by Logan Jacobs
“That wasn’t the intention, but it helps our case,” I replied.
Unlike Optimo and the big Pinnacle City Wardens, I wasn’t in this for social media fame. I didn’t even have any accounts that I cared to keep up with other than the news, and I certainly didn’t post selfies of myself in my superhero outfit. Not even on a secret account that would hide my identity, since I just wasn’t interested in the media circus that surrounded heroes.
The Shadow Knight had seemed like an ally in that regard since he’d left the Wardens and come to Grayville to escape their flamboyant media frenzy, but it turned out he was insane for an entirely different reason.
“I want to make this go even more viral,” I said as I began to put down code for a basic bot that I would have Aileen develop and improve. “I want the entire world to see what the Shadow Knight is really like. I want to drive him completely into a corner.”
“What if he gets desperate enough to do something drastic?” Aileen asked.
“Like kill someone?” I scoffed. “I doubt it. He’s obsessed with his code to the point of insanity. He’ll never break it.”
“He may call for help,” Aileen warned. “Have his allies been accounted for?”
“Beacon is the only one that we haven’t contacted yet, but I plan to,” I assured her. “I want Slade to feel cornered and isolated. The more panicked and desperate he is, the less he’ll be able to come up with a rational plan.”
“The attack on the bridge did not seem rational,” Aileen mused. “But it was fairly well-planned. He attacked you while both Norma and Elizabeth were occupied.”
“Yeah, it was smart,” I replied. “Not smart enough, but still smart. He should have accounted for all the media attention, but since he didn’t, we can use that ourselves.”
“How do you plan to use it?” Aileen asked as she eyed the code for the bot I’d completed.
“I want you to use this bot I just made to duplicate the information as far over social media as you can get it,” I explained. “We want to drag the Shadow Knight’s reputation through the mud even more than it already is.”
“You want him to seem like a villain,” Aileen said. “Shall we also plant seeds of Slade’s identity?”
“No,” I said after I thought about it for a minute. “He knows our identities, too, and we can’t risk the possibility that he might reveal those in retaliation.”
“Perhaps we make a separate bot for the prison explosion,” my robotic AI suggested. “There are a few stories about how the explosion was the fault of Slade Industries, and we can make those stories go viral.”
“Good idea,” I said. “We can throw heat on him from both sides of his identity.”
“Understood,” Aileen responded. “I will begin work on this task.”
“Don’t make the Slade Industries bot as obvious or as widespread,” I told her. “That one should be a little more subtle, since I don’t want Slade to be fully aware of it. I just want to make sure that his company’s shares start to go down.”
“For a potential buyout?” Aileen caught on immediately.
I really had perfected the technology for her expressions, since her amused look was spot-on.
“You know me so well,” I chuckled. “But that’s just an idea on the table for now. Once the price drops a little bit, buy up a few shares under one of my subsidiary companies.”
It wouldn’t take too much investigation to figure out that I had been the one to buy the shares, but if the individual purchases were small enough, it wouldn’t be obvious enough for Slade to look twice at it. The viral stories about his actions on the bridge as Shadow Knight would definitely distract him far away from the state of his company.
For the moment, anyway. We would just have to keep that momentum up, or we would have to deal with the Shadow Knight quickly.
“You also intend to break into his lair very shortly, so I will ensure my hold over his systems,” Aileen added. “I can confirm that the code to his lair has been changed multiple times within the past month alone.”
“I thought so,” I said. “Not a big deal, since we have you to get us in.”
“I cannot access the physical systems within his lair remotely,” my AI system warned. “I can only get in through his network, and he cuts that off at his entrance. It appears as though the interior network of his base is entirely self-contained with no outside access.”
“He’s pretty paranoid, but I guess I can’t blame him,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll need to program something to bypass his systems once we’re inside, but we can do that after the social media campaign starts rolling.”
“Understood, I will keep it as a task for later,” Aileen said.
“Good, then you finish this up, and I’ll go back upstairs,” I said.
“Of course,” Aileen replied. “I will stay down here alone while you return to the others.”
She had managed to sound surprisingly pouty, and I laughed.
“As soon as we’re sure about Penumbra’s loyalties, you can come upstairs,” I said as I headed toward the stairs, “but for now, you have plenty to keep you busy. Besides, you can still see us and talk to us from down here.”
“Yes, Creator,” Aileen said. “I will do my best to please you and complete this task.”
I knew she would have several basic programs developed by the time I checked back in with her, and I knew that she also didn’t really have the capacity to be upset about something I told her to do. Still, I also knew that she was probably annoyed by her lack of ability to participate fully with us upstairs.
I would make it up to her eventually once I finally finished her skin covering, but for now, I’d just try and gauge Penumbra to see how much we could trust her. I wanted to see how she was doing with Norma and Elizabeth in terms of their plan to hunt down the swamp creature Bogdan, since I figured that would probably be a good indication of if I would add the blonde levitation-specialist as a permanent member of our team.
