Heroes of Corvus (Book 3): Two Good Reasons

by Gilliam, Patricia

  “It wasn’t a real dose of the treatment, but I suppose you already knew that…” I hadn’t known but wasn’t going to admit it to him. He placed the pizza down in front of me. “I’m sorry, Icarus. It’s the worst part of this job, but Beth and I have to play ball just like everyone else.”

  It had been some sort of test, but I felt more sickened that it was needed than relief that I had passed. The paperwork was the fed contract. I had been working without it for several hours and didn’t really care. I noticed the name had been changed from mine to the Jacob Hayes alias. I signed it, thinking it would at least make Daniel happy.

  “So, what happens now?” I pushed the pen and paper back to Fisher before I got pizza grease on them. The thought occurred to me that they may slip the treatment into my food, but I was too hungry to do anything about it. If they were that stupid, they would get what they deserved.

  More like a group of field agents and security guards would get what the idiot decision-maker deserved…and I didn’t want that.

  “You will be paid the standard upper-tier hero rate, plus have access to an expense account related to this operation,” Fisher explained. I almost laughed at the upper-tier part. It was the classification usually reserved for heroes at Daniel, Miranda, or Tiros’s level. It was overkill for what I needed, but I guess Daniel had no way to know that and wanted to help me. “You’ll also have access to most of this facility—though you should wait until we get you a badge.”

  No problems there. Even with a badge, some of the better-trained guards may believe I’d stolen it. Most villains can’t lose the biological vibe we give off, and a little laminated card wouldn’t change that.

  “Do the hero apartments have cell signal?” I was visualizing a modern but possibly useless dorm room. If I didn’t have full communications access, I’d be better off with a cot in the conference room. “I could use a few hours of sleep, but my contacts are working in shifts. I don’t want to miss anything.”

  “You really have no clue what Daniel Spires just did for you, do you?” Fisher asked in a skeptical tone. I thought a moment but then shook my head. “Finish eating, and let’s take a walk. I promise you won’t lose cell signal.”

  THE HOUSING AREA FOR FEDERALLY-EMPLOYED HEROES took up most of the fourth and fifth levels of the facility. It resembled a luxury resort—a multi-room gym, Olympic-sized swimming pool, a spa, an arcade, a full-sized IMAX movie theater, a rock climbing wall…I slowed to a stop in disbelief and started laughing. This was a hell of a lot more than some overpriced coffee.

  “This is only for powered superheroes—not the rest of you?” I asked. Fisher nodded. “Seems like a brilliant way to foster resentment, doesn’t it?” Fisher half-smiled but said nothing. The few staff members were either idle or cleaning, which made sense. All the heroes were out searching for the kids…all except for one.

  “Hey, Fish! Who’s the new guy?” A hero in his early twenties jogged up to us—his wrists wrapped in bright blue casts. With both of us out of costume, I recognized him first. Back in Corvus, he and two of Nathan Spires’s other buddies had tried to physically persuade me to stop visiting Cameron at the hospital. It had not worked out well for them. Confusion followed by pure terror hit his expression. “Fish, can I speak with you in private for a minute? It’s important.”

  “Let me introduce you two first.” Fisher flashed a grin at me and seemed to enjoy watching this guy squirm and pretend as if we’d never met. Looks like I wasn’t the only person in the building with villain behavioral tendencies. “This is Austin Reynolds—one of our youngest sponsored upper-tier heroes. Austin, this is Icarus. He’ll be working with us as a consultant for at least the next week or two.”

  “Joke’s on them—I’ve been trying to break into this place for decades.” I added, following Fisher’s lead. Austin took a step backwards without shaking my hand. “Look, I’m sorry about your wrists. I was upset about what happened with Nathan, and then you guys jumped me 3-on-1. I would have explained everything I told you if you had just asked me.”

  “Wait a second—he’s your murderous 22-member Corvus biker gang?” Fisher gestured to me, and Austin went pale. There must have been some slight exaggeration in their official reports. “He can barely hold a slice of pizza, and you guys attacked him without provocation? Do you want to lose your sponsorships?”

