Subject 12

by S. W. Douglas

  I'd left blood on the keyboard I'd used to check the computer out. I'd probably smeared more on the chair I'd sat in. There was no way I'd be able to wear the clothing again, so I'd tossed them. I'd scrounge before I left. I didn't want to go flying off flapping in the breeze, after all.

  Kinsey's office had been stripped bare. The only sign he'd been there was a couple of candy bar wrappers in the trash can next to the desk. There couldn't be that many people in this hemisphere who liked aniseed/coconut filled chocolate bars and would pay to have them imported from Marrakesh.

  I spent three minutes carefully poking through it to make sure there wasn't anything I could use. All I found was a printout for a commercial airline. I hadn't handled it, what with the blood and all, but I'd made sure it was where I could find it. Tracking the numbers would require an open internet connection and when the files had been scrambled the TCP/IP settings for the whole goddamn network had gotten almost impossibly borked. By the time I got somewhere I could find out where the bastard was flying to he'd probably be heading elsewhere, so it wasn't the most useful thing, but at least it would give me a starting point if I wanted to try to trace him.

  The water running down my legs was no longer pink so I turned the heat up and let it course down my back under maximum pressure. I felt a knot I'd been ignoring start to relax.

  The real coup here, if you could call it that, had been the picture Mary had sent to my phone. Coupled with the security system recording that I'd have the Guild pull as soon as I got out of here it would nail Kinsey and anyone else they could find.

  Sloppy, Kinsey. Very fucking sloppy.

  I shut the water off and reached for the towel I'd put on the sink shelf. It was a little raspy but it felt good on my skin. I toweled my hair and wrapped it around my waist. I would have liked a comb but, really, it would have been a bit much even for me to comb my hair and walk around with my junk hanging out with sixty-odd corpses laying around in various numbers of pieces.

  I rummaged around in a few rooms till I found some clean underwear that'd fit, a pair of socks that didn't smell like impending fungal infection, a pair of boots that I didn't need a shoehorn or three pairs of socks to fit in, and a uniform that was just my size.

  So what was my next move? I'd left my Guild ID in Watertown, so trying to enlist aid directly from the Syracuse Guildhall was nearly pointless. I had no idea how to get back to Alberta if I wanted to just fly back there to talk to Venom and Jackhammer. Steamroller too but, fuck the bitch, I didn't want to see her mug again any time soon.

  A wave of weariness washed over me and all I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. If I let myself do that, though, the next face I'd see might be an Alpha Zulu QRF (Quick Reaction Force) strike team member come to investigate the alarm. I had to get Guild members on-site soonest and make sure they were ready for a fight.

  That meant another fast flight to Watertown and a major pain-in-the-ass phone call. Two, actually, since I'd have to call Jackhammer or Venom to get directions or something. As soon as I'd sent Guild members to start sweeping this place, though, I was done. It had been a long day and it was going to be a lot longer before I got where I wanted to be.

  It wasn't even noon yet.

  I had found myself starting to fall asleep on my flight back to Watertown, so when I got to the Guildhall I let myself in and dug up my ID and Guildphone before I even spoke to anyone. I was too tired to care if anyone thought I was being rude.

  Besides, the Inspector persona was almost at its useful end anyway.

  Once I'd recovered them I put them to work, grabbing someone I hadn't seen before and getting them to put me in touch with the acting Hallmaster. Once that was done I showed him my card, waited while he scanned and verified it, and then laid out what he needed to do.

  Saying he balked wouldn't quite cover it, but it's as good a description as I could give.

  "There is no way I can even think about telling Syracuse to send anyone, let alone the number of people you're talking about, on what you just told me!"

  He wasn't a tall man, not that he needed to be. He had his official Guild test results framed on the wall. He'd moved into Firebug's office about ten minutes after I'd left, from the looks of things. Apparently waiting for the office chair to cool off wasn't in his plans.

