’s no hope in your eyes to go with it, no gaze toward the future. I know that look, because I’ve worn it too. You want out. You can’t bear to face Shelby or Alice or the world now that everything is exposed, and you’re hoping I’ll kill you once it’s safe.”
“Doesn’t really matter either way, does it?” Charles asked. “I’m still holding the entire battlefield hostage. Revenge, release, reconciliation, any or none of them could be true and it wouldn’t change the fact that you’re coming with me. There are people who need protecting, so fulfill your duty, Hero.”
Slowly, painfully, Globe took a step toward Charles. “Vince, I’m sorry. Whatever happens from here on, look after each other. At the end of the day, that’s what makes–”
“Now!”
The scream came from the trees, just before the first person ran into view.
319.
“Veer left.” Mr. Numbers didn’t need to give Mary any more than that. She followed his words without a moment’s hesitation, swinging wide to keep them – and the Hero lying in Mr. Transport’s arms – safe as a huge chunk of rock sailed past.
At first, it had taken more than a mere smattering of words, but the two hadn’t spent every Saturday playing chess over four years without building trust. They knew each other, had faith in one another’s skills, and together they could navigate the battlefield like no one else. Mary was in top form, using her incredible telepathy range to hunt down the Heroes most in need of healing, those who could still be saved, and then plucking them from the chaos with her telekinesis. In another age, she might have made an incredible Valkyrie, save for the fact that she was taking the fallen warriors to a healer, which was essentially the opposite of leading them into an afterlife.
Mr. Numbers had been wondering for some time where his talents would make the most difference in this battle, assuming he would have to torture someone for information or calculate an attack with the fewest number of casualties. In all his predictions, he hadn’t imagined himself sitting on a tree trunk, zipping around with Mary, moving Heroes to Hallow as fast as possible. Yet it was impossible to deny that they were making a difference. The renewed Heroes came back with something to prove, and seeing their friends revived was giving heart to the others in costume stuck in this fiasco.
Still, Mr. Numbers knew what he was and where his talents lay. There would be more work after this, more situations where his skills were called for. Just this once, however, it was a pleasant change of pace to make things better by helping people, even if that only meant keeping Mary from getting picked out of the sky.
* * *
Titan peeled away the reinforced wall with no visible effort, nicely getting around the fact that none of them could find a door into or out of the space. No wonder Globe’s team hadn’t noticed it on their run through here; if not for Chad’s hearing, they would have walked right by as well. Not wasting a moment, the hero formerly known as Zero leapt forward, right into the middle of the room where a half-dozen people’s surprise was quickly turning into fear.
“Your powers are no longer functional,” he announced. “Anyone who would like to go peacefully may lay down on the floor. If you want to express your displeasure physically, I will be happy to put you down. For our more daring contestants, feel free to try and run away through that opening in the wall. Titan, Ettin, and Intra will gladly be your opponents.”
From the gap, Titan, Roy, and Chad all waved, some more enthusiastically than others. There was blood on Roy’s bat, Chad was still covered in spikey bones, and Titan was… Titan. It was no great surprise when every non-costumed person in the hidden room dropped to the ground, hands clasped neatly behind their backs.
With a sigh of relief, Dean Blaine made the report through his communicator. “Dispatch, put the word out. We’ve found and neutralized the anchors. Teleportation is once more possible, so get us some damn backup.”
“I will alert the Heroes,” Dispatch replied, always ready at an instant. “There are few who have been anywhere near that location, so it may still take some time for them to reach you.”
“What about my backup?” Titan asked, touching his own ear so the others knew he wasn’t speaking to them.
“Reports indicate they should arrive shortly.”
Titan chuckled, nodding to their new prisoners. “Let’s get these wrapped up fast. I think you’re all going to want to watch this.”
* * *
Seeing the lines of probability wasn’t omnipotence. For one thing, there were too many factors for anyone to keep track of, even an amplified Nick. Another issue was that he could only see how likely certain events were, and then push them toward a desired outcome. Those pushes made ripples, though, and changing one event could make other, seemingly unrelated things worse down the line. It was a power that required a gentle touch and a cunning mind to wield, a perfect fit for someone trained as a conman and a gambler.
