Subject 12

by S. W. Douglas

  "I don't think he's going to give in on the cream," Venom said, a strange look in her eyes and an amused smile on her lips. "I'll go grab some."

  In short order my coffee was creamed, I was sipping it happily, and my four, for lack of a better word, friends had all decided to join me. Tension seemed to diminish slowly as we chatted over our coffee, though Steamroller continued to glare at me whenever she thought I couldn't see. I found myself ignoring it.

  We talked. Not about anything in particular; just talk. We told stories, swapped lies, threw friendly insults at each other (and the occasional harmless object, usually with a burst of laughter at the same time), and bonded like professionals in a dangerous line of work find themselves doing whenever possible. I hadn't felt anything like it since I'd been a common soldier in Alpha Zulu, enjoying some R&R in a bar, and telling exaggerated tales about everything from penis size and sexual conquests to war stories that did everything from make us laugh to make us shiver at remembered fears.

  Nobody is ever as close as they are to someone who shared a danger with them, or who spilled blood --- often his own --- with someone else.

  "So, y'all can see why I was so worried about walkin' into the buildin'. Well, she prodded me and I went in anyway." Jackhammer paused long enough to take a good swallow of his coffee mug which, I had noticed, contained far more whiskey than coffee. "Three steps in I slipped on a damn throw rug and whacked my head on the coffee table!" He banged his palm against the table to emphasize the point. "I saw stars the likes of which I hadn't seen since I sparred with a goddamn longshoreman and didn't duck in time when I was fifteen." He chuckled. "It's always amazin', you know? You get in a scrap an' you wind up with broken ribs an' nearly die from some damn death ray, but you hardly feel it and keep movin' like nothin's wrong, but whackin' my head on that table nearly put me out." He topped his mug off again. The bottle was almost empty by then. We all were feeling a warm glow from what we'd shared from it. "Corrine helped me up and tried to mother me, but I would have none of it."

  "Still won't, you pig-headed bastard," she fired off, but with a smile and love in her voice. "I swear."

  "That's one of the things I liked about you most, ya ol' hag." He grinned and ducked as something went flying over his head. "And that's another."

  I drained the dregs of my cold "coffee" and stretched my legs. Evening had crept up on me and Venom apparently hadn't cooked anything for supper. I was hungry and I had the feeling I wasn't alone, but nobody wanted to break the good spirits that had taken the five of us. Still, if someone didn't speak up...

  "Ain't it about time to be eatin', Viv?" Jackhammer eyed his mug with a singularity of purpose that made me smile and feel afraid for his liver. "I'm feelin' a mite starved here."

  "You're probably right," she replied, putting her mug down and pushing her chair back. "The oven shut off on the pies hours ago but I think we have some of last night's roast beef left over. I'll see what I can throw together in a hurry. If you all will excuse me..."

  "Hurry back, oh vision of loveliness," I said as she passed. She reached out and dragged one fingernail across the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

  "I'll hurry, but if you keep kissing up like that you'll get a mouthful of hair."

  Steamroller stifled her laugh as best she could, but it didn't take, and Jackhammer tried to turn his chuckle into a cough, but it didn't sound too convincing. I ignored them both and watched Venom walk to the kitchen with what could almost be described as a strut in her step. Disgustingly male as it may seem for me to say, she had a walk that made you wonder if you were sad to see her leave or happy to watch her go.

  "I hope she has some rolls left," Steamroller said abruptly, breaking my reverie. "Maybe some French mustard." She gave Jackhammer a meaningful look. "I think I'll go help her. Cold sandwiches sound really good." She got to her feet and followed Venom out of the room.

  Wildcard excused himself silently, heading in the direction of the nearest bathroom. At least that's where I assumed he was going considering the urgency of his stride.

  "Corrine... she don't like you much, I wager," Jackhammer said after a moment's silence. "I think you remind her too much of what she used to be, back in the day."

  "Say what?" I could hear the surprise in my voice. That surprised me almost as much as what Jackhammer had said. I mean, I knew she didn't like me, but... Huh?

  "Corrine used to be a street punk, though she won't admit it. She ran away from home when she was a kid. Did a lot of killin' to stay alive, stole what she needed, stuff like that." He cleared his throat and looked a little uncomfortable.

  "That... explains a lot, actually. How'd she, you know, become a Titan and a founder of the Guild, then?"

  Jackhammer sighed. "I take it Vivian slipped the T-word to you."

  "Yeah. I'd never heard it before in relation to you four, so it stuck out."

  "Damn that girl. If I didn't love her like a daughter I'd have... come to think of it I don't think I'd have done anythin' different." He smiled. "But she put me in an awkward place with this one."

  I glanced at the portal to the kitchen and bit my lip thoughtfully. "Will you get in trouble?"

  "Nah. Son, there ain't much that I can't do anymore. I'm too old and too stubborn to worry about it, and people like me too much to not let me get away with it. I just haven't had to tell anyone the story before. Besides, it ain't my story to tell, it's her's."

  "Tell me about the Titans, then."

  "That ain't really my story either. I guess, though, I can tell at least part of it."

  I heard something crash in the kitchen and a curse. "After dinner?"