  His Guild test result certificate said that he had achieved a seventy-one composite score. That meant, to the majority of the world, that he was not someone to be trifled with. Considering the Guild tests valued offensive capabilities somewhat higher than defensive capabilities, chances were this guy would be a tough nut to crack but would be a better cracker than nut in the first place.

  "If you're not going to take the word of a Guild Investigator, perhaps you'll take the word of a pissed off super with a composite score somewhere north of ninety." I bent over his desk and gave him a look that could have cut glass. "The window of time we're working in is so small it might close before you can finish with that phone call."

  "Then what's the point of trying it?" He fired back a look that said I didn't scare him. "I've never even heard of this Alvin Sulu you spoke of. Who is he?"

  I gritted my teeth and counted to ten before letting a very frustrated breath out. I was too tired for this shit.

  "Not Alvin Sulu, Alpha Zulu. Alpha Zulu as in first in order of importance and a tribe of South African warriors. As in 'We're the best goddamn warriors in the fucking world, asshole.' if you haven't figured that out yet." I wanted to pull him out of his chair and shake him like a rat in a terrier's mouth. "They slaughtered everyone in the Canton Guildhall yesterday. There's evidence and files and who knows what else in there and if we don't secure it Alpha Zulu will either take their enclave back over or bomb the place into a smoking crater. And if you don't cooperate, buddy, I'm going to make a very negative report about you when I get back." I smiled. "Or I'll rip your head off and shit in the hole. Then I'll wipe my ass with that certificate up there."

  "There's no need for such language or threats," he replied, staring me square in the eye. Either he thought I'd lied about the composite score or he was a fool. "As Hallmaster I have final say and I say no."

  That was it. Ordinarily I'd have more patience for such an idiotic individual, but I was wrung out. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and with a burst of speed that would make a speedster jealous I was behind him with my hands on his shoulder and pushing down. He slid out of the chair and under his desk, where I pulled him out from after another burst of speed putting me on the other side. He looked around, confused, at the sudden change of position.

  I grabbed his shoulders and spoke as clearly as possible to him. "As acting Hallmaster you have final say over routine matters and disagreements until a new one can be appointed, which may or may not be you. As the current Guild Investigator I have a card that says you will do as I say when I say and how I say it. You, in short, are my official bitch. What that means is that if I tell you to make a phone call you make the goddamn phone call."

  He tried to brush me off and looked rather surprised when I held on. In truth he was strong. Strong enough that if he tried to punch me I'd be better off getting out of his way than in trying to take it and look tough. But he wasn't strong enough to dislodge me.

  "You call the Syracuse Guildhall and you get the Hallmaster on the horn. You tell him that I said he was to send a full team to the site and give them the directions I gave you. Tell them once they're there to secure it against everyone who isn't Guild and to hold it with their lives. Once you're done with that you call Reno and tell them to send a contingent who can guard it and to get them there soonest. I will throw my weight behind it as soon as I'm out of here. If you won't do this I'll find someone who will and I'll appoint them acting Hallmaster over your corpse if I have to. I have the authority. Don't make me use it."

  It was a bluff. I did not have the authority, per se, to kill this fop. Nor was I really inclined to. However, the threat to replace him was real. A Guild Inspector
was the final word at any location he was at unless someone of greater authority or another Inspector with more seniority was on-site, so if I said he was gone he was gone.

  Venom had been very specific on that. She'd even given me a Grade 3 card to make sure people would sit up and listen. Grade 3 Investigators were as high as they went. Out of the hundred or so Investigators the Guild employed, only five or six had Grade 3 authority. Grade 1 Investigators had as much authority as the Hallmaster, though they could arrest or detain a Hallmaster if the situation called for it. Grade 2 Investigators could request direct aid from a Hallmaster, within reason, but only a Grade 3 could request aid "above and beyond the call of duty" as it said on my card.

  "Unhand me." He strained to break freak again with the look of desperation that a strong man shows only when it's being clearly demonstrated that he is not, as he thought, the strongest man in the room. "I will not be treated with such disrespect!"

