Lair For Rent

by Skyler Grant

  “Vigilante group. We’re about to see action. Get to safety,” I said.

  I triggered the alarms. We’d installed lights and sirens, although at the moment I’d just gone for lights. I didn’t want to warn them that we knew about their arrival. The more time we bought the better.

  I also opened a comm line to Partygurl. “We’ve got guests for you on level one. Had any run-ins with the Cross Campus Crusaders?”

  Partygurl turned down her music, which was currently blasting. It looked like she was studying for a test on bank vault breaking. “I know them. How many?”

  “Eight.”

  “I’m coming up.”

  The vigilantes had come two to a bike. They wore dark leathers with a faintly purple sheen. Prominently on the chest was an 'X' with ‘CCC’ above it. They also all were wielding their signature crossbows.

  I got the henchmen ready but told them to hold back. I wanted these invaders wandering into our traps. While I’d given Dave a shotgun, and my drone had one as well, my other henchmen had only clubs. None of these weapons were particularly long range. If we were going to engage I wanted it to be somewhere crossbows wouldn’t have an advantage.

  “No helmets on them. We could just let them through,” Niles said.

  “Our new tenant might not like that, and we aren’t sure they don’t have some kind of respirators tucked away,” I said.

  They’d practiced what they were doing, that much was clear. As soon as they were through the doors they were sweeping the corners.

  One called, “No stairs, single story, but there may be a basement. Check reception?”

  “You ever see a building without a directory on the walls? Obvious trap. Keep to the walls and take it slow.”

  Well, that was disappointing. I still didn’t think my first trap was a horrible one, but plainly it didn't catch them as thoroughly as I’d hoped. Still, the only exit from the room was behind reception and they’d get caught anyway.

  Partygurl and her own henchmen had made it to the top floor. Her henchmen wore gas masks—she didn’t need one. Even though she’d been studying only a few moments before, I could see the eye-catching neon blue makeup she’d somehow found time to apply.

  “You can hang back and catch any that make it to your floor where the chemicals will hit them,” I told her.

  “Screw that. They want to come looking for me, I’m happy to take the fight to them,” Partygurl said.

  Fair enough.

  “Then a trap is about to spring. They’ll be at their weakest when it does,” I said.

  The vigilantes advanced, taking it one step at a time and hugging the walls.

  They were being too cautious for me to get a perfect shot. I waited for the best I could get and triggered the trap.

  Pistons shot down. One vigilante rolled out of the way, one other didn’t have time and got reduced to paste in an instant. Another only partially got out of the way and a piston slammed down on their leg with an audible crack of bone before they rolled to the side collapsing on the floor.

  I dropped the wall panels and opened the steam jets. The lights flickered as electrified steam poured out. I gave it five seconds and shut the jets off, then opened the doors for Partygurl and the henchmen.

  Dave was the first through with his shotgun—and got a crossbow bolt through the throat for the trouble. Flying backwards and getting himself pinned to the wall.

  Battle was on.

  10

  Partygurl was next out.

  “Veronica Yex, you are a danger to campus and to yourself. We are here to escort you to an educational seminar,” said one of the vigilantes.

  Another vigilante fired a crossbow bolt at Partygurl’s shoulder. It left a nick in her attire as it bounced off the flesh beneath.

  “Why can’t you just figure out that I’m not interested?” Partygurl said, lashing out with a punch that sent one vigilante soaring backwards to bounce off a wall.

  Two of Partygurl’s henchmen had gone down from crossbow bolts.

  Burt had a bolt in the leg. Abby had claimed the shotgun from Dave’s corpse and blown the head off another vigilante.

  That meant only six vigilantes remained, five with some fight in them. On our side we’d started with eight henchmen and only five were still standing.

  Partygurl stumbled as three bolts with glowing yellow heads hit her. Sparks of yellow power danced and flickered along her flesh and wordlessly she collapsed into a heap.

  Two vigilantes rushed forward to claim her. I sent in my drone, a blast of its shotgun catching one of them in her midsection and sending her crashing to the floor.

  “EMP needed,” one called out and a moment later an arrow hit my drone with a flare of light that killed not just my drone but my cameras in the room.

  “Niles, I’m blinded,” I said.

  “We’re operating on a shoestring budget. You know I haven’t been able to harden your hardware. I didn’t think we’d be going against anyone that had a clue what they were doing when it came to technology,” Niles said.

  I didn’t see how the rest of the battle played out, I only saw the results.

  Four surviving members of the CCC, dragging a bound and unconscious Partygurl and one unconscious colleague, made it back to their hoverbikes. Unceremoniously draping her over the back of one, all four took off and within five minutes of infiltrating our base they were gone—with what they’d come for.

  It was a disaster, a complete disaster.

  We were advertising ourselves as providing security for our renters, and we’d just let our first tenant get abducted right out from under us by a bunch of unpowered college kids with some fancy toys.

  The battle site was a bloody mess. All of our henchmen were dead. I was told the usual respawn time for a henchman was forty-eight hours and we’d be another two days until we could get them back.