Nick didn’t have a communicator; he had no way of monitoring when the anchors were taken out. What he could see, however, was the probability of Shimmerpath being able to open a portal. Since they’d arrived, that chance had been locked at zero percent. There was no way for her to do it against all those anchors. And then, with little warning, suddenly the odds were different; her chances of success were in the high nineties, barring only sudden death or interruption. Teleportation was back on the table, and for a brief moment he was the only one who knew it.
“Now!” Nick’s voice rang out from the trees where he’d been hiding, and Shimmerpath didn’t waste a single moment. She bolted forward, hand already extended. They’d been close enough to hear Charles’s spiel about the bomb, and while Nick wasn’t quite sure he bought it given the probabilities he was looking at, Shimmerpath would obviously prioritize getting Charles out of range. Much as she might love Globe, she was a Hero first and foremost. That made her noble and decent, true, but it also made her predictable.
The portal opened under Charles in less than a second, sending him tumbling out of view. Although Nick didn’t know where she’d moved him, it didn’t matter. He was running as fast as he could, on a direct course for Shimmerpath. She wouldn’t let a villain get away, and sure enough, moments later another portal opened in front of her. This time he could make out the terrain: it was sparse and rocky, maybe up on a mountain somewhere.
Nick never slowed down, never gave anyone the chance to react. Instead, he slammed into Shimmerpath as soon as her portal was up, driving them both through. For a heartbeat, his face turned toward Vince and the others. They were probably wondering what the hell was going on. Maybe one day they’d understand. Dire situations called for hard choices. Kindness, goodness, justice, all of these were wonderful things in the right circumstances. Sometimes, though, they were liabilities. Crispin had proven that point nicely. Heroes even understood that saving one life at the cost of a hundred others wasn’t acceptable; this reality was so accepted it was built into their response system. The bit they failed to realize was that someone didn’t need a dangerous power to be capable of starting Armageddon. He hoped, eventually, they’d understand why he did this, but there was no time to explain today. So Nick spared just enough time to give a huge theatrical wink, the sort of gesture only his friends would be able to perceive thanks to the sunglasses obscuring part of his face.
Together, Nick and Shimmerpath tumbled through the portal. Before they even landed, Nick attacked, landing a punch to her temple that just so happened to send her head backward to crash against a rock. One-on-one, he could have never stood up to a Hero, but that was the advantage of a surprise attack, especially one with amplified luck backing it up.
As soon as she was out, the portal collapsed, just like he’d been hoping it would.
Staggering to his feet, Nick brushed some dust from his pa
nts as he made his way over to the struggling figure of Charles Adair. Apparently Shimmerpath had dropped him from a way’s up, as Charles was currently crawling along the rocky terrain with a pair of slightly askew legs dragging behind him. The moment he heard Nick’s approach, Charles whirled around, gun aimed right at him.
“Cute. You sure you don’t want to use something a little more Super as a threat? Turn the ground to pudding so I sink in, or shifting debris into containers of nitroglycerin you can lob my way? I’ve read up on The Alchemist – you were a pretty scary guy in your day. Yet now all you seem to use your power for is business. Come on, if you’re going to threaten me, at least do it like a Super. Assuming those legs aren’t hindering your concentration, I mean.”
“Powers are useful in their own place, but there is much to be said for the reliability of a bullet. Especially for one with your gifts. The less luck plays a part, the safer I think I’ll be, and I’m more than well-trained enough to hit you without the aid of fortune.” Charles kept the gun steady, though his eyes darted about. They both knew regardless what Charles said, his focus was compromised with that kind of injury, his powers riskier to use. “Where are the others?”
“Left them behind. They’ve never had the stomach for this kind of work.” Nick, still keenly aware of the gun, took a seat on the nearest boulder and checked his watch. “Teleportation is back, so the DVA will know it soon. Assuming they track one of us to this spot and send their fastest people, I’d bet we have around five minutes, at most, to see this through.”