by C. C. Ekeke
Chapter 41
According to Geist, the Vanguard had searched all over for Ramon. So far, they’d only located his discarded armor in the sewers. Lady Liberty had Ramon hidden somewhere even Geist didn’t know.
Between those situations, Quinn saw an opportunity.
With help from Clint, she crafted a message that appeared to be from Ramon and sent this to Titan’s killer.
I’m alive at these coordinates – Ray-Ray.
P.S. I know what you did.
The stage was set. Quinn waited alone in an abandoned building in the Junction. Another luxury high-rise ruined after the neighborhood went bankrupt. Dilapidated walls, unfinished rooms, and concrete debris cluttered everywhere. Too many hiding places.
Quinn crouched behind one such spot, wearing an all-black tracksuit to keep herself warm and absorb light with a beanie to cover her afro of coils. She shivered with dread, clutching a firearm in sweaty hands. The reporter prayed her aim didn’t fail tonight. On the same floor, Geist had placed a transponder mimicking Ramon’s location, broadcasting only to the killer’s comm devices.
Quinn couldn’t believe she’d agreed to this. What if the entire Vanguard showed up? What if Quinn missed? What if the killer disarmed her before she pulled the trigger?
Quinn breathed slower to quiet her mind, steady her trembling limbs.
“We can switch places, Quinn,” Geist spoke in her earpiece.
“No.” She shook her head. “Has to be me, or it won’t work.”
“Or you’ll get killed,” Therese countered over the channel.
“Cheese and rust,” Quinn fumed. “Great morale boost, Longshadow.”
“Time’s up,” Clint announced. “We got incoming.”
Quinn’s stomach lurched. She hushed and waited.
Minutes later, a rustle across the floor debris disturbed the silence. Quinn made herself as small as possible when soft footfall passed her. The footsteps halted.
She held her breath for what felt like an eternity. They’re alone, she realized.
The footsteps resumed, growing distant.
Now or never… Quinn rose slowly, gun pointed. A solitary hooded silhouette slinked through the clutter, searching. Their back was facing Quinn.
Aiming for the lower spine with shaky fingers, she squeezed the trigger. The gunshot illuminated the gloomy level for half a second. The silhouette ducked and cried out in surprise, and collapsed forward.
“I didn’t miss,” Quinn told herself, staring at her gun in happiness.
“Good,” Geist commended. “Make sure it wasn’t a glancing shot.”
Quinn winced. “Right.” She weaved around mounds of trash and plaster for her felled target.
The individual was on their knees, clutching their lower back with one hand while removing the hood with another. A pair of disbelieving grey eyes stared up at Quinn. Her heart leaped, both at being right and wishing she’d been wrong.
“Can’t be!” Clint exclaimed over the comms.
“Quiet,” Geist snapped.
“Quinn?” Morningstar grimaced. “You shot me!”
“I did.” Quinn admired her gun, snapping on the safety and stuffing it in the back of her pants. “Plastic gun carrying non-ferrous, power-suppressant darts.” Quinn folded her arms. “Ramon whipped it up.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Morningstar groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. The suppressant formula working through her system would inhibit her powers for hours. She tried standing, only to collapse to one knee, blonde hair spilling down her shoulders. “Ramon’s missing. The whole team is searching high and low. If you know where he is—?”
Quinn stiffened, insulted by this charade. “Why come alone after getting Ray-Ray’s message?”
Morningstar squinted at Quinn. Then something in her face shifted. “He’s not here.”
Quinn shook her head triumphantly. “Ramon’s somewhere you’ll never find him.” She grabbed for the other item on her person, dampening cuffs, advancing toward Morningstar.
The superhero yanked a knife from her boot. She swiped wildly; a silvery flash slashed through the night air. “Don’t come any closer.”
Quinn immediately backtracked, hands raised. Shooting Morningstar from afar was one thing. Close combat was a no-go. She managed to regain composure.
When Morningstar appeared satisfied that Quinn would stay put, she lowered her knife. “How’d you figure it out?” Her eyes were greedy for answers. “Or did Geist do the detective work?”