  I pulled him closer until I could smell his breath despite his breath mint. "Listen, you jacked-up little shit. I asked you nicely once." I didn't get to finish what I was going to say.

  "Still haven't learned proper people skills, eh?" I felt a hand drop on my shoulder in a friendly way. "Garnet here probably wouldn't like it if you killed him, and I doubt he'll give in and do what you want for anything short of that, so how about we try something else?"

  "Jack?" I think the only reason I hadn't dropped my grip and then dropped whoever had touched me was because I'd recognized the voice. That didn't stop surprise from staining my voice. I felt the hand leave my shoulder.

  "In the flesh. Would you mind releasing my friend here? Most people tend to be a little more accepting of new ideas when they're not being threatened by someone who wants to give them a funeral in several small boxes." Redgrave stepped into view and gingerly put his hand on my wrist. "Right, Garnet?"

  Garnet. What kind of a name was Garnet?

  "Yeah, right. If this lout will release me I'll listen to whatever apology he can formulate."

  I shot Redgrave a look which he returned with mild sympathy and a warning shake of his head. I released Garnet and took a step back, seething. My exhaustion was, for the moment, forgotten. What the hell was up with Guild members? Was the stick surgically implanted or did it just grow up their collective ass?

  I refused to listen as Redgrave began placating the offended putz. I stepped out of the office and immediately called Jackhammer's compound. If I couldn't get the locals to listen, maybe I could call down the wrath of their gods upon them instead.

  I didn't even hide the smile as Jackhammer, Venom, and Steamroller spent five minutes each ripping Garnet up and down. I think Venom even managed a minute or two of side to side, but I could only judge based on the expressions of pain on his face as he listened to her. Redgrave absently sipped a cup of tea in the corner furthest from the door. I could smell lemon and ginger coming from it, but I didn't want to ask him about it. All my attention was on the now-cowed twerp looking like someone just took his binky.

  "What did they say?" I asked, forcing kindness into my voice.

  "They... informed me that I was to render all assistance to you that I could." Speaking through gritted teeth wasn't one of his more-used talents. "As soon as possible."

  "Or?" I couldn't resist twisting the knife just a little.

  "Or I would be replaced and my membership would be reviewed for possible termination." He looked up at me with pure hatred. "I will do as you have asked, but only because Elijah asked me to. I do not give in to bullies."

  "I don't care why you're doing it," I said, walking over to Redgrave. "Just do it." I tapped his shoulder and indicated he was to follow me. He nodded. "I don't hear you on the phone yet," I fired off as we both left.

  As soon as the door closed I stifled a yawn and forced myself to relax. Exhaustion washed over me like a warm bath and I felt myself sag slightly. "I am getting really sick of these stuck-up Guild pricks," I muttered.

  "Garnet's not a bad sort, really." Redgrave took a good slug of his tea. "He's pretty hidebound, but he's also over two hundred years old. Besides that he turns into a living stone statue at will. Stonemorphs tend to be pretty stubborn and hard to influence outside of their usual channels."

  I stopped him from wandering down the hall toward the common room by getting in front of him and turning around.

  "How do you know that?"

  He shrugged and smiled a childlike smile. The kind of smile a precocious eight year-old would give when they know a secret that they're going to tell you --- but only after they'd enjoyed the moment first.

  "I told you have no memories before a certain point, right? Well, that's not strictly true. I do have some, fragments mostly, but overall it's gone. Since that left me with a big void, I decided to fill it. When I'm not busy going to doctor appointments or enjoying a few hours of escapism I read. And cook." He patted his swollen stomach and laughed. "Though I do way too much cooking these days, really. Once I started to get good I found it hard to stop."

  I chuckled despite myself. "I can well imagine."

  His face grew somber and he looked over my shoulder and then his own. When he saw a low-ranking tech coming behind him he put his finger to his lips and stepped to the side to let her pass. I nodded at her but she ignored me; her load being one a bit larger than she probably should have been carrying.

  "What?" I asked after she was out of earshot.

  "I just didn't want to say something potentially embarrassing for you in front of someone who didn't need to hear it."

