Bones of the Past (Villains' Code Book 2)

by Drew Hayes

  As the voice was talking, Tori realized the stones on the ground hadn’t stopped moving. They were still shifting, and from within the dark spaces, she saw flashes of movement. She started to call out a warning, but unfortunately, her words were drowned out by the loud voice resuming.

  “You also won’t be the only one in there. We’ve got plenty more minions for you to play with—though, if you’re too occupied, they’ll happily attack the towers instead.” The first of the new enemies emerged, and for a moment, Tori almost mistook it for a living being; the lizard-like body paired with stretches of moss along the joints created a believable image, at least until it opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp, gray stone fangs.

  “To ensure you continue working with the expediency we’ve come to expect, let’s properly motivate you not to dilly-dally. I think one minute per tower is fair. In fact, we’ll round up to an even five.”

  The center of the pit at last opened up, revealing a modestly sized hourglass. No sooner had it touched the artificial sunlight than the sands began to fall. “Five minutes until everything is annihilated, unless a tower is destroyed or forbidden power used, in which case, it happens immediately. Let us see how the great legend fairs with a task beyond pure destruction.”

  By the time Tori looked back from the hourglass, there was already a spray of stone appendages next to Lodestar, where the first rock-lizard had popped up. More were crawling out across the pit, spacing themselves in what sure seemed to be purposeful inconvenience. Had Ivan been alone, the task would have been trying for him. Kill enough to get breathing room, work on a puzzle, rinse, repeat. Without being called, Tori was already dropping back down. Strong as Lodestar was, she was still a single cape, and with super-speed off the table, they had to pick where best to use her.

  “You go low. I’ll go high!” Tori all but fell onto the first tower, halting her descent with a powerful blast at the very end. She dared not shift more than her hands to flesh—every pound added increased the work needed to stay airborne, not to mention presented a target for any ambitious enemies. Behind her were the sounds of sneakers skidding, the shatter of rock, but her eyes stayed focused on the puzzle at hand.

  It wasn’t an especially complex task. With only her first few glances, Tori could see the solution. The test was one of precision more than mental acuity: everything had to be lined up near-perfect to untwist the central cylinder. First try, no luck. Second try, another failure. A spray of shards clipped through the flames of her back, and Tori worked to put the rest of the world out of her mind. This wasn’t taking on a meta out of her league or demanding a power she lacked; Tori could do this. It was a test of her ability to concentrate, to think under pressure. That task was within her reach. Failing because she lacked power was one thing. Failing because she couldn’t do the damn job—now that was another matter entirely. She mentally pulled back, letting herself take a fresh run at the attempt, just like she had a snagged pole during tent setup.

  On her third try, the cylinder twisted, and as it did, the entire puzzle began to dissolve. They didn’t get much more “done” than that, so Tori tore back into the air, eyes already hunting for the next tower. Looking around, she was dumbstruck by the number of broken bodies surrounding her position. Evidently, the goons came out in mass when a puzzle was being solved. What would Ivan have done, if he’d really been here all alone? Yank up the whole floor and kill the whole army at once? The notion seemed ludicrous, yet also worryingly plausible.

  Hovering near the second tower, Tori noticed that the next puzzle was different from the first. Not unexpected, though part of her had hoped they’d all be the same, since the real test was in the execution. No such luck, so she began to twist the various symbols on the cube, deciphering the pattern as she went. Again, the solution was relatively easy to see, harder to reach. Every movement created countermovements that had to be accounted for. This one, she actually had an easier time with than the first; after all the half-rigged inventions she’d had to keep functioning, working with the overall project vision in mind and thinking several steps ahead were skills she’d polished to a shine.

  Flashes of light in her periphery meant that Lodestar was busting out blasts of energy. Tori wrapped up the second puzzle just in time to see flecks of debris hit the ground where presumably a squadron of enemies had stood previously. This time, there were also still a few rock-lizards prowling around, though none near her tower. Lodestar wouldn’t have any reason to be slowing down, so the rate they were appearing had to be increasing. Without using her super-speed, there was a limit to how quickly she’d be able to fell them. No wonder she’d switched over to wider-reaching attacks.

  As Tori zipped over to the next tower, her vision wandered across the hourglass, which was shedding sand at a worrying rate. Had it really been nearly half the time already, or was it picking up as she cleared each challenge? She had a feeling the voice would pull that stuff, but Helen had been adamant about Cobblord’s standards as a creator. Hopefully, accurate timers were part of that.

  This time, she found herself staring at a spiked ball where each spike could be twisted anywhere between 180 – 360 degrees. After turning the first few, she was able to pick up on the different sounds each made upon hitting its latches. From there, it was a simple matter of finding the universal noise and dialing all of the spikes to it. Simple, but tedious, and with lots of room for reckless error. In a way, she had to hand it to the designer; given the time and distractions, Ivan really would have had trouble with this, even as detail-oriented as he was. Then again, if he failed, the creator would have a vengeful Fornax with a daughter to avenge, so maybe this wasn’t such a great plan after all.

