by Wyatt Kane
Dinah’s expression turned into one of sorrow. She wasn’t cowed by Tempest’s rage in the least, even though the blonde superhero could have snapped the deerkin in two. Dinah and Tempest had been together forever.
Between them were levels of trust Ty could barely imagine.
“I don’t know where he is,” the deerkin replied. “According to the eyewitness reports I could find, he used his power more than a dozen times, collapsing buildings and laughing as he did. Those who came too close got to taste his power as well. I don’t know why he didn’t continue. There was one report that suggested he couldn’t. As if he reached a point where he had to stop. I don’t understand why.”
Ty wondered at the deerkin’s words. Had the superpowered villain had a change of heart? Or had his enhanced powers somehow faded at the end?
But Tempest’s focus was different. All she cared about was finding the man. She turned to Lilith instead.
“What about you?” she asked, her voice so intense that the demon woman actually flinched. “Can you find him?”
But Lilith hesitated. “Maybe,” she said. “But it’ll just be like it was before. I can sense devices, but not who is wearing them, and Rubio somehow turned that against us. You and Ty walked into a trap, and Ty could have died. Do you want to risk that happening again?”
Tempest stared at the demon woman, and Ty knew what she was thinking. The blonde superhero wanted a target for her anger and grief. Ideally, that target would be the Master himself, but one of his minions would do at a pinch.
It was intolerable to her not to have that as an option.
“So, we still have no reliable way to find these people when we need to,” Tempest said.
Dinah made an expression of regret, and both Ty and Lilith shook their heads.
Tempest made an inarticulate noise of frustration and spun about so she faced the Architect’s cryo chamber. Her fists were clenched tightly at her side, and she exuded fury mixed with disappointment in waves. She was a being of power, of action, and the lack of a concrete target was driving her crazy.
Ty looked to both Lilith and Dinah, searching for something to say that might comfort the blonde superhero. But while there was plenty of sympathy and regret in their expressions, before either of them could offer anything more, Dinah received another alert.
11: A Concrete Target
The deerkin habitually carried a small tablet computer in a pouch at her waist. She brought it out and swiped at the screen, then paused.
“What on earth?” she murmured to no one in particular.
Ty had hoped to be able to rest after the effort he and Lilith had put in to the rescue mission. He’d hoped he would be granted time to get over his hangover from the AZT-407 drug. And, if his brain was able to function properly, to get to work on some of the many different projects he had on his list.
But one look at the deerkin’s expression of horror and he knew the odds of that were unlikely.
“What is it?” he asked.
For a moment, the deerkin simply continued to stare at the screen. It was as if she was hypnotized by whatever she saw. Then she shook herself and handed the tablet over.
“See for yourself,” she said.
Ty held the tablet so Lilith could see as well. The screen displayed a video clip. It was shaky and a little out of focus, yet was still good enough that he could see clearly.
The scene could have been set in a museum or art gallery, Ty didn’t know which. All he knew was that the walls were festooned with art. Yet whoever had shot the video hadn’t done so for that.
They’d done so because of the woman hogging center screen.
She wore the same uniform of the mercenary army that answered to the Master, and she was wearing a device around her wrist. From everywhere else, she dripped dark vitriol, like acid. It exuded from her skin like vile sweat, and spewed from her mouth like she was in need of an exorcist.
Where the dark vitriol landed, it started to eat. Ty could see many of the artworks on the walls had been completely ruined, and the walls themselves had fared little better. Even the floor, as much as Ty could see, appeared to be losing its structure.
The woman on screen was a walking plague, destroying everything she touched.
“Holy shit,” Ty breathed, and Lilith made a noise of agreement.
Even Tempest couldn’t contain her interest. She had turned back to the three of them, her expression a mix of irritation and curiosity.
“What is it?” she asked, repeating Ty’s question.
He offered the tablet over. “It’s the woman who spits acid,” Ty said. “The same one we’ve faced before. Another of the Master’s superpowered people. Except she seems to have leveled up, just like Concussion.”
As he spoke, he wondered that two of the Master’s minions had appeared in public within hours of each other, both leveled up, and both bent on destruction.
What was the Master up to? Was this what he meant when he’d delivered his threats via the newsnets?
Did it mean the third of his minions, the one he thought of as Sparkles, would be next?
Again, Ty wondered what the Master was hoping to achieve. Understanding his goal might help Ty and the others figure out how best to stop him.
Tempest virtually snatched the device from Ty’s grip. She stared at it for a moment, just as everyone else had done, but unlike Ty and Dinah, she toggled the sound on as well.
The sounds of people screaming, wood splintering, and someone throwing up all came from the tablet’s tinny speakers. It sounded awful, a mix of panic and disgust, and Ty wished the blonde superhero would mute the video again.
“How the hell?” she started, and Ty knew what she was thinking. How had the woman become so much more powerful than she had been before? Yet the blonde superhero didn’t wait for an answer. She turned to Dinah instead.
“Where is this?” she demanded.
