by Logan Jacobs
I picked up my phone and hesitated. I had several missed calls from Optimo over the past few months, and I knew they were his attempts to call me back to join the Wardens again. I had stopped answering those calls after I’d left his team, but he had never stopped calling me. I stared at the screen with Optimo’s contact listed and breathed in through my gritted teeth.
I pressed Call.
It rang several times before Optimo picked up, but I knew he’d done that on purpose just to make me sit and seethe.
“Well, well, look who finally decided to return my calls!” Optimo scoffed.
His obnoxious voice immediately made me regret my decision, but I knew I had to press through that.
I had to defeat Miles.
“Good evening to you, too, Optimo,” I said.
“Have you finally decided to accept my offer?” the Pinnacle City super taunted. “Will you return back to Pinnacle City to become one of my Wardens again?”
“No,” I growled.
“Then what could you possibly be calling about?” he continued. “I can’t imagine what you want. It’s not like anything interesting has been happening on the news, and certainly not in Grayville, right?”
“You know exactly why I’m calling you,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
“Well, I do check the news,” he laughed, “but I’m surprised that you finally decided to-- still, took you long enough to notice.”
“I don’t normally give a shit about the media,” I snapped. “I don’t make a habit out of obsessively checking for any mention of my name.”
“That’s a low blow for someone who called looking for help,” Optimo chuckled. “Maybe I should just hang up.”
“Wait.” I had to try and swallow my pride without seeming too desperate. “I need…”
“You need?” Optimo demanded after my sudden silence. “Go on, say it.”
“I wouldn’t have called you if the situation wasn’t dire,” I said and then took another shallow breath.
“Obviously,” the leader of the Wardens said. “But you’re going to need to specify what exactly you want from me.”
“I-- I need-- I need your help,” I finally ground out the words like they were torn from my throat.
“Nice of you to finally admit it,” Optimo scoffed. “I have indeed noticed that you have something of an evil genius problem on your hands.”
“I can fight him on my own,” I insisted. “He has too many allies, but I know how to get rid of them. If it was just fighting him, I wouldn’t need to call you, but--”
“But you have no idea how to handle the media,” the obnoxious super interrupted me. “And if you do anything against him, it’ll reflect poorly on you. You’ll never be able to be a hero again, and all your work will have been for nothing.”
“Right,” I ground out. “So I need to make him look like the villain.”
“None of this looks good for you,” Optimo admitted. “It’ll be pretty difficult to spin this back around. What the hell were you thinking, attacking a news drone?”
“I just wanted them to stop fucking recording,” I growled. “The media should know better than to butt into my business by now!”
“Evidently not,” he laughed. “I can adjust the footage and make a public statement for you, but it won’t be easy to turn this in your favor.”
“I already figured that you would want something in return,” I said. “I’ll hear you out.”
“You’ll hear me out?” Optimo laughed again. “That’s funny. You should be begging me and offering me anything I want to fix this mess for you, Slade.”
“I’ll discuss the terms,” I replied, because there were several things I would not budge on, and I was also too smart to agree to ‘anything’ before I knew what he intended.
“Hm, my terms,” Optimo said. “Maybe I should buy out Slade Industries? Your shares are pretty pitiful at the moment.”
I knew that was an idle threat, because even though the shares had definitely fallen in price, they weren’t pitiful, plus Optimo might have been a millionaire thanks to the Wardens, but he wasn’t a billionaire. Still, it pissed me off to hear Optimo say it, and I knew that was exactly what he had wanted to do.
“Don’t bother,” I growled. “I have several new inventions prepared for the market to put us back on top again.”
“Of course, you do,” he sighed.
“This doesn’t concern Slade Industries anyway,” I snapped. “I don’t need help handling that.”
“But you do need help with this masked man in the power suit,” he guessed.
“Yes, so let’s get back to that.” I was already impatient with Optimo’s mocking, and I wanted to get our conversation back on track.
“Right, let me start by asking this-- do you know who this character is?” Optimo demanded.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m curious,” he replied. “I already know who he is, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s Miles Nelson,” I answered. “I assumed you would know him already, since you’re both from Pinnacle City.”
“Good, so you do know.” Optimo’s tone was patronizing enough to make my teeth grind together. “Does he know who you are?”
“Yes,” I snapped.
“Did you tell him, or did he figure it out?” he asked with that same smug tone.
“Does that matter?” I growled, since I didn’t want to admit how easily Miles Nelson had figured me out.
“So he found out on his own,” Optimo laughed. “Well, I have my own issues with Nelson, so I won’t ask too much of you for it. But since he knows your identity, we can’t just unmask him.”
“I already thought about that and came to the same conclusion,” I replied. “If it was that easy, I’d have handled him myself already.”
“Yes, yes,” he sighed. “Let’s discuss terms, then.”
“Alright,” I said. “What do you want?”
“I will adjust this footage enough to make you look heroic, and I will set up a public conference to reveal it as the true, undoctored footage,” Optimo said. “I will also speak on your behalf and defame Miles Nelson and his allies. This includes that woman that used to work with you-- what was her name? Eclipsa?”