  Niles nudged a body with one foot. “I’m not cleaning all this up.”

  “You’re the one with hands. Who else are we going to get to do it?” I said.

  “Is there even a point? We were already in bad shape. What are we going to do after this?”

  I could only see one thing that we could do. While organics might like to wallow in despair, I was more solution-focused and there was only one real answer to this problem.

  “We get her back,” I said.

  “With what? We don’t have any people, we don’t even know where they went,” Niles said.

  That wasn’t quite true.

  “New Londonarium. Haplin University, they are students there,” I said. I had access to the outside datanet now, and while hero and villain territories had their own public networks there was some crossover. It wasn’t that hard to find out where the daughter of Senator Samantha Sands went to school.

  Niles let out a low breath and pulled out his notebook. Tapping away.

  We were on Mastermind Isle, a small villainous paradise just off the shore from the hero-controlled mainland. New Londonarium was a relatively short distance away across the water, no more than thirty kilometers.

  Niles looked over the map and frowned. “We can maybe get there. Without our own transport there's carpooling. Boatpooling? Planepooling? Is that a thing? Someone will be heading over to steal something. Of course, they’ll want something in return.”

  “We’ll give them a cut of whatever we take. That is how business is done,” I said.

  “I can fix up your drone, but you saw what they did to it the last time. It isn’t going to be enough. You might have some super-abilities, but they aren’t combat-related and our henchmen just didn’t cut it,” Niles said.

  “The CCC in hostile territory and knew it. They were prepared. We catch them by surprise on their own turf and it will be different,” I said.

  “Maybe. But my point stands.”

  It did. We weren’t enough. We needed a team.

  “You’ve been around. You have to know somebody that wants to do more, be more,” I said.

&n
bsp; “You think I can make that pitch now? Maybe a few days ago, but we’re kind of screwed here. I’m not the only one who is going to notice that,” Niles said.

  He worried too much.

  “We could be in better shape, but we still have plenty of what somebody else will be looking for. We’ve got a home base, partially secure. We’ve got potential for a lot of assets going forward. You know that, it's why you are sticking around,” I said.

  “And that is working out just great,” Niles said, beginning to pace. “Fine, I know a guy. Ox, he is sort of the strong, silent type. Janitor, he sweeps the floors at Shrieker Tower. He’s a super, but nobody wants to work with him.”

  That was a start.

  “We’ll talk to Jules too,” I said.

  “Isn’t that your case worker? Is that really a good idea?” Niles asked.

  “The blood of goddesses and a great villainous legacy, and she's wasting time filing paperwork. Maybe she doesn’t want to officially register. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to see what she is capable of.”

  “A little off the books excursion might work for her,” Niles mused.

  “And exploring this complex. She doesn’t have to give up her cushy government job and can get stronger and richer until she’s ready to do her own thing,” I said.

  “We build a team then,” Niles said.

  “Make your calls. We don’t know what they are doing to Partygurl. Let's get her back before they straighten her out and make a hero out of her,” I said.

  11

  Four hours later and I’d carefully repositioned the walls of the complex to hide the mess and stench of the bodies so we could have a proper meeting.

  Jules and Ox had both accepted our invitation. Ox was a new contact so I made it a point to scan him.

  Henry Young

  Codename: Ox

  Registered Villain

  Species: Human

  Power Origin: Science

  Abilities: Invulnerability and the manipulation of kinetic force.

  Power Level: 1220

  Background: Henry Young used to be a research scientist for Stimwell Labs when the facility came under attack from Chaotic Dreamer. Exposed to high levels of an experimental compound called Denorabrium Plus he was granted immortality but lost all ability to communicate both verbally and nonverbally. When the labs failed to help his condition he became a villain in search of a cure.

  I’d just finished giving a briefing on what had happened while Niles provided visuals on his notebook.

  Ox looked at the screens but gave no acknowledgment at all. Still, it was obvious he understood. Anything that gave supers their abilities could have some really odd side effects. While Ox could act on things in his environment, if he tried to communicate nothing came across. It was a strange condition, but one I thought we could work with.

  “This isn’t much information to form a proper plan,” Jules said.

  “We don’t have time for more. Our window to get Partygurl back is small,” I said.

  Jules tilted her head. “That much we agree on. They’re college kids, and I remember what it was like being in the villain league. You do a job and if you don’t die it's all getting drunk and screwing your brains out while the adrenaline is still in your system.”

  I wasn’t certain that heroes operated the same way. Perhaps young people were young people. We had to hope they were.

  “What I see as their weak point is how we’ll find the CCC's lair. We have to assume they’ll be operating somewhere in secret,” I said.

  Jules pulled out her phone and tapped at the screen. “Probably, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been hit before. Someone will sell the information to Villainet. You’re reimbursing me for what I find in addition to my share.”

  I was sure, if it was out there, I could find it myself, but that might take time. Villains seemed especially fond of bureaucracy.

  “Fine,” I said.