  That assumed the threat was genuine, and since they clearly couldn’t risk dismissing such a possibility, she had to proceed as though it wasn’t a bluff. Whether it truly was or not, she hoped to never find out, dropping the third puzzle as soon as it began to dissolve. Firing away, she scanned the battlefield as she crossed to her final destination.

  Save only for the patches where more minions were emerging, Tori could no longer see the ground. It was completely covered by the broken bodies of those that had come before. Like someone had driven a semi through a hall of statues, untold rock limbs lay shattered in piles, surrounding a Lodestar who continued to glow, untouched and unmarred by the relentless assault. Sadly, the hourglass wasn’t so unaffected. Her time was definitely running short.

  Coming down hard, Tori accidently put a flaming leg into the tower, causing a dark stain along the stone. She pulled back quickly, all attention on the final puzzle: a series of thin rings, brittle enough they’d easily snap, interwoven with strategic gaps in each one. Lining them up required getting the angles precise, and then carefully controlling the force used to pull them apart. There was nothing that said breaking it was against the rules, but given the circumstances, some limitations could be inferred. For as quickly as Tori found the solution, she also realized there was an issue. Hovering roughly had been fine for the first three; however, this task demanded a perfectly steady hand. She couldn’t do it while bobbing in the air.

  “Going full human. Please keep those things at bay.” It was scary, shifting back fully to her human self, grabbing onto one of the many decorative spires along the tower’s top, putting her safety entirely in the hands of a cape. Although, if she was trusting herself to any superhero, it would have been hard to pick a better candidate.

  Wrapping her legs around the tower’s center for stability, Tori didn’t bother looking over to the hourglass. At this point, she had the time she had; knowing wouldn’t change anything. Working as fast as she dared, one by one Tori pulled the rings apart. A rock whizzed by near her head as she separated the next-to-last pieces, strings of curses filling her mind, then dying on the tongue. Even moving her jaw was unnecessary, and right now, stability mattered more than anything else.

  The final two rings had the thinnest of openings, because of course this shit couldn�
��t be easy. Tori shut out the sounds of battle, the protests of pain from her already worn legs, the absolute insanity of her situation overall. She did what she’d always been able to do: close off the world, narrow it to the project before her. Everything else was ancillary. All that mattered was what existed in her hands. With more dexterity than she’d have believed her fingers capable of, the final rings pulled softly apart, neither breaking from the force.

  Seconds later, they began to dissolve, though this time, the puzzle wasn’t alone. The tower was doing the same thing, as were the bodies Lodestar had beaten. And the active minions, now that Tori was looking around, along with the stone pit and the ground surrounding them. The whole landscape was rippling, like it had been painted on a waterbed that had just been jumped upon.

  Before she could shift back, Tori found herself suddenly weightless as Lodestar flew them both up into the air. “Pretty sure it will float us back down, but better safe than sorry. If we start descending normally, I’ll let you enjoy the ride.”

  “What if we all come out of here dropping?”

  “Then Lodestar will miraculously swoop in to catch everyone. No more labyrinth rules means I don’t have to hold back anymore, and I’m pretty quick when I need to be. Don’t worry, I’ll set you down as well. There’s no need to show anyone your powers unless you choose to.”

  The words were comforting, despite watching the ground crack and shake below them. Relief was flooding Tori’s system; this ordeal truly did seem to be over. Unfortunately, Tori wasn’t so short-sighted that she couldn’t see there was more on the horizon. Being let in on Lodestar’s secret wasn’t a minor thing, no matter how the cape herself had tried to downplay it. There was also the fact that the weekend’s events constituted a direct, knowing attack on guild leadership. People were going to pay for this, and to her surprise, Tori realized she wanted to be in the thick of it.

  That was as far as her thought process went before the world around them suddenly sucked briefly inward, and then exploded.

  Chapter 89

  One moment, they were gathered in the forest, and then suddenly the ground was shaking. There was barely any time to react before the whole world they were standing on shattered, sending them all flying into what seemed like the sky. The false veneer quickly gave way, opening up to reveal the genuine outdoors. Loud booms were echoing across the campgrounds as the walls of condensed space collapsed, sending out minor shockwaves.

  Mercifully, the same effect that had been used during their capture was still functioning, floating them down slowly. Ivan scanned for Beth and found her nearby, holding the hands of several other campers. He readied himself to teleport if gravity suddenly kicked into gear before noticing a familiar light streaking through the sky.

  “Oh my god, it’s her.”

  “Look! It’s Lodestar!”

  “Lodestar saved us!”

  The kids were yelling now, moving toward cheering, and it wasn’t as if they were wrong. Whether as herself or as Helen, Lodestar had indeed saved the day. Ivan had a great deal of questions for her on how, but resolved himself to waiting. Up here, he could already see the small crowd watching their descent. Her first job would be to update the AHC—official information channels took priority over secret friendships, especially considering she wouldn’t want Ivan to get ahead of her on this one. Both had reason to want the perpetrators, but each would have very different plans for what to do with them.

  Catching Beth’s attention, Ivan gestured to the streaking light, to which he received a few quickly mouthed words: “You were right.”

  Ivan tried his very best to etch that memory into his brain. If Rick’s teen years were any indication, he wouldn’t be hearing those words again anytime soon.