Of course, I would still have to wait and see her reaction to the eventual, inevitable conclusion we were going to reach: that the Shadow Knight was a very real danger to Grayville and needed to be put down. In fact, I was curious about how both Penumbra and Beacon would react to that. They were the Shadow Knight’s former allies, after all, so the real test of their loyalty would be if they sided with us to kill their old mentor.
I had a feeling the test would come soon enough. I had seen the crazed look in Slade’s cold eyes on the bridge, and I knew that the Shadow Knight wouldn’t stop until either I was dead or he was.
And it definitely wasn’t going to be me.
Chapter 6
All three women were still huddled on the couch when I emerged from the basement, but as soon as Norma noticed my approach, she waved me over to join them.
“Miles, finally!” my assistant said.
“Did you miss me?” I winked as I leaned over the back of the sofa so I could see what they were up to.
“No, well, it’s not-- I mean--” Norma stammered.
“It’s about time,” Elizabeth interrupted her with a little smile at me.
“Well, did I give you enough time to come up with some kind of plan?” I asked, since I was curious what the three of them would be able to come up with on their own.
“We did come up with a plan, thank you very much,” Elizabeth said. “I’m sure he’ll strike again soon, so it’d be best to go after him as soon as we can.”
I certainly agreed with her about that, and I didn’t think the plan would be too complicated. I doubted that Bogdan the Swamp Creature had gotten very far down the Ashen River yet, and since Bogdan also wasn’t the most intelligent supervillain, I didn’t think he would rethink his grand master plan that we had so rudely interrupted.
“Alright,” I said. “So then, what’s the plan?”
“So you know the tracker that I attached to him?” Norma asked.
“I remember,” I said, “so if you’re looking for s
ome more praise…”
“No, nothing like that!” Norma squeaked. “I was just saying--”
“It’s okay, Norma,” I laughed. “Is the tracker still active?”
“It is,” my mousy assistant said as she held up her tablet to show me a GPS map.
“So, where did the tracker last say he was?” I asked.
“Well, we’ve been watching him while you were working downstairs,” Norma continued. “He stopped moving a little while ago, and the area he stopped in seems to be a swampy area on the outskirts of Grayville along the Ashen River.”
“It’s most likely a nest of some sort,” Elizabeth said. “He’s probably gone there to lick his wounds and recover. It should be easy for us to surprise him if we approach from the right angle.”
“Well, at least the Shadow Knight never pursues him when he’s inactive,” Penumbra laughed. “Whenever I worked with him, Slade would always wait for Bogdan to do something first, so I doubt his lair is even that protected or anything.”
“I’m sure his victims are very grateful for the Shadow Knight’s reactive philosophy.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, to be fair,” the blonde heroine sighed, “Shadow Knight always said that Bogdan’s usual actions weren’t usually that dangerous.”
“He held an entire bus of people hostage over a bridge,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“I know, I know,” Penumbra sighed again. “I never said I agreed with what the Shadow Knight said about him, alright? I’m just telling you what I know.”
“If you’re in, then you should know we intend to kill Bogdan,” I announced, since I didn’t want to deal with any resistance on her part when we actually went after the swamp creature.
“I already figured that was the case,” the blonde said as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “I mean… I used to believe in the Shadow Knight’s code, but… I just can’t anymore. I really can’t say that your way of doing things is wrong. Bad guys shouldn’t be given a second chance to commit murder.”
I felt a surge of satisfaction at her words, but my expression didn’t change. It felt like a major victory, and it was just more proof that my mentality toward superheroics was right, even if it wasn’t what other people would consider the most moral path.
“Then feel free to come along,” I told Penumbra. “You three can go ahead and get ready now, but I want to make a call before we leave.”
“A call?” Norma asked.
“Yeah, I want to call up Beacon and see what he thinks of all this,” I explained. “It’ll probably work out better for us if we reach out to him before the Shadow Knight does.”
“I doubt Shadow Knight will call Beacon at all,” Penumbra scoffed. “Like, he should, but he won’t. He has way too much pride to admit that he needs help, especially from Beacon.”
“It’s a good idea, anyway,” Elizabeth said. “We’re not sure how the Shadow Knight will act once he’s been backed into a corner, and all the news broadcasts aren’t making it easy for him.”
“I’ll find the fastest course to Bogdan’s nest while you call Beacon,” Norma said and started to type away on her tablet. “You know, so we’re ready to go as soon as you are.”
The three women were all still dressed in their suits from the events on the bridge, so there wasn’t much they would need to do to get ready for the mission other than find a course, figure out the best angle of approach, and then review their own strengths against Bogdan’s abilities.
It was late enough in the day that if we waited too much longer, it would be dark when we went after Bogdan in the swamp, and since I certainly didn't want to risk that, I knew there wasn’t any time to waste. Still, I also knew that I had to call Beacon sooner rather than later.
I didn’t think it would be a long conversation, anyway.
I left the girls on the couch to continue their planning while I went over to sit down at the bar. I called the number Beacon had given us while we’d been working with him, and then I waited.
“Hello?” the Shadow Knight’s strongest ex-apprentice answered.
“Hey, Beacon,” I said.
“Oh, it’s you, Miles,” he sighed. “I thought it was-- well, I’m glad it’s you. What’s up?”