  Austin tried to stammer out a response, but then he froze up when I smiled at him. The villain who had dared to wear some cheap version of his missing friend’s suit had now invaded his home—with the full permission of his employer. His whole world no longer made logical sense. We’d had our fun. It was time to let him off the hook.

  “To be fair, Fisher, I was in much better shape prior to the coma.” I wasn’t sure why I was defending them—other than some faint remembrance of being that arrogant at one point. Austin seemed to have learned his lesson—maybe even a little too well. “Will you be all right, kid? That was over a month ago.” Unless something else was wrong with him, he should have completely healed within a couple hours.

  Austin rubbed one of his wrists. “I’m not sure.” He was lying—possibly even re-injuring himself to keep from returning to the field. I really had scared him. I glanced at Fisher. He knew it, too. It was probably the real reason he’d brought me here.

  Great—the last thing I needed right now was some motivational side-quest.

  “Nathan may still be alive, and I could use some help finding him if you want something useful to do,” I finally said. Austin gave me a skeptical look. “I know it’s a long-shot, but I want to help his family either rescue him or get some closure. They’re good people.”

  “How the hell would you know?” he asked, bitter anger putting a little more bravery in him. “Did you make his parents think you were a hero to gain access here? Why are you really—”

  “Remind me to buy you a cookie later,” I interrupted. His eyebrows furrowed as I reached for my phone. It slipped out of my hand in mid-call and fell onto the concrete floor. “Shit…” By some miracle, it had landed without breaking. I needed to get a case on it soon.

  I reached down to pick it up, and I blacked out.

  MY FAMILY ONCE TOOK IN AN ADOLESCENT WOLF WHEN I was about four or five. It had showed up at our doorstep, hobbled from a fight with something much bigger. Mom gave it water and food, and over time she seemed to gain its trust. Even after it recovered, it stayed close—patrolling the edges of our property as if we were its new pack. I just thought it was a big dog and didn’t understand why Dad never allowed it inside the house with our others.

  “Never allow a predator into your home, Icarus—no matter how tame it can seem.” He told me this without any sort of malice toward the wolf. It was something closer to respect. “When you expect something to fight its own nature, it’s dangerous—for you and for it.”

  Over the past decade, the feds had done more than allowed predators into their homes. They had built their facilities and stored dangerous weapons on top of patient armies. Now their homes were left unguarded—almost all their superpowered protectors drawn away on an otherwise noble mission. This felt too familiar—similar to when Minos had drawn Dad and I away from our house, leaving Mom alone. This was the bigger play of my father’s enemies—and I couldn’t even warn the feds or call for backup.

  My eyes wouldn’t open, and my ears were ringing. I heard Beth’s voice, and a couple of people moved me to a rolling stretcher. Then there was some sort of argument between Fisher and Beth I couldn’t quite follow. Both of them were correct in their own way and wanted to do the right thing. It reminded me how Mom and Dad argued but still cared about each other—and me. In a way, all those memories had helped me figure a lot of things out.

  Then someone jabbed an injection pen into my leg.

  Idiots.

  At first, I didn’t feel any different. The thought occurred that maybe the treatments had degraded over the past five years—the best possible outcome in my opinion.

&n
bsp; Then a wave of euphoria swept through me, and I thought I was dead. Everything went quiet—peaceful. It wasn’t that bad.

  Full awareness began to creep in, and I opened my eyes. I had lifted a suited man off the floor by his throat. I felt his pulse racing against my fingertips, and his face was turning red. I moved him to the closest wall I could find and released my grip enough so he could breathe again. This is how heroes should ask people questions.

  “Who are you?” I asked. The man didn’t appear to have powers—or he was pretending to be weak so I’d release him. Psychopaths in nice suits liked to do that. Whatever he’d done to me had my mind clouded—scrambled. Maybe he had mental powers…or maybe it was the injection pen still clinging to my pant leg. That explained it. He’d drugged me.

