by Adam Oster
“You see, our new Commander-in-Chief feels that this Super-Pact, the international agreement to rid the world of those with extra-ordinary abilities, does not actually exist, since it occurred prior to The Great Redaction. As such, he’s come up with a plan. This plan, to put it simply, is that he wishes to leverage superhuman abilities in the aid of the defense of our nation. It’s a scary world out there and he aims to use every item within our possible arsenal to keep our borders safe.”
“And that's where we come in, huh?” Buddy asked. “You want us to be the new nukes?”
“Well, not exactly. This movement is still in its infancy. We honestly have no direct plans on how to move forward at this point. I merely mention it to allow you to understand that there has been a paradigm shift in the oversight of my department and how we have been directed to interact with the likes of you.”
“I suppose that explains why we haven't seen any signs of you guys ever since the whole Damon thing,” said Alexa.
“That is one of many reasons.”
“So, if you're not here asking us to enlist, what do you want?” Zero asked.
“Information. Information on Arthur Flores to be precise.”
“Sorry, dude,” Ryan spoke. “We haven't seen him. He went into hiding right after the events on Barber St.”
“Unfortunately, I know for a fact that this is not entirely true. Although you may not have seen much of the MHDT since the events at Barber Street six months ago, they’ve seen an awful lot of you. I have reports stating that there has been at least one of you who has visited the man on more than one occasion since that fateful day.” Murphy looked accusingly at Alexa.
“You sure as hell better not be pointing any fingers at me,” Alexa scowled in return.
“I'd prefer to not have to play the role of a demon by calling you out like this, but you have been visiting with Mr. Flores at least once a week since he disappeared, haven't you?”
“No.”
“What is he talking about, Alexa?” Buddy asked.
“Nothing, Buddy. He’s just trying to pit us against each other.”
“Oh, but dear Alexa, I have it on good authority that you have been escaping off to some location weekly. Due to your special talents, I will admit that we aren’t always able to track your final destination, but we have, on more than one occasion, been able to determine your arrival at the supposed entrance to The Defenders Bunker. Are you trying to say that it is not Arthur Flores with whom you have been secretly meeting?”
“That's right; I haven't seen Arthur for months.”
“You know, I had always wondered about that,” Buddy began. “I mean, you were his right hand woman right up until the end there. It didn't make any sense to me that he would be--”
“I haven't been meeting with Arthur!” Alexa yelled as she stood.
“This would probably go a lot easier if you just told everyone what you have been up to, sis,” Ryan spoke softly.
“Yes, Ms. Rose,” Murphy said with a dark grin on his face. “Please. Tell us.”
“Alright, fine. Look, I was meeting with Arthur for a couple weeks after the whole Barber Street thing, but that ended months ago. I swear.”
“Oh, come on, Ms. Rose. My men have spotted you running off at least once weekly for months now. Just earlier today, in fact.”
“I can’t believe we’re ignoring the fact that you’re flat out admitting to spying on us,” Alexa yelled. “What do you think gives you the right to—”
“Now, now, Ms. Rose, you can hardly blame us for wanting to know more about the people who have been protecting our city.”
“Right,” Alexa huffed.
“If you have not been visiting Arthur Flores, perhaps you could enlighten us as to where you have been running off to by yourself so frequently.”
“Come on, Alexa,” Ryan again spoke softly.
“Not here.”
“I don't think you have much of a choice.”
“I'll tell everyone when I'm good and ready.”
“Okay, fine,” Ryan conceded. “But you're going to have to give them something, otherwise I think our new friend Dennis here is going to be hanging on to us for the foreseeable future.”
“Your brother is quite keen, Ms. Rose. If you have any information that we may be able to utilize in locating Arthur Flores, we may be able to ignore the discussion of your recent whereabouts. For now.”
“Fine,” Alexa gave in reluctantly. “Like I said, I had been meeting with Artie for a few weeks after we fought Damon. It wasn't much, just little bits of chit chat. He told me that he felt he needed to hang low since the government did the whole Mind Wipe thingie again, especially since you were already investigating him.”
“We’re already aware of the fact that he is in hiding, Ms. Rose. That’s why you’re here.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. The last time I talked to him, he sounded like he was afraid for his life. In fact, after that moment, he locked me out of The Bunker because he was certain that I would be, well, talking to you, I guess.”
“Are you aware that in the past three months there has been a dramatic increase in missing persons in the Sun City metropolitan area?”
“No,” Alexa answered.
“Would it interest you to know that each of these missing people were on our watch list for exhibiting apparent meta-human abilities?”
“Are you saying they were supers?” Buddy asked.
“Yes, Mr. Jackson, they all had appeared to have been developing abilities that would commonly be called superpowers. In fact, if we hadn’t already been keeping tabs on them due to this, we wouldn’t have even been aware of their disappearance. For some odd reason, we’ve found during our investigations that even their closest family members appear to have no knowledge of them ever existing.”