“I’m sure you’ve already seen the news,” I said. “You’d have to be under a rock to miss it.”
“Uh, yeah…” he trailed off. “Yeah, I saw it.”
“Then you know things are about to get worse from here on out,” I said.
“The news made that very obvious,” Beacon replied but didn’t comment on how he felt about that. “Penumbra is with you still, right? You didn’t let her leave on her own?”
“Yeah, she’s with us,” I replied.
“That’s good,” he sighed like the weight of the world had fallen off his shoulders.
I guessed that Beacon had reached the same conclusion as I had about how the Shadow Knight might go after Penumbra, since she’d basically spat in his face on the bridge. I wasn’t sure if Slade cared enough to try and attack her, but I wasn’t about to take that risk.
“Beacon, are you still there?” I asked when a few seconds of silence had gone by.
“Listen, man,” Beacon said finally, “I want to make it totally clear that I don’t support anything the Shadow Knight did against you on the bridge.”
“I didn’t think you would,” I said.
“I think he’s really lost it this time,” Beacon sighed again. “He was my mentor, and no matter how I might have acted, I always respected him. But now… he’s gone completely off the deep end, and I’ve never seen him like this. He can’t be trusted on his own anymore, and he’s putting the entire city in danger.”
“He did definitely seem like he had lost his mind,” I scoffed. “You saw him almost let that entire bus drop to their deaths, right?”
“Of course, I did,” Beacon said. “That clip is all over social media. No matter where I look, I can’t escape it.”
“So you saw that he didn’t seem to care how many people died,” I said, “just as long as he could capture me.”
“I’ve seen him get like this before, but only with the Maniac,” Beacon said after another brief pause. “And he could usually be talked out of it.”
“Do you think he could be talked out of it now?” I asked.
I already knew the answer was no.
“I’m not sure,” Beacon murmured. “But he’s my mentor, and that means he’s my responsibility. I should be the one to bring him in.”
“If you’re sure,” I said after I pretended to think about it.
“I am,” Beacon said.
“Then okay,” I sighed. “I mean, if anyone will be able to get through to him, it’s you.”
“And if I can’t…” he trailed off. “Then I’ll come over to join you, too.”
“Well, good luck,” I said, “and remember that we’ll be here if you need us.”
“Thanks,” Beacon exhaled. “I’ll keep you posted. See ya soon, Miles.”
Beacon hung up, and I slipped the phone back into my pocket.
I was impressed by Beacon’s resolve, especially since he had just volunteered to go up against his own mentor. It remained to be seen if he would be a match for the Shadow Knight, but it didn’t seem likely. Beacon might be a competent enough hero on his own, but he didn’t have the kind of focus that his mentor had. He also didn’t have nearly enough training or discipline to be able to beat the Shadow Knight in a fair fight.
Even though I knew all that, I was still willing to let Beacon go off on his own to discover that the Shadow Knight could not be reasoned with. Beacon would never cooperate with my plan to kill the Shadow Knight if he didn’t see for himself just how out of control his mentor was, so it really was the best choice.
I hoped that the Shadow Knight still had enough sanity left in him not to kill Beacon. On the one hand, I doubted that Slade would kill one of his few remaining apprentices, but on the other hand, Slade had already demo
nstrated that he’d lost his mind.
The ideal outcome of Beacon’s confrontation with Shadow Knight would be that Slade’s former apprentice would join our side and agree that Shadow Knight needed to be put down. Of course, the worst outcome would be that Slade might kill Beacon during their confrontation, but then again, that would play right into the media narrative about the fact that the Shadow Knight was completely out of control.
Either way, it was out of my hands now.
Beacon’s planned confrontation did at least leave us with a little time to go after Bogdan, and since I knew the Shadow Knight would be busy for a while, I figured now was a good time to chase down the swamp monster.
I rejoined the three women beside the couch, but they had finished their plans and were all looking at each other’s weapons now. Penumbra seemed especially appreciative of all the weapons in Norma’s suit, and every time she found a new dagger, sword, gun, or grenade that my assistant had hidden somewhere, the blonde just clapped her hands in delight.
“How’d it go?” Elizabeth asked as she glanced up at me with her turquoise-blue eyes. “Is Beacon on our side?”
“Pretty much,” I said. “He’s going to go try and talk some sense into the Shadow Knight, and if that doesn’t work, then he said he’ll join us.”
“I hope he’ll be okay,” Penumbra said and bit her lip. “I kind of don’t think even Beacon can get through to the Shadow Knight now.”
“We’ll see.” I shrugged. “I’m pretty sure the Shadow Knight isn’t so far gone that he’d kill Beacon, at least.”
“I hope not,” Elizabeth growled. “It’s still disappointing to see how far he’s fallen.”
“Well, this gives us time to go after Bogdan, right?” Norma asked with an eager smile.
It always seemed to cheer her up when we brutally murdered a supervillain.
“Yup,” I agreed. “Beacon will probably be fine, so for now, we should put all of our efforts into killing Bogdan.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Penumbra said as she started to levitate and then just flitted from one corner of the room to another.