by Tao Wong
One night.
In the morning, you sent the Army in and shot them all up.
The June 4th Houston Massacre stained our history forever. Every free country in the world condemned us. And worst, it marked the start of the insurrection. ADEF did their best to stop you from hurting them, they really did. But when you dropped bombs from planes kilometers away, they just weren’t ready for it.
Portland did better. Captain Portland’s Weed Shield saved the city when you guys started dropping bombs again. Madame B charmed all your soldiers, make them put their guns down in Atlanta. And of course, Mr. K and his gang slaughtered the Eleventh division. Left their heads on a pike.
That didn’t help.
Not when we were trying to explain that we weren’t dangerous, but what can you expect when the crazy psychopath took action. It was your actions whic made him decide to take action and no one, no one wants Mr. K to act. The Eleventh division slaughter was what put him to the top of your wanted list, briefly. It was what drove him to keep going and going, committing worse atrocities just to recover his placement. And then keep it.
Once you figured that out, you all decided not to lower his position anymore, even when he got bored. Took you long enough to understand that psychopath’s thinking. Of course, he was just one of a dozen fires you had to deal with during the insurrection.
And in the end, I’m not sure it would have mattered whatever Mr. K did. I don’t think you were willing to listen to us, willing to repeal the Act. President Holbrook wanted his war, wanted to play the Law & Order card and he got his excuse. The guards rolled in, the jackbooted thugs came for all of us. Kicked down the doors, beat up the innocents, the protestors and insurrectionists without care.
I missed most of it because I was being the good little girl, working away, keeping my head down. Even my short stint in the internment camp was quite comfortable. The university pulled some strings along with the military contractors that I did the research for and helped make sure I was comfortable while I was held captive. It was simple enough with my research to ignore everything going on, the deaths, the screams, the cries of despair.
Six months. It took you guys six months and tens of thousands of people dead before you repealed the Act.
Six months. And at the end, Joey was dead.
I learned about his death through his sister. She slapped me, told me I should have been by his side. He’d put on a Cape in the end, called himself the Matter Master. He used the tech, the drones that we built, his power armor and the control he had over matter to do battle. Because he thought it was the right thing to do.
He was never a good fighter. It wasn’t’ really part of his Power set. Joey could never control matter more than a foot away from his body. His engineering degree let him figure out how to build the power armor, make up for its failings. Make it work better than it should have. He wasn’t a fighter, but he did his best. And it was pretty damn good.
Until you gassed them all at the second peace talks. The one where President Holbrook had promised would be safe. Joey believed you, so did Milford and his people. Even when everyone thought he was lying, they believed.
And died.
But that was Holbrook’s last mistake. Because he finally crossed Ultra’s line. When the ‘hero of heroes’ chose to stop standing on the sidelines. He flew President Holbrook and every single politician and military commander who was in charge of that massacre to the International Criminal Court himself.
That’s when you all finally repealed the Act. Because your shining boy in blue couldn’t stand behind you anymore, saying all would be well, that all we had to do was trust the system. Because he told the politicans, he wouldn’t protect them anymore.
I should’ve seen it back then. When even Ultra stopped thinking that you could be trusted. That any of you could be given an inch of faith. But I was young. And a fool. And while my heart hurt, when I grieved for Joey, Mordant made their offer. We’d worked with them before, Joey and I, in university. And they knew just what to say, how they weren’t a government institution, how all they wanted to do was make life better for the common people.
Like a fool, I believed them.
***
I had to move fast, now that I’d made my presence known. I strolled into the lab where its gleaming white walls reflected the harsh fluorescent lights above, the entire lab at least sixty feet across and another fifty feet long. The simple steel tables and the various top-of-the-line scientific equipment were laid out in patterns I’d become long familiar with. We had everything really, from mass spectrometers and powerful electron microscopes to the special 3D printers for biological and metal material, all of which worked on a molecular scale. It saves us a ton of time, being able to build our nanites directly in the lab. Off to one side, separated from the rest of the lab by a big, tempered glass window was the storage area. Within the reinforced metal and glass storage units were where we contained my research.
The Mordant Mark 11 nanites were already packed for transportation in a few days. They’d take the Master nanites and the research I’d done and show it all to the government, the military. Take my research and make it just another damn weapon.
There were half a dozen personnel within the labs, all of them known to me. None of them were Powers though, since we weren’t that common. Yet. Of course, if you believed in the Travis Theorem of Exponential Power Growth, you’d probably be underlining that yet.
In either case, every single one of the employees shrunk away from me. Ever since the uprising, people have been worried about Powers. Even those who, like me, don’t have a violent Power are something to be feared. As if we were all maniacs that could burn people to the ground with a single glance.
Of course, their reaction might also be because there were a pair of slumped guards in the doorway and I was holding one of the guns.
Either, or.