Dinah reached out for the tablet, and Tempest handed it back. Moments later, the deerkin came up with an answer. “It’s the Roderick Street Art Museum,” she said. But she stared hard at Tempest. “What do you intend to do?”
“I’m going to hurt him,” she said, her voice almost a snarl. “This Master. And I’m going to get some answers.”
Dinah started to say something else, but it was already too late. Despite his hangover and exhaustion, Ty was willing to help. Just like Concussion, he had taken this woman out before with one of his EMP grenades. There was nothing stopping him doing the same again, and even without it, he thought he would be able to help.
The villain called Steam could burn him through his shield, and his companion, Massive, was largely immune to everything Ty had to give. But they were Rubio’s men, and their power seemed to be of a different caliber entirely.
This woman, this venom-spitting mercenary in the Master’s employ didn’t seem to be on that level. Ty thought her toxic exudate wouldn’t be able to eat through his shield, and he would have bet good money she lacked the durability required to stand up to his shield cannons.
But before Ty could even suggest going along, Tempest let out a howl of rage and took off at high speed, leaving him, Lilith, and Dinah behind.
The deerkin looked as if she had been going to say something. When Tempest disappeared in a rush, the deerkin offered a shrug and spoke to the empty space where she’d been.
“Be careful,” she said.
Despite his AZT-407 hangover, Ty still intended to help. He just needed a way to get to the Roderick Street Art Museum quickly enough. But Lilith had other things on her mind.
“Wow,” the demon woman said. “I thought I’d seen her angry before, up close. But that was nothing. Does she often get like that?” she asked.
Dinah shook her head. “Not often. But she can be passionate when the people she cares about are in danger. When the Architect first disappeared, Tempest had been frantic. She looked everywhere, turning the whole city upside down. When she couldn’t find him, she grew more a
nd more frustrated and angry. I thought she was going have an aneurysm or something. Instead, she went out to a quarry and took her frustration out on a boulder. Turned it into nothing but sand, and probably confused a few quarry workers in the bargain. When she got back, she cried for a week, and that was that. She put it behind her, but it was a long time before she smiled again.”
Ty couldn’t help but feel sorry for Tempest. He couldn’t imagine what she must be going through. It seemed that the Master was dangling the Architect in front of her, knowing Tempest couldn’t find him, and laughing at her, teasing her with it every way that he could.
The only the only thing Ty didn’t understand was why?
“What is he doing?” Ty said to himself. “What does this Master hope to accomplish?”
“And how is he doing it?” Dinah asked. “How is it that the people he has at his command have leveled up so swiftly?”
It was a good question, and Ty thought he might know the answer. But there were other things that were more important just then.
He looked to Lilith. “Can you take me to the Roderick Street Art Museum?”
“I’m not sure where it is,” Lilith replied. She looked at Dinah, and Ty expected the deerkin to come up with an answer.
Instead, Dinah nodded. “Yes, you should probably go, if only to keep Tempest from doing something she might regret. But the art museum is a long way from here. You’ve got a couple of minutes at least. In the meantime, I want to show you something.”
Ty had no idea what the deerkin had in mind. He waited as she manipulated her tablet for just a moment, bringing up something new on the small screen. “Here,” the deerkin said. “Look at this. You too, Lilith.”
Once again, she handed the tablet over, and Ty held it so he and Lilith could see.
At first, he thought it was just footage taken from the zone of destruction Concussion had caused. Then he saw something that surprised him. The person – or drone – who took the video had focused their attention on a tall, angular, mop-haired individual moving about in the rubble, picking up great chunks of fallen masonry as if they were nothing, and casting them aside, obviously on a mission to find any survivors.
Ty noted that Dinah had either toggled the sound off again, or there wasn’t any with the footage. He looked more closely and saw that the man on the screen seemed to glow blue even in the daylight. As he watched, another figure appeared out of nowhere beside him. Just appeared out of nowhere. This second figure had wings and a tail and seemed to float in the air. The two figures, both too small to really see clearly, spoke for just a moment, then the second figure bent down low to someone else on the ground.
An instant later, the second figure disappeared once again, taking with them whoever it was who’d been on the ground. Without breaking stride, the tall figure with the unruly mop for hair stood and strode away, looking for someone else he could help.
Ty watched the video in its entirety, dumbfounded by what he was seeing.
“It’s us,” Lilith said, her voice an echo of Ty’s uncertainty.
“Yes,” Dinah said. “It’s all over the newsnets, and it’s being shared by everyone. Much faster than I can keep a lid on it. It’s like when Tempest saved those people at the amusement arcade.”
Ty didn’t know what to say. He knew their secret was already out, that there were people who knew about Tempest. But this was different. Despite everything that had happened he still thought of himself as in a different category. He still had his anonymity. He hadn’t been outed as anything other than Ty Wilcox, one-time janitor and electronic repair man at the Concubine Club.
“Well,” he said. He didn’t know what else to say.
“Yes,” Dinah said. Then, all of the sudden, she grinned. “How does it feel to be shown to be heroes?” she asked.
Lilith was looking at the deerkin with wide, frightened eyes. “It’s a little unnerving,” she said, and Ty had to agree.