This was the moment that Quinn had craved. Learning why Morningstar had killed Titan. Her thoughts churned with potential questions. Instead, she indulged the superhero’s query. “Geist was crucial. But you made two mistakes, Alexis.” Quinn cocked her head sideways. “I’m guessing you put a virus into the Dynamo suit Ramon had been testing to gain remote control. And you used your magnetic powers to hardline the bad code inside. But you used too much energy and magnetized the suit.”
Morningstar winced hearing this. “Clever. And the second mistake?”
“I wouldn’t have known about your magnetic powers,” Quinn replied, “until you x-rayed Annie after the Mistura attack. I’m guessing your powers span the EM spectrum?”
Morningstar ran shaky fingers through her blonde mane and laughed. “My strongest abilities were electromagnetism and visible light energy. Thanks to Lord Borealis.” She stared up at Quinn bitterly. “There’s a huge stigma on supers with magnetic powers.”
Quinn could understand that. But she wasn’t done. “What really convinced me was something Ramon said when I asked to see the footage you’d deleted from Borealis’s OSA monitor. ‘I can’t refuse a powerful woman.’” A harmless comment at the time. But as the pieces connected, the import had slapped Quinn upside the head. She crouched, meeting Morningstar’s gaze. “I’m guessing you’d asked Ramon for favors before, hung around his lab learning his tech under the guise of friendly curiosity.”
“I’m impressed,” Alexis openly marveled.
“I don’t care.” Quinn was done buttering her up. Time for answers. “Before you go to prison…why?”
Morningstar nodded in understanding. “Why I killed Titan?” Hearing those words made Quinn’s hair stand on end. This was actually happening.
“Yeah, he saved lives, stopped bad guys, kissed babies,” Morningstar admitted snidely. “But trust me, Titan was no hero.” She shook her golden head, hate contorting that lovely face. “Maybe not ever.”
“Because he whored around?” Quinn still didn’t understand. “Because the whole world wanted a piece of him until he wanted to quit? Why did you want Titan dead?”
Morningstar’s hatred gave way to longing. “Wasn’t always that way,” she admitted shyly, glancing downward. “As a child bouncing between orphanages, my brother and I worshipped Titan. He was a god, even down in Argentina.” The awe on Morningstar’s face was exactly as Quinn remembered when she’d discussed Titan months ago. The superhero stared off, lost in her former idolatry. “Then my powers manifested years ago. I could finally be a hero like him.
“The Vanguard then was searching for new heroes to stack their reserve team.” Morningstar beamed and fell on her behind, resembling an excited kid. “I jumped at the opportunity and got selected!” She pointed at herself, still in disbelief. “Even better than that, Titan took me under his wing.”
The emotions in Morningstar’s answers oozed out in waves.
Quinn narrowed her eyes, sensing more. “You two became lovers.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Morningstar answered immediately.
Quinn closed her eyes, grossed out. The sharp inhalation over the comms must have been Geist after hearing Titan had kept this from him. “You slept with him a few times, then found out he wasn’t that into you?” The jealous lover gone psycho sounded so generic, Quinn felt nauseous. How clichéd... “Then what?” she demanded. “You went full 'bunny boiler' on Titan?”
Morningstar recoiled as if touchin
g a red-hot stove. “No,” she chided. “Titan wooed me, and we quietly dated for months. There were rules I had to follow. Tell no one about us. We never went anywhere outside Vanguard HQ. And with Titan’s busy schedule, whenever he wanted to see me, I cleared my schedule.” Morningstar shrugged sheepishly, her face a study in shame. “But he was my world, so I obeyed without question. Soon, I was in consideration for a potential Vanguard International team.” She smiled again, reliving the memory. “Life was almost perfect.”
As Quinn listened, Morningstar’s smile faded before a chilling glare. “Until I accidentally learned about Titan and Wyldcat's relationship.” The superhero chuckled. “I confronted Titan. He got irritated.” Her face darkened. “Saying that dating him meant there would be other women. So I ended our relationship.” Morningstar sneered at Quinn’s shock. “Not what you expected?”
“No,” Quinn admitted. Surprising or not, this didn’t explain why she’d killed Titan. “Then what?”
Morningstar threw her hands up wretchedly. “The blowback was instant. Suddenly I couldn’t shadow the Vanguard missions like other reserve members do. My evaluations grew unfairly critical, despite my improvement. And I was no longer being considered for Vanguard International. My career had stalled.”