  As the ground drew nearer, Ivan assessed the crowd, searching for the other missing Starscout personnel. It wasn’t hard, as Tori turned out to be less than thirty feet away as they were landing. There was no way she’d been that close when the orb split; although, in all that streaking about, no one would have noticed if Lodestar moved one body to a different position in the sky.

  While Lodestar continued to circle the kids as they descended, ensuring that each one landed safely, Tori darted over, grabbing Ivan.

  “Glad to see you’re okay,” he greeted her. “Everything go smoothly?”

  “Oh boy, just so much to unpack and tell you about. But first things first, there’s some stuff you need to know about what just happened.”

  With a quick glance, Ivan confirmed there was no one directly near them; however, in the chaos, that could change at any moment. “Perhaps this could wait until we have a more private location?”

  “Ivan... you were the target. The old you. Whoever did this knows who you really are, and they also know about Beth.”

  A different Ivan, one not somewhat tired from a day-long ordeal, not facing down the very apprentice he’d worked so hard to educate on the importance of control, would have potentially ruined an entire swatch of forest with the surge of violent power that rose up inside him. But this was an Ivan who knew the value of control, and of pointing one’s vengeance in the proper direction. None of these people deserved to bear his wrath. That would be reserved for the ones who’d incurred it. He could scarcely wait.

  “Tell me what I need to know.”

  By early Sunday evening, the news was pouring from all major outlets: someone had attempted to attack a Starscout event. It had, of course, ended in failure. Details on how they’d been saved were light, but with Lodestar herself appearing on the scene right as the orb shattered and gently dropped its prisoners back to the ground, some assumptions were obvious. Images of slightly dirty children flickered across multiple screens, along with the stern face of Lodestar.

  “While we don’t have any perpetrators in custody yet, let me assure you, this is a crime the Alliance of Heroic Champions, and I, personally, take quite seriously.” Those damned eyes looked right down the camera, like she could see the man going by Wendel Worthington watching in his lair. “I would advise the perpetrators to turn themselves in. Barring that, my recommendation would be to enjoy what freedom you have left. Very soon, you’ll be in court—”

  He muted the audio feed; threats held no interest for him. His only concern had been the results of the experiment, and whether or not Lozora had been apprehended. Evidently not. If they had a lead to parade in front of the camera, the AHC absolutely would. That was one silver lining; he didn’t need to replace his pawn so close to the real game. Unfortunately, the experiment itself had been a massive failure. With Lodestar in the mix, there was no telling if Ivan had even finished the labyrinth himself, or what his speed would be.

  Resting on his desk sat a large hunk of rare metal similar in hue to the orb Lozora had been given, yet not quite the same. This was to be material for Cobblord’s second draft, a refined version. They could still make it—catching another kid to put in there as the limiter wouldn’t be too hard. Hell, it probably didn’t even have to be Ivan’s own child. The so-called legend had never possessed the ruthlessness to ascend beyond his limitations. But without knowing for certain if it could hold Fornax long enough, the whole effort was useless.

  In his youth, this man would have pressed on with the compromised effort. He would have looked at the resources spent, the time and money used to procure these items, and decided it would be folly not to use them. Life and experience had taught him much, including the concept of a sunk-cost fallacy. What mattered wasn’t the work put in, but the results obtained. Fornax had to be occupied; otherwise, the whole plan could come apart.

  Working the shadows, scheming in secret, it all only held together for so long. Too many villains tried to make this phase last forever rather than accepting what it was: a chance to prepare. Sooner or later, the truth always spilled out, and once it did, there would be a reckoning. Using this time to get ready, to smooth out the path toward his objectives as much as possible, meant that when things did change, he’d still h
ave the upper hand.

  If the labyrinth couldn’t be counted on, then his best bet was to roll Fornax into the same distraction planned for the AHC. It would shift the timetables, perhaps significantly, but so long as he was efficient, the rest of the plan was still viable. He only needed enough time to do the job and slip away. The real challenge would be forcing himself not to savor the act he’d spent so much work laying a foundation for. Although, this was more about the message than the killing itself, an inherited grudge the owner had no idea had been hung over their head.

  Lifting a phone, those thin fingers stalked along the buttons, the anti-tracking equipment wired in making the process slightly cumbersome. It was time to make sure the Guild of Villainous Reformation knew exactly what it was they’d no doubt been tracking for some time now, along with what was hidden from their sensors. Once the guild knew what was coming, they’d have to take steps to interfere, most likely leading with the tip of their spear: Fornax.

  After all, this was their world, too. It wasn’t as if they could afford to shrug off an impending invasion.

  Beth was asleep before she even made it to her room, nodding off on the couch while Ivan brought Janet up to speed. Rick and Juan were out fetching dinner when they arrived, offering Beth a quiet place to rest—probably not a coincidence. Given the look on his ex-wife’s face, Ivan imagined this wasn’t a conversation she wanted lots of people to be around for. He’d expected to have to wait until Beth wore down; however, a weekend of stress and poor sleep made itself known the instant she felt at home, sending her soaring into slumber.