“There’s nothing we can do about it?” Ty asked, even though he knew there was not. Dinah had already said she couldn’t keep on top of it.
Dinah shook her head, but her grin was still in place. “Welcome to the club,” she said. “I’m proud of you. But maybe, next time, try not to be so obvious in your heroics. We don’t know how New Lincoln might respond once they know who you are.”
At the deerkin’s words, Ty started to think about how they might protect their identities. In all the comics he’d ever read, superheroes went about their business in masks and costumes. It seemed wildly clichéd, not to mention a bit strange in the real world, but maybe there was something in that after all.
“Now,” Dinah said, her demeanor slipping back toward seriousness. “I figure Tempest should be nearly at the art museum right now. Perhaps we’d best get you two over there as well.”
12: Art Museum
Ty gritted his teeth against the bone chilling cold of that increasingly frightening place between points Lilith teleported them through. If he had his wish, he wouldn’t have to travel this way at all. But there was no other real option. The Roderick Street Art Museum was halfway across town, and New Lincoln was big. Even at her maximum speed, Tempest would still take several minutes to get there. Ty hadn’t yet been able to give himself the ability to fly, so his only other options were public transport or to borrow Dinah’s bike.
While he enjoyed the Ducati, it simply couldn’t compare to the speed that Tempest or Lilith could attain.
Nor did he have any real option but to go. He would do anything for Tempest. If need be, he would die for her, or any of the women in his life. Facing the incalculable depths of cold between two points of existence was nothing. Ty would do it a million times if need be, even with that ache behind his eyes and the feeling of nausea that came with his AZT-407 hangover.
He just wished Lilith would teleport Dinah somewhere, just the once, so did deerkin could understand what he faced.
Ty gritted his teeth against the infinite cold and held onto Lilith until they popped back into existence once more. He couldn’t help himself. As soon as he felt the cool dampness of the typical New Lincoln drizzle on his face, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Once again, Lilith had transported them to a point in midair. This time, it didn’t surprise him. At some point during their time in the disaster zone, Ty had realized why Lilith chose that option: it limited the chance of them popping back into existence within a concrete wall or building foundation.
Ty didn’t know what might happen if Lilith brought them back into a wall. Her talent was ‘Unified Field Control’. Ty didn’t fully understand how it worked, but suspected the wall would come off the second best in such an event, and that Lilith would barely be aware it had happened.
But there was also a chance Lilith might end up merged within the concrete of the wall, and that was a risk Ty was happy enough not to take.
“Is this it? Are we here?” Ty asked.
In front of them stood an imposing, Gothic building complete with stained glass windows and gargoyles standing guard. To Ty, it looked more like a mid-sized cathedral than an art gallery, and he wondered if at some time in the past it had been exactly that.
Even as Ty finished his question, he already knew the answer. He could see people down below, streaming out from the main doors, and not in an orderly fashion. From there place high above them, Ty could make out their wailing and exclamations of fear, grief, and terror.
“This is it,” Lilith confirmed.
“Can you take us inside?” Ty asked.
But Lilith didn’t want to risk it. “I don’t know the layout,” she answered, and with that, blinked them down to the ground.
This teleportation was mercifully brief. Ty found himself standing on the stairs just outside the main door, people still streaming past him, almost before he knew it.
The large, iron-bound door that Ty thought might serve a mediaeval castle well stood open, as if welcoming them in.
Ignoring all the people, Ty shifte
d so he wasn’t clinging to Lilith anymore, but was instead holding her hand.
“Let’s do this,” he said, and together, they entered the building.
◆◆◆
The moment they stepped inside, Ty knew he was wrong. This place had never been a cathedral. Or if it had, it hadn’t been one for a very long time. Instead of being greeted by a huge, wide open space and vaulted ceilings, perhaps filled with rows of seating leading up to the stage, the door led to a comparatively small foyer, complete with artwork on display, a large, see-through box for random donations, and a reception desk made of rich, dark wood.
On a normal day, it was probably an example of orderly function, with numerous people going about their business. There might have been security guards at the door, reception staff fielding questions, and patrons of the museum seeking information. Perhaps even a school trip or two in the mix.
But today, everything was in chaos. The reception staff had abandoned their posts, leaving brochures and advertising papers strewn over the floor. There were no guards in sight, and the movable rope guides that had once funneled people toward the reception counter had fallen over.
The few people still about were not waiting for information or entry, but were hurrying to the exit with looks of terror on their faces. From beyond the reception area, deeper into the museum, an alarm sounded.
There were three distinct directions Ty and Lilith could have gone once they passed the reception area. Three different wings, labeled ‘Renaissance,’ ‘Modern,’ and ‘Ancient Masters’. The noise and the people were coming from the left, the one labeled Renaissance.
Without hesitation, Ty activated his shield and headed that way, with Lilith at his side.
The passageway through which Ty and Lilith entered opened up into a large room filled with wonders. At once, Ty saw that the Roderick Street Art Museum specialized not just in paintings, but also sculpture, as well as associated crafts such as pottery, glassblowing, and the like.