She blinked, visibly exasperated having to relitigate this. “I asked Sentinel and the others what I was doing wrong. Everyone said I was fine and not to worry. But I knew who’d caused this. So I confronted Titan again!” Morningstar met Quinn’s gaze again, sounding sick. “He told me that if I returned to our arrangement, my career would get back on track. I was disgusted. The man I’d worshiped since childhood was blackmailing me into being his plaything.” Morningstar shivered.
Quinn’s stomach flipflopped. Titan, sexual harasser. Part of her didn’t want to believe this. But after her experiences in the superhero community, Quinn no longer trusted the personas any hero projected. “Why stay?” Leaving seemed to make the most sense.
Morningstar glared as if she’d asked what year the War of 1812 was. “The Vanguard is…excuse me, was the gold standard in superhero teams. How would quitting look?”
“Like you couldn’t cut it,” Quinn answered softly. Leave with her dignity but kill her career or stay on and submit to a lascivious pig. “A crap or diarrhea situation.”
Morningstar nodded again, tears filling her eyes. “I told Sentinel and Wyldcat.” She let out a disgusted laugh. “Kurt apologized for Titan’s behavior but said that I shouldn’t have expected anything. Wyldcat…” Morningstar’s eyes widened. “She blamed me, asking if I thought I was the first of his mistresses.” Tears leaked down her cheeks. “These ‘heroes’ did nothing to protect me.”
For a moment, Quinn’s heart broke. Then she remembered nearly getting murdered three times and Annie being in the hospital. Because of Morningstar. All that sympathy vanished. But it still didn’t explain killing Titan. “What was the last straw?”
Morningstar sniffled, wiping away tears. “A week after talking to Sentinel and Wyldcat…my brother OD’d.” A sob rocked Morningstar’s body. “After six years of sobriety. My only family in the world.
“After putting Amado back in rehab, I learned how he’d relapsed.” Hatred smoldered across Morningstar’s face. “One of Titan’s cape-chasers seduced him into a three-day bender.”
Quinn sucked in an astonished breath. “You have proof?”
Morningstar smiled sadly. “Titan told me himself. Bragging practically. ‘Mess with my life, I destroy yours,’ he’d said. And if I pulled anything like that again, he’d ruin my reputation in the community. I was trapped.” She bowed her head, another sob leaking from her mouth.
For several moments, Quinn couldn’t speak. “My God,” she finally breathed.
Morningstar regained composure, staring up with red-rimmed eyes. “Then I saw Titan for the vicious monster he truly was. And the Vanguard allowed it, making them complicit.”
Quinn understood then. To some degree, she couldn’t blame her. “And then?”
“I begged for Titan’s forgiveness and indulged him anytime he demanded.” Morningstar put on a fake smile. Chilly winds wailed through the room. “My hate grew each time Titan thrusted himself into me.”
Quinn’s nausea reached overwhelmed heights. She forced herself to keep listening. “That’s when you started plotting your revenge.”
“Yes.”
Quinn still saw another way. “Why not go public? Even at the cost of being a superhero?”
“You can’t be that naïve, Quinn,” Morningstar growled. “Titan wielded more power behind the scenes than you could possibly imagine. Countless media institutions protected him. An unknown like me would lose in the court of public opinion.” Her eyes glazed over, no one home. “Meaning, Titan had to die.”
Now we’re reaching the meat. Quinn pushed down all emotions, connecting the major milestones leading to Titan’s murder. “What happened first? The power-enhancing drugs?”
“Exactly.” Morningstar gestured as if chatting with a friend and not confessing to murder. “I needed more power to kill the bastard.”
“Then you hired Lau’s crew as liaisons,” Quinn assumed, dissecting Morningstar’s methods. Better than stewing over Titan’s awfulness. “To hide it from someone with heightened senses.”
Again, Morningstar looked impressed. “Found Lau’s crew on the dark web. I had initial doubts, but they were cheap and quite capable.”
“I’m guessing you had them befriend Lord Borealis?” Quinn pressed.
“The perfect fall guy,” Morningstar sneered. “Had a long-standing history with Titan. Who would believe him if he denied killing an old enemy?”
Another question surfaced in Quinn’s mind. “Your energy signatures differ. How did you mimic his?”