  “Icarus, it’s me!” the man strained out, futilely attempting to pry my hand away. That wasn’t too helpful. This asshole knew me, but I still didn’t know him or why we were in…an underground shopping mall? I looked to either side of us, and a dozen fed agents and security guards now had their guns aimed at me—including a woman who looked familiar. The man took in a deep breath. “My name is Jim Fisher! I’m a friend. We are all friends, Icarus.”

  He wasn’t lying, but this was an odd situation—even for me. Good-intentioned people dealing with a wolf who wanted to be a golden retriever. They didn’t know any better, and part of that was my fault. Houses are comforting. Being cared about is nice. So was having a pack compared to trying to survive alone. It wasn’t enough to change my nature, though. I knew better than that. They should have, too.

  “A real friend wouldn’t have done this to me,” I said, focusing on the woman now. I wasn’t sure which one of them had given me the injection, but what was done was done. “Don’t shoot me unless it’s necessary, or it will make things much worse than you already have. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

  She nodded but didn’t lower her gun. Smart woman. I bet it was Fisher who had jabbed me with the pen. I removed it and tossed it on the floor, unsure what to do next. There were two movies playing in IMAX that I hadn’t seen yet. If I was going to be indefinitely held at gunpoint, I wondered if they would all be willing to move a few meters and get some popcorn. Why was I even here? There had been a plan—something much more important.

  Something in my pocket began playing music, startling me. I reached for my phone with my free hand, recalling enough to know how it worked. The name of the contact said Tyler Ross.

  “Hello?” I answered, trying to keep my tone pleasant. Hero tone. I called it that sometimes. “Sorry, I’m kind of in the middle of something. Can I call you back?”

  “You called me, Icarus,” Tyler replied—the name didn’t seem quite right in my head, and he sounded uneasy. “Are you okay?”

  I glanced around at the armed agents and then at Fisher. “I’ve been worse. How are things with you?”

  “We may have a lead on the kids—could use some of your villain buddies for backup if you can spare them. This could get messy fast.”

  More recent memories started flooding back, and I went quiet for a minute. This was important. If I didn’t get back on plan, good people would die—possibly even children.

  I also wanted to take out the bastards who had kidnapped them and harmed their families. This would never happen again. Some of them were in stasis twelve levels below us—and I had my powers back. As far as I was concerned, playing fair was over. I just had to find a way to get down there.

  “Icarus?” Tiros asked. “Are you there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” I made eye contact with Beth, remembering her again. “Be careful, Tiros. I’ll send you some help as soon as I can. Don’t rush into this. They likely know you’re coming.”

  I ended the call, released Fisher, and raised my hands. They weren’t shaking anymore.

  “Are you back?” Beth asked. I gestured 50/50, and she lowered her gun. The other agents didn’t. Smart people. “Talk to me.”

  “I think the software has updated to the latest version, but the hardware is running closer to Icarus 1.0 right now.” I hoped she understood the analogy. Austin looked as if I meant I was a literal robot. “The best thing would be for everyone to keep their distance until I figure things out again. Can you escort me back to the conference room, though? The heroes need help, and we need to hurry here before—” An alarmed blared, and red overhead lights started to flash. “Before your containment systems start to fail...”

  “You did this, didn’t you?” Austin asked me, and his expression turned disgusted. “That was your plan all along—to access our systems and break out all your friends!”

  I shook my head. “I’ll take it as a compliment, but this isn’t me.” Looking around, everyone seemed skeptical. I took out my phone while I still could, directing my contacts between Tiros’s location and every known federal containment center and their international equivalents. Even with backup on the way, we were still in trouble. Yet none of them seemed to be in any major panic. “What am I missing here? Is this a drill? Another stupid test?”

  “Last year, we added extra safeguards on each stasis capsule,” Fisher explained. “If anyone tries to escape, they’re given a thirty second warning before automated lethal measures are engaged. I hope you’re telling the truth about not knowing anyone in containment here. If they try to break out, they’re not getting out alive.”