I waved them away as I strolled over to the storage door and placed my hands on it. I could’ve done without touching it, but physical contact has always provided a little bit more oomph for my Power. Accessing the door controls was a simple matter, and even if they had the best security systems in play, my ability didn’t just transit through tech and electricity. In the last few years, I’d learnt I could physically manipulate the matter within tech pieces to some extent. Nowhere near what Joey could do, but within the normal functioning aspects of a machine, I could alter it.
It took just about a second before the door hissed open and at that point, Leo finally decided he had enough. He’d always had a chip on his shoulder, being the only black scientist on the team. He always had to be better, smarter, harder working than everyone else. And if he had a Power, he probably would have been the lead. He really was that good. But, without one, no matter how hard he worked, no matter how smart he was, he would always be beneath me.
He strode right up, and even ignored the gun I pointed at him. I guess he thought I wouldn’t actually shoot him. Truth be told, I hadn’t really meant to, because I knew how fragile the human body was. At least, in the right circumstances.
Seriously, it was like a human body was an alpha version of something better. It kept crashing, for no good reason, displaying random bugs, and none of it was replicable from person-to-person. Put a bullet in one person, and they’d just keep going. Put a bullet in another and they’d fall down, go into shock, and die. What kind of designer would build something with so many safeguards and then, have them fail for no good reason?
It’s why people who are into the idea of intelligent design aren’t very intelligent themselves. There’s no way any good engineer would ever release something like humanity. No one with any pride in their work would have looked at humans, with their weird dangling bits, their constant error problems and their lack of self-care and gone – ‘Good enough’.
Still, you are right, I did shoot him. I aimed for his torso. It was a lot safer than shooting him in the leg, where he might bleed out from an impacted bl
ood vessel or shattered bone. Shoulders are horrible too – there’s a big blood vessel if you miss and even if you do hit, physio takes forever. So I shot him in the torso. Left side, lower torso, just above the hips but not too close. There’s not a lot that I can damage other than a kidney.
The retort from the gun was still ringing in my ears, drowning out his screams as I made my way into the storage room. I gave Leo one last look as he wasn’t screaming very much after the first shot. He’d taken getting shot well, giving off a good whimper and crawling away. I am glad that he is still alive, but I estimated that he would be, what with the on-site medical staff.
Once I was in the secured lab, it was a simple matter to gain access to the nanites themselves. Piercing the mobile containers security was simple, then I just had to store them with me. I made sure to secure a couple extra for easy use before part two of the plan.
Part two being the part where you’re charging me for industrial espionage. Which really isn’t true since I can’t steal my own research, and I definitely didn’t steal it for anyone else. I deleted it all from the system. That took a while, especially since I had to make sure I got not just the local servers but the backup servers too. It was another reason why I chose that specific time – so that I could access the backup servers when the automatic backups started. Slipping in a series of viruses to corrupt, overwrite and delete all the backup data and I’ll admit, I might have been a little sloppy. I only had a day and I was going for thorough rather than surgical. And with the number of failsafes Mordant used, thorough was important.
Luckily, I’d been working with them so long, I’d learnt a few neat tricks to work around their backups. I’d always been curious, and figuring out the way the backups worked, the way data – especially research data that might have been accidentally overwritten by idiot interns – was stored was just something I’d done. Not because of any real nefarious need but rather the dislike of having to go through proper channels.
Anyway, wiping the data on the latest nanite upgrades took much longer than I’d liked. But eventually, I just walked out of the now empty labs. Even Leo had been dragged out. As I left, I held the metal containers containing the nanites clasped in my hands, chilling my skin with each step, offering a soothing comfort that I had gotten what I wanted.
Of course, that’s when everything else went to hell. Because Mordant’s internal Power security team had finally arrived.
***
As a global technology company, one that had significant interests in some less than stable countries, Mordant had developed their security forces to combat a wide variety of threats. It didn’t help that people like the Dark Vulture and Zap were interested in many of the items they produced. Being on the cutting edge of technology often dragged tech villains to the fore.
The good news was that because the company had significant ties to the military with entire divisions dedicated to supporting the military, they also had access to modern military tactics and arms. Most importantly, they could put their Powers through the same training and give them equipment and suits that were as good, if not better, than what most Capes used.
It was also why the Capes were slow to aid Mordant every time they were attacked. After all, Mordant had their own security personnel to deal with Mask threats. My first run-in with the Power security team was in my third year.
My first few years with Mordant were pretty boring. Looking back at it, I’m pretty sure it was just them feeling me out, making sure that the new hire was both as smart and as loyal as they needed me to be. My internal security clearances were pretty low and back then, most of my research was theoretical.
By the third year though, I’d moved departments again, shifted to a new team and had finally gotten my feet underneath me. I wasn’t the wide-eyed theoretical only researcher, filled with studies and hypotheses, but struggling to churn out practical work. Between my Power and my studies, I was beginning to shine and my security clearances had been upgraded.
That’s when the Tinker decided to attack, in search of a new battery for his multi-limbed, power suit. That thing had more arms, and more different kinds of arms, than an octopus had legs.
Wait. You do know who the Tinker is, right?