  That got my interest.

  "Say what?"

  He sighed and took another sip of his tea. Judging by the face he made it must have been the dregs. "You're a bully."

  "Would you care to say that again? I'm pretty tired so I'm not sure I heard you right. Did you just call me a bully?"

  He nodded. "I did. It's strictly accurate, though I don't think the connotation that comes with it really does the situation justice. When you can't get what you want you try to intimidate anyone you're stronger than. By definition that means you're a bully."

  "I can't believe I'm hearing this," I said, feeling my hands clench into fists almost against my will. Tired men tend to snap a lot faster, so I was trying very hard to be careful.

  "In your defense it's a learned behavior. Alpha Zulu is strictly regimented. On the street the strong rule the weak. Here, though, authority isn't as absolute as you're used to. People skills, like I said." He pulled the tea bag from his mug and dangled it. It spun slowly as the string unwound. "I don't sleep."

  I blinked. "Run that by me again?"

  "I don't sleep anymore. Not since I woke up from the coma. Part of my brain is missing, though the venom in my bloodstream keeps me from going totally insane. It leaves me with a lot of free time." He stared at the tea bag intently. "I still need to rest, of course, but I kinda like it this way. If I were given the chance to go back I don't know if I'd take it." His concentration broke. "I wish I didn't have to keep going to doctors and to rehab, though. It sucks."

  I nodded. I could imagine. "I don't know how anything gets done around here without a clear command structure."

  "Don't think like the military. Yes, Garnet was totally in the wrong to not do what you asked, but the thing is you didn't ask him. You told him. You didn't consider his feelings on the matter, now did you?"

  "No," I admitted. "Nor should I have had to." For a fleeting moment I wondered just what had happened to my usual ability to just blend in. Then I had to stifle another yawn and I almost missed what Redgrave was saying.

  "I agree. On the other hand, he was almost willing to throw his entire career away just to piss you off once you'd pissed him off. That's why he's never made it to Guildmaster even though he's been a Guild member for twenty years. He resented your presence and your authority over him."

  "It shouldn't have mattered!"

  He sighed. "I can only say I agree with you so many times, you know. This isn'
t the army, this isn't Alpha Zulu, this is the Heroes' Guild. You have to adjust your thinking or you'll never get anywhere." He paused for a minute. "Did you really kill everyone in the enclave?"

  "Close enough. A few killed themselves or each other, but yes. They're all dead, and that's the important part." I saw something flicker behind his eyes. "Did you have a friend there?"

  "No. Nobody I knew there was a friend. Not when I stopped being useful. I just... I... That's a lot of killing."

  "Yes, it was. I needed to know if Kinsey was still there. They got in my way, they attacked me, or they killed themselves." I yawned deeply. "Self-defense is still a valid reason for killing someone, you know."

  "Yes. Indeed. Does it bother you?"

  "Does what bother me? Killing those people who slaughtered the helpless guards and supers in the Canton Guildhall? No. Nor will it. If you meant the memory of it, then no to that as well. It's mostly just a blur. The only faces I can remember right now are those I saw in the security video I took from Canton and the people they butchered there. The faces of the men who did the killing," I yawned loudly, cutting off what I was about to say. "Christ. I think I need to get to bed."

  "I think so to." He looked wistful for a moment. "Try to have a nice dream for me, okay?"

  "I'll try."

  "Sir? The teams have secured the building you sent them to. Other than a couple of the younger techs getting sick, no injuries or incidents have been reported." The young man had a fading mohawk in a few interesting shades of purple and a nose stud that looked like he was overcompensating for something. His uniform told me he was a junior technician, his face told me he thought he was tough, and the way his hand shook told me he was terrified of me. "They said there was quite a mess but that they could handle it." He swallowed and straightened.

  "Did they follow the warning about the red foam coming from anyone's mouth?" I asked, blinking my eyes into focusing on more than the shiny metal in the young man's face. "Because if not whoever touched it needs immediate detox and probably access to a life-support unit."