“And you think Flores is behind all of this?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, we do. In fact, we have very little reason to believe otherwise. We just have nothing to solidify our assumptions. Would you have any information that might be able to help us make our case, Ms. Rose?”
Alexa was silent.
“Ms. Rose?”
“He didn't say anything about it since the whole thing with Memphis, but. . .well--”
“Please continue, Ms. Rose.”
“Okay, fine. The whole snatching meta-humans thing and erasing the memories of those around them, that's nothing new. In fact, that's how he built up his army in the first place. I mean, he usually tried to snatch people who had no family to worry about, homeless folks, orphans, you know the idea. But, well, there was always this contingency plan in place, this crazy Hail Mary idea he had in the situation that anyone ever figured out what he was up to down in The Bunker.”
“And that plan was?”
“First, I just want to say that I was never all that crazy about this idea. In fact, I thought I had talked him out of it ages ago. But, I guess he must have been more afraid of what you guys might do than I thought he was.”
“The plan, Ms. Rose?”
“Okay, well, first, I want you to know that I’m not a rat, so when I say Artie’s got an inside guy within this department, I have no interest in selling him--”
“Oh, we are already fully aware of Agent Parker's involvement with Arthur Flores, Ms. Rose. Please continue.”
“Oh, um. . . okay. Well, anyways, they knew you guys had a list of people with powers. So, the idea was that if it was ever necessary, they would go out and snatch up every last one of them, wipe their minds clean, and train them to be a part of his army. If what you're saying is right, he's preparing for war.”
“War?” Zero responded excitedly.
“Why would he be preparing for a war?” Buddy asked.
“I don't know,” Alexa responded. “But if he's activating his backup plan, he thinks something big is coming.”
“That doesn't make any sense, sis. I mean, he had over a thousand people working for him already. Why would he
need any more?”
“Probably depends on what he thinks he’s going to be fighting against,” Alexa answered. “How many people have gone missing?”
“From our records, which are nowhere near complete, we currently have over twenty thousand people unaccounted for within Sun City alone.”
“20,000 people!” Buddy exclaimed. “There are 20,000 people with superpowers in this world and we're still forced to stay in hiding.”
“Actually, Mr. Jackson, I said that there were 20,000 people missing within Sun City. There are over 50,000 people we believe to have been abducted by Arthur within the country.”
Zero giggled.
“Holy crap,” Ryan yelled. “Where the hell would he be keeping all of these people? The Bunker is huge, but I don't see how he could possibly fit that many people down there.”
“That is but one of the many questions we have regarding all of this. I believe we can easily assume he has many more people currently under his control than we can account for, considering the current moratorium on discussing meta-human affairs internationally. I mean, unless there’s some reason to believe he would not want to recruit from overseas.”
“I can’t think of any,” Alexa answered. “In fact, a few years ago, I did catch him doing some research on locations for building additional Bunkers in Europe.”
“You’re going quite a long way toward verifying some of our greatest concerns, Ms. Rose.”
“Those concerns ain’t nothing,” Alexa continued. “If Artie’s preparing for war, which it certainly sounds like he is, he’s got it planned down to the finest details. Not only that, he’ll have backup plans for his backup plans. If there’s one thing you can be sure about with Artie, it’s that he’s prepared.”
“So,” Buddy asked, “is that all you need from us? Just looking for validation of your fears?”
“Oh, that can't be all, chum,” Zero disagreed. “He's looking to have The New Defenders act as the front line against this super-powered army. Right?”
“Unfortunately, I’ve already been far too open about our current situation,” Agent Murphy apologized. “Any further details about how we intend to move forward are listed as being on a need to know basis only.”
“So,” Zero responded dejectedly, “you’re done with us? No battles or anything?”
“This is, at the moment, nothing more than a fact-finding mission,” Murphy replied.
“Are we done here?” Buddy asked.
“I suppose so,” Murphy said reluctantly. “I really have no reason to keep you all here any longer. However, if you do find yourselves coming across additional information, I would be willing to make it worth your while.” Agent Murphy stood and handed Buddy a business card. “You can call me any time, night or day, should you remember anything that might be useful. I’ll have Agent Kent deposit you back where we had found you.”
Murphy left the room, immediately followed by the return of Agent Kent. Without a word he touched Alexa's shoulder and disappeared in a pop. He reappeared and continued the process until it was just him and Buddy left in the room. Kent paused and stared at Buddy for a moment.
“So, what's the deal with Murphy? Does he really not know any--”
Kent touched Buddy's arm and in a pop they were back on the street where they had found Bumblebee.
“--thing about what. . . Damn, I don't think I'll ever get used to that.”
Kent paused again, looking at Buddy as if he wanted to say something, but then disappeared with another pop.
“Sheesh, that guy really doesn't like to talk, does he?” Buddy asked.
“What the hell just happened in there?” Ryan asked. “I'm not crazy, right? That was Damon.”
“Of course that was Damon, Little Red. The question is, why does he not know that?”