Oh, right, he’s a local Mask. Not someone at your level would consider. I don’t think he really had much of a career. The Tinker was one of your multi power Masks, focused on tech. He didn’t have a skill like mine, but more of a series of minor Powers. It enhanced his memory, his kinesthetic sense, his electromagnetic sense and a little bit of his tactile memory. Basically, he could remember and intuit things better than normal, sometimes a lot better. Because of that, he thought he’d become a tech Mask.
Except, he really wasn’t that good. See, I put in the time, the effort, to really study technology in all its forms. You have to, if you have a utility skillset like we do. The Tinker on the other hand? He’d rather buy, borrow, or steal the various tech pieces he used, letting his power intuit how to put it all together. As I understand it, there’s a very robust black market for Power-created tech pieces. Anything that gets blown up, tossed aside, or falls off the truck ends up on the black market for people like the Tinker. Between the constant alien invasions and the visitors, there’s always something new floating around to help people like the Tinker. It was also why his work was shoddy and often needed new, more powerful energy cores since he had incredibly low efficiency in power use.
Thus the attack on Mordant’s facility.
He came in with all the subtlety of a juggernaut in tap dancing shoes, tearing a hole in the wall as he rummaged through our labs. There was a lot of screaming, shouting and running around before we eventually made it to the parking lot.
I got to give it to him though, the Tinker was never that interested in us as people. That’s why, when they finally caught him he only got twenty years in the Pit. He’d have gotten less, if he’d had a better lawyer who managed to clear him of the manslaughter charges. That happened when Mordant’s Power security team came down on him in the facility, blasting away at his suit and throwing him off the building. It was my first close-in view of a Power fight, one that took place over three blocks. The Tinker eventually got away, leaving the security team in the dust, but the charges stayed.
Now your average Mordant security force, consists of four Powers. You’ve got the Juggernaut, the guy in the front who's there to take the damage. Then, you got the Webber, the control person who freezes and otherwise restrains targets. Depending on their Powers, a good Webber can end threats even before the fight starts. You’ve got your everyday Mobility Specialist, the guy who’s going to be tasked with keeping noncombat personnel out of the fights, of moving the target into position for the Webber, or just dealing with unexpected threats. Finally you have the Support Layer who is often the team leader. They could be anything, from a tactical Power to a healer or even magical support.
In the case of the Tinker, the Power team leader was a utility tactical support and on the lower level of the Power scale. After all, we weren’t a highly restricted research facility.
Anyway, that was my first introduction to some of Mordant’s more interesting, internal Power groups. It was my first clue, as I was staring at the destruction caused by their security team in pursuit of the Tinker, of how little they really cared about us or anyone else. I admit, it took me days to get rid of the blood from my shirt, where a blasted piece of debris took off one of my co-workers arms.
But back then, I just thought it was an accident. Back then I accepted their words at face value, and figured the health insurance we all had was more than sufficient compensation for the damage. I was getting paid well, and I was no shrinking violet. I’ve seen blood before. My own, and others.
Maybe I should have been less callous. But that’s kind of what you get, when you have a father for a Mask. Even estranged.
***
The internal security Power team that came for me was a Class III group. Powerful,
stronger than the vast majority, and just a level below your average Cape City Response Team. I think, if Mordant had the ability to staff a Class IV group, they would have; but Class III’s were still not common. Like, the first group I ever saw were Class II’s.
In this case, the support personnel for the security group was a Tactician. When I strode into the hallway, the security team had already set up for me. I could try to play it off, act as though I was ready. But, as much as I’d like to buffer my ego, they took me down faster than my cousin Bertha does a key lime pie. And if you know cousin Bertha, you’d know that the pie stood no chance at all.
Shackled in Power suppressing manacles, they had me up and on the way to the holding cells while I was still wondering who had set off the fire alarm in my head, or why there was iron in my mouth.
As I was slung over the Juggernaut’s shoulder, himself leading the way, I got my first proper look at the security team. The Tactician was a white-haired lady in full mil-spec AR goggles. They were all wearing the regular Mordant Power security uniform, which basically worked out to be an armored jumpsuit with a couple of additional pockets for useful items and minor servo upgrades for strength. A tactical belt helped her carry a suite of security tools and nonlethal responses. Lethal responses were all in their Powers which didn’t need to be shown off as much.
The Juggernaut was a giant of a man with a really nice butt. I got a chance to review it in great detail as he carried me to the jail cells. I have to admit, the waving tail was kind of cute too, the way it poked out of a tiny hole in his jump suit and the way the extra flaps of cloth helped to keep his modesty. I wanted to grab at the poofy thing as it waved in front of my nose, but it kept moving just out of reach.
On the other hand, the Juggernaut’s brother lacked both his tail and his ripped body. The speedster relied on his Power to give him speed, eschewing the need for exercise. His Power gave him agility, and some strength that just didn’t transfer over to muscle mass. Still, the slant of the eyes, the tilt of their cheekbones and jawline made it pretty clear the pair were siblings. Along with the stencilled last names on their gear.