“Penumbra,” I ground out. “Go ahead. I’ve already disowned her.”
“Right, her,” Optimo replied. “Who was your other sidekick? Beacon? Did he also run off to join Miles?”
I ground my teeth together and didn’t want to answer.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” the Pinnacle City super said with another laugh. “So much for creating your own group of mini-Wardens, eh, Slade?”
“I was not doing that,” I snarled. “I trained apprentices, but they all ended up being failures.”
“What happened to your most recent Silver Squire?” Optimo asked. “Not dead, is he?”
“He…” I trailed off. “He quit.”
Laughter erupted from the other end of the line.
“Are you going to help me or not?” I barked.
“Was that another one corrupted by Miles?” Optimo mocked. “You’re losing quite a lot of allies, aren’t you?”
“I don’t need them,” I spat back. “I can handle them just fine on my own.”
“And that’s why you called me, is it?” the leader of the Wardens chuckled. “Because you can handle it just fine on your own?”
“I don’t do the social media shit,” I said again. “I don’t know the first thing about how to save my reputation.”
“I guess that’s what I do,” Optimo sighed. “Rescue people, I mean. Still, I never thought that you’d come crawling back to me, Slade.”
“Can we get on with it already?” I growled. “I didn’t call you just to hear you gloat.”
“Oh, fine,” he snickered. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they all look like villains.”
“Okay,” I exhaled through my teeth. “And what do you want in return?”
“Well, Slade,” he said smugly, “I want you to return to Pinnacle City and work for me once again as a Warden.”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “You can come up with anything else, but I won’t abandon Grayville.”
“Why do you even care so much about that dump?” Optimo scoffed. “Pinnacle City is so much nicer.”
“It’s my city, and I’m their protector,” I replied. “I was born here. Grayville is mine to protect. Everything I do is for the safety of this city. I hate that they all think I’m a villain now, when all I’m trying to do is protect them from Miles fucking Nelson’s murderous antics.”
“Very sweet of you,” Optimo chuckled but then sighed. “Fine, sure, whatever. Have your shitty city, and enjoy fighting Miles alone.”
“There has to be something else I can do for you,” I replied, and I once again worried that I sounded too desperate.
I couldn’t leave Grayville, not after all the effort I put into keeping it safe. Cleaning up after Miles Nelson’s mess was going to be difficult, but once he was out of the way, I could work on keeping my city safe once again. That was the entire point behind my life now, and I would never leave it to join the Wardens.
Optimo hummed and made a show of thinking it over, but I knew he would be able to come up with something else that he wanted from me.
“Yeah, I think there’s something else you can do,” he finally said.
“And that is…?” I hated how often he made me practically beg for a response out of him, like he knew just how desperate I was.
“Dynamo,” Optimo announced. “You’ve seen her, right?”
“Of course, I have,” I replied. “She’s the main one keeping me from reaching Miles.”
“Right,” the leader of the Wardens growled. “I want you to capture her, alive, and bring her to me.”
“What?” I asked, because that was the last thing I expected him to ask of me. “Why her?”
“I thought you said you’d seen her,” Optimo said. “She’s the perfect woman, right? She’s beautiful, powerful, and utterly untamed.”
“Uh…” I trailed off, since I had never looked at Dynamo as anything but Miles’ bodyguard.
Sure, she was beautiful, even I could see that. Her super suit highlighted just the right parts of her body to draw the eyes into her cleavage and down to her powerful, thick thighs, and her eyes were a pleasant shade of turquoise-blue that made her glare even fiercer. She didn’t use any fake tanning methods or ridiculous amounts of makeup like the Warden women did to increase their followings, but she was classically beautiful in a very natural way.
But I’d never really thought about her looks. I had just respected her powers-- or at least, I had before she had defended Miles’ actions. I hated that she was so attached to him, especially since she had somehow managed to make Penumbra slightly useful when they worked together. She really was a powerful woman of many talents.
She’d just made a huge mistake in the choice of her boyfriend.
“She needs to be returned to me,” Optimo growled again. “Miles has warped her into something she’s not. I need her back in the Wardens. With me.”
His tone had changed abruptly enough to make me feel almost uneasy. I knew what a man sounded like when he was obsessed, and Optimo was absolutely obsessed with Dynamo, and I was sure that this wasn’t just about returning Dynamo back to the side of good or even back to the Wardens with him. It suddenly felt like a much more personal matter.
In the grand scheme of things, Dynamo was nothing to me. Her powers were impressive, and she seemed like she wanted to do good for the world with them, but I did agree that she’d been corrupted by Miles just as much as Beacon and Penumbra had been. She could have been an amazing heroine, if only she hadn’t fallen for Miles, and I thought there might even still be potential in her. With the right guidance, she could be pushed back to the side of good instead of evil.
But none of that mattered, since I could easily sacrifice her to Optimo as long as it meant that I would get my city back.