“Lau's crew approached Borealis at Paragon’s and requested a magnetic trick. They had scanners to catalogue the magnetic resonance.” She looked tickled by that. “With enough readings, I was able to mimic his signature.”
“Then you start learning from Ramon.” The pieces started fitting so easily, Quinn was awed by the simple genius of Morningstar’s plan. “Getting familiar with his workshop and the Dynamo tech?”
“I learned basic coding as a niña. Helped pay the bills before my powers emerged,” Morningstar admitted. “I learned so much from Ray-Ray. With a smile and batting my eyelashes, I owned him. He showed me how to hack OSA satellites and reprogram his Dynamo suits.” Her pride soured. “Part of me hated doing it. Ramon’s a good kid. But my priority was saving the team from Titan.”
“And while your fixers got Lord Borealis drunk,” Quinn chimed in, swallowing distaste, “you killed Titan.”
Morningstar perked up again at Titan’s death. “I posed as one of his regular San Miguel cape-chasers and lured him out to their usual spot in the Junction. I wasn’t alone. One of Lau's fixers was a telepath.”
Quinn remembered the kid’s name, and the hole blown through his chest. “Nikilesh Patel.”
“Right,” Morningstar said idly. “Patel amplified his powers with XS, projecting illusions into Titan’s mind. Made him think he was with his dead Inuit family before the nuke gave him superpowers.”
Quinn clutched her heart. The horror of such a cruel vision was beyond measure.
Morningstar continued, barely noticing her reaction. “With Titan trapped in that illusion, I gave him a planetary-level stroke with my magnetism.” She covered her mouth—giggling. “Killing him felt right, watching blood trickle from his ears and nose. We moved the body to an alleyway, where he belonged, and got Lord Borealis back to his house covered in Titan’s blood.”
She was brisk and blunt, as if discussing furniture. “I hated Titan dying a hero, but I remembered the bigger picture.”
Quinn barely saw anything human in Morningstar, let alone a hero. “Which was?”
“My future.” The Argentine woman pointed to herself, standing. “With Titan dead, the Vanguard could ride a sympathy wave f
or months. And in that spotlight, I’d show the world a true hero. Which I did, thanks to you.” She winked. “Those interviews made me a star.”
Quinn jumped to her feet, enraged. But she had to hear more. “Then why make such a mess covering your tracks? Killing those teens? Trying to frame Ramon? Trying to murder me?”
“Ray-Ray was my backup,” Morningstar explained, so detached yet self-righteous. “In case the Lord Borealis charge collapsed. Things were fine until you started talking to that bitch Veronica Carson.”
Quinn stepped back, hand on the plastic gun behind her back. But she was safe. Those suppressants would last hours. “You were the one watching me?”
Morningstar nodded. “Using drones. Which told me Geist was helping you, making things difficult.”
“The droids that attacked Mistura was you too?” The violations in Quinn’s life grew more terrifying.
Morningstar raised her hands innocently. “Ramon showed me how to access his remote foundries to mass produce training droids at my leisure. Had to make it appear like a widespread attack. Targeting just you would raise suspicion.” She made a soft tutting noise. “Unfortunately, Ramon spotted the attack heading to San Miguel, and the Vanguard had to intervene. So I ordered a second attack.”
“Vargas and Gabby,” Quinn uttered, remembering hairy paws choking her breathless.
“It was supposed to look like a suicide by hanging,” Morningstar admitted.
Quinn grabbed at the gun again.
“Not yet,” Geist warned over the comms, jarring her out of blind rage. Quinn calmed and kept listening.
“Longshadow ruined things.” Morningstar’s eyes had a manic, unstable glow. “After Lau’s crew failed to kill you, they demanded more money after learning Geist was involved. I had to cut my losses.” Another excuse for her murderous behavior. “At the same time, I installed malware into a new suit Ray-Ray was testing so I could override his vocal commands and control the armor. That meant framing Ramon for Titan’s murder, Mistura, and slaughtering those teens.”
Quinn watched in muted horror as Morningstar frowned, considering something.
“That speedster powerhouse wasn’t expected. Reminded me of Titan.” Morningstar shuddered in disgust. “I’ll deal with him once you and Geist are dead. Then I’ll find wherever you’ve hid Ray-Ray.”