  He relaxed a little and I heard some relief in his voice. "After dinner."

  The Titans; Jackhammer, Steamroller, Pretty Poison, Wildcard, The Amazing X, and Sudorath. Six heroes banding together to fight injustice and evil.

  Jackhammer; a super-strong, super-tough individual who had no problems taking it toe-to-toe with anyone. A tactician and strategist, he was their leader.

  Steamroller; mastery over gravity made her a fearsome opponent to any who stood against her. Jackhammer's wife, she was second-in-command.

  Pretty Poison; her ability with poison and chemicals in general was legend in her own time. Her compassion and background in the medical field were very important as time wore on. The fact that she was pin-up girl gorgeous didn't hurt things either.

  Wildcard; a morph with unprecedented skill and talent, not to mention surprising strength and a sense of humor that made your average college freshman look like a positive model of maturity, he was quite popular among both his handlers and the other Titans.

  The Amazing X; an accident at age twenty had left her without a past but had opened her mind. A psychic of astounding ability, talent, and power, she defended others with a ferocity rarely seen outside of a mother guarding her newborn.

  Sudorath; dark mistress of a cursed sword, she nevertheless refused to give in to the tortured whispers in her soul to do black deeds. Her mastery of the blade was second only to her love for all things living and her lack of mercy for anyone that threatened them.

  They were together for just over three months; three months of being the United States of America's dirty little secret. They stopped madmen. They cleaned up mistakes. They kept extremist groups from growing too powerful or from launching attacks by thinning their ranks. They stood up to the combined might of the first Villain's Confederation and walked away the winners of no less than six pitched contests with them.

  They had an enviable string of victories during that time, but not without cost. Sudorath sacrificed herself to stop a doomsday machine and The Amazing X lost her powers after exposure to a rare crystal that, the evidence suggests, she was sensitive to the psychic vibrations of. A few weeks later she killed herself rather than live as a norm.

  The four remaining Titans decided, wisely, that they needed more: More equipment, more teammates, more money, more government approval
or at least acceptance, more of everything they could get. So they broke with the government in a mostly-amicable manner, though they hid the name Titan from all but their most trusted friends. It was sacred, and only those of the inner circle were trusted with the stories.

  The Titan's HQ became the first Guildhall in San Francisco. They put out a public call for supers with an interest in helping their fellow man. Potential members were tested, trained, and finally accepted, and within a year the second Guildhall had been built and a branch team had taken up the torch. But nobody, no matter how trusted or talented or important, would ever earn the name Titan again.

  The Guild, however, wasn't well accepted until after the Equality Riots. By then there were twelve Guildhalls --- Reno, New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Mexico City, London, Paris, Toronto, Boston, Sydney, Madrid, and Dublin. As soon as the Equality Riots were over, the toll taken, the honored dead mourned and buried, and the last of the rioters pacified, every government around the world that felt it was stable enough asked the Guild to set up as many Guildhalls as they could get.

  The Titans. Jackhammer, Steamroller, Venom, and Wildcard. Four living legends; survivors of the Equality Riots, creators of the foremost organization dedicated to the safety of all mankind, and potentially the greatest concentration of power in the world. They had trained together, fought together, bled together, mourned the passing of friends closer than family, and endured everything life could throw at them for decades. They were friends, family, and comrades in arms. The bond they shared was greater than any who hadn't lived it with them could know.

  They were the first. They were the last. Only those who knew they existed could understand, and precious few of them at that.

  They were the greatest that ever was.

  They were the only ones that would ever be.

  They were the Titans.

  Steamroller seemed somewhat mollified after Venom and Jackhammer had finished telling me what they felt I should know. Maybe she had finally decided to accept me since the others had, obviously, brought me into the inner circle. Maybe she was tired after eating four large, turkey-stuffed rolls. I didn't know but I was willing to take it however it had happened.

  Venom took a handful of popcorn and crammed about half of it into her mouth. She was looking at me rather intently, as if to gauge my reaction to everything.

  "Wow," I said as politely as possible. "I'm flattered you'd accept me into your confidence like this."

  "Not like we have much choice," Steamroller said, shooting Venom a look. "But if Vivian thinks you can be trusted that much, I'll have to give her the benefit of the doubt. For now."

  "Why thank you," Venom said through a mouthful of half-chewed popcorn. "I'm glad you finally trust me that much."

  "Stuff it, test tube."

  "Up yours, black hole."

  I thought for a moment that things were about to go critical but Jackhammer just shook his head and Wildcard merely rubbed his face through his mask.

  "As I was saying," Steamroller continued as if nothing had been said, "if Viv trusts you then I will as well." She stood up and extended her hand. "Please, call me Corrine."

  Guild Intelligence File 62-51-97G-4

  Submitted to Guild Intelligence on January 5. Accepted. Archived.

  Prioritized intelligence review begun on December 14. Decision reached December 15. No further security classification needed despite inclusion in Guild Intelligence File 92-45-16B-1A.