“Slade?” Optimo’s serious voice pulled me free from my thoughts. “I won’t compromise further than this. I want Dynamo.”
“Fine, done,” I answered. “By the time this is all over, she’ll be yours.”
“I expect you to deliver,” he replied.
“I will,” I assured him. “How soon can you do the press conference? I have a plan halfway in action already, but I need public opinion to shift before I enact it.”
“Adjust your plan first so that you can capture Dynamo,” Optimo said.
“Right… I will,” I said even though I felt a little uneasy.
“Then I will put together a conference within the next several days,” Optimo finally answered.
“Will you need me present?” I asked. “Or will you be coming to Grayville?”
“No and no,” he laughed. “I can make a remote conference to address the situation in Grayville, and all eyes will be on me.”
“As they always are,” I groaned. “Right. Then it’s a deal.”
“It’s a deal,” Optimo replied. “Don’t forget your end of the bargain, or I’ll expect you to show up in Pinnacle City ready to work for the Wardens again.”
“You’ll have your woman,” I snapped. “I always fulfill my promises.”
“Of course, you do,” Optimo sneered. “A pleasure doing business with you, Slade.”
“Likewise,” I growled.
Then after a final laugh, Optimo hung up, and I put my phone down.
I tried not to think too hard about how much I’d begged Optimo for his help. When we’d fought in Pinnacle City, I had said that I would never call him again, and that I would remain an independent hero with no need for the Wardens and their bullshit. But my back was to the wall right now, and I’d had no other way to turn the media back in my favor, so I’d done what I had to.
I almost felt a little bit bad about my agreement to capture Dynamo. She’d made her bed once she aligned herself with Miles, of course, but Optimo was so obviously obsessed with her that I didn’t feel great about handing her over to him. But I’d really had no other choice but to use her as a bargaining chip, and ultimately, I decided that since she had teamed up with Miles, she deserved whatever happened to her.
Everything I had just done was because of the corner that Miles had backed me into, so really, it was all his fault.
Overall, a lot of what I’d developed were things I’d been working on anyway, like my autonomous system of armored vehicles that were already stationed all around the city. Once this was all over, I would have complete surveillance over Grayville.
I could rebuild the prison, too. The plans were already in the works for an even more advanced incarceration system, and I would be able to recover the financial hits that Slade Industries had taken before too long.
If I wanted to, I could have designed a special room in my prison for Miles, but I hadn’t even taken him into account while I designed it.
I was not going to give Miles the benefit of prison.
That man was the most dangerous criminal Grayville had ever seen, and I would stop at nothing to get rid of him. I was willing to make any sacrifice necessary as long as it meant that Miles Nelson would never be able to go on a murderous rampage ever again.
He had to be stopped, no matter the cost.
Even if that meant I had to damn my code to hell.
Chapter 9
There was still a lot I had to square away before we could even consider breaking into the Shadow Knight’s lair.
Now that I’d decided that Penumbra and Beacon were at least trustworthy enough not to share any of my secrets with Slade, I could introduce them to Aileen so she could have free run of the mansion again. I knew it annoyed her to have to hide because she felt like she wasn’t as useful when her body was stuck in the basement, and it would be a lot more convenient to have her out in the open anyway.
So, one morning when Penumbra and I were
just hanging around in the living room, I casually allowed my robotic assistant to come up from the basement.
“Wow, she’s incredible!” the blonde gushed over Aileen as soon as she saw her. “You really completely made her by yourself, Miles?”
“I assisted in my own creation,” Aileen said with her chrome nose up in the air.
“That’s even more amazing,” Penumbra gasped as she circled around Aileen to get a good look at her. “Even her proportions are…”
“Perfect?” I finished as the blonde heroine trailed off.
“Something like that,” Elizabeth said with an amused smile as she joined us from the kitchen.
“Can I touch her?” Penumbra asked.
“If you really want to,” I said with a shrug despite the displeased look that Aileen gave me. “But you should treat her like she’s human, since she basically is.”
“I could be even more human if you took time to complete my skin covering,” my chrome-domed AI informed me.
“You’re making skin for her?” Penumbra asked as she tore her gaze away from Aileen to stare at me.
“It’s proving more difficult than expected, but yes,” I said. “Eventually, she will look just as human as you and Elizabeth. That’s the goal.”
“That’s really impressive,” the levitation-specialist said as she looked back at Aileen again. “The Shadow Knight never even considered doing that with his AI system. Also, I think it’s, uh… male?”
“The Shadow Knight’s AI system is inferior to me,” Aileen said with total confidence. “I have already achieved supremacy over it.”
“Uh, what does that mean?” Penumbra asked. “I know a little bit about tech stuff, but not a lot.”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” I said, “but it does mean that we’ll probably have an easier time when it comes to getting into the Shadow Knight’s lair, as long as he hasn’t figured it out yet.”
“He has not,” Aileen confirmed. “I still have full access.”
“Let’s keep it that way,” I said with a pointed glance at Penumbra.