“If that's the only question you boys have, you're doing a lot better than me.” Alexa looked to Buddy. “You seemed to have some clue of what's going on. Care to clue us in?”
“Not here. I'm not even sure where, but definitely not here.”
“Oh, come on dude,” Ryan argued. “You can't leave us in the dark like this. Have you been holding back on us?”
“Look, not here. Plus, I'm not the only one who's been holding back information.” Buddy looked at Alexa. “You've been visiting Flores and haven't told us? What the hell is that all about?”
“I'm being totally honest here; I haven't seen him for months.”
“Ah, but sweet Alexa, the man who doesn't seem to know he's Damon Memphis stated you've been continuing to go off every week. If you haven't been visiting Flores, whom have you been sneaking off to see?”
“Can't a girl have a little bit of a personal life or do you want to read my diary, too?”
“Fine,” Buddy conceded. “But if I end up having to sit in that ugly conference room ag--”
“There you guys are!” a voice yelled from nearby. The group turned and saw Bumblebee approaching their location. “I'm not sure what happened. One second I was here with all of you, the next I was all the way across town. I thought I had lost you!”
“He's back,” Zero muttered under his breath. “I think we should return to--”
“So, what are we up to next? Patrol?” Bumblebee asked excitedly.
“Look kid,” Buddy began slowly. “I can see your heart's in the right place and all, but I just don't think we're operating on the same wavelength. You understand?”
“No,” Bumblebee said flatly.
“What he means,” Alexa continued, “is that we're not quite what you think we are. It might be best if we just cut ties here and forget this ever happened.”
“What? Are you saying I'm not good enough for you guys?”
“That is precisely what we are saying,” Zero answered.
“Zero!” Alexa rebuked. “That's not at all what we're saying. It's just that we're involved in something much more dangerous than I think you're ready to deal with.”
“Right, I get it. Don't worry about it. I work better alone anyways.” Bumblebee walked away with his head low.
Alexa opened her mouth to speak as Zero placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don't, Alexa. He'll get over it.” Alexa glared at Zero, who stared right back. The two stood locked in optical combat until Ryan finally cut in.
“Alright kids,” Ryan said as he clapped his hands. “Where to?”
“Back to Maggie's?” Buddy asked.
“Don't you think we should start to do some digging on the whole deal with Flores?” Ryan responded.
“And why the hell would we want to do that?” Buddy asked.
“I don’t know,” Ryan responded. “Seemed like it would give us something to do.”
“Little Red’s right,” Zero agreed. “This is just the type of thing we’ve been looking for.”
“Right,” Alexa stated, “except it means getting into bed with Memphis, something I’m in no hurry to do.”
“Exactly,” Buddy joined in, considering the implications of this new version of his old nemesis. “I think we’d be better off at least getting a good night’s sleep before we decide to jump over onto Damon’s team.”
“Agreed, chum! First thing tomorrow morning, we decide on the fate of Dominion’s bed!”
CHAPTER 3
“She's ready to see you now,” said the woman in blue scrubs.
Damon stood up slowly and followed the doctor out of the waiting area and into his wife's recovery room.
The pale-faced patient looked up and smiled weakly as he entered. “Damon,” she said softly.
Damon walked to her side and grabbed her hand as he kissed her forehead gently. “Tess,” he paused, “sweetheart.” A tear fell from his eye.
“Is it that bad, Damon?” she coughed.
“It's not good.”
“But there's still hope, right? I mean, with God anything is possible.”
“Yes, of course,” he agreed slowly, “it's just that--”
“Do not worry about anythin
g,” she quoted, “instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace.”
“I know, darling. I know.”
“Then you shouldn’t look so concerned. The doctors had said I wouldn’t wake from my coma, right? God’s plans are higher than ours.”
“I don't know what I would do without you.”
“Should that day come, the LORD will provide a path for you, like He’s always done. Even now He is putting things in motion that will provide for your future. Have faith.”
“I do. It's just that I feel as though He may be testing my faith right now and I'm not sure what path He would want me to take.”
“Are you talking about Arthur Flores?”
“Yes,” he said as he bowed his head.
“Can I see?”
Damon looked up questioningly before he brought a finger in front of his face. It lit on fire.
Tess's eyes grew bright with surprise. “This is most certainly a gift to praise the LORD about.”
“But, don't you think--”
“I think that John the Baptist foretold this very gift, Damon. 'I baptize you with water, but he who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'”
“Perhaps you're right.”
“You know this. This is the Word of God. The real question is, what do you intend to do with this gift?”
“God's will, of course.”
“He couldn't have given you such an amazing gift without having some amazing purpose in store for you.”
“That is precisely what vexes me.”
“Don’t worry. I feel confident His plan will be revealed soon.”
“I pray you’re correct.”
“Damon?” Tess asked as her eyes clenched tightly.
“What is it darling? Are you okay?”
One of the machines behind her began beeping and immediately a swarm of blue-clothed individuals ran into the room, shoving Damon out the door.
“What is going on?” he screamed as they pushed him out of the way.