  Partial Content Follows:

  Intelligence Report:

  Alberta Compound Alpha

  While it's well known that the land for Alberta Compound Alpha was ceded to the Guild after the attack on Fort McMurray that rendered it, and most of the Athabasca Oil Sands area, uninhabitable for the next thousand years while the background radiation fades, it is less known that the area in question was originally a Canadian government proving ground for soldiers believed to posses super powers. The program, designated "Firethorn", was terminated in 1952 under mysterious circumstances. There is no hard evidence, but careful evaluation of what could be uncovered points at Firethorn test subjects annihilating themselves during an exercise that triggered flashbacks in World War Two veterans. The only remaining records indicate that several of the subjects were survivors of the disastrous Battle of Vienna, where a small unit of experimental super soldiers were fielded by the Third Reich. While ultimately too unstable, during those three weeks they were the ultimate force on the battlefield. What facing them in combat while mentally unprepared for the horrors they were facing must have done to the few people who lived through it is beyond the scope of this report, but it must have been horrible and, no doubt, only added to the final conflagration.

  What precipitated the attack on Fort McMurray in 1969 is still unclear; the attackers were themselves destroyed in the nuclear blast, but a letter has appeared that seems to indicate it was an attempt to stop the development of the oil sand deposits. Why is unknown, though psychological analysis of the letter in question strongly suggests it was an eco-terrorist group that was responsible. Fallout rendered 85% of the Athabasca Oil Sands field uninhabitable to humans and contaminated the remaining 15% to a lesser degree still believed to be unsafe for long-term exposure. As this prompted the Canadian government to clear the area, it left large swaths of habitable land left untouched as a safety zone.

  After stopping Québécois separatists from poisoning both the Saint Lawrence River and the main aquifer supplying Ottawa in 1984, the Guild was rewarded, in perpetuity, with land currently known as Alberta Compound Alpha. Construction of the current buildings and planting of the orchards was begun in 1986, completion arriving some time in 1988, followed shortly thereafter by full-time occupancy. The access road is maintained exclusively by the Guild as the land is still considered unsafe by the Canadian government, despite more than forty years of air, soil, and precipitation samples that indicate otherwise. Equipment to monitor the safety of everything from the food grown on-site to the water and air has shown radiation levels only marginally above baseline background levels, though routine health checks on the occupants are carried out every three months as a precaution.

  Alberta Compound Alpha is in no way to be confused with Alberta Compounds Beta or Sigma.

  Chapter 6

  "Mind if I bend your ear for a minute or two before you retire?"

  I nodded. "Not at all, Ven --- Vivian."

  I glanced over my shoulder but nobody in the dining room seemed to think that this was unusual. They were finishing their drinks and starting for their own rooms.

  "Ah, it can be taught," she purred, laughing quietly and putting her arm around my shoulders even though she had to reach up to do so. "Good."

  I caught a whiff of some expensive perfume as she leaned in and put some of her weight on me. I noticed her hair was a lighter shade of brown than it'd been before I'd left. Knowing her powers, she probably could change the color with a bottle of shampoo and some goat's milk. The color looked good on her, though. Really good. "I talked to Jessie, you know." The blast of the brandy she'd been drinking overpowered the other scents, but the memory of them lingered.

  "Jessie?" I drew a blank for a moment. "Oh."

  "Yes. My daughter. You nailed it the other day. After you left it seemed the prudent thing to do, so I gave her a call and we had a long talk. And yeah, for the record she didn't know her mommy is Venom. She does now, though, and I think she's not gonna be happy with me for a while." She sighed. "She didn't want to tell me anything had happened till I pushed her. She's such a stubborn girl."

  "I hear it runs in the family," I said gently.

  "Oh, you do, do you?" She chuckled. "It does. When one of us sees something we want we go for it, kinda like a bloodhound on a scent, and if we don't want to talk about something we don't talk about it." Her voice grew somber. "Once she started talking, though, she didn't stop."

  "That's usually what happens," I said mildly.

  "Grid Iron tortured h
er," she said bluntly. "Did you know that?"

  "No, but I'm not surprised." I turned my head to face her. "He was a cruel man at the best of times. Jessie looked like an easy target."

  "He was a fucking sadist is what he was. He even tried to rape her once, but she nearly got his eyes out of his head for his trouble. Shame she didn't."

  I nodded to myself. "The world's a better place without him. I have no problem with what I did."

  "I don't either," she replied, rather softly. "Thank you doesn't seem enough, does it?"

  "For what?"

  "For what you did for Jessie," she continued in that soft voice. "I'm going to tell you a little secret."

  I started to think she'd had a little too much to drink. I started to think I'd had a little too much to drink. What I'd done for who now? "I promise to keep it secret, then."

  "I haven't had sex in eighteen years."

  That caught me so far off guard I stopped walking.

  "Say what?"

  "Eighteen years. Eighteen long, lonely years. Do you have any idea of what that's like?"

  "No, I don't. However, I do know what it's like to have had more than a little too much to drink and I think you're feeling that right now."

  "I am not drunk," she replied, leaning more of her weight on me. "Though I think I did have one more than was good for me." She cleared her throat. "Maybe two."

  "I'll help you to your room, then."

  "I'd rather you helped me to yours, actually." She sighed and nudged me into walking again. "I want to talk some more before we go to bed."