  “Here it is ... the CCC operates out of an abandoned subway station under the campus library. It looks well secured with the surface entrance. Lots of traps,” Jules said.

  “What about by air? They have to have some kind of landing platform for their hoverbikes,” Niles said.

  “No notation of it,” Jules said.

  “If it was a subway tunnel there will be underground access,” I said.

  “No mention of that either,” Jules said.

  “If I were designing it, I’d use that tunnel myself for the aerial vehicles. Make up some sort of transport carrying the bikes to a launching pad off campus,” Niles said.

  “There will be permits for the entire thing. The CCC largely looks like politicians' unpowered children trying to make a name for themselves so they qualify for skill certification and hero registration,” Jules said.

  “Don’t tell me heroes have to jump through the same hoops as villains,” I said.

  Jules flashed a wry smile. “Largely. Mastermind admired their system and stole it, with a few tweaks. Ours is better, of course.”

  “Then that's how we make our entrance. Through the tunnels,” I said.

  “Ox,” Ox said.

  I gathered it was all he was capable of saying. It didn’t really convey any meaning, of course.

  “They’ve been hit before. What kind of defenses did they have?” I asked.

  “Arrow turrets, taser drones,” Jules said, glancing at her phone.

  “Ox is in no danger from the arrows,” I said.

  “I can rig up a grounding vest to neutralize the tasers. They probably use something similar, it's why our defenses didn’t do more damage to them,” Niles said.

  They had shrugged off the electrified steam as if we hadn’t hit them at all. I needed better weaponry.

  “Do we have funds? We need to arrange transit,” Jules said.

  “We were thinking we’d just hitch a ride,” Niles said.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it. Variable insertion point and we might not have the storage for anything we can take. These kids are going to have nice equipment. If we can get into their base, we want to make sure we have the capacity to grab what we can,” Jules said.

  It took money to make money. An ancient axiom, and a true one. If our only goal was to get Partygurl we could save cash, but this had the opportunity to be more.

  “We’re going to need a transport over the water. We’ll need something that can fit in the tunnels and capable of transporting whatever we steal. We’re also going to need manpower to do some heavy lifting. Our henchmen are down,” I said.

  Jules rapidly tapped away at her phone. “I’m thinking I can put that together for fifteen thousand or so.”

  It was a sum I really didn’t want to spend. Still, three of those hover bikes and we’d be profitable. Toss in whatever they happened to have in their base and that number could rise quickly.

  “Do it,” I said.

  “Ox,” Ox said.

  It still wasn’t helpful at all. I supposed he must at least agree with our plan or he’d have left.

  “Can you get me a drone working in time?” I asked Niles.

  “Not a chance. You’ll be playing spectator and shot-caller on this one,” Niles said.

  “You’re planning on going in yourself this time?”

  “Their base could have technological defenses. I’ll go along and see I can open a channel for you to infiltrate their systems,” Niles said.

  It was a hasty plan, but I was hopeful. Perhaps we really could turn this tragedy into an opportunity.

  12

  It was an unconventional ride. Jules had found us a large transport ready to go in a hurry, but it wasn’t exactly traditional. The flying turtle was massive, and old. He’d almost gotten lost four times just getting across the channel. Still, they were eventually putting down in a field near a set of rusted tracks.

  The line the tracks had once served had long ago been abandoned, a tunnel leading into a hillside bricked over. It was nothing our drill couldn’t handle.r />
  We’d gotten the services of a dozen henchmen. It seemed there was an active market for their services and other villains were willing to rent out theirs for a night in exchange for some funds. The villains had little to lose. Even if the henchmen died they’d be back in two days.

  We hadn’t been able to afford any good weapons for them, but all at least had a club. We were hoping they wouldn’t be fighting anyone and were just there for heavy lifting.

  Ox and Jules were another matter. Ox wore a vest with a large electronic bump in the back. The grounding device Niles had rigged together was crude. However, Ox should be able to take a lot of tasers and keep standing.

  Jules was in leather armor, and she brought her own weapon in a bow and arrow slung across her back, and a sword at one hip. They seemed terribly dated. I hoped all that training she’d had at least made her good with them.

  Ox led the way, a hover sled following behind him loaded down with Niles, Jules, and the henchmen. The sled could carry several tons of cargo and remain afloat—I hoped we had the opportunity to steal that much.

  The tunnels appeared totally abandoned. Jules provided instructions that took the group through several twisting passages that led towards the station beneath the campus library.

  At least, they did for the time. Eventually the tunnel ended in a blank wall marked, ‘End of line’.

  “This shouldn’t be here according to the blueprints,” Jules said.

  “It isn’t real. Look at the tracks here. No corrosion. They’re actually maintained,” Niles said, jumping off the sled and inspecting the nearby walls.

  “You think this is the part of the tunnel network they use then? Good luck, that. Or terrible luck,” Jules said.

  We’d find out soon enough.

  Niles found a junction box on one wall and snapped the lock with an ion torch before swinging it open and inspecting the interior. A set of crossed wires later and the wall slid apart to reveal a well-lit tunnel beyond.