  I looked at Beth. “What about the parents of the kidnapped kids? Have you cross-referenced their names with who’s being held here and the other facilities?”

  “We were still working on it,” Beth replied. The alarms and lights stopped, and the agents and Austin relaxed. I didn’t. “You think some of them would still try to break containment—not even caring that it would kill them?”

  “How much damage could Daniel Spires do in thirty seconds if Hailey’s life was at stake?” I asked. Her eyes widened as the alarms blared again. “Multiply that by hundreds of people and spread it across the planet. I need to get down there—now!”

  I WOULD HAVE RATHER GONE ALONE, BUT BETH AND FISHER HAD TO USE their combined credentials to access the elevator and secured doors. Even away from the other agents and Austin, I didn’t want to talk to either one of them.

  “I know you’re pissed, but saving your life was the right call—both times,” Fisher said, putting himself between Beth and me as if he expected to be grabbed by the throat again. “You have more control than you think, Icarus. Everything you did to help Daniel and Miranda rescue Hailey—everything you’ve done here to try to help those other kids—that is what’s really inside you. The treatments won’t change that. You just believed they would.”

  It took me a minute to realize what he meant. This wasn’t the first dose I’d ever been given. I had felt odd after waking up from the coma for a reason—because otherwise, I wouldn’t have woken up at all. My 50/50 odds of survival at the warehouse had gone in the wrong direction, and Beth and Fisher had stepped in and saved my life. They didn’t tell me—just watched what I did with the opportunity. Feds like tests about as much as heroes like paperwork. I guessed they trusted me enough to keep looking out for me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  “Did Daniel or Eli know what you did?” I asked. Fisher shook his head. “Is it possible to be simultaneously pissed and grateful at the same time?”

  He laughed. Beside him, Beth still didn’t want to look at me.

  “It should still be your choice going forward—not ours,” she said, and she stepped around Fisher to face me. “It’s just you talk sometimes as if you believe you’re evil—like you deserve to die or something. You don’t, Icarus. You’re hurting and afraid of yourself—but you’re not as alone or inhuman in that as you might think.” She wiped her eyes. “There is genuine good in you, and I hope you can see it in yourself someday. I hope you’ll give us a chance to help you see it.”

  I smiled at her. She reminded me of Mom and that wolf. Feed me. Patch me up. Treat me with enough kindness th
at I develop a sense of loyalty—maybe even love in the way I comprehended it. I did care about them—Cameron, Daniel and his team, Eli and the cops, Beth, Fisher, the feds…even that jackass Austin. They mattered enough now that I wanted to protect the perimeter and keep them safe—even while knowing I was dangerous, too. There was no logic in it. Other than Eli, they had all been strangers to me two months earlier. They had no reason to care about me, either, but they did. This was real—just not something I could plug into a mental algorithm.

  Dad had believed Mom was naïve—that she had put our family at risk to care for a broken creature that could have turned on us without warning. He saw the numbers in his head and wanted to protect her…protect all of us. The wolf’s life was of neutral value to him—just another variable in the changing set of survival calculations in his head.

  I guess we had that in common now, too.

  “I have seen what I’m capable of becoming in my father, and it terrifies me,” I said. A light signaled the fourteenth basement level, then fifteenth. “I can’t bring him back to who he used to be, and I don’t want to hurt anyone for trying to do the same for me. What you both did could have gone wrong in a very terrible way. Even if we get past this, it still could.”

  Seventeenth level. The elevator doors opened, and we entered what appeared to be an observation area overlooking rows of cryogenic pods of various sizes. The alarms were going again, but there was no sign of hostile activity. All the prisoners were in their pods—which had still triggered lethal measures as if they had attempted to escape.

  “What the hell?” Fisher asked, and he sat down at a terminal. “They’re dead. All of them.” He turned around and stared at me with a level of terror that almost rivaled Austin’s. “Was this you? Back in Corvus, I saw you inside the trucks. I just thought you were inspecting the statues for some reason—didn’t think anything about it until I saw you walk up with Eli out of nowhere.”